Prince Jeremy looked at the door with a pleading expression on his face. Then, he sighed.

"Mother and Father aren't back yet," Jeremy said.

"It's been five minutes," Dʰéǵʰom stated.

"It's been five minutes," I relayed.

Prince Jeremy let out a deep groan, putting his head in his hands.

"I feel like I've been here for days," he said.

"This wouldn't be so boring if you helped me with my marriage talks," Prince Wisimir replied.

"My parents would never agree to marry someone as valuable as Saint Gustav to a foreign monarch," Jeremy scoffed. "You can give up on your sister marrying him."

Well, things were not going well. I looked at Queen Hildoara, and she gave me a pleading expression. If only I knew what she wanted me to do about this. Well, I might as well be honest.

"I'm not really that valuable. I'm just some guy," I said.

Prince Jeremy looked at me as if I was an idiot.

"Are you joking, Saint Gustav? You saved the economy of the entire continent, tamed a wild dragon, and made a beneficial trade agreement with the Dark Elves! You are an incredibly valuable man," he stated.

"I mean, it wasn't that big a deal. You could probably find someone else to do that," I said.

Dʰéǵʰom burst out laughing.

"It looks like it's Prince Jeremy's turn to find out that you have no self-awareness!" he stated.

"I have plenty of self-awareness!" I thought.

"Most people wouldn't even try to do half of what you've done!"

"No, they just don't have the opportunity to try! It's entirely circumstantial!"

Prince Jeremy sighed.

"Whether or not you are valuable is not for you to decide. Your value is based on how the king sees you," he said.

"From a practical perspective, that is true. As a matter of principle, however, it is different," Queen Hildoara replied. "What would your father think of you saying that?"

"Father would disagree. He would say that the people of Greenrivers have a certain value regardless of what their king thinks of them or how useful they are. However, I find matters of philosophy to be useless. Unless it has some real-world application, I am not interested," Prince Jeremy stated.

Duke Caraini cleared his throat so loudly that I thought my ears would bleed.

"I believe we should focus on lessening tensions, Your Majesty, your Royal Highnesses, and Saint Gustav. Perhaps some humor would lighten the mood?" he suggested. "Or perhaps our resident Saint could tell us something interesting he learned from being a Saint?"

Dʰéǵʰom groaned.

"They have no idea how terrible an idea that is," he said.

"It sounds like a great idea to me," I thought.

"You're probably going to tell them about the French Revolution or something."

"That's a great idea! Thanks! I was going to tell them about the Trojan War."

Dʰéǵʰom let out a deep sigh.

"Fuck."

I addressed everyone in the room.

"Alright, I'll tell you a story Dʰéǵʰom told me about another world. Specifically, it's about a place called France and a revolution they had," I said.

"Why did they revolt?" Prince Wisimir asked.

"Their king wasn't doing a very good job, so they revolted and cut his head off," I answered. "Then, they decided that they didn't want to have kings at all anymore."

Complete and utter shock coated everyone in the room.

"I can understand deposing a tyrant," Queen Hildoara said. "I did it myself, but throwing out the monarchy as a whole?"

Then, I held up a hand.

"The king they overthrew wasn't a tyrant. He was an incompetent weakling who could barely make a decision on his own," I clarified.

Prince Jeremy nodded.

"If he was that weak, he deserved to be overthrown. And I guess he did such a horrible job that he ruined kings for everyone in France," he said.

"That's a...not really good way of summing things up. People in the countryside still largely supported the monarchy, but people in the cities hated it," I replied.

Prince Jeremy raised an eyebrow.

"Then why didn't the people in the countryside try to stop their king from being overthrown?"

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"They did. They just failed," I said.

"Well, at least someone tried to preserve the natural order," Prince Jeremy noted.

He folded his arms.

"So, what did the French people do after they got rid of the monarchy?" Queen Hildoara asked.

"They tried to create a republic where people would vote for their leaders. It was founded based on the ideals of liberty, fraternity, and equality," I answered. "Then, a guy named Robespierre took over. He started cutting peoples' heads off to keep them in line. The whole thing ended up getting called the Reign of Terror. Robespierre said that he was doing it to protect the revolution, but he really just wanted to be in charge."

"So, he just wanted to be king himself?"

I shook my head.

"No. He didn't want to be king," I said.

"But you said he wanted to be in charge," Queen Hildoara pointed out.

"I did. But that doesn't mean he wanted to be king," I clarified. "He wanted to be a god."

Everyone in the room facepalmed.

"They overthrew their king and replaced him with a madman," Prince Jeremy groaned.

"Well, the French eventually cut Robespierre's head off and started another republic. Then, that got overthrown by Napoleon, who declared himself emperor," I said.

"And Napeoleon's bloodline stayed?" Queen Hildoara asked.

"Good guess, but actually no. Some people wanted it to, but the nobles of other nations didn't like that Napoleon was born a commoner. So, they overthrew him. Then, France flip-flopped between monarchies and republics for a while. Eventually, it settled on a republic."

I smiled.

"And everyone lived happily ever after."

"Well, at least it ended well," Hildoara said.

"Until the Nazis invaded, put France under foreign rule for years, and massacred a lot of its people before France was liberated," I stated.

Silence overtook the room. I heard Dʰéǵʰom bashing his head against a wall.

"So, did things go well in the end or not?" Prince Wisimar asked.

"Let's give it another century or two and see what historians have to say," I answered.

"Well, I think the lesson here is to be a good monarch," Queen Hildoara said. "Or you'll get your head cut off."

"I think the lesson here is that if someone wants to start something called the Reign of Terror, you should cut his head off," Prince Jeremy stated.

"I'd say the lesson is to not trust kings or anyone else with absolute power. Though, Napoleon was a pretty good leader," I thought before speaking. "I think there are multiple lessons here. These historical events can teach more than one thing."

Prince Wisimir nodded.

"Saint Gustav is very wise. He would make a very good king," he said. "And I'm certain he'd remain loyal to Greenrivers. Dʰéǵʰom would not make someone disloyal into a saint."

"He has a point," Dʰéǵʰom admitted.

"Absolutely not," Prince Jeremy shot him a glare.

The door opened. King Eduard the Defenestrator, Queen Eleanor, and a man in priest vestments entered the room. With a solemn expression, the priest walked right over to me. He knelt.

"You may speak," I said.

"Saint Gustav, it is a true honor to meet you," the priest replied. "I am Bishop Adamar."

"It's nice to meet you too."

The bishop stood upright, as dignified as he could. His gaze was filled with trepidation.

"Please tell me, Saint Gustav, how strong the pull you felt was," he said.

"It was a pretty strong urge," I stated.

"I see. Now, tell me, did it give you an exact place or a vague sense of direction?"

"A vague sense of direction."

Bishop Adamar nodded. He then turned to King Eduard and Queen Eleanor.

"I'd say he has two weeks before the pull becomes irresistible," Adamar said.

"Two weeks?" King Eduard grimaced. "And he can resist up to then?"

"In theory. In practice, the pull of the Equinox becomes more difficult to resist as time passes. Two weeks from now, it will be strong enough that no one will be able to resist it. But I am not certain how long Saint Gustav will be able to."

A contemplative look crossed Queen Eleanor's face.

"And will he be able to perform any duties with the pull, or will it be too much of a distraction?" she asked.

"At first, it will not be much of a distraction. Eventually, it will take all of Saint Gustav's efforts to not follow it. During that time, it will become increasingly distracting and he will be less effective at his duties," Bishop Adamar answered. "I believe the best thing you can do is help him get to the Saints' gathering and communicate with him along the way through crystal balls."

I planted my head on the table. A large thumping sound echoed out.

"It's going to be a while before I'm back home. I want to see my parents again. I haven't even had a chance to talk to them in person since before I went to the Dark Elf kingdom," I thought before speaking. "It looks like I'm not getting a chance to stay in one place for more than five minutes."

Bishop Adamar put a hand on my shoulder.

"Do not lose heart, Saint Gustav. The gathering of the saints is a great honor! The Equinox does not come often, and only those with magic can hope to see more than one of them," he said.

I had to suppress a grim chuckle.

"If only he knew about my old world where the Equinox happens twice a year. Then again, it's probably a good thing that it only happens once a century here. The saints would never be able to get anything done otherwise," I thought.

"We gods actually made the Equinox only happen once a century in this world on purpose. We thought the gathering of the saints should be something special," Dʰéǵʰom explained.

"Good job, God of Exposition!"

"Thank you, Saint Gustav."

King Eduard grimaced.

"You may leave now, Bishop Adamar," he said.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The bishop bowed and exited the room. Then, King Eduard turned to Duke Armand.

"We can still hold crystal ball meetings with Saint Gustav, so this doesn't impede those plans too much. But other plans of yours are impeded," the king said.

"Do not worry, Your Majesty," Duke Armand replied. "I had contingency plans made just for this instance."

"And what might those be?"

Duke Armand flipped the board around, revealing another conspiracy theorist web. He pointed at several parts of it.

"We send the nobles we suspect are secret agents of the Motteburh agenda with Saint Gustav. Then, if they try to recruit him on his journey to the saint gathering, we can have them fed to some monster Saint Gustav meets along the way," Duke Armand said.

"I'd prefer it if they were thrown out a window, but that is still an excellent plan," King Eduard replied.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Duke Armand bowed.

"Well, then, I will have a meeting with my advisors and talk to you all about it later," Queen Hildoara said. "Goodbye for now."

With that, she and the other Vandals disconnected from the crystal ball call. Prince Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Next time we have a meeting with Vandalland, we should keep Prince Wisimir out of it. He kept trying to get Saint Gustav to marry Queen Hildoara."

"I trust that you have no intention of accepting, Saint Gustav," King Eduard's cold gaze turned to me.

"Even if I wanted to accept, I have no right to, Your Majesty. I know Greenrivers law. All marriages involving foreign nobility must be approved by the king," I said.

"Good. Remember the law, Saint Gustav," King Eduard advised. "I will make sure you are rightly compensated for your service to Greenrivers, the first compensation coming tomorrow. So, do not worry about personal gain."

"Well, fuck. I haven't done anything for Greenrivers, so I'm not going to get any reward," I thought.

"Dammit, Gustav," Dʰéǵʰom muttered.