Chapter 152 - 152.

After the next 2 days of training the kitchen staffs on the rounds of the menu to be prepared for lunch, dinner and supper, the adventurers that were tasked had returned with the number of potted plants in their hands.

Every member of the team received the appropriate rewards such as credits as well as points for them to allocate into their stats, as the children and I brought the plants to the side of the Beauty World HQ and planted in their designated rows. Energy induced water was then used to replenish the soil as well as nourishes the plants that had been sitting on their little 'homes' before being transferred into a bigger one.

I had summoned for Blake and Bruce as they came to collect the remaining weapons and ar ours that was due for the rest of the cities. I reminded them not to send one shot to them but rather in batches where they could start next week. They nodded their heads as they stored all the readied Level 3 weapons and armours into the spatial storage bag.

A merchant's or trader's spatial bag is unique compared to a personal one. Even a house could fit into it along with its contents, literally.

As the time approaches for me to leave for Aermagh to meet the ruler on what was being proposed to Blake, I got my equipment ready. My one-handed crossbow and the Dragon Fang hung loosely at my sides, while my claymore was slung behind my back.

A small pouch containing some 5k credits were placed inside my pouch along with 2 sets of throwing knives which I still hadn't had the time to practise on them properly.

I felt rather heavy as I sat there having breakfast with the whole family. It was as if I was having jitters travelling alone to Aermagh without the aid of Prius this time. "Dear, do you want me to accompany you?" Patricia inquired as she held my hands softly.

"Tch...there's no need to dear if you come along who is going to tend to the children? Furthermore, I would be gone for at most 3 hours and then hurry back in your arms and the children. Hahaha." I laughed but it sounded awful and no one did laugh at me but looked forlornly instead.

"Hey cheer up. It is not that I'm going to let that Ruler of Aermagh bully me once again, right? Furthermore, I would be going on Blake's behalf. With me around, I should be able to twos and turn my take so that they would be able to believe me, somehow."

"By the way, if Blake was to go there himself, how would he be able to forge a Level 3 iron? He would be putting himself at risk if he does that, don't you think? Who is going to take care of his store is he have to stay there for some months before he is able to forge a Level 3 iron then?"

"The note in the message clearly states that the Ruler of Aermagh wants Blake to be there on a permanent basis. If he can't convince the Ruler of Aermagh, who would've?"

I explained to the rest of the children and those present in the current situation as it would be hard to imagine Blake hitting the anvil on their presence just to produce a single piece of a decent Level 3 iron ingot.

=*=

The harsh winds that welcomed me the moment I step out denote a premonition and this had me tugging at my little heartstrings as I trudged on, my feet sinking into the sand as I used my shawl to cover part of my face against the billowing sandstorm.

"This doesn't look too good, does it? Ah well, the faster I settle the matter the faster I could get back home." I thought inwardly as I walked towards the direction. I didn't take the portal to make the journey faster but instead, I took the long way out from town.

As I walked on, images and thoughts began to replay in my mind like a broken cinematic video. Memories of me battling in the battle of Qodegh, gaining my consciousness in an unknown town and now having a great place to finally call my own. My heartfelt heavy as I made my journey through.

Suddenly, my chest tightened. It is not that I am used to having such feelings but maybe is it due to a feeling of homesickness?

A ringing sounded in my head at first it was just a slight buzzing sound but it got heavier like a swarm of bees finally found a place to make their home inside it. The uncomfortable feeling on my chest began to radiate throughout my chest and I had to bend forward as I heaved my last meal onto the scorched ground.

"Damn... What's happening to me right now?" I said aloud to no one in particular as tears blurred my vision as I continued to heave and threw up bile this time.

"Maybe it's good poisoning. Hope I would be able to clear it when I get to the next town though. This weather seems to be kicking up a fuss around me and I don't like it one bit...!"

I tried to think optimistically as I walked on and I discovered that my right eye had a stabbing sensation that seems to pole through the eye socket and through the back of my head.

A feeling of a tightening vice was felt around the sides of the temple and the forehead and as the feeling got tighter and tighter, I was keeping myself upright as much as possible as I walked on. The thought of turning back was in the back of my mind but my feet don't seem to follow my commands.

The stabbing sensation in my right eye coupled with the tightening vice around my head makes me lose the vertical control of my body and I drifted to my right-hand side and I lost my balance. Is this a sign of vertigo? I don't know... Hypoglycaemia perhaps?

I fell sideways on my right on the scorching sand as the tightening vice around my temples tighten. Is this death or what? Hot damn... Not when I'm about to save the household in the last minute...!

My fingers felt clammy, its as if I had been exposed to frostbite. I can't help the feeling but I felt like kicking my shoes off since I felt my toes cramping up and felt that my calves and thigh muscles suddenly gave up on its motor skills.

"Help... Help me, anyone..." I croaked with my hoarse voice due to the excessive loss of body fluids especially the pints of bile and vomit earlier.

"SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT."

"HOST MAKES LAST LEAP TO ENGLAND, 1424, RETAINING IDENTITY."

"INITIALISING ARTIFICIAL REMOVAL OF MEMORIES AND ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH THE BRAIN."

I choked up upon hearing the system notifications in my head. The system would make me complete the last leap to England in 1424?

Losing all my memories and anything associated with my brain? Am I going to be a cabbage or what?

1424 England? That's the 15th century, right? In the parallel world or the actual world that I was born in?

I can feel the pounding on my head like the beating of my own heart, from a fast beat it trickled down until I just felt like I can see myself lying sideways in the sand. As the sandstorm kicks up, thin layers of sand began to fine over my body... Slowly burying me.

I'm freaking buried alive in here...!

Was I having an out of body experience? Cold sweat seems to endlessly pour out from my back and top of my head. The cold sweat acts like cement when the fine sand slowly covered my body and soon that body would be lost in time...!

How could that be? I'm just 30 minutes or so away from the gates. Didn't anyone had a lookout of something and saw this poor old body of mine tumbling in the sand?!

The pounding in my head that was synchronised with my heartbeat slowly came to a near stop — about a few beats per minute now. I can't feel any parts of my body as I lay sideways in a fetal position, as I began to feel forced into a dark void.

It was a spinning sensation and all I could do was to leave everything to God this time. If I died, then so be it. Everyone dies one way or another and in my case, I had left a bunch of people feeling disappointed.

Wait... In the first place did the battle of Qodegh ever took place? How about the town of Ingmery and kingdom of Aermagh? How about the events that happened and all the memories that I had experienced back then? Would everything wipe off like a clean slate?

Suddenly all turned dark and quiet as I slipped away. My breath had stopped, my lungs failed to pump the necessary oxygen that I require. My heart finally failed to pump vital oxygenated blood all over my veins. I was soon... DEAD ONCE AGAIN?!?

=*=

Authors Note:

This would be the closure of the novel as it would be brought into a new arc of a new novel titled "Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince".

=*=

Sunday, June 27th 1424.

A bundle of joy was brought into the world by a certain Macleod family. Yes, the Macleod family that consisted of the father, Richard Macleod and the mother, Silvia Macleod. It was their first newborn and huge celebrations were held to commemorate the firstborn Prince of Darlington.

A couple of years later, a little sister named Tanya Macleod followed suit into the family, making it a complete Prince and Princess bunch in the town of Darlington.

The day I was reborn into this world was also a significant year since the Battle of Verneuil, where The English had defeated the French at Verneuil.

A few weeks after my first weaning, I was named as Prince Audemars, a Frenchie name adopted by my mother despite the interventions made by my father who was Pro English during that time and would not have anything French around him.

However, the name got stuck as my mother would call me Audemars while my father would just call me Mars or Dede whenever he pleases. Well, it doesn't really matter though. I was a baby so I don't have many recollections at all.

Images flashed by and soon I was a small kid running around the huge Manor and playing with the other children. My father, as I recalled, allows me to mingle with everyone and told me to respect everyone too. "What's a Prince? It won't even bring food on the table, son. Respect begets respect, remember that. You earn respect and not by demanding over it."

His words kept ringing in my head by the time I had learnt how to write my name and other whatnot as I scribbled on any clean surface I could find, even on my little sister's dress. Ah well, the helpers were always around to clean up my mess and as long as the mess was manageable, I could write as freely as I want. Hahaha.

Images flashed by again and this time I was having little tea parties with the girls. I don't have many friends with the boys because they tend to play a bit too rough and I would end up with tears and would run up and Bury my face arming my mother's thick dress. I was literally a cry baby with snot on my face most times. It was not a pretty sight...!

We held a lot of make-believe tea parties and there was this girl whom I liked the most. She was a little thin, a year younger than me perhaps, her hands and bare feet would always be dirty but her cute face would be as clean and fresh as a baby's buttocks.

There would be tea parties down the cellar and we also would have them in the garden at the side of the Manor. The girl who intends to like the most was one of the daughters of the employees in the Manor, the kitchen staff and she would always have a scone, crumpet or a bun that she would readily share it with me and my sister.

Images once again flashed by as I was now a young man, a teenager actually and had just finished compulsory education and entered tertiary education.

Actually, education was only meant for the privileged and it so happens that I had a classmate — The girl whom I liked most when we were playmates before. She sat a desk from the utmost front while I sat diagonally 2 desks across.

That angle gave me a good side view of her and soon we became acquaintances. However, due to our status, she shunned away from me 90% of the time because after all, I was a so-called royal member of a family while she was just a daughter of a worker in our household.

I don't mind it a bit though but she made it as a big deal and always push it around when comes to friendship. She would always say that she does not fit to be a friend of mine while other nobles would readily take her place anytime.

I remember her words that time, "From the earliest times, it acts as a social marker, sifting the poor from the wealthy, the cereal from the chaff." her words rang deep within me and I have always left a deep impression within me and after several attempts, I had decided to shut myself in, act like a class clown in front of everyone and surround myself with books and had little care to make friends or socialise anymore.

I was literally a recluse and soon the image of the girl that I had taken fancy drifted out of my mind.

Then, the inevitable happened somewhere during the Winter of 1440, where father had requested me to be at home on short notice. It was a total shut-in where no one was allowed to be out of town or allowed in to town except for the town folks.

War had been raging as we know it but it seems to edge closer and closer inland. The French had managed to harness the help of rebels, marauders and opportunists that would be paid in coins to help them clear the lands of any influential powers.

It simply means — Off with their heads.

It's sad... Terribly sad to think that Englishmen were turning against their own kind. Because of a single mission — to survive and stay alive...!

It happened one evening when we were under siege. I had just finished a simple dinner and was walking about the Manor in a worried manner as reports from the soldiers came to alert our family too late.

Rebel forces aiding the French had surrounded our town. They were like those red weaver ants and was swarming the three entrances of town to bring down a single elephant. Panic shouts of men rang out in all directions as they tried to furtively fortify the town's defences but were soon overrun.

The rebels had managed to destroy the three gates, killed off the guards who were pathetically armed with bows and swords while the rebels were heavily armed. Take one enemy down and three more appeared and soon the situation was against us.

=*=

"Burn...! Don't leave a single building standing...!"

"Kill all of them...! Paint the ground with their blood...!"

"You...! Take a few men with you and guard the gates...! No one gets in or out...! Kill them on sight...!"

"Come on men...! We Red Bandits take no prisoners and leave none alive...! Once our initial deed is achieved, we can slowly take our time to gather the spoils...! Darlington will collapse tonight by our hands and we will allege victory...!"

A rebel captain outfitted in black except for a red coloured bandanna that was wrapped over his head hollered once the initial attack upon the guards manning the gates were ruthlessly slaughtered and was successfully executed.

—inserts spinning top scene—

—fades to black—