| Meeting and Private Lessons (2)|

"As the King of Elenoir and the father of Tessia, I must apologize for this unsightly appearance of mine and more importantly, I wish to thank you for escorting my daughter back home safely," he stated, his voice coming out a bit hoarse.

"Please accompany us to our home so that you may rest. After, you can tell us what happene-"

>Bleugh<

There it is...You finally did it Merlin.

I felt like crying, why now of all time...in front of a royalty nonetheless. I might have to really say goodbye to this humble life of mine.

"Ahem...As I was saying, We will accompany you to our home so that you may rest. After, you can tell us what happened."

His tone was gentle but implied that there wasn't really an option, so I simply nodded in consent.

As I was about to follow behind them, Tess came to Merlin and me before grabbing our hands again, filling the surrounding people with expressions of shock. I couldn't help but chuckle uncomfortably as I scratched the side of my head, unable to muster up the appropriate words for a situation like this.

.

.

Thanks to Merlin's curiosity, the ride that I expected it to be awkward felt ease. He would point out and yelled at anything he saw along the way, in which Tess and I have to explain it to him in simple sentence. Everyone on the ride found it weird seeing young children teaching another child.

With that, we arrived at the castle. Rather than a castle, however, it looked to be an enormous tree. This tree, that probably needed at least a few hundred people locking arms to encircle it, was made of a white stone that, I could only guess, had gone through a petrification process somehow.

"HUGE!" Merlin exclaimed loudly before jumping out of the ride, followed by a swift guard who brought him back in the carriage. This isn't the first time Merlin jumped out of the ride, so it's not weird to see him doing it another time.

Stepping through the front doors of the tree, I was pleasantly surprised to see how impressive the interior of this castle was. There were two curved staircases that created a circle, with a gigantic chandelier floating in the middle of it. This chandelier seemed to be made of the same orbs of light that were dotted throughout the city.

I had told the King and Queen that it wasn't necessary for me to rest and would rather tell them as soon as we arrived, so that's what we did.

Not even washing up, the welcoming crew was all situated around the rectangular dining table downstairs. Tessia's father was on the far end of the table with me directly opposite of him. Tessia's mother sat perpendicular to her husband, with Tessia seated right next to her. The grandpa was sitting across from the mother and daughter, leaving a pretty big gap between us, while the five guards stood off to the side behind the King. Merlin is beside me, looking around under his wolf mask.

With both his elbows resting on the table, fingers intertwined, the King was the first to speak.

"Child. What did you say your name was?"

"Forgive me for the late introduction. My name is Arthur Leywin, and I come from a remote town in the Kingdom of Sapin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance King, Queen, Elder, and gentlemen." I stood up and bowed slightly at each of them individually before sitting back down.

Discussion wasn't going to progress if they were going to treat me like a child.

Both the King and Queen and the guards in the back showed evident looks of surprise from my mature behavior, while even the grandpa had an amused smirk on his face; Tessia giving me a shy smile.

"What about...him?" The king looked at Merlin next to me who now is staring at the king.

"He is Mer-" I was about to introduce Merlin but he interrupted,

"Merlin, I lived in the border of this forest" Merlin definitely did surprised Tessia and me there. When did he speak so maturely and formed a sentence?

Regaining composure, the King continued on.

"It seems you are much more mature than your age. Forgive me for assuming. My name is Alduin Eralith and this is my wife, Merial Eralith and my father Virion Eralith. As for what happened, please tell us. We would like to hear your side of this."

Waving off the apology, I began telling the story. I made sure to be very vague in telling them how I got inside the Forest of Elshire in the first place; I simply told them I had gotten separated from my family after running into bandits, only managing to survive out of luck.

Inevitably, I had to tell them I was a mage. This was followed by another wave of looks of utter disbelief from everyone, including Tessia. Because of the lack of obstacles we ran into on our journey back, I never really had the need to use mana so I didn't bother explaining.

One of the guards told me that I was a liar and to prove that I was actually a mage when, unexpectedly, Tessia's grandfather shut him down. He then clasped his hands together on the table and looked at me with a renewed, eerie interest.

I quickly moved on, telling them how I had spotted a carriage and observed them carrying a tied up child into the back of a carriage before going off.

At this, the King slammed both of his hands on the table, his eyes narrowing into a menacing glare.

"SLAVE TRADERS! I should've known it was humans!"

I corrected his mildly racist comment and said,

"Without disrespect, slave trading is a profession, not a race King Alduin."

>Shiiing!<

All the guards unsheated their swords and pointed it at me. Thankfully, elder Virion gestured them to stop.

"So, you saw these slave traders take my grand-daughter and you, as a child, what...negotiated with them? Begged for mercy?" Elder Virion asked with a piercing sharp eyes.

"No, elder Virion. While I am a child, I am also a mage. I luckily eliminated the slave traders and rescued your granddaughter. Well, I did receive some help." I explained.

>SHIIING!<

"How dare you spout such lies in front of--" A guard once again unsheated his swords, but a glance from elder Virion is enough to put him in place.

"And who helped you?" Elder Virion asked.

"...It was Merlin, he's also a mage like me. I don't know his origin but I could guess that he was also captured by those people."

"I see" Elder Virion eyed Merlin before smirking.

"Regardless of whether anyone believes me, Princess Tessia has been returned safely. All I wish now is to return back to my family in Sapin." I declared with resolute.

>Whoosh!<

"You're going to leave already Art?! Is Merl going to leave too?!" Tessia shot up from her seat, face stricken with panic.

Both her mother and father gave each other a baffled look as they mouthed 'Art' and 'Merl' respectively.

The elder just shot snide grin at this and chuckled, rocking on his chair.

"I don't think it's appropriate for a human such as myself to be inside this Kingdom for too long, Princess. Besides, I wish to make sure that my family is safe and tell them I'm okay as well," I answered, giving a sheepish smile. Doing so, I could see Merlin staring at elder Virion not budging from my side eye, this caused me to pray, 'Please don't do anything stupid here...Not now'

The King responds back for Tessia. "It has been a couple hundred years since the last human has stepped foot into the Kingdom of Elenoir and you, Arthur, Merlin, are the first human to be in the capital of this Kingdom, the City of Zestier. However, saving our daughter and taking the trouble to accompany her all the way back to us entitles you with a proper reward..."

I take a quick peek at Tessia and see her head down, her gunmetal silver hair covering her face.

"...Unfortunately, the teleportation gate linked with the Kingdom of Sapin opens only once every seven years, for the Summit Conference between the three races. Since the last Summit was two years ago, it'll be another five years until the gate will function," the King continued.

I couldn't help but let out a deep breath in disappointment.

"However, we are more than willing to send a group of guards to escort you back home. You are correct that it may not be wise to stay in this kingdom for too long. While some are tolerant, many hold animosity towards humans because of the war long ago." He flashed a brief, sorrowful smile at this.

I nodded in agreement. At least I'd be able to safely go back home.

"For now, please make yourself at home here. We will have your escorts prepared by tomorrow morning. I do advise you not to wander around outside in the city though, for the reasons mentioned earlier."

The King snapped his finger and an elderly elf lady in a tan maid uniform rushed out, responsible for lending Merlin and me to our room.

"Hey, Merlin. Let's go."

"..."

No response, he's still having a staring contest with Elder Virion.

"Cut it out!" I nudged Merlin's side and he abruptly yelled out in surprise.

"What! Done talking?" His way of talking made me realize something...

***

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