Cal opened his eyes to see a stone ceiling above him. He was laying on something extremely soft. His body felt weird and he decided to just lay there a while. Eventually, he decided to open his status. When he did so he realized that there were several abilities that he hadn’t examined yet.

[fusion:1] allows you to fuse two raw materials that have a mana density that is lower than your level in this ability. Costs 200 mana to use

[mana infusion:1] allows you to infuse your body with mana. increases your physical attributes by 1 point for every 30 mana that is infused

[library: max] allows you to view any information that is kept in your soul.

[ruler of shadows: max] sentient shadow spells will not work against you. Also if you have a higher authority to shadow than the caster you will be able to take control of the spell for 30 mana

[faye sense: max] you are able to see mana and objects with a mana density. Costs 10 mana a minute to use.

Though those were all of the new skills that he had gotten, Cal still felt like something was missing. After a second of thought, he remembered the prompt about him receiving multiple quests and unlocking that part of his status. As soon as he thought about his quests his status changed. At the top, it still had his names and races as well as his pools. However, beneath those, his status was completely different.

Samellans betrayal (world)

Conditions:

learn the language of samellan 0/1 compose a worthy song in the language of samellan 0/1 understand and overcome true betrayal 0/1

Rewards:

-unique class

Ruler of Kaar (hidden)

Conditions:

Gain authority over the forest of Kaar 0/1

Rewards:

Unique class

I was once a king (personal)

Conditions

find the treasures of king Alucard 0/1 gain access to Alucard’s inheritance 0/1

Rewards:

10 level ups +30 to every attribute I was once a king part two (you will be a king)

After Cal read through his quests he felt a faint sense that he needed to go in a certain direction, which he assumed was towards the treasure. After he stopped focusing on it, the sense faded and left only a light pull that was almost unnoticeable. Cal then sat up and felt some excitement from his bond with Kaze.

Cal awake. happy, Kaze said through their bond.

Since when can you talk, Cal asked his familiar.

People talk. I listen. learn. no teacher. Kaze answered

After the brief conversation with Kaze Cal decided it was time to get up. As he sat up he looked around and realized he was lying in a bed. He hadn’t recognized it as a bed at first because it was infinitely softer and more comfortable than the one his grandfather had had, which before now was the only bed Cal had ever even seen. Cal scooted his way across the bed until he got to the edge. “Why would they make this so big” he muttered to himself.

When Cal got off the bed he realized he was in a sort of nightgown. He finally got a chance to look around the room and was surprised at what he saw. The room was almost the size of the kitchen in the house he had lived in with his grandpa, and everything in the room seemed to be larger than it should. After a while, Cal realized that everything was bigger because they were made for humans who were often a foot and a half taller than the goblins he had grown up with. Cal walked around to where he saw the door. He opened it and peeked outside. There was a long stone hallway with windows put in every few yards.

Cal felt Kaze coming towards him and decided to wait. After about a minute had passed Kaze came around a corner moving at a run. “Kaze!” Cal shouted as he ran towards his familiar. He hugged Kaze tightly but let go when he heard a gasp from the direction where Kaze had come from. He stood up and looked to where he had heard the gasp. He was surprised to see the queen with her hand covering her mouth. “I humbly greet her majesty,” Cal said as he dropped to his knee.

“There is no need for such formalities.” the queen said though she seemed shaken for some reason. After a moment she said, “Come along you must be hungry after what you went through.” with that the queen turned and went back the way she came.

After a moment Cal ran to catch up to her and walked slightly behind her with Kaze by his side. The queen didn’t say anything until they reached a door with a lot of noise coming from inside of it. The queen opened the door and Cal saw what he thought was a kitchen, though it was massive compared to the one he had had in his old house. There were several long tables with dozens of workers at each as well as multiple ovens. When the queen had opened the door a gnome in a tall white hat came running over.

He bowed to the queen then asked. “What might we do for you, your highness”

The queen smiled at him then pointed to cal, “this is Calaeris he will need something to eat.”

The gnome laughed then said, “I believe he came to the right place. there's always food around the kitchen.”

the queen and gnome laughed at what sounded like an inside joke, then the queen looked back to cal, “this is head chef Hugo. If you’re ever hungry you can come down here, they always have something to eat.” The queen then left Cal and Kaze with Hugo.

Once the queen had left Cal bowed slightly to Hugo. “greetings sir Hugo, as her highness the queen said my name is Calaeris and…”

cal had been talking in a very formal manner so Hugo cut him off. “There’s no need to talk like that to me or my staff we’re all common folk in here.” Hugo had an infectious grin on his face and Cal couldn’t help but smile. “Well while your here, we have some bread leftover from breakfast and we always have some stew on the fire for occasions like this.” with that Cal was led to one of the ovens and given a small bowl of stew and a piece of bread. He was then directed to go and sit at a small wooden table in a back corner.

While Cal sat there eating he saw a few members of the staff giving him curious looks. some of the women seemed captivated by him but he thought that was more to his childish looks than any sort of attraction. As he ate he passed some of his food to Kaze but upon noticing, one of the ladies who was cooking brought Kaze a small slice of meat and patted Cal on the head as she walked away. Once Cal finished eating he got up from the table and made his way out of the kitchen. He and Kaze wandered around the hallway for a while. Eventually, a flustered-looking man in a servant’s uniform saw them and ran over to them. “Excuse me, are you Calaeris windlab,” he asked.

Cal nodded then said, “that is my name sir, might I ask what you need.”

The servant nodded then said, “the king has requested your presence.”

Cal followed the servant, who said his name was, Mark until he was in front of a large door that was ornately decorated. There were two guards in front of it and upon seeing mark they opened the door. Mark walked in and announced. “I bring you duke Calaeris windlab.”

mark bowed then walked to stand behind the king who was sitting on a large throne made of gold. “That means he is a rather important person,” Cal thought to himself.

Next to the king, there was a silver throne where the queen sat. on either side of them were six other thrones five of which were occupied. On the king’s side, sat three boys they were all tall with broad shoulders and two of them had long crimson hair. The third boy had blonde hair and was slightly shorter than the others. There was a fourth throne on the king’s side which sat empty. On the queen’s side were two girls who sat in their thrones. One was Natalie who Cal had met and the other looked like an exact copy of the queen but younger.

Cal went down onto one knee and spoke in as respectful of a voice as possible “this humble traveler greets his highness the king and his royal family.”

cal remained kneeling as the king started talking. “Calaeris, you may have heard me say it before, but I was very close with your grandfather. I was closer to him than any of my siblings and thought of him as a true brother.” the king paused then cleared his throat.

“is he uncomfortable” Cal wondered silently, “why would he be”

“A long time ago there was an accident that cost him his family, and I was to blame. After the accident he left and I never saw him again, I thought that I would never receive any word of him then you appeared and brought me the news of his death.” the three princes and the princess that Cal hadn’t recognized seemed shocked by the short story and were watching the king intently. Cal from his place on the ground was listening but simultaneously holding back tears. “Did he ever speak of me.” the king asked with a touch of sadness in his voice.

Cal thought about lying and saying that his grandpa had forgiven the king but he felt like that was the wrong move. “He never spoke of you…” Cal started. Before he could continue the king’s children all gasped in outrage and shot Cal furious looks. One of the princes even stood up but with a wave of his hand, the king silenced them.

He then looked back to Cal who continued. “He gave me his diary just before he died. in it, there was the story of the …tragedy… I don’t think he forgave you for it, nor should he have, but he understood why you did it and still respected you.” Cal finished his explanation with more than a little emotion in his voice. During the moment of silence after Cal finished talking Cal thought about how it had felt oddly good to have a chance to hurt the king with his words. After all, he had killed Cal's grandpa’s family.

The kings kids were angered when he said that his grandpa shouldn’t have forgiven him, but the king seemed to agree with his words and seemed to be slightly more at peace when he said that his grandpa had understood. The king hushed his children once again and asked cal, “what do you remember from yesterday right before you passed out.”

Cal was surprised by the change of subject but easily went along with it. “That boy was trying to harm Kaze. then I stopped him, but he was stronger than I was and would have killed me, but then you stepped in and stopped him. After that, I freed Kaze then I passed out.”

“That situation sounds familiar.” natalie said quietly. Sadly for her, it was loud enough for the rest of the royal family to hear.

Her sister looked over to her and asked, “what do you mean that situation is familiar.”

Natalie blushed slightly then explained. “I met Calaeris during my first-year exam. back then he…”

Natalie had started her explanation but was interrupted by one of her brother’s “the one where your friend spencer got expelled.”

Natalie only got more embarrassed and answered, “yeah. So back then when we found Calaeris we brought him back to camp, but then spencer started harassing Calaeris’s familiar so Calaeris stabbed him.”

The room grew quiet with Natalie’s quick explanation then the queen asked cal. “Umm Calaeris dear, did you really stab Spencer Palencar.”

“Was he the rude kid with the mace,” Cal asked. When Natalie nodded Cal answered the queen’s question. “Yes, I did. I probably shouldn’t have but back then I didn’t speak common, so to me it seemed like I was being imprisoned by strange people, and when one of them violently grabbed Kaze that seemed like my only course of action.”

The royals accepted Cal's reason and the princes even seemed to find it funny. After the side conversation ended the king once again spoke. “Back to what we were talking about. Calaeris you are also the duke of the forest of kaar, and I declared you as my ward.”

Everyone except the queen seemed surprised by his words and there were several cries of discontent. Most of them seemed to center around Cal's age and the fact that they thought that he wasn’t awakened, they also didn’t seem to care about cal being the king’s ward the issue was cal being a duke. As the princes and princess’s argued with the king, Cal coughed lightly and quietly said, “I am actually awakened.”

The queen seemed to be the only person that heard him and she gave him an odd look. She then waved at the other royals causing them to fall silent. “Could you repeat that Calaeris,” she asked politely

Cal nodded and repeated what he had said “I am an awakened. I have been one for about a year.”

“But you can’t be more than ten, eleven at most” the blonde prince objected.

Cal sighed inwardly, it seemed everyone was set on thinking he was younger than he actually was. Cal was about to say that he was, in fact, thirteen, but decided that there was no harm in letting them assume he was younger than he actually was. If anything it would get them to lower their guard. “Yeah, I was ten when I awoken and turned eleven since then.”

The whole room grew quiet then the king said “all right, with that cleared up I have also declared you as my ward. I apologize for not asking your permission, but I already told the archduke’s brat so we will have to make that official. Are you ok with that calaeris/”

Cal just nodded at the king’s question then he realized something, “there were three people who came out of the teleportation with me, could you tell me what happened to them.”

The king frowned slightly but answered, “the three claimed to be your servants but didn’t seem to know the first thing about serving a duke, so we’re having them put through a crash course in serving the nobility.”

Cal laughed inwardly at that, this seemed like the kind of thing Belinda would hate. “When can I expect to see them again,” Cal asked

The king told Cal it would take about a week. After that, the king said it was time for lunch and the whole royal family and Cal went to the dining room. Cal had not been here yet as he had only eaten in the kitchen. The dining room was a massive hall with a roof that stretched fro for nearly a hundred feet in the middle there was a long table with cushioned chairs along either side and two larger chairs at each end.

The king and queen took the head chairs on the side closest to the kitchen and Cal was directed to sit on the king’s side of the table. It seemed separating boys and girls was a sort of tradition for the royal family as the princes took their place between Cal and the king and the princess sat on the queen’s side.

Soon after everyone had been seated, servers brought in the food. There were dozens of dishes many of which Cal couldn’t name. Once all of the food was brought out they started eating. Cal tried to mimic the royals as best he could and with his training in court manners he made a passable performance. Once everyone was almost done eating the king asked cal, “so Cal do you have any questions?”

“Umm yes I was wondering if you knew why I passed out yesterday”

The queen glared at her husband who looked a bit sheepish, “well your body isn’t able to handle the speeds that we had to go at to reach your familiar in time so that caused you to pass out.”

Cal nodded at the answer then asked “what exactly does it mean to be your ward.”

“Well, you are put under my protection any attacks against you count as an attack against me. Also, you will technically be counted as a prince though you will not be able to become king.”

Cal asked a few more questions about what he could do as a ward but it pretty much boiled down to having the king’s protection and being in equal rank with the king’s children. After Cal was finished with his questions the king asked, “so what are your plans after this.”

Cal thought for a moment then answered, “well first I want to go to the academy and have one or two of my servants attend there as well. Then I have some business in the forest of kaar.”

The king was nodding along with Cal's plans he seemed to have some misgivings about sending servants to the academy but he didn’t say anything.

The queen on the other hand shook her head and said, “you should wait a few years before going so that everyone else will be around your age.”

Cal looked at her questioningly and asked “why would my age matter.”

At this point, the king seemed to agree with his wife and explained to her, “most of the people that go to the academy are nobles and most of them go primarily to make future alliances with other noble houses. So it will be difficult to make friends and alliances if you are so much younger than they are.”

Cal tried to argue that he should be allowed to join but they continued to refuse him. Finally, one of the prince’s seemed to get fed up and asked, “why don’t you just have him go to the preliminary years that gives him more time to make friends and he would be older by the time he could actually go to the academy.” the king and queen agreed and it was decided that Cal would attend the preliminary years at the academy.

Cal coughed politely and asked, “about sending two of my servants. Arisu is 16 and a healer I would like to have her attend the academy if possible and Lenny is 18, I'm not sure if that is too old though.”

Cal was told that it would be fine if they both went. (the oldest a person could join the academy was 19) but the king was curious and asked Cal why he wanted them to attend.

“Well,” Cal began to answer, “first of all I think they could learn important things there also they could help me with things I don’t understand when I'm there, but more importantly if they get stronger so will my duchy. ” that was mostly true but Cal didn’t care about his duchy he only cared that if Lenny and arisu got stronger they could help him better.

The king and queen agreed with his reasoning and it was decided that in three months at the start of the new year Cal would be sent to the academy to attend his preliminary years and arisu and Lenny would go attend the actual academy.