"Special?" Aron said. He looked at Sol. He smirked after looking at fat Sol. "Yes! He is. After all, He is the son of His Majesty." He smirked.
Everyone was shocked: Dukes, Prince and Princess, Sol and even Marcus.
The Emperor however had no change in his expression. He just sat there with his hand on his chin, looking at Aron.
Sol was surprised however he kept a blank face. He thought, "What? Me - a son of the Emperor. What is this man saying?." He got serious inside and thought, "Is this related to the incident that happened 13 years ago?" Sol was unsure.
Marcus thought, "What is his grace doing? -revealing him like that?" He was confused at Aron's action.
Princess laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "Haha! You're really funny Lord Aron," said Princess Sharon.
"Haha! You got us, Lord Aron," said the Mustached Duke, Duke Sankalp. "Did you bring that kid just to make us laugh? Poor kid."
Duke Noah and Duchess Sahana also laughed.
Only the Prince and the emperor didn't find it funny.
The prince had a serious look and was looking at Aron.
Sol wasn't bothered with the laughs and all. He thought, "Did he bring me here just for this?" He was calm. He looked at Aron and politely said, "Sir, I think you have been mistaken. My parents are back in the village."
Aron didn't care what Sol said.
"Hahaha!" Aron shortly laughed, "I would be delighted to make the Lords and their Highnesses laugh and happy but ... what I said just now is true - he is the son of His Majesty and a Prince." Aron was serious.
The Dukes, the Prince, and Princess got quiet. Seeing Aron being serious they were confused.
With a serious look, the Prince said, "Duke Aron, you do know that His Majesty is right here and yet you talk such nonsense - and that also in front of us and his majesty." The Prince, Denis, was the youngest among all, 11 years old. He was a quiet and serious type.
"I would not dare talk nonsense, young Prince," said Aron, "but just like I said I am telling the truth."
Emperor Ducas didn't say a single word, he just observed quietly.
Sol was confused but he stood there showing a blank face, serious eyes listening to others. He was suspicious.
Duke Noah asked," So you are saying he is one of the Prince." Noah was the handsome, black Duke with short black hair, yellow eyes, and a deep voice. He had a muscular build among all the people there.
"That's right," said Duke Aron.
The Dukes, Prince, and Princess observed Sol. They looked carefully at Fat Sol: backcombed blond hair, red eyes with fat cheek, big stomach; wearing somewhat decent clothes: a low-quality half blue shirt, black pants and shoes, and a brown cloth satchel bag.
The Princess's face turned sour.
Sol was calm. Just like Ducas, his eyes showed no fear. If he had not been fat and gained fat cheeks he would have looked like a serious and composed person.
Duke Noah asked, "Can you prove it? Duke Aron."
"That's right!" said Princess Sharon angrily. The kind and gentle-looking princess was angry.
Aron explained, "A few years ago I heard a rumor inside a citadel that one of the girls left the job because she was pregnant. A maid who worked in the citadel. If she had carried a child of other men then I wouldn't have cared but there was a rumor that the child was of the Emperor. That piqued my interest. So I started searching for that woman and after years I found him. The son of that woman and the emperor."
The Dukes were surprised.
The Prince and Princess were furious.
Emperor Ducas had no expression. He just stayed quiet.
Sol was the most surprised of all. He got serious. With a confused face, he asked, "But what about my parents back in the village," thinking he might tell something about his real mother who was killed.
"Yes! What about his parents that he says he is the son of?" said Duke Sankalp.
"They are not his real parents, they said themselves, "Aron said.
Duke Sankalp asked, "Then where is the woman - his real mother."
"Dead," said Aron, "I don't know the details but she is dead. The farmers found him near that woman's place."
Sol thought, "I know how my real mother died and how my current parents are not my real parents - but just because of that, I don't think that makes me son of the Emperor. Aron, tell more, something that makes sense. Let's see if you have something useful for me."
Sol was expecting - expecting to find some answers even though it might not be much or false.
Duke Sharon spoke, "There are many deaths of women and mothers in this world and many abandoned children and that doesn't mean the abandoned children are children of the Emperor."
"Duke Sharon is right," said the Prince with a serious look.
"What Lord Sharon said is right," said Aron," But the place they found him was near to the place where the woman had lived and that is also the same exact day the day when she died."
Sol thought," He is right. The day when the killers killed the woman who was supposed to be my mother, also tried to kill me and burned down the house - that night my adopted parents found me nearby when they were returning."
"That doesn't make him the son of my father," the princess was furious, "That maid might have carried the child of some other men. And about the rumor, they are nothing but a rumor. Those who spread such nonsense will be punished."
Aron's personal Knight Marcus was worried for his lord, "Lord what are you going to do? What the other Lords said aren't completely wrong too?"
However, Duke Aron seemed confident.
Duke Noah spoke, "Even if he was what were you...
"I have a way to prove it," interrupted Aron.
"That's enough Lord Aron," said Prince Denis, "Any more nonsense..."
"One Chance!" Aron interrupted, "That's all I need, Your Highness," said Aron.
The Prince and Princess became angrier as Aron continued to claim that the farmer's fat child was their brother. They looked at the Emperor and the Dukes as well looked at the Emperor.
The Emperor did not say anything. He had no change in expression nor the pose. He was not and did not bother.
Duke Sankalp asked," How are you going to prove it? Duke Aron."
"I have an idea and that is by the help of Duchess Sahana," said Aron.
Middle-aged Duchess was surprised when she heard her name.
Aron asked, "Lord May I ask for your help?"
Duchess Sahana was flustered. She looked at others and the Emperor. They did not say anything nor stopped her. They knew it was her decision to make.
Duchess Sahana asked," Lord Aron, What if you were found wrong?"
Aron replied, "Then I will accept any punishment the Lords, their Highnesses, and His Majesty give to me."
Shana asked, "May I ask how I can help?"
Aron replied, "By calling a Divine Being, Jaal."
Duchess Sahana smiled, "I knew you would say that." She looked at Emperor Ducas. "Your Majesty if you may," she said.
All looked at the Emperor.
The Emperor said nothing. He just sat quietly.
Aron said, "Since his majesty isn't saying anything we can proceed.
"There isn't anything to prove so why are we going along with it," said Prince Denis.
"The Prince and Princess - they are mad," thought Sol, "Well if someone out of nowhere claims that an unknown child is their parent's child or their sibling anyone would be mad."
Duke Noah said, "Seeing how Duke Aron is confident, I think we should see it through."
"I agree," said Mustached Duke Sankalp," And it's not like its going to cost us anything."
"It does, Lord Sankalp," sighed Duchess," Summoning a Divine Being is going to cost me a lot of mana and energy. And please do not forget I am a middle-aged lady, the eldest in here, not a young and energetic lady."
"I apologize," said Duke Sankalp.
"As an appreciation, I will provide you a special gift Duchess Sahana," said Aron.
"I look forward to it. Besides, I am curious too, about that boy," said The Duchess.
She then stood up, closed her eyes, and began to chant without making a sound. After a few seconds, a blue magic circle appeared beneath and she glowed lightly in blue. She opened her eyes and chanted," O Great Divine being. We ask for your presence and your help. Send us your help, The Great One, Jaal." The Duchess raised one arm in front, toward the stone table.
Suddenly there was a thick yellow glowing thread hanging on top of the stone table.
Sol thought, "What's that? A thread? That big."
Everyone looked above.
The yellow glowing thread was dropped from above, from a light blue magic circle high above.
Princess Sharon wondered, "What's happening? "
Sol thought, "It looks like that glowing thread came from that magic circle."
The Duchess smiled warmly. "It's been a long time since I used this magic but it seems it was a good idea that I accept to do it," she said, "Normally, the children would appear but today the Great One herself is coming."
From the blue magic circle above, black and white fur spider leg came out. These legs had blue horizontal eyes on them. Then a white and black spider came out.
Then it climbed down, walking on the glowing thread.
"A Spider," said Prince Denis.
Duchess Sahana smiled, "It's a Divine Being, your highness. A being who watches, who sees and knows all. This glowing thread can show you many things. She has all the answers. - I am sure you must have heard or read about it."
Denis replied, "Yes, I have. And it only listened to the calls of families of Iron Star."
"Correct, but, not all Iron Star's members, only those who are related to me and my family," Sahana smiled while looking and waiting for the divine being.
Sol looked at the yellow glowing thread. He thought, "One who watches, who sees and knows all."
The Spider-like Divine Being, Jaal, came down and stood on top of the stone table surrounded by Dukes and others. The magic circle on-air and the glowing thread that came out of it disappeared.
The people who were seated stood up even the Emperor stood up and bowed. Seeing Marcus and others bowing, Sol also bowed.
The divine being was 5 feet tall. Thick white and black fur covered the body except for the eyes on heads and all its legs. There were about 10 blue round eyes on every leg of it and three rings of eyes around its big head.
"Wow!" thought Sol.
"O Great Being. Thank you for accepting my call and blessing us with your presence, "Sahana praised softly.
The Divine Being, Jaal, didn't turn towards Sahana but could see her from many eyes around her head and legs. She spoke, "Descendant of the Iron Star what is that you need to know." Her voice was soft but powerful.
Sahana, a middle-aged Duchess, was a descendant and the head of House Iron Star. Her full name was Sahana Helyn Star.
Sahana pointed at Sol, "Could you tell us how that boy and his majesty are related? Is he the son of the Emperor?"
Jaal answered, "I shall only tell you whether he is the son or not."
"I understand," said the Duchess Sahana.
Jaal walked on top of the large stone table, towards the Sol.
Marcus who was standing beside Sol moved aside, bowing to the Divine Being.
"Whoa! A Divine Being - you don't get to witness any divine being on Earth but here in Vida, Divine Beings walk the Vida, "though while bowing.
The blue eyes of Jaal were blinking. The thick white and black fur looked soft and silky.
She shoots a yellow web at fat Sol from her abdomen forming a yellow thread. The thick yellow web sticks to Sol's fat body
Sol stood silently, watching and wondering as others.
Suddenly the web thread lit brightly.
"Its glowing, "thought Sol. He looked at the glowing thread attached to his body and saw a stream of lights in the thread.
Jaal then pulled out the glowing web thread and rolled it with her short thin hands that were under the mouth. With those hands, she spread the glowing thread and looked at it with her many round blue eyes. After looking for a few seconds, she ate the glowing thread.
She then said, "Child of Iron Star, I saw. This child is indeed the son of your Emperor."
After hearing the answer from the Divine being, Aron smirked while others were shocked except the Emperor.
Duchess Sahana thanked, "Thank you, Great Divine Being."
Glowing threads covered Jaal and she disappeared into the light.
Emperor Ducas sat on the chair with a calm face. Others were standing as they were surprised.
Duke Noah said, "It seems Duke Aron was right. He is the son of his majesty." He looked at Sol.
Everyone looked at Sol.
The Prince and Princess became more furious.
Prince said, "It's nothing but nonsense."
Princess agreed, "That's correct."
The Prince and Princess were furious because someone suddenly claimed to be the child of their father.
The Duchess and the dukes sat.
Sol looked calm but he was thinking many things. "So what this man said was correct. The Emperor is my father. So does that mean the reason why that woman, my real mother died and I was going to be killed that time, is related to this? Is the one who sends those assassins here, right now?"
Sol looked at everyone. He thought, "The Emperor, Why hasn't he said anything from the beginning? Why is he just sitting there and watching while his son and daughter are denying everything?"
The Emperor had no expression of any sort. He was just sitting and watching.
"Looking at his expression, he doesn't seem to care," Sol thought.
Aron said, "The Divine Being said it herself. We can't deny that. But do you know there's one more interesting thing?"
Prince Denis started, "Nothing is interesting here, from the beginning."
Aron ignored what Denis said. He continued, "This lost and unknown child of his majesty is actually a Kosong, an empty being without Mana." Aron smirked.
The Emperor looking at Aron smiled.
"What? A kosong?" Everyone was shocked once again.
Kosong were people who didn't have mana in them. They were considered useless as they couldn't do anything related to magic. They were called forgotten or cursed children whom the goddess didn't give them with magic.
Princess yelled, " And you are saying that cursed and forgotten boy is the son of our great father?"
Aron was excited, " That's what I thought too Princess. How could a Great King of Kings had such a trash child."
Aron's statement made the Dukes and the Duchess confused and worried.
The Prince was already angry from the start.
Aron continued, "When I found that this child was a Kosong, I was really surprised. Then I thought about His Majesty, the Emperor who is known as the strongest magic warrior, how could he give birth to such a useless child. Look at his majesty and l at this useless Pig. How could such a thing happen? It's truly a shame that his majesty created such uselessness. I mean how did the great Emperor could do such a thing, I thought his majesty's child would be someone like the princes and the princess. How did the great man make a mistake." He acted like he was worried and surprised.
Sol thought, " So this was the reason he brought me here. To shame the Emperor."
Marcus thought, "I see, this is why you brought that useless child here, your grace."
Aron was smiling inside. "Yes, this is it. This feeling. I feel satisfied, humiliating you."
Everyone knew what Duke Aron was doing.
Aron continued, "I thought a great man such as his majesty wouldn't have a record of failure but it seems I was wrong. Well, it's understandable after all His Majesty is also a human. And humans make mistakes after all."
"Duke Aron," shouted Denis and Sharon angrily.
"I am sorry if I offended the Royal Family," Aron bowed but he was enjoying it.
Sol thought, "Why isn't anyone stopping him? Shouldn't he be punished when he talks like that to Royal families?" He looked at the dukes and duchess.
The Dukes and duchess were silent, awkward, and worried.
"It seems it isn't the first time Aron did something like this," Sol thought, "And looking at the Emperor he doesn't seem bothered by it."
Duke Noah awkwardly asked, " Uh! Duke Aron ... What was the reason you brought him here?"
"No special reason, "Aron said casually, "I was just curious about the rumor of his majesty's another child and wanted to see how he would be but it seems I expected too much." He thought, "I had another plan but .. it couldn't be used."
By now everyone knew the reason why he brought Sol here.
Emperor Ducas smiled. He said, "Are you done?... Duke Aron"
Everyone looked at the Emperor.
Sol thought, " Now the Emperor talks."
Aron said, "Yes, your Majesty."
Emperor Ducas looked at Duke Aron and gave a mocking smile. He said, "Blood or no blood that boy isn't my child. Just by having my blood doesn't make him my child, if that was the case then that woman would be a mistress no ... empress. That woman was nothing to me nor this child. I am the one who decides who they are or who they are not. Not you, Duke Aron. "
Everyone was looking at the Emperor.
Ducas continued calmly, " You can have him, Duke Aron, since you brought him here after going through so much trouble. Think of it as a reward for your hard work and I am sure he will be useful to you since you guys are similar. "
The last sentence made Aron angry but he kept a calm face.
With a calm face, Ducas said, "Ah! I didn't mean to say you are a kosong too, Duke Aron. I hope I didn't offend you. You do know that I hate weak and cowards." The Emperor smiled, "I don't want them near me nor in my Empire."
Aron glared and suddenly gave a forced smile.
"But I can understand, not all are strong and brave like their families," Ducas smiled at Aron.
Marcus was worried for his grace.
Aron was forcing himself to smile. Inside he was full of anger. In mind, he cursed, "This old bastard."
Sol just stood there and listened to their conversation. "They have been talking about me like I am not here and I don't matter - Well I am nothing in front of these people."
Aron said, "Thank you for your concern but I also don't want to keep a failure near me. Just as you said I will remove this failure from here." He ordered, "Marcus kick this useless brat out from the capital."
Sol thought, "What?"
Marcus came to Sol, "You heard what they said? Now get lost from here."
"But," Sol looked at Ducas and Aron with a serious expression.
Marcus stood in front of him.
Sol could not do anything. He turned back and went down the stairs.
Ducas watched Sol leave. He thought, " Kosong?"
Sol got on the carriage alone and went down.
Inside the carriage, Sol was in thought. He looked serious. He thought, "So my real father is the Emperor and my mother was a maid in a castle who was later killed. Is it because of this they killed her and tried to kill me or ... there's another reason? Is the culprit one of them or was it someone else? It seemed no one knew about it until Aron revealed but ... I cannot be sure. If it was Aron he wouldn't have brought me here but had me already killed, wouldn't he? There are so many things I am not sure about and don't know about."
After half an hour the carriage stopped at the entrance gateway of the city.
One of the Flaming soldiers who were on the carriage opened the door.
The soldier said, "Get out."
Sol got out quietly. He wasn't fazed nor scared.
The soldiers said, "Sir Marcus said not to ever take steps in this city again, not to be near the emperor nor the Flaming House and especially not to talk about today."
The carriage then turned back.
Sol looked at the large orange gateway. There were people, carriages, wagons coming in and going out. Empire soldiers were checking those who were entering the city.
"So it's like this huh," he thought. He wore his satchel bag across his body and walked out of the gate carrying. Then he continuously walked the paved path on the long green plain until he reached the green hill at a distance. The fat boy was exhausted and sweating from his head.
Vastra absorbed the sweat from his body except for his head.
"So we were nothing, "Sol said then continued to walk the paved path, up the hill slowly.
Many animal-drawn carriages and wagons passed by. The people on those carriages and wagons wondered why he was alone, walking in the forest.
After more than an hour he reached the open top of the hill. He was out of breath and heavily sweating from his head. His clothes had become dirty. He looked around to see if there were people nearby.
"Vastra," he called.
A top part of his half-blue shirt turned into blue semi-liquid slime and covered his face. The slime absorbed the sweat on his head and also absorbed the dirt on the clothes. His face and clothes became clean but his head was still sweating.
From there Sol looked down at the White capital city. He said, "When I first came into this world and was almost killed, I vowed to find those who tried to kill me and killed the woman one who gave birth to me. But later I began to wonder: Should I do it for the woman whom I just met for a few seconds even though she was the one who gave birth to me? Maybe she did something wrong? I even thought about forgetting about it and her - but today - how you guys treated me and how you disrespected her made me wonder again, maybe I should not let go, maybe she was not in the wrong, maybe I should know more about the incident, about me, her and those who are responsible. "
He took a long breath, "So I have decided - Sorry Duke Aron and Marcus. It seems I have to come back and see you again for me to find everything."
"Deva," he called.
A red energy ball appeared from his body. The red ball turned into a black and red grimoire with one horizontal eye, hovering in the air. It opened its eye and had a yellow pupil with lines around it like a sun.
"I need to go home and walking is not possible so I need some magic stones to take a carriage or wagon if I can," Sol said, "Give me a pair of flora and terra mana stone."
The grimoire made a yellow magic circle appear in front of Sol. Two different pointed mana stones came out above the magic circle. Sol took these stones.
One mana stone was Terra Mana Stone: brown with two green curved line patterns and another was Flora Mana Stone: green with two brown curved line patterns.
Sol kept those mana stones inside his brown satchel bag. He then took out something in his hands, one silver coin and a few copper coins. He had a sad smile, "We are not rich and yet, they gave me a silver coin."
A horse-drawn wagon driven by a young man was coming up. Sol stopped the wagon and asked to give him a ride in exchange for money. He got inside the wagon. It was empty.
Sol looked down at the city and the wagon set off to another village nearby.