He went in deeper through the staircase, as the light slowly went out. A vomit-inducing smell wafted through the constrained interior, forcing Fritz to block his nose a bit.
I should have probably carried a light source.
Inside, he felt somewhat suffocated. When he looked in the distance, there seemed to be a skeleton left behind, and it was still somewhat rotting. It certainly wasn’t a place that was any decent. Moreover, something was grossly wrong with the corpse.
It was twitching slowly. Magic. This bastard seems cursed or something. He took a deep breath, as the skeleton stood up. Deciding that this was an opportune time to test things, Fritz readied his special skill, slowly charging it as the monster shambled toward him.
He felt power surging through his core, as he utilized his mana. Then, a pulse of purplish light came out of his body. It was his ‘Arcane Suppression’ skill, and as he expected, the curse or magic on the corpse was disrupted.
It immediately collapsed on the floor, lifeless. He tried to detect any mana in the air…and it almost felt like he had emptied the room by himself.
Unfortunately, within seconds, the natural ambient mana began returning. It seemed that the disruption was temporary. Still, it was enough to nullify a curse on a corpse.
As I expected, the possibility of this skill is great.
He went straight for the area that contained a few crates. He shuffled through them, though most of their contents were empty. He found a few notebooks, papers, and letters, and he immediately took them, intending to investigate them further.
As he searched deeper and deeper, he suddenly found a small vial on one of the crates.
He checked it briefly, as its liquid contents shone a light purple. Then, Fritz smiled.
He placed everything he thought was valuable on one of the crates and carried it upstairs. He exhaled deeply when he placed it to the side, finally getting some proper air. He then went back to the crate and scanned through the letters and notebooks he found.
It was all useless information, outside of a few notes about their supplies and money situation. It helped let Fritz confirm their previous presence here, but other than that, nothing else.
They probably burned everything else that might be too sensitive. He frowned as he closed one of the notebooks. Still, it’s kinda sloppy that they left these here. Then again, with this little information, you can mistake them easily for a defunct crime ring.
He sighed, checking the vial.
This one though, is what I was hoping for.
It was an elixir used to enhance one’s mana regeneration and capacity, refined from the blood and meat of the great monsters of the East. It was something mainly used by newbie mages to get themselves on the right footing. Unfortunately, unlike the more civilized elixirs of the West, this one was repulsive and unattractive for most.
Fritz studied it for a bit, before deciding to pop it open, sarcastically shouting praise to his original homeland in his mind.
Cheers to the Empire!
He drank it. Immediately, heat bubbled inside him, and he almost felt like he was choking to death. He collapsed on the floor, trying his best not to vomit. It was awful, truly disgusting, and the smell from it was something that made him tear up.
But Fritz held on to his confident smile afterward.
There we go…




[MP: F- -> F]
[MR: F- -> F]
[LEVEL: 5 -> 11]




Both his mana capacity, MP, and mana regeneration, MR, were now slightly enhanced. F minus to F neutral wasn’t exactly the massive leap that he needed to stand a chance in this world, but Fritz still found delight in this feeling: the path of being stronger, incrementally.
It was the same thing he worked for under the Empress’ tutelage.
Heh…that meant six more levels too. I’m level eleven now.
He gave a thankful nod to the glass vial, feeling his mana regenerate slightly faster.
I wish I could drink a gallon of this. Not that it’ll help much once these two attributes reach F+, after all, I need to ascend to the next tier before that.
That meant he needed to completely enhance all of his stat attributes, skills, and magical affinity to its maximum extent before he could ascend to the next tier of his body’s development.
I need to train and study a lot, especially with the changes in my class and affinity.
It was certainly a daunting task.
Fritz stood up
But I’m not going to fail it. Just you wait, Irina. This is just the first step to removing you from the top.
+++
It was already late afternoon.
Fritz, however, continued to survey his situation. He went around every place in the city, trying to investigate and understand what Cecilia had worked for since she was Queen. So far, Fritz hadn’t noticed anything that pointed into the negative territory.
But he wanted to see more, and he had been nothing but dazed.
People, no matter which walks of life, seemed to respond to his queries positively. They always praised Cecilia and wished that she would succeed in her ‘promises’.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
He tried to join in bars, or random gatherings of workers and other peasants who played cards on the streets, trying to glean anything negative about her. But even they spoke highly of her, cheering about their increased wages and ‘labor protections’, whatever that meant.
He even tried to check the streets for any orphans, starving people, or beggars, and it almost seemed empty. There was a beggar that he remembered back then, who he now saw as a man who worked as a laborer, constructing a house with his fellow workers.
Sure, it wasn’t like the man became someone swimming in cash, but regardless, he was employed.
“This is more than just an economic upturn,” Fritz smiled a bit, looking at his side, straight at one of the vendors, who sold barbeques. “So cheap. Orellia’s supposed to be suffering from a famine like the rest of the continent. This is quite impressive…”
Soon, he found himself wandering alone in a deserted alleyway, somewhat aimless. His goal was to find dirt on her, but he so far found nothing. Fritz, due to his past, was naturally cautious about working for someone, as while he wanted to hold on to his position, it wasn’t like it was for any desire to loyally do his job.
He didn’t want to be someone who simply did a job. He wanted to be an active participant in the chessboard, and if this Queen wasn’t a good piece, he’d decouple himself from her and organize his side in this conflict.
After all, everything about her might still be illusionary, so the option to back off is still open.
But then, that would be stupid. Back off, and what? Would he become a normal civilian with no resources or backing to enact his goals? The only future in that path was subservience to their eventual invader.
Unacceptable.
He stopped walking.
A boy seemed to be crying on the other end of the alley. In front of him was a woman in a white cloak who seemed to be comforting him. Fritz frowned, staying out of sight, as he listened. He had enough of this kind of shady nonsense.
That might be a criminal trying to abduct someone.
Fritz eyed the two with suspicion, his hand subtly getting closer to his dagger. He wouldn’t be surprised if people were trying to kidnap and traffic children. After all, he dirtied his hands a lot back then, and that involved getting valuable organs for the Imperial Mages to experiment with.
Being reminded of the day the Empress ordered him to do that job, and the fact that he had no choice but to accept and execute it boiled Fritz’s blood. He almost wanted to stab the woman and save the young boy quickly, as his hand finally slowly pulled out his dagger.
But then—
“Then let’s go find your mama,” the woman said. “Okay?”
That voice…
Fritz sheathed back his dagger, shadowing the woman and the boy as they walked away.
He followed them as best as he could through the streets and lanes of the city, and to Fritz’s surprise, the woman seemed genuine. Most importantly, each time she shouted…
It reminded him of Cecilia’s voice, just with a lower pitch.
If that’s her, then why is she down here?
He remained utterly undetected, his skills as an assassin bleeding through as he followed and shadowed her. Unfortunately, he had been unable to fully confirm her identity, as her cloak concealed it. Still, he was already so curious about this person, that he was unable to let go until they found the boy’s mother.
He watched as the child ran to his mother, crying, before hugging the older woman. The two embraced each other on the street before they thanked the cloaked woman. Fritz watched behind a stall, still on guard, when finally, she lowered her hood, revealing her silver hair.
She turned to Fritz’s direction.
“You can come out now, Fritz,” she said, a smile on her face. Fritz sighed, as he came out of his hiding, awkwardly scratching the back of his head while he walked to her. “You wound me. You almost reached for your dagger to kill me, didn't you? Do I look like a petty criminal?”
“You seem to have a powerful perception spell,” Fritz said, his voice a bit jealous. “You must be quite the mage.”
“Well, what kind of a Queen is unable to use magic for herself, hmm?” She placed her hands on her back. “Quite a nice night, don’t you think?”
“Why are you out here?”
“I can ask the same thing about you.”
“I’m trying to recollect my memories, Your Majesty—”
“I said you’ll call me Cecilia.”
“Ms. Cecilia,” Fritz frowned. “You haven’t answered my question.”
“It’s simple. I’m out here because I need to survey the Kingdom’s capital with my own eyes. At the moment, I lack the person that I can safely trust to keep an eye out for my people, and Mary’s out there still struggling to reign in on my unruly nobles. So, I have to step up to my duty.”
“So you don’t prefer to sit on your throne while listening to the reports of your officials?” Fritz chuckled, crossing his arms. “I kinda respect that.”
“Maybe I just want something as simple as seeing and helping my people directly,” she looked up at the stars. “I still have a lot of work to do, so I check in here from time to time. After I visited you earlier, I did a little inspection, gave the city mayor a few angry words and new directives, and then wandered around. That’s how I ended up with that boy.”
“Then you helped that random boy out of nowhere?”
“Yes, why not? I am the monarch of this realm. That means that the health and safety of my subjects is my responsibility, that boy included.”
“You make it sound like you’re some servant of even peasants.”
“I am a servant of the people, including the peasantry,” she nodded. “That’s what I consider myself as. So, if a boy needs someone to help guide him back to his mother, well, here I am.”
Am I hearing this correctly? Is she even an aristocrat at this point?
 

“That’s ridiculous. You’re royalty,” Fritz countered, skeptical. “The people exist to serve you.”
“That’s somewhat true. But I do not like to be a lord ruling over his people. I want to be a leader.”
Fritz remained silent, analyzing her a bit more. That was why he was asking these direct questions. He needed to understand her.
“Dame Mary must be annoyed with you,” Fritz guessed. “You’re a difficult person to guard.”
“That’s right,” Cecilia started complaining. “Mary always whines angrily about me going outside of my security teams’ protection. Always this and that about someone randomly killing me. What, am I supposed to be a bird stuck in a protective cage? Then what’s the point of studying magic?”
“I see,” Fritz breathed out. “I now understand who my employer is. Somewhat.”
He watched as Cecilia tilted her head, confused.
“What?”
“I’m also confident with my previous decision now,” Fritz said. “I want to work with you, Ms. Cecilia.”
A wide smile grew on her face.
“Really?”
“Except if I find out that you drink the blood of infants to enhance your magic.”
She gasped.
“What kind of person even does something that vile?!”
Fritz remained neutral.
“You’d be surprised.”
“That sounds quite concerning.”
“Indeed,” Fritz nodded. “Now, because we’ll be working together, I need to get myself back in shape, and I need support in that. Resources, facilities—”
“Worry not,” she declared, pumping her fist on her chest. “I, Cecilia von Orellia, always help my friends when they’re in need. As such, you will have access to the best resources I can give you, starting tomorrow.”
Fritz felt his blood pump in excitement, smiling.
This feels more and more like a good partnership.
“Bring it on, then.”