Mike discreetly wiped the sweat from his brow. The two paladins towering over him watched his every move. He had never felt so... small, like an insect about to be crushed under a giant's foot.
"Some more wine, Your Highness?" he asked.
"No, thank you," the prince replied with a charming smile. "I'd prefer the same fruit juice Lady Lores is drinking."
"Of course, sir, just a moment!" Mike answered, pulling a couple of fruits from his inventory and preparing to squeeze them under the vigilant eyes of the paladins.
If he had known his job would be this stressful, he might not have volunteered for it. He thought yesterday was the most stressful day, and indeed it was stressful, but today was worse, and it was not yet over…
Yesterday, the visit of the little princess had come just after the judge announced his verdict. It had been a strange judgment day. The judge had entered the room accompanied by ten guards with more left to guard the corridor.
In that cramped room, surrounded by guards, he launched into a lengthy tirade, complaining about being forced to handle this high-profile trial so quickly and in such a place. Desperate to ease the tension, Mike offered him a glass of wine during a brief pause. To Mike’s surprise, the judge accepted—and eventually downed two bottles—ranting all the while. After asking a few irrelevant questions, he finally sentenced Lady Lores to thirty-three days of penitence.
It almost seemed as though the sentence had already been decided beforehand, and the judge had entered the cell just to complete a formality.
It was unclear what that sentence entailed, but it seemed she had to remain in this temporary prison. She might be asked to do some communal work, but nothing was decided yet. Worse still, the judge ordered Mike to deliver ten bottles of the same wine to his residence by the evening, under threat of penalties.
And just when Mike wanted to run and buy the wine for the judge, the little princess came to visit, and he had to stay to satisfy all her whims. She wanted some honey cake, then a juice. What would they have done if he hadn't been there?
Luckily, he had some cakes and honey on hand, so he had quickly ‘made’ the honey cookies. But they acted as if he had to solve everything! His budget was limited, even though Alice had given him gold, as if she somehow knew what might happen.
In the evening, he had to rush to buy the wine, begging the handler who had already closed his business, then find the judge's residence.
At least tonight, he hoped to meet Elenia. She had replied to his message, even though he knew the one silver it had cost was a lot for her family.
With that thought in mind, he served the prince the juice with a cheerful face.
“Hmm! Exquisite!” the prince exclaimed. “Sir Gamesh, have the cook get the recipe, will you?”
“Of course, my prince,” the paladin responded.
The prince then turned to continue his conversation with his charming companion: Lores. She was also clearly enjoying herself, speaking freely with the prince as if they were old friends. He was surprised to see how smooth and free the conversation flowed.
When the prince finally left, after the paladin named Gamesh had reminded him a couple of times that they were late to another very important meeting, Mike almost crumbled to the floor out of exhaustion. It was good to feel Lores’ hand on his shoulder, steadying him.
“You did well,” she said.
Those simple words touched him in a surprising way, energizing and giving him confidence. Was there magic at play? He didn't know, but it felt good.
It was fortunate that she had reset the curse shortly before the prince had entered; otherwise, who knows what might have happened. She reset it again now, just to be sure.
Tired as he was, Mike walked like a sleepwalker to their new home. As he entered the apartment, he found everyone gathered in the main room.
Hew was just asking Tom.
“So, what did you learn?” Hew asked, but before Tom could answer, Lynx cut him off.
“Let's hear the news from Mike first,” he said, looking at him with keen eyes.
Mike sighed but nodded; however, he barely had time to nod and say “OK” before Tina interrupted.
“Wow! You’ve leveled up—you’re at level six now!” she shrieked in surprise.
Mike raised a brow. “Hah, who would’ve thought? Enduring those two high-level paladins might’ve had some perks after all!”
“How high? What level were they?” Michael asked.
“And why were they even there?” Tom added.
“Let the boy tell his story,” Ju sighed, trying to halt the interruptions. Mike shot her a grateful glance.
“Well, we had a visit from the prince today.” he managed to say.
“What? You mean Prince Kotusawendu?” Tina asked, her eyes wide. Mike nodded, and Tina couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow, after the princess, now the prince? Lores sure knows how to network!”
“He was escorted by two level ninety paladins,” Mike explained. “I was sweating the whole time under their aura—it was really tough to do my butler duties like that.”
Alice nodded. "No surprise there—being around two such high-level individuals is bound to have an effect. Even if they don’t mean any harm, they need to keep their auras up, constantly scanning the area to protect the prince. That kind of pressure would stress anyone out. There are fewer than twenty people in this entire kingdom with levels above ninety, and you met two of them? Sir Gamesh is Kotusawendu's bodyguard, but I wonder who the second one was. Did the prince ask about Lores' sentence?"
Mike shook his head. "No. From what I gathered, the sentence is final. If everything goes smoothly, Lores should be out in thirty-two days."
"Then why was he there?" Ju asked.
"Probably to check on Lores after the princess visited her the day before," Alice speculated, shaking her head. "The queen might’ve sent him, and the second paladin could’ve been one of her bodyguards. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned to the princess that I know Lores..."
"I think you handled it well, and honestly, I believe the prince might like Lores," Mike said.
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To his surprise, Ju didn’t seem too pleased by this.
"Uh," Ju sighed, "Palace politics is a labyrinth, filled with pitfalls and hidden traps. We should stay as far away from it as possible."
"Why do you say that?" Tom asked. "Could you give us a quick rundown? You know, like 'Palace Intrigues for Dummies'? And how does all this connect to Lores and her freeing this poor boy who just sits innocently in the corner?” He pointed at the elf boy, who looked up in surprise, clearly aware they were talking about him.
Ju sighed, raising her hand, and the boy hurried over to her, like a chick seeking shelter under its mother hen.
"For starters, most of the kingdom’s slaves are Vynaians," she explained. "Entire armies were defeated and captured, and even now, twenty years later, they remain enslaved. The queen herself is Vynaian. The lesser nobility, who didn’t fight against the Guaravian army, are seen as traitors by the other Vynaians. So, in their eyes, the queen is a traitor."
She gently caressed the boy’s head as he leaned against her, his curiosity evident as he peeked out from under her arm. He was starting to feel more comfortable with the group. Ju continued, her voice soft but firm.
"The queen is pushing for a new law that would allow families to buy the freedom of their relatives still enslaved. It hasn’t passed the high council yet, but the idea is gaining traction. If prisoners from other countries can be freed this way, why not Vynaians? However, many Guaravian nobles fear a revolt, worrying that freed slaves might seek revenge.
The King’s rule is widely seen as just, which keeps the empire stable. But some high-ranking Guaravians aren’t satisfied with their share of the spoils. They question why any Vynaian nobles still exist, why their lands weren’t confiscated and given to Guaravian heroes who bled for the empire in countless wars.
Here in the capital, most of the students are Vynaians. This was once the heart of their empire, and the majority of the population is still Vynaian. The movement to free the slaves is essentially a Vynaian movement, but they’re careful not to make it too obvious. Instead of outright demanding the freedom of all Vynaian slaves, they push for the freedom of all slaves. There are various proposals, one suggesting that all slaves, like debt slaves who are freed after seven years, should be released after a certain period of servitude. Why not free all prisoners of war after twenty years?"
"That explains the positive reaction to Lores freeing a slave, even though he was an elf," Ju continued. "In fact, some newspapers didn’t even mention that he was an elf. The prince and princess support some form of freedom for former prisoners of war, but they’re in a delicate position. To the Vynaians, they’re the children of a traitoress; to the Guaravians, they’re enemy Vynaians. Both sides view them with suspicion, and their only real power comes from the King. As long as the King supports his wife and children, they’re safe, but if anything happens to him or he changes his mind... Well, that’s why getting too close to them could drag Lores into even more trouble."
Ju paused, giving Tom a knowing look. "Does that clear things up a bit?"
Tom nodded. "Yeah, it does. But what about the role of religions in all this?"
Ju sighed, then covered her face with her hands and began to laugh softly.
"You're opening a whole can of worms with that question. There are countless factions, and much of the infighting stems from different religious sects. The Vynaian Empire was open to all faiths, with three major religions and dozens of smaller sects, all kept in a delicate balance by the emperor.
Guarava, on the other hand, was dominated by the Twin Gods religion. It had a minor presence in the empire before, but now it's spreading rapidly, especially within the capital. Although they’re still a relatively small group, they have strong backing from many Guaravian nobles and merchants. Most of their new converts are here in the capital, where the religion might soon rival the other three major faiths. So, we could say there are four major religions here now.
"What religion does the king follow?" Michael asked.
"He’s said to follow the Twin Gods religion, being Guaravian himself, but his tolerance doesn’t sit well with the Guaravian priests. His wife, the queen, is rumored to be a follower of Sheeba, the Goddess of Fire, a belief held by a small religious community in the northwest. It’s also whispered that their children follow Sheeba, but if that’s true, it’s a closely guarded secret. They were baptized by the Twin Gods priests and participate in all the major ceremonies. The Guaravian clergy would love to see their religion become the state religion, as it was in Guaravia, but doing so would likely spark revolts across most, if not all, of the empire's provinces."
"Okay, I got your point, now I see why you call it a labyrinth full of pitfalls and hidden traps," Tom said, nodding in understanding. He then turned to Mike. "Sorry for the interruption. Please, go on..."
Mike took a sip of the juice Tina had served him and sighed. "Why couldn’t I borrow the food bag to serve all those people visiting Lores?" he wondered aloud.
"We went over this yesterday, Mike," Ju replied. "You just don’t have enough mana to use it properly. Even Tina’s relying on my mana, or Alice’s, or Lynx’s. Lores isn’t supposed to be using her mana in prison, and besides, food made with her mana is... well, it’s like throwing random mushrooms into a stew. We’ve tested it."
Mike sighed again. "Yeah, but it would be so useful. Why couldn’t I ask the paladins to spare some mana?"
Tom laughed, "You mean the random mushrooms stew would be useful?" Tina joined in with a chuckle, while Ju sighed, and Alice stepped in to explain.
"They might suspect you’re trying to take samples from their mana to access some forbidden areas. And what if they say it's fine to use Lores' mana? Then what do you do? Plus, magical items like this are rare and have a limited lifespan. We agreed it’s better to save it for when we really need it and to limit its use. So, did anything else happen?"
Mike nodded. "The prince stayed with us for more than an hour. He talked a lot with Lores, trying to get a sense of who she is, what her beliefs are, what she wants, who her friends are—things like that."
"And what did she say?" Tina asked, curious.
Mike sighed. "She's so stubborn! She didn’t tell them she’s from the Arhang Islands like us. Instead, she claimed she was from somewhere north of Guaranga. Why would she say that? Can’t she just tell them the same story we do?" he wondered aloud.
"Those high-level paladins might have skills or tools to detect lies," Lynx answered. “This said I don’t know why she did say that...”
“Can it be that she cannot lie?” Tina asked turning towards Alice. “Did you not say demons cannot lie?” she wondered
“But, was that not a lie?” Michael wondered
Alice chimed in, "Maybe she can lie? I don't know; however, if you think about her human identity, it was created while she was on the road in Guarava, north of Guaranga, right?"
Tom huffed “Huh, so she lied by telling them the truth...”
"What else did she say?" Alice asked.
"She said her family had repudiated her for religious reasons and that she doesn’t want to talk about them. She told them we’re her family now and that she wants to make a name for herself."
Lynx nodded. "True, true, true. If those paladins had any way of detecting lies, and I suspect they did, they would have found she only served them the truth."
“Did you say he likes her?” Tina asked.
Mike chuckled. "Yeah, their personalities seem to mesh well. They found plenty to chat about and seemed to enjoy it. He asked a lot of direct questions, like about her relationship with Baron Esterghom, about the viscount and her singing."
“Oh!” Tina exclaimed. “It would be so romantic if she ended up with a prince!”
Mike shook his head. "The prince has a long-standing platonic relationship with a girl he’s known since childhood. Unfortunately, she had a terrible accident three years ago that left her paralyzed, and not even the best magic healers have been able to help her."
"Is that so?" Ju wondered.
Mike nodded.
"Yes. I heard the story from another butler yesterday when I went to buy that wine for the judge. Apparently, it happened during an unsanctioned incursion into a dungeon. There was a school training session, but some kids, including the prince, decided to go delving without their teachers or instructors one night. That's when the accident occurred. Since then, the prince’s progress has stalled, and his best friend has remained bedridden. His advancement was slow even before the incident, so it's possible his stagnation isn't directly related to it."
Mike glanced around the room, and seeing that there were no more questions, he wrapped up.
"Well, that's about all from my side. Now I’m curious to hear what Tom's news from the adventurer's guild is!"