A few days had passed since the scary run-in with the Spider Syndicate and the King's big announcements. King Noor IV sat on his throne in the main meeting hall, looking at a big, rolled-up paper.
Eric was supposed to leave for the United Academy in a few weeks.
He wanted to keep Eric away from the bad stuff happening with the kingdom-wide investigation.
He didn't want his youngest son, even though Eric had shown surprising strength lately, to see all the sneaky, bad things and possible traitors the investigation was starting to find. The King wanted to protect Eric's young, hopeful mind from the tough side of politics and being a ruler.
Right now, a small group of Royal Guards stood stiffly in front of him. They were a trusted team, just back from their first job in the big investigation: finding out everything they could about an important noble family in Feku, a big city near the capital.
