Meeting the king

Yuji POV

The trumpets echoed loud signaling the arrival of our convoy, we reached the capital of the kingdom right in time for a great ceremony.

We were riding through the city with all sort of parades held out to our welcome, and to the event to come.

The pontiff was going to assign the third prince as a church's blade. Thus having fully took control over one of the future rulers of the kingdom, the second prince has already been taken into house arrest for his attempted 'Treason' against the kingdom, yet such information was not disclosed to the people. As for the first prince I believe that he will probably meet an unfortunate accident, to accelerate the third one's ascension to the throne.

All in all, wretched and despicable politics. Quite fascinating…

The capital was a place of great magnitude, filled with all kinds of people, it was separated into three major circles each one containing a different type or class.

The biggest ring, and it is the outside ring contained most of the working class, slaves ragged looking kids and poor houses, you would say that the capital of a kingdom should have more of a prestigious visage, but it seems that it was not the case here, this is reality, poor class is like a plague that is always sticking to classes of higher status, hoping to gain their sympathy or that they will grant them charity, this was the case back on earth and here, these disgusting and filthy pigs would always stick to me whenever they got the chance…nothing a kick to the face can't handle though.

The second ring was one of the middle class, this was where the merchants took interest in. and most of the goods were traded, many houses in this district looked to be quite beautiful yet they still remained simple compared to the houses in the last circle and the deepest ring. This is also where the church was situated at, which by the way dwarfing any house in this district by a huge margin.

Lastly the noblemen's district

Here, unlike before the houses were spaced in between with room to spare, the houses looked like villas of the Victorian era. And in the middle of this circle was the royal palace.

A grand and majestic looking building, which could only be compared to the church in its beauty. Four enormous towers with catapults and archers patrolling them, while a rising bridge was preventing any unwanted visitors from accessing the palace unless they would want to take a dip in the moat that was preventing access to the establishment.

The draw bridge was lowered once our convoy reached, after all the convoy was one of summoned heroes and church knights.

Though we are knights of the church at the moment, it was in etiquettes that our presence needed to be made clear, we needed to go and salute the king first before heading towards the church where the Pontiff normally resides, yet luckily the both of them are within the palace at this moment.

Once the draw bridge came down, we walked inside. Several guards and royal knights wearing golden plate armor and sigils of the king. Were positioned at the entrance. Deeper within the palace, and through vast corridors every few meters a guard was stationed, they certainly took security to a whole other level…we arrived at a royal hall soon afterwards.

The hall was a large room with an extremely high ceiling, supported by a dozen gigantic stone pillars.

It had several windows to shed light inside the room and a throne with several royal chairs near it.

The throne was obviously where the king was sitting

He was a large man to say the least, it seems richness comes with various benefits, huh, he had white hair all over his crowned head, and a beard that looked to reach his lower chest.

He looked tired, almost as if this whole ordeal was annoying.

At his right was an empty chair, it seems that this one belongs to the queen which as I have been told, passed away a few years ago due to being assassinated by one of the demon-kin.

At the left side of the king were three thrones, two of them were filled while one was empty, the middle one…

It seems that each throne was indicating the status of the one sitting in it, as it grew larger and more imposing the closer it got to the king's.

The closer throne, the first prince's chair had a man that sat in it with all manners of composure and dignity, he looked to be about twenty to twenty five years of age, charmingly handsome, and with a physic indicating that he was not one to enjoy food as much as he did to sports.

The third prince was also within the hall, he was the only one that looked like his father, fat. That is it, not a shred of royal dignity was showing on him when he was literally eating some greasy chicken leg right in front of everyone…this was going to be the church's blade?

We were instructed not to inspect any of the royals as that would be an offense, also if one ever dared to do, there seems to be a magic that will ring some sort of alarm.

The smallest chair however was not one of the three sons, no it was one on the left side of the queen's throne, the princess!

She looked to be in her 16, beautifully dressed in pink and white dress, while her golden locks looked to be made with the greatest of care.

A girl with all the bashfulness of the world, as her face turned red the moment our eyes met.

At least the trip here will be fruitful to say the least…

"All hail the King!" said one man with quite the loud voice. He was wearing attire similar to the guards but the only difference that his helmet was unlike theirs had horns on it.

The king then rose and everyone knelt down.

We already knew of the etiquettes as captain Jarve made sure that everyone respects them, we don't want to offend anyone by not respecting their code…it is a king after all.

The king then approach Jarve and said to him in a voice that convoyed weakness and old age.

"Would you not come back Jarve…this is your home."

"Your majesty, this was my home, now my real home lies with the lords…"

"Sigh…that man will rob me of everything I owned…no matter, tell me what is it that you wish to achieve by bringing the heroes here…I don't think I have much to offer now that they have yet to prove their worth as swords and shields of the kingdom…, hey are probably still wet behind the ears…as I heard you had more than fifty, where is the rest? Can I assume they all died? Such is the fate of heroes but would these kids prove to be any helpful at all against the threat we face?"

The king spoke many words, though I wanted to show him how strong I became, I still kept quiet.

"Your majesty, these kids are the cream of the crops, those that passed though regretful were not worthy of such a title, some of the kids present here even passed the level two hundred. I can honestly and proudly say that they are much stronger than me."

"Level 200? Quite impressive, and they were here for but a year? Amazing…it is sad that they are mostly boys, I was hoping to find a spouse to one of my sons, having an heir with one of the heroes would sure bolster the moral of the populace…perhaps my Daugh- no she is already engaged…anyway this talk will be for later. Let's just see who these kids are."

"As you wish your majesty" said Jarve and I knew what was going to happen.

One of the royal guards stood forward holding a weapon, and I was the first to face the challenge. He was a level 170, quite high even surpassing Jarve's, but levels are not everything, as I knew, Jarve is extremely strong, unlike these guys that relied on level ups to gain stats, he was one of the very few that avoided leveling by killing monsters, he was actually working hard to earn his strength, judging him by his level will certainly prove to be foolish as he can easily kill another person even if they were higher leveled…level means nothing if you get hit in the face with a spear.

The ground emptied as everyone made way for the duel. The king sat back at his throne and began enjoying the show.

The guard had a small kite shield on his left and a long sword on his right.

He walked prudently trying to circle me. While I stood, not even sheathing my sword.

The man then moved, going in for a test stab. Just trying to check on my weak spot and how I would react, he thought that he was still safe with his prudent movements and raised shield.

The moment his hand was fully extended, I was already behind him with my blade on his neck.

He didn't even see me move as I was too fast for him to register that I had already moved.

The duel ended in a split second while everyone felt surprised, the princess even had her mouth left wide opened, while the first prince had a look of acknowledgement on his face. The third prince however looked to be quite bored and uninterested by this at all

I was too strong after all, the ability Godspeed, enables me to move at extraordinary speed, and though quite taxing it can finish a fight in a matter of a split second. I don't even think that demon king will be able to move at a speed comparable to this. I will have their head in a plate before they could even see me.

"Quite impressive!" said the King

And a moment later a group of people entered, the Cardinal was amongst them.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself old man" said a man that looked to be in his seventy, his face was aged and had not the hint of facial hair on him, even his brows were shaved, and his head was probably bald. He had squinted eyes, and low cheekbones, making him seem grumpy. His lips were cracked and dry, and his ear lobes were dangling. He was wearing a white and gold gown, with an astonishing looking hat on his head, it was made of gold silver and silk, adorning his head like if it was a crown, he wore a gown with log sleeves and a robe to match, and everything was a mixture of gold and white with some touches of silver.

Around him were four other men wearing the same clothes the cardinal was wearing, all in red and a hat to match, while four other men were following suit, these four were holding long poles with lit incense.

"Your holiness" said the king, the words coming out of his mouth as if he was spitting them.

"Heroes of this kingdom, the gods had sent you to help against an old enemy trying to usurp the reign of the just, we are but servants of the gods and we are here to help you in your journey. Though this was the case before, things had changed…"

Did something happen? Our mission was to kill the demon king? Are they going to try and make us do something else? I hate being played, but so far the benefits are outweighing our efforts, let's just listen to what he has to say.

"These times are dire, I received news that the demon king had managed to summon a strong entity to help them against the heroes…something that came from hell itself…and now I know that it was this very creature or foul being was the reason behind a curse that was cast upon our heroes."

Ah the brand? So the Cardinal did tell him, I just hope he can lift it off, that damn text it shows is creepy. But what does he mean by a strong entity from hell? This is getting more and more chaotic the more I think about it.

"Can you lift it off your holiness?" I said

The old man looked at me and smiled saying

"Patience my lad, but let me have a look, I may not be strong enough to fight against monsters, but the guidance of the lords will always lead my way."

I showed him my neck and he hummed as if understanding what was happening.

"I never seen something such as this… the brand of the herald huh? Holy cleanse"

Said the pontiff, and massive amounts of holy energy floated within the room, it was focalized and moved with experience through the brand, rapidly passing by the flesh and into my being. It took a moment for it to finish and once it did.

The Brand of the Herald remains unperturbed.

The hunt continues and your soul beckons the herald ever stronger.

This just made things worse…

"Strange, it seems this thing is not of unholy origin, how is it possible that something from within could do something like this? The information must be wrong or exaggerated then, I need to verify. Lad worry not, that brand will be removed sooner or later, you have nothing to fear or worry about"

"Thank you your holiness for the concern, but if something wants a piece of me, then I will gladly accept their challenge." I said in a respectful tone. Showing bravery in these situation can actually bolster one's standing, making this act seem natural is also a talent of mine.

"Quite the brave one you are lad."

"Your words honor me." I sad and dismissed myself.

"Old man" said the pontiff addressing the king

"We need to celebrate this event, the people are waiting for you, though I would have liked to see the second prince with us. I fear that the gods have yet to pardon him for his act, but worry not, I prayed day and night for his sins to be pardoned." Said the pontiff

"I am sure you did" said the king in a hatful manner but decided not to show it, he knew full well that the pontiff was behind the false accusation of the second prince but he has no proof to either prove his son's innocence nor the pontiff's lies…

"Go on with your festivities. I have not the time for this now, leave me." said the king addressing everyone in the room.

And so we did, this time we followed the holy convoy to the church.

That is of course after making sure to having gave the princess a wink that made her already red face release steam.

An easy target.