1 Volume 1: Chapter 1- Barrel of Grapes

What was left of once grand kingdom of humanity, currently known as the Tazak kingdom, less than half of what originally was a powerhouse that was known as the Great Kingdom of Kizilalem.

Kizilalem was once a gigantic kingdom, bigger than any other kingdom, representing the absolute power of humanity. Less than a century ago, this absolute kingdom seemed to be invincible. Yet, the reality has the tendency to subvert such expectations.

Unfortunately, Demon kind, led by Demon King and Demon Lords, had stolen half of the land of the kingdom of Kizilalem and transported it to another world, establishing their own Kalkan kingdom.

Now half of the kingdom was long gone, leaving less than half, which afterwards came to be known as Tazak kingdom.

While Kalkan kingdom exists in another world called Sulum, Tazak kingdom was located in the world of Alem. They literally were now in two different worlds.

Many have tried to retake their stolen land by invading the world of Sulum through portals, but none succeeded. Demons tried to invade the world of Alem as well, resulting in demon invasions.

As opposed to Kalkan which was predominantly demon society, Tazak kingdom was ruled by none other than human beings.

Kalkan and Tazak were enemies since the beginning, with Demon King and the Tazak monarchy opposing each other at each opportunity, each seeking to destroy the other. Only the face that they were in two different realms prevented them from outright destroying each other.

Just like their counterparts, the residents of Tazak kingdom feared and despised their counterparts, largely due to their beliefs that demons were responsible for every misfortune that occurred to them.

If a lightning struck somebody, they said demon sent it to kill that person. If an earthquake destroyed a city it would be demons that would be suspected of plotting to break down the kingdom's infrastructure with their diabolical ways. If they see a demon, they had a policy of killing them on sight.

Although some radical factions like Pishak Priests have recommended capturing them in order to harvest their body parts for usage in manufacturing various ways of dealing with demons such as weapons imbued with demon's own power, many preferred exterminating them altogether.

The fact of the matter is that the people of the region are taught ever since they were young that demons are embodiment of calamity and evil, which is why anyone suspected of association to demons was promptly jailed or even executed.

The Knights of Ozen, the elite force of guardians tasked with protecting the citizens of Tazak kingdom, were the primary enforcers of the authority of the crown and by extension humanity.

Although they are supposedly loyal to the crown, their members were selected from the members of noble families; in a sense only people born to higher level of society could become Knights of Ozen.

They were trained from young age on prowess of sword, and some even specialized in magical arts. With strong monarch the Knights of Ozen would be most loyal.

Currently, however, it was a transitional period. The old king was getting weaker and weaker day by day, and it was obvious that he was fast approaching his death bed.

His supposed successor, prince Sala, was expected to become the next king promptly.

Of course due to the age old tradition the prince has to take a bride before assuming the throne, and the problem was that the prince Sala seemed rather picky in his choice, rejecting any potential suitors for trivial reasons and he didn't seem to have any particular person in mind.

This was rather troubling for his ailing father who wished to pass on the mantle of the king before his death.

However, the decision of who would become next king is not up to the previous king to decide, but it was left to the council of ten elders, and they were adamant that the successor of the king follow the tradition.

As much as he was king's son, the title of the prince held no true power; he was one of the several candidates who could become the next king.

Due to the fact that in the past an entire line of royalty was exterminated, the king is no longer chosen by blood association, but by decision of the ten elders. Thus, Prince Sala was not the only one contending for the throne, several members of noble families groomed their successors for that purpose.

Current king's health kept deteriorating and prince was now forced to go to marriage interviews with various potential consorts despite his reluctance to do so.

The prince actually challenged the age old tradition, calling it useless, outdated, and obsolete, but the ever so traditionalist ten elders have made it clear that they will only support the prince as the king if he follows the customs thoroughly. If he does not, then they would chose king from other candidates.

The fact was that the ten elders are supposed to give their approval seals in order to recognize the new king. Thus Sala was one of the candidates to become the next king.

Without their seals, the one could not assume the mantle of rule. Of course each noble family wanted to have greater influence, due to this they persisted in trying to get prince Sala married to one of their daughters.

Noble families each held enough power to receive titles of lords.

If one managed to become in laws of the future king, then the influence they hold would drastically increase, making one noble family have the reins to controlling the kingdom.

Of course, they were obligated to give their approval when the prince selects his bride without any objections, but it did not stop them from trying to land things in their own favor.

If prince chose someone unknown, they still will be obligated to give their approval or risk losing their lordship due to the fact it could be considered treason to disapprove future king's decision.

Yet, right now when the matter is still undecided, nobles had the chance to allure the young prince with their daughters or ally themselves with the other candidates for the throne, in order to have a chance for gaining power without losing trust of people.

Of course, there were more than ten elders, but the requirement for becoming the king is approval by ten of them.

If the prince did not choose a bride soon, the elders could decide on another candidate to take on the throne.

Prince Sala represented the Rondeleia line of royalty, his grandfather who took over the seat as the king more than fifty years ago, thereby starting the dynasty of Rondeleia royalty.

But that did not mean that only members of Rondeleia family were eligible to become the rulers. There were four other families that had the qualification to produce the next king, they were rather eager to gain an upper hand as well.

If prince Sala fails to find a bride by next year then it would mean one of the qualified candidates can advance to the throne, with the approval of ten elders of course.

Because of needing backing of nobles, there was a lot of bribing and swindling during this time, none was sure who was on whose side.

On the street of the Tazak kingdom, in a certain shop.

A man wearing nothing but rags was violently thrown out of the building.

"Never come back."

The store owner screamed on the top of his lungs. Not only did he discover this glutton eating raw meat inside the butcher shop, but there was a giant hole in the wooden wall, most likely made by the same man.

When he asked what his name was, the man just proceeded to burp loudly with gluttonous eyes looking over raw slices of meat.

He was going around like a savage, with a gluttonous grin covering his face. The shop keeper was so enraged that he grabbed the man by the rags and dragged him out of the shop.

Then he proceeded to throw him out. 'I hope I never see this vandal again, the repair costs to the wall are going to be pricy, damn that glutton!'

Said glutton, on the other hand did not really care about the fact that he was thrown out of the butcher shop. Instead his curious gaze was focused on a yellow butterfly flying nearby him. When the butterfly started to fly further away, he proceeded to follow it, trying to catch it.

Everyone who saw him on the street averted their eyes upon seeing man clad in rags chasing a butterfly like some joyful buffoon. He kept chasing it until it flew into the carriage that was standing on the road, ready to go at any time.

Following the butterfly, he climbed into the carriage. Strangely none noticed him due to the fact that cab driver was at the front of the carriage talking to a soldier. Young man soon found himself inside the carriage filled with barrels. It was a big carriage, requiring eight horses to make it go. The carriage had a roof on top preventing the man from being seen once he entered the carriage.

Young man soon lost sight of butterfly. When he was about to climb out of the carriage he took a whiff and smelled the delicious aroma.

It was smell of food. He felt so hungry that reason didn't seem to matter. He quickly proceeded to open the lid of one of the barrels.

It was filled with grapes. Young man thought himself fortunate to have found barrel full of grapes. So he proceeded to eat them as fast as he could, filling his cheeks with grapes like a hamster. He kept eating and eating without stopping.

From the outside he heard a sound.

"So, you're off towards the prince's castle?"

"Indeed, it's a special delivery, highest quality grapes, prince's favorites. He requested us to give them to him personally and leave it in his room."

"I see"

"Well, then I am off now" the voice that seemingly belonged to the cart driver said as he proceeded to take the reins of horses in order to have them gallop in the direction of tall castle at the end of the road.

Young man noticed that the carriage started moving, but he didn't care, he just wanted to eat. The carriage driver had no idea he had an unwanted passenger on the back eating all the goods that were supposed to be given to the prince.

Young man ate so many grapes that the barrel was three forth empty. The barrel was very large, so it was impressive that he could eat so much in one sitting. Then he had a rather rational idea of getting into the barrel himself with all of his body in order to get to grapes in hard to reach parts. After he climbed into the barrel he put the lid on top himself in order to lock the smell of grapes within the barrel and prevent that sweet aroma from escaping.

Now there was no evidence that anyone was inside the carriage, it just looked like many innocent barrels.

The carriage driver proceeded to drive forward without noticing any changes. The barrel helplessly moved a little when the carriage moved over small rocks on the road.

When it came time to unpack, the carriage driver told the servants outside the royal family's mansion to be extremely careful for this delivery was requested by prince himself. Any failure to do exactly as commanded or insubordination could be met with fatal punishment. Scared out of their wits, the servant complied and carried the barrels towards the mansion.

They were told to put the barrels inside the prince's room and leave immediately. They did just that while noticing the large bed and the furniture inside the room. They were all red and golden in color, befitting a true royalty.

As soon as they were done they swiftly exited the room, fearing prince's wrath if they did anything wrong.

What they did not notice however was the weight difference one particular barrel had in comparison to the rest. It was much heavier; they must have thought it was due to the barrel having slightly more grapes in it than usual. The prince was known for having a extreme liking to grapes.

From the barrel, a snoring noise could be heard. The young man had been sleeping inside of it after he was finished eating. Eating and sleeping…the most pleasurable things in life, well maybe not…there was also romantic fantasies involving women.

He kept sleeping there until the day turned to night. The door of the room was opened and the exhausted owner of the room had entered it.

"Good grief! Why do they always insist on suitors! I have enough problems as it is, they just don't know when to stop!" the prince exclaimed furiously. He sat on his bed and started taking off his clothing. "I need to find a way to get them to support me without marriage, it's just absurd!" prince violently threw his clothing off the bed. "It's so frustrating! Not only that, the others only keep giving me problems, do this, do that…can't they see I am trying…."

Still frustrated, the prince was overtaken by his urge to sleep. Completely naked except for underwear, covered only by a bed cover he dozed off to sleep.

However, the sleeping prince did not realize that he was not alone inside the room. The lid of the barrel moved and popped off, and from inside the barrel young man emerged with outstretched arms.

"Not comfortable sleeping inside a barrel" then he saw the luxurious bed made of ivory encrusted with jewels and gold plates, covered in flower shaped carvings. "Now that's what I am talking about!" he excitedly made his way to the bed without realizing it was already occupied. Most likely because the room was not lighted considering the owner of the room fell asleep.

Feeling the soft mattress underneath him, young man put himself under the covers of the bed, and proceeded to sleep.

For some reason, all night long he dreamt of hugging something very soft against his face. So soft he could describe it as angelic. He did not realize however that he was hugging the owner of the bed in his sleep.