Chapter 71: The Crown Prince of Titans
"Have a good day. Bye-bye~"
Erik blankly watched as the grey haired clumsy Dak elf boarded the space ship. He just stood there until it flew far away into the cloudless sky. Countless memories of the past few months flashed before his eyes as his eyes increasingly grew unfocused.
'What is this? What am I? Where am I? What the hell happened?'
He was drowned in his own questions that he felt like he was in some unrealistic dream.
"Erik."
He seriously had no idea what all this was about.
"Erik…"
It was fun, yes. But at the same time, everything felt like a dream.
"Erik?"
At which point did it feel like a dream to him? He had no clear answer.
"Erik Aksel Odinson!!!"
"Oh…" Erik lifted his head and glanced at his father shaking his shoulders like a madman.
"Why are you spacing out in daylight?"
"It's nothing…" Erik slapped King Ragnar's hand, signaling him to stop his aggressive shaking.
"Nothing? You expect me to believe that?" King Ragnar scoffed.
"Just…it all felt unrealistic." Abandoning his attempts to conceal his feelings, Erik laughed in resignation. He frankly had no energy to argue with his father.
Erik senses his father staring at him intently as if trying to make holes on her face. He ignored it all together as he mounted his beloved pegasus. King Ragnar followed suit, mounting a pure white pegasus beside his own.
"But it was fun, right?" he shot Erik a playful glance. A second past without them speaking a word. And both of them burst out laughing like good old pals the next second.
"True."
"As long as it's fun~" King Ragnar winked.
"As long as it's fun~" Erik mimicked him. Another laughter erupted as they ascended to the sky.
The clear winter sky free of snow clouds looked like it was painted with soft watercolors. Dense pine forests, dominated by resin-scented air and thin fog waves from here and there stretched towards the horizon full of life. Birds of various kinds soared to the sky from the fog waves like tearing off a prison made of a fine satin veil. All of this wintery allure looked like a scene from a painting.
Below them, some villages, towns and cities came to their view, hidden by the dense forest. When an inhabitant ground came to view each time, it looked like someone had rooted out patches of forest from different places to put those people there.
Flap. Flap.
The giant wings of pegasuses flapped out of sync, carrying them up high. Cool winter breeze and the lukewarm sunrays hit their faces equally.
For the first time in a while Erik felt peace settling in his beating heart.
He realized, fun is good. But home is always peaceful and equally good.
He had gone from home for months.
The mission to monitor and gauge the intention of a single royal hatchling unknowingly turned to a situation where he had to join hands with her to survive.
He had to navigate through the Void Plane, fight monsters for survival, not for level up, and finally he had to live on the moon for over a week.
He could excuse the Void Plane. There's no one who doesn't live without knowing they might get dragged into the Void at any moment in their lives.
But the moon…
The freaking moon that rises and sets every day except for the day of the new moon…To think he lived on that same moon for over a week.
And he wasn't alone.
A city full of Dark Elves and Dragons, as well as his father who came running to beg Dragons in hope of finding him, was with him since the day he crossed the Prime-Dimensional Gate.
Erik thought the experiences he had for the past few months were superior to the drama and chaos he experienced in Isaz Kingdom. Even the succession battle he is currently participating in felt relatively peaceful compared to it.
"By the way, Erik."
"Yes?"
Breaking out of his thoughts, Erik turned his teal eyes towards the King of Titans, flying ahead of him. Ragnar tilted his head to look back, a wide grin playing on his face.
"I decided to cancel the succession battle."
"Excuse me?" Erik blinked. His confusion painted all over his face.
"I am going to cancel the succession battle, from henceforth." King Ragnar burst out laughing as if finding his own words amusing.
"WHAT?!" not only Erik, but the guards around them also couldn't help stare at their amused King in astonishment.
The succession battle was a custom Titan Royalty went through for over a million years. If he suddenly canceled a traditional procedure, what would the citizens think of the royal family?
"Bwhahahahaha!" Ragnar's mischievous laughter continued for several more minutes. Even his pegasus seemed baffled by his behavior.
"Your Majesty! What does that mean?!" Erik couldn't help but raise his voice.
"Erik…"
"Yes?!"
"Be the Crown Prince."
"Your Majesty, You—huh?"
"Become The Crown Prince, Erik Aksel Odinson."
"HUUUHHHHHH????!!!!"
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What happened after that was pretty predictable.
There was no one among Titans that went against the words of their King.
Although half of his siblings protested, the coronation went smoothly and Erik was officially recognized as the Crown Prince of Izaz Kingdom.
He even received a gift from Kyriaki with a note saying 'May Ogofa's misfortune be swayed by my good grace.'
The gift was actually a sparkle of lucky fireflies. A rare insect type magical beasts that grants temporary fortune to their masters and allies. Perhaps due to Ogofa's incident before their messy dungeon clearing, Erik felt like Kyriaki sent this gift on purpose.
However it seemed even Lucky Fireflies had their limits, for they failed to tie his siblings together after this incident.
Erik has 06 half-siblings from different mothers.
Two older brothers, one older sister, one younger brother and one younger sister.
Among them, only four participated in the succession battle with Erik.
His younger sister and second eldest brother willingly gave up their rights to Thorne. One married into a different family while the other joined The Valkyries.
The siblings who strongly opposed his promotion were his eldest brother and sister. Erik couldn't reason with them at all. Halfway through, he just toasted their opinion to the back of his mind and went through his coronation after getting tired of their continuous troubles.
Meanwhile his youngest brother abandoned his prince status all together to become an adventurer.
At first, the entire palace was in an uproar. Even King Ragnar was shocked to hear his son's intentions. But eventually, they all agreed to let him have his own dreams as the prince was somewhat famous among citizens for his eccentricity.
Knowing he had
"Eivind." Erik glanced at his younger brother, who was only 50 years younger than him.
"Yes, Your Highness the Crown Prince." A Titan boy with pacific blue hair and teal blue eyes bowed his head respectfully.
"Will you please stop with that title?"
"Pfft…hahaha. Sorry."
To Erik, Eivind is both a brother and a friend.
The reason they participated in the succession battle in the first place wasn't because they wanted the throne, but because of some silly bet they made a while ago over an elixir.
"What are you going to do?" Erik made an expression that looked like he was about to decide his life goals right there and then.
Eivind forcefully swallowed another laughter threatening to spit out as he saw his playful older brother who loves to have fun is being this serious. He felt it didn't suit Erik very well.
"Well," Eivind grinned. "I'm planning to join Whale beastkins first. After learning about the outside world from them, I'm thinking of traveling the world."
Whale beastkin were one of few races that still actively continues their connection with the Titans. They trade food, spices and textile industry products with Titans in exchange for native elixirs and minerals only found in Izaz Kingdom.
Known for their calm and composed personalities, Whale beastkin were particularly likable by the standers of Titans as well as Pteron-Dragons.
Well, except for Orca beastkins, of course.
"Whales are a safe choice. Be sure to stick with them for as many years as possible before going independent, okay? You must learn every bit of survival skills from them. Squeeze them dry of their knowledge. Ah, and here. This is a book about human criminal laws, read it and follow it as much as possible. If you want to commit a crime, be sure to do it without any witnesses. Do you understand?"
Rambling on his own, Erik handed Eivind not only the book he mentioned, but more books, items, artifacts and elixirs he scrapped from his secret treasury.
Eivind blinked absentmindedly as he accepted a sky high pile of various tools and items from Erik for the seventh time since he announced his desire to travel.
"If you are in trouble, you know who to find, right? If even that's impossible, don't hesitate to cling to even a Dark Elf."
"..."
"But most of all, you are always welcome to come back to Izaz if you feel like coming. Even for a few days, it doesn't matter. Do you get it?"
"Oh, I get it! I get it!! Just stop with your nagging, please!"
"These aren't nagging! You little rascal! Those are survival skills too! If necessary, don't hesitate to sell off my name, I don't care, just…survive out there. I want to see your face when I crown the King."
"Why? To brag?" Eivind sent a sly smirk, the kind one would see on a politician scamming civilians to vote for him on the promise of luxury.
Bam!
"Can't you be a little sincere? You brat!" Erik sent a good knock to Eivind's head with his clenched fist.
"Ow!"
Eivind's teal eyes turned watery as he staggered back. He rubbed the place where Erik hit him as he complained how brutal the new crown prince is under his breath.
"Anyway!" Erik glanced at the Whale beastkins loading cargo to the ship.
The entire harbor was occupied by Whale trading ships, so this kind of scenery was nothing unusual.
"Are you familiar with your new Rune now?"
"Of course!" Eivind winked.
The next moment, the golden Rune on his forehead glittered like gathered gold dust.
A thick veil of gold and teal mist swallowed him whole. From the eyes of an outsider, it looked as if a legendary painter's beautiful mistake on a canvas.
Although it was a blurry mist, it had its own glamour.
After a few seconds, the mist cleared. Emerged from it was a ten year old human boy. He had common brown hair and brown eyes, yet with those freckles as beautiful as stars in a galaxy and delicate facial features, he still took the part of a Titan's initial beauty.
Erik's eyes widened like full moons.
"You can change your colors?!"
"That's what all Shapeshifting is about, bro."
"Holy…I want to experiment with my illusions too."
"It won't be easy like it is for me, though."
"Right, only camelions can change colors. My apologies."
"What a childish attempt at insulting."
"Why? You want me to be jealous of a Rune that copies the skills of Camelion beastkin and Gumihos?"
"Can't you?"
"Yeah, I don't feel like it."
"Tsk…with such a lazy crown prince, the Kingdom is ruined, ruined I say."
"Pfft ."
"Pfffttt…"
""Bwahahahahahah!!!""
The two brothers clutched their bellies and laughed to their heart content after having a silly conversation as usual. If someone else had listened to it from the beginning they would have signed at how unfunny their jokes are.
"Your Highness! We are departing!!" A Whale beastkin shouted at them from a distance.
The two brothers composed themselves, clearing their throats.
"Ahem…then, my dear brother, farewell." The human looking Eivind bent his waist, bowing deeply.
His already small frame became even smaller in front of Erik's two meters tall body.
Erik gazed at his brother with affection filled eyes.
"May the battle of peace be with you."
Eivind replied with a hint of longing and sentiment;
"May the battle of peace be with you."
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