I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 343: Chosen One vs. Chosen One

Then his hand moved, gripping Eric’s shoulder with firm pressure.

”Raise your head, Eric,” Alaric said quietly. ”You’re a king. You don’t bow to anyone.”

”I’m your friend before I’m a king,” Eric replied, straightening to meet Alaric’s gaze. ”And friends apologize when they’re wrong.”

The duke’s expression softened fractionally. ”You were protecting what you thought needed protection. I can’t fault you for that, even if I disagreed with the method.”

”Then we’re...”

”We’re friends,” Alaric confirmed. ”We always have been. Though next time you want to have my son ’retrieved,’ perhaps send a formal invitation instead of your attack dog.”

Eric’s laugh carried relief mixed with genuine humor. ”Noted. Though I suspect Jack would have ignored a formal invitation just as thoroughly.”

”Probably,” Alaric agreed with a slight smile. ”He’s got his father’s stubbornness.”

The tension between them dissolved like morning fog. Eric’s posture relaxed, and even Lyra allowed herself to breathe normally again.

”Actually,” Eric said gravely. ”I have a job I’d like to discuss with you. Or rather, with Jack.”

Alaric’s eyebrow rose. ”What kind of job?”

”Aurelius is busy and I can I send him to do the job.” Eric began, then paused as movement caught his attention.

Across the gardens, near the manor’s entrance, red lightning crackled violently.

”Perhaps we should continue this conversation later,” Alaric suggested, his eyes tracking toward where Jack stood facing Aurelius. ”I suspect my son is about to make another memorable impression.”

-------

Aurelius moved through the gardens with the confidence of someone who knew exactly how dangerous he was and found it mildly boring. His golden hair caught the lantern light, and his amber eyes tracked Jack’s position with predatory focus.

The young Kaiser stood near the manor’s entrance, his expression calm despite having just caused absolute chaos with his arrival. Red lightning still crackled faintly around his fingers, and Corvin perched on his shoulder with purple eyes gleaming.

”Lord Kaiser,” Aurelius called out, his honey-smooth voice carrying easily across the gardens. ”A word, if you would.”

Jack turned, his red eyes meeting Aurelius’s amber ones without hesitation. ”Chosen One. How unexpected to see you here.”

The title carried just enough emphasis to make it clear Jack wasn’t impressed by the designation. Several nearby nobles shifted uncomfortably, sensing the tension building between the two figures.

”I noticed,” Aurelius said, his tone pleasant but carrying edge beneath the sweetness, ”that you failed to bow when His Majesty arrived. An oversight, I’m sure. Perhaps you were simply overwhelmed by the excitement of your own celebration.”

Jack’s smile was sharp enough to draw blood. ”No oversight. I simply don’t bow.”

”Everyone bows to the king,” Aurelius replied, his voice hardening fractionally. ”It’s tradition. Protocol. A show of respect for the authority he represents.”

”Bowing is for people beneath the crown,” Jack said clearly, his voice carrying to nobles who were definitely listening now. ”And I am not one of those people.”

The statement hung in the air like a thrown gauntlet. Nobles exchanged shocked glances. Servants froze mid-motion. Even the musicians stopped playing, sensing that something significant was unfolding.

Aurelius’s expression remained pleasant, but light began radiating from his body with increasing intensity. Golden radiance poured from his skin, creating an aura that pushed against the evening darkness like dawn breaking early.

”Careful, young Kaiser,” Aurelius’s voice carried divine authority now, backed by decades of experience and a god’s blessing. ”You’re speaking to both a Chosen One and a representative of your sovereign. Show proper respect.”

The light intensified, pressing against Jack like atmospheric pressure before a storm. The temperature rose fractionally, and several nobles stepped back from the building heat.

Jack didn’t move. He didn’t show even a hint of discomfort.

Instead, red lightning exploded from his body.

Crimson electricity crackled across his skin in violent patterns, creating a corona of power that met Aurelius’s golden light with equal force. The two energies clashed in the space between them, neither giving ground, creating a sphere of contested dominance that made the air itself vibrate.

Aurelius stumbled backward, his eyes widening with genuine shock. His light flickered fractionally as red lightning arced through it, disrupting the smooth radiance with chaotic electrical fury.

”What...” Aurelius started.

”I’m not the sixteen-year-old boy you met at the capital,” Jack interrupted, his voice carrying an edge that hadn’t been there during their first encounter. ”I’m not some frightened child who’ll bow and scrape because someone with a title tells me to.”

The red lightning intensified, crackling around Jack’s body with increasing violence. His eyes blazed with power that was visible even to those without magical sensitivity, and Corvin spread his wings slightly.

”I killed a dragon,” Jack continued, his tone conversational despite the power radiating from every pore. ”Destroyed an army. Defended my home against forces that should have overwhelmed me. And I did it without bowing to anyone.”

Aurelius regained his composure with visible effort, the golden light stabilizing around him. But his assessment of Jack had shifted. This wasn’t the uncertain boy from months ago.

”His Majesty wishes to speak with you,” Aurelius said, his honey-smooth voice carrying steel beneath the sweetness. ”It would be wise not to keep him waiting.”

”We can talk later,” Jack replied, the red lightning beginning to fade as he consciously pulled it back under control. ”I have to deal with a pest first.”

He turned away from Aurelius with casual dismissal, heading toward where Lady Starfell waited near the manor’s entrance.

Aurelius watched him go, his amber eyes tracking every movement with the focus of someone cataloging threats. His right hand clenched once, then deliberately relaxed.

’He’s gotten stronger,’ Aurelius thought, his analytical mind processing the confrontation. ’Significantly stronger. The power output alone has increased by orders of magnitude. And that confidence...’

The Chosen One had faced hundreds of opponents over decades of service to the crown. He knew how to read people, how to distinguish the real deal from bluster and bravado.

Jack Kaiser wasn’t bluffing.

”Interesting,” Aurelius murmured to himself, watching the young duke’s son disappear into the crowd. ”Very interesting indeed.”

Lyra materialized at his side, her pale eyes tracking Jack’s departure with professional assessment. ”He’s changed.”

”He’s transcended,” Aurelius corrected. ”Whatever happened to him between our first meeting and tonight, it altered his relationship with power.”

”Should we be concerned?” Lyra’s asked sheepishly.

”Concerned?” Aurelius’s laugh carried no humor. ”We should be terrified. That boy just challenged my authority in front of witnesses and backed it up with enough power to make me step back. When was the last time anyone made me retreat?”

Lyra didn’t answer, because they both knew the truth. Aurelius hadn’t stepped back from a confrontation in over a decade. Not since he’d achieved his current level of mastery over light magic.

”Come,” Aurelius said urgently. ”We need to inform His Majesty that this situation is more complicated than we anticipated.”

They moved toward where King Eric stood with Duke Alaric, both men watching the aftermath of the confrontation.

”Your son,” Aurelius said to Alaric without preamble, ”has become problematic.”

”My son,” Alaric replied with a slight smile, ”has become powerful. There’s a difference.”

King Eric’s gaze tracked across the gardens to where Jack had disappeared by the manor with Lady Starfell. His expression was unreadable.

”We’ll need to discuss this,” Eric said quietly. ”All of us. But later. Let the boy enjoy his celebration first.”

”And if he refuses to attend a formal audience?” Aurelius asked.

”Then we’ll have a more interesting conversation,” Eric replied. ”One way or another, Jack Kaiser and I will reach an understanding. Whether that understanding involves cooperation or a deal needs to be made.”

The threat hung unspoken in the evening air, recognized by all three men for whaynis was. The king had patience, but he wouldn’t tolerate indefinite defiance from a duke’s son, no matter how powerful that son had become.

But as they watched Jack’s red lightning crackle one final time before disappearing out of sight, all three wondered privately whether threats would be sufficient to compel someone who’d just faced down a Chosen One without flinching.