A Difference of Opinion

OUTFITTED IN GLEAMING silver armor etched with white-and-azure markings—

which put even the king's bodyguards to shame—and suited up with a sword as long

as he was tall along with a rune-inscribed shield and a black cape that fluttered in the

breeze, the knight struck an impressive figure as he walked the stone hallways of the

palace. He looked like a figure straight from the legends.

The first time they'd met, he'd introduced himself as a wayward traveler named Arc.

Lauren Laraiya du Luvierte had been on her way home from a dinner party in a

neighboring city. She could still remember every little detail of that day.

They'd been attacked by a group of bandits, and her guards had fallen one after the

next, until only she and Rita were left. That was when he had appeared on the scene.

The six bandits fell in the blink of an eye, and he called out to Lauren, the concern

evident in his soft voice. She felt as if she were a character in a fairy tale or watching a

stage play unfold.

He had left just as quickly as he'd come, and she never had the chance to properly

thank him.

Sometime later, the king summoned all land-owning nobles throughout the land to the

capital, and Lauren joined her father, Viscount Luvierte, on the journey.

It would take quite a while for all of the nobles to make it to the capital. Fortunately

for Lauren and her father, the Luvierte domain was connected to the capital by a large

road that allowed them to travel by horse-drawn carriage, stopping in neighboring

lands along the way. Not all nobles were so lucky.

Upon their arrival, Lauren and her chambermaid, Rita, were completely taken in by

the sheer brilliance of the capital. As they were still early, the two young women

decided to spend some time looking around. That was when they ran across the

familiar silver knight.

The part of the palace where the king resided was split into several different sections,

though nobles had few restrictions put on their access and could go practically

anywhere they pleased.

In any case, they were still able to see parts of the palace that normal citizens would

never in their wildest dreams have an opportunity to lay eyes on, shy of some sort of

special occasion or event.

It was all perfectly safe. No one other than the king's bodyguards, palace guards, and

knights serving as protection for foreign dignitaries were allowed to carry weapons

within the palace. And yet… here was the silver knight, right in the middle of the

palace, wearing his massive blade.

Lauren began to wonder if the story he'd told her about being a wayward traveler had

been a lie. There was no other reason why he would be in the palace, a place most

commoners could never even set foot. But then… who was he?

Several questions all began to run through her mind all at once, but before she had

time to think them through, her body had already reacted and she was jogging after

him.

"Arc? Aaarc! Aaaaarc?!"

He turned around, looking puzzled.

Lauren felt her knees go light as she was overcome with emotion. It was almost too

much to bear that he might forget such a pivotal moment in her life, short though it

had been.

She struggled to find the right words. "It's certainly been a while, Arc. I hardly expected

to see you here."

Rita stepped up and properly greeted Arc in Lauren's place. Something seemed to

click, and he instantly recognized the young women. It was clear by the tone of his

voice just how surprised he was to see them.

"Oh, wow! Lauren? Rita?"

Lauren's face instantly lit up. Just moments ago, she'd felt as if she were standing on a

precipice. Now she found herself in a field of wildflowers. She was embarrassed by

just how happy this made her.

"It's good to see you again, Arc. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you once again

for saving me."

After what felt like an eternity, she was finally able to get the words out. It felt great,

like unloading a massive burden from her chest. But she also wanted to know what he

was doing here in the first place.

He beat her to the punch. "It's great to see that you're both doing so well. What brings

you here?"

This was the very same question she'd wanted to pose to him.

It seemed so unreal that they'd be reunited in the palace of all places. Just thinking

about it brought a smile to Lauren's lips.

She explained how they'd been summoned to the capital by the king. Rita filled in

details where she could. Arc stayed silent the entire time. Once they finished, he

nodded.

It was impossible to gauge his facial expression through his helmet, but Lauren got the

impression that he already knew something about the king's summons.

From his brilliant armor and the fact that he was allowed to keep his sword, she

figured he must be the guard of some royal dignitary. She initially considered he might

be with the Great West Revlon Empire—a place which Prince Sekt was known to have

connections—but that didn't seem right either.

Arc had returned to Luvierte once before and had asked Rita the way to the empire.

Obviously, there would have been no reason for a person who'd just come from there

to ask about the route back… unless he really was that lost.

In any case, Lauren decided to ask the same of him.

"More importantly, what brings you here Arc?"

Arc fell silent for a moment. "I can't tell you any details, but I'm here to protect a very

important person."

Lauren had expected him to say something to that effect. However, the fact that he'd

neglected to mention who it was suggested that there must be some other

unannounced guests in the palace.

"You're quite strong. I'm sure there's no better bodyguard out there."

She had seen with her very own eyes just how powerful he was. Even the king's

bodyguards wouldn't stand a chance against him. She would love to know just what

type of person could retain someone so powerful for their own personal protection.

Arc truly was a man of many mysteries.

Despite his flashy armor, Lauren had gotten the impression—through the reports

she'd received of him registering for mercenary work—that he was in desperate need

of money. Putting all of this together, the only thing that made sense was if he was a

noble who'd been disgraced and had lost everything.

But if he was in need of funds, then why would he leave town before the viscount could

properly reward him for saving her?

Since she couldn't come up with a logical answer to that question, it must mean that

one or more of her presumptions were wrong.

While she was standing there, quietly thinking over the possibilities, Arc leaned

toward her. She could feel his gaze on her, but she couldn't see anything in the dark

depths of his helmet.

All of a sudden, the decoration atop his helmet began to stir.

"Kyii?"

Lauren and Rita both screamed in surprise.

"Eep!"

"Whoa!"

Looking closer, Lauren realized that the green fur lining the top of his helmet wasn't a

decoration but a small creature. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before.

She glanced over at Rita, who was well known for her love of animals, to find her

chambermaid staring intently at the creature.

Arc quickly introduced the critter as Ponta, his travel companion.

Lauren didn't recall seeing the creature when they'd first met, but she also hadn't been

particularly lucid following the assault, so she might have missed it.

She wanted to know more about Ponta, but it was unbecoming of a noble's daughter

to be so direct. Instead, she decided to invite Arc to join them on their tour of the

palace.

"Um, Arc, would you like to join us?"

Much to her surprise, he straightened back up and declined. "That's very kind of you,

but I'm afraid I have other matters I must attend to."

He spun on his heel, sending his black cape flying into the air behind him, before

walking off.

Rita turned to look at Lauren. "He certainly seems busy."

Lauren nodded as she watched the shrinking figure in the distance. She let out a long

sigh. "I got to properly thank him, I guess, but I didn't get to say much beyond that."

Part of her interest in Arc was mere curiosity, but it was more than that. She had her

reasons for asking her father to let her come all the way out to the capital with him.

"Excuse me, but do you know that man?"

A mysterious voice called out from behind the two women. Lauren and Rita turned. A

short ways off, they spotted a young man slowly approaching them.

He was tall with blond hair, blue eyes, and an attractive face. Though they'd never met

in person before, Lauren instantly recognized the man and curtsied. Rita immediately

followed her mistress's cue and took a step back.

The man was dressed in the finest of clothes, accented by glimmering jewels. Most

notable, however, were the accessories he carried with him, all of which were marked

with the royal crest of the Rhoden family.

Lauren smiled. "It's an honor to meet you, Prince Sekt."

The prince waved his hand, as if to dismiss her formal greeting. "No need for such

pleasantries. Do you know him or not?"

He was quick to return to his original question, which surprised Lauren.

Everything she'd heard about Prince Sekt suggested he was a man who prized

hierarchy and maintained class differences. This seemed to be completely at odds with

the man standing before her.

"If you're talking about Arc, then yes, I do."

Sekt's eyes lit up. "I'm surprised to hear that our fine nation also has a connection with

him. May I ask how you became acquainted?"

"I was attacked by bandits on my way home from an evening banquet. Arc saved me."

This answer seemed to surprise him. "There are bandits who would dare to attack a

noble's carriage within our borders?" He blinked as if just realizing something. "I'm

sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Lauren curtsied again. "My name is Lauren Laraiya, daughter of Viscount Buckle du

Luvierte. It is truly an honor."

Sekt frowned. "Luvierte, you said? Your family has been quite generous in sending gifts

to my father."

Lauren's father had already told her all about this. There had been a powerful monster

on the loose in their domain, and the viscount had sent his soldiers to put an end to it.

After slaying the beast, they'd harvested all the valuable parts and sent them to the

king as a gift.

Even more importantly, Viscount Luvierte was one of Sekt's supporters.

"Your words are too kind for the likes of me. But I'm certain Father will be happy to

know that you remember him." Lauren smiled and bowed her head.

isappeared. "Miss Lauren, I'm going to ask you one more time. Do you know that man?"

"Huh?"

She looked at him in confusion. The question implied that the prince didn't know who

Arc was and was hoping to learn more about him. Lauren considered for a moment

that perhaps Arc was being purposefully hidden from the royal family, but she decided

that she knew too little about the situation to do anything more than answer the

question truthfully.

"No, not really. He left shortly after the encounter with the bandits, before I even had

a chance to thank him properly. This is the second time we've crossed paths. He

mentioned that he was the bodyguard for someone important, so I just assumed he

was a knight from the Great West Revlon Empire. Is that wrong?"

Prince Sekt raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think that?"

Lauren felt her heart begin to race.

It was an open secret among the noble class that the two princes had received support

from the two empires, but it was something no one spoke of openly… much less to the

surviving prince.

Sekt smirked at her reaction. "Unfortunately, he is not a knight of the western empire.

Nor is he even human, for that matter. He's an elf from the Great Canada Forest."

Lauren and Rita were both taken by complete surprise at his revelation.

They were, of course, familiar with elves on a basic level, but everything about Arc

seemed completely at odds with what they knew of them. Still, it would explain away

a lot of Lauren's lingering questions.

Elven warriors were known for their unmatched skill on the battlefield, along with

their talent for magic. It was said that even the best and most highly trained humans

could barely hold their own against one.

Prince Sekt continued. "May I ask when he helped you with that bandit problem?"

Still trying to organize her thoughts about Arc's origin, Lauren rattled off the timeline

as best she could remember.

Sekt snorted. "I see. So he was already in the country at that time."

Lauren could only watch in confusion as he mumbled to himself.

The prince cleared his throat and changed the subject. "I trust you haven't heard any

stories of nobles being involved in the kidnapping of elves, have you?"

This question was of particular interest to Lauren.

Diento, one of several territories sharing a border with Luvierte, had up until recently

been run by Marquis Diento himself. A short time ago, royal forces had descended

upon the territory and seized control, putting Diento under the rule of the royal family.

At the time, many nobles had lodged complaints over such a heavy-handed attack on

one of their own.

The Rhoden Kingdom consisted of lands owned by the royal family but ruled by other

nobles. They were all constantly engaged in a bitter struggle as they vied for power. In

other words, the royal family needed the nobles. Deposing one of them made it seem

like they only wanted to increase their power base, even if it meant sacrificing allies

in the process.

Making matters worse, the marquis was a very influential man. The fact that the royal

family could take his lands with so little regard was cause for concern.

The official reason for this was that Marquis Diento had been abducting elves. Had this

been announced by Prince Sekt, it was likely that the nobles would have been

suspicious about the royal family's true intentions, but since it had come from Princess

Yuriarna, who was pushing for improved relations between the elves and the humans,

this lent the story more credence.

While the royal family had taken the lead in brokering a trade agreement with the

elves, it was the nobles who had the most to gain if they could finally get their hands

on cultivation rune stones. So they were hardly in a position to lodge formal

complaints against the royal family.

Since Luvierte shared a border with Diento, additional unannounced information had

also made its way across the border.

Officially, the story was that Marquis Diento had been removed from power and

executed, but in reality, the marquis had been dead before any of this took place. This

information wasn't exactly a secret. The people of Diento spoke of these rumors

openly. Anyone traveling through town would certainly have heard them.

"My father said that the marquis was attacked by elven soldiers who'd come to save

their kidnapped comrades. They destroyed his entire manor." Lauren stopped there

and looked off into the distance, as if she'd just come to an important realization.

Prince Sekt smirked again. "You are correct in your thinking, Miss Lauren. We believe

that Arc was one of the elves who assaulted Diento. He was in Luvierte to scout out

the surrounding lands."

Lauren frowned. Sekt's theory would answer a lot of her outstanding questions. Arc

wore such glamorous armor, and yet he never showed his face nor spoke of his

background. It also helped explain why he didn't have any money from Rhoden.

"He must be quite a nice guy to go out of his way and help a noble's daughter while on

a scouting mission." Prince Sekt chuckled to himself.

Arc had saved the life of a human, an enemy in a way, while preparing to rescue his

comrades who'd been abducted by the very same people.

"Regardless of Arc's motives, it doesn't change how grateful I am to him for saving me."

Lauren spoke with conviction.

Sekt smiled down at the young woman. "I must say, Miss Lauren, you and my sister

have a lot in common."

Lauren's eyes widened.

"Why do you look so surprised? No need to worry about being polite. Just tell me what

you were thinking." His lips turned up into a sly, almost teasing grin.

After a few tense moments, Lauren resolved to speak her mind. "You… You hate your

sister, don't you?"

She'd heard just how poor the relationship between Sekt and Yuriarna was. And ever

since Yuriarna had successfully brokered a trade deal with the elves, she'd gone from

the least likely candidate for succession to the next in line for the throne.

But Lauren sensed none of that when Sekt had mentioned his sister.

The prince forced a smile. "My, you're certainly a direct one. No, I don't hate Yuriarna.

But I suppose I don't particularly care for her either." He shrugged his shoulders and

sighed. "Everyone talks about this fight for succession, but I'm not even interested in

being king."

Sekt's confession took Lauren by surprise.

"I would want to be the king of a country so powerful that it never needs to worry

about foreign invasion. But Yuriarna is creating an entirely different type of nation."

"Foreign… invasion?"

Lauren cocked her head to the side.

The Rhoden Kingdom had been spared the pain of an invasion from foreign powers

for many generations. The only threats they had to face these days were those posed

by roaming monsters.

But the way Sekt saw it, the safety you enjoyed today was no assurance about what

awaited you tomorrow. Seeing the aftermath of the Holy Hilk Kingdom's invasion of

its neighbors only hardened that belief.

The Holy East Revlon Empire seemed capable of committing acts just as atrocious, if

not worse, than the Hilk.

"Do you know what kind of place the eastern empire is, Miss Lauren?"

This question caught her by surprise. She shook her head. "N-no, I don't. I know that

we share a border with them, but that's just a line on a map. In reality, they're quite

far from us, and the only information we receive is from the border towns. But there's

been an increase in monster activity along the border lately, so even that's been cut

off."

This was as much as she knew. Until recently, she'd been completely uninterested in

politics. But the bandit attack had changed all that. In fact, soon after, Viscount

Luvierte had sent soldiers out to learn more about who'd attacked his daughter and

why. Lauren began to hear rumors that another noble might have been pulling the

strings. This made her want to learn even more. After all, someone she'd previously

known absolutely nothing about had put her life in danger.

She'd joined her father on this trip to try to expand her horizons.

Sensing her inner turmoil, Sekt pressed the point. "I imagine there are few nobles who

understand the machinations of the eastern empire, or that the emperor has seized

control of all troops within his domain. Do you realize the implications of that?"

This, Lauren could answer. "If the emperor controls all the troops, then that means no

one in the empire, nobility or otherwise, can stand against him. Right?"

Sekt nodded. "That's correct. If the emperor were to give the order to invade a

neighboring nation, the army would mobilize right away. Do you think we could move

with the same haste?"

Lauren shook her head. Each of the lords in the Rhoden Kingdom maintained their

own armies, as did the royal family. Were the king to try to muster all the nation's

troops, each of the nobles would command their own soldiers. Assuming they even

responded to the call, which was in itself unlikely.

Those living on the far side of the country would likely refuse, on the grounds that

moving their troops such a long way came at an exorbitant cost. And those who

disapproved of the king's decision would simply balk at the request.

The royal forces were superior in both number and training to any of those owned by

the other nobles, but they would still be woefully insufficient if they had to face off

against the rest of Rhoden's nobility… let alone the imperial army.

Though not impossible, it was unrealistic to mobilize all military forces in Rhoden—a

problem the Holy East Revlon Empire didn't have.

"The eastern empire's greatest enemy, the western empire, operates in a system very

similar to ours, though obviously on a very different scale. Were the eastern empire to

attack its enemy to the west, it would easily have the advantage. One by one, individual

states would fall as the lords in the capital debated over the best course of action…

until the threat was right on its doorstep."

"Was that your reason for aligning with the western empire?" Lauren asked. "Because

you believe the northern continent will soon become embroiled in a massive war?"

If he felt that the eastern empire posed an existential threat, then perhaps he thought

it best to join forces with the only ally that could stand against them. Maybe he'd been

trying to avoid conflict all along.

Sekt let out a self-deprecating laugh and dodged her question. "Well, that's no longer

necessary now."

Lauren frowned, puzzled by his response. "What do you mean by that?"

"There will be an announcement shortly, but Yuriarna has entered into a new treaty

with the elves and beast people. The Nohzan Kingdom is also a signatory."

The revelation stunned Lauren, though Sekt spoke of it as if it were nothing of note.

She grew even more surprised as he detailed what the treaty entailed.

In addition to serving as a pact of mutual nonaggression for all signatories, the treaty

also immediately set free all enslaved beast people and ensured their rights and

liberties by prohibiting acts such as unjust imprisonment and the buying or selling of

slaves. Considering the large number of nobles who enslaved beast people, Lauren

could easily imagine the resistance the king would face.

Fortunately, this wasn't much of a problem for Luvierte, as there were relatively few

enslaved beast people there. But some of the larger domains, with massive labor needs

to run their farming operations, would have a large number of slaves. This meant that

there would be a great deal of pushback against the treaty from the nobles of those

domains, possibly leading to a rift between them and the king.

Lauren's voice trembled as she struggled to find the right words. "I… there's no way

the nobles will agree to such drastic terms without protest."

Sekt laughed darkly. "That's right."

It was clear from his expression that he was already well aware of what was about to

happen. Princess Yuriarna, the one who'd proposed the treaty in the first place, had to

know as well.

"Will you use the cultivation rune stones as bartering chips?"

Sekt let out a low, sly chuckle. "Yuriarna will certainly give it a try, but anyone who

takes a stand against the treaty will likely see the elves as their enemy."

On the other hand, the royal family and the elves together would have more than

enough power to expel anyone who disagreed with the terms of the treaty. Perhaps

the royal family was even hoping that some nobles might object, in order to give them

an excuse to root them out.

But something still nagged at Lauren. "Why are you telling me all this?"

Sekt shrugged. "Consider it a gift in return for your father's charity. It's up to you

whether you keep it to yourself or pass it on. But I'll leave you with a warning. I pray

that you never do anything to cross that man."

Prince Sekt spun on his heel and marched off down the hall.

As Lauren watched him grow smaller and smaller, Rita spoke up from behind her, the

worry clear in her voice. "What do you think about all that?"

"We should ask Father what to do. We don't want to add any more fuel to the fire of

resistance."

Lauren and Rita turned in the opposite direction that Prince Sekt had gone and

hurried to Viscount Luvierte's quarters.