Babro's idea

[Katze plains]

Arthur rode on a horse with Azimuth, the Viscount rode on the same horse as him, and both the Prince and Marquis Raeven also rode together, sharing one horse.

They had no army marching behind them as the king and the other nobles took it with them back to the Kingdom, as everyone had concluded that with Arthur present, it would be unnecessary.

The four of them were riding along the edges of the great chasm that Arthur had created when he unleashed Excalibur on the Baharuth army and the man himself could not help but feel a sense of weirdness as he watched his handiwork however he was still cognizant of what he did.

'feels weird knowing I'm responsible for this'

He thought to himself, he was the type that liked great displays of power. However, he never thought how he would feel if he was the one to display such great power. He didn't feel excitement like he thought he would. He just felt weird.

The question of whether he did this because it was necessary or simply because he wanted to, did not bother him as he accepted what he did as an act of selfishness on his part.

'Regardless of how I feel about it, this is something I did, and if truly want to be a king, then I should accept my choices and move forward"

What's done is done, and he can't go back and change it, and thus, he must accept it and move on.

"quite the scar you placed upon the earth"

Zanac stated, interrupting his thoughts and bringing the man back to reality.

"Quite, such power is something only the gods were rumored to be able to accomplish"

Raeven concurred with the prince and earned a nod from the biscount sitting behind Arthur.

Their praise was accurate and they did feel a sense of admiration towards the new Baron however their caution was on high alert as well, after all one can never know if the weapon used against their enemy would be pointed back at them.

"I thank you for the praise, but I believe you're exaggerating a bit"

He said before letting out a chuckle.

"modest as well, I see that my sister chose quite the man of character. By the way, what do you plan to demand from Baharuth?"

Zanac asked Arthur, as he and the Marquis shared a knowing glance at each other, one that Azimuth took note of but chose not to address.

"What do you mean, you're the royal here, your highness"

"Come now, brother in law, you won us the war. It only makes sense that you would be the one to negotiate your demands"

Zanac answered, and Reavan nodded knowingly beside him as if what he said was common knowledge and obvious.

'Oh I get it now'

Arthur thought to himself, it seemed that the second prince has already foregone the idea of getting the throne and has elected to support him in becoming King by marrying Renner, who will be the Queen

"I suppose you are correct. However, I am a foreigner, as such, I don't know much about the kingdom's needs, so perhaps you could debrief me on them before we arrive."

Although he did wonder if the Prince supported him out of fear or resignation. Did Zanac choose to support him out of the fear that Arthur could take over the kingdom if he wanted to, and no one could stop him or did he support him because he realised that there was no way he was going to get the throne no matter how hard he tries?

"and we'll do just that, I'll do my best to be brief"

Raeven answered, although he expected Arthur to try and move the responsibility of

the negotiations to someone else, but it seems that wouldn't be the case, but at the same time, he couldn't help but view his willingness to be troubling.

...

[Castle: King's chambers]

Barbro looked at himself in the mirror as he struck various "kingly" poses while wearing royal ceremonial garbs, the king's sceptre still on hand. his hand especially held the sceptre tightly.

"hmm"

He hummed with an ear to ear smile on his face, truly the throne was meant for him, and there was no doubt about it. The way the king's ceremonial clothes fit him so perfectly was proof of this.

"All I need now is a queen"

he spoke to himself, there was no one in the room with him, he had ordered it to be as such, since he wanted to bask in his kingly self alone and appreciate the authority he now controls.

Of course that was just a lie, the reason why he was in his kingly chambers was because he had nothing to do, the fact of the matter is just as his status as King is illegitimate, he also can't do anything like pass laws or decrees just yet.

For his reign to be legitimate he needs the six great nobles, he if he had three of them he could coerce them into changing that law making it so it's possible to be King, unfortunately he only has one of the six great nobles.

However there is a loophole to this, and it's the death of the current king, by killing his father, he can get the throne by birthright as the first son, so essentially he's currently waiting for the army to return.

'it will probably be split, father will come here to deal with me while leaving the other nobles to finish up the war, and I just need to kill father before the war ends'

He thought to himself as he continued to bask in his own presence and appreciating his own visage, the image of the beautiful, blonde, and green eyed adventurer flashed in his head.

"Only a strong and powerful woman is worthy of a strong and powerful man like myself. The result of such a union can only be strong and powerful children"

He stated, as his own imagination began to freely run wild, his hand reached down to his pants, unfortunately he was interrupted.

*BAM!!*

The doors swung open and slammed onto the walls, startling the new king and forcing him to stop whatever he was about to do.

"Your majesty! The princess has escaped the castle!"

"What?!"

"And she killed a good number of knights in the castle before she fled!"

The knight fully informed, and Barbro took a minute before he could properly process what was said and responded. He shelved the idea of having this knight executed for ruining his mood, at least for now.

"where has she fled to?"

"we don't know your Majesty, but she had three accomplices when she fled"

Barbro frowned deeply before issuing an order. He never really cared about Renner to begin with, and besides, she'll be competition if he doesn't do anything about her.

"send out a hunting party, get as many men as possible, find her, and bring me her head!"

He ordered in a strangely calm voice.

"but your Majesty…"

"Did you not hear me, you expandable bag of flesh? Do as I say lest you find your head on a pike"

"Yes, your Majesty"

The knight promptly heeded the command, no point risking his own life trying to argue about the morality of killing your own sister.

Once the knight was gone, Barbro returned to doing what he was doing before.

"Hmm, are there any blonde haired and green-eyed maids in the castle?"

He curiously asked himself and prepared to find out.

…..

[Undisclosed inn]

The room was silent with a thick layer of tension in the room, the two former members of Eight fingers as well as the members of Blue Rose stare at each other in the eyes, both parties very much ready to act at a moment's notice.

"I don't get what you seem to be angry about, Lakyus"

The princess addressed the frowning leader of blue rose, her hands were folded, giving the princess a stern frown, and Renner had a more dismissive look on her face as she sat on the bed.

"you're working with criminals, not only that you broke the out and Promised them freedom, that's what I'm angry about, these people are scum"

"Hey, I resent that"

Malmvist objected to Lakyus' statement while Pershurian simply frowned.

"I did not have much choice, Babro's takeover was unexpected and I didn't get time to plan and besides you didn't have a problem with Edstrom and she has been my maid for months"

Renner countered, despite her slight frown. She felt relieved, and at least now she didn't have to worry about being attacked, although she would feel safer if Arthur was present. It's worth noting that Edstrom was not in the room with them.

"Just because I said nothing doesn't mean I didn't have a problem with it, plus Arthur was present. What would you have done if these hooligans had lied and killed you"

"Lakyus, please, I'm not a child, I was keenly aware of that, and besides, they didn't as such it is fine"

"why didn't you contact us, we would have come to help, and we wouldn't have killed so many innocent knights"

Renner suppressed the eyeroll hearing the words come out of Lakyus's mouth.

"Lakyus this is ludicrous. We have an actual problem to deal with rather than argue about my escape from the castle."

Renner informed.

"I'm sorry, I just thought you were smart enough not to do something so stupid"

Lakyus stated, and Renner's frown deepened. However, she elected to ignore her friend's words.

"For the most part, we should get out of the capital and move somewhere safer"

Renner said.

"What do we do about Barbro?"

"He hasn't made any changes to the Laws yet, nor has he done anything that would solidify his rule yet, which is odd since I believe he'd want everyone in the kingdom to know he's the king now"

She explained.

"what does that mean?"

"It means that he can't do any of those things, at least not yet."

Renner stated, she also understood why Barbro hasn't done anything yet even though he couldn't do anything legally he still had an army with him, taking the city hostage would have been much better than just taking the castle.

Not to mention it would have been even better to spread propaganda about how his reign would be better and that the last king was actually a terrible ruler, this way he can get at least civilians on his side ensuring that even If he does lose, he has enough support to spark a civil war.

"So what do we do?"

"for the most part, nothing, we simply need to wait for the king and the army to come back, although that might take a few days"

She informed however before she could speak any further or anyone was able to ask questions, screams and shouts were heard down stairs, it seemed like a brawl was going on as they could hear stomping sounds and things hitting the wall.

"What's happening out there?"

Gagaran asked. It wasn't long after her question that the door to the room swung open and Edstrom entered.

"Princess, the knights are raiding the inn"

"What?!"

...

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter, wanted to show a bit more of Lakyus and Renner arguing to reinforce their friendship, of course friendship isn't all about arguing and so I'll try and show them having som fun together in the future.