Death's Favorite Child

46. Training Hell (2)

Inside the fog, the sound of a sword clashing against an armour was heard. Prince Alan was panting heavily, and he used every shred of power and every technique he knew to push back the undead Dark Knights. He looked around desperately. There was no way out. This time he would die in the dark fog!

He gritted his teeth and accelerated. Faster and faster. Every slash landing at a vital point, at an armour weakness. But the onslaught of undead Dark Knights was endless.

"Hmmm... Interesting," Daniel said as he watched the boy struggle and controlled the tempo of the fight. Alan's blade started glowing with a golden light. This was new, it was the first time this happened. Daniel only noticed because Alan was within the fog, his domain.

Cap! He must have had an awakening. He is a magic swordsman! He channels Mana through the blade! Jon yelled in excitement!

Daniel smiled and increased the rate of monsters attacking. Only under great pressure does one have the opportunity for a breakthrough. This was the same in every world.

**Patt**

The prince fell to the ground, unconscious. He was fighting for more than one hour. He killed hundreds of enemies. That was his limit.

Daniel retracted the fog, and what was left was a boy lying on the ground, breathing heavily. The two Royal Knights immediately rushed to the Prince and dragged him to the campsite. Although they found this method gruesome, they couldn't find fault with the results. The power of the entire group was rising faster than anything they have ever seen.

"When he wakes up, I want to talk to him immediately," Daniel said to the two knights while grabbing Alan's sword. They nodded and left, while dragging the prince with them.

"Jon, I'll need your help," Daniel said as soon as the knights were out of sight.

Sure, Cap!

=*=

It was nighttime already and everyone was settling around the campsite. Prince Alan was still sleeping. The knights, Daniel and Alis were enjoying a nice meal prepared by Paceas. With the group hunting every day and the supplies they had in the magic storage rings, they didn't need to visit any cities since they left Alaiza.

"I'll head out for a while," Daniel said as he disappeared into the darkness. The rest of the group knew that they would soon listen to the howls and cries of monsters in the forest, being hunted and killed. Daniel would disappear every night, with nothing but a dagger, and hunt down A and B-rank monsters. It was chilling to realize that an A-rank monster, that would normally take a large group of highly trained royal knights to kill, was nothing but prey for this young man.

"Mmm, Alis. Can we ask you something?" Anis, the oldest knight broke the silence.

"Sure, what's up?" asked Alis.

"Nothing serious. We were wondering if you can tell us a few more things about Lord Daniel. We don't know many things about him, and you know..."

"You are afraid to ask him directly, right?" Alis chuckled.

The two knights nodded embarrassingly.

"To be honest, I don't know much either. He showed up near our village one day and stayed with us for a while. When travelling together, he saved my life. Since then, I owe him a life debt. I need to escort him for the rest of his life," Alis said.

"I see. Is he a noble? Which kingdom is he from? Does he have a family? Is he married?" Anis pressed on.

"M-Married? Family?" Alis mumbled, "I don't really know..."

"I see. Maybe let's keep the discussion between us, OK?" the knight added and returned to keep the first lookout shift for the night.

=*=

"Alan, come in," Daniel said to the boy that just woke up.

"Master, you asked for me?"

"Yes. How was the training today? Did you feel something out of place?"

"Out of place? Hmmm... Not really, master. I apologize for my shameful performance!" said the boy and bowed his head.

"At the end, did you feel something?"

"I... I was in a daze. Monsters were coming and I was fighting. Suddenly, I felt as if fighting became easier, but maybe it was my last throes before fainting. Did I do something wrong, master?"

"Not really. What do you know about the founder of your kingdom? The first King?"

"Hmm.. Story goes that he was the strongest swordsman alive. He united the tribes that lived in this area and drove away the monsters. He then founded the kingdom and ruled for 50 years! Oh, it is said that he was a spellsword, a swordsman with Mana that could channel the mana through the sword. Nobody could defeat him!" the boy said eagerly.

"Does anyone else in your family have the gift?"

The boy shook his head, "Not in 400 years now! Not even my father, rumoured to be the best swordsman after the first king, managed to get the gift!"

Daniel threw Alan's sword back to him, "Can you press your hands here and put your finger on this carving?"

When the prince did that, the sword lighted up with runes upon runes, in a complex pattern showing on the sword. The prince gasped and dropped the sword at once.

"Master, what was that?"

"I think you have inherited the gift, young prince Alan", Daniel said smiling.

"The gift? What... REALLY? I'm a Spellsword??? Wait until father hears of this! He will be elated!"

"I am sure he will be. What do you believe he will do with the succession?"

"He will probably have to name me the successor!" said the boy smilling.

"Alan, how many assassination attempts have been made against you?"

"Master? I ummm, too many to count... Why...?", the boy responded solemnly.

"So, when you were only on 3rd place, with no support, you had countless assassination attempts. What do you believe will happen when you are named a crown prince?"

"I..." the boy responded, with his eyes shocked with the sudden realization.

"Do you believe the king will protect you? Do you think you have enough backing to keep you alive? Do you have enough strength to keep yourself alive?" Daniel's eyes were boring into the young prince.

"No... I will probably die horribly on the day of the announcement..."

"Good. At least you understand your situation. You will keep this a secret from everyone -- even the knights accompanying you. Your sword is enchanted, I did it yesterday. I've embedded two monster's crystals in the pommel, but they are not connected to the powering array. You will practice with the sword and use your full power, but if anyone asks..." Daniel trailed off.

"I'll say it's powered by the monster cores," added Alan reluctantly.

"Good. Start practising." Daniel added with finality.