Alicia drags me by my hand and the six guards follow closely behind.
"Alicia, what's going on?" I ask Alicia whilst checking if my guns are still with me.
"The Pope and King are requesting our presence in the Neutral Grounds." Alicia answers in a serious tone.
We finally reach the so called Neutral Grounds and I see The Pope and the King and a few guards surrounding them.
There is a table in the middle of the grounds and both the Pope and King are sitting behind it.
--- Alicia's POV ---
"Ah. You are here Alicia. Please, take a seat." The King tells me to sit down behind a round table.
As I sit down, the six guards surround the table as well and Hayden stands right behind me.
"We have gathered here today... To talk about you and Hayden, Alicia.. We know that you are leaving soon since the Goddess has told us but... There's a question we have. Who exactly is Hayden? Both of us have tried to get near that Flying Iron Cart that he brought here but that weird ball chased us away. What is he hiding from us?" The Pope starts this meeting with a bunch of questions.
"Hayden is my brother. And that Iron Cart is a helicopter, which I am not sure how he got it, and the ball is Ion. Also. Don't call Ion a ball again... It's rude. I don't really think he is hiding much except food and drink. But even I haven't been near the helicopter yet so I don't know." I answer truthfully since lying will get me nowhere with these two.
The Pope and King start talking to eachother for a long time and I notice Hayden looking around at the statues surrounding us.
--- Hayden's POV ---
"Interested in the statues?" Alicia asks me suddenly.
"Quite. They look carefully sculpted. Like somebody dedicated their entire life just to make one." I answer Alicia's question.
Alicia laughs a little before looking at me again.
"You just told the truth. Each and every one of these fifteen sculptures were made by a different master of scuplting. All as their last sculpture in their life. They represent all the different kings that have ruled this country. Also, do you see that empty hallway?" Alicia points towards a hallway that is actually completely empty and seemingly leads to nowhere.
"I do see it. I don't see it's point though. Why is it there, oh most intelligent sister of mine?" I ask Alicia.
She giggles even more, attracting the attention of the Pope and King who do not say anything and just look at me and Alicia speaking.
"That's for the future kings. Since this room is full, all the other kings will be sculpted in there." Alicia answers while still giggling a little.
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"It seems the two want to speak to you again but before they do... How do you know so much, Alicia?" I ask Alicia as I actually am curious how she knows this much.
Alicia looks at the vice-captain and says something and she brings out a huge book from the hallway.
"That, is how I know so much. It's the history book of this Kingdom and Papacy. Most of the time I spent here was reading that one book as I had nothing else to do here.
I couldn't train with a sword... My body is too weak for that... I couldn't learn the magic everybody is talking about as nobody was here to teach me...
It was truly boring until you came, Brother!" Alicia answers and then turns towards the two again and she starts talking to them again in one of the most serious tones I have ever heard.
I take the book from the vice-captain and try to read through it slowly but as I cannot read... At all... It's useless to me.
(At least there are pictures.. I'll try to figure out what it's talking about based on these.)
--- Alicia's POV ---
"Why are you two looking at me like you just saw a ghost?" I ask the two who have their mouths open.
"You... You just laughed... And even giggled... Not even our best jester or comedian could do that!" The King shouts out immediatly
"What a fearful foe... A foe worth bowing down to..." The Pope is muttering something and I get even more confused.
"What do you mean? Well. Let's get back on topic. Anything else about Hayden and I?" I just want to get this meeting finished to continue my trip with Hayden...
"One question. How long until you leave?" The King immediatly asks me.
"I think in about two days? That should be enough time to introduce Hayden to the area near the castle." Another truthful answer from me.
"Ah... Well. I don't think we have any more questions. You are free to go..." They let me leave the meeting room but it seems like they have a lot more questions but can't ask while Hayden is nearby.
(Well, whatever! I can continue on my trip with Hayden!)
I get up from the seat, bow and then grab Hayden's hand and leave the room with Hayden and the six guards.
--- After Alicia has left, inside the Neutral Grounds ---
"Truce?" The King suddenly asks the Pope.
"Truce. Even if we tried to keep her here no matter what... She would still follow Hayden. We have no reason to quarrel.
But such a fearsome foe that Hayden is. Effortlessly making her laugh even though both of us hired the best comedians in the kingdom to try and make her laugh sometimes..." The Pope answers the King.
"It seems she feels safe around Hayden. The Six Holy Guards seemed to be relaxed as well near him. I wonder what happened between the eight of them in the span of a day..." The King asks the Pope and the guards but they can't answer.
This conversation kept on going until it was evening and they still couldn't exactly figure out what could've happened between them.
----- Information Transmission ----
Page 964 of the History of the Island Kingdom and the Papacy.
"The Great King Urion and the Great Pope Kantrico once more united to face the common threat of the Raiders.
The Raiders were fiercer than usual, possibly here only to get revenge for their fallen bretheren or the previous king of the Raiders, High King Jullo, who was defeat by Urion in a legendary duel.
The number of Raiders had quadrupled and their ferocity had doubled.
The United Army of Urion and Kantrico met them near the town of Kvuli.
The stale-mate lasted for sixty entire days but the Raiders seemingly hadn't lost a single shred of morale and were still as ferocious. Both sides had casualties but the raiders had a lot more than the United Army.
It is still unknown why but on the 61'st day, the Raiders suddenly attacked full-force, instead of their usual small band skirmishes, and didn't stop attacking until the last one was dead.
75 915 United Army men died in the glorious battle whilst the Raiders lost their entire army, 250 000.
A monument has been built where the battle had taken place.
The Monument is also a grave to the Three. Jullo, Urion and Kantrico. Urion and Kantrico both asked for their bodies to be buried near the Monument and Jullo's body to be burned near it, as per the Raider customs."
--- Information Transmission Ended ---