"He isn't as frail as he looks."
Oryn feeling his bruised cheek, had an unammused smile.
"My apologies, I punched too hard didn't I?" A nervous boy, fifteen, the same age as Oryn, stood before him. He had long green hair tied back into a single ponytail and soft features that, even beneath a layer of dust, were better described as beautiful than handsome. To the point where Oryn had questioned his gender more than once.
The boy stepped closer. His crystal blue eyes were clearer up close. He reached out and pushed Oryn's hair back, fingers grazing the bruised cheek gently.
Too close.
Oryn felt goosebumps crawl up his arms. He grabbed the boy's hands and pushed them back.
Feeling flustered Oryn repeated the words in his head like a mantra.
I'm not gay. I'm not a pedo. I'm not gay.....
Oryn wasn't even sure which one he was trying to convince more.
"Please dont concern yourself with me, Prince Rhyno. I am perfectly fine." Oryn's eyes dropped to the ground as if he wasn't quite qualified to look at him directly.
Clank.
A man nearby rolled his shoulder and stretched the collar of his shirt away from his skin, wiping the sweat from his face with the same motion. "I'm surprised."
A beat passed. He looked at Oryn the way a man looks at a coin found face up, not sure yet whether to pocket it or leave it.
"Even for a lower-commoner, you're surprisingly well mannered."
Oryn smiled nervously.
The man setting his pick down against a pile of rubble, lowered himself to Rhyno's height, his gaze dropping to the rocky floor.
"My prince, a man in your position cannot make a habit of apologizing. Difficult decisions will come, and some of them will lead to outcomes you did not intend. Even then, you do not apologize. You do not bend. A prince who says sorry teaches those around him that he can be made to feel wrong, and a king who can be made to feel wrong is a king who can be broken. Stand by what you do, even if it leads to ruin. Ruin with conviction is still a king's ruin.
Rhyno gave a nervous smile, one that came from his mind's acceptance but not his heart's. He understood where the man was coming from, and so did the man himself. Being one of the knights under the young prince's faction, he knew exactly what kind of person Rhyno was.
"Prince Rhyno, please think hard about what I am telling you."
"Tsk..", Oryn's eyes rolled over slowly. He could sense the incoming drama from a mile away.
Wow. I get that Rhyno doesn't need to concern himself over a punch since it was a performance in truth.
The plan had been simple enough on paper.
Zeno would have a controlled fire prepared beforehand just outside his tent, small and contained. Next was the element of chaos, aka me and Prince Rhyno, just beside his tent, along with a few other kids fighting in the name of sparring. It wasn't uncommon for kids to gather and play pretend swordsman with sticks, so the adults didn't read much into it.
Then, due to a very unfortunate accident, Rhyno punches me and I fall back quite far from the punch's force, landing directly beside the fire pit.
The tent catches on fire.
Well, in reality it wasn't that simple. The tent barely smoldered where it should have roared. Heart thudding, I dropped low and blew at the embers, praying no one nearby was paying close enough attention to notice that a frightened child was very deliberately feeding the flames.
When the first non-actor spotted the fire, Zeno and I played the part of scared kids who didn't know what to do, while behind the scenes quietly making it worse whenever no one was watching. The whole drama was enough to catch the overseers' attention.
Since the whole thing was an unfortunate accident but definitely not overlookable, me, Zeno, and Rhyno had our quota doubled each day, giving us more time in the mine.
Oryn had to admit it had gone smoother than expected.
Then it hit him.
He wasn't Roswald.
He was Oryn, and that meant his actions wouldn't only fall on himself. There were connections now, people tied to whatever he did or didn't do. It was a sense of responsibility he hadn't carried in a long time. In his past life it had been simple enough. His sister was the only family that mattered. The rest had been nothing more than fools with a collection of masks.
Gilda, Allen, Rosa, Gram. The names surfaced with a familiar guilt attached to each one. But they were different.
"I hope they're not too worried," he muttered, the wry smile on his face doing little to hide the weight behind it.
He exhaled slowly, glancing over to find the two still preoccupied, and quietly called for his system.
-=— [Quests] —=-
➯ MAIN QUEST - |1|
<1> ⌞Destined pilgramige⌝
Description : What is a knight with nothing to protect? stand before the heroine Zadia Serath. Forge a blood oath and bind your fate to hers. The pilgrimage begins not with a sword in hand but with a single step toward the one you are destined to serve.
• Difficulty : F
• Reward : Unlock New Features
• Time limit : 26 days
• Penalty For Failure : Death
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
➯ SIDE QUEST - |1|
<1> ⌞Survive Till Dawn⌝
Description : The demons are not the apex of what this world has to offer in terms of cruelty. Do not be fooled by the enemy you can see. The ones that will undo you wear familiar faces, walk the same ground and breathe the same air. Get caught in a war that was never yours and you will not live to fight your own.
• Difficulty : D
• Reward : 300 Blessings
• Time Span : 3 Days
• Penalty : Death
-==-
The main quest was filled with questions but it wasn't the immediate problem. Oryn grimaced as he stared at the screen.
"This side quest... a survival?" Oryn mumbled as he gestured his hand, causing the screen to disappear.
Oryn glanced over at the prince, who was taking Zeno's advice with a carefree expression that seemed almost deliberate. Oryn recalled the moment he first saw Rhyno a week back. How did no one recognize him as the fifth prince? Sure, he wasn't as prominent as his brothers and sisters but he thought at least one other person besides himself would have been able to tell. Oryn convinced himself that the royal family simply wasn't well known this far out into the more rural parts of the kingdom.
Zeno, seemingly finished with his lecture, walked up to Oryn. "Let's begin. We only have thirty minutes of free time before the overseer returns for his rounds." His voice carried the kind of authority that didn't ask for compliance so much as expect it.
Oryn nodded simply and lowered himself to the ground, crossing his legs and pulling his back straight.
"Well, I shall continue to mine for the mano. I wish you both well." Rhyno said, turning back toward the rock face with a small wave.
Zeno followed quickly, sitting in front of Oryn with a fairly good amount of mano set beside him. He took a small amount in his hand and clenched his left fist around it, gripping it tightly. His right hand hovered inches away from Oryn's chest, just above where his heart was beating at a steady even pace.
"Before I start, you remember what to do?"
Oryn closed his eyes. "Sense the flow of mana inside me and direct it toward my heart. Don't rush it but gradually incorporate the mana along the veins and arteries. Keep an even breath throughout."
Zeno gave a small nod before placing his hand over Oryn's heart.
I mean what is the worst that could happen. Just my heart exploding and dying before I get to lose my virginity twice.
Oryn sighed and prepared himself.
"Im ready."
As the words left his mouth a surge of purified mana tore through his heart like pressurised water bursting through a broken dam. Oryn pushed through, keeping his focus locked on his heart rate, making sure it never fluctuated too much. If it did it was game over.
To distract himself from the thorn like pain clawing at his chest he let his thoughts drift back to how he had met the two.
A week before now a new batch of slaves had been added to the camp. That was when Oryn first laid eyes on Zeno and the prince. At first it was nothing more than a simple suspicion, but by the end of that day he was certain. The knowledge he had on the game had made it impossible not to be. So he went to test it, and he already knew a way that was bound to work.
The main distinction between nobles and commoners in the world of Tria was straightforward. It came down to talent and gift. Being born into nobility meant being born with a powerful gift, and the talent to grow that gift was immense from birth. Exceptions existed but they were rare enough to be noteworthy.
Rhyno was a different kind of exception.
Touch of Lies.
From what the forums had concluded, among the many gifts that existed there were five that granted a person the ability to detect whether someone was telling the truth or not. They were called the Five Absolute Truths, each corresponding to one of the five senses. Sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.
If it wasn't obvious from the name, Touch of Lies was essentially a lie detector, but one that only activated when the person with the gift made physical contact with their target. Thinking about it now Oryn felt like he finally understood the reason why Rhyno wasn't particularly well known to the public.
At fifteen his coming of age ceremony had not yet taken place, and because his gift was not considered unique by the royal family's standards they had made the decision to keep him out of the public eye till the ceremony. His gift was a well kept secret, which was not uncommon. Information leaking to the demons or neighbouring kingdoms would be a significant disadvantage, and the royal family had no intention of handing anyone that kind of leverage.
But Oryn had the knowledge. Still, walking up to the prince and revealing himself with knowledge of his hidden power would be a stupid decision on the surface, but even the most stupid decisions with the right amount of well placed nonsense behind them could somehow land as genius.
A hint of amusement crossed his face at the memory, the edges of his lips curving upward despite the mana still tearing through his chest.
"Rhyno." Oryn recalled what he said word by word. He had grabbed Rhyno's hand without hesitation, no buildup, no preamble, just direct contact and a straight confession. "I know you are the fifth prince and you possess the Touch of Lies."
Ryhno would have played me for a fool if was just another normal person, but i knew and him not trying to get rid of my grip was just a confirmation.
"I was blessed by the godess Tyche and posses knowledge about you."
When Oryn had gone through his profile window a particular section had caught his attention. Armour of Tyche, one of the two items he had possessed since the moment of transmigration.
Not earned. Not found. Simply there from the very beginning, as if whoever or whatever had thrown him into this world had seen fit to leave him with something on arrival.
From that moment a theory had begun forming in the back of his mind, and the reaction Rhyno showed in that moment had cleared it up entirely.
Truth.
The gift had returned truth and the look on Rhyno's face had said everything that needed to be said.
Tyche. The patron deity of the Aurian kingdom. And a possible connection to how Oryn had ended up here in the first place.
"I am your ally."