(Liberia - Royal court)

“Let us meet in the morning!”

“Indeed, my hero.”

Iris shuts the door behind Arwin.

“Now then.”

She turns around and starts walking back to the King’s court at a steady pace. Suddenly, a maid comes up to her and says- “His highness and the others are awaiting your presence in the banquet hall, Lady Iris.”

Iris pauses for a moment then replies “Thank you, Greta. That will be all. You can return to your post now. Let me know first if anything comes up regarding the hero. Take care.”

“Yes, mam. You take care as well.”

She lets out a sigh and turns around to start making her way to the banquet hall. The banquet hall was situated at the entrance of the Royal Palace, in the opposite direction to King's court. That was where the nobles had liquor served to them and engaged in conversation with other nobles.

On the way to the banquet hall, Iris mulled over some things that stood out to her.

There were a few surprising moments.

He didn’t feel surprised when I referred to him as ‘hero’, though he visibly blushed when I called him, “My hero”.

She gave a faint smile.

There certainly are discrepancies that can be found when compared to the records maintained by our ancestors. Those reports outline how the heroes in the past had reacted to certain situations or certain words. It is said that they all gave energetic reactions to being referred to as a 'Hero', yet my Arwin gave showed no such surprise.

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Is there any chance he might have known about his summoning before? I don't see how.

He doesn’t seem like the scheming kind either. The fact that he was so surprised when he heard about him having to fight in the war, betrays the line of thought that he may be a schemer (since he would have hidden his emotions better if he was a schemer). So, there is a very high chance that it may simply be a part of his nature. Yet, I can’t say that for certain.\

Anyways, it seems that there certainly are things that I need to look into.

Zipping through the lonely hallways, Iris made her way to the banquet hall. She took a deep breath before entering the hall, rehearsed her smile and made sure her hair and dress didn’t look untidy.

Everyone that was present in the King’s court were also present here. They were all busy drinking. Partly to celebrate the hero's arrival and partly out of stress. A woman who was amongst the people standing beside the king, was pouring liquor into the King’s glass. She noticed Iris’s presence and spoke to her in a friendly yet calculated voice.

“Ah Iris! Are you here with your report?”

“Yes, mother.”

The king who was flirting with drunkenness spoke, “So! What do you make of our darling hero?”

Iris gave a slight bow and replied,” I didn’t find anything unnatural about him, your highness. He seems to be a kind man who tends to be anxious at certain moments, probably out of low self-esteem. An example of was the way in which he spoke at the Court.”

The king wasn’t pleased and gave a dissatisfied look. Realizing this, Iris continued, “On the topic of “How can we manipulate him”, he seems to be an emotional person. So, using his feelings of kindness and his indecisiveness to direct him towards the direction that we want, would be the best approach. Naturally, I’ll try to find out more about him from here on as well, your highness.”

Warren Chryson, the treasurer of Liberia, under the influence of alcohol seemed to have lost control over his tongue. He had been raving on about the greatness of his family and how beautiful his various mansions were for the past few minutes. Noticing that the conversation was about the hero, he said- “Hmph, he seemed like a wimp to me. Saw how surprised he got when we talked about war? Bwahaahaha”

“Indeed. However, it is also necessary to understand that he just got transported into the world and didn’t have any idea about what was happening around him. War and death are a scary prospect for anyone. Thus, I would like to hope that there is scope for him to get to grips with war and give us his best.”

“Yes, what a kind and understanding person you are. Keep us posted on everything related to the hero. That will be all. You are dismissed.”

King turned towards Iris to give his formal order.

“Keep working on him, Iris. Dismissed.”

“Of course, your highness. Thank you for providing me with this opportunity - ”

The intensity of the laughter around the hall increased manyfold. Iris’s words drowned in the echo of their indifference.

She simply smiled. Then she eyed her mother who subtly indicated to her that must quietly leave the room.

Although they didn’t care, she bowed her head to everyone one last time and left the room.