30 The King’s Audience (Part 2)

After both Commander Thomas and Sub-commander Harvey had given their reports in front of everyone. The king directed his words at me:

"Young man, I can't express how much we appreciate what you have done for our kingdom. Not only did your potion cured my wife, but you have been doing all these heroic deeds without our knowledge… I understand that my knights have gone through this process already, but would it be acceptable if we inspected your information here?" said the king.

"I refuse!" I said with a confident and loud tone of voice.

The nobles began muttering to each other again:

"To speak like that to the king!"

"How dare he refuse the inspection?"

"This just shows this is nothing but a sham…"

"To everyone in the audience, stay silent or I will see that you are thrown out!" yelled the king, his patience clearly at its limit. Then directing his gaze towards me again: "May I ask why?"

I sighed. "I can show you my name and age if you want, I refuse to show the rest of my information… It's for personal reasons…"

"I see…" said the king as he held his chin while inspecting me.

"Besides, you only care about me because you want to use me. All this talk about how much you appreciate what I do. Pfftt, please…" I said with a sarcastic tone.

"Hmm, so you are not fond of this kingdom?" he asked.

"Nope! I'm fond of End Town, but I'm not a big fan of the kingdom and the people that left them to die for years. The fact that you invited me here just shows how disconnected you are with your own people-..." I said with full confidence once again, only to get interrupted by Harvey.

"Your Highness! If you allow me…" said Harvey, bowing his head to the king, making him raise his hand as a signal of allowance.

"After speaking to Ichiro during our travels, I realized that the reports given to us by Lord Wester were completely inaccurate. I believe it was due to this miscommunication that the people at End Town have received more than awful treatment from our part…"

"Hmm, so you are saying that one of my subjects lied to me?" asked the king with a threatening aura.

"Yes, Your Highness…" responded Harvey nervously.

The king sighed. "Lord Wester, stand before me!" he commanded.

From the sidelines, behind the wall of nobles, a short man with blonde straight hair stumbled on the red carpet. His nervousness was clear, as the drops of sweat coming from his head were dripping on the floor when he kneeled in front of the king.

"Your Highness, Lord Wester, at your service…" he said pretty eloquently for someone that looked so nervous.

"Wester, is it true that you have not only neglected your territory, but you've been lying to me on your reports?" said the king with an extremely fearful aura around him.

"N-No Your Highness, of course not! I have been there myself and it's just a small, poor village. I made sure they got aid and supplies when they asked too!" said Lord Wester with a desperate tone.

"Your Highness…" Harvey interjected again. "This man next to me, Jackson, has been acting as the mayor of End Town during all this time, and he can confirm that Lord Wester has not been in contact with the villagers there for years." Harvey went on to explain all the different things that Jackson had done for the town. The first one being giving permission to the Adventurer's Guild to open a branch all the way there.

That was a decision for the Lord of the territory to make, but Jackson was not only acknowledged by the guild as the mayor, the villagers counted on him for almost any problem they had.

"Your Highness, if I may be bold for a moment, I don't think you should trust the words of commoners! These people are clearly after my territory!" Exclaimed Lord Wester with an even more desperate tone than before.

Commander Thomas, who had been quiet after his report, finally took a step forward and kneeled, asking the king for permission to approach him. The king raised his hand in courtesy, and Thomas walked up the steps to the throne.

After approaching the king, Thomas pulled out a letter from the side of his armor and gave it to him, then went back to his spot next to us.

"I see…" said the king before passing the letter to his wife.

The king closed his eyes while letting out a deep sigh. Then, the queen took a stand from her throne.

"Lord Wester!" said the queen with a firm, loud, and commanding voice. "Your actions have been investigated, and thanks to my brother, we have all the evidence we need…" she said as Lord Wester's face turned pale from fear.

"You have been deliberately giving us false reports on End Town, expecting it to get wiped out by monsters so that we would pay you reparations…" she continued, and the rest of the audience stayed dead silent.

"I suppose you weren't happy about receiving such a remote territory. However, as you can see, it's your own ignorance that led you here today…" she paused for a moment. "Lord Wester, you sullied the name of the Sephyr Kingdom, you lied to your king and queen, created contempt within the residents of End Town against us, and tried villainizing the people that helped us… You are now hereby, revoked from your status as a Lord…"

The audience stayed completely silent, even when I knew that the words coming out of her mouth were a big deal. The only audible sound in the room, other than the queen's voice, was the heavy and nervous breathing of Lord Wester, whose body collapsed, and was now kneeling on the ground looking down.

She kept going: "Your territory will be passed on to someone that can truly take care of it and devote themselves to our kingdom. As for your punishment… Seems like we still have to find out where all the funds we gave you for the development of End Town have been going all these years… Guards, take him away!" commanded the queen, making two of the guards on the sidelines approach Wester, chaining him, then escorting him outside.

As soon as Wester was escorted out of the throne room, the nobles on the sidelines began murmuring to each other again:

"If everything is true, then End Town should be highly profitable, no?"

"Indeed, I heard the shampoo and soap we've been using are all made there."

"Along with the potions, that place could very well be a gold mine…"

("Oh god… is our town about to be passed on to another random, awful noble?") I thought as I heard the whispers on the sidelines.

"Ichiro, Jackson…" called out the queen. "Would you please stay with us at the castle, there are still a few matters we would like to discuss with you. However, I believe a private talk would be more ideal."

There wasn't really an option for us to say no. Although honestly, I did want to accept her invitation. While the king had a very fearful aura around him, the queen had this much more powerful presence, almost as if everything she said was a command from an angel. Besides, I enjoyed watching her putting that noble in his place, the least I could do was have a chat with her.

We accepted, and the audience was deemed concluded. The nobles on the sidelines were the first to leave the room, leaving me, Vespera, Jackson, Harvey, and Thomas still inside with them.

When the room was finally cleared, the queen let out a tired sigh. "Too much work for one day…" she said as she sat back on her throne and sank her body.

"I'm truly sorry for all this trouble…" said the king from his throne, now with a much more soothing voice tone. "The truth is: that we wouldn't have found out about this if it wasn't for our daughter…" he continued. "Well, we probably would have found out eventually. But it was thanks to her that we were able to connect the dots."

"Umm, what do you mean?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"See, people who have a talent for magic tend to go to a magic academy when they turn 16… Normally, most of the kids that attend the academy go through some magic training beforehand, that way they don't arrive there with zero knowledge or techniques…" explained the king.

He told me that for some reason, his second daughter, who was my same age, didn't want to receive magic classes from the mages that her parents recommended.

Even going as far as to deny tutoring from the strongest sage in the kingdom, who worked as the head of mages in the military.

"However, after hearing the rumors of the kid named Ichiro that defeated the wyvern, she suddenly started calling for you to become her tutor!" said the king.

"Huh!? Why me though? Didn't you say we are the same age?" I asked, but both the king and queen shrugged and shook their heads as if they didn't know the intentions of their daughter either.

"I swear… That girl brings us so much work with her outbursts. Although, this time it worked out." said the queen.

"Huh? So… You want me to become the tutor of the princess?"

"Ah, of course, you are not obligated to say yes, but we can discuss that tomorrow." said the queen before letting out a giggle.

I sighed. ("Alright… I'll just turn her down nice and easy tomorrow…")