“Please, Your Majesty. Entrust me with the task of eliminating them. And when all is done, you may decide my fate as you see fit. If it is death I deserve—as one tied by blood to the royal family of Lemilsia—then so be it.”
Still towering over Noah, Volkhard was unmoved. “Right now, the immediate threats are Claudia’s continued sleep and the Lemilsian invasion—and I suspect both can be traced to a single root.”
“Yes, I believe so, Your Majesty,” Noah said, still bowing his head.
Even now, Volkhard had not fully regained his lost memories. It was likely that Claudia’s continued sleep was the result of the spell cast on her by Dorothea long ago. In fact, Claudia’s body being unable to withstand Adelheid’s magic might have had something to do with that spell as well.
It makes no sense for a vessel chosen to receive such a soul to be unfit to contain its power. That is...unless her body was never meant to contain that soul. It is possible that Lady Dorothea altered her fate after birth.
Perhaps it had all been done to hide her from pursuers.
Or perhaps Lady Dorothea’s spell failed in some way...
Noah lowered his head and shut his eyes. “If we assume those who are seeking to claim Adelheid are involved in both the reason for Her Highness remaining asleep and the invasion from Lemilsia, then my path is clear. I must—”
Just as he was about to propose a plan of action, a violent tremor shook the throne room.
Karlheinz turned, already assuming a defensive posture. “Your Majesty.”
Volkhard looked at the ceiling toward the unseen barrier that enclosed the capital like a great dome, now under assault. “Well, well. They’ve arrived sooner than expected.”
Karlheinz stepped before his king protectively, then turned to his future successor. “Noah.”
“The chapel hasn’t been disturbed,” Noah reported. “I wove a cloaking spell into the barrier there. It should keep the princess hidden from them.”
Noah had used an additional protective barrier to fortify the sanctuary where Claudia lay. Even if intruders breached the castle, they would not find her easily.
Karlheinz turned back to the king. “That strike was a warning—an intimidation tactic, meant to prompt surrender.”
“Indeed. They couldn’t possibly believe that would have shattered the barrier.”
Meanwhile, Noah’s thoughts churned.
This magic... There’s no doubt who it belongs to...
Noah recognized the magic that had attacked the barrier. Make no mistake—it was Sieghart’s.
Beneath that, however, there was something else. Something more subtle and familiar, a second presence tangled with the first.
This isn’t just Sieghart. Someone else is with him—someone whose magic I recognize.
The realization made his skin crawl. The chief conjurer of Lemilsia must have been someone whom Noah had met before.
But who?
Among the people Noah had interacted with in Lemilsia, none besides Sieghart were still alive. Moreover, there were few people whose magical signature he would’ve known so clearly.
Suddenly, a single name rose unbidden in Noah’s mind.
Anna.
His younger sister—dead these many years.
Anna is gone. It cannot be. And yet...
Noah suddenly remembered what his uncle had said to him when he had pleaded to see Anna’s body to mourn her. He had laughed and said that he had given the order for his conjurers to toss her remains somewhere in the capital.
I learned Anna had died the same day I met Her Highness, and my life changed forever.
But Noah now asked himself, Was that truly the only thing that changed?
He thought back to the events that had followed the encounter that had changed his fate. And now, a new possibility dawned in his mind.
“If I may, Your Majesty,” he said quietly.
What had struck the capital’s barrier was something like a wedge, meant to slowly widen a gap and forcibly tear the shield apart.
As Karlheinz had said, it had been a warning shot: a show of power to demand surrender before the real invasion began.
But even if battle broke out, it would still take about an hour before the barrier truly gave out.
“I am well aware that I am unworthy of your trust, and that I deserve punishment. However, if you will permit it, I would humbly request one final selfish act.” Noah bowed deeply once more. “I will give everything to eliminate Her Highness’s enemies. For that purpose, and for this battle alone, may I—”
“Karlheinz,” Volkhard said, cutting off Noah’s plea. “We’ll test it now. A bit earlier than planned.”
“Your Majesty, are you certain?”
“I intended to do this from the start. The timing has simply come sooner than we thought.”
Noah didn’t understand, but as he stood there, puzzled, Volkhard called his name.
“Noah.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
To Noah’s surprise, what came next were not words of condemnation.
“You shall command the army during this assault. Meet the enemy, and repel them.”
Noah instinctively raised his head despite knowing it was disrespectful to do so.
Volkhard leaned against the armrest of the throne, watching him with what almost looked like amusement.
“I said I entrust everything to you. If needed, you may place Karlheinz under your command as well.”
“If I may, Your Majesty,” Noah began. “This battle will decide the future of Avianoia. To entrust it to someone like me—”
“I granted you the right to remain at Claudia’s side, and with that came the weight of duty. I am now commanding you to fulfill that duty, that is all.”
There were countless other uses for a prince of an enemy nation.
That Noah had entered the kingdom under a false identity was enough to brand him a traitor and a threat to national security. Volkhard’s treatment of him was, by any measure, extraordinarily generous.
“Or perhaps, you mean to suggest I must join the front lines myself?” Volkhard chuckled.
Noah let out his breath. “I would never ask that of you, Your Majesty.” Then, rising quietly to his feet, he offered a proper bow once more. “Even Your Majesty’s entire army is more than I deserve. The knights should remain under Lord Karlheinz’s command.”
At that point, Noah stood up straight. He was serious. “What I ask instead is this: Grant me authority over the princes and the visiting dignitaries from abroad.”
Volkhard did not stifle the bellowing laugh that escaped his lips.
It was a bold request—one that exceeded any ordinary knight’s station—but Volkhard decided to allow it.
“Go.”
“As Your Majesty commands.”
Noah immediately began weaving a teleportation spell, searching for the coordinates he needed.
First, I’ll ensure Her Highness’s safety. And then...
His heart beat steadily in his chest.
✦ ✦ ✦
After watching Noah disappear, Volkhard crossed one leg over the other.
“Now then, Karlheinz,” he said, grinning at his chief conjurer. “The woman who changed your fate was Dorothea, wasn’t it?”
“I am honored Your Majesty remembers such trifling stories about someone as lowly as I am.”
Karlheinz’s expression didn’t change. Meanwhile, a multitude of glowing letters danced across the palm of his hand. The symbols scattered suddenly in all directions as his orders were relayed to the waiting mage knights throughout the kingdom.
“If what Dorothea said is to be believed, then I am fated to die in this attack,” Volkhard said, his tone even. “As are both of my sons.”
She had erased even that from his memory.
“Lady Dorothea truly was a magnificent conjurer,” Karlheinz replied.
“Hmph. She ensured the knowledge was erased, yet she left it buried in my subconscious.”
Despite a hint of irritation, Volkhard watched the light that Karlheinz summoned.
“Looking back, Your Majesty’s decisions ten years ago were remarkably odd,” Karlheinz commented while continuing to issue orders to the other conjurers. “You withdrew troops from the borders despite the unrest there and focused on consolidating your forces. It was almost as if you were preparing for this assault.”
“It appears that Dorothea’s words guided my actions. I wasn’t too picky about the means, so long as she ensured that she left behind a powerful and loyal conjurer.”
His mind drifted back to the obsidian eyes he had first seen in this very castle ten years prior.
“I had even allowed a mysterious child named Noah to remain at my daughter’s side.”
Whether that, too, had been part of Dorothea’s plan, Volkhard could no longer say.
The king closed his eyes.
“There is one vital difference between the future that Dorothea feared and the present we now face—in that world, Leonhard was not Claudia’s knight.”
As he opened his eyes, he rose from the throne.
“The connections that Noah carefully built since Claudia fell into her long sleep have all gathered here, Karlheinz.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“In that other world where I die, it seems you survive. If by some chance you do so here as well—handle things as you see fit.”
“You jest.” Karlheinz sighed so deeply that his behavior bordered on insolence. He finished sending his orders and stepped forward to begin walking alongside Volkhard. “Such remarks would most certainly displease Her Highness.”
In surprisingly high spirits for such a solemn moment, Volkhard laughed heartily.
Karlheinz glanced at him with exasperation as the king quietly spoke to his final consort.
Watch closely, Dorothea. See what form the future you feared will take.