Chapter I

  The King…

  The Kingdom of Dawn. A great nation with a flourishing population, bustling trade, delectable food and drink, world-renowned entertainment, and as of the present day, a highly sought after tourist destination. People are happy here. Any merchant you strike a conversation with will sing its praises almost as if they were paid to be government shills—except they aren’t. As such, other nations slowly became jealous of its prosperity, and they should be, for it was established by none other than the Hero-King himself, Solaris.

  Hero-King Solaris was born in the human nation once known as Genes (Juh-neez) to a relatively unimportant farmer family who had no need for last names. His mother was Aurora, and his father, Agni. Both had red hair, both were fine parents, and—that is all you need to know about them. As a consequence of their naming scheme, King Solaris’ first name is his last name, and his last name is his first name, but we just call him King Solaris. Got that?

  When he was younger, King Solaris looked like a perfect mix between his parents. His hair was thick like his father’s, but long and spiky like his mother’s. He kept it long as a sense of pride, but tucked it into his outfit to prevent enemies from grabbing it. People swore they saw the burning flame of passion inside his ruby eyes whenever somebody mentioned adventure. The following is an abridged timeline of his life up to the present day:

  At birth, King Solaris was dropped, but bounced wildly around the room until he landed in his mother’s arms safe and sound; clean as a whistle.

  At age two, King Solaris learned how to walk.

  At age four, King Solaris learned how to speak, read, and write despite the only book in his house being about an adventurer who became a hero-king (which his parents don’t ever recall obtaining) and with the only writing utensil available: a stick in the dirt.

  At age five, the King’s father found him swinging his trusty hoe around like a trained knight in the early hours of the morning.

  At age five and a half, the King’s father found him dragging a bear’s corpse in his reliable wheelbarrow, whose head was currently pierced by his trusty hoe, in the early hours of the morning.

  At age six, the King’s father found him dragging a troll’s corpse (well known for their highly regenerative abilities) in his reliable wheelbarrow, whose head was currently pierced by his trusty hoe, in the early hours of the morning. His father, at this point not surprised about his son’s antics, jokingly asked if he “had any bears with him too.” To his amazement, the young King revealed that also dragging behind the reliable wheelbarrow, via his father’s rugged rope, were ten bear corpses, each with a suspiciously hoe-shaped hole in their heads.

  At age seven, the King helped his parents around their farm much to their appreciation. Originally, they only had enough wheat, meat, fruits, and vegetables to barely last them until their next harvest, give or take a month or two of rationing. Their farm expanded so much with the help of their son that they now had an overabundance of goods. Their only option was to sell and trade, lest they suffocate inside their own home on corn cobs and cucumber. Once King Solaris was crowned, his parents, who denied positions in his court, supplied a vast majority of the capital’s food, becoming well known in the food trade.

  At age ten, the King’s mother took him into the somewhat closeby village of Pía to peruse the market for seedlings and to establish some trade relations. During their time together, a demon from the extra-dimensional invading demon realm of Mal interrupted the peace. The following is the King’s recollection of the event soon after his coronation, sourced from Crier Zune’s MagiTV special, From Farmer Boy to Hero-King:

  King Solaris: “My mother was in the middle of an argument with a bald, toothless merchant when I noticed a shiny on the ground. I bent down to pick it up, and learned that it was a gold coin hailing all the way from the Kingdom of Michael!”

  Crier Zune: “Wow! Isn’t that the nation ruled and populated by only one guy? What was his name again? Gordon?”

  King Solaris: “Michael.”

  Crier Zune: “Right. So what happened next?”

  King Solaris: “I inspected the coin further and noted its reflection of Pía’s central fountain. Y’know, the one with the rusted maidmer? Just as I was making heads or tails of it, a dark and rancid mass of purple particulates appeared, and out of it came an equally

  purple demon who announced itself to the crowd.”

  Crier Zune: “What did it say?”

  King Solaris (in a low, booming imitation): “‘Foolish humans. My name is (I wasn’t paying attention) and I’ve come from the Demonic Realm of Mal to (he gave a list of like, five bad things, I don’t know) your people. Now, I feel like you would be the perfect subjects to test my new little spell: Peel Person.’”

  Crier Zune: “What does that do?”

  King Solaris: “It’s funny, a villager also asked the same question.”

  Crier Zune: “Well, how did the demon respond?”

  King Solaris: “‘It peels your skin off, just like how that merchant over there is peeling that orange… yes you; the one with the bad posture!’”

  Crier Zune: “Ew.”

  King Solaris: “‘Now, would anybody like to be my first volunteer?’”

  Crier Zune: “What happened next?”

  King Solaris: “At this point, an adventurer wielding a zweih?nder one-handed slid in front of me and proclaimed himself as Josh.”

  Crier Zune: “Did he have a crimson tunic?”

  King Solaris: “Yes, I believe so.”

  Crier Zune: “That’s the retired hero, Crimson Tunic Josh! What did he do?”

  King Solaris: “He said, ‘I am the hero, Crimson Tunic Josh, and I volunteer.’ The demon responded, ‘Excellent,’ with a smirk, then pointed his finger at him; its tip now glowing a concentrated orange. Josh ran towards him, readying a large swing of his sword, and leaped forward. But just as he was about to connect, the demon’s spell fired. Josh got blasted back, landing on his butt, then looked down at his body in fear. The orange energy caused sparks to arc across and around him.”

  Crier Zune: “And?”

  King Solaris: “And what?”

  Crier Zune: “What happened to him? To Josh?”

  King Solaris: “Oh… Nothing.”

  Crier Zune: “What?”

  King Solaris: “Nothing happened to him, Zune.”

  Crier Zune: “That’s ridiculous! How’d the demon react?”

  King Solaris: “Aw (he said a demonic curse word, I think).”

  Crier Zune: “What did Josh do next?”

  King Solaris: “Oh, he chuckled for a second and said, ‘You really scared me there.’ Then brushed himself off and stood up, readying his sword once again. ‘Now, prepare for my ultimate attack: CRIMSON TORNAD—’ then the demon teleported to him, backhanded him, and launched him off to the side, breaking through a couple buildings in the process. Josh was later found by the orange merchant underneath a pile of rubble, unconscious.”

  Crier Zune: “That’s why he retired!”

  King Solaris: “Precisely.”

  Crier Zune: “Okay, but I’m confused now. Who got rid of the demon?”

  King Solaris: “Let me finish. The demon quickly inspected his nails for dirt and then turned his attention to the next closest living being: Me, causing my mother to scream in horror in our direction. The demon first looked at me, then at her, then back to me again. His smirk widened even further, showcasing his disgusting, void-maggot infested black teeth. He pointed down at the top of my head and said, ‘Oh, is this your son?’ He leaned his big, angular, and purple pretty-boy face in front of mine. ‘By your features and her reaction, I’d take that as a yes. Oh good,’ he clasped his hands, ‘you’ll be my little experiment number two.’ He levitated back a bit, pointed his finger at me, and a slightly darker orange-hued energy started to gather at his finger-tip. His countdown started: ‘Five, four—’ And suddenly stopped. He floated there in silence for a couple of seconds as the orange energy quickly dissipated.”

  Crier Zune: “Why did he stop?”

  King Solaris: “I noticed him start to sweat sulfur as his eyes struggled to look down at the right side of his chest, where a demon’s heart is said to be. He miraculously found a perfectly coin shaped hole going straight through it, and my left hand in the post-flick position, almost giving him a thumbs up to go ahead and die. His body instantly collapsed to the floor where he began to scream, before being roughly cut-off by his accelerated purple particle disintegration. He was like: ‘AA—’

  (King Solaris’ scream echoed throughout the room.)

  Crier Zune: “Holy (expletive), er, sorry, Your Majesty.”

  King Solaris (chuckling): “No, no, that’s the correct reaction.”

  Crier Zune: “But—that’s quite a tale!”

  King Solaris: “Yes, yes. And you know… I later found out that my mother didn’t scream in horror at the damage she thought the demon was going to inflict on me. She screamed in horror at the mere possibility of having to explain to the villagers the damage I was about to inflict on the demon.”

  Crier Zune: “Wow. Truly, the start of a legend.”

  King Solaris: “Yep. It was my book, and this experience, that really pushed me into wanting to be an adventurer, and now—a king.”

  At age eighteen, King Solaris was old enough to leave the farm and start his own life, although his parents famously argued that he was probably ready at age six. He gave his goodbyes and began his journey, immediately returning to the village of Pía and signing up at the local Adventurer’s Guild.

  The Adventurer’s Guild is an organization independent of the nation it lies within, although it needs permission from the nation’s ruling body to open. Think of it like an embassy; it has its own rules within its premises. Since at this point, Genes didn’t have a national ruling body, any village or town would hold a meeting to determine if they should allow a new Adventurer’s Guild location to open its doors.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Anyway, the King had to pass a certification exam to become an official adventurer, and it had two parts: The written portion and the practical portion. Regardless of his strength in the practical part of the exam, he had to have the knowledge to pass the written portion too. But what took the average person a year to study, only took him a week. He passed both of the portions with flying colors, and became a certified F-Tier adventurer. The ranks officially increased like this:

  F(ailure)

  E is skipped for some odd reason

  D(etriment)

  C(ommon)

  B(etter)

  A(mazing)

  S(uper)

  M(ega)

  U(ltra).

  As the days went on, King Solaris went on many, many quests. At F-tier this involved picking herbs, delivering packages, exterminating rats, or even saving the cat that was originally supposed to exterminate the rats—from a tree. He jumped from F-tier to D-tier quite quickly, then from D to C, eventually making his way to S-tier, becoming the youngest to ever do so at age twenty. He is known to be extraordinary in just about everything; a true master of the physical and magical arts, but he confesses that he is most comfortable hitting things with farming equipment. He doesn’t like using magic.

  Along his journey, King Solairs made many friends and allies. The first of which became his best friend: an orc named Bird. He was formerly the leader of the Bloody Bashers raider band; a hardened berserker. He is recognized by his bright red tattoos that spiral around his dark-green limbs, and his shoulder-length, wavy, blonde hair. Bird has gone on record stating that during a post-raid celebration, ‘The King barged into my camp and challenged me to a drinking battle—and won.’ The King also knocked Bird out in the resulting fist fight afterwards, who he found out likes to strip naked in battle. Because of these losses, Bird realized the error of his ways and joined the King’s quest for glory. The Bloody Bashers would be disbanded the very next day after yet another drink-filled celebration.

  Bird is known to fight with the steel ball and chain still stuck on his ankles that he modified to have spikes. He got it during his five year prison sentence for pillaging. He calls it his “Footy Flail.” Bird is also known to not shy away from using his body weight; smashing enemies with his hard first, hard head, hard belly, hard ass, and slapping them with his hard—you know. Many cry foul play at his fighting style, but foul play is just play for a man most foul. Out of battle he is a heavy drinker, but sobers up quickly when he needs to. He doesn’t shy away from a challenge whether it involves feats of strength, racing, or an eating contest. An absolute tank.

  The second of the King’s allies was an elven bard with a cult following. She goes by her stage name, Mimi, and is well known for her pointed ears that fan outward from her head, pierced by earrings of double quaver music notes. Her expressive lavender eyes are brought to her onlookers’ attention by her matching triangular strips of face paint. They flow out from underneath her lower eyelids like a banner into three points; shorter on the sides and longer in the middle, similar to the bottom half of a star. Her violet hair, however, is never styled the same. Sometimes it spirals upwards into a coil. Other times it covers one of her eyes in a similar triangular fashion, just past her chin. In reality, her outfit is actually a plain tunic and pants, but she is known to use illusion magic to change it depending on the song she is playing. Sometimes it’s a beautiful and sparkling fuchsia dress, and other times it’s a moody, dark, and grungy loosely-kept deep purple shirt with striped trousers and a choker, for taste.

  During one of her performances at the Allulin Amphitheater, of which the King and Bird were in attendance, a Mallen assassin tried to take Mimi's life in a surprise attack by jumping onto stage with a hard-mana dagger. Luckily, the King was already many steps ahead, as he had previously attacked the assassin in the busy market streets without them noticing. He said he used his “Killer Cuts That Go Into Effect 1 Hour and 37 Minutes From Now Attack” on the demon when it brushed past him on their way to the ticketing booth. Henceforth, the demon’s body separated into a multitude of bloody pieces; diced like a ham about to be used in a meat-lovers pasta salad.

  Mimi, eternally grateful to the King for saving her life, dedicated herself to being the party’s support. She can produce several illusory copies of herself that play all of the instruments in her band, Entente. This manifests the battle music that buffs her friends on-beat and debuffs her enemies off-beat. Her serenading voice is said to accelerate her allies’ natural healing and magical resistances, while her wild screams and roars into her magical microphone increase their physical capabilities and defenses. ‘A battle without music is no battle at all,’ she is quoted as saying to the King’s party upon her acceptance.

  Not much is known about the third addition to the King’s party. Their past is a mystery, however some speculate they used to be a prolific thief or a contract killer. Regardless, they are known by the name Domino for their tendency to set things up for the sole purpose of knocking other things down. As far as eye-witness accounts go, Domino is highly efficient with throwing things: knives, cards, you name it—and they can generally find a way to sneak in just about anywhere. What the eye witness accounts don’t confirm though, are Domino’s height, weight, sex, gender, or race. Some think they’re a male Wildfolk, others think they’re a female dwarf. What is consistent, however, is that they stay cloaked at all times with an object their face: a completely blank, smooth, oval shaped pearl mask, with a simple, two-dot smiley face that changes emotion accordingly.

  The only thing the members of the party have said about Domino is that they cannot say much, just that “Domino is extraordinarily intelligent.” Domino seemingly disappears anytime somebody has even an intention to begin a conversation with them. The information that is known about them, however, was gleaned from countless vague recollections when they weren’t even the primary target of conversation. What I’m trying to say is, the information on Domino is shaky at best. There may be more to learn about them.

  The fourth addition to the King’s party was the unlikeliest one of them all. You see, there was only ever one S-tier mission stuck on the board of every Adventurer’s Guild hall. Few have tried it and failed: The quest to defeat the Demon King of Mal, leader of the extra-dimensional demonic invaders. The Demon King is located within the magmatic Castle Mal, built inside the active volcano Mt. Mal (formerly Mt. Kevin), and within the New Mal territory. I would say it was a long and harsh journey, but this is King Solaris and his party we are talking about, it was most certainly quick and easy.

  When the party arrived at the gates of Castle Mal they defeated every demon that came their way to the tune of Mimi’s heavy metal music. Finally they approached the throne room, and thus encountered the Demon King. Here is another account of the events from Crier Zune, this time interviewing Mimi:

  Crier Zune: “Would you mind describing what it was like to meet the Demon King on the final step of your journey?”

  Mimi: “Merrily! I guess I’ll start where we first approached the throne room’s entrance. We walked up to this grand and elaborate wall of lava within Castle Mal.”

  Crier Zune: “A wall of lava?”

  Mimi: “Yes, a wall of lava. It was wide, overbearing, with no way around it. The intense heat that radiated off of it made my throat bone-dry. I knew I couldn’t give my best performance in this sort of climate.”

  Crier Zune: “And this was the way to the throne room, you say?”

  Mimi: “Oh yes.”

  Crier Zune: “How did you know?”

  Mimi: “Well there was an obsidian sign sticking out of the lava written in Genezian, silly!”

  Crier Zune: “Well, I do find that very improb—”

  Bird (speaking through the door): “No, she’s right. There definitely was a sign!”

  Mimi: “See?”

  Crier Zune (coughing): “Ahem, so there was a sign. Please, how did you get past this wall of la-va?”

  Mimi: “Oh, we just parted it.”

  Crier Zune: “You parted it? I’m sorry, you what?”

  Mimi: “Yeah, we parted it! Sol sliced through the lava with his backup sword and Bird helped him push it apart enough to create a path.”

  Bird (now peaking his head through the door): “Orcs are resistant to fire!”

  Crier Zune: “But, what about the King? He’s human… right?”

  (Mimi shrugs.)

  Crier Zune (shakes his head): “Right, let’s not sweat the details then. So, the party made it past the lava wall and arrived at the throne room to find the Demon King, correct? How did he react?”

  Mimi: “Uh, she, actually.”

  Crier Zune: “She? Then why is she the Demon King then?”

  Mimi: “Apparently, in the demon realm the Demon King is more of a title of who is the strongest, versus an actual royal position. Her father is the Demon Queen, and her mother is a Demon Prince…”

  Crier Zune: “I see. I never would’ve thought I’d learn about demonic hierarchy today, but let’s stay on topic: How did the Demon King respond to your entrance?”

  Mimi: “She wasn’t prepared for us, actually.”

  Crier Zune: “Wasn’t prepared? She didn’t know you guys were coming?”

  Mimi: “Oh, she knew we were coming. She just didn’t expect us so soon.”

  Crier Zune: “How do you figure?”

  Mimi: “She was walking across the throne room with nothing but an infernal bath towel wrapped around her generous pinkish body and in the middle of wringing out her glowing coal colored hair of lava bits from a lava bath. She literally spouted, ‘I didn’t expect you guys so soon!’ in some royal accent or another, and ordered her two royal guards to fight us while she ran into another royal room to change, royally. I glanced at Sol and Bird and they seemed to be ogling her up like a bunch of dorks. I can understand why, she was very hot, both literally and figuratively, but I screamed, ‘There is a time and a place, you two!’ at them to snap ‘em out of it. They each hit one of the guards who unsurprisingly got KO’d and bent back onto their knees like a couple of ragdolls.”

  Crier Zune: “And then what?”

  Mimi (leaning back in her chair): “We kinda just were shootin’ the shit, y’know?”

  Crier Zune: “Shootin’ the shit? Elaborate.”

  Mimi: “Sorry, elvish phrase, ha-ha. We were just chatting and observing the humongous paintings of her family while we waited for the Demon King to come back out. I must say, I don’t know what the hell happened to their bloodline. Each of the portrait’s subjects were getting increasingly uglier and uglier until they were all of a sudden beautiful, two generations before the Demon King. In total, I think she took around, mm—ten minutes.”

  Crier Zune: “Ten minutes? What the heck was she doing?”

  Mimi: “She put on her clothes, equipped her heavy armor, slapped on her infernal makeup, and did her hair. To be honest, I can’t even do that in ten minutes, just styling my hair sometimes takes over an hour. These curls don’t form themselves, y’know? (She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms) I mean, I can just use illusion magic for them, but, like, that’s cheating. Nevertheless, the Demon King’s beautification speed is quite impressive.”

  Crier Zune: “And the party fought her, right?”

  Mimi: “Yes, but first she introduced herself. ‘I am Demon King Veris Fiya Maltencia, daughter of Demon Queen Von Molt Maltencia and Demon Prince Vivi Vi Maltencia the Fifth, and I hereby challenge you to a duel!’”

  Crier Zune: “A duel? That’s usually just with two people, correct?”

  Mimi: “Yes, so she made us choose a party representative. Sol was chosen, after a quick rock, paper, scissors match with Bird.”

  Bird (banging at the door regretfully): “It should’ve been me!”

  Crier Zune: “Erm, please continue with the outcome of the duel.”

  Mimi: “Ha-ha, well I hesitate to even call it a duel.”

  Crier Zune: “Hm?”

  Mimi: “The Demon King, despite her dark, heavy, layered obsidian armor covering nearly her whole body, and the hard obsidian crown around her head—is actually a mage.”

  Crier Zune: “What the heck is a mage doing with heavy armor?”

  Mimi: “Listen, I know nothing about demonic fashion. Regardless, she just stuck her hands out toward Sol while her veins pushed through her skin and glowed red hot with demonic mana. Her armor’s seams were glowing hot too. Despite the show, it seemed like she was struggling only a few moments later. Her mouth was quivering, her right eye was twitching, her left was wide open, and her face was turning blue as the sulfuric sweat poured out of her skin.”

  Crier Zune: “Was she casting a spell?”

  Mimi: “I think so. She commanded Sol to, ‘Kneel! Damn you! Kneel!’ but nothing was happening. Sol chuckled while she continued. ‘Why isn’t it working? Why isn’t my blood magic working? STOP LAUGHING!’ To which he replied, ‘Oh, so that’s why my body is all tingly!’”

  Crier Zune: “So her spell was working but it wasn’t powerful enough to be effective on his majesty?”

  Mimi: “Bingo! To show it off she even tried it on Bird, whose body immediately crumpled onto the floor and began moving in various disgusting, disfiguring ways. His bones were cracking, surely he was in a lot of pain, but pain meant nothing to him, so he was still conscious throughout. ‘See? See? It works on the orc, SO WHY DOESN’T IT WORK ON YOU?’ The Demon King then took a deep breath and calmed herself down. ‘Apologies for my demeanor. I suppose I’ll have to try something else.’ She conjured up a bunch of different elemental magic spells: Water, fire, earth, air, lightning—”

  Crier Zune: “And none of them worked, did they?”

  Mimi: “None. I mean she just started rapidly firing them at him while her smelly tears ran down her cheeks. ‘WEHHHHH! WHY ISN’T ANYTHING WORKING!’ It was quite sad, really. To think the Demon King would show such emotion to her challengers.”

  Crier Zune: “So, I’m assuming the King just struck her down on the spot?”

  Mimi: “Pssh. Nah. I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet! The Demon King collapsed onto her knees and glanced up at Sol with her hot pink, sulfury slit eyes. She noticed the worn copper ring he kept on his right pinky. All she said was, ‘Show me,’ and he obliged.”

  Crier Zune: “And then?”

  Mimi: “Well the rest of the party and I felt a slight flick to our foreheads. But when I looked at the Demon King she went from bawling her eyes out, to a deep, intense, expressionless fear, like she’d just seen the void, to the most infatuated look I had ever seen on a person, let alone a demon. She kept on looking off to the side and stealing glances at Sol, while he was looking back at her like he had just seen the cutest thing ever. They were like a cute middle-school couple. She murmured, ‘D-demons tend to fall for p-people stronger than them.’ To which Sol replied with a delightful, ‘Hm?’ Then she closed her eyes and mumbled, ‘So what I’m saying is… please marry me?’ Which Sol answered at the same time with, ‘Marry me then?’”

  (Crier Zune is silent for a couple of seconds before he leans forward with his glasses partially falling off)

  Crier Zune: “WHAT?”

  Mimi: “Yup! They embraced each other and started making out then and there, while everyone, including the other demonic inhabitants, were clapping. Bird was still convulsing though, but he managed to give a shaky thumbs up.”

  Crier Zune: “But that means… the refugee you brought back with you?”

  Mimi: “Was none other than the Demon King herself!

  (Mimi stands on the chair and spreads her arms out)

  Mimi: “So with that, I’d like to officially announce the royal marriage between Hero-King Solaris and Demon King Veris Fiya Maltencia!”

  (Hero-King Solaris and Demon King Veris burst through the ceiling and start making out on top of the broken coffee table, while Mimi, Bird, and Domino surround them clapping. The royal musicians start playing celebratory music in the doorways while confetti pops all over the room.)

  Crier Zune: “HUH?”

  At the age of twenty-two, King Solaris curbed the demonic invasion of Mal and founded the Kingdom of Dawn. He was crowned its King of Dawn and shortly later married Demon King Veris, thus making her the Queen of Dawn and smoothing our relations with the demons, making them our subjects. He also became the first adventurer to complete an S-tier quest, so the Adventurer’s Guild then created and promoted him and his party, Sunbreak, to Mega-tier.

  At the age of twenty-three, Sunbreak was promoted to Ultra-tier, for reasons unknown.

  Throughout the following forty-nine years of King Solaris’ reign, the Kingdom of Dawn reached ultimate prosperity in every facet of what makes a great kingdom: politically, economically, militarily, socially, scientifically, and magically. But there is one problem that thwarts not just the kingdom, but the King’s very own well-being…