Chapter 0.4 : Lord Protector

We met them finally.

"Welcome heroes! my name is Clovis X Karl Krone, King of Albion, Overlord of Tuath and Vin, Protector of the Western Realm, Guardian of the Domain of Fadas." He said with a roaring majestic tone.

He was old, at least that was what Princess Amadela said. She said he was nearing his 70s chronologically, But when observing him physically, he looked more like a man in his early 50s from how well kept his muscles are for a supposedly tall 70 plus-year-old man. But his hair and beard do show that he is nearing his 70s, with all of it being greyed out and all.

From his looks, he has a thin lip, medium refined nose, slightly wide-eyed with bright blue eyes. Aside from that, he wore that befits a king, of course, the majestic purple robe, a golden doublet, ruby red hose, and a majestic golden crown decorated with various beautiful cut gems and polished pearls.

"This is my wife, Adelaide Pied, the fairest Queen in this realm!"

On the other hand, his wife, Amadela's stepmother, is in her late 20s. She is beautiful of course, from her brown chestnut-colored hair, wide eyes with a green jewel color, a small perky nose, a little bit thick lips, and white fair skin. Physically she is a petite woman, but her breast is quite filled, which is befitting of course for being a mother. She wore a red velvet dress with a tiara ornated with rubies and pearls on her head.

"My second pride and joy but quite the arrogant one, Prince Kristof Clovis Krone, Crown Prince of Albion, Heir to all my titles and lands, a prideful chivalrous knight, and the captain of his own band, The White Riders!"

"Thank you, father," Kristof said gleefully.

From what Amadela said about him, is that he is a valiant 16-year-old boy with a bright future up ahead. Personality-wise he is the typical arrogant and prideful prince, but he does have a sense of justice and fairness, though still a tad bit naïve in that department.

Physically otherwise he is in his tip-top shape, muscular body but weirdly not that tall, quite average actually. But his looks would easily charm a damsel, from that chiseled jaws, perfect teeth, wavy chestnut hair like his mother's, blue eyes like his father's, but a bit more leaning towards sapphire color, thin lips, and a medium refined nose.

Aside from that, he is the middle child of three siblings, the oldest is his half-sister Amadela Clovis Krone and his youngest brother who is still in his infancy, Karl Clovis Krone.

"And lastly the Maîtres, these four are the best of the best from the realm that I have picked to assist me on managing and ruling the realm. The first and oldest in this council is my best man from the south, Ramon d'Castellon, Duke of Castellon, Margrave of Sur, Maître of War, the head of the Castellon noble family and my trusty right-hand man!"

"A pleasure to meet you, heroes! And great job Amadela for summoning them!" Ramon said.

"Thank you, uncle…" Amadela responded to the compliment with a blush.

This giant of a man that is twice the size of me is Margrave Ramon, physically he looked like a man in his 50s, he has wide brown eyes complimented with grey hair and aging skin but… damn, is he one heck of a giant!

Personality-wise, Amadela said that he's like Kristof well… actually, Kristof is like him, that arrogant and prideful character came from him. Other than that, he is also a very loyal subject towards the realm and especially to the king, which isn't a surprise because they are old friends after all. And I was really impressed on why he was called the Margrave of Sur.

Amadela and pretty much the king right now, said in his youth, in the time of Amadela's grandfather, King Karl VI Rudolf Krone. Ramon and his retinues of at least 2500 men, single-handedly stopped an invading force from the minor Kingdom of Sanctiacob, which were 8000 men strong. Due to that event, not only did the king at his time bathe him with gold and prestige he was given the title of Margrave of Sur effectively making him the liege lord of many small and medium lords in the south, where his responsibility is to protect the kingdom from any harm that will come from the south.

"Then there is the Maître of Whispers, Lady Chloé de Diamant, she is from the Diamant noble family which resides in the Fleur's Domain. She is incredibly skilled in ways of shadows and subterfuges."

Chloé de Diamant, observing her from her eyes, looks, and physique, I could only be reminded of how weirdly and terrifyingly she looks like Eleanna. The only different thing I noticed from her, is her hair, which is a medium-long maple colored hair.

She then introduced herself with a bit more details, which I knew in advance thanks to the Princess. She is the youngest sibling of four and the only daughter in the Diamant noble family.

But of course, there are some information that are not told justifiably by Lady Chloé, obviously because it's sensitive. Like how her dad never gave focus nor attention to her, all that attention and focus instead were directed towards her three older brothers but it doesn't mean she was treated like an outsider or a stain in the family, quite the wholesome contrary actually!

Her brothers and mother gave that attention back that her dad never gave her and speaking of her brothers, her brothers' attitude towards her is what you could say a sis-con attitude. The Princess said that the eldest is the more reserved on that matter, but he'll be sure to give anyone a slow painful death for those who hurt his little sister. But the other two are very open about it, but weirdly more tamer on the methods of hurting the said person who'll hurt their little sister.

Well, in the end, she did get the attention she never got from her dad when she made a contract with a familiar.

Familiars from what Amadela gave a brief explanation to me are basically magical creatures around Lumenter that have a sentient mind but followed the typical animal mindset. Where if they made a contract with a human, the human is then able to use magic. While some of them are wild and ferocious, a lot of them are quite civil. In Chloé's case, she made a contract with a familiar that belongs in a group renowned for their expertise in the shadows, they are called the Korps, raven-like creatures.

And after making that contract, her father hired many spies and spymasters that he could get a hold of for her to be taught the art of intrigue, which paid off as she is now the Maître of Whispers.

"This fellow that is beside Duke Ramon is my Maître of Foreign Affairs, not only that, but he is also the head representative from the Domain of Fadas, his name is Áron le Láidir."

This is the first time that I met an elf, his skin is somewhat pinkish, and is physically tall, though quite average really in the muscle department. Other than that, his facial features are quite unique, thin lips, long ears, a little bit slanted eyes with a leaf green color, hair is short ginger-color, and because he is an elf, he is old as hell.

Princess Amadela said that he is about 120+ years old, but his looks screams of 20 something man.

Getting back on track, Áron's early years were never known and his life was recorded when he was around his 20's. Records said that he was a freedom fighter in the Empire where he tried and failed to free his brethren, he then became a slave for about 2 years until he escaped to the Justan minor kingdoms.

For about 100 years his trail went cold, and no one knew where he went but then suddenly, he came back from the shadows where he offered his services and knowledge to King Clovis. The princess never really knew what made her father just accept him on the spot, but his diplomatic skills are very useful for the realm nonetheless.

"Lastly the youngest from this council is the Maître of Treasures. Sir Geoffroy de Fleur of Papillonter, a member of the noble family of Fleur and a famous knight from where he came from!"

Geoffroy de Fleur of Papillonter, Him and the Princess said that his birthplace, which is Papillonter, is home to many butterflies, and the most treasured ones, are silkworms.

Physically he looks like your standard joe, wide eyes with green eyes, straight medium nose, thin lips, and nothing else that stands out really, his body is built as what a knight should be, hair too is normal, a short dark brown.

But like me, even though there is nothing to be found on the physical side, there is a diamond to be found in his skills. Skilled in mathematics and organizing people, he was recruited by the king himself when he was visiting the Grand Duke of Vin.

Personality speaking, he is just your standard chivalrous dude, but that attitude made him famous in his home. But under the table, he is quite the lady killer, girls left and right has been charmed by his honeyed words in King Clovis' court. But… I've heard he has a wife, who he even brought here too… Well, I hope that's just rumors.

"And that is all of them, you four have already met my eldest daughter and the two gents that escorted her. So… what is the name of our four heroes!"

"My name is Arthur Svard, your majesty!" Arthur said eloquently.

"I am Marie Maynard, nice to meet you, your majesty!" Miss Marie said cheerfully.

"Eleanna Florens is the name sire!" Eleanna said while bowing.

"And I am Mario last name Mar-," I stopped briefly because I was elbowed quite roughly by Eleanna. "Haha... sorry, my name is Martyn just Martyn."

"No family name?" the king asked confusingly

"Just like what I said to Princess Amadela yesterday, it's only for my safety."

"Ahh…. a suspicious one are you young sir?" Lady Chloé said in a praising tone.

"Well, that can't be true, why would one of the heroes be suspicious of us, aren't you four angels? Shouldn't you know if we're going to plan anything behind your back?" Prince Kristof asked confusingly.

"Wait… Princess, you didn't tell them?" I looked at her, but she just nodded off. "Hmmm… again like what I told the Princess, we are not angels, we are humans from another world that you people took willy-nilly or in this case your 'god' took us willy-nilly!"

"That can't be true, from the records the last heroes were angels!" Prince Kristof said in disbelief

"That… we do not know, it could be they were lying, and they are actually normal humans, but they could be angels too. I can't put which one it is because I don't have enough to go on claiming what they were," I remarked.

"Hmm… so you are humans just like us… I don't know what our Lord Lux meant by this, but I will trust in his plans!" The King said devotedly. "Alright, let's get back to the matter at hand. We the people that lived in this land, Lumenter, seek your help to defeat a great evil, the Black Horde, what we know of them is little, but we know from the académie records that the first heroes were up against a monstrous horde in their disposable."

"So… how did the last heroes lose?" I asked the logical thing considering this is going to be the second in a serious tone.

"They didn't lose!" One of the Maîtres, Áron, spoke up. "They defended this world as best as they could have! Gathering bright and talented people from all of Lumenter! What they didn't see coming was that they were fighting against an army of that bastard's hideous hordes!" I don't know why, but Áron's tone when saying it seemed very personal.

"Okay… the last heroes fight in a party system and they were faced by thousands of hordes and the kings of that time never gave any military support. Then how many were there in the first heroes' party and who survived?" I asked.

"There were 10 people in the party including the first heroes and only one was rumored to survive. The original three heroes disappeared without a trace, we thought that they were just summoned back by our Lord Lux, but now with the information you have given us, there's the possibility they were sent back to their original world. While the six out of the seven that is of this world died protecting this world, the last survivor we do not know much, his body was never found and if he is dead or not is still up in the air. Some winds whispered that he was cursed by Dubh to be immortal to watch the next heroes fall again, while other winds whispered that he died not long after." The King said.

"Is there any truth to this rumor?" I asked

"I can't really say, some people have claimed that they have met him this time of the year but it's hard to believe. Because we don't really know what he even looks like, let alone trusting some peasant that claimed they met or found him."

"Good point." I praised him

"So, heroes of another world, will you lend us your power to defeat this great evil!"

I paused for a moment after hearing that, for starters, we don't really know if we had powers of some sort, I don't even think that we could just train ourselves to defeat a horde, it's… unrealistic really, but… there's another thing I can offer to them!

"Power is a vague word king, what do you really seek from us? Some sort of magic that can just make the horde disappear? Well… too bad for you, we don't have that kind of power. We are, as I said before, are normal humans." All their face began to flounder. "But on the other hand, we can offer you something that not only going to defeat this great evil but improve your kingdom that your people won't need us again if we failed to defeat him the second time. It is our original world's knowledge and inventions!"

"I am sorry, but what does your original word's knowledge can offer? For all we know, your world doesn't even know how to make a trebuchet!" Prince Kristof said sarcastically.

"That is where you are wrong Prince Kristof, the world that we came from is a world where we can travel between continents under a day, where the night is never blanketed by the dark but by shining lights in our streets, where your shining plate of armors can be penetrated by a single metal ball. My world doesn't have magic like yours! But we endured it by learning and understanding the elements, for us to easily bend them to our will. That is the world where we came from ladies and gentlemen, and there are more that I can offer to you people, but of course, there is a price for it!"

All of them stood in a dazed, the king from his face looked impressed, the prince became curious, the queen, on the other hand, doesn't really give any good or bad vibes, and the Maîtres are like the prince too, wanting to know more about our world.

"A-And what is this price?" King Clovis asked hesitantly.

"The price is first to make us four under your protection of course!" He sighed in relief. "And the second is to make me your co-ruler!"

"I am sorry what!?" The prince said with a flabbergasted expression.

"That is the equivalent of making you a king, Sir Martyn!" The princess stated the obvious in shock.

"Yes, and why would we want you as our king!?" Margrave Ramon in an outraged tone denied me.

"Woahh Mar, I think you're asking too much here!" Arthur responded.

"Yeah... I think you're stepping over the line here Martyn!" Miss Marie too responded in concern like Arthur.

"What do you really seek Sir Martyn?" and Lady Chloé asked the real question.

"Power, of course, equal to your liege! Enacting all of the plans and reforms I have for this kingdom, will need power obviously," I said.

"But is power as strong as that really necessary? You could just be his majesty's royal advisors like any of us and gave all of your plans to our majesty!" Sir Geoffrey suggested.

"That could work..." Three of the Maîtres' faces began to light up. "In a perfect world! I know for a fact that my plans and reforms are going to be hampered if I am on equal footing with you four and obviously, I can't just give my bargaining chip away!" I took a moment to breathe and compose myself again. "Look… I know and get that it's ludicrous to give an exorbitant amount of power to a basically alien, but it's equally ludicrous as pulling off an alien forcefully from his original world without any warning!"

Everyone was silent after that, I was honestly madder now when thinking about what they asked of us to do, I mean the three of us are just kids and miss Marie hasn't seen combat for more than a decade, it's just… too much!

"Okay maybe that's too much to ask, but I know one thing and one thing only! If I am on equal footing with you four, then the descriptions that I gave about my world will be just that... a description."

The room still was silent, but it was broken by the king.

"Áron, your silent as ever…" The king noticed that one of his advisors wasn't speaking up on my demand.

"Hmm… I don't really have much comment on this, though I agree that it is ludicrous to give an absolute stranger powers equal to yours my liege. But… if this is how he, his friends, and his teacher will save our world, then so be it!" Hearing what Sir Áron said everyone was in shock.

"Well, I am not complying with his demand, if he wants to save the world through politics, then he should be as powerful and powerless as us!" Margrave Ramon, again and predictably, denied me.

"I am with Margrave Ramon on this one, but I am intrigued on what your plans are Sir Martyn! But… nonetheless, I am still with Margrave Ramon on this one!" Lady Chloé gave her answer.

"I… am as intrigued as Lady Chloé too here, especially on what you said about how your world in the night is blanketed by shining lights… Well... I do hope you keep your promise, Sir Martyn, as I am with Sir Áron with this one too!" And, which was quite a surprise to me, Sir Geoffrey sided with me along with Sir Áron.

"So that leaves this to you, king! Accept it and I'll keep my end of the bargain and if could, I'll return it tenfold even! Or refuse it… which, I could always sell my expertise to other kingdoms to save this world!"

And as I said that every single eye in front of me stared quite piercingly, I knew right away I hit a landmine the king especially was very alarmed at what I said, as I could see his nervousness showing from his hands that's rubbing one another anxiously.

"Okay… fine, you can be my co-ruler, but you are not going to call yourself a king!" he finally gave his answer.

"Way ahead of you! and to give you all some ease, I'll tell you what my first reform is and that is from this day and onwards, this realm will have two sovereigns! One is called the King, held by your majesty, obviously, and the other one will be held by me." I paused for a breath and continued explaining. "I've planned this title to be a stabilizing force to the realm, where one can ensure the other not to be consumed by their ambitions or greed. But of course, this is a very powerful title! Because of that, it's going to be an elected one, the electors are his majesty, his royal highness the prince, and of course you four! Where you Maîtres can have the chance to exercise some real power! After me, my friends, and teacher have returned to our world of course!"

"Then, what is this title going to be called?" the king asked.

"Hmm… let's called it… Lord Protector!"