Servants bashed drums of all shapes and sizes. Then the flute section started up. After that, the trumpeters announced their presence. Finally, there was one strong voice that could be heard above all the clamor and fanfare. The king himself sang as his ensemble paraded through the city. Merchants closed their stalls for the day, families left their houses and knights lined the streets. The entire city ground to a halt as their leader made his way to the lord’s castle.

In summary, the king’s arrival was nothing short of a public menace. A flock of drunken screeching pigeons would have been easier on my ears. Hell, they probably would have made it through the city faster as well.

I shadowed the parade as it carved its way through Wren. My chance to strike came at the very end when the king climbed out of his litter in order to walk through the gate to the castle garden.

I pushed through the crowd until I ran into the outer wall of knights. They moved to stop me but I muttered a quick chant and they suddenly sat down in a daze. The king heard the commotion and turned to face me. His retainers noticed as well and I was quickly surrounded. In response, I simply waved at my aging employer.

“Stand down, all of you.” The king barked. The knights looked back in shock but they quickly obeyed. Next, the king addressed me. “Elver! I didn’t think I’d see you skulking through the crowd like a street urchin. Frankly, I would have expected you to greet me inside the castle.”

“Well, I had a bit of trouble you see…” I trailed off while flashing a toothy grin at lord Malcolm who stood at the gate, waiting to greet the king.

The inept dwarf looked at me, then at the king and then back at me. After finishing some mental gymnastics, the lord’s face turned pale.

“I-I would just like to say-” Malcolm spoke up but the king simply waved his hand.

“I’ll hear it all in due time. After I settle in at the castle.” His highness turned away and I followed him in.

I glanced back to see Malcolm glaring at me. He quickly ordered his knights to disperse the crowd and then scampered to the king’s side.

“Please listen, your majesty…” He pleaded through gritted teeth.

The king stopped in his tracks and whipped around to face Malcolm.

“I, Gespa Rowell, have already made my decision.” He growled. “Do you wish to question it?”

The terrified lord shook his head, his carefully sculpted hair giggling as he did so.

As expected, the king’s anger did not burn out quickly. Gespa was seething as he went over every fine detail of the castle’s interior and exterior. After berating Malcolm, who still hadn’t had a chance to defend himself from our earlier incident, he set about gathering all the servants in the house. Gespa lined them up and beat them where they stood, despite their lord’s protest. Then he divided them into teams and ordered them to fix every error that he had tediously explained to Malcolm earlier.

Our king wasn’t called the meticulous tyrant for nothing. Everyone who has been to the palace knew about his sensitive taste and violent punishments. Lord Malcolm was no doubt aware of it as well, he probably ran his servants ragged trying to prepare without me.

Although even if I had been there, the king’s reaction would’ve likely been the same. I may be one of the few men who can grasp Rowell’s tastes but he’s someone who can find fault in any job, no matter how carefully done. It was a better strategy to abandon all responsibility from the start.

“…Why?” Lord Malcolm whispered to me once we had a brief reprieve from the king’s madness. “I can’t say I’ve ever met you before. I don’t know you or your relatives. And you’ve only heard about me from the king, right? Why would you set his majesty against me?”

“I came here ready to work.” I replied calmly. “You’re the one who tossed me away.”

“Bullshit! I investigated you after my guards never came back. People have seen you in this city for days now! Even if I had accepted you yesterday, there still wouldn’t have been enough time to finish preparations.”

“Oh, you figured me out?”

“Plus, you even had the gall to appear at my gate dressed like a beggar. Anyone could guess that you’d be refused, even with the king’s seal. Just what is it that you have against me!?”

“I don’t have anything against you, lord Malcolm.” I blinked in confusion. “I had heard about you from other lords and knew that you wouldn’t be able to meet the king’s standards by yourself. So I figured it would be more fun to let things unfold like this. Of course, it also made my life a lot easier.” 

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“So my reputation and my servant’s wellbeing were sacrificed for your entertainment!? How dare you…” Malcolm quickly reeled back his rage as he heard the king exit his chamber. 

“Well, this place is still a mess but it will do for now.” The king released a sigh that was both long and loud. “Malcolm, make sure your servants are working on everything that I asked them to. Elver, I want you to brief me on your investigations.”

“Yes, my king.” We both answered simultaneously but our levels of enthusiasm were like night and day.

Malcolm made himself scarce while the king and I entered his personal chamber. One glance and I could tell it was certainly not a mess. Each wall was covered in priceless paintings. Every corner had expertly carved stands which held glass vases filled with unique combinations of flowers.

The bed itself was another beast entirely. Four gilded spires held up an upper area where curtains could be drawn from each side. The sheets and pillows used a deep red as the canvas for a host of patterns embroidered with golden thread. It monopolized the vast majority of the chamber’s space. Lord Malcolm had clearly created it for this event. There was no way he kept something this expensive for his own use.

The king threw back the bed’s curtains and sat at the far end with another hefty sigh. I stood before him and began my briefing. I discussed a number of things from new avenues of profit to violent crime and potential corruption. Wren was growing so quickly that an expert needed to be sent in to address its ever-changing state. Similarly, the king decided that a personal visit was necessary to remind the newly prosperous citizens that they still owe allegiance to their kingdom.  

“By the way…” The king said, looking up at me with interest for the first time since our talk began. “I heard a rather unsightly rumor about the next town over.”

“So, that rumor has even reached the palace...” Suddenly I was even more curious about the man, or possibly demon, who started it. “I sent my pupil to investigate the town in question. However, we’re already starting to see signs of the festival in Wren.”

“Signs? Like what?”

“People are disappearing, spirited away by demons.”

“Bah, you mean eaten, right?” The king scoffed. “Sugarcoating things is one of your more disgusting habits.”

“They’re biding their time, getting stronger in populated cities before the grim festival starts.”

“That’s a problem. If this continues then we won’t have enough people to sustain Wren’s growth. Elver, I order you to find and kill every demon in this city.”

I nodded, grimacing inwardly. I had known that it was only a matter of time before I received one of his unreasonable requests.

“My king, there is another option…” I started hesitantly. Gespa didn’t interrupt me, so I continued. “There have been rumors about the monster that appears at the end of a grim festival but we have no conclusive information. All I can say is that if this festival is allowed to finish, it will create a demon of unknown power.”

“Another reason to nip it in the bud.”

“Catching and killing every demon in this city would give me more souls to work with but that’s it. If we could find a way to tame the victor of the festival, then we would gain an impressive asset.”

“Is something like that even possible?” The king’s eyes lit up with greed. This was why Gespa is worth working with.

“If we can’t subjugate it, then we kill it. The soul of such a demon would likely be a treasure that’s equal or greater to a powerful servant. Plus…” My eyes lit up as well. “This amalgam of demons could be the key that I’ve been searching for.”

The king sat in silence, considering my offer. He was only thirty years younger than me and it showed. Over time, his hardened facial features had softened into unsightly wrinkles. The king’s once imposing frame had finally dwindled into the thin and bony body that sat before me. I could see his yellowed teeth through his large red beard as he grinned in delight.  

“So, we could be getting a powerful soldier, a nearly unending power source for sorcery or your research in immortality might finally bear fruit?” The king licked his lips. “The citizens will repopulate. Even if it slows growth for now, this sounds like a chance that we can’t pass up.”