The game of chess commenced. He wasn't a novice, that was clear, but it seemed like he was distracted, clearly thinking about something else. Eventually, I began to feel the tension leaking off of him and it started making me nervous too.

He swirled his finger again and suddenly my clothes dried. "You should be more careful with how you act around men…" He said sternly.

'Wait… What?'

"And you shouldn't get so close to people like this, especially not guys."

"O…K…"

"You should be more careful about how you act too, just in general, you're not reserved enough. Especially until you get strong enough to protect yourself."

"Sorry?"

"Just be more careful in the future."

Silence filled the room as I thought over everything that happened between us. 'Wasn't he acting more promiscuous than I was, grabbing my hand without asking? There was the way that we rode Flicker together too.'

I started to get more agitated the more I thought about it… "Are you saying I've been acting like some kind of–"

He cleared his throat. "Of course not, you were just a bit too carefree with some of your actions."

"Sorry," I said again out of habit. "Wait a minute, no I'm not! How was I any more carefree than you were!"

He sighed. "Your right. To be honest, it was easy to think of you as a boy at first."

"O-oh…" I muttered.

"My mother died in childbirth, then my father took me away to train in the mountains until I turned 10. After that, I became a warrior. Everyone in my battalion was male. When I had left, I returned to the mountains for more training.

"When I turned 15, I was announced king, as the undisputed strongest person in the realm. I was so busy ruling the kingdom from then on that the thought still never crossed my mind. I ended up staying like that until I ascended just after my 18th birthday. So… Yea… I didn't have time for girls. My life required strict discipline. There was no room for distractions."

My eyes widened. "You've seriously never even shook a girl's hand? What about servants at the palace? Friend's wives?"

"Well, back in my day, bowing was more traditional."

"You never had a friend that you hugged?"

"The majority of the women I knew were married, it felt wrong to hug them given the circumstances."

"There weren't any girls in the entire palace? Are you serious?"

He slammed a fist into his upward-facing palm. "Oh, there was this one girl, she was around 15 I think. Yeah, she made bread for me every morning."

"Aaaaaaand…"

"I never actually spoke to her. She made good bread though."

I raised my palm to my forehead and hit myself. 'This must be what people call Culture shock…'

"Yes well…" He returned to his normal boyish self, dignified and elegant. "That's the simple truth." He said, magically filling the teapot and pouring another cup.

"So, when you came to this astonishing revelation that I wasn't a guy… You started to get embarrassed... How is that my fault?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Well maybe if you hadn't started changing right in front of me…" He muttered.

Thinking back, it was true that I took my shirt off in front of him… But a two-ton bear was standing between us, it wasn't like he could even see me. 'Was that really inappropriate?'

I stared at him while thinking about it and he turned away. 'Shouldn't I be the one embarrassed here?' "Hey wait! You didn't look, did you?"

He choked on his tea. "Of course not!"

"Oh… I really don't see the problem here then… And I wouldn't have had to if you just dried me off with magic…"

He stood up, shrinking the table, and walked to the other side. "The problem is that you are an attractive young woman, and you don't seem to realize that your actions can have serious consequences."

"No, that's not really what this is about."

He stopped in his tracks, acting confused.

"Realistically, in that scenario, if said guy tried anything, the two-ton bear next to me would have eaten him. Well. I guess she isn't violent, right, so she would what, sit on him? Either way, I'm good."

He let out a heavy sigh.

"Sorry, you're right. You see, after becoming more aware of you. I came to the conclusion that you would probably end up being married someday, and I suddenly realized that some of my actions today were inappropriate. So I am sorry."

I squinted at him. "Uh… For you, isn't that more like playing with a child? I mean, I could be your 10x grandchild or something… Besides, I'm probably not getting married… Not in this culture. Though I'm starting to figure out why you never had a girlfriend if you act like every girl is someone else's wife…" 'Hey… wait,' " The more I think about this, the less it makes sense. It's a cop out… You're saying you would call a boy cute and joke about falling in love with them?"

He choked on his tea again, this time making his cup just vanish so he would stop trying to drink it "I read similar lines in a novel, and I thought they would make you happy… I was trying to think of you as a boy, but it wasn't like I actually thought you were one."

I let out an exasperated sigh, unsure of what to think of him. I understood how my own brain worked, but the more he spoke, the less I felt like I understood his. One thing seemed fairly certain though. 'I don't think we're going to get around to finishing our game… He hasn't made a move since he started talking about this…'

After a while, he recovered, nervously trying to change the topic as he looked to the side again. "So you have some understanding of the history of magic in this country now. What do you think about it?"

He approached the topic carefree, but knowing full well the seriousness of it, I had to give my honest answer. "The more I hear about it, the more ridiculous it sounds to ban and discourage magic. When I become queen, that's going to be the first thing I change."

"When you become queen?" He repeated, A big stupid grin crossing his face.

I organized my thoughts, double-checking to make sure I hadn't said something weird again. "Well… Yeah, logically that would be the position where I could most easily influence the country, and the surrounding nations as well for that matter. So that should be my goal right?"

"I see…"

'Did he want me to try and manipulate the ruler from behind the scenes or something instead?'

"All you need to do to become the ruler is prove you're the strongest, so I guess it's not complicated, but you're not exactly that strong, you know. Since you can't legalize magic until after your queen, then how are you going to become queen?"

Something told me he already knew the answer and just wanted to hear me say it. "I just have to make people think I did it without magic. That doesn't mean I can't use it."

He gave a worried smile "So that is your plan then."

I nodded, my own mischievous grin turning to a genuine smile. It was hard to contain my excitement. 'If I could become half as strong as that fire mage, but with a kind of magic that was invisible, like gravity magic for instance, I could not only wield heavier weapons but make them hit harder.'

"You should see yourself right now, you look scary."

I snapped my eyes back up to his. "That's not very nice…" 'What happened to all the sweet talk from before?'

He grinned back. "No, it's a good thing. I love it when stupid people get a little fear put into them."

I wasn't sure how scary I really looked, but his devilish grin sent shivers down my spine as his eyes turned a shade darker. He clapped his hands, getting caught up in the heat of the moment, and everything around us disappeared except for the large gates and Flicker, who slowly stood up from where she was resting.

"It sounds like you've slept long enough. I must say I'm eager to see how you'll go about achieving this new goal of yours. It sounds like it might be fun to watch."

'Just a bit longer…' "OK. First, give me a comprehensive list of my powers." In the end, I was just asking so that I could stall for time.

He softly smiled, his eyes sinking slightly as if he understood my true intentions. "You can slow, stop, or speed up time, but this affects you the same as everyone else. You can analyze anything given enough time, as well as see people's opinions of things like how they feel towards you as quantifiable numbers."

"So I can look at the world through the lens of a strategy game."

"Right. That idea is the basis of your powers. You can also use what I would call a tactical view or a third-person top-down view of an area. These are the abilities you are familiar with in one way or another, but they aren't the only ones that you have."

"There's more?"

"In regards to being in command of small groups, you would be able to see their statuses and positions, as well as everything they see. Issuing orders to them would be instant via telepathy, and you would also be able to easily assess their odds of winning certain fights, given that you can assess the enemy as well of course."

'It might be useless now, but I have a feeling that will come in handy someday right...'

"Finally, you have a new skill called Manna Well. It helps you regenerate your manna much faster than normal. It's also the only reason you haven't died yet…"

I laughed. "I feel like there are a lot of those, "Only" reasons that I haven't died."

He let out a sigh, his smile dimming. "Yeah… You should work on that…"

I could feel my body slowly calling out to me. It was ready for me to wake up, even if I was anxious about it, I started feeling my senses merge as my physical body gently started to make small movements.

I let out a sigh of my own. Agis believed in me, made me laugh, and gave me hope and purpose, a break from all the pain and suffering. It was funny. Technically it was all his fault in the first place. I took one last look before walking through the gate.' I wonder if in the end he's just manipulating me too…

With that final thought I slowly let myself fall backward through the portal. My senses merged until my tired eyes slowly opened, feeling sore as they let in light for the first time in a while. 'I'm back.'

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