Chapter 8: A Fun Little Ride Around Town The Month of Noel, Day 15, Year 681 of the Second Holy CalendarAfter two hours, Dominic was finally released from the crowd of nobles around him and was able to eat. He had only had a small breakfast before being dragged into a freezing pond and then forced to stand around in a banquet hall, talking to people. Finally free, he immediately headed over to the table where Nora and her friends had been sitting for the past hour. The banquet was set up buffet-style, with tables lining the hall, allowing guests to pick and choose their food and if they wanted to eat standing or sit down at one of the separate tables.

  The table looked like something from an American teenage party, the kind before college, when everyone still thought soda and pizza were the height of sophistication. Ever since Dominic found out about this world’s version of soda, he had been trying to get his hands on it. But Luce, who would have been an ultra-conservative mother (the type who wouldn’t let her children read Harry Potter), had refused to let him drink soda due to some superstition that it morally corrupted children. Nora had managed to sneak him a bottle of soda once, so he knew it didn’t taste exactly the same.

  This world’s nobles consumed an unhealthy amount of sugar, cigarettes, food, and alcohol. They smoked like chimneys, drank like fish, and ate like starving men, topping off their meals with enough sugar to give anyone diabetes in one day. Yet, as far as Dominic was aware, they remained healthy. They didn’t brush their teeth, but everyone had sparkling white teeth. Although they exercised a lot, it wasn’t quite enough to counter the calories they consumed. Still, they never gained a pound. No one seemed to die of lung cancer, despite being severely addicted to cigarettes. Dominic could only assume that magic pyed a role in keeping them healthy, despite their unhealthy habits.

  He grabbed a bottle of soda and two slices of pizza, then headed over to where his sister sat with her friends. Even though the table was full, there was an open seat directly next to Nora. He made his way to it but still asked if the seat was free. Nora looked at him like he’d grown a second head and directed him to sit down. Once he did, his retainers, who had also been forced to stand with him, went to get their own food and find their own tables, except for David, who stood behind him on the left. Dominic was curious about how retainers would conduct themselves in public like this, and he guessed he had his answer. He reflected again that being surrounded by so many people would be an adjustment.

  All his worries faded as he started to eat. The pizza was the best he’d ever had in both of his lives, and it was the first pizza he had in his second life. When he drank the soda, it felt like a thorn that had been stuck in his head for six years was finally removed. It tasted a bit like Cherry Coke, but it was sweeter, and it was still good. "It should be a war crime to deprive an American of junk food," Dominic seriously thought. Oliver had literally grown up on takeout pizza and two-liter bottles of Coke. Dominic had been forced to eat healthy meals for the six short years of his life and had been mentally craving actual junk food.

  His time at the banquet passed quickly. It was quite informal, at least as far as these things went. It was a get-together following a critical event. Not everyone was required to attend. In fact, many vital figures didn’t, like Queen Veronica, who only showed up for the baptism and not the banquet afterward.

  But the reason his time at the banquet was so short was that Dominic had one st important duty to attend to: the ceremonial ride around town. Every time a royal was baptized, they were expected to ride around the capital, Lapetra, and show themselves to the people. Dominic didn’t understand why this parade was so important, but apparently, people were already waiting in the cold just for him. Even though Dominic considered himself a bastard, he still felt obligated to do it with a smile.

  Dominic was dragged outside by Valerius, Eliana, and his new godmother, Livia Tallwood. “What does that make her, my fifth mother?” Dominic thought. He had his biological mother, whom he’d never met; his baptismal mother; his godmother; and his adoptive mother. He made a mental note never to call anyone a “motherfucker.” They changed him into a different outfit, a military-esque uniform: a bck button-up with golden buttons. It looked like an old British military academy uniform, except the bck came with a wide-brimmed officer’s hat. In the Kingdom of Bck, officer’s hats weren’t deemed a symbol of status—officers wore red cloaks, and common soldiers wore bck ones. Dominic wasn’t an officer or a knight, so he had to wear a bck cloak. Even the royal family didn’t have exemptions for that.

  They drove him to the stables of the Citadel. Luckily, Dominic had learned a bit about riding during his time in the detached pace. They brought out a particurly gentle brown mare. Mares or female horses were far less likely to buck or throw their rider than male horses. Dominic had been trained with war horses on the instruction of his riding teacher, who cimed that training children to ride with mares taught them bad habits with horses. But apparently, they decided that the risk of Dominic being thrown off his horse during his first public appearance was too significant.

  Valerius’s companion cavalry were the main guards for this excursion, but they had horses for all of Dominic’s retainers. Once Dominic was lifted onto his horse, Valerius, already mounted on a towering bck stallion, rode up to him, looking at him like he always did—like he was looking at an injured animal. “You rode that horse quite well, Dominic,” he said.

  Dominic looked at him, unsure what to say, or even if he should say anything. He wondered the same thing he had wondered at the banquet: What exactly did Valerius want? They had lost contact for almost a year, only for him to return out of the blue and start acting more like a friend than a father. But since Nora wasn’t around to py the straight man, Dominic decided not to say anything.

  The conversation petered into awkward silence until they were directed to leave the Citadel by the front gate. When they did, it really felt like they were at the center of a parade. They were accompanied by close to 70 people, all riding on horseback, wearing military uniforms and brightly colored cloaks. Someone even brought out Valerius’s personal fg, a tradition dating back to the Demon King. Generals were granted square-shaped fgs with their nicknames on them, carried behind them. Valerius’s nickname, "Prince of the Storm," was written in bold golden letters below the bloody crown of House Bck.

  He earned this nickname when he was still a Brigadier General. The then-major general of the First Division had dispatched him to reinforce the capital, which was threatened by Grand Duke Archibald Erickson of the Uscan Union, the Wolf of the Norost Mountains, Dominic’s maternal grandfather. Relying on the cover of a storm, Valerius outmaneuvered the Uscan army, taking a defensive position that blocked their logistics. He eventually won an indecisive battle that drove the Uscan army off with heavy casualties. His second victory came during a storm when he sallied out of a fortress on the border, catching the encamped Anttur army by surprise.

  Of course, he would ter be far more renowned during the Golden Stallion's invasion, when he defeated the Red Towers army, massacred the Anttur army, and defeated the Golden Stallion within a month and a half. His victory changed the power dynamics of the entire region, turning the tide of the Kingdom of Bck's slow decline, though they were still not in a good spot. Their situation had improved remarkably, but his popurity obviously eclipsed Dominic’s. As they left the Citadel, the crowd’s cheers were primarily directed at Valerius. Dominic didn’t mind. He was only really popur because of his royal blood and his father’s legacy. Without those, he was just a kid with memories of a previous life and a bit more magic than most.

  Dominic and Valerius rode side by side, with Eliana to his left and Livia to her left. About 20 of the companion cavalry rode in front of them, and the remaining cavalry walked beside or behind them. His two personal bodyguards rode behind him, to the right and left. The retainers rode behind them, making Dominic feel like a protected VIP for once.

  The pnned route for their journey would loop around the city’s north side, carrying them through both the noble and commoner districts. But the commoners had packed the streets in both districts. Dominic learned that their enthusiasm wasn’t just for seeing members of the royal family, but because the same exact route would be taken for a parade immediately after they were done. So many people were just there for that. “What are we, movie theater advertisements?” Dominic thought with a smirk.

  Dominic got his first good look at the commoner section of the city. Most of the buildings were made of the same bck stone as everything else, and the roofs appeared tiled with cy painted or dyed in a specific color. Everything else was either bck stone or dark gray wood. To show individuality, the roofs were multicolored, with colors in every gradient of the color wheel. It was almost as if some w dictated that no one could have the same-colored roof.

  But other than that, the individualism expressed by citizens was minimal. Most had hung fgs of the Kingdom of Bck out their windows or waved them around. Although it wasn’t Foundation Day today (that was on the 17th of Noel, the date Francis was crowned for the second time by an actual priest, not by a captive king using his own crown on a battlefield), some people thought Foundation Day should be on Enyo the 7th, the date of the first battle of Hayden’s Ford.

  The people on the street didn’t look particurly individualistic either. They wore dark clothing, reminiscent of suits. This made Dominic feel a bit weird, since everyone was dressed so formally, as though attending church. Though he thought this might not be what they normally wore, it seemed to be just what they wore for the occasion.

  Dominic was starting to zone out halfway through the parade when something happened. Sophia moved between his bodyguards and came to stand between him and Eliana. “Your Highness,” she shouted over the crowd’s roar, sounding armed.

  Dominic gnced at her, wondering why she was suddenly screaming. Then he saw something fsh in her hand. His instincts took over before his brain could register what was happening. He ducked, hugging his horse’s neck, and gnced to his right, where the knife had been aimed. He saw an arrow lying on the ground, its shaft crushed under Valerius’s horse. He stared at it before a shiver ran down his spine.

  Before he could fully process the arrow, he heard someone screaming, “Assassins! Someone is trying to assassinate Lord Valerius!” The voice sounded unusually loud, and Dominic realized immediately that it was neither well-meaning nor one of the guards. First of all, the arrow was aimed at him. Second, none of the guards would have announced an assassination attempt in a magically enhanced voice. The shouter’s intentions were realized seconds ter, as the crowd started panicking. Some people desperately tried to flee the scene, while others rushed into the street, seemingly to protect or harm them. Dominic had no idea.

  The companion cavalry moved around them, shoving back the crowd. But then he saw a woman, dressed in an all-bck outfit, worming her way through the companion cavalry. Once she got through, she sprinted at Dominic. Their eyes locked, and he realized she had every intention of killing him. He heard another cry from Sophia, while Valerius screamed something that sounded a lot like “Die, you witch!”

  Dominic gnced over, only to see Valerius swinging a sword straight at the woman. She weaved out of the way, but one of the companion cavalry, realizing their mistake, rushed over and thrust his cavalry nce through her back. He ripped the nce out of her back, causing a fountain of blood to spray out, and her body fell limp to the ground with a sickening thud. Dominic stared, momentarily horrified by the gruesome sight of a bloody murder right in front of them.

  Then, he was violently pulled from his horse. Suddenly, he found himself sitting in front of Maria. On her horse, Maria had her sword and shield raised protectively around him. A bit te, he realized the same icy chill filling his brain as before. Looking up at Maria, he found that her face was neither filled with panic nor fear. She looked calm, only a bit wary, gncing around at their surroundings.

  Dominic had read in his previous life that one of the most dangerous situations military or police officers faced was involving civilians. The main problem was that civilians didn’t know how to comport themselves in emergency situations. They often did stupid things driven by fear, panic, or some desire to be the hero, which usually ended poorly and endangered the officers or soldiers trying to protect them. The best thing in that type of situation was to act like luggage, not getting in the way of the officers or soldiers. Dominic decided this situation was simir. He was a civilian surrounded by soldiers, and the best thing he could do was absolutely nothing. So, that’s exactly what he did.

  He heard screams, shouts, and sword cshes. Valerius yelled something about everyone getting back. Several things hit Maria’s shield, making pinging sounds. The shouting continued for about five minutes before Maria finally lowered her shield, uncovering Dominic's line of sight. He saw several bodies littering the ground, most of them assassins. The other dead civilians or soldiers must have been caught in the crossfire. This had happened so fast.

  A guard ran up to Maria. “Your Highness, the situation has been resolved. It was just a failed assassination attempt.”

  Dominic stared at the bloody bodies, including one with their throat torn open. He felt a pang of nausea. So much blood. He had not expected the day to take such a turn.

  Valerius looked at Dominic appraisingly, as if checking to see if he was okay. Dominic nodded in response. The Companion Cavalry circled around them, intent on protecting them.

  “We should go after the archer,” Valerius told one of the companions.

  “I'll send two of our best on it,” the companion replied, immediately passing orders to the other members of the Companion Cavalry.

  Dominic watched as a few of the companions pushed through the crowd, heading in the direction they believed the archer had gone. Something felt off about the situation, like he was missing a crucial piece. With nothing else to do, Dominic tried to focus on the thought.

  He remembered earlier that day when he’d considered the militant faction’s victory was almost inevitable. But that didn’t sit right with him. "It’s obvious the militant faction would win, but if it's so obvious to a kid like me, then it must be obvious to everyone else. Unless I’m wrong, but other people probably think the same." He thought about it some more and realized that was the source of his unease. If the militant faction was sure to win, then why had Howard Towers packed up and fled?

  The realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. “We need to return to the Citadel now,” he said to Valerius.

  “Dominic, I understand you're scared, but it’s best if we stay here for the moment and wait until my men return,” Valerius replied, his tone calm but dismissive.

  Dominic felt irritation rising within him but decided to expin. “Why would an assassin target me?”

  Valerius looked at him like he was an idiot. “You’re one of the heirs to the throne, Dominic. You’ll always be a target for assassins.” His tone was dismissive, and Dominic couldn't help but feel a growing resentment. If I were a normal child, he thought, hearing this from my father would probably disqualify him from being a father at all.

  “That’s not what I meant. Why only me? I’m a repcement for Big Sister if she proves incompetent, at best. I’m just a spare,” Dominic continued, frustration creeping into his voice.

  Valerius still seemed confused, not understanding his point. Dominic stared at him, feeling something close to hatred rising within him. He knew it was unjustified, but it was hard to control this particur emotion.