Chapter 57: A Dangerous Declaration

Early Evening - Mid Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

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Finally leaving the guild, Ilios and I were on our way to the plaza in the upper district, but it ended up being much closer than I expected.

-Man, he has quite the audience…- The plaza was absolutely full of people from all walks of life. Merchants, adventurers, mercenaries, knights, nobles, and peasants could all be seen in the plaza, but the part I found most surprising was how happy most of them were. -To think even the nobles are eager to be here…-

It was truly odd seeing even the corrupt-looking nobles smiling and idly chatting with each other or the women they came with. -Now he's got me interested in how he leads the country…-

Finally deciding I should go meet up with him, I made my way around the crowd and started walking up the stairs to the memorial.

"Who's that child? He dares walk up those stairs before an important speech? Impudent." A chubby and corrupt-looking noble in the front gave me a look of distaste. "Guards, stop that child!"

A few of the guards around him immediately started moving toward me, making me pause my step.

"Since you haven't been informed, I'll just brush off that remark." Deciding not to execute the guards in front of the huge crowd with children in it, I just used earth magic to weld the knee joints in their armor together so they couldn't bend or straighten their legs.

As I glanced at them, the three guards simultaneously stumbled and fell to the ground. *Thud-Clank-Clunk*

A wave of silence washed over the crowd as they heard the noise.

"What did he do?"

"I don't know, I think it was some kind of magic."

"Wow, to think such a young boy can use magic so effortlessly."

"It's a shame that he will just get caught by the royal guards…"

Like clockwork, 2 more knights brandishing the royal crest on their armor walked down the stairs towards me.

"Kid you can't get past here, the king is preparing for a speech. Please retu-"

Trying not to get any more annoyed, I pulled out my ID and flashed the golden crest towards the knights. -I can't believe I'm having to use this already…-

Almost immediately after seeing the ID, both knights took their hands off the hilt of their swords and knelt down. "I'm very sorry sir, please excuse us. We apologize for failing to recognize your majesty."

Casually walking past them, I tapped one on the shoulder. "You knights are too uptight."

The crowd immediately erupted with chatter after a moment of silence.

"Did the king have a bastard son?"

"That can't be, we would've known about him."

"Is he foreign royalty?"

Everyone was looking at me, asking themselves countless questions they would likely never know the answers to.

The chubby noble who sent his guards at me broke into a cold sweat when I glanced at him but instead of making a scene, I just made my way inside.

Gently pushing open the huge door, the chatter of the crowd became muffled and almost completely disappeared.

Once inside the memorial, I made my way towards a room with light coming from it and walked inside.

Inside was a table with the royal family and Father sat around it.

"How'd you sleep?" Father seemed to be in a good mood.

"Really well actually, those cushions are bliss. Ilios liked them as well." I couldn't help but lean down and pet Ilios as I talked about him. "So what are you all doing? I heard you were going to give a speech?"

Oliver's face turned a bit serious as he nodded. "It's mainly just to update the citizens on the situation."

"About what? The Tower?"

"Yes. I plan to declare hostility with them. I'm hoping I can get the reinforcements of some allies with it. We even have reason to believe the various abnormalities around the kingdom like the 'monster waves' are because of the Tower as well."

I showed a look of shock without realizing it. -So they really were connected...- "Well I'm here in case the Tower makes a move. By the way, I noticed your security was a little lax for having just nearly been assassinated."

He hesitated a second before smiling. "I have you and Osto here, so what is there to worry about?"

His confidence in us was immense. "Father can't do much more than you can, Oliver. He is still in his temporary form, remember?" Although Father's use of aura was still considerably better than humanoids, in terms of actual combat strength, he wasn't too far into nation rank.

"Ah, right. I do have you though." His smile remained undisturbed.

"Haah…" -He sure is confident in me…- "So when does your speech start?"

"Here in a moment, I'm just finalizing a few things."

Giving a small nod, I stood back up and turned to the door. "I'll be waiting outside then."

Making my way back outside, I immediately saw Michael with a group of friends towards the front of the crowd, just behind the nobles.

They all seemed to be in high spirits, but one person in his group caught my attention. -What is a halfie doing here?-

At the time, I wasn't entirely sure how I could tell, but it felt as if I could see her dragon form even though she had taken the appearance of a human.

Almost immediately, she looked up at me and frowned.

"What's wrong Maria?" Michael quickly spoke out to her.

"N..nothing, I just really don't like the look in that kid's eyes." She seemed a bit annoyed.

Finally looking on stage, Michael noticed me and froze in place.

"What's wrong Michael?" The man next to him showed a concerned look seeing his pale face.

"N..no..nothing-"

*Bbwwaa* Cutting his words short, a knight on stage blew a horn. "Our great King Oliver will now be speaking, please show your respect!"

At that moment, everyone in the crowd paid their respects. The nobles stood and bowed, the knights kneeled, and the peasants put their heads to the floor.

Everyone in the crowd was showing their respect with the sole exception of the halfie woman.

-It seems halfies still have a dragons pride...-

Although she was on the very edge of my range for magic, I was going to use wind magic to make her bow, but Michael beat me to it.

He reached up and pulled her shoulder down, forcing her to bow.

She looked incredibly unhappy to the point that it nearly made me laugh. -Poor girl got her pride crushed!-

They didn't hold the bow for too long though, since after a short moment everyone stood back up or sat back down.

As they did so, they each looked up to notice Oliver now on stage. "Thank you everyone for attending my speech. I know you all have important things to be doing so I shall make this quick.

As many of you know, a few days ago, there was a huge amount of money used to 'rebuild' the royal prison. No matter what your speculations may be, I will be clearing that up now.

The damage to the prison was done by a Nation rank assassin. A few days ago, there was an attempted assassination of me. With their failed attempt, they were taken captive. Little did I know, the group of S-rank assassins was led by a Nation rank.

To be able to send such an oppressive force, many of you may be wondering who it was that sent them.

I wish to publicly announce that the Magic Tower has attempted to assassinate a king within the Bay Alliance! I now declare that the magic tower is to be eradicated and would like to request the help of the other nations in the Bay Alliance!

We will not wait patiently as the Tower does as they wish. We will no longer allow them to push others around. The Tower has pestered Kaelallan far too much over the years, from interfering with trade to destroying our towns and killing our people. If they wish for war, we shall bring it to them!"

As Oliver threw his fist into the air, cheers rang out from the crowd, but not everyone was cheering. The halfie towards the front and a few black-robed men who were spread throughout the crowd remained silent and straight-faced.

A smile of excitement crept onto my face seeing their hostile eyes. -It looks like I'll be able to have some fun!-

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I hope everyone is having a good day! :D