Chapter : 36

  Princess Iris did not smile at his joke. She just sat there, looking at him with her bright, violet eyes. She studied his messy black hair, his totally untucked dark blue shirt, and his badly crooked tie. She looked at his face for a long, quiet moment.

  Inside his mind, Ken was starting to feel a tiny bit awkward. "Why is she staring at me like that?" he thought to himself. "Is she going to fire me? That would be amazing. If she fires me right now, I can skip this super annoying B-rank mission and go back to my house in the Iron Rose District. I could be eating my mom's cooking by dinnertime."

  But Iris was not thinking about firing him. In fact, her thoughts were moving in the exact opposite direction.

  Iris looked at Ken and saw something completely different from what the rest of the world saw. Naomi and the other girls saw a lazy, useless farm boy who only cared about snacks. But Iris believed she was looking at a boy who was trying incredibly hard to hide his own fear.

  She knew that a B-rank mission was a death sentence for a normal commoner. Even highly trained knights with years of experience would shake with fear at the thought of facing a Curse magic user like Vane. Yet, here was Ken, eating toast, drinking apple juice, and making silly jokes about bad math.

  To Iris, this was not laziness. It was a coping mechanism. She genuinely believed that Ken was putting on a brave face just to make her feel better. She thought he was pretending to be a clown so that the rest of the team would not panic. In her eyes, it was an incredibly brave, selfless thing to do. It was a classic, massive misunderstanding.

  "Ken," Iris finally said, her voice soft and full of emotion. "Please, sit down for a minute."

  Ken blinked slowly. He really wanted that nap, but he couldn't just say no to a Princess who was using that tone of voice. He shuffled back over to the long table and pulled out a heavy wooden chair. He slumped down into it, leaning his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands.

  "Okay, I am sitting," Ken said easily. "What is up? You look super serious. Are we changing the plan? Are we going to order pizza instead of fighting the bad guys? Because I fully support that plan."

  Iris let out a small, tired breath. She folded her hands neatly on the table in front of her. "I know this is a lot to ask of you, Ken," she began, her words coming out slowly and carefully. "You just joined us a few days ago. You barely know the team. You haven't even had a single day of proper combat training with Grandmaster Finlay yet. And now, I am taking you into a B-rank mission."

  Ken shrugged his shoulders lazily. "It's fine. It's just a job, right? I just have to stand in the back and try not to trip over my own feet."

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  "It is not just a job, and you know it," Iris replied, her violet eyes filled with deep guilt. "A B-rank mission involving Curse magic is deadly. The Emperor is testing us, pushing us to the absolute limit on our very first day. If we make a single mistake in those slums today, people will die. You could die."

  Ken watched her face. He saw the genuine worry in her eyes. She was not faking this. Unlike the other arrogant Royals he had met at the Upper Council building, Iris actually cared about the people who worked for her. She cared about a messy, goofy commoner she had just picked up from the street.

  "Princess, you are stressing yourself out way too much," Ken said, trying to keep his voice light and silly. "I am a professional coward, remember? The second things get scary, I am going to hide behind a very large rock. Vane the Curse guy won't even know I am there."

  "You don't have to do that," Iris said softly.

  Ken stopped smiling for a second. "Do what?"

  "You don't need to feel pressured to be a hero, Ken," Iris told him, her voice full of understanding. "And you don't need to pretend that you are not scared. It is okay to be terrified right now. I am terrified too."

  Ken almost let his jaw drop for real this time. He realized exactly what she was thinking. She thought he was shaking with fear on the inside and just acting goofy to cover it up.

  "Oh, wow," Ken thought internally, feeling a sudden wave of guilt wash over him. "She really thinks I am just a normal, weak boy trying to put on a brave face. She feels guilty for dragging me into a war zone. This is actually making me feel terrible. If she only knew that I am literally the strongest thing on this entire planet, she wouldn't be losing sleep over me."

  Ken didn't know how to respond to that. For a guy who was a master of making up silly excuses and pretending to be an idiot, he suddenly found himself totally out of words. He just sat there in the heavy wooden chair, looking at the tired, kind-hearted Princess, feeling like the biggest liar in the world.

  ----

  The strategy room remained completely quiet for a few long moments. Princess Iris pushed her chair back and slowly stood up from the table. She turned her back to Ken and walked over to the large glass window on the far side of the room.

  She looked out at the capital city of the Belmontia Empire. Even though they were staying in a crumbling, run-down estate, the view was still beautiful. The early morning sun was just starting to rise, painting the sky in bright shades of orange and pink. The city was waking up. Millions of normal, everyday people were starting their routines, completely unaware of the deadly games the Royal family was playing.

  "Everyone here in the 13th Unit is powerful," Iris said, keeping her eyes fixed on the city below. Her voice was quiet, almost like she was talking to herself. "Grandmaster Finlay is a legend. Sayma is a genius with barrier magic. Naomi is as fast as the wind. They are all elite warriors. They know how to fight, and they know how to survive."

  She turned around to look at Ken again.

  "But I chose you for a different reason," Iris explained, a small, hopeful smile finally appearing on her tired face. "I didn't choose you because you could throw a fireball or swing a sword. I chose you because of what I saw on the street that day in the Iron Rose District. I chose you because I believe in you, Ken."

  Ken sat perfectly still. He kept his hands on his lap, hiding the fact that his fingers were twitching slightly. The goofy, slacker mask he wore every single day was starting to feel very heavy.