Wealth...
Was something my country had accumulated for years.
Rich lands, vast trade, and an open mind focused on the security and safety of the people.

This country...
My Home...
Was something I had loved dearly.

Hoping that one day I will be the next to rule it.

For the sake of the people...

For the sake of my future...

For the sake of claiming my birthright...

Even if my brother was ahead of me...

I would gladly accept being his competitor for that seat.

And should I fail, then at least...

Find a proper partner...

...

...

...

But such a plan never goes as I expected...

My mind was too narrow...

I should have realized this sooner...

The day I laughed at the fact that my family tree carried corrupt people in the past.

Where I laughed beside Estel and Lana throwing it as both a truth and a joke.

Soon came to haunt me like a poison that struck deep into my life.

A certain moment in my life that I will never forget.

________________________________________________________________________________

[It's been two days since Estel and Lana's dissapearance.
Neither of them could be brought to the party as Lana was taken away by her family to recover while Estel was in a strange new circumstance... the kind where I could never interfere.

And now...
Using my stubborn will, I persuaded my father and brother to allow me to join them at the party.
They showed disturbed smiles telling me that it's dangerous.

But I did not relent, because I myself wished to know who is the one stirring trouble in our family.

My father soon sighed and allowed me to come.
He told me the reason and purpose of why they were going there.

It appears my father wished to discuss with the dukes regarding the aggressive movement of the order of light and personal disputes amongst them regarding whose sons and daughter would be fit to be the queen or king.

The meeting was held at Dusk.

Under the orange sky...

Things made a terrible turn as it's color seemed to turn red the moment we reached its halls...]

In a place known as the Great Hall, a meeting place of dukes and nobles alike.
It carried great history, in my family as it was also the place where the territory of Bristle grew.

This was the moment in front of her family, who had entered the party.
Her brother Lance, her father the King and she herself who sought to converse with the ongoing trouble had escalated beyond their imagination.

All four dukes had completely betrayed them as the priest of the order soon came to the hall behind them with soldiers and arms ready to capture them.

Lance had a pale and troubled look, the knights beside them all had their weapons ready in their hands while surrounded and outnumbered by the four dukes of the great household of bristle.

While Leanne herself displayed a frozen expression on her face full of confusion.

This...
It was her first party...
It was also the moment...

She realized.

They weren't permitting her to join parties simply because of her punishment.
From the very beginning they were afraid of something dangerous like this to happen.
And this was a terrible moment for her to be headstrong about it.

Regret and Terror then slowly filled her heart.

...

...

...

During this moment...

Leanne's father then laughed at them...
It was the type of sinister laughter that Leanne and Lance could only hear when he is cornered.
Usually happens during a spar against a skilled knight where he lavished a good fight.

"Ha-ha-ha..." he chuckled to them despite the odds.

"I came here with my son and daughter to discuss the topic regarding the aggression of the Order towards our country...

and what do I see here?

My own subjects choosing to band together to follow an order who slandered the king of its own nation?" As he said these words one of the priests alongside the dukes then cried out.

"King? what king?

A King that chose to ally with the demons and experimented on his own dead wife to resurrect her from the dead, while causing mass hysteria inside his own palace and scaring his own populace!?

What kind of king are you?

You are nothing more than an ingrate playing with the dead!?

A necromancer who could not accept the death of his own wife!
You have broken a taboo by allying with the demons!
Do you not think we do not know what your family has-"

As the priest babbled and preached his words, Leanne's father had thrown a large blade from his waist aimed at the priest with intense accuracy.

*A pin-point struck to his skull, a swift end to his words.*

The distance between them was large as he stood atop the second floor where observers gaze at a performance or wish to see the dancing nobles up high. All watched in horror at the skill of the man they know as their king.

But things became clearer now that the priests had opened its mouth.

It is already widely known that the dukes are starving for more power as they compete with one another.

Most of the dukes were undoubtedly fooled or simply chose to ride the favorable wind to claim the throne for themselves. An opportunity which presented itself for them to rebel against their own king and claim more power for themselves.

Leanne and Lance gazed at their father in shock and amazement his smile was that of excitement with an intense fury. Every soldier in the room who held a crossbow swiftly aimed at them with trembling hands.

Gazing at the mad man whom...

In a few moments...

Fearlessly managed to shut the preaching priest at a large distance above them by standing at the halls despite the disadvantage his men were in.

Normally a normal soldier would have panicked and betrayed him by now...

However, the knights who were with them.
Were personally trained by the king of bristle.
Their eye's held a thirst for blood for those who had betrayed the throne.
Selected amongst the kingdom's skilled warriors and soldiers that had been personally interviewed by the king himself as sparring partners.

In times of war, they were known as the Bristle Knights who made a name for themselves as fought like frenzied boars on the battlefield while they fiercely defended their king as he charged forward into battle.

Lance who had learned from his father's personality was already clearly aware of what was about to transpire.

His father was not the kind to simply let such an atrocity escape when it's right in front of him.

Because...

He was the type of man who would gladly take his enemies down with him for the sake of his beloved queen and wife.

He pulled his own children in his arm with a deep embrace, his muscular arms and tight embrace at his children.

One- Last- time he then whispered to them.

"Leanne...
Lance...
Watch everything that happens here carefully.

Do not blink even for a moment.
Watch the last moment of your father." as he said these words.

The two siblings' eyes widened as he said those words.

One of the dukes then shouted to him.
His sweaty palm and dry throat feeling the anxiety of what the king he had served was thinking.
Many of the duke's had only heard stories of the King of their own nation to be a battle crazed warrior who had slain a wyvern, but none would believe it.

"Won't you surrender your majesty?

You should be aware that your son and daughter would not escape here in scathed if you provoked a battle with such unfavorable conditions.

So... be reasonable and lower your men's weapons!" He desperately cried out.
________________________________________________________________________________

Indeed...
Things looked grim.
Crossbow on the second floor of the room while they stood in the center in the middle of the hall with only at least twenty knights at their side.

Attempting to push for a battle would be suicide as crossbow bolts would undoubtedly kill all of them.

That is...
Of course...
If only they were common soldiers.

The king when leaving his castle always has the Bristle knights at his side.
Having old veteran's lavish in the hunt while being in the forest to aid lessen bandits and monsters in the forest or have a cheerful peaceful moment away from being a king.

They were the reason why the forests of bristle were kept safe.
Hunting day by day training them into an elite force of the kingdom.
Under his name.

Before he became a king he was a virtuous knight.
The one who gave him the crown was the princess herself who he had once saved.
Which is now the Queen.

That was his past, his name during those time was simply "Art the Slayer Of Dragon."
As he once slew a wyvern that once threatened the city.

Throwing a large blade right straight in its eyes.
And finally leaping from a crumbling building where he threw the knife, he struck its head with a large ax.
________________________________________________________________________________

Before turning and standing in front of the dukes in front of them with their baffled faces.
Each one gazed at him as they stood in the wide hallways where a supposed celebration was about to begin, each one wearing garments used to trick him with only their soldiers well-armored.

Most of the people who were poorly dressed were lower aristocrats that were either innocent bystanders or fellow collaborators.

But just like the king himself, the only one who carried them was his knights.

He then calmly stood.
Turning to his knight's eyes gazing at him with a fierce gaze giving him a calm nod.
[I leave the rest to you all...] were his thoughts to them.

Calmly he turned his body towards them and smiled at the duke who glared at him.
Soldiers behind him gripping their weapon tightly their crossbows aimed at the king.

Leanne who watched the scene was frozen unable to comprehend what was happening.
Her brother swiftly grabs her small body stopping her from chasing him carrying her like a princess and having covered by knights as they created a wall of shield around them.

Raising their shields preparing for the bolts about to fall upon them.

As he walked towards the duke he then said these words.

"Leanne!"

"Lance!"

He shouted the sibling's names as he walked calmly.

"Watch Closely!"

Surrounded the dukes were on his left and right above the second floor glaring at him as he approached the center of the hall.

"And tell your mother!"

One of the dukes on the left then shouted.
"Have you gone insane!"

With a grin on his face, he then was in perfect range for each of them as he threw two knives in the opposite direction where the two dukes stood.

In shock and surprise, one of the dukes was instantly killed while the other on the right was protected by a skilled guard. With two more knives, he tossed it at the two dukes.

But soldiers in the front shielded the two away from harm.

"That I fulfilled my promise to her!"

He was pelted by bolts from crossbows.

With every bolt striking his body as he kneeled.
But despite his impending demise, he was smiling...
Two soldiers then rushed right behind him.

Crossbowmen fired a few bolts aimed at them, but their speed was inhuman as they reached their king and used his body as leverage to jump higher in great fury.

The king endured their weight as he coughed up blood as he remained kneeling.

[Their aim: was the duke nobles who betrayed the royal family hiding behind the enemy rank.]

There was one rule to the bristle knights which the king had once told them.

"Should I fall in battle!
Promise me this!

Make sure to claim the life of the bastards that killed me!

And drag them to the depths with us!"

That was the greatest wish of the king who commanded the most beloved Knights.
During wartime, all of the knights who had sworn allegiance to him.
All laughed as he said those words.

He who leads them cleansed the monsters of his nation.
Became a hero of his kingdom.
Beloved by his soldiers and those who had pledged their loyalty to him.

But never once had they thought that such a thing could happen...
Up until now...

With a smile on their faces, they drove the unarmored dukes to the floor with a wide grin on their faces before being impaled by the weapons of their enemy.

The king who gazed at them had a wide smile as he watched his knight bring them down.

[Oh my lovely wife...
Thank you for showing me...

The kind of Life which I aspired to have.]

As he uses the last of his strength to turn to his beloved children.

To catch one final glimpse of them.

[I pray they survive this...]

He then smiled, while remaining in a kneeling pose as the last of his breath leaves him.

Leanne watched the scene as she bursts into tears.
Crying for her own father who had spoiled her to no end.

The light in his eyes soon reflected the fragments of his own memories in his final moments.
__________________________________________________________________________

// Art the King and his daughter. //

"Tell me my child...

Do you want to become a Queen-like your mother?"

His daughter at the age of 5 was beside him while gazing at the blue sky of the gardens.
She then replied to him.
"No way."

Her father then burst into laughter.
"If your mother heard you...
She would punish you for saying that you know?"

She then asked with a teary eye on her face.
"Are you...
going to...
tell mom?"

He then laughed at his own daughter.
"That's not going to work on me, missy."

With a wide frown from on her face, he then said to her.
"But your right, being a leader of a country sucks."

Leanne then tilted her head with an annoyed expression she then asked.
"Why?"

He then said to her.
"Because the responsibility is heavy.
Problems keep coming one after another.
If you're not strong enough.
You cannot do what you really want to do.

Which is why...
Leanne...
Make sure...

To not let others cause you to lose yourself.
Alright?"

She made a pouting face then replied to him.
"I'm going to tell mom about this!"

To which he retorts with a wide smile on his face.
"If you did that, I'll tell her what you said."

The young girl soon showed an agitated face feeling cornered by her own father.
While he chuckled at her...

[I suppose...
It was my fault why Leanne became quite a mischievous child.

But even so...
I'm glad...
She became such a strong lass...] were her Art's final thoughts.

Before his last breath in the vivid last images of his demise.

Leanne gets dragged away reaching for her father.

The sound of shields and bolt of arrow struck as the soldiers solidified their defense pushing towards the exit.

[The windows.]

The entrance and exit were barricaded, only a few can get out of this place alive.
Those who knew the circumstances knew it was their final moments before their lives are extinguished.  

Some of the knights even leaped with inhuman strength to reach the crossbowmen on the second floor, even if they took a few bolts just to slay the threats above them.

Truly fitting of their name, they successfully pushed their way outside as a few crossbowmen were able to follow.

From twenty knights to seven.

[It was that day where...
Only the sound banging shield and clanging of swords clamor in my Leanne's Ears.]

Three were gravely injured, her brother was fortunate enough to not take bolts as each of the knights used their shield and body to cover them. But as they fled towards the forest, the three knights were severely wounded leaving only four left to assist the two in their escape.

Four enemy soldiers managed to cut them off in front of them.
The knights with them were drained and wounded.

Their swords were wavering and slowly stepping backward while swinging their blades to deter their advance while delaying their escape.

Her brother who was carrying Leanne was also exhausted his expression went grim as their situation went for the worst.

Leanne then said to her brother carrying her like a princess.
"That's enough, I know what is happening...
So put me down..."

As tears fell from her eyes she gazed at him with a serious expression.

He followed her words.
Turning to the knights in front of her with both sides.

[Without a moment to weep...
Without a moment to say good-bye...
He just stood and walked there like it was a sunny day...

Only for him to just disappear.]

Crackles of lightning came from her hand as the yellow amber jewel shined on her arm, she then released a spark of lightning towards the sky.

This alone terrorized both ally and enemy.
Her brother was surprised at the sudden change he was gazing at...

The once lazy sister of his who refused to learn to fend for herself.
Had become a threatening figure reminding him of his own mother.

[I wanted to at least show him...
That I was strong now...

No.
Even now.
I remained a COWARD.] her thoughts flowed in such an intricate line.

Her body soon crackled with lightning as the air around her changed into a sparkling glow.

[I've been afraid of pain...
But this time, it hurts so much...

That his pain in my body.
Doesn't even matter anymore.]

Leanne had finally understood...
The answer of Estel's grandfather had once privately said to her during a moment of their training:

["Thunder is quite a terrifying element, isn't it?
It hurts just by using it and this alone makes it difficult.

But you shouldn't fear the pain it brings with it.

Because you are the one who called it forth.
And will only harm you if you continue to let that fear control you."]

[Why...
Did this happen?] she asked yet none would answer her thoughts.

She then walked towards the wounded knights who are now facing a dilemma.
Noticing the magic around her, they were aware of what she intended to do next.

While the soldiers were puzzled only to notice the young girl with a strange glow around her.
 
[Was it my fault?]

Leanne whose expression was filled with anger and loss.
Swung her hand sideways, producing a thunderous wave shocking the soldiers in front of her.

They all kneeled from the shock they took, but it wasn't enough to stop them.
As they soon began to stand again and recover.

[Was it my family's fault?]

Gazing at the men in front of her she felt bitter anger in her heart.

As the sky began to crackle with thunder.
Leanne then said while raising her right hand.

"Why...
Are you so desperate to stop us!?
Aren't you the people whom my family had fought for!?"

In anger, she furiously lowered her right hand towards the ground.

The spell was Invoked by that simple action.
『Thunder』

Crackles of light forged into the sky as it fell from the sky.
Chaining together on the soldiers in their way.
Until they all collapsed as smoke came from their bodies.

Her brother was astonished...
Watching her mournful expression
he then heard the sound of something moving in the bushes above them.

To his terror...
It was a crossbowman aiming for her from behind,
Now that Leanne had chosen to use her magic against them.

The soldiers saw her as a threat.

Pulling the trigger the bolt was released,
With a green jewel on his ring,
he Blessed his own feet with the wind,

He dashed to her side merely inches away from her.

Leanne then heard the sound of a cry from her brother behind her.
Blood from his shoulder splattered to her face as he fell to the ground.

Aiming her hand towards the crossbowman to perform a counter.
One of the bristle Knights were already a step as he soon threw a knife killing the soldier.

"Your highness...
Don't waste your Strength and Go!" One of them shouted.

"We will slow them down!" the second knight said.

Biting her lips, aware of the situation she carried her brother's shoulder and fled.

No time to mourn.
No time to weep.
As the carrier of their family linage, they must survive.

________________________________________________________________________________
// Extra piece. //

One of the knights then complained.

"If only I knew this was going to happen.
I wish I could have plowed my wife one last time..."

As the rest of the knight with him laughed with more soldiers carrying crossbows coming their way.
"You will eventually see her soon enough." one of the knights said to him.

"I hope so..." he said before charging and before, being shot down by bolts.

________________________________________________________________________________

Explanation of the chapter:

To those who read this:
Be aware that the enemy in the story is close to realism.
No fool will attack a peaceful country that possesses powerful connections willy nilly.

Of course, there are back-up plans and multiple schemes moving in the story.

Each true to their own desires and ambitions.

Why is there no magic involved in this fight?
Answer: there's no point when a crossbow can simply just shoot straight to the heart before they could chant their fancy spells.

[Bristle is a merchant city and not a city built upon magic.]