The King’s Audience (Part 1)

It had been exactly five days since we left the city of Glorya, and finally, the Capital City of the Sephyr Kingdom was visible in the distance as we stood on top of a hill.

A large city surrounded by white marbled walls, and right at the center, in between a river that crossed the city, was the giant castle where we would have our audience with the king.

When we reached the city gates, we got stopped by the guards for their standard procedure. Usually, I didn't even talk in these exchanges and just let the commander or the sub-commander handle it. But now, it was a bit different.

The guard standing at the gates had a list of people that were supposed to be on a special mission by the king. After calling out the names of the different knights that were with us, the guard said my name, Vespera and Yoru's.

"Huh? Did he say 'Yoru'?" I asked pretty confused since Yoru was hanging out inside my shadow at that moment.

"It says here there is supposed to be a wolf with you guys… Got this letter from Glorya telling me…" said the guard as he showed us the list with the names.

("Ah, that must have been Lady Triana who sent the letter letting them know about Yoru… She did that quickly!") I thought, before letting Yoru out of my shadow.

The guard was surprised at first, but he quickly calmed down after seeing how docile Yoru was, and allowed us passage into the city. "We should give our thanks to Lady Triana when we see her again…"

Now that me and my familiars were able to freely roam around the city, all I wanted to do was walk around sightseeing, but sadly, we had no time for that.

Since it was still early in the day, our meeting with the king would take place only a few hours after our arrival.

At first, I was feeling a bit nervous, but then I started thinking about it more: ("If we just do this whole meeting quickly, I could leave fast and tour around the city for a few days before we go back home…") I thought.

We walked for a while on our way to the castle. The streets were much wider than any of the other cities, and just as clean as the ones in Glorya. I could tell that way more people lived here than in any of the other cities too, since the narrower streets seemed to be filled with people walking in all directions.

As we got closer to the castle we passed by the knights barracks, where most of the group was sent in to give their reports on their mission. The only two that stayed with me were Commander Thomas and Sub-commander Harvey, since they had to report directly to the king.

"Alright, don't be too nervous…" muttered Jackson as we continued our way to the castle.

"I'm not that nervous…" I responded honestly. I was definitely going to feel the nerves once I was there, but as long as we were walking, I had nothing to really worry about.

"I was talking to myself…" said Jackson with a defeated tone.

("Hmmm, now that I think about it… I don't actually have a clue how to treat royalty… Am I supposed to kneel? Do they do that in this world?") Jackson's panic was starting to contaminate me, but I tried my best to keep it cool.

When we finally reached the castle, the commander showed the guards the document with the invitation, and we were allowed in.

First, they sent us into a room with a few couches and a coffee table where a bunch of maids were waiting for us, offering us tea and refreshments.

We were told it would only take a moment for the king and queen to get ready, along with the other nobles that would be attending. ("Huh? So there's more people coming!?") I began panicking again, public speaking wasn't exactly my forte.

However, we ended up waiting in that room for so long that my nerves were defeated by my boredom.

"The King and Queen will see you now…" said the maid at the door as she bowed her head.

Jackson, Harvey, Thomas, Vespera, Yoru, and I, stood up from our seats and followed the maid to the throne room.

Inside, a long red carpet extended from the entrance of the room, all the way to the steps that led to the throne. On the sidelines, there were at least 25 different people, all of them wearing dresses and suits of high quality material. ("Those must be the nobles the maid talked about…") I thought as I glanced at the fancy audience.

At the end of the room, sitting in the throne at the center, was King Leon Sephyr. A tall man with a rugged but proud face, and short brown hair that seemed just a bit darker than my own, with a few strands of white hair visible here and there. His robes had a combination of gold, white, and red, and his crown was white with several precious gemstones encrusted in it.

To his right, sitting on the second throne, was Queen Diana Sephyr. The woman who had supposedly cured her blindness with my "Holy Panacea". She had the silver colored hair that was so emblematic of the Sephyr family, and her eyes were a very light and clear blue. She wore a white and blue dress, and her crown was silver with blue and green gems.

Honestly, I was so entranced by the whole scene, that my nerves quickly dissipated from my body. In fact, I was starting to feel somewhat angry. During our travels to the capital, I had planned on giving the king an earful for abandoning our town for so long. However, after everything we went through during our trip, I was pretty much getting over it. The commander, the sub-commander, and even the Lord of Glorya who is the queen's brother ended up apologizing for the whole ordeal.

I thought I had made my peace with it, but I didn't. Now that I had all the nobles and royalty in front of me, and seeing their lifestyle, I couldn't help myself to not feel angry again. ("These guys have been literally showering themselves in luxury, and they couldn't even send a goddamn scout to End Town 2 years ago!?")

We ended our walk on the red carpet, ending just a few meters away from the steps to the throne. Standing between our group and the king were two royal guards that seemed pretty mighty.

The king and queen stood up, making Thomas, Harvey, and Jackson kneel, while my familiars and I kept standing. Although it probably didn't matter to Yoru.

Jackson glanced at me from below and started signaling me to get down, but I refused to even acknowledge him. I was feeling angry, and the least thing I wanted to do was be complacent with the people that had forsaken us.

I could hear the nobles in the sidelines whispering stuff like: "How insolent!"

"Who does this kid think he is?"

"As expected from a filthy commoner…"

The king raised his hand, telling everyone to quiet down, which they instantly did.

The rest of my companions stood up, and commander Thomas introduced us to the king and queen.

"Your highness, I, Thomas Forey, Commander of the 4th Knight's Order, stand before you today in front of this audience to give my report on our excursion to the place called End Town."

Commander Thomas began telling the entire story. From the moment they arrived to the moment we got back to the capital. Without skipping a single detail.

He told them about the shadow dogs protecting the city, about the prices of the potions, about the troll that got in our way, about how I healed the injured knights, about my cooking recipes, the way I lowered the prices of potions in the cities we passed by, how my familiars and I saved Lady Triana and captured the entire gang of bandits hiding in Glorya.

I actually felt quite moved hearing the commander speak of me like that. We only really started getting along when we were in Glorya, and our meeting began with such a rocky start, I wasn't sure I would ever be able to get along with him. I'm glad I was wrong though.

"I see… we truly had a treasure in our kingdom that we weren't aware of…" said the king after Thomas had finished his report. Now it was Harvey's turn.

"Your highness, I, Harvey Tennet, Sub-commander of the 4th Knight's Order, stand before you today in front of this audience to give my report on our excursion to the place called End Town."

Harvey's report was pretty similar, except for the fact that he had hung out with me longer than the others.

"After spending all these days with Ichiro, I had come to the conclusion that he is not a threat to our kingdom, in fact, I think everyone would find some benefit just by having him around."

The nobles kept muttering to each other:

"You expect me to believe that kid is the master alchemist?"

"The knights must have gone crazy…"

"What a waste of time, here I thought we would have a sage visiting us…"

The king raised his hand once again, signaling the nobles to stop talking, which again, they promptly did.