King Leo Estalianus XVII of the Kingdom of Estalia.

My reign of power has been peaceful, uneventful, and I must say quite dull. The people love me enough that there are no problems in term of rebellions or public outrage, but I'm not as benevolent as they think I am. In fact, I was quite spoiled as a child. My parents were loving and I was raised in isolation inside a luxurious palace. I never went to war or had any experience commanding any army. But my father, King Leo XVI, was a warmonger. The previous era was full of turmoil and conflicts with neighboring kingdoms—some people even called it a world war. But the idea of the name itself was ridiculous. A world war implied a war occurring worldwide, but this was just a small corner of the continent.

My father regretted his past atrocities by the time he was an old man, right as he was having me as a child. Perhaps time does dull a man's previous sharpness. Since he had me, he always thought me to rule in peace and to be a wise and benevolent king. Of course, I still thought the responsibility was far too great for me to handle so I have just been doing my best job keeping the status quo while also maintaining the public's happiness.

In due time, I got married and had several children. The most notable of all of them is the current crown princess, my daughter, Rosalia Estalianus, and my first son, Prince Vanir Estalianus. Vanir is a talented young man. He's intelligent and likes to scheme a lot, but he was not suitable to be a king. He was more suitable to be a minister or perhaps the army's general with his sharp wits and cold behavior. My daughter, Rose, was the noblest person I've ever met. The tradition of Estalia dictates that the King should always be a male but after a hard fight with the ministers, I've convinced everyone to let her be the next king of Estalia.

But when there are periods of booms, like the one my kingdom is currently in, there are also periods of slumps and war. The Boros Empire of the far east has been invading its neighboring kingdoms with an iron fist. The Boros Empire is the largest country in this continent in terms of land mass and population so it's no question that it has quite a strong military as well. They are slowly approaching the west, towards where Estalia is. I'm currently having second thoughts about letting my daughter rule a kingdom in a time when we may be invaded by a powerful empire. Perhaps the strategic yet arrogant mind of Vanir would be the right choice, but it was too late. I have convinced everyone and the public has already accepted her as the next king.

With our current military, I'm not sure we're able to withstand the attacks of Boros. That's why in this year's celebration week, the nobility and I have personally invited multiple foreign nobles and royalties to come here and establish a friendly relationship with us in the hopes of gaining an ally in the upcoming war. But even with their help, the casualties will be catastrophic.

That is, until, the arrival of the gods sitting right across me. They have the appearance of our species, humans, but yet they wield such contraptions and miracles that even the craziest stage writers in Neversummer wouldn't have thought of. Where did they come from? Are they from outside the continent? The continent has been thoroughly explored by every kingdom so there should not be a hidden kingdom that we haven't heard of before.

I first heard of the report in the morning by a navy that came running to the palace with an Ogrun. He told me of the arrival of the gods and described to me in detail what he just witnessed. Mega-ships with no sails, humanoid giants flying through the skies. I first thought this was just a random drunk navy that told us a lot of bollocks. My son Vanir even tried to execute him after hearing such rubbish. But then I heard that their leader has landed on our docks and asked to meet with me. After getting confirmation from even the Navy's Captain, I had no choice but to believe that it was all true.

'Such fine suit...I feel like a peasant if I compare my outfit' I said in my head. I saw the beautiful outfit of black and gold worn by the King of the mysterious kingdom. He was also too young to be a king — as young as my last child.

"So...King Braum of...Yakana. What do you want to discuss with our nation? I humbly apologize but this King has never heard of such kingdom as Yakana" I said to the king.

In fact, I was quite nervous. If they were here demanding our resources, we would have no choice but to comply. If we are judging their powers by some of the things we have witnessed, then they would have no issue invading our nation. If they are our enemies, they are a bigger threat than the Boros Empire.

However, if they are friendly, then this is our chance to gain a powerful ally against the Boros Empire. This may be our only chance of establishing such a relationship. If we mess up, they may even turn to the Boros Empire instead and attack us.

The young king thought for a moment and replied.

"Yakana is a kingdom not in this continent. It is in the far east off the coast of the continent. Do you know the Death Circle of red storm? Our nation is inside of that raging storm. Of course, I cannot disclose how we are able to hide like that but that's where we are from. This is our first time revealing ourselves to the world and after careful consideration, we have chosen your kingdom, Estalia, as the first kingdom we will contact."

I gulped my saliva. The death circle is notorious by sailors all over the continent to be somewhere that if you go there, you will never return. To possess the power of controlling such a storm...they can already be called gods.

The young king maintained a gentle smile throughout his speech. I was quite impressed. This young king exudes nobility and power at such a young age. I wished my son was a bit more like that.

I replied right away.

"Then do you wish to establish a friendly and mutually beneficial relationship with our nation? I am certainly open to that"

The young king flashed a gentle smile again before saying something.

"Of course. Your kingdom is so beautiful. I was already mesmerized by the sights I have seen in this capital city. And from what we have seen, your people are quite happy living their daily lives. We thought Estalia would be the perfect nation to be our first contact."

'YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!!' I was jumping up and down inside my mind. Of course, I maintained an exterior gentle smile, almost a poker face. This could be our chance against the Boros Empire. And who knows, this might be our chance of improving our kingdom as well. If they share some of their technologies and knowledge with us...we could be even more prosperous.

At this time, my son, Vanir, who was seated next to me, was starting to get agitated. His platinum blonde hair and cold handsome face flashed a deep frown.

"How do we know that you people are not spies from the Boros Empire?" My son said.

'Bloody fuck...' I muttered inside my mind. There couldn't be a worse time for his antics than now.

"The Boros Empire?...ah...that kingdom in the far east? No. Certainly not. We are not affiliated with them in any sort of way at all I can assure you." The young king replied again.

"Then how come your skins are...brown? There are tribes of barbarians living in the borders of the Boros Empire that have brown skins. Perhaps you were hired by the Empire to spy on us, huh? I must say, the empire is quite stupid for thinking that we would believe that some brown-skinned barbars will have such an advanced kingdom. What magic did you guys use for the illusion we saw on the port, huh!?" My son said in a condescending tone.

Without leaving me any time to react, my son shouted out orders for the surrounding guards.

"Knights! Arrest these Boros spies!"

The knights were too quick to react. It's almost as if they were prepared for this...They drew their swords and surrounded the party of the young king. What my son said had some logical merits to it. They could have used some illusion magic to play a trick on us. But this is NOT the way to confront them if they were truly spies.

"Ready your arms! Fire at will at the guards!" I saw a man with wavy hair standing next to where the young king was sitting shouted those orders. Some of the soldiers with plain uniform behind the young kind raised some sort of black metallic device.

(BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG)

Flashes of blue lights left the barrels of the black device that the soldiers were carrying.

Afterward, I look around towards my surrounding and found all my knights to be dead on the ground with blood on their heads.

"What..." I muttered silently. I didn't even see them attacking and my knights were already dead. These were elite knights chosen to guard the palace. They weren't just some normal soldiers you can find anywhere.

"Is this the treatment of your people towards a visitor, King Leo?" The young king said with a gentle voice while frowning.

"O-o-of course not!" I panicked. I failed as a king if I let the future allies of my kingdom to receive such treatments.

Then I noticed that my daughter, Princess Rosalia, who was also sitting on my other side, stood up from her seat. She walked towards where Prince Vanir was and punched him. Her long red hair brushed my face as she walked.

(SMACK)

The chair where my son was seated at was immediately destroyed by the force of the punch. My son was laying on the ground in pain.

"Y-you!" My son shouted. He looked to be in shock. He didn't think his own sister would punch him like that.

"Silence! Not another word from your foul mouth, brother! You have utterly disgraced the royal family of Estalia by treating our guests like this. Accusing them to be spies? Having our guards raised their swords at them? Look at what you've done! These knights had families! Now they're dead for your stupidity." After saying that, my daughter turned to me.

"Father. I want all of the Knights' families here to be compensated with gold to last them a lifetime and a plot of land outside the city. And please punish my brother for pulling such a stupid act" She said to me.

I was surprised by her tenacity. This is why I think she's the most suitable person for the throne.

"It shall be done. GUARDS!" I called the guards outside the room.

" Escort Prince Vanir to his room. Let him have house arrest for at least 3 days. I will decide his punishment later. And give these knights some proper burial later. I will contact their families directly." The guards did as I told them to do and forcefully carried my son out of the room. He was still in shock.

I start to stand up from my seat and bowed down.

"I humbly give my biggest apology for such an act by my own flesh and blood. I will give you proper compensation for your stay here. Please, stay in this palace and we will give you the best treatment. I am sure you have been tired from your long journey from the far end of the continent. We will discuss further after you have rested, King Braum." I addressed him with his name directly to give an extra sense of respect.

He then called one of his subordinates and whispered some words. The subordinate also replied with a whisper towards the young king's ear. After a while, he starts to give his reply.

"We thank you for your hospitality and we accept your humble apology. However, we will be staying in our ship instead for the rest of the day. We will come here to the palace again tomorrow for further discussions. In the meantime, I wish you a nice day, King Leo."

Without giving me any time to reply, the young king stood up and left the room with the rest of his entourage. I just stayed standing dumbfounded after all that's happened. Did we mess up our first meeting?

"*sigh* Men...." My daughter muttered before leaving the room as well.

I sat down again in my seat with sweat running down my face. I MUST find some ways to win them over after our bad treatment of them.