A Royal Feeling

"The king would like to meet you in person it seems."

Tommy looked incredulously at Edwin, "The king what?"

"The king would like to meet the man that took a thorn out of his side."

Tommy frowned, "So you are telling me the king wants to meet some random guy that usurped a town from one of his nobles?"

Edwin smiled at him, "The king is quite the eccentric man, and as you will find. You did him quite the favor actually. I imagine that you will need time to put things in order. You can refuse, of course, but in my admittedly biased opinion, this could be a good thing for you."

He briefly considered it in his mind. He could comfortably leave the town in the hands of the guard knowing no one would be able to breach it, but that still left the matter of meeting a completely unknown political entity. On the other hand, having an ally in this world would certainly help his situation, and if he managed to get royal backing, his holdings would feel a lot more secure.

"Tell you what, give me the night to get my chickens in order."

"What's a chicken?"

~~~

His first order of business was to talk to Fulker. He'd grown to trust the man, and Fulker put quite a lot of faith in him for the vengeance he granted the town. With the magical knowledge imprint from Aleina, he knew everything he needed to about commanding a force the size of the town guard corp.

He made his way into the armory's office, which Fulker had taken up as his office; a place he rarely left out of dedication to finding the bandits that took the town's children in the hope of trying to recover some of them. There was a map with leads and investigative materials on the wall and he was pouring over it again. After the death of the Barron, the bandits had seemingly vanished.

Tommy gently knocked on the door as he entered, Fulker looking over and snapping to attention quickly.

"I've told you you don't need to worry about fancy stuff like that in private. if it weren't for the knowledge from Aleina saying otherwise, I wouldn't have you all saluting me at all."

Fulker went at ease and sat back down, gesturing for the chair on the other side of his desk.

"I take it there have been some developments with the royal guard?"

Tommy nodded and explained his plan to take the girls with him to go and meet with the king. Fulker began to protest before Tommy held up his hand.

"I'm going through with it. If worst comes to worst I am fairly confident we can manage to get out of the situation. The question is, will you be ok to make sure the town is alright for a week or so?"

"I don't like it... but you're in charge. I will carry out my duties to the town and its people, you have my word."

Tommy stood up and placed a hand on Fulker's shoulder, "I know how hard you've been working to find them... but the recon elements can do their job. You won't be saving them any faster by depriving yourself of sleep."

Fulker let out a long ragged sigh and nodded. Tommy patted his shoulder and left with a nod.

The next thing to do would be to see about a change of pace. the original equipment he had been granted, and subsequently brought about for himself and the girls had been highly conservative. Of course, his definition of conservative meant weapons that could tear asunder most if not all elite troops in this world, but from where he came they were outdated or sub-par.

He had a few items in mind that would do them more than well.

[Tsk, you really are a greedy one aren't you? Raising arms for an entire town militia and imparting upon them training befitting is quite tiresome work! It's quite a lot of red tape to be crossed you know.] he heard the familiar velvety smooth voice in his head of the goddess.

[You know, actually, I don't know. You have yet to really give me true limits on what I can ask of you and what I cannot.] she remained quiet at this and he could clearly sense the goddess was pouting.

[Hmph. What makes you think that I would go and do you more favors with an attitude like that?]

[Because you know you love me.] He replied cheekily.

[You are an ungrateful brat you know.]

[Oh, I do know indeed.]

The haggling completed he set out his plans for their new equipment. What he primarily had in mind, were the CMMG MX rifles. They were a rifle concept made up by the arms company for the military simulator Arma 3. The 6.5x39mm careless firing rifles loosely based on both the ACR and XCL-R rifles were strong, modular rifles designed for the game's 2035 setting. They had always been a favorite of his due to the similarities between them and the real programs to replace the M4 rifles with a higher caliber weapon. They would be equipped with Leupold HAMR optics, compensators, and with foregrips paired with bipods. The rifles were capable of operating with both 30 round and 100 round magazines.

Replacing the old Ultimax autorifle would be the MXSW. A heavy barreled variant of the MX rifle with a heavier duty stock. He made sure Silvia's was equipped with 100 round magazines loaded wit tracers.

The girls and he all got the immediate rush of knowledge they'd come to expect from knowledge granted by the goddess, they soon gathered their senses again and went to the weapons.

.The three of them picked up the badass weapons from the future, loading up magazines and pulling back the charging handle. The 625 RPM polymer furnished assault rifles (and autorfile) just felt so right in their hands. The rifle itself with its 2600 rpm outperformed the HK416 derivative in-game by a wide margin, leading to very good performance out to 600 meters. They had plenty of their respective magazines prepped and ready to go for their endeavor.

They decided to change out their DPV for a heavier JLTV for extended distance driving. It came equipped with the XM914 RWS, though modified to equip a javelin launcher rather than stinger missiles. It had the XM914E1 30mm cannon with a 7.62 coaxial machine gun. The vehicle would do a perfect job of taking them to the king and have enough firepower to back out of any shitstorm that may entail. Of course, they got the knowledge necessary to operate it properly. Tommy knew he'd have to do something to pay back Aleina in the near future.

~~~

The royal guards were quite surprised when they saw the JLTV. They instantly went on their guard but begrudgingly eased up at the order of a weary Edwin. Tommy rolled down the window and spoke to the man.

"How long is this trip supposed to take? Our vehicle is capable of going far faster than your horses, but since we will have to keep up with you it negates that advantage."

"It takes three days on horseback. That said, I've been meaning to ask about your strange boxy contraptions... and especially what appear to be very nasty weapons."

"Depending on how things go with the king, maybe we can have a chat about it. For now, though, I don't want to play any of my cards."

Edwin reluctantly nodded and they headed out. They made good time thanks to the dry roads. The horses of this world were clearly a lot faster and held far more endurance than earth horses. Even accounting for the fact that the royal guard almost certainly had the best horses around, the mounts outperformed even the most competent of Earth racehorses.

They proceeded through the woods, odd creatures peeking their heads out to spy the odd noisy contraption and its entourage. Quite a few albino deer with metallic silver horns, flitting figures with catlike grace that seemed to warp shadows around them, and something larger that seemed to follow, almost stalk them. He tried to have Lucy look for it on the thermals of the vehicle, but they could find nothing. He might not have even noticed it if it weren't for Silvia detecting an odd presence, and the well-trained horses becoming skittish.

Tommy wasn't particularly worried about their chances with most monsters, though he had to worry about the royal guard. He had no knowledge of their power to draw off. He had to assume that they were powerful, but he couldn't be sure.

However, when they spotted a few overturned trees on the dirt road, and the horses' far more skittish behavior, he had a feeling they would soon find out what it was that had been trailing them.

As the royal guard carefully dismounted the scared animals and approached the fallen trees, large gashes and claw marks were evident. Something very large, and very powerful had felled the trees.

Lucy gasped as she looked at the weapon station's monitor. A large, cold signature was prowling at them from the woods.

"We've got unknown contact coming up from the woods. It's slowly approaching us, cold-blooded, and large."

"Give a burst of the coax and be ready to engage with the 30," he called out.

The rattle of gunfire pierced the air. The battle-hardened horses weren't used to whatever monster was approaching them. and no one in this world had ever heard gunfire like that before. The guards instinctively ducked, before realizing the fire had headed into the woodline. A roar reverberated through the woods, and the creature made a mad dash slithering through the trees with grace.

"Hit it with the 30, now," Tommy called out.

The 30mm cannon tore through the woodline splintering trees and detonating into the thing. Blood flashed and bits of gore were sent flying as the trees were torn to shreds. The creature was bathed in explosions and dust, but it charged out of the smoke. It was a tall 6 legged blizzard that roared through the woods. Half of its skull was completely missing and large chunks of flesh were torn out leaving cauterized wounds from the explosions. They were too close in for Javelin lock leading Lucy to go all-in with the cannon. It ripped and tore at the creature but it was steadily approaching.

Suddenly golden chains ripped from the ground and chained its legs in place. Stone spikes tore from the earth beneath it and skewered up through it. It howled in pain and struggled before succumbing to blood loss.

All was till as the golden chains disintegrated into motes of light. Tommy opened the door and stepped out with his rifle held at low ready.

"The fuck was that thing?" he asked.

"An apex forest drake." said one of Edwin's men who had more ornamentation in his armor. He tipped back a blue potion and chugged it down.

"And that, that was magic?"

The man nodded and gave him an odd look as if he'd asked if the sky was blue.

Edwin watched his mage's interaction with Tommy and frowned to himself before they picked up the pace. The presence of an apex drake was a very bad omen. They weren't at all natives to the area. They were generally found in the mountainous woods to the north. Their presence here was deeply worrying, but at present moment he had a mission to fulfill.

After the appearance of the drake, they decided it best to move through the night to make their way through the woods. They moved by lantern light and headlights, odd shadows flitting through the woods but paying them respect and leaving them alone. By dawn, they had made their way through the woods.

They needed to take some time to sleep but soon were back on the road. They passed by varying towns, some further in the distance than others. Tommy noted the increasing frequency of both smaller trading posts and larger settlements. The 2nd day was mostly uneventful and they managed to make camp in a meadow between towns. The next day they made it back to the road.

Soon, in the distance, Tommy could see a great town. Even far off in the distance, on the horizon, he could make out the massive walls and sprawling infrastructure. He let out a low whistle in the cab of the JLTV.

"That's the capital... Ereaford. We'd have traders very occasionally going through the village from there. Sometimes they'd stop and we'd get to hear the tales of the sprawling city. I frankly never thought I'd be able to see it." Lucy said in awe.

By afternoon they had made it to the gate, and the town was even more majestic in person. It had a sprawling 20-foot tall wall that had to be at least 6 feet thick in places. The gate was made up of a massive ornate archway staffed like a border crossing from the states, with various lines, some for cargo and others for individuals. A small side area was set up where guards were seen searching through carts, another where guards were checking identification. Frankly, the organization and efficiency was something to admire.

As they drew near many a heads turned to see the odd noisy carriage that followed the royal guard. Not many spared too much of a glance seeing the elite guard moving towards the dedicated line for military elite and nobles. The guard there gaped openly at the truck before being bonked on the back of the head by his partner. They were soon let through.

Unlike the majority of medieval towns that you would find back on Earth, the streets were well paved by some odd version of cement. the streets were clean, the architecture sharp and smart but with a hint of medieval European design. As if modern architects had been asked to make a set heavily inspired by the middle ages but with modern tastes. There were no towering skyscrapers, but the tall buildings and their tiled roofs were still an impressive sight.

They made their way through the main thoroughfare, passing through yet another gate that lead to an even more built-up section of town, with a large imposing castle in the same mismatch of modern and medieval architecture. They noticed far more guard activity, though not to the point of dystopian, more along the lines of a higher funded police force. Soon they made their way to another imposing gate, this one far more strictly staffed and defended than the other two, as it lead directly to the castle grounds.

Edwin talked to the Guards before coming to the window of the JLTV. He noticed all the guards had far more rigid posture after being talked to by Edwin.

"If you could come and park your uh.. carriage over where we direct, please. A carriage will come to fetch you. I must ask you to leave all your weapons in the vehicle. We will be doing a search to be sure you comply. Please know that this is standard fare when the kin is directly involved, and weapons are generally not even allowed this far."

Tommy nodded and did as instructed. He had assumed something like this would be the case. Each of the girls had a pin on their dressier outfits (which had been prior prepared) that was actually a storage device so high tier that a master artificer would be required to know what it was without prior knowledge. Each pin contained their M18 and two magazines, though could carry little more.

Tommy himself had something very similar, though he had requisitioned a Mk23 SOCOM from Aleina in case things went absolutely sideways. He wanted to be sure he had something stronger, especially with all the unknowns with magic involved. After the display with the drake, he was even starting to doubt the JLTV would be able to break out if shit really went south. That said, he had to be prepared anyways.

They mounted the carriage, wearing what would seem to the people here to be a very odd sort of formal wear, but what was really black tactical apparel without the extra pockets, made to be button-downs. Aleina had metaphorically shaken her head at the request, but Tommy had standards to uphold damnit.

The carriage brought them through the grounds past various smaller buildings to the imposing castle itself. They were led through the castle by Edwin, now with his helmet off, for quite a while before coming upon a great hall. At the end of the hall was a man far younger than Tommy had expected, and around him were various women in what on Earth would be normal female wear, but here would be completely scandalous. He was surprised to note that every woman present had a noticeable bulge in their pants.