w

C331

The history of the Knights of Divine Order could be traced to more than a thousand years ago. Its existence was as old as the 7 kingdoms themselves.

For many generations, the Order had been the guardian of the 7 kingdoms.

Every year, a hundred of the Briton talented fighters would receive their title as proof of membership to the order. The member would then receive access to training, facilities and, most importantly, honor.

The main purpose of the Order was to consolidate the voices between the kingdoms, in order to protect themself from any outside threat. But they would also in limited capacity involve in internal problems that occurred within the 7 kingdoms.

When there was a dispute or even a war between the kingdoms or individual knights, the Order would give their best to act as a mediator between the two parties, but strictly restricted itself in the involvement with one or the other.

Despite the neutral stance the Order adopted, the royalty and nobles knew it was never that simple in reality. Hence, it was always favorable to have a good relationship with the Order. Or even better, to have someone on their side seated among the top echelons of the Order.

Over the years the Order had existed, it had happened quite often that a member of a royal family managed to enter the higher echelons of the Order. But for the king of a kingdom to receive such a title? It was very rare.

The reason for that was because, in order to be bestowed the title of knight commander, one had to have high merits, reputation, and most importantly, ability. That's why almost no royal family ever reached such a position.

But of course, there would always be exceptions in life and the Pendragon family was such an exception.

Since its inception, the Pendragon family line had never fallen far from the Order. With each generation, there would always be someone from the family that managed to enter and reach the high echelon of the Order, either as a golden knight or as a knight commander.

Therefore, the Pendragon family commanded tremendous respect in the Order.

After honoring the knight oath, the gathering started with an announcement. First, it was about the yearly Tournament that would start in a few day's time. It was a reminder that the tournaments were created for the purpose of creating friendly competition.

Then, it was followed by announcements of matters related to the kingdoms, such as the increasing number of attacks from the northern barbarians. This matter caused great social and economic unrest, which forced the kingdoms into the recruitment of more knights to the north.

Another matter was the news about the potential threat of the warriors from the islands located east and west of Briton. The said barbarians had raided the villages near shores multiple times, bringing enormous loss to the kingdoms.

Next, there was an announcement of a quest, which was planned to be launched down to the south. It was an expedition that aimed to open communication with the Ghauls and the Romans.

Emery found all these information to be very interesting. In fact, he was very much interested to join the south expedition. He really wanted to visit and see the places told by his Roman and Thracian friend and, if possible, he also wanted to go as far as Egypt, or even East China.

Thinking about the prospect of visiting his friends, Emery immediately became excited. He wondered if his blue stone formation could send him that far. If that was the case, that would be very exciting.

While he was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly realized that Princess Gwen had raised her hand. It seemed the knight commander held a question session and she had a question to ask.

"Yes, Princess Gwenneth?"

"Knight Commander Uther, I hope you can share the progress of the investigation into Sir Badgemagus' death."

Princess Gwenneth's unexpected and straightforward question instantly caught Emery's full attention. The king and knight commander, on the other hand, looked a little bit annoyed by it.

"My dear princess, I can only say that this matter is still under investigation."

King Uther's answer made Emery very curious. Did this have anything to do with Morgana's disappearance? Emery really wished he could ask some questions as well, but he knew better than to do that.

Fortunately, the princess seemed to hear his wish as she pushes the question once more.

"My apologies, dear your majesty. But it has been 4 months since the knight's death and there is still no news about the investigation. I hope to learn something to bring to my king back home."

Emery and many others in the room were quite surprised that the young princess would be so bold as to speak like that to the Logress king. After all, what she did now - doubting the king - could be considered an insult to the latter.

It was clear King Uther was annoyed by the princess. Luckily, someone interrupted when he was about to lash out.

"Princess Gwen, what my father, the king, means is that this is merely not the time nor the place to discuss this matter. I am sure that we can have our personal discussion afterwards." said Arthur Pendragon with a smile.

It looked like the prince charming came to save both of them.

Realizing Arthur's answer had extinguished any possibility of bringing the matter up again, Gwen relented.

"That's all I ask, Your Majesty. I apologize for the inconvenience and look forward to our discussion" replied Gwen, also with her own charming smile.

After that, the feast finally began.

Accompanied by the orchestra music, the hundreds of people in the hall started to enjoy the food and drinks made by the royal chefs. Countless lavish and extravagant cuisines as well as refreshments had already been prepared and set on multiple tables in the hall.

People began approaching and talking with each other, as this was the best time to get to know and get acquainted with other knights from other kingdoms before the tournament began.

As for Emery, he simply stood by the buffet quietly eating, while his mind was focused on princess Gwen and the Logress prince.

When the feast was over, Emery saw the princess leaving the hall with the Logress knights.

Seeing that, he also decided to leave the crowd, as he merged into the shadows of night.

To be continued