C79- Meeting the Emperor (3)

As Corvin opened the door and they entered the hall, their eyes adjusted to the slightly brighter room.

"Wow..."

The magnificent room was illuminated by the four pair of pillars that were holding the roof. At the bottom of each pillar was a small pool of water. The white marble pillars had three blue stone sections that were emitting light. The bright blue stone that illuminated the hall was a special stone made by an alchemist that shone brightly when it was wet, and purified the water that it touched. The spiral fluted pillars were kept wet using the water from the rain collected on the roof of the palace, and turned into drinking water here while also working as illumination and decoration.

Between each pillar on the walls were the paintings of a previous emperor and empress. At the other end of the room were two similar and humbly decorated thrones next to each other, with the banner of the Altus Empire, the figure of the legendary bird Fucapitria -a giant light blue bird with white at the tip of it's feathers, four wings and the beak of an eagle- with a red background with golden frills at the edges, behind the thrones.

Inside the room were many nobles talking to each other. When Corvin, Noah and Clair entered the room, the chatter went silent and everyone looked at the three kids who entered the hall.

"...I kinda feel unomfortable, not gonna lie..."

"Well, the reason why they are here is us, so they are just curious."

"I didn't want to have any attention on me..."

"Are you an idiot? We made a new weapon, you know? There was no chance of that from the start."

"...Ugh..."

As Corvin was feeling regretful, Noah nudged him to walk forwards. While they got to moving, a deep voice sounded in the hall.

"Don't stare at them like that, they are children and this is their first time. Please don't make them stressed."

The man sitting on the throne, Emperor Terry, said. From afar, Corvin thought he was younger than he thought. His light brown hair didn't have any white strands in it, and his green-golden hazel eyes still had the power of a young adult inside them.

But as he got closer, Corvin felt something. If asked, he couldn't tell what, but there was something about the Emperor different from everyone.

'...Jealousy? What?'

Corvin felt like the Emperor had something that should be his, which confused him, since he wasn't a person who would have dreams of ruling an empire or something like that. While he was staring at the Emperor, trying to figure out why he was feeling like that, the Emperor looked like he glared at him for a second, but then returned to his stoic face.

'Oh no... I didn't make him angry, did I?'

As they stepped in front of the Emperor, all three of them got on their knees.

"You can get up.", said Terry.

Noah and Clair got up quickly. Corvin, who wasn't used to noble customs reacted a bit later.

"Some time ago, I gave your fathers a task. I was told they gave the responsibility to you three."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"The task was to invent a new weapon. You will show us the weapon, of course, since that's why we are here. But something I heard recently is more important."

Some of the nobles started lightly whispering among each other.

"I heard you three encountered the Horde Queen while searching for something in the south."

"What?"

"How?"

"Impossible! We-We killed that thing!"

"Silence!"

When Terry shouted, everyone shut up all at once.

"Do you think I would say something like that without proof?"

Just as Terry said that, the door to the hall opened. The person who entered the hall was Felyp, who was carrying a long and purplish thing. He walked in front of the throne and kneeled. Terry quickly allowed him to stand up, and Felyp presented the purple thing.

"As you can see, the thing Margrave Vyolor is holding is a part of the monster. Please explain, Margrave."

"Yes."

Felyp turned back to the crowd and lifted the thing.

"As you can see, this is one of the mandibles of the Horde Queen that survived the disintegration. My son and his friends encountered the minions of the colossus, and explored the nest it built..."

Felyp told the nobles in the hall what happened at the Twin Peaks of Aos half a month ago. When he finished the story, the Emperor spoke again.

"As you can see, these young teens have defeated an enemy the Empire couldn't defeat back then. For that reason, the three of them along with their other friend who isn't here will each be granted any two pieces from the colossus they want. The rest of the loot will be shared between the noble houses according to the agreement we made nine years ago when we fought the colossus."

The parts of a colossus as strong as the Queen was rare and really expensive, so some disapproving voices were heard between the crowd, but the Emperor stopped them quickly.

"I will not hear any protest. They did something we couldn't. The only reason they aren't granted all of the loot is because as the Emperor, I am the last person who can ignore an agreement we made."

The noises died down, and some nobles commented on how righteous and noble the Emperor was.

"So, for both their courageus hunt of our old enemy, and the invention of a new weapon, Noah, Corvin and Clair will all be granted a gift by me after they show us their invention."

Maid's brought snacks and drinks inside the hall as the Emperor, walked towards the three kids. He told them to come with them, as they left the hall. The noblemen, about half of whom were wearing military uniforms or something similar, also walked with them outside. Clair stayed behind with the noblewomen after wishing them good luck.

They got outside and a butler carried the guns they brought together to the garden of the outer palace, where a bunch of targets were placed on the green grass about a hundred meters away.

As they got in front of the targets, the Emperor spoke.

"I heard it was a projectile weapon, so I readied targets. Is this range good enough?"

"Yes, Your Highness. This is about half of their range."

As the Emperor nodded, some disapproving noises came from the other noblemen.

"So it's range is half of the longbow. How is this a good weapon?"

"How does it even shoot? That's just a long iron stick."

As Corvin looked at the noblemen, Noah whispered in his ear.

"Just don't care about them. They don't know what this thing can do yet."

Corvin nodded and turned to the Emperor.

"Your Highness."

"Yes."

"I will show the weapon as you requested now. Please don't be startled of the noise."

"Yes, shoot it."

Corvin aimed the gun towards the target and pulled the trigger.

BOOM!