Chapter Text
Prologue: The Return of Fate
Zent Trauerqual was certainly having the day.
Of course the false zent faces many challenges in his rule. And if you add the fact that his own “trusted” knight was trying to poison him and manipulate him, he surely was one unlucky and tired man. Despite all of these problems, the zent can barely hide the smile beneath his noble façade.
“Welcome back, zent,” his attendants greeted him once he entered his room.
His room was quite massive to his liking. He honestly wanted to leave all of these and probably start a new life in a rural duchy with his wives and children. And the fact that he needed to be attended and guarded at all times only made him even more insane. It was just funny how his friend had influenced him ever since they met. He was not this carefree in the past.
Trauerqual waved his hand. “I will be in my hidden room. Do not disturb me until I come back. If you receive any urgent matters, consult Queen Gwendilynn.”
“Understood, milord.”
Thus, the excited zent entered his hidden room, barely able to contain the smile on his face. And the moment he closed the door of his room, he immediately burst and jumped like a little kid a couple of times. If his past self seen ever seen him like this, he would be probably embarrassed of himself. Though, he did not really care since he would be meeting a close friend of his.
“Geez, Qually, can you really lead an entire country? You sure look like a kid seeing you jump like that,” a familiar voice asked.
He turned to the source of the voice and saw a man wearing a white long-sleeved uniform, paired with white pants, both decorated with regal golden designs. He was wearing golden cape that glittered at every second, especially the embroidered owl emblem on it. All of his clothes were practically screaming: I’m not from this world!
The man had pale yellow hair. His eyes, which had ta similar to his hair, looked dimmer than usual. There was a grin in his face that no noble (in the right mind) would dare to show to anyone. Nonetheless, the man still looked perfect and more king-like than him.
“I would like to ask you the same question, Zent Aucellius Aurelius.” I sat on the sofa, in front of the sofa where the king of Eurolus sat.
His hidden room looked nothing like normal. There were a pair of gray couches in his room, a comfy bed on the corner, similar to the once he tried on a place called “hotel” when he joined Aucellius on one of his “other worldly trips.” And just like that hotel, the room was painted with white and fully air-conditioned.
“Come on Qually, I told you many times that I am not a zent. Yes, I am holding the foundation of Eurolus, but I am just doing as a request from the former king. Once Lord Charles comes of age, he will take over as the zent,” the not so Zent Aucellius pouted.
“Yes, you are a zent,” Trauerqual—whose nickname was “Qually,”— argued back. “You are the incarnation of the Goddess of Fate. The head of the Augustus House. The first one to receive Grutrissheit directly from the Goddess of Wisdom, Mestionara herself, since the first zent. The one who established the foundation of—”
“Yeah, yeah.” The true zent shook his hand to interrupt me. “Now, can we move to the important part? You know my queen and my family is waiting for my love and adoration, right?”
Qually leaned forward with my eyes sparkling in interest and excitement. “Will you begin collecting the charms? Will I be able to finally give up my position as the zent? Will I be able to kick that stupid Raublut out?”
Zent Aucellius’s expression darkened, before he shook his head lightly. “For your first question—no. My children will.”
The fake zent’s eyes widened. He knew how much his friend loved his wife and his children. And he knew especially how hard it was to face life-or-death events as a kid, since he experienced it himself countless of times.
If Zent Aucellius would be send his children to collect the charms left by their ancestors here in the Garden of the Gods, then it meant that something major came up. Probably a god suddenly popped up out of nowhere in front of him and issued a quest.
“Just yesterday, Glucklitat personally came to me and my cousins. He issued a quest for our children to go here and collect the seven charms left by our ancestor.” Tears were starting to come out in the corner of Lord Adrien’s eyes. “How unfair is that? My children are just kids!”
The true zent’s eyes were starting to turn brighter, as the tension in the atmosphere increased. He could feel the true zent starting to crush him with his overwhelming mana. There was no doubt that he could easily help supply the entire foundation of Yurgenschmidt, while managing his own foundation at the same time.
“Uhm, Lord Aucellius,” Qually said awkwardly, as he tried fight his friend’s crushing.
The true zent widened his eyes in realization, before he started to reign over his emotions and compress his mana. Poor Trauerqual. Well, at least he survived Zent Aucellius crushing much easier this time.
“You okay?” Aucellius asked in concern. “Geez, I’m sorry, Qually.”
Trauerqual smiled. “I’m quite fine. You don’t need to worry. At least I can now with stand your crushing, unlike the first time you got mad at me because I hid your new book.”
Aucellius, the bookworm he was, scratched his head in embarrassment. “Guilty.”
“Moving back to our topic. What are you going to do? How will Lord William and Lady Andromeda collect all the charms? Knowing you, you will not reveal right away that they came from Eurolus and that they are children of the zent.”
“Will will start the quest along with Eugeo and Lav next autumn. I will assign my retainers, both from here and from Eurolus to them, including Lesley. She is living and stationed in Ehrenfest, which I will exploit to give Eugeo and Lav a decent enough backstory.”
“Ehrenfest?” Qually widened his eyes. “I expected you will let them start their quest with Dunkelferger. Are you sure about this? Of course Ehrenfest has Lord Ferdinand, the other holder of Grutrissheit. Even so, they will be safer if they are under the care of the Sword of the Zent, the Second, no?”
A grin flashed in Zent Aucellius’ face. “Oh, Ehrenfest is just perfect.”
Qually could feel every single strand of his hair stand up as the true zent started to cackle. Be friending Zent Aucellius ever since they were thirteen, he new that whenever the vicious strategist started to cackle like he was doing at this moment, he was planning something very big.
Qually cleared his throat, trying to summon all of his courage to speak up. “You mentioned that you will use Lady Lesley for Lord Eugeo’s and Lady Lavigne’s backstory, but how about Lord William?”
Unfortunately for the poor zent, the cackling only got louder. Qually could feel that whatever the true zent was planning to do, it was something that would for sure cause chaos in Ehrenfest. He actually wanted to say condolence to the young Aub Ehrenfest, before Zent Aucellius unleash his plan and straight up murders the young aub.
“Anyway, I should go now, Qually.” The true zent finally stopped cackling and stood up. “I will return to visit three days from now. Can you please arrange a tea party with Aub Ehrenfest, Lord Ferdinand, and their knight commander. We need to discuss with them about the quest sooner or later.”
I stood up and bowed my head. “Understood, Zent Aucellius.”
The true zent just sighed in defeat, tired of telling Trauerqual that he was no zent, despite the fact that he was indeed one. Aucellius just chanted, “Grutrissheit,” making the book of wisdom, in a form of a phone, appear in his hand.
The true zent then started to pray to the supreme gods and the five pillar, making the Grutrissheit float in his hands and his body radiate with seven different colors of light. A very complex magic circle appeared in the ground he was standing at as he began to pray to his patron goddess---Destiny, the Goddess of Fate.
After chanting his prayer, the true zent smiled at his friend. “I’ll go now. Minerva and my kids are visiting their grandparents back in Earth. Say high to Gwendilynn for me. Bye!”
Immense amount of mana was released from the magic circle, transporting Zent Aucellius to his home. He was transported back to Earth.