1. The Misery

Vasolenia, a vast continent with several kingdoms, stands within it, one of which is the Kingdom of Krunz. The Kingdom of Krunz is a fertile and prosperous kingdom, with a vast area of power and an advanced economy. The King is known to be fair and firm. In his reign, he had two wives. Valerin Cloid, the first wife and also the Queen of the kingdom, gave birth to two sons and a daughter, and Linda Cloid as a concubine gave birth to three sons.

A terrible incident occurred, the death of the Queen of the Kingdom of Krunz. Valerin Cloid was killed in an expedition, in which Valerin's eldest son named Zein survived. The King, shocked by the death of Valerin, fell ill, endangering the stability of the kingdom. At this time, Linda entered the royal system as a substitute for the King. An event occurred during the King's absence. The fourth prince, Linda's son, fell ill, and it was discovered that there was poison in his body. Linda immediately accused Zein of being the mastermind behind it out of hatred. As a result, Zein was seen as the cause of the kingdom's problems, causing him to be shunned by the kingdom's people. But his sister Lucy remained encouraging and always by his side.

Conflicts between kingdoms arise, making war inevitable. Linda ordered Zein to join the war, which he could not refuse. Zein then joined the war, placing someone far from the social world who never again learned the art of swordsmanship and tactics after his bullying; the result was a defeat. Some areas of Krunz were ruled by other kingdoms. This further failure led to Zein being exiled from the kingdom.

In his exile, he met an old man. Zein learned magic from the old man and was introduced to a former knight to practice sword fighting. He filled his daily life in exile with practice and worked as an adventurer in a small town.

Several years passed when a letter arrived stating that his exile had ended. He said goodbye to the old man and the former knight.

Zein, wearing his simple adventurer's clothing, bowed and greeted them. "I am very grateful to you both, my teachers. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't met you both."

"No need to thank us, my child. You were with us all this time. This place feels more alive," replied his old teacher.

Both of them looked as their student left. Zein stood up, looking confidently at the sky, but a heavy feeling remained in his little heart; he had to return to the kingdom that had expelled him, but he would face it no matter what.

In short, when he returned to the Kingdom of Krunz, the city that was once a beautiful kingdom had now become a gloomy and squalid kingdom. The fertility of the land in the kingdom was not doing well, and finances had plummeted because of many vagrants everywhere.

Suddenly, Zein heard a commotion in the center of the city and approached the source of the commotion. It was an execution.

"Because of this, our kingdom continues to have problems!"

A very familiar voice, a voice that always filled him with anger. Linda's voice.

On a podium stood a teenage girl. He immediately recognized the figure; she was his sister, Lucy Cloid. Her condition was that her hands and feet were tied with a rope and her neck was tied to a wooden board above her.

"Pull the lever!" Linda ordered.

The wooden board beneath Lucy's feet broke, making her hang.

"Lucy!"

Zein leaped high, drew his sword from its sheath, quickly cutting the rope that bound Lucy, and rescued her. Zein cradled Lucy's limp body.

"Ugh..."

"Lucy, are you listening?" Zein asked.

Lucy's blurry gaze slowly began to see clearly. "Brother?"

"Sorry... I just arrived," Zein said calmly.

"It's okay, brother." Lucy smiled back.

Lucy's body looked thin, and her beautiful black hair was now unkempt. Zein hugged Lucy tightly.

"A beautiful family reunion."

"You!" Zein's face turned red. Anger gnawed at his body.

"The death penalty decree for you has been issued, and I happen not to need to look for the other one."

Zein stood up, ready to draw his sword from his waist. But his little sister's grip stopped him.

"Brother... it's better if we leave."

"But..." Zein saw the condition of his little sister was bad. He eventually agreed with her opinion. He carried his sister and jumped away.

"Chase and kill them!" The knights followed Linda's order, rushing towards where Zein had gone.

"Should we get involved... your majesty?" the kingdom's holy knights asked. Their white clothes, each holding different ancient artifacts. Ancient artifacts are legacies of heroes in the past. The number of holy knights in each kingdom is five people.

"Of course, don't disappoint me!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." In an instant, the five of them disappeared. Linda laughed, pleased with the chaos.

"Fireball!" Zein's fire spell burned all the knights who blocked him. Zein finally managed to leave the city gate and ran towards the forest. The cloudy sky began to rain. Zein ran deeper into the forest. With mixed anger in his heart, he ran towards the north.

Without feeling tired, he continued to run quickly, occasionally jumping on tree branches to find momentum to increase his speed.

"Level 2 spell: Light Step of Wind." Zein's body emitted green light, and a second later, he shot off quickly. With his current speed, Zein was confident that no one could catch him.

Suddenly, a thunder-like shot struck near Zein's feet, causing a big explosion that threw him forward.

Argh! Who? Zein held his sister's body tightly.

"Your escape ends here," said a white-clad holy knight holding a blue sword. Then three other friends came with the same clothes and different weapons.

Artifacts? Holy knights, apparently.

"Stop running and face your doom!" The blue-sworded holy knight charged quickly, pointing his sword at Zein.

"Speed of Wind!" Zein's body emitted green light, quickly avoiding the attack. Boom! The sound of the holy knight's sword striking the ground caused cracks to appear in the surrounding area.

"Pretty good," he said.

The other holy knights arrived, scattering to each corner.

Zein opened his eyes wide, aware of his surroundings. One against five, an obviously imbalanced fighting ratio, plus these five were users of ancient artifacts with great power. Zein was hesitant to win this fight because he was carrying his little sister. He was afraid something might happen to her.

"Lucy, are you okay..."

"Lucy, are you okay?" asked Zein.

"I'm fine... ukhukhh *cough," Lucy replied.

Zein calculated the other possibilities. If he continued to run, the gap between them and the five people pursuing them would only widen. There were long-range weapons among them. Zein made up his mind.

He put Lucy down gently, saying, "Sit here nicely."

Zein then clasped his hands together. A brown layered magic circle appeared in front of him. "Level 4 Magic: Dome of the Living Castle."

The ground around the area shook violently. Massive chunks of earth emerged around Zein, causing the trees in the area to be uprooted. The towering earth encircled Zein and his sister. The ground continued to vibrate for a few moments until finally, the magic Zein had recited had taken form. A large castle made of earth was now standing.

The holy knights backed away from the area where Zein had cast his magic. Zein left the castle, and shortly afterward, earth golems emerged from it – five golems standing in a neat row, protecting the castle.

"How powerful do you think he is?" The holy knight with a large hammer that he held walked toward the holy knight who had attacked Zein earlier.

"Maybe level four? Yes, because he cast a level 4 magic," the other knight replied.

"It doesn't matter, I'll finish him!" the first knight said.

Zein slowly drew his sword from its sheat. Everyone in the area prepared themselves. Set! In a matter of seconds, he was in front of the holy knight with the hammer, kicking him so hard that he was thrown back. Zein then swung his sword toward the holy knight with the blue sword, who still seemed unable to process what had just happened.

Whoosh! An arrow flew toward Zein, who was swinging his sword, forcing him to parry the arrow directed at him. This created an opening for the holy knight with the blue sword, who quickly swung his sword horizontally toward Zein's exposed body.

Zein seemed to kick the wind, making him spin on the ground, and he managed to fend off the attack from the holy knight with the blue sword. He got back into his stance.

"Everyone, don't lose focus!" shouted the holy knight with the green spear.

"You two are underestimating the enemy too much," said the archer knight from the top of a tree, a woman with shoulder-length hair.

"Damn, he kicked me," said the hammer knight, who had gotten up from his sitting position after being attacked by Zein.

"Finish this quickly, I want to go to bed!" said the magic book holder knight, who was currently flying near the archer knight. Their body was shorter and looked like a child.

Zein, seeing that the five holy knights were now more prepared than before, moved his hands, pointing to all five of them. Two golems guarding the castle immediately moved toward the five knights.

The fight between Zein and the five holy knights was fierce. The magic attacks continued to be launched by the magic book holder knight. Zein dodged all of them. The golems helped to hold off the hammer, spear, and sword knights. The archer knight continued to keep her distance from the fight, firing arrows at Zein. Set! The arrow flew directly toward Zein, but suddenly, from nowhere, a golem appeared to intercept the arrow.

Zein jumped high, approaching the magic book holder knight, who was flying. The knight read another spell, but Zein was much faster. He swung his leg towards the knight's side. The knight immediately blocked the attack, a transparent shield stopped the kick. But his attack caused the knight to move from his flying position.

"Sword Technic: Blazzing blade!" Zein's golden shining sword was directly thrust into the knight, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Damn!" The archer knight managed to avoid the golem and quickly aimed his four arrows at Zein who was still hovering in the air.

"Magima Skill: Point Pyramid." The four green arrows flew in all directions until they formed four attack points centered on Zein.

Zein quickly deflected the attack with his sword. But the arrows didn't stop chasing him. He, who was now on the ground, ran to avoid the arrow attacks. In front of him, the spear knight was ready to attack him with a thrust of his spear - get ready with his fighting stance's.

"Aerola Skill: Thorn of Destruction." The spear tip shone brightly green as if resonating with the arrows chasing Zein.

The thrust of the spear gave energy resembling thorns piercing Zein's body strongly, making him thrown backward, while the arrows were behind him - trapped by the two enemy attacks. Zein tried to move his body.

"HHAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Zein shouted loudly. It felt like every part of his body was going to break. He continued to try to avoid the double attack.

There was no other choice in his mind, he tried to bring his hands together to form a hand symbol.

"Curse Magic! Sacrifice Changes! I sacrifice my right eye!" Zein's body shone purple, his right eye felt like it was burning.

Kling! Zein's body disappeared, replaced by a stone golem.