A multitude of people assembled in front of the palace gates, speaking with one another. We were all on the far edge watching them. The expressions on all the faces were despondent, as if their world had suddenly fallen apart. The atmosphere had my hopes dwindling with every passing second. Solgen shoved her way through the mob, with Airon and Volken at her heels. They made no attempt to escape and hide amongst the crowd. It’s futile to hide when Solgen is right there. Any sudden moves and she’ll cut off your arms and legs. You might as well be a human-sized worm wriggling around.
One of the guards noticed our seven-person group heading directly to the palace gates and then rushed to intervene.
“Hey, this place is off-lim-“
His voice faltered when he laid his eyes upon Zelke and Myra.
“Oh, pardon me. I didn’t know the late king’s trusted aides were with you. My apologies.”
“Hmph. That’s what I thought,” Myra scoffed.
“So he really is dead…” I said under my breath. I know Myra and Zelke told me not to get my hopes up and that he probably wouldn’t have survived, but it doesn’t hurt to have expectations, right? The man saved us from Volken! Not being able to thank him in person doesn’t sit right with me…
Isaac patted me on my back while looking straight ahead. I think he was trying to cheer me up. In a joking manner, I returned the favor by patting him back. That was when it turned into a contest of who could pat the most amount in a minute. I won, of course.
“You got saved by your agility stat…”
“Hey man, it’s a part of me. I can’t do anything about it.”
Sometimes it’s good for people to unwind from time to time. Too much stress isn’t good for one’s mental, and Isaac just wanted me to not stress over his death. What’s done is done. That doesn’t mean I’ll forget him. I’ll remember Claude de Vusech for as long as I live.
While that was happening, we finally arrived at where Solgen was taking us: the throne room. Before us stood tall doors of polished silver. Solgen pushed the two doors wide, revealing the interior. A luxurious red carpet was placed at the center of the vast space, and a grand throne adorned with gold and silver at the end. Smooth pillars were placed throughout, and a glass chandelier hung from the ceiling. Draped around the pristine marble-like walls were banners of ocean blue with the sigil of a gold crown etched. This throne room was just as I pictured in my mind. It looks exactly like the ones you would see in movies back on Earth. I could feel the regality radiating and invading every pore of my body.
“Ah, Solgen, you’ve arrived sooner than I thought,” said an aged voice. Up ahead, near the throne, was a familiar sight.
“Morgac! And-“
Located near Morgac was Clein, who was deeply engrossed in reading a document in his hands. Next to him were people I’d never seen before. They seemed like studious and important people, yet were extremely stressed. The dark circles under their eyes were so dark that it was as if they had been sucked down into the quicksand of their exhaustion.
“Isn’t that the king’s killer?!” one of them gasped. Everyone, including Clein, was now staring at Volken. The Apithien didn’t care though as he was picking at the inside of his ear.
“We must behead him immediately!”
“Seize him!”
“Quiet,” Solgen ordered. The room fell silent under her superiority. “Only I can decide on what to do with him. I am sorry for your loss, and I mean that wholeheartedly, but please understand, advisor, you have no way of containing him.”
The person referred to as the king’s advisor loured as he adjusted his glasses. “…Very well. Do whatever you please with him. With that out of the way, we must prepare the coronation of the new king.”
Oh? Coronation of the new king? It has been a week since we left. They’ve probably already buried him somewhere. I wonder if I’m allowed to pay my respects to him. Wait, how does the process of these things usually go? I’m not really that well-versed in formalities.
“Late king Claude de Vusech had only one son in the line of succession; Simon de Vusech. Unfortunately, he isn’t here at Silis. Right now, he’s in Noblela for diplomatic reasons. He heard the news of his father’s passing and had made preparations to return, but…”
“A grave problem has arisen in Noblela,” said a peer of the advisor.
“As said by the Chancellor, a grave problem has arisen. It seems like Noblela is actively prohibiting Simon de Vusech from returning, for whatever reason. Just now we were discussing how to deal with this situation. We would like to avoid going to war with Noblela if we could help it. We have tried to reason with them, but efforts have produced no results. At this rate, we may have to issue a war decl-“
“That won’t be needed,” Morgac interjected. “War isn’t necessary. We should only go that route if all options have been exhausted.”
“Are you implying that you have a way of retrieving Simon de Vusech?” The Chancellor piped up.
Morgac gave him a small smile while glancing in our direction. “Why not send people to retrieve him? Discreetly, of course.”
The Chancellor opened his mouth wide as if to deny his plan, but quickly shut it while stroking his beard. “That could work. I see where you’re going with this, but Noblela isn’t necessarily a weak country. Their border security isn’t to be laughed at, as so their military might. It is likely that experts are assigned to watch Simon de Vusech around the clock. I’m not very keen on sending our best over there-“
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Ho ho… no need to split hairs about it. We have the very ‘best’ standing right there.”
The old man pointed at us four: me, Isaac, Myra, and Zelke.
The Chancellor gazed at us with uncertainty. “Morgac, forgive me for asking this, but are you sure you would send those two kids? I understand Zelke and Myra since the king trusted them with his life, but I fail to see what’s so special about them.”
I meekly raised my hand. “Uh excuse me, I’m 20…”
“If you can’t recognize diamonds with your own eyes, you aren’t fit to be a diamond tester!” Isaac huffed.
What do diamonds have to do in this situation!?
Zelke stepped forward and said, “I can account for their strength, Chancellor. I have seen it with my very own eyes. They are capable on their own.”
Myra followed Zelke’s lead and nodded. “I second his statement.”
“My apologies. It seems I’ve spoken without thinking.”
The Chancellor moved past his colleagues and bowed his body. “Please, retrieve Simon de Vusech from Noblelas’ clutches. We will reward you handsomely if you were to succeed.”
Well, this is awkward… For someone of high status to bow down to me like this!
“We accept!” Isaac jumped right in front of me, shoving me aside. “When you say reward how much money we talking here? We’re not cheap, ya know!”
I firmly pinched Isaac and pushed him away. “Ignore him. We’ll gladly take you up on your mission.”
The Chancellor smiled once more, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank you… We’ll talk more about this in the morning. Right now, we all need rest. The meeting is adjourned!”
One by one, all the chief officials left the room. Morgac spoke up once they’d left.
“Clein, why don’t you head out too? I have important matters to speak about with these folks. Ah, don’t misunderstand. It is not because I don’t trust you. I want you to get some much-needed rest. You have a busy day tomorrow.”
Clein nodded his head and said, “Yes, sir! I’ll see you in the morning.”
Still clutching the paper he was reading, Clein jogged at our location, momentarily stopping to speak with us.
“Glad you both are okay. I’ll tell Mel and the others you’re safe and fine.”
He winked as he tapped our shoulders, leaving the area. After all had left, the atmosphere had become oppressive. Morgac was glaring at Volken with menacing eyes. Volken, who wasn’t paying attention to the conversation, was now looking directly into Morg’s eyes.
“Morg…”
The tension between these two could suck out the air of anyone unfortunate enough to be in the same room as them. Morgac had his hand hovering over his cane like he was about to whack Volken to death with it.
“Solgen, what are you going to do with the traitor?” said Morgac, not taking his eyes off Volken. Airon was visibly sweating as he stood next to his master. Solgen unsheathed her saber and walked up to Volken, pointing the blade directly under his chin.
“First off,” Solgen began, “why did you decide to work under those despicable pieces of trash?”
Volken glanced down at the blade pressed beneath his chin and back at Solgen. Even in this situation, there was no urgency in his eyes. His shoulders were relaxed, yet he was poker-faced.
“…If I didn’t stop you from rushing in headfirst, you would’ve gotten killed like our comrades back there.”
“It would’ve been better to die fighting than to listen to their every order.”
“And I didn’t agree with that. I saved your life, Solgen…”
“And after that, you tortured me deep underground,” she spat. “Starving me of food, water, and many other things!”
“That was-“
“That was WHAT exactly?” Solgen raised her voice, pressing the blade deeper into his skin, drawing blood.
Volken raised his arms in a gesture of surrender. “Look, they had eyes on me. I couldn’t just do whatever I pleased whenever. I had to bide my time until I could free you-”
“Like I’ll believe that,” Solgen scowled, glaring venomously at Volken. “You were only thinking about yourself, Volken. You’ve always been like this since we were kids.”
Volken grabbed the saber by the blade and pushed the weapon aside. There was a deep gash in the palm of his hand, the blood dripping onto the already red carpet.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. I wasn’t thinking about myself. I was thinking about you and Morgac. I was also thinking about our people; the Apithiens. I knew that if I disobeyed the Pillars, they would’ve killed us all. And I bet you they would’ve annihilated our race too, just for the fun of it! But you… you weren’t thinking that far ahead!”
Solgen’s arm trembled slightly at Volken’s sudden tone. Before Solgen could say her piece, Volken cut her off.
“Some supposed leader of the Apithiens you are, dear sister. You call me selfish? Take a good long look at yourself. While you contemplated taking revenge for our allies and risking your life in combat, I was considering the greater focus: staying alive! We recuperate our losses and grow stronger to face the Pillars once more! But of course, you haven’t thought that far ahead, just like you have always been!”
Volken then turned his attention toward us. “That is why I’ve been trying to recruit those humans ever since I heard the prophecy of The Oracle. Under my wing, we would’ve crushed the Pillars beneath our feet and never worry about them again, but I also had to keep in mind that humans could be Athiens downfall…”
Volken paced around the room, a trail of blood following along. “If they refused my offer once more, I steeled myself to kill them before they could cause any harm. I thought it would be a pity to lose such potential, but some leaders must make the hardest decisions, like how I’ve been doing this whole time…”
The scowling Apithien stopped pacing around the room and stood behind Solgen, shaking his head. “So, dear sister, you asked why I’ve been working with the Pillars? It’s because of survival. That’s all there is to it. If you find my answer to be not what you expected, you can kill me, torture me, bury me, whatever to your heart’s contents. Just know I did this all for you, and for our race.”
“…”
Oh god, this is so awkward… I’m getting second-hand embarrassment from this. I feel like I’m intruding on a family dispute that no one should be listening to. Even Isaac of all people is slack-jawed! As for Solgen, it was hard to read her face. To me, it looks like she’s jumping through so many emotions at once- from rage, confusion, sorrow, and rage again. It’s like she doesn’t know what to feel right now.
“Volken,” she mumbled, “I-”
Without warning, a loud, thunderous explosion shook the throne room. The overhead structure collapsed as someone burst through like a cannonball.
“Yuck! It’s so dusty in here!”
My muscles tensed when I heard the high-pitch of a little girl. I felt as though I was in a dark, frigid room with no glimmer of light or warmth.
“That voice! No… it cannot be!” Solgen and Morgac yelled with fear.
The dust finally settled, and the culprit was revealed. Matching the high-pitched voice, it indeed was a little girl who looked to be about seven years old. The fabric of her light gray dress had a cool, silvery sheen that seemed to sparkle in the light.
“Oh? Are these the ants Artoic sent me here to exterminate?” The little girl giggled.
“Why is she here?!” said Volken, taking a step back.
The mysterious figure cackled when her gaze settled on Volken. “Well-well-well, if it isn’t you three! I remember you guys! It was ten years ago when my brother and I slaughtered your friends!”
Ten years ago? Slaughtered their friends? That would mean she’s a-
“For Luna to come here in person…” Morgac whispered as he and Solgen jumped right in front of us. Airon and Volken joined along, sweating buckets.
Luna pouted at the comical sight. “What’s this now? Don’t tell me you guys are going to fight ME? At this point, it’s not even funny…”
“Quiet, wench!” Solgen barked. “As of now, you are alone. You cannot hide behind the other Pillars for protection!
Luna's iris, which previously resembled that of the moon, had transformed to a crimson shade. “Wench, you say? Ha! Exterminating you insignificant rats won’t be enough. I’ll raze this whole city to the ground! I promise you, you will not be leaving here alive.”