The royal family assembled in the throne room along with Captain Spears, General Marcus, many of the royal knights, several of the high-ranking military officers, and royal advisors. As this was a royal family matter, the other military personnel present in the throne room were not required but were invited to help further solidify the partnership between the royal knights and military.
The royal advisors, military officers, and royal knights were all kneeling while I sat in one of four throne chairs, myself to the left of king, my sister Aurora to the right of the queen. General Marcus stood next to me, and Captain Spears stood next to Aurora.
My father spoke, his voice carrying across the entire massive throne room. “Rise. We are here to formally acknowledge the appointment of royal knights who will be the personal guards to our son Prince James.”
Once everyone rose to their feet my father continued. “Normally we do not include so many to bear witness in such matters, all will understand shortly why we have made this exception for this event. The appointment of personal royal knight guards is a decision reserved solely for the king and queen. After much discussion, both the queen and I have agreed to grant our son Prince James not only the authority to select his own personal royal knight guards but also the authority to appoint future royal knights.”
There were several gasps and shocked expressions. Prince James’ exceptional hearing allowed him to pick up a few whispers.
“The king and queen are abdicating their authority to their son?”
“Why would they do this?”
The royal chamberlain slammed his staff on the throne room floor. “SILENCE! YOU ARE BEFORE THE ROYAL FAMILY!”
Once the chamber fell silent my father finished his statement. “Prince James is also granted the authority to work directly with General Marcus, Captain Spears, and the Adventuring Guild in the formation of special joint teams to address threats to the kingdom.”
More whispers erupted and it took the royal chamberlain to use his staff again to get the audience to quiet down.
The last part of my father’s statement granting me the authority to appoint royal knights and form special teams my father, Uncle Marcus, and Reggie were all adamant about. They were convinced my ideas regarding incorporating adventuring team tactics could both save lives and increase the unity of the royal faction. They believed I had learned invaluable knowledge from John and Susan and all of them wanted to see their knowledge put to good use.
‘I think they just wanted to pass on some of their burdens to me. Ugh.’ I thought.
It was time for my part. “It took some deep deliberation and consideration in the selection of my personal royal knight guards. To start, I have selected LT Simmons to act as primary frontline defender and lead my personal royal knights. His physical enhancement magic and current rank make him perfect for the two roles. Come forward Lieutenant.”
Lieutenant Simmons smiles as he steps forward then kneels in from of me. “It is my greatest honor to fulfill this duty. Thank you, your highness!”
“Next, I select Mira to act as melee attacker and in various stealth roles. Her skills and physical enhancement magic make her perfect for these roles. Mira, please step forward.”
Looking at Mira, I could see her practically beaming. She seems far happier than she should be. ‘Did I really make that big an impression?’
My thoughts were answered as she too knelt in front of me and spoke, “I thought joining the royal knights was my greatest honor but serving you in every way you required with be my greatest joy and honor your majesty!”
‘Geesh, why did you have to put it that way?! Dial it down a bit Mira.’
“Next, I have chosen Kira to act as defender and healer. I personally witnessed her tireless efforts to heal the wounded and defend the camp while we were surrounded by the undead. She has more than proven capable. Kira, please move forward.”
If I thought Mira was excited, Kira seemed a close tie. She bowed before me. “I pledge my life, mind, body, and soul to serve and protect you, seeing to your every desire and whim.”
‘Even more awkward! I got this, breathe James, breathe man. Just got to get through this last part.’
“For now, I will lastly call Rita please step forward.”
Again, there were shocked murmurs from the crowd.
“How?”
“She isn’t a knight.”
I stood, which grabbed everyone’s attention and quieted the crowd. Speaking quickly before their confusion grew worse. “Rita, your selfless act of risking your own life to give us precious warning of the incoming attack, saved my life and the lives of many others. You possess incredible skill and magic for archery and tracking far beyond any other in this kingdom. I hear by raise you to the status of royal knight and select you as my final personal royal knight. The synergy of your skills will work well with the rest of the team. Now, take a knee.”
It took a moment for Rita to move as she was still in shock as to what was happening. Her friend Kira’s soft words snapped her out of her stupor. “You got this, Rita.”
Rita stepped forward and kneeled in front of me. I drew the sword at my waste and spoke while moving the sword over her head to lightly tap each shoulder. “For demonstrating unwavering loyalty to the crown, the knights, and military of this kingdom, I appoint you to the rank of royal knight. As your first assignment as a knight, you shall join my personal royal knights in the role as ranged attacker and scout.”
I could see the pleased looks on both the knights and military officers. This person saved several of the knights’ lives and the military officers saw her as a chance to rise even further.
“Thank you all for coming to witness this event. Please spread the word. Let all know how much we value the commitment and duty of the royal knights, military, and adventurers who put their lives on the line to protect our kingdom.”
The official ceremony was over, the royal chamberlain excused the assembled audience. The man bowed and left the throne room to attend to other matters.
General Marcus excused himself to talk with his officers. Captain Spears welcomed Rita before excusing himself as well. “Congratulations Rita, both on being elevated to the rank of royal knight and for your appointment to Prince James personal guard. Now if you excuse me, I have duties to attend to. Lieutenant, I formally pass on the duty of protection of the prince to you.”
1. Simmons bowed his head and replied. “I formally take up the duty to protect our prince.”
My father left to meet with the royal advisors. It was clear on several of their faces they wanted to know more about what my additional authority meant. ‘Father, good luck dealing with those jackals.’
Mother and Aurora left with Lady Rollara. My assumption was to continue her training and education. ‘Man, I got to get in on that training like my mother suggested. Lady Rollara seems like a shrewd fox, and she knows the real size of my core.’
Enough mental distractions, time to meet with my new team. I turned to the knights gathered around me. “Now that all that ceremony is over and done with let us adjourn to my suite. There is much to discuss.” I noticed the girls blushing some. ‘Why are they blushing? Geez, this high Charisma is going to get me in trouble.’
Mira spoke up first with a mischievous smile on her face, “Is the prince inviting us into his room?”
‘That’s not what I meant!’ I could feel my cheeks heating up.
“I was referring to my private conference room within my suite. Very funny Mira.”
Mira, Kira, and Rita all started to laugh, even Lieutenant Simmons chimed in with a chuckle. “You walked right into that one your highness.”
Shaking my head. “Fair enough. Come, let’s talk. I want you all aware of my immediate plans.”
LT Simmons took the lead and the other three surrounded me, Mira to my left, Kira to my right, and Rita behind me.
Once we arrived in the suite, both Mira and LT Simmons broke off to do a quick scan of the various rooms in my suite. ‘Man, they don’t joke around. What they are doing is pretty much unnecessary, I warded my room before leaving it, but they don’t know that. Granted the wards were somewhat limited. This overzealous effort might be a bit annoying in the future.’
They returned quickly and we entered my private conference room. I took a seat and asked them to do the same. “Please be seated. It is time for us to talk. Let me explain some of my plans over the next few weeks.”
“As you wish your majesty.” Rita said as she took her seat.
“Please, call me James when it is just the five of us.” I replied.
“My Prince, I simply cannot.” Rita replied.
Giving a devious grin I asked, “Are you refusing a direct order from your prince?”
“Uh...” Rita stammered, looking to the others for assistance.
“Quit teasing the poor girl your highness. She just became a knight; she has no concept of what is and is not acceptable.” LT Simmons countered.
Turning to Rita, LT Simmons explained, “It is not uncommon for one of the royal family to be more informal in private. It is a part of their trust in us to watch their back and not abuse the privilege. Did you not see how Captain Spears and Prince James were so informal on the journey here?
“Yes Sir.” Rita answered.
“It’s similar.” LT Simmons stated.
“Oh, my apologies Prince James. I am still learning.” Rita replied.
Kira stepped in to help her friend and show her appreciation. “Thank you, James, for your trust in our capabilities. We will do our best to live up to this honor.”
They all nodded. Feeling it best to get things back on track. “I truly do appreciate the sentiment Kira and I meant what I said when I selected each of you. Everyone one of you brings a specific set of skills, and I’ve fought alongside some of you. I can’t think of anyone else besides Reggie that I’d want watching my back.”
After they nodded again, I started to bring them up to speed on my plans. “Eventually we will find other members to add to our party.”
“Party sire?” Mira asked.
“Yes. All of you heard the authority I was granted to form special teams to deal with threats to the kingdom?”
After they nodded, I continued. “I plan to recruit from the Adventurers’ Guild. They primarily are independent, but they have skill sets and techniques I’d like other teams to learn. On our trip back we dealt with a monster army. For some that was the first time dealing with such things. My understanding is we tend to engage the guild to help when it comes to monster extermination.”
“What skills are you referring to my prince?” Mira asked.
“Team coordination when dealing with monsters versus others. The approach you use to fight monsters is far different than armies. My father, Uncle Marcus, and Reggie have all asked I take on this task and I’ve gladly accepted. However, the adventurers’ guild won’t just go along with this. First, their independent charter helps provide some protection from political maneuverings, but the people that make up the guild are still our citizens and my understanding still care about this kingdom.”
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“It is true my prince, before I joined the army I scouted with several adventurers. They all loved the kingdom they grew up in just didn’t want to get stuck serving some lord or noble just to advance or make a life.” Rita chimed in.
“Thank you, Rita, for the input. To help gain influence with the guild, the five of us will be forming an adventuring party. My mother wasn’t exactly thrilled with this idea, but she understands the need.”
“Sire, that seems rather risky. I have never heard of a royal knight doing such a thing, let alone one from the royal family.” LT Simmons chimed in.
“That is precisely why we are going to do it. We will start at the bottom and work our way up. I have agreed to keep the jobs we take as low risk as possible, at least for now. Mother was very adamant I enroll in the royal academy to learn to defend myself and master magics.”
“Uh, you’re kidding right? You took out an undead ogre and used his leg as a club! What more do you need to learn? I mean come on!” LT Simmons said.
Laughing I replied, “True enough Lieutenant, but mothers worry about their children no matter what you say and there is plenty I can still learn from the academy, especially about magic. I will attend the academy and we will do various quests from the guild during my off time. This is part of a long-term plan, but I want everyone to be aware of it. Any questions?”
Mira jokingly raised her hand. “Yes Mira?
“Do we get to beat the crap out of any adventurer who is an idiot and bad mouths you before they realize who you are?”
‘Wow is that foreshadowing or what?’ I think but I laugh and respond, “Yes you have my permission to punch them as hard as you can in the face.”
“Oh, that’s not a good idea, Mira can hit pretty hard. I speak from experience.” LT Simmons replied chuckling.
“Regardless, she still has permission to do so. Now, some other things to make you all aware of…”
Making sure I had everyone’s attention I continued. “First thing tomorrow morning, I will be training royal knights and some military officers in the morning exercise routines and condition training I performed during our travels. Second, I will begin joining my sister’s tutoring sessions with Lady Rollara to prepare myself for life at the royal academy. At some point I’d really like to visit the city library and tour the city. Which leads me to the last item. My parents will not let me explore the city until after the royal ball.”
“Royal ball?” Rita asked in confusion.
Her friend Kira, who came from a noble family explained. “The prince must be introduced to high society. This gives the nobles in each faction a chance to size him up and get his bearing. I am not surprised they want to make sure the nobles meet you before the rest of the city does. Other wealthy merchant and artisan families will also be in attendance. This is also an opportunity for potential marital candidates to meet you, my prince. After all, with your return you are now the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. I had to listen to mother go on and on about it, in excruciating detail.” I lamented.
“Ha, now that’s a problem I wouldn’t mind having!” LT Simmons joked.
“There will most likely be some foreign dignitaries as well, so possible suitresses could be from outside the kingdom too. Keep in mind your highness, it is not unheard of for one of your peers to have multiple wives. Your parents are a bit of the minority when it comes to royal and noble families on the continent.” Kira commented with an unhappy look.
I noticed Mira’s and Kira’s faces seemed to sour with all this talk of potential match making.
“Enough talk about such things. It’s bad enough I hear this stuff from my mother. The ball will be in a few days. After the ball, we will register with the Adventurers’ Guild and take a tour of the city. In a couple weeks I will take the Royal Academy entrance exam and hopefully start classes. It’s been a long day. I’ll leave it to all of you to figure out a watch schedule. I’m going to get some rest.”
I chose to go to bed early not because I was tired but because I wanted to spend some time in my Demiplane.
After entering my Demiplane, I of course enjoyed another long soak in the Japanese style Bathhouse. As I was relaxing, I started to think through my plans. I considered what issues I knew of and what issues were unknown. I decided to use my Mental Visualization ability.
Mental Visualization:
Description: Create images and text with a mere thought. Turn these visuals on and off at will. Classification is also possible if partnered with Partitioned Mind ability.
Partitioned Mind:
Description: You have learned how to lock away a part or parts of your very consciousness to protect your mind and sanity. Possibilities are endless.
I created a mental list using my Mental Visualization and Partitioned Mind abilities:
Known/Unknown Problems/Concerns:
-Foreign influences trying to undermine the kingdom (Unknown)
-People not wanting me to fulfill the prophecy (Unknown)
-Which nobles can be trusted (Unknown)
-Kingdom’s economic state (unknown)
-Magical knowledge (Inherited, need to know this world’s understanding)
-Building a force to deal with Kingdom level threats (Starting, need resources)
-Figure out why my guide was rambling about the Dark (Eventually figure it out)
In looking at my mental list I realized a few things. First, I have limited information. I will need to come up with a plan to create an information network, not easy but doable with resources and the right personnel I can trust. Attending the Royal Academy will help me begin to meet other members of society and learn what magical and technological knowledge this world possesses. This led to the second realization, I need resources and personnel. This too will take time, but I have some ideas I can use.
Having already created various veins of ore in the mountains of my demiplane, I used some OPs to set each of those veins to grow over time. I could turn it off at some point but did not think I would be doing that anytime soon. After purchasing the self-growth option, I decided to create mine entrances into each mountain.
With the mines established, I added some additional ores to provide materials needed to support what I planned. Looking at my work I started to ponder what to do next.
I said out loud to myself, “The problem I see now is a lack of workers to mine those materials. Well, if you don’t have what you need create it.”
Mind made up; I began the process to create what I required using the magic I was most excited about. I decided to start to use some of my creation magic. Of all the magic I absorbed and gained knowledge of, this magic had me most excited with the unlimited range of possibilities. Now to start to make some of those possibilities happen.
Two fundamental aspects of magic I gained were magic in all the various forms came down to your intent and strength of will to make things happen. With a high enough intelligence, you could learn to bring miracles about, knowledge truly was power in this world. Spells were ways to programmatically focus your will and intent into reality. Thinking of it as a language or code, you just had to learn the various components of the spell and that is when it clicked for me, spells are called spells because they are spelling out what you desire. Why did I never think of it like that before?
Some spells required words, some required specific hand movements, and others used material components as magical focuses or to put it in ways I could better understand, it is like a fuse in completing a circuit. All of that said, it came down to ways for the energy within and surrounding you to remain focused in a way to bring your intent and mind in sync to ignore all the distractions and make it happen. Eventually do a spell enough times, with a high enough intelligence and energy pool, you create a new pattern or habit that you can draw on.
But here is the kicker, all of it didn’t really matter. Words, gestures, and magical materials are just crutches, a way to focus or draw more power, I do not require such things. As my guide told me, the rules of this world would just be guidelines to me. With my knowledge of how Magic inherently worked I just needed a strong image, enough will, and to let my natural intuition do the rest. My Mental Visualization and Partitioned Mind were the perfect abilities to help me achieve what I wanted.
“Don’t worry about the how, just the result.” No truer words were ever said.
What I needed now was workers to mine and perform other gathering tasks. I had knowledge of Unseen Servant, but they don’t have enough strength. I could Summon Elementals, but that too was limited. Perhaps a mix or both with a bit of a twist. With the image clear in my mind I activated the necessary magics and clamped down hard with my will using Creation Magic to bind it all together. A golden glow surrounded the area and as the light dissipated for the first time, I beheld my new worker creation.
The worker was about a meter tall and looked like a hybrid of an earth elemental with crystals in key parts. These crystals could harden and become tougher than diamonds and morph into different tools. This would allow my crystal workers or CWs to provide a wide range of services.
“Ha, in my old life we called our temporary workers contingent workers or CWs. Heck I was a CW before I got a permanent job. My mind must’ve made some kind of subconscious connection there. Ha, it still works.” I chuckled to myself.
My CWs have enough intelligence to follow multiple instructions and I instinctually knew they would remain roughly about a week. With the time dilation of my Demiplane, I would have to re-summon all the CWs every few mornings when I returned to the Demiplane. Not perfect but with my high energy regeneration I could recover quickly. After using this creation magic to give new form, I wanted something temporary in nature but if these little guys worked out well enough, I was confident I could make them permanent.
I summoned several dozen CWs and put them to work mining the various precious minerals within the mountains. I created a vast storage facility where they would deposit all the raw ore into it. Eventually I would need to build a forge and smithy here but wanted the ore to pile up a bit. Plus, I was low on OPs for now. Luckily, I created this place to help me generate a small amount of points over time.
As I watched my new creations work, I mentally added a note to my growing list. Each day I would use a certain amount of Omniverse Points to increase the growth rate of the various veins of ore so my CWs would never run out of something to mine.
I decided to supervise my workers for a few hours. My CWs seemed to enjoy working with their hands and being productive. While I watched I noticed I regained enough Omniverse Points to create a forge attached to a smithy, and some molds for creating metal bars. Nice thing about using OPs is the forge and smithy came fully stocked with tools and supplies needed for the smelting process.
“Man, it pays to have clear mental visualization!” I commented.
I dabbled in blacksmithing and leatherworking back in my old life. My Uncle used to do leatherworking and he instilled in me the importance of knowing basic skills that most people had forgotten. I always respected my uncle for that. I wouldn’t have known as much as I did back in my old life if not for him. After gaining so many skills and professional knowledge my intuition used that knowledge to create more than just a building.
Looking at the size of the building I couldn’t help but comment. “That thing is massive. There must be enough here for several blacksmiths and smelters to work simultaneously. This must be a dwarf’s wet dream, heck I’m excited to use it in the future.”
Then I realized one very important thing, “Why wait when you can do it now?”
I summoned a CW to bring the ore from the storage facility to the forge. With my smithing knowledge, I started two different processes, one to smelt the gold and one to smelt the platinum ores. The focus of each process was to smelt them down, remove the impurities, and pour the liquid metal into the casts. The advantage of having CWs is they had very high tolerance for extreme pressure and heat making them perfect miners and smithing assistants.
While my CW assistants held the super-heated ore, I used ice magic to cool the metals. After the metals cooled, I checked out my handy work. Having the CWs open the cast and drop the bars onto a sturdy table.
“There be gooolldd in them there hills!” I said in my best impression of a California 49er voice because of course the first thing I’m going to make are gold bars, and you have to sound like an old miner when you do it. I mean duh!
The idea of being able to mine and forge precious metals I could turn into resources and currency was cool but conceptually thinking about it vs. making it happen, let’s just say I was a bit giddy. I made this happen, hard to compare it to anything. With enough time I could make anything, how cool is that?
Talk about grueling yet satisfying work, smithing and metallurgy was pretty freaking awesome! After several repeats of the various processes, I ended up with 100 gold bars and 100 platinum bars!
“I need to create a giant Scrooge McDuck vault and fill it with gold coins I can go swimming it.” I said in excitement. Of course, I would not be doing that as it would be a sure-fire way of getting trapped, but I could dream.
“Hmm, I wonder if this is a result of choosing dragon as my race. I have a sudden urge to make a hoard and fill it with shinny things? Oh well, problem for a later day.” I dismissed the random thought and got back to making things happen.
This was day one of me starting to accumulate the wealth I would need to enact my plans. So glad I invested in learning everything I could about smithing. So many skills I made a point to learn but the combination of magic and smithing was awesome.
My CWs were turning out to be invaluable too. They learned quickly, I could give instructions via telepathy or voice commands. They could even learn by watching, which made things even easier. I instructed a few of the CWs that were assisting me to take over the processes I performed to create the bars. As they didn’t have ice magic, I showed them how to cool the metals. Observing the CWs for a while to ensure they followed the instructions to the letter. After feeling sufficiently satisfied that they had this well in hand, I stored the bars in my massive city sized pocket dimension and left.
For the second time this visit, I headed to the bathhouse to clean up. All the soot and grime I seemed to have accumulated and a nice soak just sounded like heaven. I removed my clothes and used one of my favorite spells, Prestidigitation, to clean my clothes. Sure, I also used it to clean myself and not just my clothes while traveling, but I am not traveling at the moment, and that was before I had this perfectly good luxury bathhouse. I cannot let this place go to waste. Where is the fun in that?
“God, thank you for this new amazing life.” I said after enjoying another amazing bathing experience.
All the knowledge I gained about this world, the kingdom, the royal family, and the various threats here, I knew I had my work cut out for me but here in this moment, I’m good.
Taking a few more moments to enjoy this experience, I thought, ‘Man who would’ve ever thought I’d be such a bath person. The Japanese know their stuff!’
As I left the bathhouse fully dressed and clean once again, I ordered a few CWs to move the bars of gold and platinum to the storage facility. I would retrieve them each time I visited. Sure, I could leave it all here, but this place worked differently than my personal pocket dimension. Once I put an item in my pocket dimension I could recall it with a thought, add in the fact that nothing ages, it’s the perfect storage. I heard some lucky people had bags of holding; those things are a joke compared to my personal storage.
Just looking at all the activity of my CWs I was feeling a bit like a lazy bum, so I decided to get back to training and practicing my magic. I had designed an area where I could practice some of my magic. I say some as my demiplane was still not strong enough to withstand some of my more powerful attack spells. Eventually, this place would be fortified enough, both in realm stability and protection circles, to withstand my Grand Scale magic spells.