~ Money Is Cheap ~


"Oh please, my fellow neighbors. The People of the Land would be honored to assist you! There's no need to keep your desperate need for help a secret from us." Lord Marves booms with a revolting look of triumph in his grin. Shiroe's hand swiftly glides to his sword, but before he can unsheathe it and behead the poor excuse for a human being, Krusty clears his throat. Though the small action saved his life, Lord Marves doesn't notice it.

"Lord uhm... Marves, I very much appreciate the offer-in fact-all of the offers that you made within the past fifteen minutes since you arrived here. However, as I clearly stated before, we are not currently in a position where we need any help." Krusty replies smoothly. Frankly, it was amazing how he managed to stay civilized at all.

"Ah but that is your current position, is it not? I have a variety of-"

"Do you happen to desire anything of us?" Krusty cuts to the point. They had places to be and if it wasn't for Lord Marves' title of nobility, they wouldn't be dealing with him.

"Actually, now that you mention it! I was hoping to buy some soldiers from your army. It is surely large enough for you to spare a few for an ally." Marves says in a sing-song voice as if he had won something. Shiroe rolls his eyes. No doubt the citizens are unsatisfied with such a useless leader. If it had already come to this, Lord Marves definitely received a plentiful amount of threats by now. Luckily for him-with the amount of tax that he collects-he probably has more money than even Krusty's princely allowance adds up to (which is saying something for sure). Still, Shiroe knew that this effort was futile.

"I apologize, you should probably consider some mercenaries rather than us. D.D.D. kingdom does not sell our soldiers and we never will." Krusty states simply. Shiroe leans back on the wall behind and keeps an eye out for Marves' bodyguards, his eyes cautiously flickering.

"If I wanted just anyone, I would have simply asked my friends here to slip your soldiers some motivation, if you know what I mean." Marves rubs his fingers to imply bribery and the point is taken. "I don't want to pick any fights or ruin my reputation," Krusty and Shiroe wonder if his reputation can get any worse. "I'm just fairly certain you have already considered that possibility." Marves' voice sharpens though instead of intimidating, it seems almost stubborn.

"An unlikely possibility, but do go on." Krusty responds. The loyalty of Krusty's army has always been outstanding and even those who lack talent wouldn't consider betrayal for a second.

"I've heard some wonderful rumors about your dear second-in-command, Shiroe-kun." Marves' allows his gaze to trickle to an indifferent Shiroe.

"Oh?" Krusty raises his eyebrow. Of course the idea amuses him.

"What do you say, Shiroe-kun? I would be willing to pay you a hefty sum of money. Surely your talents aren't needed in a kingdom with such a successful army." He addresses him directly and Shiroe chooses among his wide repertoire of fake smiles.

"You flatter me, but you have the wrong idea. Second-in-command is a title wasted on me and is much better suited for our general, Naotsugu. I'm simply the first prince's personal assistant." Shiroe bows politely.

"Ah, modesty is such a fine trait to have. However, I've heard countless stories of your accomplishments and would love to have you by my side. I can offer you immediate payment." Marves states rather bluntly and Shiroe realizes that the other is mistaking a polite refusal for being modest. Krusty doesn't show it, but Shiroe can tell that he's enjoying the way that Marves is testing his loyalty.

"Money isn't the reason I work for Krusty, but I appreciate the offer nonetheless." Shiroe says almost apologetically. The only real threat nearby is Krusty, he thinks bitterly.

"It's a shame but I must take my leave as I have other appointments to make. If you consider anything, Shiroe-kun-contact me immediately." Marves says briskly and marches out of the room. Krusty cracks his neck and turns to Shiroe with that familiar glint in his eye.

"Modesty is such a fine trait to have, Shiroe-kun." He grins knowing full well that Shiroe was almost at his breaking point.

"Stop. You're starting to give me unhealthy flashbacks." Shiroe shudders and Krusty finds it endearing. They walk to Krusty's room and take note of palace guards and the occasional royalty to which Shiroe bows to. When they arrive, Shiroe takes a while to get to the closet-the room was nowhere near small-and pulls out Krusty's ever familiar royal attire.

"Good?" He asks and Krusty hums in response. He slips across the room and stops in front of Krusty. Pulling the clothing over Krusty's shoulders, Shiroe delicately smoothes out the front which is a habit of his, according to Krusty. While Shiroe works on tying the ropes and making sure that it's presentable, Krusty remembers what they're preparing for.

"It's almost lonely when Isaac invites us as the prince of Black Sword kingdom, rather than for a casual visit." Krusty isn't sure if Shiroe hears him as he seems preoccupied with his clothing. But sure enough, Shiroe sighs.

"He has responsibilities just like you do. At least we get to see him since it's been quite a while." Shiroe lets out a breath finally satisfied with his work. Krusty takes the opportunity before he forgets.

"You should wear red today." He notes absently and Shiroe's shrugs.

"You know I don't particularly like the color."

"Of course I know. And you still never tell me why."

"Would you believe me if I said it was a fashion statement?" Shiroe smirks but still has a note of seriousness in his expression.

"Wear blue then. I'll forgive you for having nothing against our royal color. " Krusty slumps down on a couch. Our royal color, huh? Shiroe hides a smile at that.

"Speaking of royal colors, Black Sword kingdom's is red. You'll have to swallow your fashionistic pride." Krusty studies his reaction and Shiroe looks at him questioningly.

"I've been there before, haven't I?" Shiroe sits down at Krusty's desk to go over some paperwork.

"Because it's an official meeting, it'll be in the palace meeting room rather than the guest room which is-courtesy of Isaac-much less obnoxiously red." Krusty pulls out his sword to examine the gleaming reflection of the sunlight filtering through the window.

"Great." Shiroe sighs. Red was a color that he never wanted to see again for reasons locked away in his heart and his past.


"Come in."

"Shiroe-sama, the king and queen request your presence." The messenger, Misa bows and Shiroe's eyes trickle to Krusty who continues reading his book and doesn't say anything. Shiroe stands up.

"I'll be right there." He responds and Misa exits the room.

"Knowing you, you'll probably keep this to yourself, right?" Krusty says over his book.

"You can order me to tell you anything and I won't be able to refuse." Shiroe was always Krusty's personal servant before anything else. Krusty simply laughs at that.

"I like to save my personal pleasures for the best situations." Krusty smirks and Shiroe opens the door.

"Then I guess you'll have to trust me, won't you?" He remarks and exits with his clothing flowing behind him.

"I do." He responds but Shiroe doesn't hear him.

As Shiroe walks through the hallway, he adjusts his black gloves. Krusty gave them to him and jokingly said it would give him a mysterious and lethal image. Not that everyone thought he was an assassin or anything. Well, not everyone.

"Your majesty. You requested to see me?"

"Ah, Shiroe. Please come in." A voice responds immediately with practiced kindness etched into it. The guards nod and pushes the doors open. They were huge slabs of steel designed with the royal color, which was often referred to as golden blue.

"I understand that Krusty is taking you as his bodyguard to the Black Sword kingdom." The king's echoing voice fills the room. The king and queen looked far too young to be the parents of Krusty, but their appearances had distinct similarities to Krusty's.

Shiroe nods silently. One of the many things that he had picked up in the presence of royalty was that nearly everything was a question and most only had one answer.

Well luckily, the king and queen were quite different from normal royalty.

After a moment of silence, a smile broke out on the king's face. "That's wonderful! You're always such a good influence on him." Shiroe fails at hiding his own smile as he stands from where he was kneeling.

"He doesn't seem to appreciate you as much as he should." Shiroe says as the king chuckles.

"No, he's just in his rebellious dark stage at the moment. And he used to be such a cute child."

"I wonder if Shiroe-kun has a darker side to him as well." The queen asks from the throne next to the king.

"Unthinkable. This kid doesn't have a dark bone in his body."

The king rethinks it and corrects himself. "Well, unless he's cutting down an enemy." Shiroe suddenly picks up on footsteps coming in their direction.

"Which is exactly why he should be my personal assistant." A new charismatic voice appears from Shiroe's right and he recognizes it as Krusty's older step-brother, Ryiz. According to Krusty, Ryiz is the child of two famous generals and loyal friends to the king. They had unfortunately perished in battle and immediately after their deaths, he was adopted by the king and queen. In the case that the troubled royal family could not produce an heir, he would be the rightful first prince. When the prodigy turned five, Krusty was born and he became a reserve. Locked away in the tower, he currently serves as the respected leader of the special forces.

"I'll remind you that I'm nothing like I was in the past. I'm not the truly pure person that you think I am. Krusty's the one who deserves the praise." Shiroe responds with an apologetic bow and they all pause for a moment because even the people who know the most about Shiroe, know nearly nothing at all about him. They store that knowledge in the back of their heads.

Ryiz recovers immediately and rests his hand on Shiroe's shoulder. The normally intimidating icy blue eyes strangely appear to be warm. "Even better that you're not just some useless dog of my brother's. My offer is always up." He smiles and his silver hair disappears behind the doors of steel.

Despite losing his future, Ryiz has always been completely unbothered by Krusty's birth and earned dominating respect within the kingdom.

"Please don't mind him. He has taken a rather unhealthy interest in you." The queen giggled. Shiroe kept himself from rolling his eyes. Ryiz would be the first to kill him if he betrays Krusty-interest or no interest.

"I'm unworthy of such an honor." Cough.


"Okay, spill it. What did the spawns need?" Krusty somehow retains his elegance while interrogating him. Shiroe slides into a chair and stares at the ceiling.

"Hmm... we talked about some things, Ryiz said hi and then I told them of our plans for today."

"Ah, I already had a chat with Ryiz while you were still talking to my parents."

Of course Krusty somehow found out that Ryiz had spoken to Shiroe mere seconds after the encounter-how that was remotely possible, Shiroe didn't know. He tears his eyes away from the ceiling to give Krusty the look.

"Don't worry." The look again.

"I didn't murder him or anything." Krusty grins and Shiroe just shakes his head. When he meets eyes with Krusty again, he can sense the atmosphere being changed to serious.

"My parents didn't say anything unnecessary, did they?" Krusty asks sincerely. Shiroe hesitates for a second.

Make sure nothing happens to our son. We only allow you two to go alone because you're willing to die for him. There are many that don't approve of an outsider being close to the future king.

"Of course not."

Krusty wasn't expecting to get a truthful answer.

"Let's get going. Our horses are waiting for us."


A/N: HEY GUYS IM BAAAAACK. Summer is here and school is over wew.

The Author's Note will always be down here as well as responses to reviews **sparkling eyes**

Since I pretty much planned out most of this story, feel free to drop any questions you have!

It looks like it's a bit slow, but guise. I'm sorry. There's a plot. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN.

There won't be many OCs, but Ryiz is mine. Just saying.

CHECK OUT THE COVER. I MADE IT. IT WAS GRUELING WORK. SRSLY, that picture was majorly edited. And fonts man. Fonts.

I'm trying to be artistic so I might attempt fanart-don't expect much LOL-for now Ryiz looks kinda like Kadaj from Final Fantasy maybe? KAGARI OPINIONS ON THIS. I WANT BANGS.

I hope you all have a great weekend, I'll try to update as soon as possible-superrrr excited!

Screw prologues by the way LOL