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The castle was on the western side of the city. The Castle was built upon a high plateau, a singular rock formation with a high cliff to all sides to the castle. To reach the castle there was only a steep road that led to the castle gates. They were Intentionally built at the narrower natural passage to improve its defenses.

Around the castle and following the cliff edges the castle walls helped give structure to the place as well allowing soldiers to patrol and see the land all around the city.

The gates weren’t as big as the one at the city entrance, but they were made of heavy wood logs and iron pins, they spared no expenses on defense.

The guards at the gate were different from the ones from the First Army that were lighter armored. These soldiers used mostly halberds and metal armor. Four of them stood in front of the gates as others stood inside and a couple more were on top of the wall looking down. They promptly opened the path as soon as they saw the Knight Captain inside the carriage.

The Plateau was huge and the castle sat comfortably in the middle of it. The front had a large area from the gate to the castle, an entrance garden with a large well made road at its center so the carriages could come and go at the same time.

As they crossed the garden in the carriage Riou had a good look at the castle.

It was very well built and its masonry was remarkable, large, precisely cut stones that Riou could only assume were created by magic.

They stopped the carriage after going around the centerpiece of the entrance, a large Lion statue looking down to the gate. The road went around it and back allowing the carriages to deliver the passengers to the very doors of the castle and then be ready to return.

At the entrance again heavy armored soldiers greeted the knight captain and opened the large doors for them.

Inside its halls, Riou noticed that the stones on the ceiling and pillars had a beautiful steel blue color. The main theme used in the decoration was Purple silk threads that hung from the ceiling to each pilar. Giving a lower ceiling feeling to the big castle.

Large paintings of locations and people were everywhere. Many weapons were displayed on the walls as well. Not to mention all the statues, busts and vases. Every place they walked in was filled with those things.

Even the windows were made of colorful stained glass.

Bhalrom guided them further inside the castle and then up to the second floor, always been greeted by soldiers every room he went by.

Not long after they reached a corridor with a closed heavy door at its end. In front of it, two heavy armored soldiers with the first Army colors to their chest.

“The Royal wing” said Max whispering to Riou. “This is the most guarded part of the castle, reserved only to the Royal Family.”

They opened way for Bhalrom, as they knew the king waited for him.

The Royal Wing was much less pompous than the rest of the castle and much smaller rooms and corridors.

They quickly reached an open door with another guard

Through it Riou could see bookshelves, chairs and cabinets. He guessed it was a small library or an office.

Peeking in, Riou could see a dark haired man with a well trimmed beard. He wore a thin golden crown on top of his head.

He was with another person, both sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, their focus was on a board right in front of them.

The other one was a younger man, handsome and with loose and long blond hair.

He was wearing a very detailed uniform, mostly white with golden strips details. It seemed very expensive and custom made just for him.

The guard at the door announced the Knight Captain of the First army and the Magus getting the attention of both of them inside the room..

The dark haired man stood up with a smile as Bhalrom entered the room.

"Bhalrom, Maximilian... come in, I've waited too long to hear from you two"

When Riou tried to step forward and follow them inside, the guard blocked his way.

Noticing that the boy was not following him anymore, Max quickly returned to the door.

“The boy will come in as well” he told the guard that promptly stepped aside. Riou smirked at the soldier and walked in after Max.

Bhalrom was already talking to the king when Riou finally entered the room, "Yes your highness, seems the forrest was the source of the event, luckily we didn’t find any trace of enemy activity around it. But I believe the Great Magus will be able to explain what happened there in more detail"

Looking at the two more closer now, Riou estimated that the blond man should be around 23 years old and the king should be around his late 40.

The blond man looked incisively towards Riou with disapproving eyes.

As the mage was about to begin his explanation the young blond man, nonchalantly, interrupted them with piercing words towards the boy "What is this commoner doing in the king’s presence? He should not be allowed into the castle, much less the Royal wing" Riou could feel the disdain and contempt in his tone and looked at Bhalrom and Max not knowing what to do. Surprised he looked at the door and then back to Max waiting for his guidance on that situation.

"Apologies my Prince, it’s my fault, I asked him to accompany us" answered Bhalrom to the blond man’s surprise "As the king ordered to be informed of our findings, I thought he would like to see this boy with his own eyes. He was found almost inside the Endher Forest"

The king Eyes lit with interest and he looked at the boy with curiosity. But the prince continued his speech.

"You think too much Bhalrom, you should know by just looking at him that he is nothing but a commoner. His kind should not be brought inside the Royal Wing of the castle in any circumstances, you will..." A strong, commanding voice interrupted the prince.

"Enough! Kasius, you are dismissed" Said the king loudly from behind the prince.

Kasius forced a smile and lowered his head towards the king in respect, clearly displeased with the order. But before he left the room he glanced towards Bhalrom and the boy once more.

The angry prince left, completely ignoring Maximilian’s presence.

The king looked at Bhalrom wanting him to continue with the report on how the boy was found.

The knight proceeded to explain everything that he investigated, especially the part of the strange boy appearing out of nowhere.

The king leaned towards the board pondering "Very well Bhalrom, you must be tired, please go rest, we will talk again tomorrow morning", Bhalrom respectfully thanked the king and the other two before leaving.

As the knight captain left the room, he almost bumped into someone in the corridor, he looked down and saw a young woman, near her 18 years old, in a training outfit. She had long and shiny light blond hair. So light that it was almost white depending on the angle one looked at her. Her hair was gracefully tied up on the back of the head.

In the practice clothes she showed a slender body and appealing feminine attributes, she stopped by the knight captain and ported herself with great elegance in his presence.

Her face was truly beautiful and gracious, her eyes were of a crystal blue color.

Surprised by the presence in front of him, Bhalrom immediately bowed towards the young woman "My apologies for the rudeness, Princess."

She just elegantly gave a small nod to the knight acknowledging his apologies. The princess was about to continue on her way when something caught her attention inside the study room of the king.

She recognized Maximilian and noticed a young boy beside him.

Maximilian used to visit the castle a lot when she was younger and even taught her some magic fundamentals at a very young age. Before he completely disappeared from the castle.

The boy beside him was probably a young farmer’s son, the only detail she could see from behind was his brown messy hair.

Once Bhalrom started to move once again, she came back to her senses and also continued on her way as well.

She wondered what kind of business brought Maximilian back, maybe he would stay a few days and she would be able to talk to him once again about magic. Nonetheless, the thought quickly vanished from her head as she had other pressing matters to attend to.

The king was talking to Maximilian, wanting to know in more detail what was discovered about the event and especially if he had any information on the war in the south.

Maximilian did not lie when he mentioned the war to Bhalrom, there was indeed an armed conflict happening. Argos was in a long war with the Beastmen, desperately trying to gain terrain into the Beastman Plains.

While they talked, Riou wandered through the room looking at the strange books and their writings. He was unable to read anything there, it seemed the necklace only worked for speech. A bit frustrated, he left the books and approached the board in the center of the room.

Both the king and Max were nearby still discussing the events in the forest.

Looking at the board he noticed that it was very similar to chess, curious to how it could be, he sat down and analyzed it with more care.

It was the same number of pieces, they looked different but that was nothing strange. Since no one was playing anymore he quickly assembled them to their initial position to confirm his assumption.

‘How can chess exist in this world? Sure it is a very old game. Maybe it was brought here by someone like me? So there could be others in the same boat as me!’’

But as he remembered what Max said, he realized it was not likely to be that way, maybe it was just a coincidence the game was there, if it was the same game at all.

The king was aware of the boys movements the whole time. And the moment he began touching the board and put it together, the king got even more interested.

"Max, this game here, what do you call it?" Said Riou without taking his eyes off the board.

The king smirked towards the mage in surprise and walked towards Riou "King’s play, that is the name of the game. Do you know it by chance?" said the king, turning and looking directly to Maximilian. But before Max could intervene, Riou continued.

"Maybe, is this the proper order of the pieces?"

The king was hooked, it was and so he confirmed it to Riou. He proceeded to ask about the rules but the boy knew them all.

Riou had played a lot of games and Chess was certainly one of them.

The king noticed that Maximilian was about to interrupt them, but the king raised his hand for him to stop, he wanted to check the boy for himself now.

"Do you want to play a game?" Invited the king looking at Riou.

Riou glanced at Maximilian, but the king quickly brought his attention back to him.

Riou nodded "Sure, I guess... It's been awhile since I played, but I can give it a try." Answered Riou not noticing Maximilian’s concern.

He noticed after a few moves that the king had played a lot. But probably only faced the same few people over and over, he lacked experience of different playstyles and levels of players. As a result, the king could only think a couple of moves ahead. While Riou, which used to play with computers and players around the world, was far more experienced than that.

Riou set a trap with a gambit, sacrificing a piece to gain advantage. In 2 more moves it would result in a fork that threatened the enemy queen. Riou knew that his adversary would likely save the important queen without minding the consequences of that move, and the king would be doing that while continuing the attack to the left side of the board.

But that was what Riou wanted. That move would ultimately expose his king for a mate. ‘if he saves the queen and attacks the left, he will lose the game in 3 moves. If he doesn't, well it will take a few more moves then’ thought Riou while playing really fast compared to the the king’s standards.

The king invariably followed the most common path, he saved the queen and once that play was made, Riou announced "Mate in 3” and looked to the king’s reaction.

The king took a few minutes analyzing the board while Maximilian was silently watching, covering his mouth with his hand, already predicting the conversation with the king in a few.

After a while looking at the board, the king admitted defeat.

"I lost, well played young man, well played" said the king turning around to look at Maximilian.

After a moment he turned back to the boy "You must be tired as well, the soldier outside will guide you to a room where you can rest, we can continue our talk another time”

Riou thanked the King and stood up.

“Guard! Please escort this young man to the guest room, provide him with food and proper clothing to attend the Feast tomorrow."

“Feast?” Asked Maximilian.

“Yes, another maiden’s path nonsense, we have many north lords visiting because of that, so a feast is required. You know it better than I do old man.”

“I see”, said Maximilian as the guard courteously asked Riou to follow him. When the boy left the room the king immediately asked Max to take the seat in front of him.

"Now old friend, do tell me, who is that boy?" Spoke the inquisitive king clearly grasping that there were much more to the history than he was told so far.

King’s play was a game where only the high nobility and royalty was taught, it was said that the game improved intelligence and war tactics, topics that weren’t deemed to pertain to a commoner.

Kings played against each other when they visited. A fun way to pass time as well as to show tactical and mental superiority.

Maximilian was silent for a while, thinking in a way to defuse the situation.

The mage sighed "Well Elrik... to be very honest I don't know much about the boy, but for the past few weeks observing and talking to him. I came to the conclusion that he is not a kid. He is wise beyond his years and full of surprises like this one… I also was not aware that he knew how to play this game" Said the honest mage sitting down, leaning back and smiling at the king.

"And another thing, the moment you challenged him for a game, I knew he would win."

The king squinted his eyes to such a statement, curious he continued "Where is he from? What’s his history? There must be an explanation to this"

Max was never to praise anyone for no reason, the king knew the old mage very well and trusted him completely. The boy must have truly amazed him.

"I'm afraid that I do not know how to explain it yet, Elrik. The fact is that the boy is from a far away land, maybe even beyond the great sea. How he appeared near the Endher I cannot explain with certainty”

The king leaned back on his chair... pondering on the words of his old friend. “You said he was from the south, now you telling me he might be from beyond the great sea?”

Max smiled and nodded “At first it was what we thought… Besides, it was easier for the knight captain to understand. But that as well might be wrong. The fact is that the boy does not recognize this land, nor we are able to recognize his.”

“And yet you are comfortable sheltering such a person?”

“Not only comfortable, I insist that he remains under my guard and protection”

The king was really impressed, the boy really made quite an impression on the old mage.

Meanwhile, Riou was already in his room, he finally could eat something other than the army’s grub, that dirty, bitter and smelly soup. He laid down on a proper bed and was eager to finally be able to sleep quite comfortably. There was no cushion or mattress, it was just some dry hay but it was better than the ground.

It was a long time since he felt that he could relax like that and he intended to enjoy it as much as he could.