Chapter 7: The Prince of Benulis

Far away from the trading town of Cloran, was the capital city of Benulis, the city of Banul.  

This city is one that could be called both gorgeous and humongous if it were compared with any of the other nearby cities.  

Banul was divided into three circles. 

The inner circle that is filled with nobles from various households as well as where the royal family’s castle stood within the center of the city.  

A river ran through the entire city, flowing from the western side where a big mountain range stood. The water circled around the castle, giving it a rather pleasing look.

The streets of this part of town were paved with marbles and decorated with expensive vases and flowers, the buildings were clean and made with many artistic addons that gave a pleasant sense of relaxation to the residents.  

There was also the middle circle that was dominated by the market and merchants, it was where most of the rich residents lived a comfortable life with their families.  

Many carts and carriages passed through the paved roads every hour, be they transporting stock or being used for the transport of the city residents themselves. 

There was little to no trouble within this circle and it was always bustling with activity.  

The last one was the outer circle which was resided by the more lower-class residents, it wasn’t nearly as good looking as the other circles, as the houses themselves were a show to the difference in wealth between the three.  

However, this circle was still on the same level as any other nearby city’s interior. It only went to show that even the poorest citizen of Banul had a decent wealth under their names. 

As for the city walls, they reached as high as forty meters into the air, marble and silver coating them to make for intricate patterns that gave the city an exquisite and beautiful look even from far away.

Inside the walls, the whole city of Banul was filled with people roaming the streets, many varying products could be found at the market places that came from all over Benulis, some on rare occasion even came from other countries where travelers had gone to prior to their arrival here. 

It was the gem of Benulis, a city that many say to be the largest in the world or at the very least within the top three amongst all countries. 

… 

Today, a group from one of the royal knights’ divisions returned from their short journey on the outside of the capital. 

The more than twenty-man squad of division six had been ironically reduced to a mere six people, their captain was nowhere to be seen either. 

Some people who recognized them wondered what they had been doing, a random small group of merely six royal knights returning from outside the city wasn’t an everyday occurrence after all. 

Once they arrived at the castle, they gave a rather outrageous report in the throne room before the soon to be king.  

“I beg your pardon? Could you repeat what you just said?” The slightly irritated voice of a man spoke from the throne upon which he was sitting on.  

“Royal knights sixth division commander... Roland Creek is dead, sire.” Bowed the knight deeply, the same knight who had asked Roland to leave the mission behind and run from Mon’Ter.  

“And my Sister?” The voice spoke again, this time more irritated than before.  

“We don’t know sire... Most likely, she too has perished at the hands of that humanoid monster...” The knight spoke nervously, knowing full well what he was reporting.  

“Hmm... I see,” The man said with a sigh, before standing up from his throne and slowly walking up to the knights that were now trembling in fear while kneeling, “And, do pray tell where you cowards were at the time of your own captain’s, as well as my sister’s demise?” The man asked, crouching down to the kneeling knight and grabbing him by the chin to raise his face up. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue soldier? Speak up.”  

The knight looked up, seeing the face of a handsome young man who wore exquisite clothing fitting of a royal, he was tall, reaching 6’1’’ in height and had a slim but fit and muscular frame. The young man had exceedingly dark short hair and a pair of sapphire colored eyes that reminded one of gems were he to gaze into them for long enough.   

His hands were rough and strong, reason to that being his extensive training with the sword for which he was pronounced a genius since a tender age. 

This, was the crown prince of Benulis. Aydian Von Ezabelle Benulis. The soon to be king, war fanatic who would send the coming years into a scene of carnage the moment he came of age and took the crown officially. 

He would turn twenty-two in the following year’s spring, as it was currently summer, that meant there was less than a year before Aydian’s coronation. 

“W-We... We ran away, sire...” The knight replied, sweat dripping down his forehead.  

“Oh! You ran away did you? Oh my, how brave of you!" said the man with sarcasm as he continued, "My, my, what a bunch of wonderful knights I have here. Just exactly like what I need to start my conquest to conquer our dear neighbors!" chuckled the prince with a jovial tone.  

“S-Sire?” The knight asked, getting more afraid by the second along with his comrades.   

“Yes, my dear knight? Oh, what's that? A reward? Of course! you all deserve such a wonderful... Wonderful reward.” The cheerful attitude vanished as the man’s sapphire eyes began to glow with a sinister cold blue light, “You shall experience a rather pleasant time in the following weeks, then you may continue your servitude to me, my ‘loyal’ knights. However... It just won’t be quite how you used to do it.”    

“Wha-” Before the knights could even ask what Aydian meant, the inside of their bodies began to deform, causing them to scream in agony.   

“AAAAAHHH!!!” Their screams were heard all throughout the throne room as they tried to take their armors off to no avail, it didn’t take long for their internal organs to burst and end their lives.  

“Hmmm...” The prince mused, looking over the scene disappointedly before speaking up, “Lerroy, you seem to have saved me the trouble of torturing them to death.” Aydian spoke, rather displeased as he turned his head slightly to the shadow behind him.  

It was a sapphire colored specter, one wearing the garbs of a magician and a skeletal mask. “Your lordship needn’t dirty thee hands with common rabble, not to mention there are more pressing matters to attend to in our current affairs, sire. Please, forgive my intrusion.”  The specter bowed lightly and returned to the shadows. 

“It’s fine, torture or not this was still going to be the end result. Although it isn’t nearly as fun...” Aydian spoke and had his sapphire eyes glow once more, raising several lights from within the fallen knights’ bodies. “Return to me, my soldiers.” He smirked smugly as he muttered.   

Upon his words landing, each one of the lights began to morph into a humanoid body, transforming into a spectral sapphire colored version of the knights.  

They stood silent, unmoving and with emotionless eyes.  

Such was the power of Benulis’ crown prince, Aydian Von Ezabell Benulis, the power to turn the souls of those fallen into loyal soldiers that would do his bidding.  

For he was a genuine necromancer in the form of a soon to be king.    

“Good, seems like they’ve gotten slightly stronger.” Aydian said and waved his hand, having the specters turn back into lights that entered his eyes.  

“Aydian, my lord, you’ve desecrated more souls I see.” The voice of an old man spoke with enclosing footsteps. 

It was a 6’2’’ tall hooded wrinkly old man holding a wooden staff that had a spiral end at the top, he had a long snow-white beard and wore the garbs of a magician.  

“They deserve far worse of a fate, Court mage Gandar, these scum abandoned the only key to the ‘Scepter’ I had left.” Aydian grimaced, “Now how do I find it... Both my stupid old man and my goodie two shoes of a sister are gone.”  

“It is still unknown whether lady Elyenora has perished or not, keep your calm my prince.” Gandar spoke, trying to calm Aydian down.  

"… You’re right. Knowing her, she might still be alive and struggling somewhere in her pitiful attempts. We can still find her." Spoke the prince in a nonchalant tone as he returned to his throne and laid his back there, "This time, I will do a wide scale search for her."  

Aydian clapped his hands once, a butler emerged in the throne hall and asked solemnly, "What do you need, my lord."  

"Contact the Assassins Guild. Put a bounty on Elyenora, make sure they know not to kill her and not to alert anyone of the current ongoings in the royal court. A thousand gold coins for those who locate her, and three thousand more for those that bring her back alive to me." Aydian replied, pointing with his finger to the butler, before speaking again.  

“And contact the Hunters Guild as well, put up a high-ranking Monster Subjugation quest for whatever that humanoid creature that killed Roland was. All things considered that man was still a Royal Knights’ division captain, so rank the beast as a Noble class, or potentially Lord class monster at the very least. Come up with whatever excuse for its existence as you’d like and offer five hundred gold coins to anyone that can hunt it down and bring its corpse to me.” The prince gave his order, thinking things through well. 

‘Even if Roland was among the weakest captains, he would still be able to defeat a Champion class monster on his own without much trouble... According to the report of those knights from before, he had been completely overwhelmed. That can only mean that the creature was of Noble class or higher.’ Aydian thought, contemplating on how powerful the mysterious being might have been. 

In this world there is a certain ranking system that both monsters and beasts follow. 

It is there to show the difference between beings, so that one might know whether they should trifle with the creature or not. 

Warriors and mages often compare themselves to these ranks as well, however they are generally there for the beasts that may threaten mankind.

Inferior class beings.  

Ones that can be defeated by the common adult man. 

Common class beings.  

As the name suggests, this is a class for common people and beasts alike. For example, an adult man, a group of goblins, a common bear or a pack of dire wolves. 

Rare class beings.  

These are genuine monsters that are capable of either causing huge trouble to a small town or village, or even decimating them entirely. This can include anything between the members of the Hunters guild, to monsters like trolls, ogres and the like. 

Champion class beings. 

One of this class would easily be capable of decimating a village with ease, or even killing hundreds of trained soldiers by itself. The Lord of the Forest that Mon’Ter had hunted down and devoured was one such creature. They are not to be underestimated and thus usually have a quest bounty for their heads sent to the Hunters Guild upon their discovery. Not many hunters would go after them, those who do usually go with a trusted group. 

Noble class beings. 

Monsters that transcend the champion class due to the fact that they too, like the human nobles, possess Magical Eyes of their own. They are usually either as strong as champion class monsters without their eyes, or slightly stronger. When you give them the magical eye advantage, they end up deserving of their own class. 

Lord Class beings. 

These are the strongest creatures one can find in the wild, they are exceedingly rare but do sometimes appear and wreak havoc if left unattended for too long. Many dragons are placed in the lower end of this caliber, while some on occasion reach to the higher end of this class. 

There are higher ranks of monsters as well, such as Arch-Lord and King, however such had not been seen in the last hundred years. 

Those who are remembered in stories are always seen as horrific figures that threatened the structure of entire nations. 

The highest rank of being that has ever been mentioned, was the Emperor class. However, it is uncertain if anyone or anything had ever reached it to begin with. 

The Butler, having received his orders, bowed in a polite manner as he tried not to mess up even the slightest of movements in front of his master, replying obediently, "It will be done, sire."  

Nodding to the butler, the prince raised his chin to excuse his servant from the throne room. 

Glancing back at Gandar, Aydian spoke as he held his head with his right hand, "I will need your help as well, Gandar. We can't simply leave this matter to the hands of outsiders. I need your scrying magic to find my sister. As soon as possible." 

“It shall be done then, I will get on with the ritual immediately, my prince.” Gandar bowed lightly, quickly turning and leaving the prince to his aids. 

Aydian simply sighed, resting atop his throne while surrounded by four specters within the shadows, two on both his sides. 

‘I cannot allow Elyenora to gain any sort of backing... I need to strike now while she’s still weak, capture her before she reaches Weylorn, get what I want and dispose of her swiftly.’ Aydian thought to himself, holding his chin with a hand. 

He held no power in Weylorn, not yet anyway. It was a city with a rather troublesome lord that held much power within the country and to top it all off hated politics. 

He and Aydian did not see eye to eye at all, however Aydian knew that if anyone could. Elyenora would be able to gain his backing. 

“Zoria,” The prince spoke up, turning to one of the specters. “Contact someone and have it made public that princess Elyenora has gone on an expedition to the ‘Caves of Lydia’ with five squads totaling to eighty-five knights from the 1st 2nd 3rd 6th and 8th division royal knights, we need to have a cover story at the ready for her, the two divisions of traitorous scum following her and their demise.” Aydian ordered. 

Elyenora had not left the capital alone, she had done so with the only two Royal knights division captains that supported her wish to keep the peace and a small squad of their two divisions’ top ten best knights. It was the 8th and 3rd division. 

Because they were being chased by the other three divisions with three times their number, Elyenora’s group opted for a split up, where one of the female knights would act as a decoy for Elyenora while the princess herself would become a common traveler that would go through the sacred forests of mount Lydia.  

Sadly, something went wrong and the 6th division wound up finding her while the other two continued their pursuit of the decoy. 

Elyenora and her backers were supposed to meet up at Weylorn when the two divisions on Elyenora’s side managed to shake off their pursuers, however whether that will transpire is still unknown. 

Even if it does not, Elyenora still has a mission to complete. And so even alone she must venture off to Weylorn. 

A feminine voice then sounded, “Of course, I will do so immediately my prince.” The female specter replied solemnly to Aydian’s request, vanishing the moment after from view. 

Within the next days, the talk across the whole country was primarily about the Dancing Sword Princess’s on-going adventure to the old caves of mount Lydia, a dungeon that held many 'a treasures which no one had managed to explore till the end yet. 

There were many who worried for her, many who were confident in her success and some who questioned why she had even gone there with so many royal knights in the first place, either thinking she was being selfish in a search for a ‘safer’ adventure or that there was something more going on behind the scenes, the random returning squad of six knights only served to bolster the rumors. 

Aydian on the other hand proceeded to smirk to himself, thinking of the soon to transpire. ‘Oh, my dear sister. Your efforts are futile, my plans will proceed with the coming of spring next year just like I want them to, you and your goons will be at my feet within the week’s end.’ 

The prince simply chuckled to himself with a smirk on his face, confident in the future that he sought after. 

…