บท 45: One Side Alliance
The capital city's welcoming of the Crown Prince is much grander than Draphia's. Many of the young maidens cheered for the prince's name, and some threw flower petals from the second floor of the building window. The men, young and old, also cheer for the prince's name on how he brought back a successful campaign against dreadful vampires.
Meanwhile, Prince Benton rides his horse in front of the marching army as he waves his hands and gives a big smile back to his people (He still has a few bruises, but this only shows his participation during vampires). The Duchess rides right behind the prince while William leads his battle brothers and the rest of the guardsmen march in formation, showing power and fear against the enemy of humankind.
They moved from the common district and main market area, the noble district (The inner area of the capital city), which was grander (Expensive) than before. At the end of the district, before entering the royal castle, the royal guards and elite knights waited in formation, giving a salute to the hero of the hour. Before entering the palace, William stopped his main force and signaled three battle brothers (Two Space Marine and one Tech Marine) to follow him. Of course, the main force will be taken to more open areas of the city to make camp and settle until the end of the political drama.
When the party entered the royal palace's main yard, many of the nobles from low to high and royal family members waited for the prince to come and meet them. Everything seems normal except that the King of the Alderim is missing between his Queen and Prime Minister. From William's scan, the King isn't present at the welcoming party, giving William a bad feeling.
"Rana, I don't see the King from the welcoming committee. Does he have any condition that prevents him from meeting his son?" William asks the Duchess in a whisper as he scans the area once again, to which he finds no signs of the King of the kingdom. William's comment made the Duchess realize who was missing from the welcoming committee and was confused as well.
"When I left the capital, King Benton personally saw me leave with my troops weeks ago, and he was perfectly fine." The Duchess said to William as she and William followed Prince Benton in the back as he approached the Prime Minister and Queen, his mother.
"Son, welcome back home," Queen herself welcomed Prince Benton with sweet words and a hug. William could tell the Queen of the Alderim is a very protective mother, but this can be understandable since the previous Crown Prince was killed more than three years ago.
"Crown Prince, welcome home, and congratulations on your successful expansion campaign." The Prime Minister of the Alderim joins the heartful meeting as he happily welcomes Prince Benton. While this is happening, William looks around to see divided emotions between nobles around them.
Half of the nobles were expressing a welcoming and positive mood as they cheered and clapped their hands. The other half of the nobles indeed clapped their hands, but they showed negative and some hostile emotions. William clearly saw divided ranks among nobles as one side supported the royal family and one didn't.
"Thank you, mother and Prime Minister Waylon, for the warm welcome, but where is father? Did something happen to him while we were gone?" Prince Benton asks about his father's absence, to which both the Queen and Prime Minister's faces turn dark. William, Rana, and Prince Benton saw a sudden change of facial expressions, which gave warning of bad news.
"Let us talk in the private inside," Prime Minister Waylon said to Prince Benton quietly as he didn't want to give clues to the absent King in front of opposition nobles. Prince Benton clearly saw the Prime Minister's intention, so he decided to enter the palace with William and the Duchess following him. William's three battle brothers follow their champion as their massive bodies and armors make thumping noises each time they step forward. There was a small protest from royal guards as William and his brothers were potential threats to the royal family, but the Crown Prince immediately turned this down.
The group finally made it to the audience room with comfortable furniture such as sofas, chairs, tables, and portraits hanging on the wall. Everyone except four Space Marines sat down, and Queen's maids brought cartloads of snacks and tea sets. As for William and his brothers, they stood behind the sofa where Rana and Prince Benton sat. This was countered by seven royal guards standing each corner of the room with the hands-on hilt of their swords but not drawn out.
The Prime Minister spoke first after the maids left the room, "Would you care to introduce us to your new friends?" Prime Minister Waylon's eyes went to William's direction as he grabbed a cup of tea from the table.
"Ah, yea. This is William. He is an adventurer we hired to help us with the expansion campaign. Of course, he is more than just a simple adventurer as he represents his deity the 'God-Emperor' and commands a very effective military force." Prince Benton introduces William to his mother and Prime Minister, to which William takes his helmet to show his face.
"It is nice to meet you. As the Crown Prince said, my name is William and Emperor's Champion." William didn't know how to interact with royals, so he introduced himself short and straightforward. After hearing William's words, both the Queen and Prime Minister show welcoming expressions as they somewhat understood (Or in this case misunderstood) William's status.
"I see. You must be the one that Sir Dolven mentioned in his report. I must say, I thought that the old knight must be pulling out legs when his report said a giant man in black armor with great power was helping the Crown Prince with training." Prime Minister Waylon said with astonishment as he examined William's and three Space Marine's black armors. Just by looking at them, the Prime Minister saw master-crafted armors and perfect decoration of symbols that gave off some authority and status.
"Talking about Sir Dolven, it is a shame what happened to him and his knight order. After all those years of service to the crown, the royal family lost a great supporter and close friend. Your father will be saddened when he hears the news." The Queen said to everyone as she remembered the report they received from Draphia. The death of Sir Dolven is much more than a loss to the military might of the Alderim. Sir Dolven was one of the senior members of the nobles who were supporters of the crown, and with his military force, he secured the kingdom from domestic threats from monsters to rebellious minor nobles (Noble rebellion is rare, but it does happen).
"He fought bravely and to the last breath. He gave Jon and the rest of the servants enough time to escape from the barbarian Warband as he and his knight charged head-on, giving no room to pursue them." The Duchess recounted Sir Dolven's act of heroism as she explained more in detail how William's force later rescued her and Prince Benton.
By the time Rana's story ended, Prime Minister Waylon and Queen were speechless and shaking in horror as they couldn't believe the terrible experience of becoming a prisoner of the Chaos Marine.
"You have our thanks, William. I won't forget your service to my son and niece for the rest of my life." The Queen said to William as she expressed gratitude and thanked the Emperor's Champion. The Prime Minister also joined her as he personally bowed his head to thank William.
"You save the next bloodline and generation of the Alderim. I can't thank you enough for what you did," Prime Minister Waylon said to William, to which William quickly accepted but showed no emotions for his battle-brothers who were standing behind him in silence.
"Talking about the next generation, where is father? Did something happen to him while I was gone?" Prince Benton asked with concern, to which both the Prime Minister and the Queen went silent. Finally, the Queen spoke as motherly as possible to break the news to her son.
"Your father, the King, succumbed to illness. This unknown illness took his body and mind. We don't know what it is or what caused it, as none of the healers couldn't figure it out. This illness made him unreasonable and unstable, to which many of the nobles question his condition to lead." The Queen said to her son as she wiped tears from her face. The bad news continues as Prime Minister Waylon continues as the Queen couldn't due to her sadness.
"King Benton was silent and weakened to the point he barely moved, but when the emissary of Legellan came to form an alliance, he simply agreed to their terms without consulting with me or any other advisers." The Prime Minister explained the situation and struggle they went through to change the King's mind, but it was pointless as the King's entire personality had changed ever since the emissary came a few days ago.
"What exactly did they want from us?" The Duchess asks to find out what her former enemies want from making peace with her country. The last time they sent an emissary, it was to declare war and send mocking news of the death of the eldest prince, which didn't go well for them last time.
"By forming an alliance, the emissary wants you, Rana. They want you to come to Legellan for some reason and join 'Holy White Mountain', their new religion, as a priestess." The Prime Minister said to Rana as he shook his head in regret as he and others couldn't stop the King's decision.
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