The day after Cal had his break down he went to breakfast like normal. No one commented on his absence yesterday, but he could tell that some of the kings’ children were wondering about it. That was too bad for them though because Cal had no intention to tell any of them. As they were eating breakfast, Cal noticed that the queen was trying to get him to be more active in the conversation, but he had always struggled with group conversations so he still didn’t say much.

After breakfast, the queen asked Cal to leave kaze with his servants then led him outside of the castle. As they went into the castle courtyard Cal noticed quite a bit of extra activity a few carriages were being led to the stables and quite a few people who weren’t in servant’s garbs were walking around. As they were walking towards the gate a man approached them and bowed to the queen.

“Greetings your majesty, might I ask where you are going.” the man was tall, bearded, and had dark hair. Cal couldn’t quite place it but the man looked vaguely familiar.

“Oh hello Arlon, I am heading out shopping. How has spencer been?” the queen asked kindly.

“Oh he is doing great, he has been learning how to be a merchant and has made massive improvements since he left the academy,” Arlon answered with a smile. “Might I ask what you are shopping for, it might be that I have it with me?”

The queen let out a pleasant laugh and replied, “I apologize but I am heading to the tailor to buy calaeris a set of dress clothes.”

“Please your majesty, I asked you to call me Cal,” Cal protested.

“Only as long as you Cal me elaine, or ma’am.” the queen answered with a sly smile.

While the two of them argued, Arlon seemed to be shocked and angered about something. He then interrupted the playful argument. “did you say that his name is calaeris,” he asked.

The queen stopped and angrily looked over at Arlon, “Arlon Palencar, you seem to forget that you are not a noble, this is calaeris windlab, heir to the duchy of the forest of kaar. He is, my lord, to you.”

Arlon just seemed angrier and gave Cal a reluctant bow, “I apologize lord calaeris, I was unaware that the duchy of the forest of kaar had an heir. I believe you may have met my son spencer, I will make sure to tell him of your presence here.”

With that Arlon swiftly walked away. The queen seemed annoyed, but that faded as soon as she looked back at cal. “That was Arlon Palencar, he is one of the wealthiest merchants in the kingdom. His caravan stops by here every six months or so, which is why there are so many people here.”

After the short encounter with the merchant, the queen and Cal left the courtyard without any more distractions. As they walked along the streets Cal looked around. There were a lot of people walking around. The two most common races were human and elf’s though there was the occasional dwarf or gnome, he rarely saw any merfolk, nymphs, or satyrs, and he never saw any of the fallen races.

The city was divided into seven districts: The royal palace, the nobles quarters, the craftsmen’s shops, the merchant’s district, the marketplace, the living quarters, and the slums. The royal palace was where the royalty and their staff lived and is the smallest district, it is surrounded by the noble’s quarters which is also one of the smaller districts. The marketplace, merchants district, and the craftsmen’s shops surround the noble’s quarters. On the outside of the city is the living quarters and slums which was where everyone who wasn’t a merchant or an employee of the nobility lived.

Whenever Cal and the queen went on walks they would rarely leave the noble quarters, but Cal rarely saw any of the other nobles because they were normally at their actual estates which would be on the land that they governed. It was about a twenty-minute walk to the craftsmen’s shops, which was where the tailor that the royalty bought from lived.

As they walked the queen talked about what would happen at the party. First, she told him that all of the higher nobles were invited. That meant that the archdukes, dukes, and counts would all be in attendance. A few notable people would also be invited, which was only a few of the more famous knights and some merchants, like the Palencars.

After the party started the king would announce that Cal was being recognized as his ward and simultaneously introduce him to most of the nobility. Then there would be a simple party where Cal would have little to no responsibility considering that everyone there thought that he was ten years old.

Soon after the queen finished giving Cal a rundown of what the party would be like they arrived at the tailor’s. When they entered the tailor was already working with someone but immediately called one of his apprentices to work on it while he greeted the queen.

“Greetings your majesty might I ask what you require today.” the tailor asked with a bow.

“Of course, master tailor, calaeris over here is in need of a set of dress clothes for a party in about four days.” the queen answered.

The tailor nodded and asked, “I can have it done in about an hour but we will need to decide on his style and coloring.”

The queen nodded and smiled excitedly at the tailor’s words. “Let’s have him change into some things so we can find out what looks good.”

Cal started to get a bad feeling about this but it was too late. The tailor agreed with the idea and led them to a back room. He handed Cal a set of clothes and had him change behind a curtain. Once he was finished changing he would walk out and let the queen inspect him. She clapped at every set of clothes and always said he looked cute but that just made Cal even more embarrassed.

Finally, the queen decided on a set of clothes. It had a black shirt and pants with a red overshirt and cape. The queen asked for the barber to switch the red to a light blue and he said that it would be a quick order. After that, the queen and Cal sat in a waiting room until the tailor came out with the clothes.

After thanking and paying the tailor. The queen led Cal to a barber’s shop. When they entered the barber was already cutting someone’s hair. Unlike before the barber did not stop her current task to come and greet the queen. The queen didn’t seem to mind though and she sat down on a couch that was placed in a back corner. Cal sat down next to her and started to ask. “Umm, your majesty…”

“Cal dear I seem to remember you agreeing to call me something else,” The queen said while cutting him off.

Cal let out a small sigh and started again, “ma’am why did the tailor drop everything for our order while the barber didn’t.”

The queen smiled and answered, “because the tailor’s work allows him to stop and take breaks and if he messes up he can always go back and redo it, but with the barber, if she messes up she will lose a customer. so we all have to wait our turn”

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Cal who’s curiosity was satisfied sat and watched the barber work. It was mesmerizing how her hands flew around her customer’s head constantly measuring and cutting. The two of them sat there silently while watching the barber work. Cal was no expert but he assumed she was finishing up when suddenly the door slammed open and a young man walked in. he had on extremely nice clothes and was followed by two guards who had an insignia that Cal didn’t recognize on their shields.

“Barber,” the young man shouted as soon as he entered the room. “I need a haircut quickly, I have business to attend to and the king is having a party in just a few days.”

The barber who hadn’t been distracted by her work answered, “you’ll have to wait your turn we do not interrupt our current customers for new ones.”

The young man just smiled evilly and said, “I will forgive you once, for you may not have known this, but I am the third son of count Havel and the person whose hair you are cutting does not seem to be of higher status than me. So you will stop this instance and cut my hair.”

The barber didn’t answer instead she made a few more cuts and dusted off her current customer who was an older man in common clothing. “Thank you for coming to my shop please come again,” she said to the man as he quickly walked out.

“You will have to wait in line lord Havel. Next customer,” the barber shouted.

With that, the queen got up and pulled Cal along with her. “Nancy how have you been.” the queen said happily while pulling the barber into a hug.

“Your majesty it has been too long, and I have been doing well. I have had some loud customers lately but nothing I can’t handle.” the barber replied. This was the first time that Cal had gotten a good look at the woman. She was a middle-aged dwarf with grey hair and a mischievous smile.

Cal looked over to the noble who had been causing the commotion. The noble did not look well, his face had gone pale and he seemed to be terrified of something. It seemed like he was about to say something when the queen started talking again. “If I ever find anyone who has been causing trouble I would be very displeased. Probably displeased enough to remember something about a counts son and the daughter of archduke Harley.”

With that, the noble’s face went from pale to white and he quickly left the store. Cal put on a satisfied smile at the sight and the noble who looked back saw the smile. He gave Cal a venomous glare and continued to leave with his guards in tow.

“Thank you for that elaine I have always hated those younger nobles,” the barber sighed as soon as she was sure that the noble was gone.

“I don’t mind nancy. I also think that the younger nobles need a bit more discipline.” the queen answered.

The queen then looked down to Cal and said, “you hear that Cal if you ever end up like that boy I will be most displeased.”

Cal quickly nodded in confusion, “I would never.”

Both of the older women laughed and Cal just got even more confused. That seemed to make the woman laugh even harder and Cal finally let out a chuckle as well. After they finished laughing, the barber, who the queen called nancy, started cutting his hair. She talked about all sorts of stuff while cutting his hair, including how she had met the queen as a kid. She weaved an amusing story about two young girls who would constantly get in trouble together.

As she finished cutting his hair the queen walked up and seemed to almost squeal in delight, “oh you are so cute now. Im certain that when you grow up you’ll be quite the lady killer.”

Cal smiled at her words and the two of them left the shop. After that, they walked back to the palace and had lunch with the rest of the royal family. Cal got many positive comments on his haircut and each time he would get slightly embarrassed. When he had lived with his grandpa he had rarely gotten compliments about anything much less his looks.

After lunch he went back to his room, when he got there only Belinda was in there. “Where are the others,” Cal asked as he put his new dress clothes into his wardrobe.

“They are getting lunch,” she answered

“Why aren’t you?” Cal asked

Belinda seemed nervous about something and took a second to answer, “umm could you have me do something im more suited for?”

Cal thought about her question for a second before asking, “like assassin stuff.” Belinda nodded and Cal asked another question, “would information gathering be good.” Belinda nodded again. “Alright, could you go through the city and try to come up with any information about the royal family and any high-ranking nobles.” Cal had been wanting to learn more about the royal family and this seemed like as good a way as any.

Belinda seemed surprised that he had actually done what she had asked him too but she quickly smiled and thanked him. She then ran out the door. Cal was mildly confused by her reaction but decided to think about it later. After a while, the other two returned and Cal told them about what happened. Arisu seemed glad and told Cal that Belinda had been itching to do something since they had gotten here, but was too afraid to ask him if she could.

“Why would she be afraid, the worst I could have said was no,” Cal asked arisu.

Arisu just shrugged and answered, “im not really sure, but I would assume it was that her last master didn’t like her having any ideas of her own.”

Cal took a moment to feel bad about Belinda’s previous situation in life but soon shook off the melancholy thoughts, “is there anything that you two would rather be doing.” Cal asked them. He was trying to make sure that they all were happy because he still felt pretty bad for having so much control over their lives, even though he tried not to exercise it. Both of the others said that they were happy where they were. After that Cal played with kaze until he was called for dinner.

After dinner, the king and queen brought him to the king’s study. he had only been there once before when he signed all the documents that confirmed who he was. It was an average-sized room by the castle’s standards, it had a large rug covering the stone floor and two of the walls were lined with shelves of books. In the middle of the room was a large desk with a comfortable-looking chair, behind the desk was a large window that overlooked the city. In front of the desk were three chairs for visitors to sit in.

cal sat in one of the guest chairs as the king began to talk, “cal, as you know, when you became my ward you were given the rank of a prince, but we haven’t told you where that would fit in in the hierarchy of the nobles. You will outrank all of the petty nobility as well as the counts and dukes, however, you will not outrank any archdukes who have the same standing as an heir to the throne. When you are talking to anyone while at the party refer to them by their rank, if they have none, which will be the case for most of the people there, call them by the name that they give you.”

“I thought that there would only be nobles at the party,” Cal asked.

“We invited the nobles as well as their families,” answered the queen. “And while the families of the nobility are also considered to be nobles they don’t technically have a rank.”

Cal nodded in understanding then asked, “what are all the noble ranks I don’t think I’ve been told them,”

“Well the lowest rank would be a lord,” the king started, “then it would be a baron, then a count, which is no longer considered petty nobility, then the dukes, then it would be princes or princesses who do not have a chance to receive the throne, that would be you, then the archdukes and princes and princess, who could get the throne, are considered to be the same rank, above that is the king and queen.” The three of them continued to discuss the nobility until late into the evening when the queen decided that Cal needed to go to sleep.

The next day some of the nobles began to arrive. First was archduke Harvey and the rest of the northern nobles. Last night the king had explained how the noble’s factions worked, and it was fairly simple. There were three archdukes who each oversaw a third of the country, inside each of the territories that they oversaw were several other noble’s lands, and each noble would be in the faction of whatever archduke oversaw them. There were a few areas that were overseen by the king, and any nobles in those areas would not belong to any faction. The forest of kaar was one of those areas.

There were ten high noble families other than the archdukes in the northern faction, and all of them had arrived with the archduke. Once the nobles began arriving, the castle started to have more and more people in it as the nobles enter the castle in hopes of having a conversation with a member of the royal family. None of the nobles would try to talk to cal because the queen and king intended to reveal that cal was their ward during the party and had not told anyone as of yet.

Over the next two days, the other archdukes arrived along with their factions. This caused even more people to flood the castle, and Cal began to get odd looks when he would run through the hallways with kaze. One time he ran past the boy who had been causing the disturbance in the barber’s shop. The boy seemed to have noticed him as he gave Cal a glare that seemed to promise revenge. Nothing happened for the rest of that day and Cal stopped worrying about it as the day of the party had arrived.