King Ebrardus
It took some time to reach the gate of the palace. During the way from the city gate to the palace gate, Xander looked around. The city was clean, the road was built nicely. There were many shops on the way. People were walking here and there, the whole city was lively. Upon a glance, one could tell the difference between the living conditions of these two kingdoms. There were many factors for the bad condition of the people of Etherac. There two main reasons one is the small population of the Kingdom of Etherac and second is that the kingdom is surrounded by Demonic beasts from 3 sides. It is a miracle that they are still alive, this credit goes to the ability of the kings and administration of the Kingdom of Etherac. But this bad condition will be improved under the reign of Xander.
The whole group of 23 peoples reached the palace gate. Guards went towards them to check their identity and purpose. He was slightly nervous and hesitating as the group seems to be dangerous and menacing. They had cuts and wounds all over the body, their aura doesn't let anyone approach them. The group showed their identities and told their purpose. Upon hearing that the king of the Kingdom of Etherac came himself, the guard sprinted towards the palace to inform the king.
The group was led to the meeting hall.
Xander entered the meeting hall. It was very big there was a big table in the center and many chairs surrounded the table. One middle-aged less than 50 years old man was sitting on the chair. He wore a red royalty robe with beautiful golden embroidery. He seemed to be young as compared to his face. He had a well-built physique, his muscles were hidden under clothes. He had a small beard on his face and a golden spiky crown on his head. He looked quite kind by his appearance. He was King of Kingdom of Ocawyth Nerevau Von Ebrardus.
Xander went forward to greet the king. King Ebrardus also in return greet Xander they both went towards the table and sat on the chair. King Ebrardus bent slightly forward to pick up the teacup placed on the table. King Ebrardus looked at Xander and his men with quite an interest.
"Xander what happened why are you all injured and what's with the cut on your face?"
"Ah, It's just a few Demonic beasts attacked us during our way to the kingdom"
"How many beasts attacked that it made 23 persons injured?"
Xander replied slightly scratching his head "There were 9 Beasts, 2 Rank H and 7 Rank I"
Upon hearing that Two Rank H attacked together, he was shocked and suddenly stood from his chair
"You escaped from two Rank H and 7 Rank I beasts with slight injuries, you're lucky" king's shock was Valid as more than 10 skilled soldiers are required to kill just one Rank H and they were two attacked by two at the same time on top of there were 7 Rank I beasts also. If there were 50 soldiers Then they could kill them with great difficulty and still half of the soldiers would definitely die.
Suddenly, Dye who was sitting on the left side of the Xander spoke "We did not escape." king Ebrardus sceptically looked towards Dye. Xander looked at King Ebrardus expression. He introduced Dye to the king "Ah, Dye is the commander of the army of the kingdom of Etherac and also my childhood and best friend."
King Ebrardus nodded, He looked towards Dye and asked while taking a sip of tea "So what were you trying to say?"
Dye replied, "I was saying that we didn't just escape, Xander and Master Reignald killed both Rank H beasts alone and rest of the soldiers killed Rank I beasts and there ware no casualties just slight injuries."
Pffft King Ebrardus threw tea from his mouth upon hearing Dye "Really Xander killed a Rank H beast alone?" After listening to King Ebrardus question Dye nodded.
Upon hearing his praise Xander became slightly embarrassed.
King Ebrardus roared with laughter "Tiger will give birth to tiger only, As father as a son!" upon saying this King Ebrardus again roared with laughter. "Your father Beatric Fitzherbert Arthur and me were, you can say best friends. your father saved my life from a Demonic beast of Rank G. He was one of the few people who fought with Rank G alone and killed it in the end. One time he made a Rank F beast to retreat by injuring it badly." Everyone was listening very attentively. King Ebrardus continued "After that incident, we became great friends, Upon the birth of my daughter Elisia for our friendship and our relation we betrothed you to my daughter."
Upon hearing King Ebrardus Xander's ears became slightly red and became slightly hot.
After talking about his daughter's marriage King Ebrardus became slightly depressed. Upon seeing his depressive expression Xander asked "What happened, Is there any problem with Lady Elisia."
"Well It is no problem now but was in the past before, I knew about your strength. My daughter is slightly interested in swordsmanship and his only condition for marriage is that she will only marry with man stronger than him. Well, my daughter is slightly strong as skilled soldiers couldn't even touch when sparring so I was slightly nervous but now I am assured."
Xander nodded "Well thank you for your kind words and I will do my best. And Yes I brought some gifts from the Kingdom of Etherac."
Xander gave King Ebrardus 1000 papers and 20 Ink bottles. King Ebrardus received papers and ink and started to inspect and asked curiously" Xander what is this rectangular sheet, this is so white? This ink is quite dense and looked good."
Xander replied "This rectangular sheet is called Paper, this is made in my kingdom only. This paper is used to write something in place of hides. You can try and write something."
King Ebrardus took a bird feather and dip in the inkpot and wrote his name on the paper. He firstly shocked then his eyes lit up" Xander this item called paper is so amazing, it is so clean and white and this ink so good it felt so smooth to write. This will be expensive right?"
A slight smile appeared on Xander's face. He replied "No, your highness it isn't 10 hides are sold for 1 gold while 100 papers will be sold for 1 gold. As for inkpot one bottle will be sold for 50 silvers."
King Ebrardus eyes slightly lit up " So cheap, Sell me these every month on this prize. how many can you make for me every month? I will buy all of it."
Xander thought for a few moments. He replied after calculating " I'm planning to expand factories of these so I can sell you approx 80,000 papers and 3000 inkpots every month, for now, in future we will increase the production."
King Ebrardus nodded "This thing will be popular in all the kingdoms, you can trade with other kingdoms too. But you have to be cautious and always keep your guard up, there will be many who will try to disrupt or destroy your Business or kingdom."
"Thank you, I will always keep your advice in mind."
"Good boy, I arranged your stay here in the palace, rest there for now and also I will introduce you to my daughter."
Xander nodded. Xander and other soldiers got outside of the hall and went to their arranged rooms.
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In the meeting hall,
An old man around 55 years old was standing near the King Ebrardus "Your highness, will he be a good match for princes Elisia?"
King Ebrardus showed a smile to his adviser "We can not find a more able and good person in our whole continent. You tell me how many 15 years old boy can fight Rank H beasts and eventually killed. He even invented this thing called paper, It will draw him a huge amount of money. From his behaviour towards his soldiers, he looks kind. He is strong and has money, What more anyone wants?"
"Yes your highness, I didn't think of all that."
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Xander was laying on his bed. He heard a knocking sound on the door. He got up and opened the door. A soldier was standing in front of the door."Your Highness, King Ebrardus sent me to call you to the palace garden."
"OK, just wait a minute, just let me change my clothes."
"As you wish your highness. I will wait here."
Xander changed his clothes. He wore a white beautiful shirt with Dark blue pants. Over the white shirt, He wore an Expensive brown coat which just looked like a Royalty robe But It gives the feel of a modern long coat. He wore black leather shoes. He was shining from top to bottom and looking handsome. He opened the door and went with a soldier to the Palace garden.
He reached after 5 minutes of walking. There were Four chairs around a small table. Few Chairs and a Table were surrounded with beautiful green grass. One chair King Ebrardus was sitting on his left, A very beautiful woman around 45 years old was sitting, she was the queen of the kingdom of Ocawyth Queen Crestienne. And in the front seat of King Ebrardus sat a woman around 14 or 15 years, she was very pretty. She was the most beautiful girl that Xander had ever seen. She was the daughter of King Ebrardus, Princess Elisia.
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Elisia POV
Her father called her to the garden but didn't tell any reason. She went to the garden where her father and mother were already sitting. She went and sat on the chair which was in front of her father. She opened her mouth to speak when suddenly two persons were coming straight towards them. She looked at them, One of the men was a soldier. She looked at the other person, He was a 6 ft tall handsome young man around her age. He had a cut on his right side of the face which made his look cool and that of a fierce warrior. He was looking so handsome that any woman will even kill for him. He was wearing clothes that were quite unusual and she had never seen that type of clothes before. She was staring at her with quiet interest and a slight blush came on to her face.
POV end
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Xander went towards them, he greeted the three of them and The three of them greeted in return. King Ebrardus Introduced Xander to his wife and daughter.
"This young man is King of Kingdom of Etherac and Son of my best friend." then He introduced His daughter to Xander "Xander, this is my daughter Elisia, she is engaged to you at the time of her birth." Xander became slightly embarrassed and slightly blushed. At that time Elisia was staring at him nonstop. Upon seeing her directly staring at him, he embarrassingly scratched his head. He went to the empty seat sat on it. He chatted with them for quite a time before going to the room. He even chatted with Princess Elisia alone for some time. As her father told Xander she challenged him for a sparring match, Xander accepted that they will spar tomorrow in the morning during training. Xander used his skill status check on her She was level 7 and had Swordsmanship at level 6.