The King Invites Me to His Palace

"A... a... AH-CHOO!"

Oh jeez, is it me or is it getting really cold?

I'm currently huddled up in my blanket and near the lantern. Jeez, the fire on this thing is too small. Is there a fireplace up in this place?

"AH-CHOO!"

"Hehe, it's funny seeing you have a cold."

I looked over at the other side of the table, and Eve was sitting there reading a book.

"Shut up Eve, maybe you should take my cold, how about that?"

Man, I've can't believe I have a cold. How the hell did I even get a cold? It can't be because I walked through town while it was raining. Maybe it was. It was pouring yesterday. I just returned from that dungeon raid and it was just raining.

"KACHOO!"

Doesn't Elixir Thrive help with this too, or does it only work for poison?

"K-KA-CHOO!!! Sniff~"

"Here you go, Noctem."

Aurora handed me her handkerchief. Ahh, Aurora, you are such an amiable lady. I wish we can get married and have tons of beautiful kids. I'm not going to invite Eve though, but if you tell me to, I will. Of course, I'm not gonna say that out loud cause that's a bit creepy. Ok, I'm getting off track, I'm too sick to talk to anyone.

I blew my nose into her handkerchief. Man, how am I going to do a job today? Well, I don't think I'll need to do anything for a while since I already have three platinum coins.

I must've had a smile on my face because Luna was looking at me suspiciously.

"What are you smiling about?"

"N-nothing. K-KACHOO!"

It's cold...

"Kage, can you get me my coat?"

Kage turned around and grabbed my coat from the closet and placed it around me. Suddenly, a blast of warm heat filled my body. It was the perfect temperature and I suddenly feel like sleeping.

"Ahh, that's better. I think I'll just stay here until I get better."

"Alright. Let's go."

Luna, Eve, Aurora, and Kage walked out of the room. After the dungeon raid, I think they must've gotten stronger because the aura they were giving out was a bit heavy.

"Have fun people."

Kage nodded and closed the door behind him.

"Ahh, now I can relax."

I walked over to the curtains and closed them. Then I flopped onto the bed and sighed.

Let's see, I think I leveled up a lot during the dungeon. I should check my stats.

---

[Info]

Name: Noctem

Level: 65

Grade: C-rank Demon

Health: 11000

Mana: 8000

[Stats]

Strength: 104

Resistance: 96

Agility: 108

Perception: 98

Aura: 110

(Available stat points: 60)

[Skills]

Fire Magic(Lv4)

Light Magic(Lv6)

Dark Magic(Lv1)

Wind Magic(LvMax)-Distortion-

Water Magic(Lv1)

Jab(Lv8)

Leap(Lv3)

Lacerate(LvMax)

[Souls (45/110)]

[Soul Arsenal]

Ouroboros

[Buffs]

Physical Attacks [+25%]

Magic Resistance [+90%]

Blade Resistance [+90%]

Blunt Attack Resistance [+90%]

Thermal Fluctuation Resistance [+50%]

[Effects]

Blessed by the Light

Cursed by the Darkness

Beast Killer

Ant Exterminator

Remedial Obstinacy

Impenetrable Skin

Undead Executioner

Spectral Spirit

Murderous Daunting

Transfiguration

Elixir Thrive

[Storage]

Koshiro

---

So a soul in a soul arsenal doesn't count towards my soul counter huh? Well, it should but... oh well. It also seems that I have sixty attribute points to distribute. For now, I'll leave the aura stat alone since I have plenty of space to absorb at most 7 purple souls. I'll distribute them to my other stats equally.

---

[Stats]

Strength: 119

Resistance: 111

Agility: 123

Perception: 113

Aura: 110

(Available stat points: 0)

---

Suddenly, my senses went haywire. I started sensing everyone's spirit in town, there were exactly 214 people in this town. I could sense the girls' and Kage's aura from here. Looks like hitting over 100 points on Perception enhances my awareness by a ton. That will be a bit useful, it didn't really do anything when it was under 100 points but looks like it'll be helpful now. Though I wish I can lower it a bit, my senses are a bit sensitive now that it has gone over a hundred.

After suppressing my perception, I got up and walked towards the door. I walked down the hallway and down the stairs towards the first floor. I'm thirsty, I need something to drink. Some tea would be nice.

Drinking some tea, the inn was as busy as usual. Looks like most people did well on their dungeon raids, though I heard that most of them failed. But at least they came back alive. I heard that they are going to make a device that can measure the level of each dungeon by guild ranks. Yep, they are going to make them quests now, but it'll require a party of ten. Though most of them will probably be B-rank or over. I should quickly rank up once I get better. The more I rank up, the more challenging and well-paying quests I'll get. The monsters that I'll kill will get me some levels going up. And also, money.

Well, I should go back up and rest. I'll get back on my feet by the next day.

***

I was in the middle of taking a nap until I was woken up by a disrespectful Luna!

"Noctem!"

"Huh?"

I fell off the bed and got up on my feet.

"Ahh, what is it? Can you also knock when you call for me?"

"Sorry, but you need to come to the guild."

I threw my coat on and followed Luna downstairs. When we got to the first floor, Aurora was there waiting for us at the door. Ahh, why is it whenever I see Aurora, I get enchanted by her? Well, I'm not the only one. I looked around and everyone else was looking at her.

"N-Noctem, we need to get to the guild immediately."

She had a worried expression, what's happening at the guild right now? Is it bad?

I followed Luna and Aurora to the guild. When we got there, there was a knight on a horse. Here I thought everyone would be having a pegasus but this guy just has a standard horse. He was shouting something, but I couldn't hear. As we got closer, I heard him say this.

"Is there a man by the name of Noctem?!"

Everyone was looking at each other, confused. I don't know if their faces were "What does he want with me" faces or "Who the hell is Noctem?" kind of face. What does this guy want with me?

I noticed that the armor he was wearing was the symbol of the imperial army. What does the imperial army want with me?

"He is right here!"

Luna shouted, and the knight turned. He laid his eyes on me and tilted his head. Then he nodded.

"Mr. Noctem, you are invited to the king's palace. The king wants to speak with you."

The jaws of everyone in the guild dropped. So did Kage, who had just slid next to me. Everyone later stared at me. I'm confused. The king wants to see me? Am I in trouble? Why am I being invited?

"Uhh, can I ask why?"

The knight shook his head and stayed silent. He was wearing a helmet, but under that helmet, he knows why I'm being invited, but he's just not saying anything.

"Alright, so when do I go?"

"Right now."

"Oh... so I just follow you?"

The knight nodded. So I guess I'm going to the palace.

"Before we go, can I bring my friends?"

"The king specifically requested you, but they can accompany you. Just not into the palace."

"Alright, thank you."

I turned around and faced my friends.

"You guys wanna come? We can see how the capital looks like."

Everyone looked at each other and they shrugged. After that we called our pegasus and followed the knight out of the town. We waved goodbye to everyone in the guild and headed off.

About an hour later, we were on open road. I've never seen such flat plains before and let me tell you that it was a sight to behold. I've never seen such greenness. Scampering on the plains were animals that looked similar to cows, pigs, and rabbits. The cows had two heads, the rabbits were huge(Possibly Very Fluffy), and the pigs reminded me of those Bronze-tusk boars, except they didn't have bronze-tusk.

The girls behind me were talking about what they were going to do in the capital. Aurora was talking about spells, Luna was talking about daggers, and Eve kept talking about how good the drinks are. What is wrong with these girls?! I'd expect shopping and some stuff. Kage was just polishing his sword. I wonder, how does he not get cold wearing just a sleeveless vest? He probably does some weird training that makes him resistant to the cold.

A few hours later, we arrived at Yandal, the royal capital. From outside the gates, I could see the castle. It was large. The castle wasn't built wide like most castles are, it was built like a skyscraper. Whoever made this castle must be a genius, and I bet those that are scared of heights would never want to live in this. As we trotted through the gates, they asked for some verification ID thing. I supposed they asked for the guild card, so I handed them that. Successfully passing through the gates, we entered the capital.

Walking along the streets were a bunch of shops and stands. When they spotted the knight, they waved at him and he waved back. Friendly people, I must say. As we got deeper into the city, there were stores displaying fancy clothes, armor, weapons, etc. I wasn't interested in those, but I was interested in the restaurants. I could spell the scent of what smelt like barbeque. Hehe, the smell was so powerful that I started drooling.

"We're here."

We stopped in front of these large gates with a dozen guards standing there. As soon as they saw me, they opened the gates. We got off our rides because this was as far as they could go. I told my friends that they could go and told Midnight to sit and wait. Midnight neighed and laid down. Then I think I heard what sounded like horse snoring.

I was now walking through this garden. Wow, this king must be fancy, to have a garden at the front of your house. Eventually we got to the doors. Now in anime, I've seen how kings have cool artifacts near the entrance, red carpets, and white quartz everywhere. But seeing it in person made me speechless. There were statues of monsters that I've never seen before, there were paintings of kings, and the whole interior was just glimmering. Not a speck of dust.

We stopped in front of another door before we entered. The knight told that behind this door was where the throne room was.

So behind this is where the king is. I've never met a king before, I should brace myself. I took some deep breaths, then I entered.