Chapter 100: Feast Of Rulers!
Aiden woke up to the screen of his daily mission floating right in front of him.
[Daily Missions x??: Sweep the Corridors Of The Fractured Stars Guild and Muck Out Their Horse Stalls]
[This will remain and continue as Daily Mission each day Pending the decision over the Petition]
[Reward: ??]
[Bonus Reward: ??]
Something about this mission put a smile on his face, and this was because the system decided to reward his punishments with experience points.
At that point Oliver entered back into the room with two boots in hand. Aiden turned towards him and squinted his eyes a bit.
"Are those my boots?" Aiden asked, looking rather surprised.
Oliver nodded and said, "Yeah, I had them cleaned out. This and any other thing you deem fit shall be my duty to you until your time in the Academy is passed."
"What?" Aiden stared at him in surprise.
"I heard what happened with the Assembly. I know you got into that trouble because of me. This is the only way I know how to repay you for the kindness towards me."
Aiden sighed and shook his head, "I won’t have you wipe my boots, boy. It’s fine. I was bound to probably go against the assembly at some point."
"I insist. Please do not deny me this," Oliver pushed again, sounding keen to really want to keep up with this.
Aiden sighed and said, "Alright, have at it."
Oliver nodded, then asked "Can I make one more request?"
Aiden nodded, and Oliver asked, "From today, I’ll refer to you as Big Brother Aiden."
Aiden blinked twice and chuckled a bit after, "Sure, have at it."
Oliver had a smiling face too. He never had an elder brother and was the only child of Garant. But he knew that elder brothers played the role of looking out for the younger ones, and it seemed to him that Aiden was doing just that.
Right now it was just them both in the room. Aiden then used his self-duplication skill to create two avatars.
These avatars knew what to do without being told.
One of his avatars teleported out of the room using Transport magic, to arrive at the stables designated for Fractured Stars, and then the other teleported right outside the doors of Ravens Grave, and afterward made his way to Fractured Stars corridor.
They went in fulfillment of Aiden’s punishment tasks and fortunately, daily missions.
Towards the end of the morning, the daily missions were done, and the original Aiden, who sat at a table surrounded by the rest of his team, received a reward notification from the system.
[Daily Mission: Sweep the Corridors Of The Fractured Stars Guild and Muck Out Their Horse Stalls → Complete]
[+5 Available Stats Points]
[You have gained +50000xp]
[Bonus Reward +35000xp granted]
Aiden smiled seeing that, and right after, his avatars dispersed.
Other guild activities carried on as it would, and Aiden and his team had proceeded to deal with a C ranked dungeon.
Per usual, Kayden was still in absence.
-----
Towards the end of the day, Lord Oberon and his envoy had arrived at Dragonhold.
Some other Lords had arrived almost at the same time. The Lords who were a lot farther away from Dragonhold had begun their travels about two days earlier.
Soon after, the great hall doors creaked open, and a hush fell over the gathered courtiers. A palace servant in gilded livery stepped forward.
He made the first announcement:
"Make way for Lord Oberon of House Thorne, keeper of the heart of Valaross, shield of the continent, and bearer of tribute!"
The servant bowed low, sweeping an arm toward the entry.
Lord Oberon Thorne, covered in a heavy cloak, strode into the King’s Palace as the little crowd in the halls parted.
One by one the servant announced the arrival of other lords and ladies.
There was Lady Arnarra of the elven kingdom, Elandria.
Lord Cithron of the Warrior Kingdom of Zahka
Lord Ivar of the Kingdom in the North, Skallgard
Lady Thalyra of the Kingdom Of Amazons, Yul’thera
Lord Ansel of the Kingdom of Drakensporth
Lord Juvna of the Kingdom of Jogunmount
Lady Seraph of the kingdom of Orathia
Lord Krelnor of the Kingdom of Belforte.
Each Lord had also been introduced by their respective titles and respectable houses for those from one.
And then finally, it was time for the servant to make the final announcement.
"Behold His Majesty, Sovereign of the Nine Kingdoms, Defender of the Wyrm Seat, and Son of the Dragon’s Ally, King Jarius of House Crowley."
Jarius, with the Grand Magus Mumbleton and his Head of Knights, Baran, and a few other knights walked into the halls.
The King walked all the way to a table decorated with food of different kinds and wine on the table.
He sat on the longer seat fit for the King, and after that, the rest of the Lords and other invited nobles of Dragonhold sat on reserved seats.
The Lords and Ladies, along with the prestige members of their envoy, sat in different round tables. Each round table was designated for a Lord or Lady.
Thamoryn leaned a bit forward towards Lord Oberon and whispered, "His children and wife Helena are not present with him. Instead he graced the event with his Grand Magus and a couple knights. This doesn’t feel like a feast should."
"Hmm..." Oberon muttered, for indeed Thamoryn’s words carried some sense with them.
Then Jarius lifted his goblet, with his eyes looking around the hall, then spoke:
"Lords and ladies of the Nine Kingdoms, allies and kinsmen, welcome! Tonight, we simply gather to celebrate the bonds that hold our lands together, from the frozen reaches of Skallgard to the fabled gardens of Elandria.
Know that it is by your courage, your wisdom, and your loyalty that this realm stands strong, and it is my honor, as Sovereign of the realm, to host this night in your names. And know that this is my way of simply showing appreciation.
Raise your cups, my lords and ladies! Drink, for tonight, we feast as one realm!"
Every invited guest and ruler raised their wine cups, and soon after, joyous chatter and murmurs filled the halls.
After a while, Jarius stood and made his way towards his throne room which was interconnected to the Grand Hall designated for feasts.
The Grand Magus then stood not long after and spoke, "The King requests a private meeting in his throne room with the Lords and Ladies, you who rule the nine kingdoms. It is a meeting between the King and the Rulers, alone."
Mumbleton added the last part so that the other Grand Magus’s or Right Hands would understand that they were not needed within the meeting.
The Lords and Ladies exchanged glances with some prestige members of their envoy before standing and making their way right into the throne room.
Lord Oberon clenched his hand into a fist slightly when he had stepped into the throne room. Especially when he saw the Wyrm seat. The desire he harbored for this seat could not be quenched so easily.
Then a flashback hit him at that very spot.
A flashback from ten years ago which was the last time he was here on a meeting like this.
There had been a little boy with dark hair that had run right through the doorway screaming a sentence along the lines of, "Father I have mastered the sword swing!"
Jarius had immediately hushed him up and asked him to leave his presence immediately, asking the boy if he couldn’t see that he was in a meeting.
That had been the very day that the Lords and Ladies realized that Jarius had a bastard.
Then some sort of realization started hitting Oberon. "Was it that boy?" he thought to himself, in reference to Aiden.
Right at the very beginning, he always felt like Aiden looked familiar but could have never pinpointed it. Although he wasn’t exactly still certain that it could have been Aiden, but he definitely was determined to find out.
Jarius currently already sat at the head of the table, and other Lords started filing in to take their places at different seats.
"Thank you all," Jarius began.
Then Lord Cithron, who sat at the seat by Jarius’s right side, immediately spoke, "Permit me to guess this, Your Grace, so this is truly why you invited us to a feast?" He had this smile on his face.
This assumption from him was also the exact same thing the other Rulers thought of.
Jarius smiled back, "Lord Cithron, you have guessed correctly."
Then Lady Seraph spoke, "Why was it called a feast then? Referring to it in the letter as a meeting between the King and the rulers would have still sufficed enough to bring us here." She had this puzzled expression on her face.
"Apologies Lady Seraph if you are in any way offended in the slightest. But I also wanted to celebrate the rulers keeping my continent at peace," Jarius replied, with that smile on his face as well.
The last part of his sentence had been intentional, said to have a reminder effect on those who needed reminding of who the King of the Continent was.
And of course it did, because you could see that frown on Oberon’s face or Cithron’s smile receding into an expressionless face.