At the sound of her voice Casey dropped the torch and grabbed the sword, spinning around in one fluid motion. He pulled out the sword and pointed it at the newcomers.
What he saw in front of him were two individuals around the same age as him, somewhere into their early twenties. The woman who spoke before was a small lady with brown hair and mousey features giving her a rather cute appearance. This was offset a bit by the dress she was wearing. It was a noble's green gown that she wore with an elegant bearing.
To her right was a sturdy looking man who was most likely the aforementioned Ronin. He was standing with his hand resting on his sword, clearly ready to draw it if the need arose. The fact that he hadn't already showed that he didn't see Casey as much of a threat. He had long blonde hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. What drew his eye was the cloak Ronin was wearing. It was a dark red color and was tied on with a similar clasp to the one Casey had just thrown away.
"Yes your majesty, you were correct." Ronin commented.
"Stop calling me that, I'm not a real Queen yet." The woman pouted.
Ignoring her remark Ronin addressed Casey. "Now sir, if you would put away your sword we might have a proper conversation. We are not here to cause you any harm."
Casey lowered the sword but did not sheath it. He still had very little reason to trust these two who had suddenly appeared.
Narrowing his eyes he asked. "Who are you?"
"It's quite rude to sneak into someone else's castle demanding to know who we are without so much as introducing yourself first." The woman replied.
"Ah, my bad. My name's Casey Bennett and I have no idea how I ended up in this castle so I'm sorry about that too." A little flustered by her remark as it was true, Casey hastily introduced himself.
"Watch how you address her majesty, Foreigner." Ronin said icily as he drew his sword out of its sheath slightly. This caused Casey to shiver slightly as he tightened his grip on the sword.
"Now, now Ronin. Why should he address me differently if he doesn't even know who I am." The woman gave a small curtsey as she introduced herself. "My name is Sara Langley, and I am the Queen Regent of the Kingdom of Decra"
And with that simple phrase it was if a lightning bolt had struck his head as he began muttering in a daze. "Sara Langley... Queen Regent.... Decra... Fox clasp... Ronin... Nope, this should definitely be impossible, no way this is real, must be a coincidence."
Seeing the odd state he was in, Ronin stepped in front of the Queen Regent and took a protective stance.
"Are you alright Mr. Bennett?" Sara asked as she was somewhat confused by his mutterings.
Ignoring her he turned to Ronin "It's probably nothing, but I figured I'd ask anyways. If she is Sara Langley, does that mean your name is Ronin Galand?"
"Yes it is, but how could you possibly know that?"
Casey fell to the ground and once again began muttering to himself. "This should not be possible, how can that book be real? And how is it that I'm here in a conversation with the protagonists?"
"Protagonists?" With a confused face, Ronin turned to Sara who just shrugged. "Don't look at me, I was only shown that a foreigner would come and that we would find him here tonight, nothing more than that."
Latching on to that statement, Casey recovered slightly from his daze and blurted out. "Wait, what do you mean you were shown I would come? You knew I would end up in this world?"
"Well I'm not sure what you mean by how you ended up in this world, but it is my abil-" "Your majesty!" Ronin tried to interrupt but was ignored. "-ity as the holder of the Queen's Artifact to receive divinations about the future"
"You shouldn't go around telling people you don't know what your ability is!" Ronin protested.
"It's not like it's some big secret, the artifact has been around long enough for everyone to at least know what it does. Even the commoners know it so why should I hide it?" She smiled innocently at him. Ronin simply rolled his eyes like he was used to this.
"Ah there was something like that in the book wasn't there." Ignoring their quarrel Casey said to himself.
Sara turned back to Casey, "Now that I have told you my ability, would you mind explaining how it is that you seem to know us? I do not believe we have met before".
"Oh right well that is somewhat complicated. You see where I'm from there is a certain book called The Queen's Riders. This book centers mostly around the two of you and your relationship, as well as the actions of the Knightly Order of the Fox, more commonly known as the Queen's Riders. Hence the name of the book."
With a thoughtful look he continued. "Now that I think about it, all of the fox emblems I've been seeing makes a lot more sense. As well as the meaning of the cloak clasp. Still no clue what this room is though"
They just stared at him, eyes wide and with dumbfounded faces as they tried to wrap their minds around what he had said.
The first to recover was Sara who with a red face stammered out "Wh-Wha-What do you mean a book following us, especially the part about our r-relationship!!?"
"Ah well, you two are the main protagonists of the book so of course it would be following you guys. And a big part of the book is about how y'all are secretly in love and how bad it would be if the prince found out, who is a bit of a jerk by the way."
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Shiiiing! Drawn to the sound, Casey turned to the second dumbfounded person, to discover Ronin had drawn his sword and was emitting a very dark aura as he took a step towards him. "Sara, please allow me to get rid of this idiot before he blabbers to the nobility."
"Damnit! I said something unnecessary." Casey slowly backed up and hid behind the podium that held the iron box. "Wait! Hold on, I promise I won't tell anyone. In fact I'm really rooting for you guys!!"
Distracted by the weird phrase, Ronin stopped for a moment. "What the hell does rooting for you mean?"
"It means I'm really hoping that your relationship will work out!!" Casey yelled out as a final attempt to pacify the angry swordsman.
"That's enough Ronin." Sara stepped in at that moment. "Regardless of what he may or may not know, he is still the next Knight of Frost and will be needed. I'm already losing Riders left and right from external conflicts, I do not need to be losing Riders to internal conflicts too"
"But-"
"I said that is enough Ronin." An aura of authority leaked out as she spoke that line.
"Yes your majesty..."
"I already told you to stop calling me that!" And the aura of authority mysteriously vanished into thin air.
"Uhh, I'd hate to interrupt a lover's quarrel but what exactly do you mean by Knight of Frost?" Casey timidly asked.
"That was not a lover's quarrel!" The queen said with a humph.
Ronin's left eye began to twitch as he asked "Shouldn't that have been in that book of yours?"
"Ah no. I have no idea why but there was never any mention of a Knight of Frost in the book, nor was there any mention of a secret room like this or the hall full of murals outside." Casey explained
"Was there anything actually useful in that book aside from information that might get us all killed?"
"Well sure but nothing related to the current situation."
"Ugh fine, I'll explain it but first where is your clasp. It's clear from your eye color and that streak in your hair that you've already awakened so you must have it somewhere."
"Oh that? I threw that over there when I realized it did something weird to me."
"You what?! Go get it you idiot!"
"Fine but I would appreciate it if you stopped calling me an idiot." The idiot complained while walking over to the discarded clasp. As he picked it up he noticed that the metal felt unnaturally cold. Cooler than the metal should be when compared to the room temperature.
"I will when you stop being one!" Ronin said crossing his arms.
"Okay boys, that's enough. Fighting is not going to get us anywhere." Sara cut in.
"--Who you calling a boy!--" The boys yelled at her.
With a sigh, she turned around and left the armory. "Oh and bring that sword with you, it's technically yours now anyways." She called over her shoulder.
Casey had practically forgotten that he was still holding the sword and hurriedly sheathed it before following her out. After he and Ronin had left the room, the hidden door closed on its own with a rumble.
Sara had stopped in front of the second mural, the one depicting the knighting ceremony. She furrowed her brows and studied the mural for a moment before speaking. "If you have at least some knowledge of this kingdom than you must know about the existence of artifacts and how they call people who are worthy of their power?"
"Of course, only those with artifacts can use any form of power and what type of artifact they hold decides what type of power they can use. In the case of those with a Fox clasp, it is generally a passive ability in the form of enhanced swordsmanship and riding skills."
"That is partially true, the artifacts act more like keys unlocking the latent abilities of their holders. Anytime you want to use your latent ability, you need the key to unlock them. The artifacts draw people with manna matching their requirements and allow only the people they choose to wield them. Some have very lax requirements and will take anyone who even slightly matches them." She turned to him before continuing.
"However, the most powerful ones have very strict requirements that go beyond simply having the correct mana. They search for people with the perfect mix of the correct morality and the correct mana. Sometimes these go without a wielder for years, just waiting for the perfect person to be born that matches them. The clasp you hold is an example of one such artifact.
"That clasp has been dormant for nearly 500 years. It's last wielder was given the title Knight of Frost due to the abilities it allowed him to use. He was able to freely manipulate the element of water." She pointed towards the knight kneeling in front of the Queen in the painting. He was the one who wielded the same broadsword that Casey held in his hand.
"So you're saying that I was born with this mana and that I happen to have similar values to what this thing is looking for. It brought me to this place so that I can wield it?"
"Pretty much!" She said with a smile.
"But that doesn't make sense. There is no magic where I am from so how could I be born with mana, and how could this-" he held up the clasp "bring me here?"
"Don't ask me how you got here. Like I said, I only knew you were coming. Though artifacts, especially the powerful ones, always have some way to bring their chosen to them. Leads to some embarrassing situations sometimes." She said absentmindedly.
"Pfft-" Ronin covered his mouth trying not to laugh after hearing that. To which Sara began hitting him harmlessly, causing him to laugh even more. It seemed like the fact that Casey already knew about their relationship was causing them to somewhat loosen their act without them realizing it.
"Ahem, you still haven't told me anything about the actual Knight of Frost except that I have his sword and clasp."
Sara stopped hitting him and they quickly stepped away from each other. Ronin cleared his throat before speaking. "Right since you're technically his inheritor you should probably know a little more about him. He was the leader of the Elemental Knights who were an elite group of five knights serving directly under the first Queen of Decra, Queen Anne Caliwell. They consisted of the five people depicted in the mural, each one wielding a different element, water, fire, earth, air, and lightning. As Sara already said, your predecessor wielded water."
"So technically, I should be able to use the same magic as him?" Despite being so far from home, Casey was still excited at the idea of being able to use magic.
Ronin gave him an amused look before saying. "Yes you will be able to manipulate water, but you'll need a lot of training before you're any good at it."
Casey smiled at that, probably the first time he'd actually smiled since being dropped into this world. As if some sort of switch had been flipped, his shoulders drooped as a wave of exhaustion hit him.
Noticing his state, Sara turned to Ronin. "I think that is enough for tonight. You should take him to the Riders' Wing and find him a room to sleep in. We'll continue this conversation tomorrow."
"What about you? Shouldn't I escort you back?"
She smiled up at him before saying "If I can't find my own way back in my own castle, I wouldn't make a very good future Queen would I? Now shoo, before he collapses and you have to carry him back" and turned back to the mural.
"Fine but be careful" Ronin said with a worried expression before turning to Casey. "Well come on then."
Casey stumbled after Ronin without any protest, looking forward to sleep. He was hoping that maybe this had all just been a dream and that he'd wake up in his own bed in the morning. Lost in his weariness, the part of his psyche that wanted to stay and explore the world he had grown up reading about had gone completely unnoticed.
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Sara remained behind in the hall. Turning towards the mural showing the banquet. "Odd, he really resembles the First Knight, I wonder what she'd do if they met? No nevermind, maybe it would be better if they didn't." Without clarifying who 'she' was, Sara turned away from the mural and left the hall.