The day of rest had recharged our bodies, but the peace was short-lived. As the four of us walked through the bustling streets of Boro and entered the Slayer Guild, we were met with a scene of pure desperation. A man, disheveled and breathing heavily as if he had run across the entire continent, collapsed near the central counter.
"Please... someone... help my country!" he gasped.
We hurried toward him. "Which country are you from?" I asked, helping him to a nearby bench.
"The Kingdom of Mario," he replied, his voice trembling. Mario was a small neighbor to our nation, known more for its peaceful meadows than its military might.
The receptionist quickly summoned the Guild Master. A stern man named Goya stepped out, his eyes narrowing as he recognized the messenger. "You're Moya, the Guild Master of the Mario branch, aren't you? I heard your country was in the middle of a civil war. Our policy is strict—Slayers cannot interfere in internal political affairs."
Moya grabbed Goya's sleeve, his knuckles white. "It's not a civil war! We are being manipulated and occupied from the shadows by the Black Tiger King (BTK) organization!"
The room went silent. Even the veteran Slayers nearby stopped talking. The Black Tiger King was one of the three Great Underground Syndicates, a global criminal empire involved in everything from illegal Atara trafficking to the toppling of small thrones.
"I went undercover into the royal palace," Moya continued, his voice dropping to a whisper. "The current King... he isn't our sovereign anymore. He is a high-ranking officer of the BTK. They've hollowed out our government from the inside."
Goya sighed, looking troubled. "If the BTK is involved, this is beyond a standard mission. Only High-Rank Slayers could stand a chance against a global syndicate. I'll send word to the capital, but it will take weeks to mobilize a task force."
"We don't have weeks!" Moya cried. "They are purging the dissenters as we speak!"
I looked at Luke, Rim, and Mason. I saw the same fire in their eyes that I felt in mine. "We'll go," I announced.
Goya looked at me as if I had grown a second head. "Kaelo, do you have any idea what you're saying? You're talented, but the BTK is a monster. You'll be throwing your lives away."
"People are suffering," I replied calmly. "If we wait for 'High-Rank Slayers' who might never come, there won't be a Mario Kingdom left to save. We're going."
Goya threw up his hands. "Fine. On your own heads be it. Just try to stay alive."
We set out for the border immediately. As we traveled, Moya's eyes kept drifting to the necklace hanging around Mason's neck—the circular red pendant with the silver bird. His expression shifted from curiosity to utter shock.
"That crest..." Moya whispered, pointing a shaking finger at Mason's chest. "Where did you get that?"
Mason gripped the pendant, looking confused. "I've had it since I was a baby. I was left at the gates of the Boro Orphanage with nothing but this. Why? Do you recognize it?"
Moya's eyes welled with tears. He suddenly fell to his knees in the dirt. "Recognize it? That is the Crest of Selena M.—the sacred emblem of the Royal House of Mario! You... you are the lost Princess!"
The world seemed to stop spinning for a moment. Mason stepped back, her face pale. "A princess? Me? That's impossible. I'm just a Slayer who grew up in the gutters."
"No," Moya insisted, looking up at her with reverence. "My father told me the story. Many years ago, when the first shadows of the BTK began to stretch toward our borders, the King took his infant daughter toward Valliette, seeking a place where she would be safe from the coming darkness. He never returned. We thought the royal bloodline had been extinguished forever. To find you here... it is a miracle."
The Legend of Mario: A.C. 3000 – 3202
To understand Mason's true lineage, one must look back twenty years to the Atara Calendar (A.C.) year 3200. At that time, Mario was ruled by King Selena M. Alaric, a man known not for his conquests, but for his immense kindness. Though Mario was a small and modest nation, it was often called the "Golden Meadow" because its people were the happiest on the continent.
One winter, a terrible monster migration led to a localized famine. King Alaric opened the granaries of the capital city, Moka, personally overseeing the distribution of food to the refugees. It was during one of these crowded, dusty afternoons that he saw her.
Among the refugees was a woman named Elowen. She had golden hair that seemed to catch the sunlight and eyes that sparkled with a gentle, selfless compassion as she helped the elderly and children. Alaric was captivated instantly. He invited her to the palace for a formal dinner, and soon, their conversations revealed that Elowen was an orphan herself, a commoner with a heart of gold but a pocket full of nothing.
Ignoring the protests of the high-ranking nobility who demanded he marry a princess of equal status, King Alaric followed his heart. In a grand ceremony that united the commoners and the crown, he married Elowen.
In the year 3202, the kingdom rejoiced at the birth of their first child—a son they named Selena M. Auther. The young prince was the pride and joy of the palace. Even the nobles who had once opposed the marriage couldn't help but be charmed by the happy royal family. For a few years, life in Moka was a dream of peace and prosperity.
But the wheels of fate were turning in the dark. While King Alaric and Queen Elowen focused on the happiness of their subjects, a predatory shadow was watching from across the border—the Black Tiger King was looking for a new puppet state, and the peaceful, unprotected Mario Kingdom was the perfect target.
The Present: The Road to Mario
Moya stood up, wiping his eyes. "Mason... or should I say, Princess... your We aren't just going to stop a gang; we are going to reclaim your birthright."
Mason looked at us, her hands trembling. She looked at the red pendant—the symbol of a family she never knew she had. "I don't care about a throne," she said, her voice regaining its strength. "But if my family is in there, and if they are suffering because of these people... then I'm going to tear that palace down block by block."
Luke stepped forward, cracking his knuckles, his green hair catching the wind. "A princess, huh? Well, the Blue Sky has always had a flair for the dramatic. Let's go save a kingdom."
I nodded, my mind already calculating the strength of the BTK. "The history of Selena M. is a story of kindness. It's time to show the BTK that kindness isn't the same as weakness."
We crossed the border into Mario as the sun began to set, the long shadows of the trees reaching out like the claws of a tiger. The war for the Golden Meadow had begun.