Bab 20: The King's Shortcoming
Right after Morgan left the King's study, Braum entered the room.
"What's next on my schedule?" King Adrian said while writing documents on his desk.
"It seems you have another meeting with the head of infrastructure and city planning Miss Moka Rose in one hour. Shall I get you some light snacks in the meantime, my king?" Braum asked.
"Yes. Get some tea will you and—"As King Adrian was answering Braum, a knock came on the door.
"Come in," Braum said to the person behind the door.
The door opened to reveal Grant Holmes, the head of intelligence.
"I'm surprised you didn't just show up right beside me. Had to knock on the doors now?" King Adrian said sarcastically.
"I apologize, Your Majesty. The chief of the elves and the elders have requested an emergency meeting with us. They have requested you to go to their tribe at once. It also concerns the agreement." Grant Holmes said as he did a salute.
King Adrian had a blank face of surprise and Braum frowned after hearing the news.
--
The King and his envoys all rode pegasuses in order to arrive in the elven tribe the fastest. The elven tribe, which the King had not seen before, consisted of houses made out of 'Dae', the material the elves told them about both on the trees and on the ground. The elven architecture was quite intricate and artistic in contrast with the minimalistic design of Vathrian architecture. The King could see elves going about their daily lives. Some of the elves were surprised to see the human king here but none of them were too surprised to see a pegasus since it was native to this land.
The King and his subordinates disembarked near one of the tallest tree houses in the whole tribe. The design of it was stupendous and grand.
--
"We, no, I, as the King of Vathria, express my deepest apology in my failure in protecting the elves." King Adrian bowed down after being briefed of what happened by the elves.
"King Adrian, please raise your head." Chief Kylantha said with a face of worry.
"How do we know it's not the Vathrian who took the elven girl!?" Elder Galather, who was always opposed to the Vathrian agreement, spoke up.
"Are you accusing us, Elder?" Grant Holmes, who was in the room, asked. His presence was daunting and his voice was scary.
"Do you think we would risk our King's life? Has your side forgotten about the blood oath?" General Tobias, who was also in the room, added. Normally, Tobias was not in good terms with Grant Holmes but this time he agreed it was absurd that the elves were pinning the blame on them.
King Adrian intervened before it gets any further. "Enough. I apologize for the rudeness of my subordinates but it is true, we are not involved with this. But I can assure you we will not only help find the missing elven girl but also bring the culprits to justice. Can we listen to the eyewitness testimony?"
Chief Kylantha answered. "I apologize for elder Galather as well. This man here was the brother of the missing girl who witnessed the incident." Chief Kylantha pointed at an elven man who was sitting down on his chair.
The man in question was just looking down and there was an aura of gloom around here.
"Son, please tell us what happened." An elder elf who was sitting next to the man said.
The man looked up and just realized who was in front of him. "The humans! Why are the humans here! They did this!" He shouted.
"It's not them! Not them! It's someone else." The elder next to him restrained him to calm him down.
"No! All of them are the same! They took Renna! Renna! My little sister!" The elven man was struggling as the elder restrained him. The face of the man was full of sorrow and despair, one which was hard to forget.
King Adrian's face contorted. He truly did not know what to do here. He could act tough in other situation but when the situation harms other people, he's still weak.
Braum took a glance at the young King in worry. He also knew the King was still too inexperienced to deal with things like this. The King is bright and could plan out many different things for the development of the kingdom but Braum knew he would also need to face tragedies upon tragedies.
Braum approached the King and whispered. "My King, stay strong. For now, I'll deal with him." Braum took a step forward to the distressed elven man.
"W-who are you! Did you take my sister!?" The man shouted.
"What's your name?" Braum asked.
"What?" The man was surprised after hearing the question.
"What's your name?" Braum repeated the question.
The man stayed silent for a bit before answering. "Aimer...Did you take my sister?" He said.
"We did no such thing. It's not just the agreements, our kingdom would not employ such cruel tactics. Now, if you cooperate with us, we will send our best men after the culprits and find your sister right away. You have to calm down, first. Know that we are not the same as the humans of this world." Braum said with a soft voice to calm Aimer.
Aimer was silent for a bit as he was deep in thought. "Do you promise you'll find my sister?" He asked.
"We promise," Braum answered.
"No, do you swear you'll find my sister?" Aimer asked again with a higher voice.
"We swear," Braum answered again.
"A..alright." Aimer muttered.
Aimer then went on details about what happened. From them leaving the tribe to hunt for deer, their conversation when they were on the trees waiting, and then the rustle of the bushes that led them down into a trap of humans waiting for them.
"I was too...weak to move. I could not see the men clearly but I know now their armor was not as high quality as the Vathrian men....but they were also wearing hoods so I could not identify their origin." Aimer finished his witness account,
King Adrian was still frowning in silence. This time, he was truly stumped and could not interject any other wisdom into this matter.
Braum took charge. "We will have our intelligence scouring the scene to find tracks and then find the culprits and the victim. We will also increase the number of our knights around the perimeter of the elven territory as an added security measure until we exterminate the cause. Will that do just fine, Chief Kylantha?" Braum asked.
"Yes. Thank you, King Adrian and Mister Braum. We will also deal with the matter now." Chief Kylantha took a glance at King Adrian in worry as well as he had been silent since the introduction of Aimer.
"Then will take our leave for now. King Adrian wishes for rest." Braum stood next to King Adrian. King Adrian just nodded and then left the room with the rest of the Vathrian people.
After the Vathrian left, Elder Galather spoke up. "I feel suspicious about the King's silence. I don't trust them."
Chief Kylantha interjected "It is not what you think, Elder Galather. The young King of Vathria....he is as wise as he is inexperienced." Chief Kylantha's gaze was still at the door where the Vathrians have already left.
--
Later that night, The King was in his throne room. He was just sitting there in silence while Braum was standing next to the seat. He has finished with all the affairs today.
The King was still remembering what happened in the elven tribe today. He was recalling his inaction and incapability of handling such situation. He internally connected the missing elven girl to his failure in leading the Kingdom to victory against the evil forces which led them to flee to this new world. Now, after he has promised the natives of this land that he would protect them, he had already failed in preventing such an incident to occur.
"My King, I apologize, but tragedies will continue to occur and while some will be in someone else's hands, some will also be in your hands. It is the task of a King to know which one is which and still be calm and collected enough to lead the nation." Braum said to the King.
King Adrian stayed silent.
"My King..." Braum looked at King Adrian in worry.
"Braum." King Adrian voiced out.
Braum's face lit up. "Yes, My King?" He replied.
"For now, I want you to temporarily be relieved of your duty as my right-hand man and be in charge of the missing elf investigation and find the culprits. You will do so until the root of the incident has been plucked out." King Adrian said in a cold voice.
"B-but my King..." Braum's answer trailed off.
"I will be concerned with the development of the territory first. You will take charge of the elven matters. This is final. Understand?" King Adrian ordered.
"Yes, my king!" Braum's face was full of worry but he still complied.
"Please start now. I will be fine on my own." King Adrian motioned Braum to leave the throne room.
Braum reluctantly left the throne room. It was now just King Adrian and a few knights inside the room.
King Adrian touched the temple of his head and rested his other hand on the throne's arm. "I'm running away...."Adrian muttered weakly.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone