Two weeks passed without a hitch. There were no assassins that were sent to me nor any distractions while I and Lyra were renovating the shittiest castle I saw. Everyone was cooperative to my surprise. None of them even asked why I made the sudden decision but I guess it comes with my perks as the king or they probably just agree that the castle is ugly. Adam also finished his task and gathered almost a hundred people.
Standing on the other end of the newly remade stairs, I glanced at everyone in the hall. Lyra gave me the megaphones I also have the workers made because I do not want to shout every time I’m about to say something. Just thinking about it is making my throat hurts.
“Attention, subjects of Aswain!” Such words were enough to make the hall quiet. All of them looked at my direction.
Hah, I came prepared this time. I ate before going in here! No more growling stomach! Huzzah for that, Leonora.
“I, the 13th king, Leonora Stryker, welcome your arrival in the palace!”
They all cheered. Some of them are even whistling.
I raised my hand and they all fell into silence.
“I called for your presence to serve the country. I believe my aide, Mr. Adam, has informed you all of the details.”
I glanced at Adam and gave him a thumbs up. Ah, my trusty assistant who has the soul of an old man~
“Since you all came here today; I presume you passed Adam’s initial test.” Which is basically just re-writing a manuscript and recite it to him.
“Now, I don’t want to get into the test quickly. It’s still early, so go find yourself an inn to rest because it’ll be a three days’ event. As for tonight, a banquet will be held for all of you who is decided to partake in this! Make sure not to miss it!” There’s in no goddamn way that a king would talk like me but who cares, so long as they get my message, we good. And, there’s also no way I’m about to talk like these 14th century coded folks. It’d only make my words lengthy.
Murmurs filled the hall. Seconds later, they all looked at each other with such joys filled in their faces.
That was just an excuse to throw a banquet for me actually. I mean, I made a pretty good job these past weeks so don’t I deserve to enjoy once in a while?
Ho, ho. There are lots of drinks in the banquet.
Don’t get me wrong, I can drink alcohols any time I want to but it is so boring drinking it alone.
I passed the megaphones to Lyra and left the hall. Adam knows how to handle the rest so I’ll just leave it to him.
“Madame, the Queen Mother requested an audience with you.” Lyra said as soon as I arrived in the office. Oh? It’s the first time after being here for weeks. The remaining royalties did not really approach me after I yeeted the king’s head.
“Did she told you about the reason for it?” Is she going to give me a quest? After all, they are an NPC and I’m the ‘supposed to be’ player.
“Not quite. Her lady in waiting only told me to pass the message to you.”
“I see. Tell her I’ll be in the throne hall in an hour.”
Lyra nodded and left the office.
I took the papers I needed to check. It’s about the Stryker manor. Supposedly, we’ll be back there in a week but things got escalated quickly because of my miscalculation so here I am, doing the manor’s work in the palace. Hah~ I could never escape these paper works wherever dimension I am. The only time I managed to escape these is when I possessed an animal.
“Let’s just play the part since I am stuck here…”
That’s right. Not even Trevor’s shadow lurked in this place. It’s not like I’m so eager to leave this game, in fact, I want to check this whole world. All of the places that I’ve read in the archives sounds fantastic and the view on Stryker’s land just fueled my curiosity about this world. If Aswain, a weak country, have that landscape, what more of those powerful countries?
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
I hope I can see Trevor again. I won’t kill him immediately, I just want to learn more about the developers and Trevor is the only way I can think of.
After I finished checking the documents that the head maid of the manor sent yesterday, I got up from my seat. Let’s see what Queen Mother is up to, shall we?
“Open the door.”
The guards standing outside the throne hall nodded. I entered and saw Queen Mother roaming around silently, checking out the renovated hall.
“Much better than before, isn’t it?”
She stopped walking and turned to me. Hmm? She looked younger than I can remember. Last time I saw her which was two weeks ago, she was an old lady and now she looked like a woman in her 30’s. Did the developers change her appearance?
“It is indeed…my sentient AI.”
I froze on my tracks. Oho~ A blessing came to me! What a wonderful day!
“My, if it isn’t the developer~ I was just thinking of ways on how to approach you! To think that you’d come to me directly!” I cannot hide my smirk while facing her.
She didn’t speak for a while and just stared at me.
“Are you planning of ways on how to kill me?”
I walked closer to her until I was a meter apart.
“Are you here to kill me?” I was still smiling this whole time. It’s just amazing. It’s like meeting god if this were a normal world.
She stopped staring at me and slowly closed our gap. She stopped when she was standing right in front of me.
Leonora is tall, however, Queen Mother is at least a head taller so I had to look up. Is she going to stab me? Slit my throat? Strangle my neck? Either way, I can defend myself so I’ll just closely examining her moves for now.
Without breaking our stares, she slowly raised her right hand. No weapon. Will a knife suddenly appear if her hand is on the right angle? Possibly, this is the developer that I am facing.
“If you keep staring, you’ll find yourself helplessly falling in love with me, dearest developer~” I teased. I know, a bad time to crack a joke but I can’t help it. She just kept staring! Not like I can just kill her. I have to get any information I can.
Her hand was already at the level of my neck so I got a bit alert. A knife could appear.
I almost flinch when she placed her hand on my neck, slowly sliding up to my cheek.
I did not react to her touch. I was still staring back at her while smiling. I’m not gonna break my expression in front of this developer, goodness no. If someone’s gonna lose here today, it won’t be me.
“You are very beautiful for a sentient AI”
Her words caught me off guard.
What the heck?
What is she doing?
Was she actually flirting on me? The developer?
This time, my eyebrows furrowed. I immediately stepped back when her thumb caressed my eyebrows.
WHAT THE HECK?
She chuckled as if she was amused by my reaction. Excuse me, is this a new method to yeet me outta this game?
“Oh, so you are the ‘flirty but embarrassed when gets flirted back’ type?” She’s still laughing. Okay, I admit I am that type but does that matter? And I’m a sucker for beautiful things and Queen Mother is a beauty. OKAY NONE OF MY THINKING MAKES SENSE!
I pulled the knife that I had in my waist which made her laugh even louder.
“Oh, no, darling. I’m not here to kill you.”
‘I’m fine going out with a woman.’ That was my immediate thought instead of ‘If she’s not here to kill me, why is she here then?’.
She stopped laughing and her expression became serious.
“I’m only here to warn you about the danger you might be in.”
I put the knife back to where I hid it. My guts are telling me she is someone I can trust.
“If it’s just that, I’m already aware since day one. Tell me something valuable.”
She pulled a chair and sat on it.
“The other developers are keen on shutting you down. They already started making an army of AI that can be possibly as strong as you just to eliminate you but now that I’ve seen you for myself, looks like their plans is for nothing.”
She sighed.
“If I stay here a bit more longer, they will notice that I came here without their knowledge so I must go now.” She stood up and walked quickly until she was an arm away.
“Take care, Leonora~” She said as she patted my head. Seconds later, the old image of the Queen Mother was back. Oh, so she deliberately changed the image of this character.
The Queen Mother looked somehow puzzled. She looked around and then left without even saying a word to me.
“Hah~ what an odd encounter.”
I left the throne hall because there was nothing I could get if I stayed there. I should resume checking some items that needed to be checked.
An army of AI is coming after me, she said. Ah damn. I can’t wait until the banquet starts. I should drink at least a case of beer.