"Welcome my child! I am really glad to see you come back unscathed from your hunt." The Emperor said.

"I feel most fortunate for that your highness, the sun of Agni Empire." Blaze knelt down before the Emperor's court.

"Now now! Lets not waste our time with these formalities, show me the prey you have brought." Said the Emperor with a smile while sitting on the golden throne, on his left side Ansh sat on a silver throne and on his right Nila was sitting on the bronze throne.

Blazed told Sung to get the corpses inside the Royal court, some foot-soldiers brought the two Ashboars in front of everyone.

 "OHhh! Not one but two Ashboars! You have done a splendid job Prince Blaze; I must admit that."

"Ah well, I didn't actually hunt those, a Stone-claw killed those, but..."

"Pffft!" Ansh chuckled, "So you didn't hunt anything, you just brought the corpses of two animals which some other beast killed? Is that what?"

 "Yeah! More or less, but I never said I didn't hunt anything." And as if it was just on cue, five guards dragged the huge corpse of the Stone-claw into the court, and everyone was baffled.

"You killed THAT?! By yourself?" The Emperor asked, "Correct me if I'm wrong but, you're affinity hasn't blossomed yet, right?"

"Unfortunately, no."

 "Then you killed a Stone-claw without casting fire; even if the guards did help you, that is impressive. I must say, you really have exceeded my expectations." The Emperor sounded both astonished and overjoyed by his descendant's achievement. "Prince Blaze, you undoubtedly have the Agnihotri blood in your veins; now tell me, what is it that you want as reward?"

 "I truly am glad to have made you proud, but I don't think I alone deserve this reward. I owe my life to my friend, Sung; if he hadn't saved my life yesterday, I wouldn't even be able be where I am right now. In fact all the other guards also are alive only because of his bravery."

The whole court was speechless, the young guard's bravery and the young prince's humble behavior both surprised them. Blaze continued, "But not all of us were fortunate enough", he glanced at the bloody sack and said,

"In that sack, there are the remains of guardsman Swen, he lost his life to the beast. So I request your highness to reward Sung With for his bravery and grant Swen a cremation. That would be enough for my reward."

 All the noblemen present started talking to each other, some of them wanted to yell at the prince for such a statement. All the different murmurs in the court room could be summarized in one sentence, "How dare this bastard child make such a preposterous request, to the Emperor no less."

Ansh was about to revolt against Blaze but he was interrupted By the Emperor, "You do realize what you're asking for, correct?"

"Yes."

"You are sure this is what you wish for?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"Fine then. I hereby grant guardsman Swen the honor of a holy cremation and guardsman Sung would be granted a generous reward for his loyalty towards the royal family."

 "But fathe…." Ansh tried to stop what was happening but again was stopped, this time by the sound of Emperor's stave hitting the floor.

"The court is dismissed for today; I need prepare for the tomorrow's royal banquet. Everyone's participation will be highly appreciated, as tomorrow's banquet is very important for Prince Blaze as well as the royal family." He once again gently struck the floor with his stave, and upon its sound everyone started leaving their seats and departed from the court room.

 Before returning Blaze called Chief and whispered something in ear; to which chief nodded and went towards the royal barracks.

 At the East house of the Castle Nila and some maids welcomed Blaze warmly; He took a bath, had lunch with his mother and told everything that happened the previous night. Nila was truly happy to have her son return safely from such a disaster. At dusk, Nila combed Blaze's hair gently while humming a pleasant tune; such moments are the slivers of peace in his otherwise disgraced life.

 After an hour or so, just when the darkness of evening was finally setting in, Ajay came to the house. Blaze was still in Nila's room playing checkers; chief Ajay knocked and entered the room.

 "He is here, my lord." Chief told Blaze.

"Good, wait in the meeting room with him, I'm coming." The chief left the room.

"Who was he talking about? Who's here?" Nila asked in a concerned tone.

 "It's the new head strategist."

"Why?"

 "Something is wrong. I don't know why, but I've got this feeling that things are not as simple as they seem. I need to find out what exactly is happening."

Nila looked at Blaze's face and realized that he was determined for this, so she gave him an advice, 

"Fine, do what you need to do. But remember, sometimes people are also not as they seem to you. Be careful, don't put your trust on someone that shouldn't be trusted."

 "I'll keep that in mind." Upon saying this he hurriedly headed towards the meeting room.

*Thud* Blaze entered the room, the chief and Calix Flores, the new head strategist who was appointed 8 months prior Blaze's Debut were present there; both of them stood up and paid their respect to the prince. Blaze told them to have a seat.

 "We don't have much time to spare, so I'd get straight to the point; I need a favor from you Head strategist." Blaze said with a serious expression on his face.

"Call me Calix, my lord. And just give me orders, owing me a favor would only dirty your grace."

 "Fine. I've heard you used to be hunter back in the day; is it true."

"Ah! So the rumors were true indeed, the East house's prince really does check about commoners working in the castle. *scoffs* And to answer your question, yes, I was a hunter once. And even though I haven't hunted any animal recently, I like think my senses are just as sharp as they used to be."

 "Great! I need you do a recon of the forest I went to yesterday." Blaze said excitedly.

"Recon you say? And what exactly would I be looking for?" Calix asked back.

 "A Stone-claw!"

Chief was surprised and so was Calix, he mumbled to himself, "Interesting", and then asked Blaze again, "Why me, specifically?"

 "Only a skilled veteran hunter can do this job alone and return safely in time. And to be clear, I need you to be extra covert while doing this; this is gonna be off the records, no one should know about this before I tell them, can you do it?"

"Well it would be really nice to visit the forest after so long, wouldn't it?"

 Blaze was utterly relieved that Calix agreed, "Thank you very much!"

"Thank me after the job is done. I'm leaving for the jungle right now, I'll come back as soon as I have any news." 

Calix left the house and set out for the forest; and there was no news from him until the evening, right before the banquet.

Blaze wore a lavish red royal attire; he looked like a true prince. He had been waiting all day for Calix to return, and just when he was about to leave for the banquet, Calix came back running. It was evident that he had some crucial information.

 "Calix! Where were you?! You said you'd be back by dawn."

Calix was panting from all the running, "I was--- I was investigating the whole forest."

 "Did you find something?"

"Your suspicions were right; there is another Stone-claw in the forest, on the Eastern parts."

Blaze's face dimmed all of a sudden as he had a realization, "So it really was planned."

"But then why did the hunters lie? If there were two, they would've included that in the report."

 "Someone paid them to."

"Paid Imperial hunters to alter such important report? That's got to be worth a few fortunes! And even if someone was wealthy enough, its not like just anyone can order imperial hunters!!"

 Calix seemed astounded as to who could be able to do something like that, but Blaze, he already had an idea as to who could or did plan all this.

"The crown prince." Blaze mumbled to himself.

"What?"

 "There's one person in this Empire who has both the motive and the means to arrange all this; crown prince, Ansh Agnihotri."