Sparking A Revolution
Chapter 1: Infilitrating The Palace
Date: January 22nd, 2025
This story begins where the preview of it in Alva Towne Unamusement Park's final chapter left off. We have gained the trust of people in a small village by adventuring through guild quests while hiding our identities until we defeated a A ranked boss. I tried to say we were just swordmasters but they didnt buy it so I admitted we were knights. We are now A rank adventurers and have come to the kingdom's capital due to taking over escort duties for a merchant escort bound for this city. This is only the beginning of whats going to happen. We met the captain of a guard patrol just now and theyre going to take us inside now. The leader of that guard patrol leads us into what turned out to be far more than just a castle. It was a whole damn palace. A gruff male voice speaks: "Guard Captain, who are these strangers you have brought into our midst?! I told you. NO VISITORS! I dont want visitors right now!" Is this voice the king? Typical of a country thats also a imperial powerhouse. This kingdom isnt just a kingdom. Its a empire. Why is this place so lightly guarded? The captain replies: "I have found those 2 knights that we have been hearing about, your majesty!" I dont know what "his majesty" looks like but I already know we're going to make sure his head comes off at some point in the future. We are infilitrating the very center of power and we will climb the ranks and gain the trust of everyone before our little revolution gets to kick off. I am Dark Knight Swiftdrawer, an adventurer and war survivor who was isekaied to Animal Crossing New Leaf in 2017. With me is my beloved lover, bonded partner, and very close comrade: Herbsalvin, a knight who has lived multiple lives and can transform into a pegasus at will.
Right now, they are hiding their wings they still have in knight form very well. We dont want to draw too much attention or have too many questions asked of us. To this day, I still live on Earth as well. My consciousness just switches from one body to another at night daily, without fail. The "majesty" replies: "I dont care! Send them home! You know how cautious we have to be! All those riffraffs on the street could break into the palace and steal my gold!" Oh yeah, this king sucks. Im not looking forward to playing nice with him but when his head falls to the ground, I will let go the pain of dealing with someone so difficult to deal with. (Note: These events took place well before I became a solar wind knight.) "I know, sire! But listen! These two just got here after successfully escorting a merchant here without any injuries reported!" "Still not interested!" "But milord! Listen! There is something very special about both of them! I can tell! And its not everyday knights from parts unknown just show up like this! Think of all the time we can save by having these 2 with us instead of having to train 2 new knights from scratch sooner than later!" "Alright. Very well, Captain William. Bring them in at once. You have a good eye for those with potential. Thats part of why I made you Guard Captain along with the fact that by blood, you are my nephew. Lets see if these 2 arent useless or belong with the common grabble." "As you command, my liege!" I want him on our side. I think we can persuade him in time. His genuine personality and excited and energy is everything. Plus, he has solid experience and clearly a lot of patience.
William whispers to us as we walk down a long and narrow chamber with statues of previous rulers on both sides of the walkway: "Dont mind our king. Hes just been through a lot of difficult situations over the years. Im not comfortable with sharing more about him right now. Anyway, I didnt tell him this but it looks like you are both powerful enough to easily take the throne by force if you wanted to. I just hope nothing bad happens." I whisper back: "It depends on a lot of factors. We're here for work to do anyway. He doesnt have our trust yet. You cant just give trust away for free, after all. Trust has to be mutual and earned on both sides of a relationship." "Well put. Okay. *gulps* Let's hope his majesty isnt tipsy today." Yeah. Hes a soft one but judging by the scrapes on his armor and the scars and healing wounds on his body, he's been battered a lot. The BRAINS Collective might just have some room for him when the time is right. We are keeping recruitment efforts down to a halt in order to ensure we can better focus on bolstering our comrades among other priorities. A few minutes later, we finally reach the throne room where a bard is performing to entertain the royal court/family: "And there were 2 knights who came from a land possibly extremely far away. No one know who they were. They showed up in a small town and slayed a dragon as that town was under attack by the dragon's fire! Grateful for the help, the people sent them to the adventurers guild and got them set up. Now these 2 knights are heroes of the town and have done so many legendary deeds. They killed a giant troll, stopped a mountain from collapsing, and deeds too many to list further!"
Typical bard, embellishing the truth. As a storyteller myself, I dont like doing that. Bards are fun to listen to but I think its cooler if they sing truthful stories, especially what Herbsalvin and I have been through alongside many many others. The king shouts: "Enough! *calms down* I have an audience to attend to but you may stay, Royal Bard Lucian." "As you wish, your highness. I'll be ready to sing again when youre ready to listen to some more of my tales of wonder, adventure, and delight!" Okay, we should try recruiting them too. Have bards sing songs of rebellion.. Thats a nice plan and sure is a lot more discreet than a thrown away plan of performing underground in this kingdom in a heavy metal style. Yeah, sure sounds like a good idea in a kingdom with no concept of guitars. Whoever came up with that was nearly bonked on the head for such a terrible idea. It probably would have never worked anyway. And it was just far too risky to even try given how loud heavy metal usually is and I say this as someone who would pay good money to watch a bard suddenly perform in a brutal death metal style, completely unprompted. Lucian, huh? I'll try to remember that name. The king speaks to us: "Step forth, travelers. I am King Einford the 5th, ruler of the Kingdom Of Beldolman. This kingdom is one of great powers of our world Aserleten and you are in the capital city of Odonkilas. My Guard Captain tells me you are the two knights from the stories being spread throughout my kingdom ans that theres something special about you. Now tell me, what do you go by?"
Herbsalvin replies: "Well met, King Einford. Its a pleasure to meet you, I am known as Herbsalvin. *bows*" (They secretly eyerolled. They dislike this guy as much as I do, naturally. We're a couple of anarchist knights after all. But the king wont know that until the bodies begin piling up..) I go next: "Greetings, your majesty. *mentally cringes* My name is Swiftdrawer. My name means a fast drawer of cards, a fast sword drawer, and a fast illustrator/drawer of art." "Herbsalvin and Swiftdrawer then. You dont look like much. Your armors look well maintained and polished but something tells me to not trust you. You dont wear any medals of honor. Nor do you wear any proper coats of arms. If youre so strong, then why have you come here when you can just adventure just there in the wilderness? Hmph. You both look really weak. Like rich nobles who just had their parents or servants buy them some fancy custom made armor just to impress the ladies. Your bodies dont look battered or hardened in the slightest and I dont feel a hint of power coming from either of you. But because I really hate being wrong about those I meet and possibly missing out on recruiting some fine men into my ranks, I will tell you this. Because you look utterly weak and incompetent despite your fancy suits of armor.. Servants, fetch these two some spare garnments. *turns back to us* If you are really as powerful as they say which I doubt so much that I would bet on being right about you both, then you will impress me and everyone else here by working hard enough to rise through the ranks. You will start as even less than pages.
You will start as palace servants, doing the chores to be done, sleeping in the filthy servants quarters, all that sort of thing. My family is off doing their own things for the time being but you will meet them eventually. *some servants that were called return to the throne room* Oh yes. Here they are. Servants, you can hand those to them." I couldn't believe my eyes at what we were handed. A full set of maid outfits. Fantasy anime cliches are now confirmed to exist in this world. Yay. Herbsalvin blushes heavily while I kinda just get too excited by this to hold myself back from saying what Im about to say: "Best work uniforms ever! Im going to be so cute!" Herbsalvin blushes even harder at that and struggles to speak. Einford narrows his gaze at us: "I knew you were incompetent. Acting like children over the site of these outfits. They really do suit you, don't they? Now scram off and put those on. I dont want to see either of you in my sight again unless I have some chore I want you to do! Captain William, return to guard patrol at once. And come back here when its dinner time. I want you at my table as usual. Is that understood?" "Uh, of course, your majesty!" The servants who just handed us the outfits gesture for us to follow them when we're ready and wait for us to put on the maid outfits before going anywhere else. Herbsalvin has never blushed so hard befire to my knowledge. Im blushing a bit too. I speak as we follow the servants with maid outfits now over our suits of armor: "Whoops. I let my excitement get the better of me for once. To be honest, I really do like dresses and maid outfits. But I do prefer my armor 10 billion%."
One of the servants speaks up: "Why are you wearing the outfits over your armor? Wont you get hot?" I reply: "Nah. We'll be fine. We've walked in deserts in armor before. No big deal. Oh and to not mention fighting and training in them. We have our methods for using the bathroom while wearing armor." "If youre sure about this.. Im Franny. Its nice to meet you.. Swiftdrawer and Herbsalvin." The other servant adds: "My name is Yohan. Youre hiding something, arent you? I can see it in your eyes. You two are in love! Just dont tell any of the royal family members and youll be fine!" Franny groans: "Keep it down, Yohan!" "Sorry! But anyway, we'll show you to the 'filthy' servants' quarters. I guess I hope you enjoy your stay, however long it may end up being." I nod: "We'll enjoy it okay. I mean a friend of mine from a faraway country did tell me that my armor can double as a bed.." Herbsalvin is still too flustered to speak and they're only going to blush harder when we reach those quarters. It doesnt take long for us to do so but theres only one person in there. They say: "Aww look like the 2 newest cuties to become part of our family! Do you hate the king too? If so, LETS CUT HIS HEAD OFF ALREADY! But seriously. *calms down* Hello there, you are quite an unusual pair to be joining our family arent you? My gender is fluid and ambiguous, just like my personality but dont tell King Einfart that. And dont think for a second that means my gender and personality are linked completely together." Herbsalvin blushes even harder at the first thing they said. I was blushing harder too until they got chaotic and then calm.
I calm down to a smile: "Oh, someone who also wants to kill the king. Interesting. Im Swiftdrawer and my friend or should I say, lover is Herbsalvin. I have never seen them blush so hard before today even while in bed with me." "Well well, I could just eat you both up with how cute you are. But still, its rather strange to be seeing knights of the description of two knights we have heard so much about walking in here in the same outfits as us. I guess the king didnt trust you enough and sent you to our little family instead of the guard or something. And it looks like you refuse to take your armor off. Well, knights do have their honor and all that, I get it. I used to be a knight but that was until the king found me laying with a woman and punished me to being a maid. I became House Maid and now, I would like to kill that smug bastard not just because of how he has treated me but because of how he treats the poor and others who are disadvantaged. Its only gotten worse the bigger the kingdom has become. Im Head Maid Elizabeth and honestly, Im romantically interested in anyone regardless of gender. It doesn't matter to me what features you have. Anyway, lets get situated, shall we? I would tease you and say how embarrassing it is for two knights like you to be wearing the same outfits as us. I know much better than that. Not only do I actually give a crap about other people but you two have seen things, havent you? That scar on your face, Swiftdrawer. It tells me everything. Something cut you deep a long time ago. It's obvious though Im unsure why the king would ignore that fact. That pile of butts is really something.
I call him that because for some reason, hes obsessed with looking at butt sculptures but if word got out, it could become a scandal. So that remains hidden from the public. In case you were wondering.. Yes, we are the only servants of the palace unless you count the unlucky knights and prisoners. Theres so few of us servants that sometimes, they have to do some of the chores to be done. I dont pity them. After all, working for such a loser really does make a lot of this job just drag on. But with you two around, things might actually get more exciting around here! I overheard everything the king said to you, actually. You have been relegated to a position even lower than Franny and Yohan's stations under me. Youll be doing the dirtiest of the chores from now on. But the harder you work, the more I'll be able to ensure you dont always have to do those jobs. There arent many chores to be done at this hour. Soon, it will be dinner time and thats when the chores begin to pile back up again. Its all such a drag." Herbsalvin is still blushing. I pet some of their hair as well as their wings. I reply: "I see. Look, Im sure most of the dirty chores dont come close to the kind of stuff we've done in battle or experienced while in battle. I had my heart crushed once or twice. Tyrannical bastard slashed my right eye in half with my old sword. Not to mention all the lives we've had to take and all the machines we've destroyed. At least raiding a enemy city and blowing it up skyhigh once all the innocent life forms were out of it was fun. Im something of a pirate in addition to being a knight."
After Herbsalvin is able to talk again, we tell everything we can to the 3 others after I cast a simple muffle spell to make sure no one could overhear our conversation. We are interrupted by a royal porter appearing to say: "Servants, its time to clean up dinner." After we do that, Elizabeth informs us we're done for the day and to be ready to go to bed in 3 hours. That gave us time to go around the palace and meet the other royals to figure out who should die, who can live, and who we should get on our side. We ended up finding the royal library not far from the fancy dining room that I had to suppress the urge to express my disgust at for being so overly lavish. The library was actually amazing, not to mention giant. And thats where we found the queen. She notices us and jeers at us: "Oh, its you. The two so called knights who refuse to take their suits of armor off despite wearing the outfits of servants now. You will be expected to get up and go to bed the same time every day. My husband is the angry one, Im the strict one and here, you will learn why our kingdom is one of largest powers in our world. You better take those silly suits of armor off by breakfast tomorrow morning. You aren't knights. You're servants so act like it! You will be eating your breakfast away from us just like you did for your brief dinners after you cleaned up our dinners. The same will go for lunch. You better obey or there will be consequences. Now if you excuse me, I have a book to read far more complicated for the likes of you to understand. You heard me. Leave this room this instant or I will punish you!" We would later learn her name is Queen Jasbel. A cute name for yet another utter scumbag.
She's on the list now. I brought a bingo book to put the names and info of targets in and start filling the first 2 pages of it out. Im sure Bray and Julia are having more fun at the College For Beldolman Mages as prospective instructors. Then theres Dominic and other scientists who have gotten themselves into the Royal Beldolman Institute Of Alchemists. Theres a reason that was going to work well. On Earth, scientists used to be called alchemists. This is reflected in Dr. Stone, actually. The list goes on. We have "agents" at every major location in the kingdom operating discreetly in order to advance our plans to overthrow this kingdom and establish a classless and stateless society with no corporations in existence because companies will become worker cooperatives instead. After being told to leave and complying for now, we wander around the palace's hallways. Using Ki sense, we can figure out our way back to the servants' quarters because Elizabeth has gone back to it. (I can just picture stabbing the Queen and King with my sword right now. But if they havent intentionally caused innocent people to die, they will be sent to a rehabilitation facility run by some BRAINS members.) And then, we run into who we were told is to the crown prince. And hes a character. "Oh I remember you two. *laughs at us* To think such 'knights' like you could just end up as servants! Its truly hilarious! Im Crown Prince Theodore and you better remember that! You must have bankrupted yourselves in order to afford such lavish and custom made armor!
Im jealous so give them to me or I will have some real knights execute you in the morning in front of the riffraff who infest my father's streets to help keep them in line! It would be so humiliating to die the way you currently look in front of so many, wouldnt it?! I have a feeling youre planning something treasonous so I suggest you stop that because if you wont, I will find you out one way or another. Now move along and dont speak to me unless I speak to you first and when I do, you will address me as your crown prince!" When he walks away, I speak: "Is the entire royal family this insufferable? Their imperialist desires have given them almost no room left for empathy. We'll make them respect us and after we do so, they will find something 'special' that will result in them being taken away by some of our comrades or killed. If we must take them prisoner, they will be treated well. If thats not an option and they never reform, they will die. When they get in our sights, tyrants are never safe whether they call themselves royals, Soviet Premiers, bishops, popes, presidents, CEOs, or whatever else. We will make sure this world is rid of tyrants in due time. They are the real ones who infest this world and all others they exist in. All these people acting without any moral regards to what theyre doing. Its sickening."
Herbsalvin nods: "Those who oppose the happiness and freedoms of the people shall deserve to taste our swords. We will not allow them to do as they wish. As knights, our duties are first and foremost to the people as well as to our comrades and ourselves so that we may have the strength to serve the people and our comrades as we can and are needed." Wandering around some more, we find the garden where we find the middle child: the princess. Theodore is 16 while the princess is 14, as Elizabeth informed us earlier. The garden is beautiful and well taken care of. And well.. unlike Theodore, the princess was a little.. dark. Her name is Melody. She speaks to us: "Sp you have figured out to always let us royals speak first, havent you? Im Princess Melody. Everything in this world is meaningless but when the Demon Lord comes to conquer this land, it shall become meaningful at last. Have you ever seen a dead body? Such things are so beautiful, you know. Just like these pretty flowers but my real favorite thing is food. Touch my food and I will sacrifice you to the demons. My parents are such fools. Now just leave. I dont want to talk to you ever again. I hate talking to people. I only want to do so if it means telling them Im going to allow the demons to take their souls."
What a bunch of characters. And then, we started hearing crying while heading back inside. The cries of a prepubescent boy. "Mother! Stop hurting me!" "No! You must be punished! Do you HEAR ME?! I HEARD YOU SAID TO SOMEONE THAT YOURE A GIRL AGAIN! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU? YOU CAN THINK OF YOURSELF AS A GIRL BUT IN THE END, YOURE JUST A BOY! You may not be the crown prince but I still expect you to behave like any prince should! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Okay. So the boy is actually a girl. We'll ask her what she wants her name to be when the queen pisses off and leaves her alone. But we have to be quiet. Using the shadows and a invisiblity potion we split, we slipped into the poor girl's room. The potion wore off seconds later, just as we hoped. She sniffles: "Whos there?" She turns to see us and widens her eyes: "What are you doing in here?! Mother is going to scold all of us if she catches you in here!" Herbsalvin and I unceremoniously take off our maid outfits for now while they shut the door and lock it with a spell and I use that muffling spell again as well as create a barrier that hides our energies completely from those not in the room. And then, I unleash my full power level as does my knight charming. The trans princess widens her eyes: "No way! Youre real knights?! But father said otherwise!" I reply: "What does he know about what constitutes a knight, anyway? Look kid, whats your name? Dont give us the name they call you. Give us the name you call yourself. But first. Im Swiftdrawer, a dark knight, assassin, pirate, artist, writer, and adventurer."
Herbsalvin adds: "Well met, young one. They call me Herbsalvin and Im both a pegasus and a knight. *reveals their wings* Here are my wings. I have them in my pegasus form as well." I speak again: "And they are majestic just as you always are, Herbsalvin. Unlike King Einfarts who has no majesticness at all." My lover blushes again while the princess laughs: "EINFARTS? DID YOU JUST CALL MY FATHER EINFARTS?!" "Thank the head maid for that one. Its so good. So damn good. Anyway, do not worry about us being overheard. I took care of that while Herbsalvin took care of the door. We wont be disturbed. As you can feel right now, we are truly strong knights. But anyway, please tell us what you want to be called. We dont really care about what they call you. Identifying with a name someone chose for you is overrated anyway. Yeah, its good to have that but once you begin thinking for yourself, you can decide on a new name if you want to go with that. Wait till you're around the age of puberty and then, you can see about whether or not your chosen name is something you want to continue with or if you want to change it or revert back. My own name is a chosen name. My given name is boring. At least my chosen name has meaning to it." "Uhh.. Uhh.. Ive never been able to talk about this with anyone before.. The servants have tried to but my parents and siblings would always stop them from doing so.." I nod: "I get it. Sometimes, I feel awakward saving my chosen name outloud too. It happens. When you're raised to be someone you end up not being, name included and just not do that crap, it comes with the territory."
".. ..My name is.. My name is.. My name is Leop- No, I dont want to be called that anymore.. My name is.." We both give her encouraging looks. (Herbsalvin has stopped blushing already to my surprise.) "My name is.. Mona! Yeah, that feels right.. Im Mona! Princess Mona!" We both smile and I reply: "Thats right and we're a couple of queers whose genders are very different from what we were raised to have so we are happy to support you on your journey of figuring out who you are! There are ways to really make you into a girl but thats years down the line. I was told youre 11. So yeah, best to wait 5-7 years before any changes to your body are made to fit who you really are on the inside. As for any operations to do so.. Best to wait till you become an adult unless you really need it done. But lets not focus on that. Instead, we're going to be friends now. How does that sound?" She grins: "Yay! Friends! I have more friends!" Mona is too young to get violently involved in the revolution if we can help it. Kids should never be sent to war. Never. Thats the kind of thing that seriously hinders their sociological development. When someone is below the age of like 21, they are living through the most sociological formative years of their lives and their sociological development never truly stops of course. That's pretty needless to say. We spend a good while just chatting with her. She slowly opens up more and more and even says: "When I grow up, I want to make everyone smile and just see everyone loving their lives and having so much fun! And I want all the animals to be able to just play with everyone!" I reply: "Thats your dream, huh? Let me tell you mine. Its a lot like yours.
I dream of all worlds out there being sanctuaries of peace where war is no longer needed. Where everyone can contribute to society however they can and be able to actually enjoy life and live together in peace. No one will have to starve or freeze outside anymore. No one will be left without all their needs met. Libraries, schools, and other places would flourish and be everywhere. Cooperation would be the biggest part of all societies. The forests will be vast and plentiful and beautiful. So will the other biomes out there. And the animals? Theyll be left be to live the way they desire to. Dont forget the pet animals. All pets will be loved and taken care of. Everyone will be so much happier. Our dreams sound so naive and idealistic but those who mock us just dont get it. They dont get what its like to fight for a world in which things are actually better and never settling with how things are in the present. We can accomplish so much by working together. Mona, you dont have to become a princess. In a ideal society, youd be able to find your calling and contribute to society as you are able to without much pushback. Our critics cant see how things can become better. They just believe that society is dog eat dog when it doesnt have to be. Even someone as young as you can understand that. I know because I have always been a dreamer. Even when I was your age so long ago. Herbsalvin has the same dream I do. And you know something? We share a very special connection not just as knight and pegasus but as two knights in love instead bounded by a blood pact. That isnt as scary as you may think."
Herbsalvin checks the time: "Swift, we have to go soon if we are to make it to our quarters!" I nod: "Okay then.. Well, kiddo, we better get going now just in case. It was great to meet you, Mona. Wait, Im starving. Anyone else? We can have a quick dinner here before we go for the night." Both Mona and Herbsalvin are hungry too. I laugh: "It feels good to let loose like this and just have some good old fashioned unstructured fun. And the fact that all of our tummies are growling is literally killing me. Okay not actually because Im joking and besides, I wouldnt call myself 'alive'. Kiddo, I'll explain that another day. Just focus on the joy you're feeling for now. When you get a little older, Im sure your father will really start making you do fencing lessons. But to be frank, we could probably teach you a lot better than him or whoever teaches you. We have real war experience. And lots of sparring experience too. Anyway, Im rambling which is not typical because Im not the most sociable knight you can find, in fact Im closer to being the least sociable knight, most of the time. Okay. I'll create some 2nd dinner and by doing so, you, our new friend will get to experience pizza for the very first time. *creates boxes of cheese pizza with Artist's Eye* I'll tell you what I just did after I finish eating first before we get up and leave for today. Just dig in. It's delicious because its an exact duplicate of a large pan crust cheese pizza I have had so many times from my favorite pizzeria. Said pizzeria is a place that Ive had probably several thousand slices of pizza from over the years. That makes its pizza one of the easiest things for me to create." We dig in and Mona was in love.
I smile: "Dont eat too much. Your body, having not gone through puberty yet, that weird time where your body just kind of decides: 'oh its time to be taller and stuff now, evolution time' and then spends up to several years changing a lot cannot take in as much food as the body of your average adult can. Or at least, thats how it is most of the time." After we're done and I have briefly explained Artist's Eye, Herbsalvin and I leave Mona's room by slowly and quietly opening the door and then just using Instant Transmission to reach Elizabeth after we suppress our power levels completely again. We tell Elizabeth, Franny, and Yohan what we did a bit, put our maid outfits back on, explain how we just teleported, and go to bed. Or rather, they do while Herbsalvin and I create body doubles using the infamous Shadow Clone Technique from Naruto. They'll sleep for us while we drink sleep replacement potions and meet the others to exchange intel in a quiet and well hidden place: somewhere inside the catacombs below the city of Odonkilas itself. It was very creepy and marcabe down there but still a perfect place for revolutionaries to meet in secret because almost no one wants or needs to come down here. I now wonder how they navigated the Paris Catacombs when those were still being used as a mass grave thing. Those catacombs are so big that the massive part of them open to the public is apparently only a portion of the entire thing. Nevermind that, the others were most interested in what Herbsalvin and I had to report, especially because we were wearing maid outfits over our suits of armor. Carlos laughs at us: "You look ridiculous!" Herbsalvin replies while trying not to blush: "I much prefer the term cute when it comes to wearing.. this."
"Hey Swift! Was this your doing?!" "No. That jerk of a king is responsible. Let us explain the scoop. We have several potential allies: the servants, the trans princess Mona, and hopefully the Guard Captain William and Royal Bard Lucian as well." We have plenty of time to go over things. Until an hour before the sun rises, at least. So heres the most important things we learned: all other notable entities and seats of power in the kingdom are corrupt to the core which speaks a lot to whats going on around the kingdom, the poor and other marginalized groups are treated like dirt, the society is a highly magical one due to the planet's extremely high concentrations of magic, some high tech does exist but only in the institutions and military, the military is made up of healers, mages, and knights mostly, the church is so powerful it might as well be its own state, demonic influences can be found throughout all of society, the underground stuff is booming, the economy is really strong, the nobles pick on those with less money than them, jailing and execution are extremely common practices, all the prisons suck, most people are serfs or beggars, there are some factories around, the system is mostly feudalist, most people lack a proper education, schools are restricted to the elite, and purges of "criminals" happen regularly. Oh and bigotry is widespread. Basically as low as a magical medieval kingdom can possibly go while continuing being a economic and military powerhouse. But its power will never be as important as the mitochondria are for animal cells.
Now for successful operations besides infilitrating. Fliers for a People's Legion have been spread all over the kingdom stealthily with some hired bards spreading the word orally. Said bards were convinced to join our cause. It helps that dissent is growing in the expanding kingdom. Between independence movements in conquered lands, general uprisings due to poor working conditions, a plague that's spreading(this sounds way too familiar. 2020-present. 1910s. Medieval times. You name it.), bad crop yields in some places, and so forth, the kingdom isnt as booming as the equivalent of stock investors would say it is. Other successes are: freeing some prisoners, stealing thrown away food from the palace and other places to reheat it and redistribute it to the people, arming some of the people with weapons, hosting educational lectures about basic skills like reading and writing in secret on land farmed by peasants and other places, magic lessons for the people, several magical experiments, successful robberies of rich households to redistribute the money to the people Robin Hood style, and a few others. Our little revolution will succeed. The more people and others we get on our side, the higher chance we will be able to give this world the kind of society it needs. And if theres an industrial revolution ahead, it certainly wont lead to the invention of some kind of capitalism because that will just be bypassed thanks to our efforts to turn the people against all monarchies in this world as well as the power of the church and the demons. When this kingdom is overthrown, the church will be next.
And after theyre finished, we'll take down the other kingdoms before ending the reign of the demons wherever they have subjects under tyrannical rule. This is how we do it. This is how we make a revolution begin. After the meeting ends, Herbsalvin and I replace our shadow clones in the cots that are used as beds in the servants' quarters. I then just started thinking to pass the time until we were actually supposed to get up. Elizabeth breaks my concentration on my thoughts by yelling: "Gotta go, everyone! We must get the palace ready for the day! There are 5 of us now so we will divide the work as equally as possible!" I end up getting assigned to 1/5th of the palace: cleaning it up, fixing anything that looks "improper", that sort of thing. But with my immense speed, it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. That fifth included the area between the garden and Mona's room along with the garden and much of the outdoor area. We met back up a little bit later to tackle getting breakfast ready, including the meager meal we'd get in the end while the royals get a feast as usual. Too bad they dont know about my Artist's Eye. I create actually filling meals for us all to eat quickly which we do after I explain my ability to do that sort of thing. We are able to get breakfast finished in time for the royals and their trusted subordinates to dine together. I made sure to not be involved in cooking anything to be safe while Herbsalvin just kind of stunned Elizabeth and the others with their skills at cooking.
The royals and the others were similarly shocked too and learned quickly that Herbsalvin was the driving force behind such deliciousness as well as how quickly I fixed up an entire fifth of the palace's grounds, indoor areas included. They really couldnt believe what they were hearing but Jasbel still yelled at Herbsalvin and I and physically punished us with magic for not taking our suits of armor off. After all of that, we were assigned to just do chore chore chore for hours. The only reason it wasnt boring was because I was still able to talk to Herbsalvin and everyone else as well as Mona who snuck away from lessons whenever she could get away with it. But then, while the royals were having lunch, assassins busted into the palace and prepared to kill Einfart and Jashell. Yeah, Jasbel has a nickname too. I whisper to my knight charming: "This is a toughie. We could let them kill the King and Queen now and then the rest of the royal family but slip away with Mona. Or we could act and stop them. It seems they even got past the guards and royal knights. These assassins are certified pros. A noble or someone from another country or someone associated with the demon lord must have commissioned them for this job. Their intel could be valuable. What would be best for increasing the odds of a successful rebellion? With Mona the only survivor, she would become the next ruler but have a regent rule in her place until she came of age. I dont like the sound of that. The royal court would put in someone as regent or someone else would do so instead.
This is a chance to destabilize the entire kingdom. Tis the greatest weakness of hierarchical societies. But also, we could install someone ourselves but we dont have a plan for that. Hmm, maybe we could install William or Elizabeth but still, our goal is to convert this kingdom to anarchism." However, we didnt get a choice in the matter. The assassins werent just pros. They were superhuman masters of butchering people, heavily armored knights included. If we didnt stop them, they would likely try to kill us too and would certainly kill Mona before we could slip away. We could tell they were superhuman by sensing their power levels. I summon my shadows to send us to the Shadow Real, and then yell: "Yami No Game! Game start! Hey you bastards! *takes off maid outfit and draws sword* Do you truly wish for death?! *I give them a deadly look* You dont want to know how many foes Ive killed. I dont enjoy it but if I have no better choice, I will do it. Do you understand what Im getting at?" One of them shivers: "What the hell is this place?!" I reply: "We can fight to the death, the old fashioned way. Or we can decide this with a game. You almost blew my cover, thanks a lot. Im not going to be nice. I will let you leave if you back down now and give you a quick end if you choose to fight or play the game: a Yami No Game to be more precise." "We wont play some game! Get out of our way or die!" I speak to Herbsalvin who has also been sent here: "I'll take one, you take the other. Let's go." I charge at the one who spoke with great ferocity.
The fight was extremely fast in pace. I was truly facing off against someone who could guve me a lot of trouble now. They try poisoning me but it obviously doesn't work. I eventually managed to bring them to the brink of death in due time. But before I could finish them off, I heard my pegasus knight cry out in pain and turned to see clear signs of high amounts of poison entering their body. "Damn it! *casts spell on my opponent* I cast Shadowy Restraints! You will stay right there! ..HERBSALVIN! I wont let you die!" Their opponent has already suffered a lot of injuries up to now so it was easy to kill them off. But thats not what I was focused on at all. "Damn it! Damn it! What can we even do about this?! Wait, we stocked up on so many potions before going on this mission. There has to be poison antidotes somewhere! *searches through inventory and finds one* Here! Take it! Quickly!" At my urging, they drink it fast and start to feel a lot better within no time at all. What a serious relief. After they make a full recovery, as I prepare to dispel the shadows, Herbsalvin speaks: "Wait, my dark knight. You cant do that just yet. We cannot allow ourselves to be exposed." "I know what youre getting at. Okay so how do we explain away the Shadow Realm? I know.. An illusionary person of pure darkness who then just vanishes. Alright. Lets cast an illusion spell together." They nod and thats what we do. The illusionary person takes credit for killing one of the assassins and capturing the other and stating it was only to satisfy their boredom and that they would be returning to the demons now. They also took credit for the shadows.
The entire royal court bought it, shielding us from suspicion. Oh and we put our maid outfits back on and had to explain we were just caught up in what that figure was doing before being scolding for wearing our suits of armor again because the queen was still so damn angry about that. Wow, she really needs to let it go. After things finally calm down, we are told to get back to work and do whatever chores that are still left to do and just do those for a while. That includes cleaning up lunch and we literally had no free time until around 24 hours after Herbsalvin and I were first brought into the palace. We used it to go find William in order to try to talk to him. We do so quietly and manage to find him taking a break not far from the palace walls. He has a look of confusion when he sees us approach him: "Uhh.. I have so many questions about why youre here and what youre wearing." Herbsalvin replies: "Worry no further. We shall explain." "Go ahead, then. I am just glad that youre okay between the king's anger and that incident at lunch. We ended up learning from the surviving assassin that they were from the demonic domain that has become the most powerful nation in the world. But as I was saying, go ahead." We explain. "Oh so that's what's going on. Oh dear, I never thought he would go so far. Wait, wasnt I there when his majesty said most of what he said to you? Ive been swamped the past day with guard duty and then the chaos earlier didnt exactly help..
sigh* This job is difficult and it is rewarding. It pays well and his highness trusts me." I reply: "About the king.." "What is it?" "Would you be willing to overthrow him? He is beyond corrupt. This whole kingdom is corrupt. We have contacts throughout the kingdom who have informed us of the situation elsewhere." "Thats treasonous to say! Quiet down unless you want all 3 of us executed! What could I possibly gain from supporting your cause? I heard whispers from the not so armored servants that you have some rebellious intentions.. I dont want to risk anything I dont have to and I live very comfortably at the moment." "Well, now that we have quieted down, no one will overhear as I answer that. Well, our cause of rebellion will radically transform this kingdom into a society focused on cooperation in which all people are treated fairly and equally. Work will be done based each according to their needs and abilities. Eventually, society would begin rapidly evolving, causing technological developments that will make everyone's lives easier and more comfortable. This will also lead to accelerated advancements in magical research. Its so very easy to cast magic already. Imagine the possibilities of accelerated advancements in the research of magic. We come from faraway lands in which technology has gone to heights you probably cant even imagine. Do you want to full story of who we are and where we come from? If you do, we can only tell you if you turn against the king.
We'll also teach you mind protection techniques. But what you would gain personally from helping us is what we would also be willing to give you. Your armor is clearly not armor that was custom designed for you specifically. We know people who can help you personalize yoir armor and make it much harder to damage. We have friends who can really give you good rounds of sparring as would we. Hold on.. Let me cast a couple spells.. There. Now then.. Herbsalvin, lets do the thing." William replies: "What is it youre about to do?" We unleash our power levels/auras again but no one besides William will be able to sense them thanks to one of the spells I casted. "What is this.. power? *looks at us* What?! What are those energies around you both?!" I reply: "This is the true extent of our abilities. This is what killed that A ranked boss monster with only some difficulty." William yells: "By the gods! With that much power, you could flatten the palace! If youre this powerful.. Theres no way you could have become this strong on your own.. Very well.. I'll hear you out some more. Tell me everything." We nod and promise to explain but Herbsalvin replies: "You do have to return to your duties soon, we cant explain it all this time." "That would be the case but.. *thinks* Do you have anyone in your contacts who can help discreetly watch the city for a while?" I nod: "Just contacted someone of that description. He'll make sure nothing happens. Okay then. Looks like we have enough time to explain everything there is to explain, including just how corrupt things are and the rise of a group called the People's Legion that officially has no members yet."
We go over everything that we need to and manage to convince William. "I see.. My word! Just how low will HE go?! Okay! Im willing to join your side! Just promise me this.. Dont let innocent people die in the war to come.." Herbsalvin nods: "We shall try our best to ensure the safety of the innocent. As knights, we are sworn to protect them after all. But we will have to make haste for some of our plans to overthrow this kingdom." I add: "William, it would be unwise for you to leave the guard right now. They dont have a replacement for you, do they?" "No, they do not as of yet." "Then youll have to get good at acting better than a bard can. Since there is a night guard and you actually retire to the palace when dinner is served, we can teach you some things about acting, protecting your mind from probing, and so on." Suddenly, Elizabeth, Franny, and Yohan tumble nearby. Elizabeth laughs: "Welp! We exposed ourselves! Hello there, Swiftdrawer, Herbsalvin, Captain William! We heard EVERYTHING!" William worries: "You're not going to tell the royal court, are you?" "Why would I tell those mostly crusty fools?! Forget that. We want in. This is my chance to have the king's head at last." I do a thinking pose: "Okay then. Looks like we're teaching you 3 as well and doing it in our quarters. A place so 'filthy' and run down that no one besides us goes there for any reason at all. The only truly safe place to talk in the palace. Especially after some of our friends messed with all forms of surveillance that use magic in the palace. Im sure some of the mages and the court mage are having fun dealing with that right now."
After we clean up the royal court's dinner, I debate on whether or not we should poison the breakfast tomorrow. But stop because we're meeting with William and the other servants in the servants' quarters. Once we get there, Herbsalvin speaks: "We will commence when William finds his way here." We all nod at that and wait for him to show up. 15 minutes later, he does so: "My apologies for the wait! I was reprimanded for taking too long of a break earlier. I just got away from that. The court doesnt care where I go after dinner time as long as I don't do anything that would displease them or go against the vow I made the day I was knighted by the king." Elizabeth laughs: "You were knighted by Einfart?" "Is that what you call him? Well, if you said that to me this morning, I would order your execution myself. But now, I dont mind now that I have come to truly despise him myself. Im ready when all of you are." I reply: "Was hoping you'd say that. Lets get started with mind reinforcing spells and techniques." We would spend nearly all the time until us "servants" were to go to bed doing all that. William takes his leave 22 minutes before we are to retire to bed. With him on our side, we have significant influence in the king's inner circle now. We taught William and the others as much as we possibly could in the time we had left for the night. They struggled quite a bit but we were able to help me through the struggles just fine. And soon, a new day would dawn after we would go to bed. Herbsalvin and I "went to bed" and then teleported away to meet with the others. Not much new stuff was reported.
Mostly just gaining more influence and slowly getting more people and magical creatures on our side. And the People's Legion has members, a headquarters, and a training ground now because one of the land holding lords was assassinated and replaced by a imposter played by Gen from Dr. Stone. The lord's land holdings were the smallest of any lord's lands in the kingdom. They were deliberately chosen for that reason. The smallest fiefdom would obviously be probably the easiest to infiltrate(it was) and news of anything that happened in it always gets the least attention. The landlord of the fiefdom was an utter scumbag and they were determined to be too dangerous to be kept alive by some of our comrades. And that is why they were killed. Its only a matter of time until the royal family bestows upon us the title of lord knights and give us entire fiefdoms to rule. What they wont know is that we'll use them to stage the beginnings of the people's revolution in them. Oh yes, we have plans. Big plans. After all. This world, so rich in magic could become a problem if we allow the Harbringers Of Doom to ally with any of its largest powers. Thats why we have come here to overthrow all powers in this world. That and the people do deserve true freedom. We wont allow our enemies access to this world's richness in magical energies. We have never before encountered a world where it was as easy to cast spells as it is here. The Demon Lord must be truly powerful, powerful enough to force the BRAINS Collective to send many more members than those of us already here to kill them.
The magical energy of this world makes any average soldier significantly much magically powerful and adept than average in even Mii World, which has seen a huge uptake in the number of inhabitants who are powerful mages, knights, healers, and so on following the establishment of schools all throughout it among other efforts that began even before we ended monarchism and fascism there. After the meeting was over, we returned to Mii World to do what we needed to do there for an entire day and then teleported back to the palace to about 20 minutes before the wakeup call. It is now day 3 of this adventure. Elizabeth yells: "WAKEUP EVERYONE, ITS TIME FOR ANOTHER DAY OF CLEANING AND PLOTTING TO OVERTHROW THE KINGDOM! And Swiftdrawer, Herbsalvin. Today is the day in the week that we start the day by cleaning as much of the dungeons as we can.. Its not fun but if we dont do it, Einfart will surely have Jashell yell at us and all that." Herbsalvin replies: "No need to be concerned for us. We shall diligently aid you in taking care of such a foul task." I nod my head in agreement and we are given the things we need to clean the dungeons with. We are led down some old stairs that are cracked and dusty into a dimly lit very narrow hallway. Elizabeth whispers: "Work quietly. We cant have the prisoners waking up, now can we? There is a lot more to clean than you think. We clean this place once a week to make the hallway more 'presentable'.
Its one of those odd things Einfart is uptight about along with his secret love for butt sculptures." Us two knights nod and get to work soon after that. With our help and speed, it doesnt take too long. But then, we hear a commotion from upstairs. The cries of wounded men. I sigh: "Is something eventful happening always a daily occurrence in this palace?" Fanny replies: "Uhh.. Usually not. Things must be getting very active around here now all of the sudden." A couple minutes later, we were back upstairs. Einfart sees us and yells: "Dont just stand there! Help these wounded men to the healing wing at once!" Herbsalvin speaks: "That is not necessary." "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, SERVANT?! These men are some of this kingdom's finest soldiers and they were attacked by some demons while scouting at the western border! GET THEM IN THERE NOW!" I also object: "No." "NO?! ADDRESS ME AS YOUR HIGHNESS WHEN YOU SPEAK!" "Why should any of us do that when none of you want to speak to us if you can avoid it? Anyway. I cast Heal! *heals one of the wounded men just like that* There. Do you see now?" Einfart and the other jerks are too shocked to say anything while Mona happily thanks us as we do from soldier to soldier to heal them all ourselves. Jashell faints from shock. Melody just says: "They would have been better off dying on the road. This was pointless. I want breakfast and I want it now." Einfart just says: "Go make breakfast or I will throw you all in the dungeons!"
While we were cleaning the dungeon hallway, I encountered Carlos who intentionally got himself arrested to get some underground intel from these dungeons and to create trouble should we need him to. No cell could ever hope to hold him. Hes a thief turned ninja after all who originally was known for setting traps and stealing bananas from monsters in Miitopia for a while. He and his bananas, I swear. So even if Einfart threw us in there, Carlos could just help us escape quietly without anyone noticing. Nice threat, Einfart. We make breakfast for the royal court and decide to poison the food except for Mona, William, and Lucian's plates. We'll try to convince Lucian to join our side in due time. And now, we just eat our own secretly better breakfast than theirs thanks to my Artist's Eye and wait for the magic to happen. Except its foiled. Einfart yells: "Who DARES TRY TO POISON THE ROYAL COURT! BRING ME THE SERVANTS AT ONC-" We hear William interrupt: "Milord, it was me. I poisoned the food." "YOU WHAT?! GUARDS, ARREST THE CAPTAIN AND THROW HIM IN THE DUNGEON! WE'LL EXECUTE HIM THIS AFTERNOON! Its a good thing I already have a replacement in mind. Theodore, my oldest child." William smiles at us secretly while being dragged away into the dungeon. Talk about taking one for the team. Meanwhile, Theodore speaks up: "Father! You want me to be the new guard captain? But why?"
"My son, you have completed all of your lessons to prepare you to be the next king. You are ready. Its time you gained some experience in what its like to be one of our guards. Im trusting you will do me proud and lead our guards with honor and respect." "As you wish, father. I will begin the morning patrols at once." Well, so dignified around his father. Cheeky bastard. We wont allow him to ever take the throne. The power of this kingdom belongs to the people, not some elitist snobs who call themselves royals. After we finish the day's chores faster than Elizabeth ever expected, we find out something odd. Einfart has pardoned William in exchange for him working as a servant for the rest of his life and is released from the dungeons and is made to put on a maid outfit. Oh and he refused to let anyone make him take off his armor but his sword was still taken away. We'll steal it from the armory tonight. Now that we have hours of time to kill which has stunned Einfart and Jashell for sure, Elizabeth speaks: "I cant believe how quickly we finished the chores. It wont be long until Einfart assigns us more work. He doesnt want us to have any free time until well after lunch at the earliest. He would want us to work all day every day but that killed several of the past servants that used to work in this palace and he was forced to change how much work the servants have to do per day." Until that could happen, we train in secret back in our quarters. This time, we're teaching the 4 others fighting techniques including sword attacks none of them have ever seen before. But then, we are interrupted by the king yelling: "SERVANTS, I HAVE MORE WORK FOR YOU TO DO. GET OVER HERE NOW!"
We put away our weapons and such and walk to the throne room where Einfart is tapping his feet while waiting for us and sitting on his throne. But hey, at least Einfart is not one of those art scammers who keep reviewing my stories or messaging me on Fanfiction. He still sucks but hes no scam which makes him a little more tolerable, I guess. He speaks to us immediately: "Because you are now working so much faster than you used to, I have work I would normally assign to any knights I see slacking off for you to do. See the bard for the list of things to do every single day from now on. And remember this well. 2 of you are no longer knights and have been through the ceremony that officially removes your status as knights while 2 others of you are fake knights and believe me when I say this. You are all pathetic weaklings who should have never been allowed to hold a sword in any of your lives. In my kingdom, no one will consider any of you knights ever again. Now go along and do the chores or I will have my wife punish you in anyway she desires." To be continued..