We watched as an orb transmitted light onto a wall and projected images on it. The entire fanclub was watching the video intensely. A long time ago, Archduke Francois, gave King Argo an amulet which was said to be spiritually enhanced to protect him. In truth, we had just placed an observation rune on it, allowing us to see through the amulet with this orb, a rare artifact of ancient origin. This could've been used for other better purposes, but these old perverts had other ideas...

It only worked when the king had it on, so when the king gave it to the heroes’ teacher, it deactivated, as expected. However, a few days later, the amulet activated without any clear explanations. The group gathered whoever was nearby and watched.

What we saw was that the heroes’ teacher was looking at a demon as she stabbed herself. When it was all over, the images flicked for a bit before returning to normal. After the sudden lag, the teacher was checking on the children. Luckily, the children were still fine. However, the teacher went through his robes and we saw some scrolls.

“Scholar Maynard or scholar Barros, could you translate those scrolls?” Archduke Francois asked. We couldn’t understand what the scrolls were saying. Scholar Maynard was the first one to step up.

“Could it be this one? No, what the hell is this?” The white-robed hero priest was muttering to himself as he held the scroll in front of where the amulet.

“Quickly, Maynard. What does that say?”

“That’s Ancient Commons….wait...Im...Immort….IMMORTALITY?!” Maynard screamed. The entire fanclub was startled.

“Wait, are you sure?!” The archduke grabbed Maynard by the shoulders and shook him.

“It does say immortality!” The scholar confirmed.

“Are you sure?! Such a thing couldn’t possibly just be a spell!” A noble pointed out.

“Scrolls not only contain spells, but sometimes rituals and instructions,” The scholar explained.

“What if it’s used?” Another noble asked.

“Scrolls are only one-time use if you are not aware. If this man has an immortality scroll, it means that he had not used it!” Scholar Maynard answered.

“How do we know if it’s not fake?” Another question rang up.

“Well, we can’t know just by seeing. I will have to get the scroll itself...but I doubt he would just hand the scroll to us!” The scholar finished.

“Ah! Here it is!” The teacher took out another scroll and held onto it. The club didn’t notice but probably didn’t care. The fanclub was filled with people with undying loyalty and love for the royal blood and King Argo. Many years ago, King Argo’s wife died during childbirth. He was so distraught from the loss of his beloved wife that he vowed not to take another woman. This caused problem with the succession.

At first, the nobles tried to introduce many women to him. But eventually, they gave up and accepted his resolved. The fact that he vowed eternal devotion, love and resolve only added reasons as to why the nobles were crazy for him. They went so crazy, they decided to take it up a notch - To make the king live forever. Many years had passed by when we started searching for answers. But this was the closest we could get.

“Brothers! We are doing this for the king! Justice is on our side! It’s obvious the teacher is just a scum who is trying to swindle our beloved king and poison his mind! The traitor must be disposed!” Archduke Francois proclaimed. The entire fanclub cheered. Damn! These nutjobs were going to murder an innocent man! And not only that, he was the teacher of the heroes! Wasn’t this treason to the non-demons?!

“Duke Travor, anything to say?” The leader of these lunatics called out to me.

“Me? Oh, nothing. I’d say it’s an excellent idea! ‘Long live the king’...more like ‘Forever live the king’, right? Ha ha ha…” I replied back nervously. When I said that, I received more praises and cheers from the nobles, slamming each other's mugs for a three cheers.

Most of the Sane Nobles faction wasn’t in the capital so I wasn’t not sure how I could help the teacher. Damn it! I felt so miserable being so powerless. Teacher, I pray to the Goddess that She protects you!

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“Hooa?!” The angel jumped back as a fire spontaneously started on my head, which I quickly put out.

Who the hell was praying for me?!

Well, moving on. I decided to try the ‘Summon Hero’ ritual again. The King allowed me to use the divination room but he told me it’s no use except for certain days. I wasn’t sure about that so when I checked the divination room, sure enough, the angel was available.

“So, angel, what’s your name?” I asked as I slowly fixed the ritual.

“Oh..oh, me?! Ah..no...you wouldn’t want to hear it...it’s..it’s embarrassing for me!” She muttered as she shook her head.

“Oh come on, it couldn’t be as bad as ‘Rafael the Slayer of the Void-things, Killer of Whatever and On’ or the other angels?” I stood up patting my hands.

“We..well...if..if milord promised that you wouldn’t laugh...” She lowered her head.

“Sure. I wouldn’t!”

“It’s...It’s Clouds. It’s funny, right? A weird name for an angel like me...maybe I’m just weird…” She struggled to pour the words out of her mouth.

“Whoooa. Clouds! It’s such a cute name!” I laughed.

“M-mi-milord! You promised not to laugh!” She cried as she lightly punched my arm.

“I’m so sorry! It’s just so cute! Most angels I knew had such boring names that I didn’t think anyone else would have a brain to name themselves something else.” I shrugged.

“Well...I named myself so when I fell as an angeling and my wings wouldn’t work..but….your lordship...saved….and your arms felt as soft as the clouds...” Clouds’ voice slowly got softer as she explained.

“Hmm? Pardon me? I couldn’t hear the last few bits, my ears doesn’t work as well as they used to unless I put focus on them, you see,” I asked.

“Nothing important, milord!” She straightened herself and gave me a light smile. Well, whatever. I took out the summoning scroll accidentally and checked it. Scrolls were one-time use but I made a few scrolls that could be repeatedly used as long as certain conditions were fulfilled. I checked out the summoning scroll and it seemed dead.

‘Summon Hero’

Warning! Choking Hazard!

0% mana charge. Please connect charger!

Oh bloody hell! I had to charge this damned thing! Well, whatever. We already etched the ritual runes so we could save time when we have to use it again later. I told the angel that I had to constantly pour mana onto the scroll which would take a few days.

“Oh, that’s fine, milord. The divination room will always be available to you.” She bid me farewell as I head out of the divination room. I decided to go enjoy my VIP treatment while I’m stuck here in the royal palace until I could get my replacement.

I might as well form a new dungeon core for that spirit inside the dungeon.

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“This is the poison. It’ll only take a few drips to kill him but if you really want him dead, try to find a way to make him drink a lot of it,” An assassin informed me. It was soon time for lunch and the Archduke had personally chosen me, Count Froy, as the man devoted and competent enough to kill the traitorous scum!

It’s obvious that he was a traitorous scum. Why would he keep that immortality scroll? He should’ve given it to the king earlier! Perhaps he was planning on disposing the king and using the scroll for himself?!

I nodded at the assassin and I walked into the dining room then joined the table. I tried to sit closest to the traitor scum. Since the king had taken a liking to him, I better be careful not to get the king’s attention...at least for now...I’d love to get ALL his attention for myself! Mwhahaha!

When we started eating, I called out to the scum, “My friend and hero! Why not try my house’s special sauce! Just pour a drip of it over your soup!” I handed the bottle to him.

“Well, I have no idea as to why you have a bottle hidden up your pockets but this doesn’t seem suspicious at all!” He happily turned the bottle over his soup. When he did, the bottle cap got loose and accidentally spilled the entire content into the soup. My plan worked! I’m a genius!

“Ah! The bottle seemed loose!” The teacher wiped his gloves with cloth.

“That’s fine! I said just a drip just for a taste test, but it should be used in excessive amount for best taste!” I told him. Dumb fool!

“Is that so? Let me see…” He used a spoon to mix the poison together then drank some. I could clearly see that the spoon went inside his mouth hole of his mask, so my job here was done! Just had to wait for him to die and we could take his body away for ‘inspection’.

…

Any minute now…

…

“How does it taste, friend?” King Argo asked the guy who was supposed to die.

“It tastes amazing actually!” The teacher replied.

“Mind if I have a taste?” King Argo requested.

“Sure.” The traitor scum passed the bowl across the table towards the King Argo.

Nooooooooooo!

“Wait! My king! It’s...Oh no! I am addicted to the sauce! Yum! Slurp! I’m so sorry for taking this soup! Glub glub!” I grabbed the bowl and started drinking it.

“Oooh...I see. Well, then Count Froy, I hope that you would send me a bottle later! And don’t drink it all, ha ha!” The King laughed. GASP. He said my name! My majestic lord had called my name! I was just so happy that...that...my stomach was going burst!

“I...I have to go to the toilet!” I rushed out of the room into the toilet. Curse you and bless you traitor scum for this!

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“Eh? So a noble died doing his business in the toilet? That must be harsh,” The robed man commented as I had an idle chat with him. Our first attempt to kill him ended in failure. That idiot Count Froy! He nearly got our beloved king dead! He deserved it!

“What exactly is your name, by the way?” I asked him as I walked with him upstairs. I was trying to lead him to a balcony that was secluded from everyone else. We, members of the fanclub, worked together as much as we could to keep people from this side of the castle just for today.

“Hm? Just..er...call me Bar. Yeah. Bar,” The teacher said to me. Obviously a fake name or an alias, but I was just trying to distract him so I didn’t care.

“So, Bar, I know you loved looking at the wonderful sights around the castle a lot,” I mentioned.

“Oh! Indeed, I most certainly do. How did you know?” He asked me. Well, I had to many nobles and spies stalk him on a daily basis to acquire as much information about his schedule as possible. Also, through the observation amulet, we could learn about his habits. For some reason, this man doesn’t sleep often or use the toilet at all. Was this from one of his scrolls? If so, perhaps the immortality scroll was the real deal!

“Just a guess. The reason why I’m asking you that is because I wanted to show you this balcony. It has an amazing view! You could see the entire capital city from there,” I boasted. Well, it was true anyway. But that was not the only reason why I chose that balcony. Not only was it secluded, it was high enough to ensure a kill should the need to kick him off the balcony arrive.

I took him to the balcony by the corridor and he was fascinated by the entire sight. However, behind us was one of the deadliest assassins in the region. He managed to sneak behind his target, Bar, while I distracted him by making small talk. When he was close enough, the assassin took out a mithril dagger and plunged it into his side!

Bar bled all over the floor, slowly crying for help but no one could hear him. We dropped his body off the balcony after getting the immortality scroll, then we finally gave immortality to the king and we all lived happily ever after. Except...that didn’t happen.

The assassin looked at his dagger as it was squished down. What in the Goddess’ name?! The assassin tried to fix his dagger but it was bent beyond repairs. He tried to look for an alternative way to kill him but he had no choice but to push him off the balcony. The assassin took a stance and tried to push Bar off the balcony.

But the famed killer struggled to push the skinny robed man off the balcony. I got distracted by the struggle that I didn’t see Bar rotate his body. The assassin ended up hugging the heroes’ teacher.

“Gah?! What in the fiery blazes of Hell?! Look, I respect your Angolian traditions of hugging, but I want you to respect my personal space! I’m out of here!” Bar quickly ran out of the corridor and left only the assassin and I.

“You hugged the enemy of the king!” I accused the assassin.

“Wait, hold on, that wasn’t…” I pushed him off the balcony and plunged him to his death. The assassin was obviously a traitor, too! I was sure he was pretending that he couldn’t kill Bar, he had to go!

So, there goes another failed assassination attempt! I stomped my feet in anger. There were traitors all over the place! I would have to gather the fanclub again for another meeting. Just you wait, Bar! We’ll kill you and take your scroll!