Meanwhile, outside the royal palace, the apprentice was thrown to the ground by the two Inquisition knights and left without saying another word.
"I'm starting to get used to being thrown around…" The young man sighed as he struggled standing up.
"What do I do now?" He asked himself, while still being slightly shocked to all that had happened. The entire day felt like a fever dream for him. Participating in a top-secret ritual, discovering a kingdom-level secret, even meeting face-to-face with the king himself!
As he was lost in thought, he noticed a group of people exiting the Royal Palace. It was the Archmage Vis and the clerics carrying him. The apprentice quickly rushed towards them, to be stopped by a few knights guarding the Archmage.
"It's okay, I know the child." The Archmage weakly stated to his knight, opening up the apprentice's path.
"What is it that you seek from this old man?"
The apprentice bowed to offer his respects before nervously asking, "Do you happen to know where my master is? I don't know where to go or what to do, and I'm not so familiar with this area…"
As the Archmage was about to answer him, the old man raised an eyebrow, noticing something wriggling on his chest. It was not only him that was out of focus as the apprentice too felt something strange on him!
"What the?!" The apprentice shouted as out of nowhere, a thin layer of light blue aura completely enveloped him.
The Archmage stared with awe at young man, wanting to get closer and discover what was happening but on his side, something else caught his attention. It was the wriggling on his chest that he had felt earlier. A necklace would emerge from the old man's robes, levitating in the air, surprisingly emitting the same aura as the apprentice! The necklace was even slightly perched towards the apprentice, as if it wanting to fly towards it.
The old man's baggy eyes glowed as if witnessing a miracle seeing the succession of events right in front of him.
"Of course!" He yelled after shifting his head back and forth towards both his necklace and the young man.
The Archmage immediately jumped off his stretcher, grabbed the apprentice, pulling him back to the same corridor that led towards the royal court.
The old man's escorts and clerics could only stared dumbfounded at them, not only witnessing the strange blue event, but also having seeing an old man on his deathbed suddenly running like crazy.
"Slow down, Archmage, your injuries!"
"I'm okay, child. It was just a small act to get the worst for that wretched advisor!" Archmage Vis responded as he laughed with satisfaction, recalling the advisor's reaction.
It didn't take too long for them to arrive back to the Royal Court, immediately rushing through the gates. The old man would soon regret doing so, as they were instantly greeted with a strange scene.
The Royal Advisor Vota , kneeling with tears in his eyes, his hands tightly latched on the King's thighs, his mouth open wide shouting out loud: "Noooo! I'm sorry, Uncle, please don't send me to the frontlines! Pleeeaaase!!!!"
The old man smiled in satisfaction witnessing the scene play out in front of him. Although he wanted the advisor's torment to go on, another part of him strongly wanted to report his new discovery.
"Ahem!" The Archmage coughed twice, instantly capturing the duo's attention. The apprentice would look away, his entire body shaking in fear as two pairs of eyes landed on the two. These were no normal eyes. These eyes could get him killed were he to make a slightly wrong move. And the poor young man had just been part of seeing something he shouldn't have.
The king quickly pushed his nephew away and fixed his clothes. And for the advisor Vota, instantly composing himself, rushing behind the king as a good advisor would do, acting as if nothing had happened.
"I clearly said everyone to leave. This better be important." The king said with a hint of annoyance.
"This is so important it could save the kingdom!" The Archmage shouted, completely indifferent to the King's fiery eyes.
Hearing the Archmage's bold statement, the King immediately turned serious as he stepped down from his high platform and stood face-to-face with the old Archmage.
"I'm listening." The King spoke, his eyes opened wide.
"See for yourself." The Archmage said as he pulled the apprentice that was hiding behind him.
The king turned his head towards the apprentice, not seeing anything special in the young man. Just a normal looking young man garbed in cheap apprentice mage's robes, neither too tall nor too short, with a set of messy dark hair on his head. The kind of guy could easily blend in a crowd of people and be easily forgotten.
"I see nothing." The King annoyed, turned back to the Archmage after giving the apprentice a single glance.
The Archmage didn't answer him but instead removed the necklace off his neck and raised it up for the King to see.
"Recognize this?" Vis asked.
"Hero Roberto's necklace… the one I gifted you during your Archmage ascension." As the King was about to ask what that had to do with anything, the necklace glowed blue, levitating towards a certain direction. The King turned his head to see where it was pointed, and his eyes landed on the apprentice again, who was now completely enveloped in the same color.
The Archmage put the necklace in the apprentice's hands, and surprisingly the blue hues on them disappeared. When Vis took the necklace back, the same phenomenon resurfaced: both the item and the apprentice glowed blue, and the necklace was flying towards the young man.
"See that?! The explosion from the ritual, it tainted the child!"
"Now he's a living otherworldly artifact magnet!" The Archmage laughed and laughed when he looked at the glowing apprentice.
"How will this help against the demonic invasion?" The King frowned, a bit disappointed by the information.
"Everything! The reason why we can't conduct another ritual we don't have the materials left to do so."
"And this!" The old man raised the necklace again.
"Otherworldly artifacts like this can be used as a substitute! And that's why we need the lad! With him, we can try and locate all the long-lost Hero artifacts. We just need two—no, three—artifacts, and we can proceed with another ritual!"
"This… is... doable. We do have one Hero artifact kept for safekeeping by the Elves in the East." A glimmer of hope started flashing in the king's eyes. With the artifact in the Archmage's hand, that would already be two artifacts.
"We just need to send him East, escorted by a few powerhouses to retrieve it, and if he's lucky, he might find another artifact!" Vis excitedly prattled as he saw that he had managed to convince the king.
"No, we can't afford to mobilize any more powerhouses..." The King frowned, as they were faced with another issue.
"There were a few powerhouses stationed here for training the newly summoned hero... but with the ritual failed, I've already sent them all to defend our critical borders. The clashes with the demons are growing increasingly stronger. Our borders must not fall..."
Meanwhile, at the corner a fat figure had his ears wide open, eavesdropping the conversation. It was Vota, the fat advisor. His ears would wriggling in satisfaction, upon hearing everything they've said. Jumping out of his hiding place, he shouted at them: "I can escort him!"
"You WILL go to the frontlines!" The king shouted back, resisting the urge to go and give him a beating.
"I am the perfect candidate for this! Look, I am THE king's nephew. Everyone knows my face! No one will dare mess with us if I accompany him!" The advisor Vota laughed loudly, pointing proudly at his own thick face.
The Archmage Vis slightly raised his eyebrow when he heard Vota's suggestion. No matter how much he hated the advisor, he had to admit that he had a point.
A rare act that did not go unnoticed by the King as normally the old man would utterly go against every word uttered by Vota.
The King sighed, reluctantly nodded in approval at Vota's suggestion.
"You better not do me wrong, Vota… There won't be any second chances. I swear it on my dead brother's name." He added, staring straight at Vota's eyes with slight killing intent.
"I promise." The fat Vota let go of his joker act and, for once, looked truly serious. He really didn't want to go to the frontlines.
The king nodded approvingly at his nephew. He thought that for once, the kid truly looked like his father.
"And as for you, young man, What is your name?" The king finally addressed the long-forgotten apprentice.
"I-I'm called Spes, your Highness."
"Well, Spes, now the fate of the entire kingdom now rests in your hand…"