In a garden, an old man was tending to the flowers gracefully.

"Do you know that I met someone today."

His face was covered in white hair and wrinkled skin. Wearing a robe that hid his head.

"And he is a royal too!!"

He was talking to somebody in the garden. Though there was no one beside him.

"Maybe!! he can fulfill your wish?"

After that the man never spoke. He got lost himself in the garden.

The beautiful garden was an odd thing in this rotten forest. There was no way for even a weed to grow in this soil, but somehow the old man was maintaining a garden beside a big hollow tree.

"Kyu!" from a far a small critter was staring at the lonely man. But after sometime it went towards the hollow tree.

****************************************

"Young master!! please help us"

"Leo! go to the army HQ and lift spirits of the soldiers."

"Big brother... play houch wit me!!"

"You will never be a good king."

"What can a fat turd like you accomplish?

.......................

...........

....

"HAHH!!"

Leo woke up from his makeshift bed while breathing heavily.

He started looking left and right. After noticing where he was.

"Just a bad dream!!..... nothing to worry about."

He stood up and checked his wound on his shoulder. When he put his hand over his bandaged shoulder.

"?? Why doesn't it hurt anymore?"

In a hurry he removed the bandage, only to find an ugly scar in place of the wound.

'Did the old man did something..... I don't remember him using magic?'

*Clank*...Clink*......

hearing a clanking noise, Leo turned around and got on his gaurd.

"kyu!!...."

To his surprise, he saw a small white thing coming out of the kitchen area. It had mushroom soup splattered all over it's face.

Taking his gaurd down.

"Hello! little guy....... here!! come here"

He didn't fell any danger from the white furball, instead he had an warm feeling inside him. All those chases and corpses and then getting chased by undeads have taken a toll on his 12yr old brain. The small thing which looked like a small fox gave him some comfort.

The little thing, like it was natural for it, came towards Leo and started to lick his hand.

Seeing the the little upclose made tears to come out in his eyes.

'Why the help did i get stuck here?'

He was cursing his stupidity. It was him who ran inside a forbidden zone. It was him who got stranded in an unfamiliar place. And in the last minute when he thought he was going to die... he didn't fight back and just stayed on the ground waiting for his death.

"So you met little foxy!!"

Removing his tears with his sleeve he turned around.

"You know this little guy."

The fox climbed on the shoulder of Leo and then tucked itself in his shirt.

"Looks like it loves that fatty pillow that you had so painstakingly pampered."

Leo got his face down and started looking at the small guy with a red face.

'I am not fat you old geezer'

"Now!! Now!! don't deny it... you are fat!"

Leo was surprised once again. the old man can really read his thoughts.

Putting that matter aside Leo enquired.

"Sir is there a way to get out of here...."

"If there was... I wouldn't be stuck here for 50yrs..Will I?"

Leo nodded but after some more thinking.

"Sir! how were you able to find your house in the forest.... from what i read in ancient text that no one can go to the same place in the ancient forest because of the spell?"

Their was praise in Daikran's eyes.

"OH!! so you haave read those old books? and about your question me and that old fox after living for so long had adapted to this place.

Leo heard something incompressible.

"Old fox? this little thing"

Leo said while pointing towards his shirt.

"It lived in this tree when I came here... for some reason 500m radius of this tree, no undead can be found and it repels the most of the monsters too.... so you are safe here."

Hearing that gave him some assurance.

"Can I eat something....?"

"Oh!! I made you some soup before I went out... didn't you ate it yet?"

Leo turned around and looked towrds the kitchen having a wierd expression on his face saying 'What soup?'

Understanding the situation Daikran looked towards the little fox.

"This small critter again ate it..... Well I am going to cook more, so sit tight... I need to talk to you about something."

Daikran went away and started cooking mushroom soup again. And as for Leo he went and sat on Daikran's bed petting the little fox.

'This thing is older than my father....no way!!'

As he was thinking about small things the old man Daikran came back with 2 bowl of soup in his hand.

"Fat kid!! do you know what are you going to do from here on out?"

Handing one bowl to Leo , Daikran asked.

He doesn't had any answer. That was a question that he was asking himself a lot too.

After seeing the look in Leo's eyes.

*Sigh*"Look kid!! I can't keep you here for free.... you need to work to earn your living here!! so from tomorrow you are going to help me cut wood and collecting mushrooms... this will be the fee of you living here.

Leo slowly nodded, he knew that he can't live here without doing anything. He may be pathetic, but he was not spoiled child like other nobles.

"So today!! you will learn which mushrooms are edible and which are poisoness, here take this book."

Old man Daikran handed Leo a worn out book.

"In this book there is a list of all the mushrooms that grow in this forest, you need to memorize this whole book till sun down."

"And yeah from tomorrow call me teacher.!!"

'I am not calling you teacher, old geezer'

The old man slapped lightly on Leo's head.

"Start memorizing..... I need to do something of that girly hand and that too."

There was no kind smile on the old man's face anymore, he looked very serious now.

'How can his personality change so much?'

And so like this the 2nd day of our hero began in this god forsaken forest with a cute fox and an old man.. who was just starting to show his true face.

****************************************

1month After the tradegy.

*little girl Crying*

"It was your fault... it was because of you that all this happened.... you told him to go to that place!"

"It was just to strengtened our relations. I didn't know this would happen."

This was the discussion going in Leo's mom's room. there was no water in her eyes unlike her little daughter but the anger on her face can even make a devil cry.

The situation of the king didn't look good too. It was not that Leo was more responsible that he was made the king, it was just that his mom loved and cared for him too much and in fear of his wife he made Leo the crown prince. But no one outside the family and the Kings aids know of this stuff.

"I am sure it was that bitche's doing.... I am going to kill her!!"

There was fire in the woman's eyes... one can see from where Leo get his vocablury from.

"Don't blame your sister.... she loved Leo as much as you loved him and we know it is the doing of someone from the alliance. we can't be sure"

The king Henrich Ageras Leonel rebuked his wife on that matter. he may lower his head in family matters but when it came to justice he won't even listen to his own wife.

"So tell who in the alliance has the balls to hurt my child....if not that bitch then who?"

"The agency is looking into the matter.... it was someone that didn't wanted our son to become the king."

The woman calmed down a little bit and looked towards her crying daughter.

"Sorry!! Lisa your mama got a bit angry at your father."

While consoling her daughter the 2nd queen said to her daughter.

"*uwaah!!* but... but when wil bother cum bak?"

The queen had no answer for this question, she only looked towards her husband.

"Family meeting!! tomorrow everyone of the royal bloodline should be present in the hall by tomorrow"

"Yes my lady!" came a voice from the background though no one can see anyone there.

The King too didn't had any argument left so he left the room and started preparing for the storm that may befall his country.

As he was going towards the throne room with aids by his side.

'You may have won this time and you will pay for what you had done'

The king lied to his wife, he knew who planned the attack but to not worry her, he kept it a secret.

After sighing for a while the king entered the throne room in which people in royal knight uniform were standing in an orderly manner.

Standing close to the throne was a shrewd looking young man. He was an oddity in the hall, as most of the politicians in the throne were old men.

After sitting back on his crown, the king tilted towards the shrewd looking man and ordered.

"I need complete surveillance on that man... I need to know where he eats, shits, fucks!! everything, and not just him, keep his whole family on a tight watch, focus all the resource on this task and give me a report till the end of the month."

The shrewd looking man didn't had any lowly post iin the alliance... He was the Head of Espionage operations.

"As you order my liege!"

The man silently backed down from the crown dissapearing in the shadows.

'But he sure was fast being that fat!!'

"*Achoo"

"Someone is speaking ill of me!!... Except that old geezer, who else could it be?"

A slim boy said while chopping woods with a stone axe.

He had sweat dripping all over his body and pale skin because of lack of sunlight.

"kyu!! Kyu...."

By his side a furball was staring at the boy and looked to be saying....'Keep it up!'

This is Leo, after 1 month living in the forest. All his fat has been burned away by the daily chores he was ordered to do by the old man Daikran.

"Fatty!! from today your sword training will start along with your usual chores. So be mentally prepared"

There was only a pitiful expression on Leo's face.

"You old geezer... do you love torturing youth?"

After living for 1 month with the old man he got familiar with him, he didn't use any respeted speech with the old man.

"It's for your own good... if you need to survive in this place you need to learn how to preserve your life!! Running is not always the best option, Sometimes a man gotta man up!!"

Said the old man while showing his non existant muscles.

'You do know you look stupid geezer.'

"So what?... when I was young I could ravage multiple platoons by myself so I have the right to say stuff like this."

Leo got used to the old man's mind reading.. He never asked how Daikran does it, but he thought that he shouldn't tarry in one's matter.