Chương 15: Shameless
"Hi, I am your doctor. I have come to check if your body is healthy." Chris' answer was met with silence.
"I-I mean I am your long-lost fiancé."
Again. Complete silence...
"You are so pretty are you an angel?" Chris blabbering got worse as he started to lose control.
"My King?" Asked Berg as he leaned in. "What's wrong?"
"I can't stop myself Bergy! Do something!" Ordered Chris.
"D-do you want me to make the introductions My Lord?" Asked Titus.
"You are doing good my Lord! Just hold on!" Encouraged Berg.
[Is this a comedy show?] Thought Catherine as she was witnessing Berg and Titus talking up Chris. She was currently hidden behind Mia just in case. [Hm?]
Suddenly Berg and Titus resumed their position a serious face on and Chris stepped forward confidently.
"I am Chris Duhan, Lady Mia. Leader of this group and of Five Cave Village, located west of here." Chris suddenly appeared back to his senses."Those two gentlemen are my subordinates, Bergy Silowas and Titus Wuklet."
They both nodded as they were introduced, their were both sweating a little... Chris was finally back to his normal self. But they had never seen him acting so dignified before. And they had an idea of why this was happening.
Berg also wished his Lord would use his proper name in official introductions.
"Berg Silowas, general under the old army?" This was when Chris noticed there was someone else in the tent. She was tall, as tall as him. Her physique was impressive, Chris was sure she could pick him up and bend him in two if she wanted to. She was wearing a mix of leather and iron armor, it was quite elaborate compared to his own soldiers. He could also see a longsword on her side.
[A bodyguard? No this aura of authority, she is most likely a highly ranked.] Thought Chris.
Berg simply bowed his head a little as confirmation.
Mia's beautiful and cold voice interjected "What do we owe the pleasure of your visit to?" She asked calmly. It seems Berg's reputation as a good guy preceded him, as some of the tension dissipated. They were most likely no longer worried Chris' group had bad intentions.
"We are hunting a beast that fled to this area. It was quite aggressive and hurt a few of our people, I am a kind leader so I decided to eliminate it." Chris lied with the most beautiful smile in the world. "And then we heard rumors of the beautiful and very capable leader of this camp, how could we not pay our respects! Which is why I immediately left my hunters in a clearing east of here and came over!"
[Heard from whom? What beast? Our king is lying so shamelessly...] Thought Berg and Titus.
Half an hour went by, which seemed like torture for them. Their king kept saying weird things. He was currently complementing her attire. "This dress really suits you! I can feel the librarian vibe!"
Mia was calmly sitting sipping her tea.
"Is it made from wool? Can I feel it?" Continued Chris. "Ah, I see you like books. How is your eyesight?"
"You know, glasses would look great on you!"
"I am currently single. I know it's strange right? What about you miss Mia?"
"Ah, it's not that I am interested. I am just a little bit curious."
[Ki~ng! Your image!] Pleaded Berg and Titus in their mind.
They were currently doing their best to look at the ground. Something they seemed to do a lot lately. This went on for a while, until.
"Do you have a horse? My subordinates found me a weird mount lately..."
At this point Berg summoned his courage and said "Sun King, we should go, we shouldn't bother our host any longer."
"Oh right..." Chris seemed disappointed. "Thank you for your hospitality. It is time for us to leave. But fear not! Our camp is just 500m east from you, we'll be staying for a day or two. If you miss me or need anything, don't hesitate to visit!"
Chris continued as he was dragged out by Berg. "Really don't hesitate at all! Even it's not important, please come!"
Chris was already out of the tent, but Mia still heard him. " I am waiting alright? I will be sad otherwise! It's just that way!"
"Follow me." Said one of the guards as he escorted them out of camp. They met on the way with the 20 hunters waiting for them and left together.
Once far enough Chris mounted Dalahan, his face was more serious but he still had a smile on his face.
After a while Berg finally asked. "My lord, this wasn't according to plan. Why didn't you invite them to join us?"
"There are a few reasons actually." Said Chris. "I am sure you can guess the first one we noticed it as we walked to their camp."
Berg and Titus thought for a while. "The fortifications!"
"That's right. Let's put ourselves in their shoes. Would we be willing to drop our stuff and join another group just like that if we started building a city?" Asked Chris.
"Definitively not." Answered Berg.
"Right. Well I still would have tried to recruit them, even if it was one in a thousand chance. But I changed my mind when I noticed something else in that tent."
"The pretty girl?" Asked Titus.
Chris almost fell from Dalahan. "W-what do you take me for? Sure she was super pretty and right in my strike zone. And did you see her eyes? Calm and cold. Like a librarian ready to scold you because you made too much nois-"
"Lord?" Interrupted Berg, he was starting to know how to handle Chris.
"Ahem". Coughed Chris.
"It was the books on the ground and on the shelves."
"The books?" They both wondered.
"You didn't check them out? Some general and head of scouts you are." Teased Chris. "They were not stories and novel. They were management books. Some of the topics covered were: taxes, finances, trade routes, crop rotation, city planning and the likes.
"Y-you mean she is..." Berg said
"Yup. She is planing the same thing as us. She is obviously smart and quite dedicated, it must have been hell to find all those books. So tell me, given her preparations and ambition, is there any chance she would accept an offer to join some group she just met?" Said Chris with a smile.
"I see...She certainly wouldn't. At least I certainly wouldn't." Berg was very worried. He knew how important this mission was.
Chris was lost in thought and added: "Also, I think... That our plan would have backfired on us if we asked her to join us. She is smart, she would have made the connection between our first offer and our sudden appearance to save them from the Kunalls. If she did, we would be blamed for not warning them."
"Well she would, at least, hold a grudge against you my Lord." Teased Titus.
"Hey don't joke! We are clearly meant for each other!" Reprimanded Chris.
"You only met her once..." Said Berg.
"Haha, that's why you are naïve Bergy! Did you not hear what her people called her?"
"I think... They called her the Queen of Logistics?" Recalled Berg.
"Right! Queen of Logistics! Royalty! Just like me! It's like a match made in heaven!" Said proudly Chris.
[...]
[I am not sure how official her title is, my Lord] Thought Titus and Berg.
Berg decided to change the subject. "Oh! So you pretended to act shamelessly since we lost our objective and we had nothing else to talk about?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked Chris
Berg coughed and changed the subject once more: "So what do we do?"
"It's simple! We pretend to hunt our beast and wait until there is a princess to save! Hahaha! Hey Bergy, she might fall in love when she sees me rushing over to fight the Kunalls!"
"W-Well my lord. We are not planning to fight in melee. And your mount is a bit..." Berg eyed Dalahan.
"DAGNABIT!" Cried Chris after looking down.
*********************
Back in Mia's tent.
"Ah, I feel so tired," said Mia as she slumped down on her chair. "This meeting was like a hurricane."
She sipped her tea once more. "So what do you think Cat?"
Catherine emerged from the shadows and sat next to Mia.
"They suddenly showed up, their leader shamelessly hits on you for half an hour and they leave just as suddenly as they arrived... I don't know what to think." Cat said with an awkward smile on her face." I had people check on their camp, there are more than two hundred of them all armed with bows... Do you think they plan to attack us?"
Mia didn't hesitate and said "If he had bad intentions he would not have put himself in danger by walking in our camp with a small escort. You know, bad people tend to think like bad people. He would have been too worried to be surrounded by enemies."
"And all he had to do was just to launch a surprise attack. Our defenses are not ready, we have very few troops. We would stand no chances."
Mia paused and her cheeks reddened as she was reminded of something embarrassing. "He even told us where his camp is. I trust he gave us the right location?"
"Yeah. One of our scouts was even spotted, and they just waved at him. It seems like they were expecting us to check on the camp." Said Catherine with an awkward smile.
"It's like they are really expecting us to get in touch with them for some reason." Wondered Mia.
"Well he really liked you" Said Cat with a huge grin.
"Cat!" Mia threw a pillow at her. "That was sooo embarrassing! He kept saying shameless things!"
Cat was clearly enjoying the situation "Haha, look at you losing your calm! What a rare sight!"
The pillow went back and forth a few times until Mia managed to regain her calm and said in a serious tone "Did you hear what his men called him?"
"Yeah...Sun King. Do you think he is for real?" Asked Cat.
"I don't know, however he certainly has more people than us if he can manage to assemble 200 hunters." Answered Mia. "And he has 'it'."
"The Royal garment." Said Cat under her breath. "Where... No how did he get it?"
Mia raised her shoulders to show she had no idea.
"But 200 hunters." Said Mia. "If he has a balanced workforce, this means he has a few thousand people under him. More than enough to start a real city. If he has the will."
Cat certainly thought so too, so she said "Are you worried he'll build his kingdom before you can?"
But Mia only smiled. "Remember, our goal."
"Rebuild a kingdom for humanity." Said Cat.
"That's right, things can't continue as they are or we will all be exterminated. Our people, his people, we are all the same. If there is no one better I will take the throne but know you where lies my strengths. So if we find someone more qualified, I will give him or her my support."
Cat grinned and said "So what do you think of mister 'Boyfriend material'?"
"Cat!" The pillow made another trip. She thought a little bit and then said "I don't know if his shameless attitude is an act, but I think he is very well educated."
"Really?" Cat thought back to the meeting. "What makes you think so?"
"He kept checking my books. Even during his antics, his eyes kept darting around and he often moved around to get a better view."
"So? Books are rare and pricey. There is nothing strange in that." Commented Cat. "It's like checking out a beautiful jewel."
"That's true, but in that case he would not be checking them out one by one, he would just look in awe in the general direction of the shelves or the piles on the ground. The same can be said if he didn't know how to read. What would be the point of checking them out one by one if he could not read what they were about?"
"You are saying, that during his act, he managed to read the titles of most of the books in here?" Said Cat in a surprised voice.
"Well... I am not sure if it was an act, or if he read them all. But I am sure he could read the titles, and every time he read a new one he showed curiosity and surprise but absolutely no greed. It was as if he knew all the book could offer while still being surprised to find something like that here." Explained Mia.
"Those are books from the royal library from the old capital. Do you know how much those are worth? Any scholar would die to get their hands on them. Even top scholar required permission from the king to just enter the royal library. What kind of scholar would not be interested in this collection?" This was not imaginable to Mia.
Cat smirked "So he is either very well educated, or a literate idiot that doesn't know the value of the books."
Mia showed an awkward smile and said "I guess."
"So what do we do about them?" Wondered Cat.
"What can we do? All that we can do is wait and see what they have in mind."
Cat nodded and suddenly seemed to remember something "Ah! Want to know something fun?"
"Sure?" Cat's playful smile intrigued Mia.
"That 'Sun King'... Came and left on a donkey!"
"..."
"Pfft! Ha... HAHAHA!"
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Pastare Editor: LtBeefy
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