Chapter 340 - ALI MINI THEATER Side Story 17

It was during that time when the King of Heaven had just appeared to Vladimir in the form of a vision. It was also the time when the Returner to Ancestry Kresnik had finally awakened.  The Flame Emperor, in spite of his own personal grief, did Perun's bidding and tasked his eldest son to form a group to go on a quest to maintain the portal that Stribog accidentally created.

"Brother!"

Hurried footsteps echoed in the hallway as a young man of seventeen rushed to one of the chambers in the castle. Without ceremony, he pushed open the door and stepped in inside; his wide, green eyes scanned the room for the person he'd been searching for since morning.

He found him.

The tall, clam figure standing by the window overlooking the palace courtyard looked so lonely in his eyes that his face contorted into a pained expression. His brother – the older brother he adored and idolized would be gone soon.

"Brother!"

"Why are you so noisy at nap time, Ignac?" The figure by the window slowly turned to face the younger man who stopped and stared at the vision he created.

Andrik, the crown prince of Kres looked on in amusement at his younger sibling with his pair of blue eyes that were wise beyond his years. At six feet and five inches, he towered over his brother by half a foot.

"You're going to wake the whole household," the older prince continued as his brother finally reached him.

Ignac looked up at him with worry, and Andrik couldn't help but sigh. He already had an idea why his younger brother came to find him. It was because he'd heard about his task and funny as it might seem, the younger prince was here to reason out with him.

Ignac didn't want him to cross the portal.

"Brother I –"

"I will go," Andrik interrupted him with words that rang with finality.

No, he didn't sound angry nor did he sound like he'd given up because of his fate. Instead, his voice was full of conviction, showing that he was truly voluntarily going to his mission. However, it was something that Ignac couldn't accept.

"But, why?"

The younger prince's voice sounded upset. He had believed that his older brother was going to protest and refuse this quest, even if the person who gave it to him was their own father.

"Is it because it is Perun's idea? Or is it because it's father's orders?"

At the mention of their father, Ignac's voice came out harsh. He couldn't believe the father he adored could also do something like this to his brother. Andrik was his own heir! He was the crown prince! From the moment he was born, Andrik had been groomed to be the next emperor.

"I will go instead!"

Ignac's announcement surprised the other, rendering him momentarily silent, before sighing again. He crossed the room to sit on the chaise and beckoned for his younger sibling to follow.

"You cannot go," he told him softly, making Ignac's expression more defiant.

"Why not? You are going to be the next emperor of Kres. I am just the spare heir. Why shouldn't I go instead of you? Besides, you are the one who inherited most of father's divine powers – how can he make you go?"

Andrik was uncannily strong – stronger even than his grandfather's generation, the strongest before their father's time. At the beginning they just thought that it was an indication that a Returner to Ancestry might be coming to their bloodline, not knowing that Vladimir himself was the Returner to Ancestry and that the reason why Andrik was strong was that he was half-deity.

Technically, Ignac was a demigod as well, but it was Andrik who was closer to their father in everything – from his looks, the dark hair and blue eyes, the temperament, and his bravery. There was no more perfect heir than he was.

"It's exactly because I inherited father's divine powers that I have to go,"Andrik answered softly.

If he didn't know any better, Andrik would think similarly with Ignac. All his life, he had been wondering why their father, even if he was a dutiful sire who took good care of them and raised them well, still felt emotionally distant. He had always had this feeling that even if Vladimir loved them, he was never really seeing them. In their father's eyes were dark, melancholic clouds that kept him separated from the rest of the world. When Vladimir turned out to be Kresnik, Andrik finally understood.

It was sad. It was unfair. But Andrik was already satisfied that their father tried his best for them, and was even thankful that he and Ignac were born. In return, the elder prince vowed to be the dutiful son and become a tool for Kresnik's soul to reach that other world.

"I still don't understand," Ignac complained and Andrik laughed.

"You will in the future, brother,"Andrik promised the other with a pat on the shoulder. "I just want you to know that it's because I am the closest being to father that I was entrusted this quest. Besides, staying here in Kres holed up in the castle will be very boring. I am ȧssigning you to take over Kres in my stead. "

The Immortal War had ended in their father's time, and would skip Andrik's rule if he stayed. If the world was peaceful, there would be nothing interesting for a wanderlust such as the prince to stay there. It was also one of the reasons why he agreed immediately.

Ignac still looked torn, but he acquiesced. "Fine."

Silence hung between them for a while before they spoke again. "When are you leaving and with who?"

"I'll be leaving three days from now,"Andrik answered, and he explained that one member of royalty from each kingdom in Ged would be accompanying him to the quest.

"Even Ritz?"

The expression on Ignac's face was comical upon hearing the small Kingdom of Raiden.

"Why? What's the point?" he asked.

After all, it was not a secret that the blood of Raiden had diminished, and that the current royalty now relied on the divine inheritance handed down from marriages with royalties of other kingdoms. None of them could utilize lightning anymore. The current King of Ritz was even a wind caster.

"Of course, there's a point," Andrik answered enigmatically. "It's actually the most important point."

To him, bringing someone from Ritz was even a priority. Why? Because, only by doing so he could be ȧssure that there would be a possibility of finding Alencica in case she appeared in the other world and Kresnik was also there. He was not sure, of course, but he felt that there's a possibility.

Five centuries after Prince Andrik and his group left Ged, his instinct was proven correct.