"Wow. This war has barely been going for a season, and we are already close to a victory. Look at us. Already marching on the capital. Two major battles and a couple skirmishes later. Not that I am complaining, but this seems too good to be true." (Fersal)

"Don't jinx this for us, and keep those thoughts to yourself. By the way, how is our only mage doing?" (Goob)

Pan looked up from the textbook he was reading while on his horse.

"Doing pretty well." (Pan)

"Pretty well? Man. You got a public congratulations from the Queen, and you are just doing pretty well?" (Grisch)

"The wall of dirt wasn't anything special." (Pan)

"It was a HUGE wall of dirt that managed to redirect the flood down the other hill killing even more enemy soldiers. That was a genius move." (Grisch)

"*snort* Your sword skills were more impressive. Cutting up an entire squadron with one swing? You are on the path to Mythril already!" (Pan)

"It was just a bull charge. I just used magic to reinforce my legs and arms to go faster. It only looked like one swing, but it was actually multiple swings in the same direction." (Grisch)

"But to do it that fast! Man. What has Descal been teaching you?" (Goob)

"How not to die. I'll just keep it at that." (Grisch)

Grisch shuddered at all the ruthless exercises that he had to go through. Never would he want to go through them again. He sent a small prayer for any possible future recruits that Descal got his hands on.

"I'm more jealous at Pan for how his extra training is so much easier." (Grisch)

"Not easier. I have to read this entire textbook by the end of the week and demonstrate an application of te contents of this book to him through a magic duel..." (Pan)

"Is that why you came to our tent with your hair all singed last week?" (Goob)

"Yes. I more or less messed up with draining fire spells by chanting it wrong in my head." (Pan)

"Yeah. A hot chick went by, and you lost your concentration." (Goob)

"Haha. Very funny." (Pan)

The four knights rode on in silence behind their seniors which were furiously debating over Descal's true identity.

"So. What do you guys think about Descal?" (Goob)

"I don't think it will be a good idea talking about his personal life. It is rude and possibly dangerous." (Fersal)

"Fersal. Take that stick out of ya ass." (Grisch)

"*snicker*. I say he is a long lost sibling of the royal family." (Pan)

"Maybe. Fersal. You said that he used to have purple hair right?" (Grisch)

"Yes. I was bringing tea for my Lord when I met him in the hallways." (Fersal)

"And he switched to red hair not long after?" (Grisch)

"Yes." (Fersal)

"That sounds like he used hair dye to me, and he ran out of red hair dye so he is using white hair dye now." (Grisch)

"Hair dye doesn't last long in the water, and we have seen him swimming numerous times." (Goob)

"Knowing Descal, he probably invented some sort of permanent hair dye. I mean how else do you explain him changing hair colors?" (Pan)

"Magic?" (Fersal)

Pan glared at Fersal. "No. Body manipulation magic is a lost magic. The closest thing we have is healing magic, and even then, the magic is very rudimentary. It would require a highly... You know what. You may be right. It really wouldn't surprise me if Descal rediscovered the spell, and he is an excellent mage..."

"But why would he choose the hair color purple? Isn't it a crime to impersonate royalty?" (Fersal)

"Well, judging from his accent, he probably lived in a different country before coming here." (Goob)

"Even so, purple hair is a characteristic trait of our kingdom's royalty. Even other countries can identify who has our kingdom's royal blood by looking for the purple hair color. Someone or something should have at least brought it to his attention at the very least." (Fersal)

While the four knights were bickering amongst themselves over who Descal really was, Cecilia was already on damage control trying to think of a way to either quash those rumors or use it to her advantage. Descal just had to go to a bar and get drunk with his new hair color before Cecilia could think of a way to explain this new change.

She was currently staring daggers at the very thing that was giving her a massive headache.

"Why? Just why?" (Cecilia)

"Celebrations. I just survived a battle with an adamantium and more or less kept my secret safe."

"You couldn't wait one more day?"

"What difference does a day make to me?"

"It makes a whole lot of difference to me!"

"Fine. I had this really nice wine that I had this barkeeper hang on to for me. I was supposed to drink it a month ago, but we were very busy as you know. Once I had my body back, I sort of remembered the expiration date for that wine which was yesterday so I needed to drink it yesterday or else it would go bad. It was a really high-quality wine that was aging for like 100 years. Also, I sort of underestimated the strength of the alcohol resulting..."

"In you taking your clothes off and setting the bar on fire. How do you even get drunk anyway? I thought you had a homunculus body?"

"Well, if I wanted to, I could slow down the detox process of my body so I could get drunk..."

"Why did you want to get drunk?"

"It's been some time since I last got drunk."

"Why was yesterday a good time to get drunk? You couldn't just drink the wine?"

"Like I said, I just wanted a small buzz, but I ended up underestimating the wine's alcohol content."

"Oh for crying out loud." Cecilia put down her head and began massaging it with her hands.

"On the bright side, nobody is too angry except you."

"Say what?"

"Well, the bar owner wasn't really mad because he himself wanted to remodel, but the city lord wouldn't let him due to some licensing issues. Also, I was very generous with the tips last night so he has more than enough money to rebuild it. Everybody else was happy with my drunken stories, and my little magic shows as well. It turns out that the reason why I was naked was that my clothes were burned off after I spilled some sort of alcoholic drink on me."

"Any nobles saw you?"

"Nobody you mentioned on the very important list."

"What about the important list?"

"Well... you know that philandering noble's son?"

"Oh. It's just him. That's fine."

"No. Not him. His friend."

"Friend. By any chance, are you talking about Baroness Luci's son Morigan?"

"Yes..."

"Did you do anything to him?"

"Well, he was also drunk with me, and he was the reason I got set on fire. I don't think we left on bad terms. We were both laughing our asses off."

"I'll have a talk with him. If you really did leave a good impression on him, something good came out of this at the very least."

"See! I told you it wasn't all that bad."

"We still have that rumor."

"Ahh... That one."

"Yes. So, any ideas to fix this little mess?"

"Maybe... we could... deny it?"

Cecilia had enough of Descal's smartassery so she threw a crumpled piece of paper at Descal which he promptly caught, unfolded, and began reading.

"Wow... How are there so many rumors? How did you even collect all this?"

"I have my connections. I wouldn't be in this tent at all if I couldn't do this. Now, do you understand why I am so pissed off? Denial won't work anymore."

"So, do we have to pick a rumor and say it is true. If so, I want to go with the part about me secretly being an ass."

"That was actually a joke; however, I included it in the list because you never know how stupid people can get with taking jokes seriously."

"Yeah."

"Instead of validating, I was thinking about declaring your candidacy for the guardian ritual."

"A what ritual?"

"In some old stories, there are mentions of some sort of guardian spirit or animal."

"If Dravon heard that he has been reduced to an animal, he would murder you."

"Who?"

"I am familiar with the Guardian system. I personally fought a few myself. Dravon was the guardian dragon of a certain country that I destroyed."

"Oh, then this should be easy. I was planning on doing the ritual to appoint you as the Guardian...err... just Guardian of the Ruhan Kingdom."

"You do know that guardian rituals only work on non-human-like sentient beings like dragons, dryads, or griffons, right? There is a reason why there is a distinction between a hero and a guardian. I know that I myself am not a human, but nobody else knows that."

"I am getting there. I am planning on introducing you as a homonculus. You see, my father was a man of many secrets. If I presented you as a homonculus that my father has created with his own flesh and blood, people would probably believe it. It would explain the purple hair, and it corresponds to the rumors going around. However, you would probably be hounded by alchemists desperate to know how you were made."

"Seriously? Just like that?"

"This is nothing compared to other stuff that my father has revealed. For example, he once revealed that he was keeping a pet zombie..."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. That was a weird day. So, what do you think? It would solve a lot of your problems."

"First, it would be pretty damn hard to pull it off. You would need to..."

"I know about it all, and I can take care of it."

"Okay... You do understand that you will be placing the Emperor as the guardian of your country right?"

"Yes. However, I see more benefits than detriments to it."

"Really?"

"Yes. By binding you to my country, it would mean that you would have a vested interest in keeping my kingdom safe. As a result, woe to any fool who invades. In addition, you would also have a vested interest in the well-being of the kingdom. After all, you are bound to it, and I have a feeling that you aren't satisfied with the current... lifestyle we have here. I have seen you trying to find a way to mass produce ice cream. In addition, you frequently complain about the lack of heating and electricity. The detriments are probably some social unrest and the possibility of you going rogue, but I am willing to take that chance."

"Why?"

"You have never lied... about something important. You have been very open with me about how you think and your history. In addition, you have a high approval among my people despite your mysterious background. Finally, I think you can do what I cannot."

"Which is."

"Making this country into something my victims can be proud of."

"You sure? I could turn this country into a dystopia with me as an iron-fisted dictator. Nobody would be able to overthrow me."

"Please. I have seen your hatred for politics and paperwork. I have observed you for a long time. You are not dictator material. Also, forgive me for invading your privacy, but I found these things."

She pulled out a journal, a red book, and a box. Descal immediately recognized the items, and his eyes widened.

"How?"

"My eyes. I gained a new ability. It could see into the past. I decided to look into your tent and rewind through your activities for about a week. Although there were more, I find these to be the best examples of what I am going to say. First, the box."

Cecilia took out a syringe.

"A vaccine. If what the journal says is true, you could save so many of my citizens with this vaccine. No longer would children suffer from polio or even potentially miasma. You would cut down the number of children's death. In addition, after the war, you were planning on giving me this as soon as the war ended, weren't you?"

Descal could only nod silently.

"This red book. The communist manifesto. According to the journal, this seemingly innocent ideology was responsible for the suffering and death of hundreds of millions of people. It's kinda funny how many countermeasures you have for preventing the spread of communism should it arise in this world. Or, how to use it as a weapon on enemy countries. This book tells me that you have an understanding that not every change is great and that ideas on paper may not translate very well into the real world. The fact that you were ready to combat this ideology should it arise was quite heartening because it shows that you do care."

"Well, this is embarrassing."

"No, it's not. I think you can become a great help for this kingdom and become a better leader than I ever was. Which is why I need you to kill me after you become the guardian."

"What?"

"This country will become quite fragmented even if I do win this war. Everything I do will be met with suspicion and hatred by the defeated party. Sheela is the best example. She was a great general. She would have been such a great help to this kingdom; however, her hatred of me ran deep. Even if I win, that hatred will continue and stew in silence. Even if I resorted to executing every single noble family who was against me, it would weaken this kingdom instead of strengthening it. After all, to start off an era of peace with hangings is a bad omen. That is where you come in. I will give you proof of my... misdeeds. I will provide you the political stage for you to take power. Most of the current enemy faction will look at you with approval for taking me down while my faction will have orders to follow you. The neutral party already has a favorable view of you, and you taking down your former employer because it was the right thing to do will garner more support for you. You should be able to take control of this kingdom quite easily. I will even provide you with my butler as an advisor."

"Okay. Yeah. That sounds great. However, the royal blood will end then. You did a really good job in making sure that you and your uncle are the only surviving members of the royal family right now. Although I might be able to keep power for the first few decades, people will grow uncomfortable with someone immortal and non-human as a king. Too much change will be met with equal amounts of backlash. In addition, I don't think I can rule for a long time. Like you said, I am not dictator material. I am also not a ruling material. I am not politically talented, and most likely, I will default to using force to enforce my rule. I mean, that is how I enforced my rule when I was the emperor: force and fear. Unless you have another royal descendent lying arou... There is another?"

"Do you think I am a virgin?"

"Errr... Are you?"

"When I was 15, I was raped. I let my guard down, and I got drugged. The father... I don't know. Numerous men were involved. Of course, no one knows about this event. I killed everyone related to the event as well as their friends and family. I made sure that the rape was secret. I had a baby. A baby boy. I couldn't kill him. He should be living with this family of rabbit beastmen in an isolated village in the mountains. You do have the option to abdicate and give the crown to my son."

"I see. We both have had shitty lives, haven't we?"

"*Giggle* Yes. Yes, we have. Before I ask if you will accept this responsibility, I want to ask your opinion of what I am going to do."

"*sigh*. I want to tell you something. I am going to tell you a little bit more of how I got my powers. I have always been really vague with you about it. You have never pressured me about it so thank you."

"Yes. I can imagine that it wasn't a pretty story."

"Actually, it was really more of a boring story. Nothing painful, nothing mind-blowing, nothing heartwrenching. You see. I have had a really normal and boring life as a human. I was born to a pretty well-off merchant family, went to a university, and became a researcher in the field of magic development. I wasn't anyone amazing and published a couple papers. It was a time of peace, there were no famines, and it was overall uneventful. Even when my research on elemental absorption went down the drain, I still had a couple more well-paying job offers that I could have taken. Now, the abyss and my powers... Truth be told, I wasn't pressured at all to take this power. It was more of a stupid curiosity. I knew the consequences as well. I would be sacrificing everything, yet I still took this power. I obtained great power, not because of some great desire for power, not revenge, not through intense training, but a simple sacrifice of everything that made me up and some mild curiosity. After I became one with the abyss, well... you know what happened."

"The point of this story?"

"The point of this story is that I don't think I am qualified to give you my opinion on this matter."

"I see... Will you take the position?"

"Before I accept, how do you want to die?"

"I have always wanted to know what it was like to fly, and the royal chambers have an excellent view of the capital."