The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

                                        Although that was part of his own set of skills, Zaos couldn't help but wonder after a while if he could have defeated his father without using magic. Still, after a while, he forgot about that since Laiex also brought two magic weapons to face him because he counted on the fact that Zaos would use magic.

                                        Those arrived in the capital in the middle of the afternoon. Zaos almost crossed the gates with his horse as if that was perfectly normal, and he wasn't one of the most wanted men of the kingdom. Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to escape from that annoying rain, he had to find another route. Much to his surprise, the assassin had other plans.

"Follow me. I know some secret routes," The assassin said.

                                        In the end, she led Zaos and Moody to what seemed to be an abandoned part of the capital's sewers. However, that one had some metal bars blocking the path. It was strangely clean. After walking for a while, Zaos realized that the place had probably been designated to escape as an escape route from nobles. After all, it was pretty large and tall that even Moody could walk around there without having to deal with any problems.

"Where are we going?" Zaos asked.

"We can reach the castle from here," The assassin replied.

"If you are helping me, won't they expect that we will use this place?" Zaos asked.

"The first ones to discover that I am not on the king's side were your father and the other knights," The assassin explained. "The king still thinks that I serve his family."

"So, you don't serve?" Zaos frowned.

"… I am just helping Ameria," The assassin replied.

                                        That was weird… the assassin had been hired by the king, so why was she only helping Ameria? It was hard to say since not even Ameria knew about her existence three years ago. Then again, Zaos didn't have any real conversation with Ameria in the last three years.

                The secret passage was quite dark, but Zaos solved that problem after using Light in the Darkness. The question was how the assassin could move without that help… in any case, after walking for almost one hour, they reached a point where the assassin stopped. She slowly moved a part of the ceiling of that place, and then Zaos finally found some natural light coming into view. Weirdly enough, there was no rain. So, it seemed that they were already inside the castle. Before climbing up, Zais saw some barrels and the smell of wine.

"You will have to leave your horse here," The assassin said.

"You heard her stay here for a while," Zaos said. "Don't be afraid of the darkness and try to be quiet for a change." 

"HIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNN!"

                Naturally, Moody complained, but he did so more quietly than usual. Without wasting any more time, Zaos and the assassin climbed and then reached the Winehouse of the castle. Zaos didn't know that part of the castle, so he had no idea where to go from that point onward. However, the assassin took the lead again.

            After leaving the room and crossing some corridors, Zaos noticed that the castle was quieter than usual. Things should be a lot more animated since Ameria was supposed to be pregnant, but maybe the rain really messed things up. Regardless, the place was big, but Zaos still felt weird that he couldn't feel a single presence. Before long, they reached the most luxurious parts of the castle, and Zaos recognized that corridor. It was the same place he almost died when he was seven. Ameria's room was pretty close, and Zaos could feel two presences there. In the opposite direction, Zaos could feel several presences in the throne room. While Laiex and Drian tried to stop Zaos, the king still had some royal guards.

            The assassin opened the door without making any noise, and then Zaos found Ameria and her kid. It seemed that her pregnancy wasn't a lie, but something seemed off. Ameria's presence was weaker than the girl's. The baby was asleep, but Ameria was awake as if she had been waiting for them. However, she looked exhausted, even though the baby didn't look like it had been born just a few hours ago.

"Hey, you two are finally here," Ameria said and then forced a smile.

              Zaos opened his eyes widely when he saw Ameria trying to get up, and then she failed the very moment she moved her arms. He quickly approached and then cast the spell to restore her stamina, but nothing happened.

"It has been a while, Zaos," Ameria smiled again. "You scared us when he heard that you had died. But deep down, we know that you are stubborn for that."

"Save your strength, only talk to tell me how you feel. I must have made a mistake casting the spell that restores stamina," Zaos said.

"It is all right, Zaos," Ameria said. "I asked Aleni here to tell you a lie. I am not really sick."

"... Then why do you look so weak?" Zaos frowned.

"It started when I noticed that I was pregnant, the morning sickness, the tiredness even after just moving so little…" Ameria said. "After a while, I noticed that even my mana was leaving my body."

"Your mana? How?" Zaos frowned again.

"Where I should start…" Ameria forced another smile. "You never said out loud, but you always wondered how come I learned magic so fast, right? As it turns out, I have what people call the gift of the demon lord. You spent some time with the half magic race in the North, so you must know what that means. The only difference is that this power only showed up when I was twelve. My mana grew larger pretty fast, but everyone thought that it was because of the magic school."

"I don't get it. How does that explain anything about your condition?" Zaos asked.

"Well, you know that my father and previous kings have been kidnapping newborn babies that have the gift of the demon god, right?" Ameria asked.. "Well, they do that because they know that the spirit of the demon god will return to this world by using the descendants of those who are born with the gift of the demon god."