“No, my lord, I wouldn’t dream of arresting you,” the guard said, shock motivating his tone.
I rested my hands at my side with the smile still plastered on my face. There was no world where I would actually be arrested for killing a supposed “brigand.” A part of me wanted to be arrested; that would mean there was some justice left in this world. There were about a dozen reasons why I wouldn’t be arrested, and my willingness to be taken to jail was just theatrics.
LEVEL UP: 21
NEW CLASS AVAILABLE
New HP: 64
New MP: 488
New Skill Acquired, [Persuasion, Lvl. 1]: This Skill is activated when you attempt to convince someone who is Friendly or Neutral towards you of something. When active, your [Charisma] score will increase depending on the level of this Skill. The effect of this Skill will become incrementally more powerful as you use it. DISCLAIMER: Persuasion-based Skills like this one will not work on other Reincarnates.
Blinking away the lines of text that just appeared in front of my eyes, I turned back to the conversation. The words were very significant to me, but I would have to deal with them when I had more time. At that particular moment, the conversation with the guard took up all of my attention.
“This girl you mentioned. Is she okay?” The guard spoke quickly in order to move the conversation on to the next topic and calm down the people in the audience.
“Yes. She seemed to be traveling away from the city. She kept moving south after I saved her from those ne’er-do-wells.” I said, telling a direct lie. Since the [Lie Detection] Talent was completely untraceable and very hard to protect against, I really hated telling direct lies. I had to throw the Lich Cult off the scent, however, so this lie was unfortunately necessary.
“Did you catch the girl’s name?”
“I’m afraid not. The girl had white hair like Siegfried’s and eyes like gold.” I spoke, telling another direct lie.
“Just like the King,” the guard muttered. “Could she have been a princess?”
Your input is not warranted!
Mentally, I shouted at the guard, though my face retained its calm mask. His unpredictable interjections were throwing me off my game. I heard a fluttering sound from behind me as Haydith shifted in her seat.
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I laughed once more and said, “Now, wouldn’t that be something! But no, that would be far too fanciful. She was much too young to be one of the three princesses. The girl I saved was a teenager. In addition, there are plenty of people in Etron with white hair and golden eyes. Right now, I can see several people watching us who could match that description.”
About ten percent of the population of Etron had white hair. Most of those people could trace their lineage back to House Polaris within the last ten generations. Whatever trait caused white hair on Ferrum was not particularly recessive.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” The guard apologized to me once more as if on impulse.
“My final gift to King Theophrastus is the greatest gift I can give: my unwavering loyalty. I wish to meet with the King so that I may pledge my allegiance to him and give him the Icon of Gwynedd.” I placed special emphasis on this final sentence. Compared to everything I said before, this gift was far more valuable. These words did not elicit the response I was going for, and it was clear that most of the people present did not understand the significance of my statement.
The guard, at least, understood. His eyes widened with significance as he said, “Your ‘unwavering’ loyalty? You intend to declare your allegiance to the Monarchist faction?”
“Precisely. Like my father and grandfather, my allegiance is to the King first and foremost,” I said, puffing out my chest.
“Let him in!” someone from the crowd shouted.
“We need more people like him in our city.”
That elicited the response that I was looking for from the audience. Though I did not understand what an Icon of Gwynedd was, they loved the image of a powerful mage who would die for the King.
“Finally, a patriot,” the guard said gruffly. “This city is filled with too many Aristocrats. Shameful. You are a true son of Etron, Thale Feldrast.”
Something about the guard’s statement rubbed me the wrong way, but I continued smiling and shook the guard’s hand enthusiastically.
As an afterthought, the guard gestured for our carriages to travel through the gate. I waved a single hand at the large group of commoners who had come to see the head of the great talpa and to hear about my exploits.
Out of the corner of my mouth, I said to Haydith, “The funny thing is, the Feldrasts aren’t actually related to Etron at all. My family fled from the Holy Nation three hundred years ago, so we’re the descendents of Sondrith, most likely.”
Sitting next to me, Haydith ignored my statement. Her expression was one of confusion and anger as she whispered, “Why are you drawing attention to us? If the men in the deer masks see me, we’ll be attacked again.”
I frowned and said, “I really do need to meet with the King.”
“Why?” Haydith said, frantically scanning the street. “You’ve clearly put a lot of effort into arranging this meeting with the King, but I still don’t understand why. What do you stand to gain from this meeting?”
Insight.
I inhaled deeply and told Haydith the truth. At least part of it. “There’s a staff held in the armory of Castle Etron. Right now, it’s called the ‘Staff of Imogene Drac.’ That staff will be absolutely indispensable for my long-term spellcasting ability. Months of planning and hundreds of man-hours have gone toward the goal of me acquiring that staff.”
Five years from now, it will be called the Staff of Thale Feldrast.