On the mountaintop which held the Alsenian Kingdom’s capital was a vast garden with a single stone canopy held up by giant golden pillars. Under the canopy stood a giant circular wood table and around ten chairs. The table was made from a single disk cut from the largest tree found in Empire territory during the great siege sixty years prior. A trophy of sorts.

Sitting at the table was the Alsenian King, Appius. He looked to be in a rather good mood as he watched the sunset. Although, he was actually quite worried. He hated meetings, especially when they involved another countries representative. He did in fact, want a war. However, he didn’t want to waste his time on the nations he was meeting with. None of them had anything he wanted nor any decent enough soldiers to make him want to fight them.

In the distance from various passes, he could see carriages each with a small platoon of soldiers to guard them. He knew that they were only being cautious but he didn’t understand why the other country’s representatives couldn’t protect themselves. With a sigh, he reached for a pitcher of wine he had set on the table and began pouring himself some into a cheap wooden goblet. Although it looked cheap, it was in fact an old ancient heirloom that had been passed down the family line from the time that the Alsenian nation was just a bunch of traveling war tribes. For nearly six hundred years the goblet had taken the flavors of every drink put into it to make something he considered magical.

Just as he was about to take his first sip a woman dressed in a thin loose-fitted dress walked out to the canopy. Rather than looking annoyed, he seemed happy to see the woman and began filling one of the glass goblets sitting on the table for her. As she approached him he held out the glass to her with a delighted smile.

“Thank you.” she said with a concerned look before sitting down at the seat next to him. Although she was dressed in regal attire she didn’t look to act regal in any fashion. Her hair had been tied up in a rush and she had a bit of dirt on her hands.

“I see that you have been gardening again, my Queen?” King Appius said before taking a sip of his wine.

“I have. If I didn’t then I would be quite bored. Plus, I don’t see any reason why I can’t take some stress of the gardener’s shoulders. She works so hard for us each day.” She replied.

“I guess you can’t stop old habits. Though that’s what I like most about you, Vita.” The King said with a smile.

“What?” Vita asked with a questionable smile.

“You never act like your better than everyone else. The other noblewoman always act like pricks who think that they’re better than everyone else. You, on the other hand, speak to me as a friend who actually cares about other people.” he replied with a chuckle.

“Yes, but you forget that I am no noblewoman. You met me in my father’s barn when you were staying at the local lord’s home.” she corrected.

“Ah, right. Was I there to buy a Norhs? I can’t remember.” Appius asked with a joking smile as he referred to the sturdy creatures used to pull farm equipment and carts.

“I believe that you were hiding because you had stolen some vegetables from the farm next door and was nearly caught.” she said.

“That doesn’t sound like me?” he replied with an unconvincing lie.

“Then I beat you up thinking that you were trying to steal one of my fathers Norhs. After you explained yourself we became good friends.” she said with a somewhat annoyed tone.

“Now that definitely didn’t happen.” he said knowing full well that that happened.

“It did, but that’s not important. What seems to be bothering you? You wouldn’t be out here in the war room this early unless if something bothered you.” she asked with a concerned tone.

“It’s nothing much. I’m just worried about our children.” Appius replied.

“What for? All three of our children are excellent. We have prepared them for everything. Gaius is an excellent tactician who is well respected among those in the royal court. Lucia is an outstanding warrior who was given a military squad to lead without us doing anything. And Maria is so smart that she was chosen to be that recluse of a Grand Mage’s disciple.” Vita asked as she made some very valid points.

“I have no doubt about our children’s skills. What I worry about is what will happen when I am gone. They all have equal rights to the throne as they are all the same age. However, each one of them is backed by a different group. Gaius is backed by the court, Lucia is backed by the military, and Maria is backed by the Mages. A three-way civil war will break out if I don’t choose a legitimate heir. Plus, they all have their weaknesses. Lucia has no idea how the real world works, Maria is an avid schemer who usually causes problems for others, and Gaius, well, Gaius dotes on Maria a little too much.” Appius said before drinking what was left in the goblet.

“That is true. How long have you been worried about this?” Vita asked with a concerned and affectionate tone.

“A good couple of years. I was just trying to think of ways that they could prove themselves in order for me to make my decision easier.” Appius said as Vita filled his goblet back up.

“But why is it that you are now getting worried about it? You’re not that old.” Vita asked.

“Because I know that if I do in fact fight a hero then there is a good chance that I will die. I don’t want my children to suffer because of my battle fetish.” Appius replied truthfully. However, Vita couldn’t help but chuckle at her husband openly saying that he had a battle fetish.

“Forgive me for chuckling but I get why you are worried. Just let me handle the affairs involving how to decide a successor. You just focus on the war meeting. We’ll discuss what I came up with after that, okay?” she offered.

“Well, Maria did get her scheming nature from you so I have faith in you. Thank you for talking with me. We can discuss it further after the meeting.” Appius said before giving Vita a kiss.

“You’re welcome, but I think that discussing this further can wait till the night after the meeting.” Vita replied as she kissed him back.

“I like where this is going!” The King said with an intrigued smile.

Ending their conversation, the Queen left the garden and returned to the castle with the King walking behind her. As soon as they entered the castle a maid went out into the garden and began cleaning off the table so that it was prepared for the coming guests.

* * *
Walking with Sasha down a few hallways, I led her up the stairs to the next level. Strangely, she kept her hands on her weapon at all times. Viewing the surrounding area as if there was some attacker that was going to jump out at us at any given moment. It may have been normal for her but it kind of bothered me that she was so paranoid.

“So how did you end up down here?” Sasha asked with a curious look.

“I guess I was teleported here due to a trap. It’s a long story.” I replied.

“I understand.” she replied but she did not understand.

Continuing on as we were we found no signs of life. Several skeletons sat in various places but there weren’t as many as I thought there would be. Since we were fairly tired due to either just being summoned or because we lost way more blood than we should have we decided to find a good-sized room with an actual door for us to stay in for the night. As soon as we found one I laid down on the floor and used one of the ration bags as a headrest. Sasha on the other hand sat against the wall of the room furthest from the door.

“Sasha, you should just lay down. I can’t see how that position is remotely comfortable.” I said with a bit of concern in my voice.

“It’s not comfortable. If I lay down then I won’t be able to react as quickly to attackers.” Sasha replied with a confident look. Despite her confidence, I could see that she was tired.

“Sasha, if you don’t sleep well then you won’t be in good shape tomorrow. There isn’t anyone here to attack us so you’ll be fine. Maybe there will be one of those weird birds but I doubt they’ll get past the door.” I said.

“I understand your concern but you don’t need to worry. I’ll be fine.” she said.

“I really don’t want to command you to so please just get some rest. I’ll put up a barrier if that makes you feel better.” I said before I pulled the knife that was hidden within my staff out and grabbed the tip of it with my thumb. Piercing through the skin to draw a little bit of blood I began drawing a barrier rune on the floor.

“You win. Pass me one of those bags please.” Sasha said, finally giving in to my request.

“I would but I have my hand full and it’s my only one.” I said as I kept working on drawing the rune.

Grabbing the bag herself she set it on the ground and laid down with her head on it. She couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable from the hard lumpy bag but she ignored it. Letting herself slowly drift off to sleep. Just as I told her, nothing happened throughout the night and we got some much-needed rest.

The next morning I awoke to see Sasha still asleep on the floor. At some point during the night, she had given up on using the ration bag as a pillow and just ended up using her arm. Even so, she still held her AK in her arms as if it was some kind of stuffed animal that she needed to have with her in order to sleep. It was kind of cute. Well, it would be if what she was cuddling with didn’t have the capability to kill someone. However, I wasn’t entirely sure just how deadly it was since all I knew about it came from her book and what she told me herself.

“Come on. It’s time to wake up.” I said as I sat up and illuminated the room with my staff. At some point during the night, my ration bag had moved and I slammed it into the stub of my lost arm while trying to sit up. The pain caused me to wince a bit but it wasn’t too bad. Just a minor annoyance. What annoyed me more was that instead of getting up, Sasha just rolled over.

“I said to get up. We don’t have time to sleep all day. I only have enough rations for both of us to last a single month. If we don’t get out of here by then we will starve.” I said before tapping her with my staff. As soon as I did she rolled across the floor and pointed her AK at me with a worried look on her face.

“Paranoid much? I wish we could sleep longer but it’s time we set off.” I said.

“Understood. May I have some rations?” she asked as if I wasn’t going to allow her to have them.

“Go right ahead. You have your own ration bag so do with it as you will. Just don’t starve or gorge yourself okay.” I replied.

While Sahsa began rummaging through the ration bag I used my knife to scrape off a part of the barrier rune that I had placed down the night before. Once the barrier had been removed I placed my knife back inside my staff and used it to stand up. Walking over to the door I opened it to see a really skinny dog staring at me. Before I had time to shut the door it jumped at me and tried to bite into me. Jamming the side of my staff into its mouth I was able to prevent it from doing so but it started trying to claw at me.

The next thing I knew, all I could hear was a loud boom that echoed within the stone walls followed by the sight of blood splashing out of the side of the dog. The dog fell over to the floor with a thump and a whimper as blood began to slowly seep out of its side. Despite the wound, the dog was still breathing a little bit before finally making one last breath.

“Are you okay?” Sasha asked with what looked like real concern.

“Yeah, thank you. My ears are ringing a bit but otherwise, I’m fine.” I replied with a grateful look.

“Good. There may be more of those things so we should get going.” Sasha said, finally getting what I was telling her before.

“Yeah.” I said as Sasha picked up the round casing from the floor. Somehow, it had hit the roof, wall, then floor in that order after being ejected from the AK. Making a clinking sound every time it made contact with the stone. Looking out the door with Her weapon aimed out we saw at least a dozen more of those beasts. At least now I knew why there were so few corpses on this floor.