(Day 167) Aprilis 12th, 12th year of the Dragon, Age of Enlightenment

Adam made his way to the castle and walked in. It was almost sunset, and he could hear the uproar from more than 300 feet away. The Guards were standing around not doing much of anything.

“We must accept Henry’s claim,” a gruff male voice said.

“Gabriella has the greater claim,” a second female voice said.

“That matters not if the Kingdom falls, we must accept The Council’s deal,” a 2nd younger man said.

As Adam stepped into the room no one even looked at him. He began using Analyze on everyone as he made his way around the room and listened to the heated conversation as it went to and fro. Once he was done analyzing everyone he could see he looked at the map and put a face to the name of every person in here that could be a traitor.

Adam moved to the Throne and sat down. He also had his nanites create a crown atop his head that was exquisite in detail and made out of platinum with a huge diamond in the center and waited. He tapped the pointer finger of his right hand on the throne hard enough to draw the attention of the closest person to him, a young lady. She looked over at the throne, gasped, and then whispered to her friend. Adam acted as if didn’t seem to notice her, but he watched through his nanites as she whispered to her friend, who whispered to her friend. Adam counted to 30 before a man bellowed from across the room.

“Get off that Throne!”

Adam looked at the Noble disdainfully and casually said “No.”

The crowd of people that had been yelling and screaming went silent and moved aside as the man strode toward Adam. Checking his memory, Adam realized this man. One Lord Bayzier was one of the traitors. Lord Bayzier pulled a wand from his coat, pointed it at Adam, and a beam of light as bright as the sun lanced towards him.

Adam decided to have a little fun. He quickly opened his shirt and arched his back towards the beam. “Oh yeah, that’s the ticket. Give me that beam of light. I need to work on my tan!” as the beam struck him for absolutely no damage.

One of the nearby ladies actually covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. Adam reviewed the information on her from Analyze.

Analyze: Success: Cassandra Level 20 HP 3

So, the daughter of a Noble, hopefully not one that he’d have to banish or kill

Lord Bayzier put the wand away and pulled out a staff out of some magical holding item. He pointed it at Adam and a brown beam came forward. An Earth Elemental made of granite and stone formed behind the throne and started to reach down to grab Adam and the Thone.

“If the throne is touched by your Elemental I will kill you where you stand, and your eldest son,” Adam said.

“Hold,” Lord Bayzier said which caused the Elemental to stop moving.

“The same goes for all of you. You may declare a formal duel, to the death or not, I care not. You may try to assassinate me with magic or your ranged weapons, again I care not. If by your action you harm the Throne” Adam moved, making three strikes against the Earth Elemental which shattered and turned to dust as he returned to his sitting position on the Throne while he continued. “You will die just as quick as that did. Now before any of you scream and do something insanely stupid which will require me to put you to death let me introduce myself,” Adan said as he paused to see if someone would be stupid enough to interrupt him.

“I am Adamantadine, Master of Adamantadine Tower and the Dungeon Master of Magical Elements right outside the city. It was by my hand that the Assassins all lost the use of their hearts this day. It is by my will that the Leader of the Assassins Guild’s leader, Desirae is currently sitting in a very small room very far away from here. And it was my hand that plucked the hearts out of the almost Divine Arch Mage Belarious and his Assassin Bitch, Seraphin after they’d murdered five of the citizens of this kingdom and invaded my Place of Power as they tried to assassinate me”

“Lies! All Lies….” A large fat man wearing purple robes yelled which turned into a gurgle.

The man gurgled because Adam had looked at the man as he spoke, realized he was another of the traitors, a Lord Majour, and moved. He’d plucked the heart out of his chest and was sitting back on the throne holding the Lord’s beating heart between them as the nanites destroyed the blood dripping off his hand.

As the Lord gurgled and started to fall forward, Adam called out, “I believe this was yours…Traitor!” There was a loud spat as the Lord hit the floor face first and a pool of blood started to expand from his chest.

A couple of women gasped and a few screamed. While Adam had been busy he’d noticed that Lord Bayzier was trying to slyly pull out a hand crossbow and aim it at him. Adam deactivated his bracers and waited just staring over the heart in his left hand acting like he didn’t see what Lord Bayzier was doing. There was a gasp as a few people saw him shoot, but no one who saw what he was doing called out a warning.

Adam plucked the dart out of the air. Looked at it then put the head into the top of his hand holding the heart. Lord Bayzier smiled wickedly while Adam met his gaze, then looked down at the dart. Adam had of course had the Nanites save the poison, which looked like a really nasty neurotoxin. Adam removed the bolt from his body, allowing the nanites to close the hole. There was a flicker and Adam was sitting on the Throne, now with two hearts, one in each hand, as Lord Bayzier fell forward, just like Lord Majour.

Unlike Lord Majour, Lord Bayzier fell forward in such a way that he maintained eye contact with Adam. Adam looked across Lord Bayzier’s heart into his eyes as he spoke in a menacing tone, “I don’t take kindly to assassination attempts either. Nice poison, it tickles.” Adam said as Lord Bayzier died.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The gasps had stopped and those who had fainted were being helped to seats around the outskirts of the room. Adam looked around the room. And spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I am King Adamantadine. I hereby claim these lands in preparation for a more appropriate King to claim the throne and continue to lead this kingdom on its path to glory as the honorable and just King Liam II did. I will accept any formal challenges to the throne.”

Adam was cut off when one of the Nobles, not one of the traitors, started to declare “I chall….” Before he was knocked unconscious by Adam who was already sitting back on the Throne before the attack had even been registered by anyone else as he continued.

“After I am done making my announcements and decrees. First, my level of response to any that formally challenges me will be as follows. If you are one of these Nobles or a member of their family” Adam said as he conjured a projector that displayed a map with the traitor’s mansions and properties circled in red with the word “Traitors?” in bright red ink across the top. “I noticed while I exterminated the assassins that no one at any of the houses that are circled was attacked or hurt as I searched for the assassins. If you are one of the Nobles of those families or a member of those families and you give a formal challenge, it will be to the death and your death will come one second after the words leave your mouth, as any such declaration could only be a traitor attempting to take the throne to have this kingdom become one of The Councils pawns. I will not let that happen.” Adam paused for a second letting that sink in before he continued.

“The noble that just spoke up was not one of the possible traitors so he will wake up shortly with a headache but nothing more. One of you should make sure he is informed of my words. Second, I killed Belarious and Seraphine as fast as I killed those two. “ Adam said as he pointed to Lord Bayzier and Lord Majour. Those of you who knew Belarious power know that for someone to be able to kill him in a second would be almost unheard of unless the divines were directly affecting the affairs of mortals. That is not the case, Captain of the Guard!” Adam called.

“Yes, my King.”

“Have your men and women come to the throne room and look upon me. I will be sitting here until a new King is chosen. Inform them that the man sitting on the Throne is King Adamantadine and that they are to follow my commands without question. Make this happen for every guard that didn’t turn traitor.

“Yes, my Lord”

“I also have a question for you. For the guards that turned traitor this day, and any lords and ladies that colluded with The Council. What would the Previous King have done?

“That’s simple my Lord. Anyone caught red-handed would have been executed immediately. The Lords and Ladies, if proof existed, they would have their possessions confiscated and they would also be executed. If there was no proof, it would be life as normal for the Nobles.”

Adam nodded as he adjusted his Dungeon Interface. “Every single guard that refused to surrender today and was knocked out by myself, therefore the current King witnessed them committing treason against the Kingdom they swore an Oath to. They are to be stripped down to their skivvies and thrown into the first level of the Dungeon. I have already made the necessary changes to allow this. They will keep their Oaths and give their lives to promote the security and safety of the citizens of Venoran. Those that surrendered are to be put on weaponless shit duties for the foreseeable future. I will leave their fate to the next King. Though if they complain, fight, or hurt anyone in the city again, give them to the Dungeon. Death sentences by execution will not happen unless the next King rescinds this order. As the Dungeon grows stronger, Venoran grows stronger. The next King may keep this policy or change it, they will be King after all. For now, Individuals who are being put to death will die making Venoran stronger. Once my talk here is done, go and do as I say.” Adam said as he turned back to the Lords and Ladies.

“Third, any who sit on or damage this Throne besides a child will be fed to the Dungeon. If you want to sit on it you must take it from me.”

“Fourth, I declared myself King here because your home is close to my Place of Power, and chaos this close to my home is unacceptable. I wish to have stable neighbors. I do not want to be a King but if in doing so I serve my Goddess and the forces of Good I will do what I must. Over the next little bit of time, The Lords and Ladies of this Kingdom will work towards finding a suitable replacement for King Liam II. Once that is done and I accept their nomination I will step aside for the new King.” He said pausing then continuing resignedly, “Or you can continuously challenge me to a duel being unable to change what will be. Those of you who decided to help The Council. After we close here for the day. You may ask to be granted an audience and you may make your case for why you did so. I will inform the next King of your willingness to confess and the reasons you worked with The Council. Though be warned, if you challenge or attack me, it will be to the death for you as I have stated.” Adam paused for a moment, conjured a glass of water out of thin air, took a drink, and then continued.

“At this time there will be no questions. It is getting late and I’m sure we will all have a full day tomorrow. To those of you who were loyal to King Liam II know that I understand your loss and am working to help rectify it and ultimately bring justice to those who ordered the heinous crimes committed this day. For those of you who helped, the Council's days are numbered. Either walk back into the light or stay in the shadows until the darkness utterly engulfs you. Know that the Dark will not keep you from me. Dismissed!” Adam declared as he sat on the Throne and watched as the Lords and Ladies started to exit the Throne Room. Some looked at his impassive gaze, contemplated their chances then, looked away and left.

Servants came into the room to recover the bodies. “Leave them,” Adam said and watched the servants leave. He moved over to the bodies and had his nanites clean up the mess and any normal items so that only magical items were left. Then he looked at what was left. As he started to identify the items one of the rings activated and 4 items disappeared. Adam looked over at the other pile and checking his memory, noted that three of four items were now missing from that pile. Adam analyzed what was left. On Lord Bayzier

Analyze: Success: You have found a Ring of Spell Storing (Empty)

This ring allows the caster to place one spell in the ring with a Contingency

Analyze Success: You have found a Dagger +5

Analyze Success: You have found a Wand of Sunbeam Level 100

Does 10d10 x 100 points of damage 20 of 25 charges

Analyze: Success: You have found a Staff of Summon Earth Elemental 400

Allows you to summon a Level 1000 Earth Elemental once per week.

On Lord Majour Adam found

Analyze: Success: You have found a Ring of Spell Storing (Empty)

This ring allows the caster to place one spell in the ring with a Contingency

Adam picked up the items and placed them in his Ring of Holding. He returned to the Throne and sat down. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. He conjured a desk in front of him and pulled out one of the Belarious spell books he’d found and started looking over the spells inside. He had 33 volumes to go through. He might as well get something productive done.