Assessment! Lament of the new Crown Prince!
In a dimly lit tavern citizens of Seyruun discus among themselves what qualities their new prince should possess, and what he was lacking.
The talk had started the day that the strange man had entered the city. Or it should have, but the truth was that the man was so very ordinary that his appearance was barely noticed at all. That was only after that announcement of his marriage to the crown princess Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun that he was even noticed in the first place.
After that it created quite the stir. Gossip flew faster then dragons upon hearing the name Lina Inverse. The citizens of the holy city loved their princess dearly but they couldn't wrap their minds around why Amelia would choose such a normal husband. After all Seyruun was not known for having 'normal' royalty, her father Crown Prince Philionel being a prime example. But to give the people of Seyruun credit they did try to give the new Prince a chance…
A small group had gathered at the Dragons Head. It was an old tavern often frequented by travelers, most of them white magic users on a pilgrimage to the great city. But it was also a favorite of Seyruun's own many a citizen would find themselves there after a long day of work.
"It's a shame really" began a tall man with broad shoulders, his travelers gear well worn from his time spent on the road. He was surrounded by an air of self importance, that was accented by a loud booming voice and a confident stance that allowed him to easily capture the attention of others. He could have been a great motivational speaker, but the effect was a tad ruined by the massive amount of thick, dark bushy hair on his upper lip; it appeared to engulf his face.
"Not that there's nothing wrong with the new guy," timidly piped in a second man who had donned the garb of a holy priest. He was a short round man cursed with a bald head, he had barly touched the drink in front of him.
"No, of course not." The first man continued
"By all means he's a decent fellow, y'know?" added a young redheaded man who was working his way towards the category of 'having to much to drink'.
"Of course, by all means. He seems like a real dependable fellow. The kind who'd be good with figuring out taxes and that sort of stuff." Added a fourth figure who looked exactly like the third, the only distinguishable difference between the two being that this man was very sober.
The others nodded in agreement.
Realizing that he was loosing the attention of his companions the tall traveler broke in with a commanding voice, "it's just that the other guy, er… what was his name?"
There was an awkward pause. The present company realized the problem in singing the praises of a man who'd name they couldn't even remember; it was quite embarrassing. Eventually the second (and more sober) twin broke the silence, "It started with something weird" he commented hesitantly as if he wasn't sure what he had said was true or not.
"An X?" piped forth his brother, who by this point was more draped across the table than sitting at it.
"No I'm sure it was a 'Z'" supplied a helpful bar maid as she collected empty mugs from in front of the more intoxicated of the twins and replaced them with full glasses.
"Zem…Zea… Zel.." the priestly man mused.
"That's it!" thundered the first man, who had risen to his feet and slammed his fist down on the solid wood table the impact creating a loud thud the resonated through out the bar. "His name was Zelgadis I'm sure of it!" he spoke, voice full of pride at his accomplishment. The sudden outburst gathered the attention of the entire tavern. The place was silent as all of its occupants stared at the loud man with disapproving gazes.
Ignoring the tense atmosphere the intoxicated twin contemplated, "Just… well he was just more suited for the job, y'know?"
"My point exactly!," exclaimed the dark haired man with great enthusiasm, grateful that it was not him that had to be the one to break the judging silence. "That boy could take a hit!" his mood seemed to be contagious and the others began to get swept up in his excitement.
"He really stood out," one would comment.
Another would nod his head quickly up and down and begin "Did you see that one time when a bandit tried to shoot him at close range-"
"-The bullet just bounced right off of him, and he never even batted an eye!" yet a different man would finish.
"He had a kind of flair." Offered a young man who had turned to join the conversation from the table beside them.
'"s 'ard not to when you're blue, y'know?" commented a voice coming from the floor.
"Now there was a guy that looked like he could run a kingdom. A real no nonsense kind of guy."
"S' was all wire and stone like, y'know?"
"He could really dish it out too" shouted a man from across the room.
"With out causing property damage," piped a cheery middle age barmaid. The entire tavern nodded in agreement, this was a definite bonus in their books. The city was still recovering from the last time one of Amelia's friends visited for the weekend.
A few did try to defend the honour of the new prince, "But the new guy's not so bad" put in an elderly man seated at the bar.
A bookish young man sitting next to him agreed, commenting about how it would be nice to finally have someone on the thrown who would be able to sort out the city's finances without the hassle of holding a massive conference every other week. As an accountants apprentice he was getting sick of having to learn a new set of paperwork and procedures every month
But those few aside, the rest of the taverns patrons were deeply engrossed in telling stories of the heroic and impressive achievements of the great and noble hero of justice; Zelgadis Greywords.
In face they were so engrossed that hey never even noticed the fuming figure silently sipping tea at the table next to them.
By the time the tavern closed for the night the figure had decided that he was good and ready to go home and sulk for a few good days, he was good at sulking. After all in his opinion he was good for much more than just taxes.
He arrived back at the castle in a terrible mood, and so in order to avoid having to deal with the cheerful foot men he slunk in through one of that rarely used staff doors then padded quietly along a series of out of the way passages to get into his room. He silently changed into his night clothes trying not to wake the dark haired figure apparently already asleep in their bed.
His efforts were to no avail, as soon as he put some of his weight onto the large bed she began to stir. She waited until he was settled in before she began to ask him about his day. "So," she murmured with sleep in her voice, "did you have fun?" He just groaned and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "I don't want to talk about it." Amelia was well aware of her husbands so called 'moods.' She was also aware of how best to get him to open up about it. She wrapped one of her arms around his torso and rested her head in the crook of his neck. She could feel him relax and with only a little reluctance in his voice he recounted the events of the evening. After he finished telling the story he had been expecting crooning sympathy from his beloved wife. Instead he felt her warm figure shudder, he looked down at her face and saw her trying to stifle a giggle.
"It's not funny," he muttered sourly.
She gave him a reassuring squeeze and a peck on the cheek, "aww Zel-bunny I think it's kinda cute."
None the less, first thing the next day he headed out into town to order some new armor. Something that had lots of spikes, and a big flowing cape, and perhaps a fancy broad sword. He'd show them how to run a kingdom.
Prologue:
In the end Zelgadis as normal as he was, was able to become a fine king. He was not only able to revolutionize the tax system (with only three small conferences over a four year period and only one major system overhaul), he was able to lower crime rates and increase property values by fifty percent. Not to mention he was able to take out an entire encampment of bandits single handedly after loosing his broad sword in battle. He managed to turn the tides using two magically enhanced shot guns that he had created in his free time, along with strategies from a book of tactics he found propping up one of the back legs of the royal throne.