Are you really from this world?
"Urgh—"
Theresica suddenly felt his stomach churn. Unable to hold it back, he hurried to the side and began vomiting nonstop.
In a daze, someone handed him a piece of paper. He took it instinctively and wiped his mouth with it, but upon closer inspection, he found that they were two letters of notification.
"The messenger just delivered them. You ordered that they had to be opened by you personally."
Shining removed her cloak and draped it over him, thoroughly concealing his disheveled appearance.
Enduring his discomfort, Theresica opened the envelopes right there. He desperately wanted to leave this place. In his eyes, these were two tickets out. But the information on the letters left him stunned.
Sorry...
There was a lot of writing, but the first two words alone were enough to stun him. I can't even get into schools like these?
Wait, there seemed to be another line of tiny text at the end.
This school does not accept Sarkaz.
P.S. Readers, please give me some recommendation votes!!!!
###
A Fundamental Crisis
Theresica buried his head in the cloak and hurried forward, fleeing as though escaping a flood. He ducked into a street corner not far away. He did not want to stay there, because even without looking back, he could hear the chaotic sounds of people fighting over the spoils.
But... had he really avoided it?
Beyond the corner lay another street. Although it lacked the revolting scene left behind by the explosion, ruined, abandoned houses stood everywhere. Old and new knife marks crisscrossed the doors, while brown bloodstains still clung to the walls. One of the nearby shop windows had been blasted open, leaving nothing inside except toppled shelves.
From between the surrounding brick walls and narrow alleys, several thin figures occasionally poked their heads out and cast curious looks this way. But after noticing the guards following behind, they cried out in alarm and vanished.
He walked forward in silence. The more he saw, the worse his expression became. Just then, a nervous guard approached.
"Your Highness... please go back. Two groups are fighting ahead. We're afraid we can't guarantee your safety."
Theresica secretly glanced at Shining. Seeing that she had not drawn her sword, he immediately relaxed.
"It's fine. I want to watch from farther away."
"...Yes, Your Highness."
Following the guard, Theresica climbed into an unoccupied three-story house. From there, he could see two groups battling fiercely among the buildings in the distance, each carrying the banner of either his sister or his cousin.
They fought not only with cold weapons, but also had crossbowmen and casters providing support. Arrows flew through the crowds, while explosions from Originium Arts rang out one after another. Mixed faintly into the din were several sobs.
Theresica led Shining and the guards toward the sound. When he pushed open a wooden door that had been left ajar, a chorus of terrified screams immediately came from inside.
"Quiet!"
"Quiet!"
The guards shouted, but Theresica raised a hand to stop them. He stood in the doorway until the people inside calmed down, then walked in.
Inside the small, dilapidated house stood a bespectacled, trembling old Sarkaz man. Several elderly Sarkaz women stood nearby, and behind their outstretched arms were nearly thirty young, thin Sarkaz children.
They all watched him warily—the clean clothes he wore, and the guards behind him.
The scene made him uncomfortable. He immediately whispered an order to Shining. After a while, she returned carrying a small bag.
"I'm sorry for coming in so suddenly. This is a small token of apology... They're all soldiers, and this is all they had on them."
Theresica placed the bag of broken pieces of dried food on a battered table. The old Sarkaz man with glasses wanted to refuse, but when he saw the children curled up in the corner, he stopped himself.
"Thank you."
"It's nothing."
Theresica looked at the elder bowing to him and gently shook his head. Then he pointed at Shining and asked, "May I come in with her and take a look around? No one else will enter. There happens to be fighting outside, and with us here, you'll be safer."
A trace of hesitation appeared on the old Sarkaz man's face, but in the end, he silently nodded.
After receiving permission, Theresica entered the house with Shining. The children relaxed considerably, and a few of the bolder ones even began studying the Royal Court Guard curiously from the doorway.
"Sir, why are there so many children here?"
"Ah... With fighting every day, whose family is still complete? The children still need to eat, so after discussing it among ourselves, the people nearby asked us old folks to look after them. Those who are still able to move can focus on earning some food. We old and useless ones can at least have a few bites in peace."
The old man's voice was sincere. Theresica gave a slight nod and asked no further questions. Wearing clean clothes, it was truly inappropriate for him to ask something like that.
After standing inside for a while, and with the sounds of fighting nearby mostly dying down, Theresica prepared to leave. After all, the presence of their group was making the old people and children quite nervous.
But just as he was walking toward the door, a child suddenly ran over and shouted urgently,
"My dictation!"
It was a short sentence, but the atmosphere inside the room instantly froze.
Shining grabbed the child who had rushed over, while sweat appeared on the old Sarkaz man's forehead and his body began trembling even more violently.
Theresica looked down at his feet and only then noticed that he was standing on a piece of paper. He picked it up and glanced at it, finding that it was covered in sentences written in Columbian.
He gently shook the dust from the paper, then crouched down in front of the child and held it out.
"Is this yours?"
"Give it back!"
The child spoke a second sentence, making the atmosphere even more tense.
"Your foreign-language skills are really good. Do you know any other sentences? I can give you a reward."
Theresica spoke in the Sarkaz language, but the child's face was filled with confusion.
"Such a young Sarkaz child, yet he only speaks Columbian?"
He looked toward the old Sarkaz man. Although the languages of the various nations of Terra differed somewhat, their origins seemed to be the same, so they were not difficult to learn. It was perfectly normal for a child to know a foreign language, but to know only this one... that was not right.
"Your Highness?"
Shining was asking how to handle the situation. The old Sarkaz man, upon hearing the title, immediately fell to his knees, his entire body trembling.
"Please... please..."
How should this be handled? Even Theresica more or less had the same thought.
Theresica returned the paper to the child, then left without saying a word.
He walked quickly toward his residence.
In another world, he had received sixteen years of education. The knowledge he had once heard from his teachers now appeared with startling clarity in his mind, crying out again and again.
This isn't right!
Those voices burned fiercely. Their heat gathered in his chest, almost forming an impulse he did not dare imagine.
"Shining."
"I'm here."
Theresica asked, "Do you think I can change the way Kazdel looks now?"
"Sorry, Your Highness. I don't know."
Shining answered from behind him, her calm voice revealing not the slightest ambiguity.
"Is that so? Thanks for the effort of coming all this way. Tell the King of the Scavengers that I need to see him."
Theresica let out a long breath and took out the letters of notification he had received that day. They had already been crumpled into a ball.
He clenched them even tighter, then suddenly flung them into the sky. The glow of fire vanished in an instant. Only fragments of charred paper drifted down.
###
Ascension
Morning sunlight spilled across Kazdel's urban district. Sarkaz emerged from every corner, their faces filled with confusion and bewilderment.
Although the intensity of the fighting had dropped sharply during this period, quite a few armies still clashed within Kazdel. But why had there not been a sound in the city since last night? Not a single soldier could be seen on the streets.
What was going on? Had the war ended?
In the central area of Kazdel stood a simply constructed palace. Theresica stood on a slightly elevated terrace, from which he could see most of the city. But what met his eyes was not a cityscape, only devastation and ruins.
"Ah..."
"Young royal, your will has been carried out. All troops have withdrawn from the city."
A familiar voice suddenly sounded beside him. It belonged to the King of the Scavengers. He asked with a smile that was not quite a smile, "Why do you sigh? Is there something you're dissatisfied with?"
"What exactly should I be satisfied with? Grateful that this city hasn't been beaten into complete rubble?"
Theresica looked troubled. The King of the Scavengers did not respond, instead reaching out to draw the curtains.
"All the leaders who could come from the various races are already in the council chamber. You can try to dispel the doubts in your heart."
"I will."
Theresica strode forward. He did not dare to blindly trust the King of the Scavengers' account. Those gathered today were all core figures in the war. Some had followed his sister, while others had followed his cousin. With them here, perhaps the truth could be pieced together.
A servant pushed open the doors to the council chamber. Shining and the King of the Scavengers stopped outside, while he alone entered the chamber.
Inside, the two factions stood on opposite sides. On the left were the exquisitely dressed Bloodfiend Grand Duke, the Changeling clan leader who looked like a child, an Absolutionist wrapped in a cloak of the same style as Shining's, and Manfred.
On the right stood the Banshee clan leader, a female Sarkaz named Ascalon who had originally followed his cousin, and several faces and races he did not recognize. One of them even belonged to a race hostile to the Sarkaz—the Sankta.
Both sides looked terrible, but when they saw him, they silently composed themselves.
After examining everyone one by one, Theresica stopped beside the main seat in the chamber.
"I want to know what happened to my sister and cousin. Why did I receive two terrible pieces of news in a single day? Can you explain the reasons clearly to me?"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone among his sister's followers shouted angrily, "They brought in mercenaries from another race! They assassinated Lady Theresia!"
"That... is indeed what happened."
Noticing Theresica's gaze, the Absolutionist bowed and said calmly, "Lord Theresis did plan a decapitation operation."
"Then what happened after that? What happened to my cousin?"
As soon as he asked, Theresica did not hear an answer. Instead, gasps from the people on his sister's side reached his ears first.
"What happened to that bastard Theresis?"
"Lord Theresis... has disappeared."
The Absolutionist bowed even lower, but her voice remained calm. "Please forgive our incompetence. We were unable to find Lord Theresis. He left no trace behind."
Then... what the King of the Scavengers had said was true? This was bizarre!
An empty feeling suddenly climbed into Theresica's heart. He took a deep breath and forced a polite smile onto his face.
"I'd like to occupy this chamber alone for a while. There are still council chambers on either side. Sorry for the trouble, everyone."
The tense standoff in the chamber vanished in an instant. Everyone bowed slightly toward him, then withdrew. When the servants closed the doors, only he remained in the vast space.
He had been in this world for many years. Although his contact with his sister and cousin had grown less frequent as he aged, he could genuinely feel their concern for him.
Even after civil war had broken out and resentment had grown between them, the two of them still came before him during festivals and did their best to pretend that they were a harmonious family.
Was this the result of his voluntarily stepping aside?
He could not judge.
He stood alone in the chamber in silence for quite some time. Then Theresica composed himself and had both sides return.
Amid the thick smell of gunpowder, he brought up the question of the Sarkaz throne. His cousin's followers hesitated for a moment before expressing their support. But on his sister's side, because the current leader, Kal'tsit, was absent, along with several other grievances, they gave no opinion.
Everyone in the council chamber had complicated feelings. None of them had expected the king about to be crowned to be such a child. But they were helpless, because the Sarkaz needed a king now.
The Absolutionist brought out the ritual implements. As long as he passed the test, he could become king of the Sarkaz.
Outside the palace, the Sarkaz sentries who had long since prepared themselves slowly marched out of the city from every direction in accordance with the old rules, carrying furled banners, before returning here. They had to pass through every street and residence to announce to all the Sarkaz of Kazdel that a new king was about to be born.
On the streets, the packed crowds automatically moved aside, gathering slowly toward the royal palace while making way for the sentries.
News of Lady Theresia's death and Lord Theresis's disappearance had already spread throughout Kazdel, directly causing the Sarkaz to lose heart. Now that a new king was about to appear, the sliver of hope in everyone's heart was rekindled.
In the crowd, a heavily armed giant suddenly stopped, then turned and followed the flow of people moving ahead. Her companions immediately looked puzzled.
"Mudrock, where are you going?"
"To watch the king's coronation. I want to see the outcome."
Before you continue