"Why, Ruther?"Argus crumbled to his knees as he hunched forwards while warm blood was forcefully ejected from his mouth. A giant wound was carved across his chest. He choked on the blood that gurgled his throat and regarded the shady figure behind his back with a bloodied sword in their hand."The sixth castle will remain unconquered if you die," The shady figure stated. "They promised me to give a castle if I got rid of you."Argus grinned weakly as he wiped the remnants of blood from the side of his mouth. His chest heaved heavily from the excessive blood loss. He braced his mass with one hand planted firmly to the ground while he still clawed at the wound with the other. "Oh, so a castle…" Argus fought against the pain; however, he ran short of breath,"... was more valuable than…" He huffed and gritted his teeth, "... your people," the arm that supported his mass felt limp as the last of his strength faded, "... your soil," Argus' gaze narrowed intensely, "...our friendship," he a

Stella carried Argus to a chamber located in the dull and cheap part of the palace which was reserved for the servants and maids. The chamber Stella carried the baby inside was full of maids wearing revealing dresses. It was the emperor's fetish for the maids to be in two-piece mostly, regardless of the weather or season.When Stella entered, an old maid combed the hair of a young maid who seemed to be a fresh recruit. It was going to be her maiden experience in the emperor's harem."You must not infuriate him. He would not hesitate to crush your scalp," warned the old woman when she combed the young maid's hair. "Something like this happened a few days ago when the emperor got the news of his loss and that he had lost the fourth castle. They brought you to fill her slot."No one mentioned it but they all noticed the trembling body of the young maid. Her lips were dry, and her eyes looked terrified. The old maid spotted Stella at the door. She quickly bowed her head and presented a c

The headmaster cleared his throat and began to speak. “It has been seventy years since Master Taurus laid the foundation of this academy. I had taken my training from here only, and served my country for a lifetime. I am sure you all are aware of my services.” “Why is he bragging about himself?” mumbled Argus, crossing his arms as he found this formal speech boring as hell. “I too would brag about myself if I had his achievements,” replied Gunther. “He led our army to victory not once or twice, but thrice against Alabusia in a row. He is the only one to achieve this feat.” “Boring,” mouthed Argus, receiving a smile from Gunther in return. “You sure don’t like these formal events,” said Gunther. “But don’t you worry, it is just for once. We would not be seeing him giving a speech every day.” “I hope so.” Argus looked at Marya who listened to her father attentively. He guessed it must suck to be the daughter of the headmaster. The expectations must be too high. Gunther smiled devi

"Do you really believe all this stuff?" Argus whispered into Gunther's ears."Of course, I do," replied Gunther with no hesitation. Argus nodded with pity as he knew that these kinds of teachings would take them nowhere.The master still lectured. "First, I will explain the basics. What are Nigrosian arts? Can anyone tell me?" He asked, looking at the faces of the children, hoping to get an answer from one of them.A girl stood up like an obedient student and answered, "It is about developing your spirit energy by submitting your soul to God.""No, your answer is incomplete," said the master. He looked unhappy with her answer.‘Heh, they changed the name of the devil to 'God',’ Argus wondered after hearing her answer. ‘What they do is nowhere near holy.’The master signaled her to sit. "What she said is correct. We submit our soul to God, but her answer is not complete,” said he and again looked at the students, “Who can complete the answer?"Gunther belonged to the bright students of

The headmaster scribbled on a scroll in his chamber while his attendant went through some documents. The chamber had wooden walls with scrolls hanging around as decorations scribbled with words like “Keep fighting” or “Dreams comes true”. There was a table spread at the center with cushions aligned around it for the guests to sit on. The headmaster seated parallel to the door while his attendant seated on his right-hand side. He thought about the sparring match of Argus with his daughter and what he had witnessed was out of ordinary. His paintbrush stopped midway when he thought about the moment Argus had hit his daughter.The attendant noticed the headmaster lost somewhere while staring at the scroll. “I will get you another scroll, master,” he said when he saw the scroll had a large blot because of the headmaster pressing the brush too long at one spot. He stood up, pulled out the drawer near him and picked out a scroll.“Is something bothering you, master?” he asked after changin