Chapter 9: The King
The view from above the clouds is fascinating. The landscape below seemed as if it were moving at an impossible rate. The flight route went between the two major cities of E-Pespel and E-Libera on a direct route to the Capital. Reinhard was looking at the ground beneath them in fascination. Meanwhile, Gazef was contemplating something.
'I have had this thought before, but I haven't worked out what Reinhard's payment would be. He saved my life, the lives of the villagers, and the remaining soldiers. All by himself. It was a monumental task that he accomplished with such ease. Surely he had to be given a good sum of money, but the question is how much? Surely the king would want to give quite a lot for saving my life, but sometimes his majesty is too nice.' Gazef had hoped to talk with Reinhard himself on the topic, but considering that he is unfamiliar with the currency here, it might be difficult.
Suddenly Gazef felt a ping in his head. "Gazef mind if I ask you something?" Reinhard said telepathically.
"Of course, but why aren't we speaking about this?" Gazef asked.
"Because I don't want too many people to know about my situation." Reinhard paused and Gazef nodded in return. "Do you really trust Sir Ainzach enough to tell him about my situation?" Reinhard asked.
Gazef thought for a moment then responded. "I trust his motivations enough to tell him. It isn't that I think he is not trustworthy, but that man won't tell anyone because it would push you away from his guild." Reinhard looked puzzled at Gazef's answer.
"Can you elaborate on that a little more, I don't quite understand what you mean." Reinhard requested.
"What I mean is, he wants you at his guild as an adventurer. You are incredibly strong, and based on what I said, he thinks that you could become an adamantite rank adventurer. If an adamantite popped up at his Guild, more people would go there, and that is what he wants. If he did something to displease you, something that would turn you away from his guild, he will lose that. In this case, the thing that would turn you away is revealing your secret." At that moment, Reinhard's eyes lit up, a sign of understanding.
"That is the reason I was able to tell him with confidence that he wouldn't tell anyone. I also asked him to look out for anyone that could help you, and he has a lot of connections. It would be beneficial to you if he could set up a meeting with some powerful caster." Gazef stopped.
"Someone like Evileye." Reinhard said in affirmation.
"Precisely. Although, if you do pursue a career as an adventurer, I am sure you could set up that meeting yourself without any help." Gazef said.
"Well I am not capable of doing everything. I am just one man after all." Reinhard's face molded into a frown and he looked down, clearly remembering something. "I need to return to Lugunica as soon as possible. I can't leave my lady waiting."
"I will do everything in my power to help you do so Reinhard, you don't have to worry." Gazef replied. Then realized this is an opportune time to negotiate the payment Gazef promised. "On a different subject, may we negotiate the amount you are to be paid?"
"Yes, as you might expect, you will have to help me with this because I have little to no knowledge of the monetary system here." Reinhard had also been thinking about the situation. 'If I ask for too much, it would seem like I am too greedy. However, if I refuse a large amount it would seem like I am disrespecting the king's generosity.'
"Instead of talking about money then, what do you think you will need to accomplish your goal?" Gazef inquired.
"I will need food and shelter money at the very least. How much do you think I would need to have to sustain myself for two weeks?" Reinhard asked.
"Is that all you want? That wouldn't cause any commotion at all within the nobility. Are you sure you want to be using the bare minimum to get by?" Gazef asked.
"Well, I think I want to accept the deal Sir Ainzach has given me. The adventurer lifestyle will certainly be a change, but not an unwelcome one. Besides, I don't want to ask for too much." Reinhard responded to his concerns.
"If you would like, you can stay in the capital for a while. I'm sure that Evileye will be there, and you need to talk to her as soon as possible." Gazef offered.
"That is now the plan. I will stay until I am able to meet Evileye, and in the meantime, I can learn about the currency here. After that, I will head back to E-Rantel and accept the deal Sir Ainzach gave to me." Reinhard recited his current plan to Gazef.
"And one last thing, I have a duty to explain everything to the King. Including your origins. I understand if you don't want me to, but his Majesty is an honorable man. I can assure you he won't think about telling anyone else so long as you don't want him to." Gazef had a duty as Warrior Captain, to report directly to the King.
"There isn't a problem with me. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if someone learned of my origins, but I already know that the nobility would try and use me to their own ends." Reinhard knowing the intricacies of the noble world himself knew what would happen if someone of that sort were to learn the truth.
"Sounds good. I won't be telling anyone other than the king." Gazef stopped and in the distance the walls of a city could now be seen, and they were approaching fast.
The capital of the Re-Estize Kingdom was similar to the one Reinhard pledged loyalty to. The palace was absolutely beautiful. The sections of the city close to the palace are the same way. As you get further and further away from the palace, you start to notice the situation that the capital is in. The slums, just like my country, are far away from the palace, and are ignored by the high nobility and royalty.
'It reminds me of Felt just thinking about it. Felt never liked the government in the kingdom. She said it was the reason she and so many of her friends were suffering. I can't really disagree with her argument. Many people in power like to keep their power and might even do unspeakable acts to keep it. Felt is certainly straightforward and told everyone she met that she intended to get rid of such people, not caring in the slightest if that lowered her chances of winning. She was very rough, but she actually cared. I vowed to protect my nation, and she vowed to make the lives of everyone in the kingdom better. Albeit, her way of going about it is not working very well.' Reinhard faintly smiled at the memory of his lady.
They were currently in the center of the city, right outside the gates of Ro-Lente Castle. The castle was not unlike many of the estates located inside his own country. The outer walls of the castle had posts with pointed cone shaped roofs and were positioned perfectly symmetrical to each other. The inner wall of the castle did not have the same posts as the outer wall, but had an equally impressive gate. Despite all this, if Reinhard had to use one word to describe the Capital as a whole it would be "old".
The Valencia Palace was much more of the same, although quite nicer. The place was built just like many of the buildings in the higher end part of the city. The palace was built in the same smooth stone that many mansions in the city were, and it had two extended hallways sticking out like crab's pincers. Those two parts possessed spherical roofs, but the rest of the building had triangular and pointed roofs. The building was also littered with windows, on every surface of the building were windows.
Reinhard was anxious upon entering the gates of the throne room. It wasn't as if he had not seen the inside of a castle or palace before, he has many times. However, how his meeting with the king went determined his future in this world. Gazef had assured him that the King is a humble and generous man, sometimes to his own detriment. If it did somehow go wrong, Reinhard could lose a lot of things he would otherwise have been able to get. Contacts, finances, and a good relationship with the Kingdom.
Sitting on the throne was an older man with gray hair. Much like Gazef described to Reinhard, the King was clearly worn out. Upon seeing Gazef the King changed his demeanor ever so slightly. It was a posture of relief and happiness. Two people were standing by his right side, and based on the information Reinhard had gathered he recognized them as his sons. On the left side of the King, were two more people. Reinhard recognized one of them as the King's daughter and the other one was a young man with short blonde hair with blue eyes that was wearing pure white full plate armor. They were the only other people in the room.
The King stood up and began to speak, "Welcome back from your mission Captain Stronoff, I hope it went well."
"I regret to inform you that it almost ended in disaster, your majesty, but thanks to the heroic actions of the man standing beside me, he has saved my life and completed the mission." Gazef said as he took a bow.
The King's face didn't change much, but Reinhard knew he was surprised. "Then before I thank you, may I ask your name?" The King looked to Reinhard with anticipation.
"My name is Reinhard van Astrea, your majesty." Reinhard responded. The King had a slight look of confusion upon hearing the name, but erased it a second later. Reinhard had also been studying the looks upon the two princes and the princess. The first prince went into deep thought when he heard the name, and clearly showed it. The other prince and the princess were also in that state, although they did a much better job at hiding it. Finally, the man next to the princess did not hide his shock at hearing that the Warrior Captain had almost perished on his mission.
"Reinhard van Astrea." The King paused for a moment. "As the King of Re-Estize and as Rampossa |||, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving the Warrior Captain. How can I ever repay you?" The King meant every single word he said.
"You have all shown me great kindness ever since I have arrived, if I were in any other situation, that is all I would ask for. Unfortunately your majesty, I am in a poor financial state at present." Reinhard paused to gauge the reactions from the Royalty and make sure no one was upset with what he was asking. Fortunately, no one had seemed displeased with what Reinhard was implying.
"So then Sir Astrea, how much are you asking for? I am more than happy to help the man who was able to save our Chief Warrior." Rampossa ||| questioned.
"Just enough for good shelter and food for two weeks, I will be able to do well with just that." The princes looked almost surprised at the request. After all, who would ask anything less than a fortune from a King that would accept nearly any request. The King had also been confused at first. He smiled solemnly and looked like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Although I know that this amount would not nearly be enough to express my gratitude, I shall have it prepared." The King got up from his seat and motioned toward a door on the left side of the room. The princess and the knight by her side began to walk toward the door. The knight held the door open so that the King could walk through, and right after the princess followed, as did the two princes. Gazef and Reinhard also walked through the door into a hallway with very high ceilings. The hallway itself was decorated very ornately, with large stained glass windows, beautiful patterns along the rug, and round arches along the corridor.
The party of royalty and knights then entered a smaller room, with much less extravagance than the throne room. It had a long wooden table with many chairs along both sides and of course, a much more fancy chair sitting at the head of the table. Rampossa sat down in that chair, while everyone else sat down near him.
"Reinhard," the one who Reinhard recognized as the First Prince spoke, "explain where you come from and how you were able to outpower an enemy that our Warrior Captain couldn't defeat?" First Prince Barbro asked outright the question that was on everyone's mind.
"I am just a knight that serves his lady. As for the enemy, they only had prepared for Sir Gazef, they didn't take into account myself being there." Reinhard gave half-truths to the prince.
The Prince, unsatisfied with this answer, asked again, "I asked you where you come from? Not what you do! More than that, I know there aren't any nobles with the name Astrea!" Prince Barbro was a very arrogant and self-centered man, who always got what he wanted. He also had quite the short temper.
"Barbro! Don't be rude to the one who has done our nation such a great service." The King reprimanded his son. "I apologize for his brashness, please do forgive him."
"Your apology is accepted, but I understand why you would like to know where I come from. I come from a quite distant land that is also quite solitary, so I doubt you would know its name, I'm sorry." Reinhard gave a slight bow while sitting down.
Clearly Barbro wasn't happy with this response, but the others just seemed more intrigued than put off by his response. The table was quiet for a moment, everyone digesting what Reinhard had meant with his words.
"Well Sir Reinhard, clearly our Warrior Captain is impressed by your skill, so I will take his word for it." The Second Prince, Zanac decided to speak, "I must ask, what do you plan to do in the Kingdom?" Zanac was much more polite in his approach to Reinhard than his brother.
"To answer your question, I have not entirely decided on what I am doing. However, the Adventurer's Guild master in E-Rantel, Ainzach, has proposed that I begin taking on jobs in E-Rantel." Reinhard explains.
"Then I have an offer for you as well Reinhard." Zanac begins, "Why don't you work for me." As Zanac says this, Barbro almost lept out of his seat.
"Brother! You just met him!" Barbro shouts, "Why do you trust him to work for you on one man's word!?" Barbro questions furiously. Meanwhile, Renner was also clearly intrigued by Zanac's out-of-the-blue proposal.
"Please let me finish brother." Zanac calmly stated, attempting to deescalate the room. "I want you to work as a bodyguard of sorts for me. Of course, that wouldn't be the only thing you would do, but I promise excellent pay and several more benefits that can be fine tuned later if you do accept." Zanac finished, now waiting for Reinhard's response.
'This could be extremely beneficial, working for a prince. Although there are several disadvantages to this. One, I would be tying myself down to one nation, and limiting my mobility. Two, I don't know everything that this bodyguarding job entails, and I may end up being used. Three, diplomatic relations in this country aren't the best, and it may end up hurting me later if I want to come across as a neutral party.' Reinhard thought.
The room was in a temporary silence as Reinhard contemplated. Then, "I'm sorry Prince Zanac, I have to decline your generous offer." Reinhard politely responded, even with a bow. Zanac along with everyone else at the table was stunned.
"What is your reason if you don't mind me asking?" Zanac is more intrigued than stunned at this point.
"I would like to explore more, there is a lot I have yet to see, and I think accepting this job limits how much I am able to do. I'm truly sorry, thank you for the offer." Reinhard's words silenced the room.
"You have no reason to apologize, we all have our own goals in mind." Zanac didn't seem to be upset by the rejection, more curious than anything.
"Now that it seems that all questions are out of the way, Reinhard I have your reward." The King held out a pouch and Reinhard took it, thanking him. He didn't have to look inside the bag, he knew that it was much more than necessary.
"You are too kind, your highness."
"Nonsense, you have done the kingdom a great service, I simply cannot thank you enough." Rampossa spoke with gratitude.
Once everyone had left only two people remained in the conference room. Rampossa and Gazef.
"I see I also owe this Ainz Ooal Gown a debt as well." Rampossa said.
"While he didn't participate in the second battle, he did protect the village in my stead." Gazef told the King. Rampossa just nodded.
"The world seems to be getting crazier and crazier, doesn't it? Reinhard, just how strong is he?" The King inquired.
"Strong enough to wipe out an entire group of the Theocracy in one blow. Other than that, I don't exactly have any other measurements." The King sighed at this response.
"So now the question is what does the Theocracy want by killing you?"
"I believe they wanted to destabilize the Kingdom, but for what? That is anyone's guess." Gazef voiced.
"We have to be on guard, Reinhard would have been a great help if he did actually accept Zanac's offer. I am surprised Zanac did that in the first place, I wonder what that boy is thinking." Rampossa uttered.
"He is your son, your Majesty." Gazef chuckled.
"I guess you're right there." Rampossa laughed a bit too. Then he got more serious. "If something horrible does happen, I want to be able to contact him, understand?"
"Yes your majesty, although he might be traveling quite a bit if he does accept that offer from Sir Ainzach." Gazef stated.
"I do hope he finds what he is looking for, whatever it is."