Chapter 31: The Letter

It took a while but sleep eventually caught up to me again and it was dreamless this time.

I had barely finished my chores the next morning when Mr Simon walked up to me holding a piece of envelope.

"Royal letter", he said.

I looked at the envelope with surprise and curiousity. "Is that from?"

"Yes it is". Mr Simon said grimly. "I wonder what he has to say about all this issues". He tore open the envelope and brought out the folded letter, he unfolded it and read it in silence, his eyes widened as he reached the end and his gaze shifted to mine.

I didn't like the look on his face, he looked at me with equal parts of pity and worry. "What is it?" I asked and snatched it from his hands.

Mr Simon didn't get angry at my rude behavior, instead he sighed sadly and let me read the letter.

I held the letter up and my eyes perused the content.

His majesty, the Emperor of -kingdom has received news about the destruction of Garlem village. The identity of the attackers have been found to be an army of highly intelligent beast monsters cordinated by an unknown ruler.

I gasped and continued reading.

The emperor has declared war on all beast monsters and as a result, all mages from the one star level above are required in the palace by the weekend, to serve this great kingdom.

I put the letter down and stared into the distant space. So this was why Mr Simon had looked at me in that manner, he was concerned about my well being while also feeling sympathy that I new discovered I had magic around the time the emperor summoned all mages.

I didn't know how to feel. A part of me understand his concerns and wanted to feel sad that I was called up to the palace. After all, I would have to leave my home which I was just finally settling in and go to an unknown place with very little training.

At the same time, another part of me, a much bigger part was excited. I felt guilty for it but I couldn't help but feel excited, I was going on a mission where I was bound to kill multiple beast monsters and increase my mana level. I was also going to be close to the emperor, I'd been interested in seeing him and measuring his power since I got here.

It seemed everyone feared and revered him, they treated him like he was a god even, if I was ever going to become the strongest mage, I'd have to kill him.

The idea of going to the palace and meeting other mages with my lack of skills worried me slightly but I took comfort in the fact that I I had my system with me and as long as I completed it's quests, I would constantly get better.

A hand rested on my shoulder, I looked up and saw Mr Simon peering down at me.

"Its going to be alright, you don't have to go, there's no official records of you as a mage. When the guards come here we'll all deny".

I considered his proposition and if I didn't want to go, I would have gladly taken it. However, I wanted to go.

"No sir, there's no need". I said and tried to look as glum as possible. "The guards will probably bring a mage who will search for trace of mana and the whole family will be in trouble".

I looked into his face. "I don't want that".

Mr Simon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You're right". He said with a heavy sigh.

"I'll be fine". I said to him.

He nodded slowly. "Well, I better go break the news to them". He said and disappeared inside the house.

Just then Emily came in through the gate, panting slightly.

"Did you see it?" She asked me.

"I did". I replied and nodded glumly.

"We're going to the palace!" She exclaimed excitedly and shook my shoulders.

I looked at her, surprised. I expected her to be sad at the prospect of leaving her house for an indefinite period of time but it seemed she was even more excited than I was.

"I finally get to practice my magic freely and fight". She exclaimed joyously and I smiled, that was something I looked forward to too.

"You're going to the palace?" A soft voice said behind me.

I turned around to look at Ava standing with the letter clutched in one hand, her eyes were teary and I immediately rushed to her.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. It's only for a while, then I'll be back.. to the farmhouse". I added the last part when I remembered Emily was with us.

Ava nodded and blinked back unshed tears.

"I'm just going to…" she started to say, then she looked at Emily and stopped.

I sighed inwardly, telling them both to keep it a secrets was a very smart move.

"Hey Ava". Emily said and threw her arm around her. "I'm going to miss you so much".

"I'm going to miss you too". Ava croaked and I couldn't help but feel pity for her, she was going to lose both her best friend and her lover in a matter of days.

"It's still three days from now, you guys can still spend some time together". I said.

Emily looked at me with surprise on her face. "Three days?"

"Yeah, the decree says by weekend". I replied.

"Yes, that's why we have to go tomorrow". Emily replied.

I looked at her in confusion. "Tomorrow?"

"Yes". She said. "Think about it, there will be a lot of mages at the palace, there's going to accommodation issues, feeding issues and many more. The earlier we get there, the better".

She let go of Ava.

"Besides, we still have to travel all the way to the palace and the journey is long and torturous".

"It is". Ava nodded. seaʀᴄh thё nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

My knees threatened to give way so I walked to the bench and crashed on it, I couldn't believe we had to leave so early.