Arc 3: Choosing Reality by Embracing Life
Road to a hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 10: Party in the castle
Rosemary and the rest of the group walk back to the castle.
Soku: “Do we gotta go to this party?”
Rosemary: “You can stay behind if you want to.”
Edward: “Just think of it like, this is a reward for all the things we’ve done so far.”
Rosemary: “That’s a nice way to put it.”
Soku: “Ugh.”
Rosemary: “Weird that they wanted us to wear armor, even bring our weapons.”
Edward: “I think it is because we might be knighted at the end of the party, so they want us in highly dressed attire.”
Ophelia walks behind the group, sulking and wiping her tears away.
Edward: “She's not taking this well.”
Rosemary: “It was Gray's choice to leave, so I’m not going to get angry, but it still sucks that he’s gone.”
Soku: “Yeah it’s whatever, pretty abrupt though, wish he could have warned us.”
Rosemary: “Well he seemed surprised too, I didn’t know he was suffering so much. I wish I could have helped him.”
Edward: “If he wanted help I think he would’ve asked, suffering in silence can make you feel lonely though, I knew he was playing a character to some degree, but not that much.”
Soku: “How much do you think it was ?”
Rosemary: “I don’t think he’s a completely different person than we knew, just an exaggerated version of his real self. Sounds weird talking about him in this way.”
Soku: “Really sucks for you though, you liked him didn’t you? Bad luck.”
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Rosemary: “It’s fine, I expected as much, usually I don’t know if I had a good thing until I left it or it left me.”
Edward: “A shame, he was talented. To put all that hard work to waste.”
Soku: “I’m gonna go talk to Ophelia, I’ll just be a bit behind.”
Rosemary: “I’m kinda nervous about this whole party thing.”
Edward: “Well most of the others are gone, only a few knights around, and just anybody who was in the exam. Even the other candidates left, though I think Kioshi will be there.”
Rosemary: “Do you think Arthur will be fit for the title of king?”
Edward: “He wasn’t my first choice, though he’s better than Elizabeth.”
Rosemary: “Yeah that’s fair.”
They enter the castle's ballroom, with all the examinees talking with each other.
Rosemary: “It’s beautiful.”
Edward: “Really flashy.”
Soku: “Bleh.”
Julius: “Ah, you have arrived.”
Edward: “Oh hey Julius, yeah we had to deal with some stuff before this.”
Julius: “Where is Kyojin?”
Soku: “He dipped out on us.”
Julius: “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, well let us not be held back by that and let it stop us from having a good time now.”
Rosemary: “Yeah I agree, I can use this to get my mind off of it.”
They all spend time talking to each other, eating nice food, having nice drinks, and just reliving a lot of stress they had.
Soku: “This royal grub still isn’t as good as a home-cooked meal.”
Rosemary: “It’s better than what we had in the slums, a big shift in a short amount of time.”
Ophelia: “I miss our old house.”
Edward: “Yeah we all did lose homes huh.”
Soku: “Cus of those anarchists following Gray, maybe he should be gone.”
Edward: “Well I think we’re on their radar now, who knows they might be after us as well.”
Arthur walks up to the middle of the room, clanking his glass preparing himself to make an announcement.
Soku: “It’s our new king.”
Arthur: “OK EVERYONE I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A TOAST! I hope I am as good a ruler as I hope to be. I want to make this country happy and make the people of the county love each other no matter what they look like. SO ALL OF YOU, LIVE STRONG AND LIVE WELL!”
Right as his speech is finished, the roof breaks open, with a small army of anarchists falling from the sky, everyone reacts terrified and surprised.
Soku: “SHIT!”
Edward: “RUN NOW!”
The small number of knights try to fight the anarchists, though, with no hope. They are quickly out numbered and dealt with in a quick and bloody fashion. Rosemary and the rest of the group try and run out of the castle, though blocking the main door is a man giving off an aura that can only be described as fear in carnet. The pale man looks at the group, he then smiles at them with his cracked and crooked teeth.
Soku: “Is…Is that a jester or somthing? What’s with the makeup?”
Edward: “NO TIME FOR THAT!”
Edward takes out his sword, swinging at the floor, opening a hole for them to escape into a lower floor. They jump into the hole, only to see four familiar foes.
Carla: “LOOK WHO IT IS!”
Jeremiah: “Where’s Gray? I wanted to rematch him.”
Conroy: “Oh hey Edward, wanna have a rematch?
Anibis: “Dammit, finish these people off by yourselves, I need to do other things.”
Conroy: “Got it!”
Edward: “If you wanna have a rematch, then let’s have a one-on-one duel, and then Soku and Rosemary can fight you, your name is Carla right?”
Carla: “WOOO! I LIKE THIS PLAN, COME ON GIRLS LET’S GO! LEAVE THE CAT GIRL BEHIND AND LET’S FIGHT!”
Soku: “OPHELIA GETS OUT OF HER RUN!”
Rosemary: “If…if you wanna find Gray, he’s not on this floor go find him.”
Jeremiah: “Uhg…fine you guys finish this here.”
Rosemary {IT WORKED!}
Edward and Conroy leave to another hallway, holding their swords at each other, while Soku fights Carla with Rosemary, then there’s Ophelia hiding in a corner.
Conroy: “COME ON LET’S FINISH THIS ALREADY!”
END OF CHAPTER
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