I quickly put on the straw hat, which I had only taken with me in order to return it to Krysha, and ran after him.

As I ran behind him toward the tower’s exit, he turned and shouted, “Don’t come after me. I’ll handle this.”

I flicked the side of the hat and immediately felt its vanishing magic taking effect. He watched me disappear.

“Oh, in that case, then I guess you can come!”

There were two men on horseback blocking the road and six more moved toward the back of our convoy in a flanking manner. All of them were dressed in white robes with the shield and staff crest of the Order inlaid in golden thread on the side of their arms.

“Is there a particular reason why we are being delayed, kind sir?” Man said in a firm and loud voice as he gracefully jumped off the wagon.

One of the two men that were still standing in the front looked startled by his sudden appearance.

“Yes. Your kids here told me that you are traders traveling south with Leka An as your destination?” the large man said.

“They are neither mine, nor kids, kind sir,” Man replied in a calm manner as he approached him. “My name is Manal Im. A pleasure to meet you, sir…?”

“My name is none of your concern, manaless,” the man replied haughtily. “You still haven’t replied to my question.”

“Why yes, we are traders from Leka An, finishing our run and bound to return to our country within the month. Is there a problem?” Man asked, and crossed his arms as he stood between the two horses.

“You cannot have failed to hear of the strange incidents surrounding the last liturgies? It is my duty as a captain of the Order to investigate any possible culprits,” the man on the horse replied, looking Man and the others up and down.

“I heard about those incidents, yes, though I have never witnessed a liturgy,” Man began. “This is not our God. I was told that people had difficulties receiving their magic this time. For me, this means that my wares will fetch a much higher price this time around.”

Man smiled. He was very convincing but the Order members were not impressed.

“Only if you manage to cross the Endless Sea with all your wares intact,” replied the captain, reflecting Man’s own smile back at him. He whistled for his riders to return to him.

They soon took a threatening position circling Man.

“My, my, my. You Elysians are so quick to anger,” Man replied, and pulled something out of his pocket. “Don’t you think that a nation losing its mana would do best to keep its good relationship with the future king of its prime trading partner?”

Man now showed what looked like a brooch to the captain of the Order and the faces of the riders instantly changed.

“How did you get hold of the royal crest of Leka An?” the captain asked, all of his confidence now gone. “Can it really be that you are the son of the king?”

What? Did I hear correctly? Man is the son of a king? The heir of the throne to Leka An? I could only imagine the shouts and cheers that this confrontation might have caused in the watch room, which was almost certainly full of people right now.

“The most important question, captain,” Man continued, “is whether you are willing to take your chances?”

Man grinned again, and the captain’s face went through a thousand colors as he tried to hold his anger. Finally, he gave a hard side-nod to his men and they all rode away, past our convoy.

Once the Order was a fair distance away from us, everyone jumped off their wagons and started shouting words of admiration to Man. I flicked my hat once again and joined the group.

“That was extremely cool, Your Majesty,” I said, and gave a grand bow toward him.

Seeing this, the rest of the young men and women also paid their respects in a similar manner, one going as far as almost touching the ground with his forehead.

“Stop it, you fools,” he said defensively. “I just saved us, didn’t I? And for your information, it is ‘Your Royal Highness’. ‘Your Majesty’ is only directed toward kings and queens. Not princes.”

“You played a dangerous game there though, prince,” said his co-rider from the first wagon. “Why didn’t you just go along with their demands?”

“People like him,” Man replied, “think they are above everyone else. They would not have bothered to stop us if they weren’t in the mood to take something or start something.”

“How come you never told us that you’re of royal blood?” I asked him, not really expecting a serious answer.

“I guess it never really came up, to be honest.” He grinned and jumped on his carriage once more. “Let’s get moving people. They may have let us go this time, but we don’t want to hang around near this place for too long.”

Soon enough, our caravan was moving again and I returned to the tower. Even though nobody seemed to sit idly and chat, all discussions for the rest of the day revolved around the fact that Man was a prince and how he confronted the Order.

I also noticed, on four separate occasions, that the possibility of crossing the Endless Sea to reach the kingdom of Leka An was now being talked about in a much more positive light since their prince was one of us. This was encouraging news, since I would never really feel safe staying in this country, even on its southernmost edge.

When Man returned to the tower later that day, a similar scene ensued with people jokingly bowing and calling him, ‘Your Royal Highness’. The fact that people liked and trusted Man gave me hope. This would make our decision when we reached Leskia a little bit easier.

***

I spent the rest of my day practicing my dual sword fighting next to Kard, who was becoming an avid dagger thrower, and Krysha, whose archery skills were developing equally fast. According to her, launching projectiles with a bow was all about calculating velocity and angles, and that was why she had chosen it as her weapon.

After hours of training, I dedicated some time to chatting with Krysha and more of our men and women about defenses, utilizing our inventory and creating more common rooms and recreational activities for our people.

It felt good. I was doing something good and I could take pride in my work.

If only my parents could tell me that they were proud of what I was doing as well. If only they could reassure me that I was going in the right direction.