With red and gold robes billowing behind him, the king returned to his throne as we watched. The hall was completely silent.
“We have two more decorations to hand out,” he said solemnly, “sadly, not all of our heroes are able to be with us this evening. One young man is in hospital and another sacrificed his life for the good of this nation. I am awarding them both a seal of Havar for their dedication to protecting us all, and I would like to direct you all in a moment of silence to remember the sacrifice made by young Reginald, a true hero of this fine nation of ours.”
The room went silent and many of the nobles placed their hands over their hearts, Lucas did the same and I mimicked his body language, bowing my head.
After a moment, the king raised his eyes and continued with his speech.
“As further thanks for your dedication in the protection of Havar.” He said, opening his arms widely towards the crowd of gathered nobles. “Please enjoy these humble celebrations.”
The doors creaked open and wait staff flooded the room carrying tables and chairs and drinks galore. The nobles began to filter away from their formal standing positions, many moving back outside.
To the side of the hall a small stage was uncovered and a band set up and began playing fast jazz that reminded me of the roaring 20’s I’d heard so much about. Their instruments were strange to me, but the sounds they made were familiar enough as not to be jarring.
The king sat back in his chair as a group of FBI-like mages began using some kind of skill to lift the platform the throne was on. It rose into the air and moved across the room until it was in the middle of the hall.
A spiral staircase of floating wooden steps appeared and a large table and a few chairs floated to the top of the platform. Simultaneously a semi-transparent bubble of blue swirls encased the king and his private platform.
“His majesty wishes for you to join him.” Raphael growled, gesturing towards the staircase.
I nodded to him and headed towards it; Bell tried to follow but was stopped by the large lycanid who took up a bouncer-like position at the bottom of the spiral staircase.
I guess I’m the only VIP at this party. I chuckled to myself as I began climbing the floating, wooden steps. My stomach churned slightly as I climbed, not from the vertigo, but because I had a lot riding on this conversation.
At the top of the stairs, the king’s platform had become a private booth straight out of a gang-flick night club.
Leather benches with high backs surrounded a low square table with the oversized throne at the head.
The mages, who doubled as security, stood guard, facing away from the king and his booth. He looked up at me, leaning back in a relaxed manner, and gestured for me to join him with a tilt of his head.
One of the mages, who dressed in a magic fed uniform, moved to the side allowing me entry and I took a seat near the king on the soft, leather bench.
“Thank you for joining me Mr Akabane, there’s so much I wish to speak with you about.” The king said in a much more relaxed tone than his earlier address. “But first, let us have a drink.”
He snapped his fingers and one of the mages turned and lifted his arms. A cooler with a large, golden bottle floated up from the hall floor and landed softly in the middle of the table. Two sparkling glasses accompanied it.
The mage flicked his wrist again and a fizzing, amber liquid was poured from the bottle into the two glasses, which floated through the air towards both me and the king.
I took my glass and raised it slightly in his direction before taking a sip. It tasted like champagne. In fact, the taste was so similar that it was almost indistinguishable from the real thing… at least to my uncultured tastebuds.
*WARNING*
You have ingested a neurotoxin which will make you more perceptible to the effects of monarch-based soul manipulation skills.
This effect has been negated by your Usurper skill.
That crafty bastard, I thought smugly as the notification flashed up on my HUD. I can use this to my advantage.
“What do you think?” The king asked jovially.
“It reminds me of a drink from my homeland.” I replied, downing the entire glass in one go and smiling at him. “I like it.”
“Good I’m glad.” The king continued, leaning forward. “That’s actually part of the reason why I called you up here. It’s not every day one such as I gets to have a cultural exchange with an outworlder.”
I stared blankly at him, at a slight loss for words.
For fuck’s sake! Is there anyone in this place who doesn’t know? I thought scathingly.
“An outworlder?” I replied, trying to keep an even tone to my voice. “I’m nothing so outlandish. I’m simply a foreigner visiting new and strange lands, nothing more.”
“That tattoo on your back begs to differ.” He replied coyly before taking an arrogant sip of his drink. I felt the familiar tingling at the back of my mind and I knew he was trying to use his manipulation skills again. “You have a tendency to get beaten up during your fights Mr Akabane. Clothing and armour so often… rip.”
Well, shit. I thought. I guess there’s no weaselling my way out of this one. Maybe I should play along for a bit, make him think he’s got me hooked.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“You need not worry.” He continued, a pleased look in his eyes as he took in my obvious discomfort. “I serve Athena and she has no interest in claiming the Celestial map. You have nothing to fear from me.”
“Athena.” I began tentatively. “I’ve heard that name a lot. There’s an Athena where I’m from as well, or at least there was a long time ago.”
“How intriguing.” The king said, leaning back in his throne once more and crossing one leg over the other. “Please, do tell me about your Athena.”
“Well I don’t know much.” I began, trying not to meet his eyes. I still needed something from him and if he wasn’t trying to skin me then maybe it didn’t matter that he knew what I was. Though it was obvious that he wanted something from me as well. I just needed to figure out what it was. “But she was a Greek goddess in the ancient times. The goddess of war, knowledge, and beauty I think.”
“It sounds like your goddess may have much in common with my own.” The king said thoughtfully as he rubbed his thumb and forefinger down his braided chin beard. “However, I have not asked you here to talk about gods. Their understanding is not for mere mortals like us, even kings, to ponder.” He chuckled and I gazed at him expectantly.
“No…” He continued contemplatively. “I want to know how you killed that dragon. I know it wasn’t Lucas. He may be stronger than most on this island but even he couldn’t destroy that thing.”
And there it is, I thought smugly, he wants me to confess to killing the dragon. I can use this to my advantage if I can make him believe that I’m under the influence of his skill and this wine.
“It wasn’t me.” I protested but the king cut me off with a raised hand.
“Don’t misunderstand dear boy. This is a transactional conversation. You want something from me don’t you? I can give you it, all I ask in return is the answers I seek.”
I leant back in my comfortable seat and took a long sip of the bubbling champagne, feeling the niggling of his skill trying to worm its way into my head, and pushing it off with ease.
I did need something from him, but I’d been warned by almost everyone close to me not to disclose my soul attack power. This was a dangerous game I was playing and my stomach dropped and lurched as I tried to think of a way to win.
“My familiar was killed during the attack.” I said slowly. “I can resummon him, but I have no mana of my own. I was hoping you might have a mage who could help.”
“No mana at all?” The king asked, leaning forward again. “Why, that’s unheard of! Very well. What you ask for won’t come cheap. Summoning one’s own familiar is an easy feat, but summoning one on behalf of another requires a very skilled and high levelled mage indeed.
“I will allow you access to my court mage, though you will have to pay for the materials needed out of your own pocket. The nation is in disrepair at the moment and we don’t have the money to spare.”
“Obviously.” I said dryly, gesturing at the grand party below us.
“In return though, you must tell me how you defeated the dragon.” The king said, ignoring my sarcasm and staring at me with glinting, predatorial eyes.
Despite his obvious propensity for charisma, there was something lurking in those eyes that I hated. He wanted more from me than he was saying and I knew I would be falling right into his trap.
I was a fly caught in his spider’s web with no choice but to submit. I could have walked away, but then how would I have gotten Panda back? That being said, I didn’t have to tell him everything, just enough to make him think I had.
“Ok.” I began tentatively. “I don’t know exactly how I did it, but right before I passed out I charged my arrow up with stamina… more stamina than I had left. I didn’t see the death, but when I woke up I had a notification saying I’d killed it, though it also said that it took most its damage before I finished it off, likely from the Director.”
It was the best lie I could think of. There was no way I was going to tell this obviously dubious monarch about my soul power. I wasn’t always the brightest bulb, but I did trust my friends and they’d all told me to keep it secret.
The king sat back once again considering my answer. He stroked his thin, braided beard thoughtfully as he stared at nothing in particular.
“Hysterical mana.” He breathed. “I’ve heard of it before, but to meet someone who has experienced it firsthand. Remarkable.”
I took another drink, consciously stopping myself from sighing in relief. He seemed to have bought into my lie. Either that or he was shrewder than he let on.
“Answer me one more question.” He said suddenly. “Why hide this from my inquisitors?”
“I’m an outworlder.” I replied, barely having to fake it at all. “I don’t know what is considered abnormal in this world. Everything here is an unknown to me. The last thing I want is to stand out and have the cults and gods home in on me for using some weird hysterical power.”
He considered this for a moment and then smiled widely.
“That was wise. You can trust me with this, I won’t share your secret.”
He gestured towards one of his mages and whispered into his ear. The man nodded and disappeared.
“I have sent for my court mage. He will begin setting up in the summoning room. I’ll have you escorted there once it is prepared.” The king said, throwing a leg across the arm of his throne and leaning back in an extremely relaxed manner. “In the meantime, would you indulge me in some more casual conversation?”
“Why not?” I shrugged, holding out my glass. “Assuming there’s more drinks to be had?”
The king laughed and clicked his fingers and a mage refilled our glasses with his magic telekinesis skill.
Kaleb one, king zero.
“So Mr Akabane.” The king said.
“Call me Kaleb.”
“Very well, Kaleb, what do you think of our little nation so far?”
“Honestly I quite like it here.” I replied earnestly. “It’s got its problems, but it’s an interesting place. I’ve met a lot of great people, been on a few adventures, you know, the usual.”
“What are those problems as you see it?” He asked, raising a single eyebrow.
“Well, your people seem to call this place a socialist state.” I began. “I see the comparison. Basic goods like food and shelter are dirt cheap and that’s certainly a good thing. However, you are a king living in a grand palace and throwing expensive balls whilst your people are still reeling from a dragon attack. Where I’m from, socialists believe that the government should be owned by the people, a monarchy like you have here stands in complete contrast to that..
“You don’t seem to have any non-humans on your staff either which seems a little odd considering most of the citizens are non-human. Also, you have a noble faction who, from the limited interactions I’ve had with them, seem to be quite entitled. The whole notion of greatness by blood seems to go against the foundational ideology of a world that says it values personal power above all else.”
The king considered my words for a moment and I gulped. Perhaps I’d gone a little too far. His nation seemed to be doing better than many back on Earth, even with its flaws, maybe it wasn’t my place to criticise.
“No system is perfect Kaleb.” The king said carefully. “I can see how, to an outsider, our country may have… problems. However, how do you think we fund basic amenities?
“Have you, for example, paid tax since arriving here? We sell basic necessities so cheaply that we make a loss with every sale. We do that to allow the people to live without worry of starvation or homelessness. It is, however, at great cost to the nation itself.
“As the king, I tax the nobles at lot of gold so that I might make life easier for the peasant classes. In return, I allow them to feel special, to fit in at the top of our class-based system and have their entitlement. Without that… with a classless society, prices would surely go up.
“What is the sense in being equal if that equality is in name alone? Would you prefer that my people die in the streets from hunger simply so that they could sit at the same table as me, figuratively speaking?”
I looked at the king, unable to form words. He made sense, but I still wasn’t convinced.
“I understand your meaning, but I’m not sure I agree. Moreover, I wouldn’t call that socialism at all.” I said after a long moment.
“That’s mere semantics my dear adventurer, the name doesn’t matter, it’s the ideology that does,” he replied, leaning forward conspiratorially.
I was about to continue when a mage leaned over and spoke into the king’s ear. He nodded and then sat back up, looking me dead in the eyes with a piercing gaze.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversation, but alas, my court mage is ready for you.” He sighed, seeming genuinely sad at the prospect of our parting. “Perhaps you’ll indulge me again some time?”
“It’d be my pleasure.” I said, standing and offering him my hand.
The king took it and shook once with a firm grip and I was led back down the floating spiral staircase. It was time to resummon Panda.