“You are questioning The Mother’s methods, Lina. That’s blasphemous, or at least close to it,” she said, shocked.

Hugo was thrown off by the sudden shift in the conversation. “That’s not...”

She interrupted, “Don’t get me wrong, I totally agree with you. It’s what I have been saying for years. It’s just so shocking to hear it from you. A wolf in the bush, you know?”

With a sigh of relief, Hugo said, “It’s just something I have been thinking about recently. I wasn’t thinking she should do it differently, I was just wondering why she does it this way. You know my situation with The Mother’s blessing. As the daughter of the First Prince, soon to be king, I just kind of figured it would make sense that The Mother would bless me when I was young. But years passed and nothing happened. Makes you think, you know?”

If Hugo wasn’t carefully gauging her reaction, he might have missed the brief frown on her face. She quickly wiped it off her face and smiled, “Totally! If The Mother was really doing her job correctly, she would bless all the nobles. We shouldn’t have mundanes in our family. And honestly, it seems like too many commoners have been blessed recently.”

They were getting into dangerous territory now. He knew that he could get in trouble if someone overheard him agreeing with her. “Now who is being blasphemous, Nazanin?” he said and smiled.

“Oh, whatever,” she said and gently pushed his shoulder.

The push made him sway and vertigo rushed in. Hugo had to fight to keep himself from throwing up. He decided to change the subject. “So, what’s going to happen with all the change ups? I think you are plugged into the political scene better than me. What’s your predictions?”

“Well, my mom and dad are pissed about your parents becoming king and queen, but they will get over it. I bet if they are allowed to sell more grove gourds this year, they will be your strongest supporters. I guess you already know about the Bamboo family. Um. Let’s see. Oh! How about the Oaks. Did you hear about them?” Nazanin said.

“No, what about them?” Hugo said.

“They were in line but they got kicked off. Their little brat Cyrus said something about The Daughter in the sacred grove. The Mother didn’t like that, so they are out of succession,” Nazanin said.

“Out? Just like that? One word from Cyrus and their hopes and dreams are just crushed? That’s harsh,” Hugo said.

“Well, it was more than just one word. He was talking about how much he loved the hedgies and he was glad that King Imim died. He said we should get more than one Daughter so we can expand after the new year’s. Turns out, The Mother was listening and didn’t like the idea of being cut up again. Lots of reasons for her to cut them from the line,” Nazanin said and shrugged.

“That reminds me, I never heard the whole story on that one. What was going on with those hedge mages?” Hugo said nonchalantly.

Nazanin shrugged, “Not much to tell, really. We gave them a few prophecies and artifacts, and they collected a Daughter for after the New Year. Some people want to keep working with them, like the Junipers, but that’s never going to happen with your father on the throne. I don’t know of anyone who hates humans more.”

Interesting. A few things were coming together in his head now. It seems like the riese knew that the town was going to explode at the end of the year, and they were preparing for it. That’s why the royals had moved to a grove tree outside the city walls. They must have also known that The Mother would get killed in the blast. Maybe that is what The Daughter was for, a replacement tree symbiote they could worship.

If Hugo’s family gained the throne, the hedge mages would probably be banned from town. But his experience from previous lives indicated that they had actually gained support and followers. His conversations with the Black Marshal made him think that they were the reason the hedge mages were attacking the sentinels. But now he was thinking it was likely that the Juniper family had gained the throne in previous iterations. They must have helped the hedge mages grow and misled them about what was going to happen at the end of the year.

That means his mother was probably going to lose her challenge in a month. Lina probably lost her challenge too and the Juniper house ascended to the throne. Or wait. In the previous interactions, Lina had been dead. What would that do to the challenge?

“This might be the last time I see you in a while,” Hugo said, “My dad keeps sending me away. I don’t know why.”

“Well, you know why. They still haven’t caught the bastards that killed the king and queen. Your parents are worried about you. Plus, if you die, the Junipers automatically win their challenge. It takes three to fill the throne,” Nazanin said.

Hugo waved his hand negligently, “Well yeah, I knew that,” Hugo said, even though he wasn’t sure until that exact moment, “I just wish I could be safe and protected at home instead of out in the wilds. I just hate being so far from civilization. It took me literally hours to get my hair combed back out after I got home a few days ago.”

“You know, you could just stay here. He probably wants you to be out in the forest where no one can find you, but you are totally right about being safe here. Just get a few extra guards and tell your dad to stuff it,” Nazanin said.

Hugo giggled, “Dad, stuff it. I am staying here!”

She laughed too but then said, “Seriously though. Just ask your parents to stay here. Your mom might want you out of here, but not your dad. We both know you have him wrapped around your little finger.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Hugo said. “I’ll think about it.” He bid his farewell and walked down to his room. He breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the base of the branches. It was funny that being only seventy feet above the forest floor made him feel more safe.

It was probably worth it to try and convince his parents to stay here instead of going out on another hunt. He would be better served playing the political game here in the royal grove tree than out in the wilds pretending that he didn’t have a domain. He wanted to get more information about the hedge mages and he couldn’t think of a better place than where they were allowed to operate freely.

He was lost in thought as he returned to his room within the tree trunk. His personal guard followed him and stationed herself just outside the room. She went everywhere with him now, a precaution his mother insisted on at least until the challenge was over. He absentmindedly touched the door and the vines slithered shut. Then he stopped in the middle of his room. Something was wrong.

He looked around the room, trying to figure out what had made him feel that way. His room was clean, bed made, bathroom spotless, and the closets shut. The window was open and a fresh breeze went through the room. That was it. He never left the window open. He was too high up for that to feel comfortable to him.

Walking over to the window, he pulled the leaf down and closed up the room. He bet the mana lights in the ceiling got a lot more work now than they ever did when Lina lived here. The conversation with Nazanin made him paranoid. Now all he could think about was people hiding under his bed or in the closets.

Groaning out loud, he caved to the paranoia and checked under his bed. No one there. Then he walked towards his wall of closets. At the last moment, he decided to go all in with the paranoia and fabricated a wooden knife. He started checking the closets one at a time.

By the time he got to the last one, he felt silly for letting his fear get the best of him. Each closet only held clothing. He flopped back down on his bed and chuckled to himself. His paranoia had him jumping at shadows.

He glanced over into the bathroom and his paranoia skyrocketed again. His shower curtain was shut, and he never shut it unless he was in there. At this point he was fairly certain that there was someone in there. He wouldn’t have forgotten that. He always kept the curtain open so mold wouldn’t grow where the curtain rested.

Keeping an eye on the curtain, Hugo slowly backed up. He wanted to grab his armor, but that was being repaired after his hunting trip. He fabricated another weapon, a glaive this time. He didn’t have to calculate out the formula to create it because he had done that the previous week when he was bored on the trail.

He tucked his knife into his dress pocket and positioned himself behind the bed. He felt as ready as he was going to get. He grabbed a pillow and was about to throw it at the shower curtain. He stopped himself. Why did he have to attack the creep in his room himself? He had a guard for that.

Slowly, he made it to the door and opened it. As the vines slithered away, he kept his eye on the bathroom and whispered, “Hey Leila, can you come in here for a minute.”

No one came.

“Leila?” Hugo looked out the door but the hallway was empty.

A rustling brought his attention back to his room. Fog was seeping out of the bathroom. Hugo instinctively threw up a barrier in front of himself. As soon as he did, something pinged off his shield. A human in all black leapt out of the fog, swinging his shortsword at Hugo. The sword shattered the shield, but Hugo deflected the strike with his glaive.

Hugo backed up, creating a much stronger shield in front of himself. He just needed a moment to think. The human wasn’t going to give him the time. He danced to the side and stabbed forward. The strike easily shattered Hugo’s shield and stabbed into his left breast below the shoulder. Hugo cried out in pain and twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding the follow up slice.

The human was relentless, thrusting, slashing, and spinning. Hugo was just barely able to keep himself alive and collected a pair of slashes to his forearms. As the fight wore on, he centered himself and stopped getting new injuries. His health points trickled into his various wounds and slowed the bleeding. He felt his strength return as he counter attacked. His countless hours of practice with the leaf monsters helped him to parry and counterattack effectively.

Hugo was starting to push the man in black back. It was only a matter of time before he got a good strike in. The human sensed this and disappeared into the bathroom again. The magical fog fully obscured him. Hugo threw up another barrier, not a moment too soon. A pair of darts pinged off the shield.

There wasn’t a window in the bathroom, so Hugo could just wait the man out. He tried to take a big breath, but found that he couldn’t. The stab through his breast had hit his lung, and it was filling with blood. He needed to finish this fight fast and get to a healer. Plus, the cloud of fog was creeping into the room, making it harder and harder to see.

No one had come to investigate the fight yet, so the assassins must have arranged for this branch of the tree to be empty. That made things easier for Hugo too. He could go all out. He wanted to make a bomb and throw it in there, but he hadn’t chosen titanium this go around. He was stuck with wood and mithril for now.

He was sure he could come up with a better idea if he had a moment to think, but he didn’t want the assassin to have time to think either. He fabricated a quartet of caltrops and dropped them on the floor in front of the bathroom. At the same time, he grabbed the three darts that had fallen to the ground. Then Hugo recycled his barrier and replaced it with a stationary one. He activated his mana sight and threw both darts at the mana core he saw there.

The attack had the effect he was hoping for.

The assassin leapt out of the cloud of fog and slashed into the shield standing twenty feet away. Hugo wasn’t there, having expected the attack and ducked to the side. As the human landed, he hit one of the caltrops and stumbled at the spike in his foot. Hugo took the opportunity to slice down with his glaive. The assassin managed to put his arm up in time, but that only deflected the strike down to his torso. The wooden blade cut him deep.

The assassin wasn’t out of the fight yet though, he brought up his sword and cut Hugo’s glaive in half. Hugo used the remaining shaft of the glaive to knock the sword out of the man’s hands. Then Hugo drew the knife from his dress pocket and stabbed it down. The assassin had the same idea and Hugo felt a pain in his side as he pierced the man’s chest.

Rolling away, Hugo took both knives with him, his own and the knife embedded between his ribs on his left side. He swore internally, not having the breath to do it out loud. Hugo glanced at the assassin, he was in similar shape. Both of them were going to bleed out soon.

Feebly, the human reached into a pocket on his side and pulled something out. Hugo recognized it right away and scrambled back. It was an alchemical grenade.

The man activated the grenade and tossed it at Hugo.