An almost perfect gentlemanly smile appeared on Chris' lips: "Hi my Lady, I am Chris Duhan leader of Five Cave Village, located a little east from here. This gentleman here is Berg my right hand man, and this is Titus my scout chief."

They both nodded, their faces were a little red... They knew why their King suddenly appeared so dignified.

Chris noticed someone else in the tent. She was tall, taller than him. Her physique was impressive, Chris was sure she could pick him up and bend him in two if she wanted. She was wearing a mix of leather and copper armor. He could also see a longsword on her side. [What an intimidating aura, she can't just be a bodyguard... That's probably her second in command.] He thought.

Mia's beautiful and cold voice broke his thoughts "What do we owe the pleasure of your visit to?" She asked calmly.

"We are hunting a beast that fled to this area. It was quite aggressive and hurt a few our people, I am a kind leader so I decided to eliminate it." Chris lied with the most beautiful smile in the world. "And then we heard rumors of the beautiful and very capable leader of this camp, how could we not pay our respects! Which is why I immediately left my hunters in a clearing east of here and came over!"

[Heard from whom? What beast? Our king is so shameless...] Thought Berg and Titus.

Half an hour went by, which seemed like torture for them. Their king kept saying things like: "This dress really suits you! I can feel the librarian vibe!", "Is it made from wool? Can I feel it?", "Glasses would really suit you!", "Do you know what my robe is made of? Boyfriend material", "No no, I'm not staring at your boobs. I'm staring at your heart."Only to be met by a cold indifference from the other side.

[Kiiiiiing ! Your image!] They pleaded.

After a while Berg summoned his courage and said "Sun King, we should go, we shouldn't bother the ladies any longer."

"Oh right..." Chris seemed disappointed. "Thank you for your hospitality. It is time for us to leave. But fear not! Our camp is just 500m east from you, we'll be staying for a day or two. If you miss me or need anything don't hesitate to visit!".

Chris and his hunters were escorted out of the camp. Once far enough Chris mounted Dalahan and Berg finally asked:

"My lord, this wasn't according to plan. Why didn't you invite them to join us?"Asked Berg

"Didn't you notice all the books in the tent Bergy? They were not stories and novel. They were management books ranging from crop production, accounting and finance, taxes, and so on..."

"B-Bergy... Wait, you mean she is..." Berg said

"Yup. She is planing the same thing as us. She is smart and quite dedicated, it must have been hell to find all those books. So tell me, given her preparations and ambition, is there any chance she would accept an offer to join some group she just met?" Said Chris with a smile

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I see...She certainly wouldn't." Berg was very worried. He knew how important this mission was.

Chris was lost in thought and added: "Also, I think... That our plan would have backfired on us if we asked her to join us. She is smart, she would have made the connection between our appearance and the Kunalls. If she did, we would be blamed for not warning them." It appeared that Chris didn't want her to think badly of him.

Then Berg exclaimed "Oh! So you pretended to act shamelessly since we lost our objective and we had nothing else to talk about!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked Chris

Berg coughed and said: "So what do we do?"

"It's simple! We pretend to hunt our beast and wait until there is a princess to save! Hahaha! Hey Bergy, she might fall in love when she sees me rushing over to fight the Kunalls!"

"W-Well my lord. We are not planing to fight in melee. And your mount is a bit..." Berg eyed Dalahan.

"DAGNABIT!" Cried Chris after looking down.

*********************

Back in Mia's tent.

"Ah, I feel so tired," said Mia. "So what do you think Cat?"

This was the woman Chris noticed before, her name was Catherina Brahm.

"They suddenly showed up, their leader shamelessly hits on you for half an hour and they leave just as suddenly as they arrived... I don't know what to think." Cat said with an awkward smile on her face." I had people check on their camp, there are more than two hundred of them... Do you think they plan to attack us?"

Mia didn't hesitate and said "If he had bad intentions he would not have put himself in danger by coming to us. They would have just launched a surprise attack. He even told us where his camp is." Mia continued."Somehow... Doesn't it feel like an invitation?"

"Well he really liked you" Said Cat with a huge grin.

"Cat!" Mia was clearly embarrassed. She had just remembered all his cheesy lines: 'Can I draw your portrait to prove to all my friends that angels do exist?', 'If you were a booger I'd pick you up first.'

"That was sooo embarrassing! He kept saying shameless things!"

Cat was clearly enjoying the situation "Haha, look at you loosing your calm! What a rare sight!"

Mia managed to regain her calm and said in a serious tone "Did you hear what his men called him?"

"Yeah...Sun King. Do you think he is for real?" Asked Cat.

"I don't know, however he certainly has more people than us if he can manage to assemble 200 hunters for a beast." Answered Mia.

Cat certainly thought so too, by her estimation he probably had more than a thousand people, so she said "Are you worried he'll start his kingdom before you?"

But Mia only smiled. "Worried? Don't forget, our goal is to rebuild a kingdom for humanity, not to put me on the throne. His people, our people, they are the same. If there is no one better I will take the throne but if someone more qualified comes along, I will give him or her, my support."

Cat grinned ans said "So what do you think of mister 'Boyfriend material'?"

"Cat!" Said Mia while throwing a pillow. She thought a little bit and then said "I don't know if his shameless attitude is an act, but I think he is very well educated."

"What makes you think so?"

"I noticed he kept checking the books. Even while speaking he kept moving around to get a better view. If he didn't know how to read he wouldn't look at them one by one. So he must have been able to read the titles. But he showed no greed, just curiosity and surprise... As if he already knew everything written in them. Those are books from the royal library from the old capital! Do you know how much those are worth? Any scholar would die to get their hands on them, not to mention someone building his kingdom!"

Cat smirked "So he is either very well educated, or an idiot that doesn't know the value of the books."

Mia showed an awkward smile and said "I guess."

Suddenly Cat remembered something "Ah! Want to know something interesting?"

"Yes?" Cat's playful smile surprised Mia.

"That 'Sun King'... Came and left on a Donkey!"

"..."

"Pfft! Ha... HAHAHA!"