The prince explained all about his past to Rufus. About him having no real reason other than Emilia to help the people of the country. That he really doesn't care what happens to others. The prince thought that Rufus would see him as a monster and would stop working with him.
"So you really don't care what happens to me or my gang?" asked Rufus.
"Only if you can be of use to me."
"What about Doreen and August?"
"Same answer implies to them also."
Rufus pondered. He wasn't sure what the prince said was a good thing. He had always thought that the prince had ulterior motives, but his motives didn't seem self-centered at least to Rufus.
"Well as long as you do not plan on hurting and betraying us later on, I will continue to support you," said Rufus and surprised the prince.
"What? Why?"
"I also have my own motives. I am in really no mood to take on an entire country, but I will not say no if I am able to help someone. I have always been like that but working for you made me feel uneasy. Thinking you had some ulterior motive of wanting power or something else like the rest of the nobility of this kingdom, but now it all makes sense. You have your reason, and your reason is good enough for me," explained Rufus and smiled at the prince offering a handshake.
The prince smiled back. Possibly showing also genuine emotions to Rufus.
"You truly are a peculiar person. You are maybe able to let me experience one other emotion that I have yet ever felt. Envy."
"Envy?"
"Yes. Envy. I think I might genuinely be feeling envy towards you. You are able to feel all kinds of good emotions so easily and you want to spread that emotion to others. Able to care for so many so easily. A truly naive person and I envy such a person. How strange this is. A person who is unable to care for people working together with a person who is unable to not care," said the prince and shook the hand of Rufus.
"Fate is a fickle thing," said Rufus and smiled.
"It truly is," smiled the prince back.
"You might not care, but I can now actually call you my friend," Rufus said smiling.
The prince felt something. He didn't say it to Rufus, but when he left he felt extremely happy.
~ ~
Rufus and the prince parted ways, both feeling they can trust each other. Rufus headed back to the bar but stumbled upon a crowd. The crowd was watching something passing through the main street of Jacobstadt heading to the royal palace.
Rufus spotted Edward also in the crowd. He went to him. He then saw Edward angrily looking at the envoy that was passing through the main street.
It was a detachment of knights, but these knights looked different from what Rufus had seen before. They all wore the same armor. They wore thick black plate armor and marched like a disciplined force in unison. The helmets covered the entire head and had a cross-shaped hole for the knight to see through. The armor was covered with a white cloak with a yellow sun depicted on the chest. About one hundred knights were marching through the city. At the head of the knights was a man riding a horse.
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The man had a stern face. He looked like an extremely powerful and strong person and gave off a strong aura of divine power. Edward looked at this man with pure hatred in his eyes. He was grabbing his sword like he was about to attack the person in front.
The man looked in the direction of Rufus and Edward. Edward instantly looked away like trying to not let the person recognize him. Edward also looked like he was afraid of the man a bit. Rufus knew that Edward was not being himself right now and felt uneasy.
"Let's go back, Edward. I'll buy the pints at the bar for us," said Rufus trying to distract Edward.
"Hah….It's not like we pay for beer at that place anyway," Edward laughed back.
"Isn't it more reason to head there?"
Edward knew what Rufus was doing. He smiled and liked that Rufus was worried about him.
"Yeah. Let's get plastered tonight partner," said Edward and put his hand on Rufus's shoulder.
When they left a young girl roughly the same age as Haley was riding on a horse behind the knights. She had also plate armor, but not as thick as the other knights. Her armor ran tightly around her body with an iron helmet that covered her entire face. On her back, she carried a sword that was even bigger than the girl carrying it. She looked in Edwards' and Rufus' direction.
"It couldn't be?" thought the girl.
~ ~
They returned to the bar where a lot of the black rat gang members were waiting idly. It looked like they were hiding there or at least waiting for something to go away.
"How come so many of the members are here at such time?" asked Rufus from Doreen.
"You didn't see the procession? The knights of the black sun are in the capital with their grandmaster Rikard Plangent," explained Doreen to Rufus.
"The knights of the black sun?"
"You truly have been living under a rock your life. They are a powerful knightly order serving the Plangent family and them only. They are strong knights all coming from minor noble houses. They all have divine powers that are mainly to raise physical abilities. So one knight with their weapon is already a small army. So having the entirety of the order in the capital means is better to keep our boys off the streets for now. They mainly patrol the northern border for any grey skin raids so it is weird to see them all here in the capital," Doreen explained.
"So they are the special forces of this kingdom, but not loyal to the king?" asked Rufus.
"Yes, but the Plangent family has always been loyal to the kings and the royal Jacob family. The Plangent family would go and take their own lives if the king ordered it," Edward filled in.
"That is true. The first Plangent was the first person to bow for Franz Jacob. The creator of the Jacob kingdom and the founder of the royal Jacob family. He was the number one man to the first king whom he trusted the most. The Plangent family swore an eternal loyalty of oath to the Jacob family. Every member of the family is bound by this oath to the royalty. The Plangent family is also known for their strong divine powers with swords." Doreen continued to explain.
Edward started to drink immediately almost wanting to drown himself in alcohol. Rufus seemed a bit worried about him and joined in on the drinking. They then started to drink hard. Edward drowning himself in alcohol for some personal reason and Rufus so that his friend wouldn't have to drink alone.
"Probably not the best approach by just drinking alongside him, but he truly cares for him," thought Doreen to herself while looking at the two, "Give me some also old man Haufen."
Doreen joined in on the drinking. After an hour Haley came down. She was looking for Doreen.
"Doreen have you seen the financial report from the new…..."
"Heeeeeey. It is our small little prodigy giiirrrrrrllll," Doreen blabbered being completely plastered.
Haley couldn't believe what she was seeing. The always well-mannered and composed Doreen was completely dead drunk.
"Hey, Lady!! Leave the boss's sister alone," yelled a drunk Edward.
"I am not …. not doing anything. Just wanted to say hello to her. She is just suuuch a good person. You know Haley I, I really like you guys, like for real. I am having so much fun with you guys. You are like my family in a way now," proclaimed a drunk Doreen.
"You are right. You are aaaabsolutely right. They are the best. Doreen you know. You are all right," said a drunk Edward back.
"Oh, thank you. You are also super…..good," replied Doreen who had a hard time standing upright.
Only Rufus was not affected by the alcohol. His endless hunger seemed to work for alcohol also. Rufus and Haley laughed looking at the two of them. It looked like Edward and Doreen were finally getting along even if it was when both were extremely intoxicated.
Haley hadn't yet told anyone about her divine powers. She couldn't use them since then and had no idea how to manifest them. She also didn't know why she hadn't enclosed the information with everyone.