“Huh… interesting.” Reich muttered for the fifth time in the span of ten minutes. He had been watching a replay of the minute long recording for a while, and was still studiously rewinding and replaying the clip even now.
Meanwhile, I was holding my head in my hands, deep in thought over what had just transpired in the war room.
Starlord Bloodcrown, Alexstasia, had just revealed that she had chosen the participants in the trials of Damocles… but why? Why tell me when she could have just as easily remained silent?
“Well, at least I now have a point of reference of what people are referring to when they curse using a Starlord’s name.” I muttered, inciting a chuckle from Reich.
“Don’t ever let her catch you using any of those phrases, or she’ll wring your neck out herself.” Reich said, still staring at his twentieth instance of the replay. “Starlord Bloodcrown certainly lives up to her name. Please don’t bring destruction to Ethia. That’s the only thing I ask of you.”
I shrugged, and rubbed my newly healed hand. “No promises. What can you tell me about the footage? Is there anything you recognize?”
Reich drummed his fingers against the desk he was using, his AR screen turning to follow his line of sight as he looked at me. “Well, for one, these projections were made with a piece of military tech we call a Localizer.”
He waited to see if I intervened, and when I didn’t, he continued explaining. “A Localizer is a small, microscopic nanite that contains a projector, and a piece of flight gear. Each instance of a Localizer has a base model uploaded into it, and projects that as a hologram around it.”
X appeared in front of me and followed up on Reich’s explanation. “Before the Judgment system intervened in Ethia’s wars, these Localizer nanites were used in games of deception played between opposing factions.”
Like deceiving your enemies into believing that a larger number of troops was coming than actually was, or posing as a distraction in one part of a city while the real troop did their work?
“Exactly, Master. Now that different nations play war games instead of participating in actual war, it’s hard to find such nanites on the open or black market’s as they’ve been relegated to the sole control of the government.”
I closed my eyes in thought. So this person was someone with connections to the military then? If they had taken their tools from there, anyway. It’s very possible some figure leaked the technology to the black market, and my assailant bought it there.
“The technology itself are limited to-”
“I know, I was informed already.” I held up a hand to stop Reich, who swiveled back to face the desk and grumbled to himself.
“Fine. I suppose you already know where your mystery assailant comes from as well. Stupid technology. I swear, they’ve been encroaching on human jobs since my dad’s era.”
“What did you say?” I shot up out of my seat, and Reich looked at me worriedly.
“Oh, you didn’t know yet? I assumed your bot would have informed you of who your attacker belonged to, seeing that the program is connected to the Judgment mainframe, after all.”
“No, Reich. X is a program, not a god damned all-seeing oracle. Who attacked me, and where did they come from?”
The veteran merely appraised me, and said nothing for several minutes. Finally, he sighed, and motioned for us both to leave the sick bay. I followed him out the door and back into the elevator.
In a matter of minutes, we were back in the war room, where the damage caused by Starlord Bloodcrown had already been freshened up by a team of dutiful maids. However, faint scorch marks still lingered in the room. He sat down and gestured for me to do the same, which I obliged.
“In our military, we have a special corps of people, who take on covert missions and handle the darker side of our society. Or rather, we used to.”
Reich motioned with his hand, and a string of articles flew my way. “The Metron Kingdom’s Black Ops Unit was disposed of when Judgment took over, rendering those kinds of missions as crimes whose penalties would have assured our destruction.”
I read over the various documents, noting the names and faces of people there until I saw one that made me stop. “This man is…”
“Yes, the man who you claimed appeared before you as a, ‘Judgment.’ The former head of the Black Ops division, Atlas Strafe.”
I looked over the picture again and asked, “Is he still alive?”
Reich shook his head and gave me a sad smile. “No, no he is not. However, before he died, he started a school of thought that the Kingdom would always need those who would protect it from the darkness. It was only once we became aware that he had been raising orphans before he died that we realized what he was up to. The person under that cloak could be one of his original disciples, or even a disciple of that first generation.”
I sighed and leaned back in my seat. This was so much information to take in that I didn’t know how to process it properly.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Another thing you should know: there’s a rumor that the remnants of the Strafe Family can be found frequenting the “Overclocked Bar,” in the downtown area.”
“Master, that is the establishment that you visited with Raiden last night. The one that was the Felis’ establishment.”
My eyes widened in realization, and I inwardly cursed myself for leaving Raiden there unattended, despite being the useless prince that he was.
That being said, Leray certainly didn’t seem the least bit antagonistic towards Raiden, so the possibility that a bounty could have been placed on my head only could not be discounted.
“Master, it is almost time for your meeting.” One look at the time in the corner of my User Interface had me bolting out of my seat.
“Thank you for the information, Reich. I appreciate your help.” Reich stood with me and reached out a hand to shake.
When I didn’t reciprocate the gesture, he sighed, dropping his hand to his side. “You can be a little less reserved with me, you know. This old man is tired of political games as well.
A smile crept onto my mouth, despite my best efforts to keep it contained. “What a coincidence, so am I. Unfortunately, to be the best, you have to beat the best. Even if beating them comes in a political quagmire of lies and deception.”
---
“It is nice to see you again, Paladin Cole." King Metron stood and bowed before taking a seat on his throne. I was still on my feet, despite the king’s personal guards glaring at me, and no doubt mentally commanding me to do otherwise.
I had sent Lilian out to go collect Raiden and bring him back to the palace, leaving me alone in the throne room, with only the king, his guard, and X. It was a far cry from my very first audience with the king. The nobility had been in the middle of a summit, and every aristocrat in the kingdom had been present the first time I met King Claude.
“The feeling is mutual, King Metron. Where is your wife?” The king winced, and shook his head.
“Paladin Cole, please refer to her as ‘the queen,’ when in the appropriate setting.” King Metron said with a hint of weariness in his voice.
“Is the claim that she is your wife untrue, King Metron?” Claude Metron gave me a look of brief contempt before chuckling mirthfully to himself.
“That kind of attitude is why the Queen hates you. They are both true, but to the eyes of the public, her position of queen comes before supporting me as my wife.”
I was briefly taken aback that Claude would speak so openly, but decided it must have been a byproduct of being constantly suppressed by his wife’s whims. Her’s was the royal family after all, and Claude had married into it.
I shrugged. “I don’t give a shit what the queen thinks of me, we just have to work together.” Claude nodded, as if he had expected that kind of answer from me.
“Of course, and I believe you have done a fine job as a Paladin, in keeping our kingdom safe from both internal and external harm. Unfortunately, my wife is too blinded by her own feelings to see things that way.”
“What does that mean? Is she still upset by what I did to Brice? Please, that was a necessary measure taken in order to verify the locations of the people who planted the cyber-stein into your arena.”
King Metron nodded, and said, “I agree, which is why I said nothing when you did what you did to Brice. Although, I wish you wouldn’t call nearly lobotomizing my son a, ‘necessary measure'.’”
I nodded at the king. “Point taken. You still haven’t revealed where she is or what she is doing now, however.”
King Metron shifted in his seat, looking down on me. “She is taking a temporary break from participating in politics until she can learn to separate her feelings from her job.”
That took me aback for a moment. I had never seen the king so annoyed before. “What did she do? There’s no way that this was purely because you felt she needed a break. There was something that set off an alarm to you, wasn’t there?”
King Metron sighed once more, and leaned backward into his seat. “She may have incited the noble faction inside our son’s battalion.”
I simply stared at the king, but he wasn’t done speaking. “She also, and this is a very distinct also, may have coaxed the noble faction into putting a bounty on your head.”
At those words, all the pieces of the puzzle finally fit together, and I had a clear understanding of what had transpired in my head.
“Please tell me that she was doing this to excise cancerous nobles from the kingdom, and not due to the pettiness of her grudge.”
Claude Metron smiled, and rested his head in his hand. “If I could tell you that with a straight face, then my wife would be here right now, wouldn’t she. From a young age, she’s solved all of her problems from behind the scenes, never daring to tackle her issues with people head on. She resorts to this especially when she feels as though she has no options left against the other party. Congratulations, Paladin Cole, she felt as though you drove her into a corner.”
I sighed, but I couldn’t hold it against the man. He was aware that his wife was being unreasonable, and was trying his damned hardest to keep her from straying onto the wrong path of leadership.
“You’re not turning soft on me, are you, Master?” X commented playfully.
No. Just… seeing what a good father Goto was, and now what a dutiful man King Claude is, is making me realize how much of a failure my own father was. It kind of stings to know that I didn’t have good luck when it came to having a human as a parent.
“Would you like to talk about it, Master?”
No. Maybe someday, but now is not the time, nor the place for that kind of topic. “As such, I have a job for you, Paladin Cole.”
The King’s words brought me out of my thoughts, and I gave him a look. “I need a job taken care of, one that isn’t the most savory. However, it needs to be done to ensure that the Kingdom is at peace once more.”
“What do you need done, and what will I get in return?” King Metron scoffed and readjusted his posture.
“I don’t need anything. This is an excuse for you to interrogate your enemies, if we’re talking frankly. You doing it on orders from me is just so they take the blame off of you.”
I shrugged. “Sure. Just send me their coordinates and I’ll take care of the rest. Getting a thorn out of my side before it can get infected sounds great to me.”
“One thing though, leave the kids alone. I’m sure you’ll be able to find the exact family that placed the hit out on you. When you do, make sure no harm comes to the children. The sins of the parents should never be used as leverage against their offspring.”
I nodded, and made to leave the room, turning to the king as I reached the double doors. “Agreed. Send me their locations at any time. Before doing anything else, I have a visit to make to a certain bar.”