A Former Hero’s Journey : I just want to live peacefully!

Chapter 38

After a brief encounter with the man named Susanoo, Kimiko asked Arthur.

“So what do you know about him?”

He nodded as he kept on looking at the envoy from Larbung.

“Well, apparently a man going on a revenge mission. Murdered various…. corrupt people. Then, goes missing for a few years before coming out as the champion. Months later wins the tournament and established the rule of his Monarch.”

She hummed in thought as she looked at Arthur and asked.

“I wonder how you fare against him, Arthur?”

Arthur just looked at Susanoo as he replied.

“Well master, if I do say that he is superior than me in the ways of the Sword but I’d make a poor example if I were to only use Swords and still claim to be [World’s Strongest]. I have various ways I can dispose of him. But I can say that he is the definition of someone vastly surpassing what his [Level] suggests him to be.”

Then Arthur seemed to laugh creepily. Kimiko looked at the person but his sight was both on them. Well more on her than Arthur. Guess his instinct was telling him which one was stronger. As the host seemed to be trying to get his attention for a while now. The host looked at the Envoy, looking sorry.

“I am truly sorry sir but you coach will be coming soon. We truly apologize that we hadn’t been expecting someone from Larbung.”

Susanoo simply nodded and said two short sentences.

“Don’t worry. I was prepared for this.”

Then from the side of his ship, a part of it opened and a wooden bridge was laid to connect it with the road. Then a black colored carriage came out from there, manned by guards and driven by horses wearing heavy armor. They caused the temporary wooden bridge to nearly collapse under the collective weight. But it didn’t as the carriage safely crossed it. At least he was prepared for the reception, Arthur will give him that. Also thinking back, wasn’t the new ruler of the twin Kingdoms, a teenage girl? Also her family was also killed suspiciously back then.

Arthur’s eye narrowed as he made a face. It was a damn oversight indeed. He had only recently learnt the plight the ruler of Larbung had faced. Thinking now, if the [Cult] was influential enough to get a prime minister’s post in a place like Ushur without anyone none the wiser, then something must have also happened there as well. He clenched his hand. He will use his information network to review suspicious things happening not matter how small after the mess the [Cult] was about to cause in Posat was dealt with. Now that the envoys are here it was time for him to go to the meeting as a representative of the [Adventurer Guild].

No doubt the [Blacksmith Guild] Branch-leader was currently too busy with his work or busy frolicking over his new ‘work’ to even care about such mundane matter anyway while the [Merchant Guild] is already represented by the envoy from Ushur. That leaves him now. And he was also getting ready. Arthur asked the butler nearby him.

“Prepare the carriage.”

“Yes, Master Arthur. Will young Missus be coming with you?”

He looked at her but she shook her head. He understood that she wanted to look from his eyes as Arthur replied to the butler.

“Well, you can offer her any foods and desserts she wants from my tab.”

Keeping the professionalism, the butler bowed his head and left. Arthur too got a change of cloth. Instantly, his clothes changed as he now wore dark blue, almost black, coat with the same color themed mantle that reached his waist. On his other shoulder was a golden epaulette. His pants were also of the same color but that seemed to highlight his handsome face and his bright silver hair along with medals. He was handsome, she will give him that. Arthur said to her.

“Well I will be going then, Master.”

Kimiko nodded as Arthur left. He walked down the stairs as a carriage appeared. It was his personal carriage. He always used it for important events like these. It was bluish white color with dark blue tinted glass. Even the carriage was manned by big white stallion horses that seemed to garner the attention of everyone. Everyone seemed to be astonished when Arthur walked out from the place. He quickly got on the carriage as it galloped towards the castle along with other Noble’s carriage headed for the same place.

Half an hour later

Arthur got off from the coach. It went surprisingly smooth as the crowds was parted into two side which directly led to the path that connected to the Royal Castle from the spectacle caused by the Envoys. Otherwise, it would take hours from here to get directly to the Royal Castle. He had joined the dark themed envoy from Larbung. As they got off from the carriage, he attracted quite the gaze from the envoys, mostly from two people. The man named Susanoo and from Tamamo. Especially, from Tamamo who was directing quite a gaze at him, a flirty one.

Arthur signed inwardly. It seems that she was still intent on trying to ‘get in his pant’ to check whether he had ‘it’ or not.

Then they were welcomed by hordes of [Royal Knight] who were standing at the side of the red carpet. The red carpet extended up to the castle gate as a person stood in front of them. It was the Prime Minister Hugo and behind him was Captain Mark. Hugo did a dramatic gesture of inviting them, his hand making a full circle before it landed on his stomach as he bowed.

“I welcome you all to the Kingdom of Posat. Please follow me.”

They all nodded as they followed him. After countless twist and turn they were led to a big ballroom, decorated and filled with people. There were many people wearing eye catching exotic dresses. There were few Nobles that Kimiko remembered from the time when the King was having the meeting. It seemed that the nobles of the Kingdom were present. People in the groups were speaking to each other as well while the band was playing in the background. If one looked at the front, they could see the [Royal Family]. There were five members sitting in chairs above the flight of stairs. Arthur talked to Kimiko.

“Master, introducing the Royal Family. You have already seen the King in the white suit, then the woman beside him in blue dress is the Queen, Freiya.”

The woman was a drop dead blue haired gorgeous lady. She had worn a simple but elegant whitish-blue dress with dark blue scarf like thing. Overall, she looked very much like a refined lady with a gentle motherly aura surrounding her. Arthur continued.

“The boy to his right is the [Crown Prince] Pascal and the one beside him is his twin sister, [Crown Princess] Nina. Both of them should be around 19 or 20. The little girl on the side of the Queen is the youngest princess. She is 15.”

The boy seemed almost like a miniature version of Solomon, minus the short hair and a more slanted eyes and replace them with wild unruly long hair and straight eyes. He seemed to have the same smirk as Solomon once did. Then Kimiko looked at the eldest princess. She was the one who was implicated by the ‘Wandering Prophet’ was it? She seemed to be maintaining a calm face unlike her smirking twin brother. Why he was smirking, he was looking at a crowd of lady surrounding a red-haired man. Upon looking closely, it was Aaron. That was why he was smirking in that direction while nudging his elbow to his sister to annoy or something.

Kimiko felt that there was something going on between the Duke’s son and the Princess.

As for the younger princess, she seemed to be excited as she and her mother seemed to be discussing something with the young girl making quite the face of amazement. She was the only one who had some features resembling her mother’s side like the blue hair for instance. At least the [Royal Family] seemed to be closely knit unlike the last time she had seen one, years ago. But the crucial factor could also be that there was no such thing as ‘Succession War’ due to the fact that there was only one Crown Prince. The King stood up and once he hit a spoon on the side of the glass of wine he was drinking in, producing a sound larger than it should have been without getting broken. Then the crowd became quiet.

“To the Envoys from Elsev Urik, Ushur, Larad, Larbung, [Adventurer Guild] as well as from the [Temple of Origin Gods]. Let us give our respect to them for coming to celebrate a century anniversary of our victory over evil. Cheer!”

Everyone raised whatever refreshments they had on their hand at the same time with the King as they all cheered. Before the music resumed and the talking ensured once more. The envoys were then handed with the selection of refreshments as they too began to speak cordially with each other. As for Arthur, he seemed to speak with a smile with the Nobles he was acquainted with. Except for Susanoo who seemed to be content on being left alone while glancing a look at Arthur like Tamamo did. The party lasted for a while before they all cleared out in the center from a ball-room dance. Pairs were formed as they danced with the rhythm of the music.

Arthur did gain quite a bit of the attention as he seemed to charm the girl he was paired with. Not only that but even Aaron was garnering attention. From Arthur’s eye, she could see the Princess Nina smiling, but not smiling at the same time as she watched the couple dance, especially Aaron. It seemed that the Royalty did not join the dance and were sitting. After a while, the Prime Minister led the envoys, all to a private chamber which looked a lot like the room where the King was discussing previously. There was a round table around which chairs were there. By then, she was raking quite a bit of money by eating on Arthur’s tab as it had already been 2 hours from the dancing and all.

All around the room there were chefs standing steadily. But there was already someone very distinct inside. A man wearing white clothing with gold linings as he was looking outside from the large window to the view of the colorful capital. His shoulder epaulette had the Insignia of the [Temple of Origin Gods]. As his back was shown to them but one could not mistake the striking straight long dark red hair if one knew the inner workings of the [Temple of Origin Gods].

It was the [Star Cardinal].

Especially the envoys from Elsev Urik and Larad were confused while the others had known about him. Susanoo just did not even show any emotion at all on his face. Hugo, coughed a bit before the doors opened once more and the King arrived alone. He sat on the big chair reserved for him and at the same time the [Star Cardinal] did as well with a sigh of boredom. Despite it being a rude gesture the King did not mind and one by one the Envoys sat down while the chefs left the room. Arthur just gave a dismissive glance at the [Star Cardinal] before sitting down.

Kimiko too asked about the [Star Cardinal] because Arthur had something about them being a bit unhinged. But he behaved normally, rude but did not look all that eccentric.

‘Arthur, the Cardinal does not look all that bad as you claimed he would be.’

Arthur eyes twitched a bit as he seemed to frantically explain inside his head.

‘Master, looks can be deceiving! He may look like a gentleman but don’t let his demeanor fool you! Inside he has feeling border lining to obsession for the pope! I did not want to see but while I was visiting the [Holy City] I accidently went to his room and what I found was portrait, portrait and more FUCKING portraits of a blonde kid from all angle hanging almost everywhere!’

Arthur’s eye darkened at that dreadful memory which he wished to erase it.

‘The biggest portrait was the man himself doing a wall slam, looking down on a bashful looking blonde kid! Before I could say anything, the cardinal screamed and slammed the door shut. And you wouldn’t believe me when I say that I saw him in that room, in the bed hugging and doing questionable things to a pillow which also had the FUCKING portrait! I thought that it was his lover or something before someone told me that the description fit the Pope!’

Kimiko honestly did not know what to say to that. It seemed that Arthur was traumatized by the event or so because he did not seem to notice that everyone was looking at him. He sighed before rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index. The King looked at him and asked.

“Sir Arthur, are you feeling all right?”

Arthur nodded a bit as he released a tired sigh.

“Yes, do go on. Just some work in the [Adventure Guild] is having me stumped. You wouldn’t believe me when I say that I almost couldn’t make it and had to send Alma.”

Which was kind of true when the [Monster Tide] was getting out of hand before it all stopped appearing, giving more credit to the ‘Theory’ that it was made artificially. Now that the Adventurers and [Royal Magician] were on it, using the monsters to kill the parents and orphan kids were happening less and less. However, he had relegated the duty to his elf assistant Alma, ensuring she would get a raise after this. However, Susanoo seemed to poke a hole in his explanation.

“Then what about the woman you were with on the balcony?”

“Hoh?”

This seemed to get almost everyone’s attention as Susanoo continued.

“Your disguise could fool lesser people but it is hard to mask someone’s Aura. You need to work on that.”

All the people except the one who were not on the harbor seemed to be insulted. Especially Tamamo who seemed to narrow her eyes. However, with the juicy situation in front of her, she just licked her lips as she listened on wanting to gain some insight. Susanoo continued on without a care.

“Also, she seemed stronger, stronger than you.”

Now that seemed to get the attention of everyone, including the King, Prime Minister and the [Star Cardinal]. Arthur just kept quiet as he laughed in a good manner before his eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Well, it is none of your business about my daily life. Also because I was restraining my power so that lesser people wouldn’t get a heart attack in my presence.”

Now, Arthur made a comeback, calling him weak. But Susanoo just snorted and replied nonchalantly without getting angry.

“Maybe.”

Just then the [Star Cardinal], to make the situation even spicier as well as to piss off Arthur, added a quick remark.

“Wow, didn’t seemed to peg you for going for a woman that is alive because you seem to be more… focused on the dead woman atop the tower.”

Arthur’s face darkened as everybody (except the chill Susanoo) seemed to wince at that low blow. Hugo and the King was already ready for a fallout because they knew that Arthur did not really like the [Temple of the Origin Gods] for reasons unknown and nor did he share why. Maybe it could also be the same reason why their Great-great-great grandfathers did not like them. But instead of falling out, Arthur just smiled as he replied.

“Why would I expect something from a shotacon? You don’t even love female. You even have portraits of your pope scattered all over the fucking room while having ‘fun’ with yourself! Ugh!!”

This time the [Star Cardinal] glared at Arthur while the other people in the room seemed to flinch at THAT image in their head. Susanoo looked unperturbed while Arthur had still not finished gagging. The cardinal just huffed as he said.

“The like of you, that isn’t even alive, won’t know the beauty of youthful people. Isn’t that right, Envoy from Larbung?”

Susanoo just quirked an eye at that. What was this man ranting about? He continued on.

“Wasn’t your retainer a girl? Did you not pledge to fight on her honor? If you did not love her the way I do, why would you even fight for her? We both have the eye for our masters it seems!”

All the while flaunting and gesturing quite dramatically, the [Star Cardinal] seemed to ‘explain’. Everyone was sporting a dark face, even the King and the Prime Minister and even Susanoo. All the while the chairs near Susanoo and [Star Cardinal] seemed to scoot over the opposite side. Susanoo seemed to be infuriated as veins popped here and there on his face. He tried to speak but fumbled a bit in the end due to rage or stress or due to the strange ‘nature’ of this conversation that seem to accuse him as a pedophile.

“Don’t you dare besmirch the name of my liege, you pedophile. She is nothing like that. I did not serve her so that I could.. I could….. gah!”

Arthur seemed to give him a sympathy gaze as Susanoo narrowed his eyes on him. Wasn’t the reason of the whole mess was due to him? It was not right and his liege would scold him but she was not here and not aware of her declining reputation. He said in a straight no-nonsense voice as if trying to clarify something important.

“And you, I am nothing like the Necrophilia-maniac like you.”

Now Arthur was surprised at that claim.

“Huh?! When did I say I was into that shit?”

[Star Cardinal] ‘helped’ him there but more on the fact that he wanted to get out of thing. Also he did not like Arthur so that was a plus.

“Because you didn’t deny it when I told you, son.”

Now Arthur seemed to sport a vein in his face despite not having one as he lost his composure.

“Damn YOU! LOLICON AND SHOTACON!”

Now both of the accused was pissed. For Susanoo, it was a false accusation. As for the [Star Cardinal], oh he was pissed for another reason.

““Damn YOU! NECROPHILIA-MANIC AND SHOTACON/LOLICON!””

All three of them were glaring at each other with sparks flying around between them. All the while the crowd in the room and Kimiko were sporting a dead-panned gaze. Kimiko wondered.

‘Is there an FBI in this world? Because the large assortment of Morons here is staggering and are a threat to Moral health of the public.’

Tamamo seemed to sweat a bit as she tried to diffuse the situation.

“Now, now, we are here to celebrate the festival not to kill each other with a glare.”

Which resulted in a backlash. Now all three of them glared at her as Arthur, Susanoo and [Star Cardinal] shouted at the same time while releasing their [Aura] of Lvl 500+.

“““Get lost, bitch/thot/slut!”””

Now the fan on her hand got crushed in an instant as her tails swayed upwards as she released her own [Aura].

“SAY WHAT YOU LITTLE PUNKS!”

The room seemed to be creaking and breaking a little as the King sighed along with the Prime Minister while the envoys from other places were sweating a bit by the release of their [Aura]. They seemed to be forgetting that there was someone here as the King banged hard on the table.

“ENOUGH! YOU ARE THE ENVOYS OF YOUR RESPECTIVE PLACES! SHOW THE DIGNITY OF THE POST YOU HOLD!”

That seemed to get them all out of their funk as they all huffed and reigned in their [Aura]. The Prime Minister just smiled slightly at the childish spat before clapping three times. Then the chefs that were gone before, entered the room bringing in foods. He hoped that it would get them to remain civil for a while. As various assortments of fine food were displayed which to Kimiko’s opinion looked leagues ahead of what she had seen in the Ballroom. The King then ‘ahemed’ a bit before saying.

“Well, now with that out of the way, let us dine the meal prepared by the [Royal Chef] with the best ingredients that the Kingdom has to offer.”

All of them seemed to nod at least and the dine started. Arthur was still in a foul mood so he needed something to distract himself with. Thankfully, near to Arthur was the envoy from Ushur as Arthur asked.

“So they sent you, eh? It seems that this time it is the [Royal Family] who sent someone from their side instead of someone from the [Eight Merchant Families].”

Still awkward but the envoy smiled a bit before replying.

“Yes, it is. I was in Larad before the [Royal Family] in Ushur sent me as an envoy to Posat.”

Arthur eyes narrowed a bit as gears seemed to be turning in his head. The [Royal Family] had as power as one of the 8 families. After the [Great War], the kingdom was in shambles. The then [Royal Family] had made a pact with the 8 families to rule the Kingdom together in exchange for evading the crisis of a possible Kingdom downfall. Nowadays, even the 8 families don’t give much respect to the [Royal Family] as they are getting more and more bold, interfering with the works of the King.

‘Are the [Royal Family] and [8 Merchant Family] planning something against each other?’

“Well, say hi to the King for me.”

The envoy snorted as he replied.

“Well, the King as well as the people was not pleased when you decapitated the Prime Minister so I don’t think your greetings will be well-received. Instead I might be getting my head chopped off.”

The envoy from Ushur seemed to laugh good-naturedly at his morbid-sense of humor. Being a Prime Minister was hard in Ushur. First of all, they were not appointed by the King but was chosen by the People. It could be said that there were 3 factions in total in Ushur. One was of the King, then the Prime Minister and the third being the Merchant Family. How the [Cult] got the people’s support will forever be a mystery but he may be helped by either the King or the Merchant Family to get their support as the Prime Minister or the fact that the [Temple of Origin Gods] influence was less because the people believed in some other protective Guardian God called Niudla. Many possibilities were there.

But by then, after having some talks he was interrupted when he was nudged from the side. He had just cut off a piece of meat as he looked and saw a pouting Tamamo. It was cute but too bad he was a golem. He sighed as he took some vegetables in his plate and asked.

“What is the matter, Tamamo?”

She pouted even further as she said.

“Hope, the earlier thing doesn’t ruin our ‘relationship’.”

Arthur sighed at the suggestive use of language despite the innocent face portrayed by her. He cut a meat off from his plate and ate it. It was good. Despite not having a stomach or what, the food went into different compartment similar to a stomach. There, all biological things were changed to mana and used to restore his [MP]. The higher the quality, higher the mana recovery. Looking back at Tamamo, he said.

“You are a persistent one, I will give you that.”

He just used one of his hand had pushed her face to her own seat. She pouted still and went on finishing whatever she had on the plate at the moment which was full of meat. She scooped all the meat in one fork and ate it in a refined way. Arthur asked.

“How is the search going for the [Royal Family]?”

Tamamo’s eyes were on the food as her playful aura disappeared.

“Nee, still going on. The soul fire has still to go out from two [Soul Lamp] in the [Ancestor Tomb] so at that means two are still alive. From the lamp label, it seemed that it was 5^th Prince and the youngest 7^th Princess. We are already searching in other places but people are already panicking and migrating inwards to get away from the [Storm of the End]. Hmm Sholiy doesn’t care about what happens to their land while Ushur is mostly sand with a lot of important cities in East of their Kingdom.”

Arthur nodded. At least there was still another person except Master’s maid. But does she know anything about her brother? Were they together when they fled or not so he decided to ask in his mind.

“Master….”

From the balcony, Kimiko was enjoying the scene of the harbor and the sea. She replied.

“Yes, I heard but in the end it is her choice if she wants to go or not.”

“No I meant, does she know anything about her brother?”

She kept quiet.

“…..”

Arthur took the silence as something bad had happened.

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

Kimiko decided to spill the beans. But not like she was keeping it a secret or anything.

“Well, she was an [Named Assassin] named Theta. Due to various circumstances which are too long to explain, I had to destroy her [Mind] with her consent.”

It took him all his mental strength to suppress a sigh. He replied in a tired voice in his mind.

“……Damn fucking [Cult], but that gives us some information. Maybe one of the [Named Assassin] is her brother? Tamamo won’t like it.”

Kimiko thought about the encounter Annie had and said to Arthur.

“We encountered two [Named Assassin] so?”

Arthur sighed inwardly.

“I will check tomorrow when the [Cult] will show themselves.”  

By then, the noise in the room was dominated by the talk between Hugo and the envoy from Ushur and Larad. The envoy from Ushur was saying.

“…Trade has been going up a lot these days. Especially, the new tea we imported from Poshem and Larad. They are one of a kind.”

Hugo seemed to be eager. From what Arthur knew, Hugo was a bit of a tea fanatic.

“When will the shipments arrive to Posat?”

The envoy of Ushur looked at Larad as he spoke.

“When the newest batch of tea leaves arrive from Larad. I don’t think Poshem is too keen on this. We get limited supply from them already. These species of Tea can only be grown in a special places in Larad and Poshem, a mystery since their geography differ from each other.”

Hugo snorted as he replied.

“If the [Merchant Guild] wasn’t so big, they would have ignored you. I guess they would start to live as an isolationist Kingdom without contact from anyone except the [Adventurer Guild], which is popular worldwide. From what the rumors say, Human supremacist view is getting more and more popular with the new King in Poshem. The nobles did not like him at first but as he turned a blind eye to their activity he was more than welcome to them. That brings us to our new guest.”

He looked at the man who was calmly sipping an herbal tea as Hugo asked curiously.

“So, the Twin Kingdom is becoming free from its isolationist nature?”

Susanoo finished sipping and calmly stated.

“We are, though some hiccups are arriving from our other half. It seems that after four decades of winning, they don’t like it when someone has authority over their general ass. Still we cannot interfere directly but at least now they cannot interfere the policy of our Kingdom. We have catalogues of rare resources found in our Kingdom which I wanted to discuss with the envoy from Ushur.”

The envoy from Ushur seemed to make a pleased face at that. After all, no one knew the in and out of the Kingdom. Arthur too asked.

“That means we can make a [Adventurer Guild] branch there?”

Susanoo just looked at him without saying anything for few seconds before grunting in response.

“Guess so.”

Arthur smiled mysteriously as he seemed to take a scroll and used [Gate] to surprise of everyone. After all, the place was casted with [Dimensional Lock] which locked any teleportation ability but that meant he overpowered the spell with his overwhelming [Mana]. It seemed to hit Arthur as he grunted due to the spell draining more than 85% of his [Mana]. A dangerous thing to try but he would do it without delay. He hastily ate more food as his dwindling [Mana] recovered bit by bit while Hugo asked.

“Aaa….. What did you do, Sir Arthur?”

He just laughed and replied.

“Gave a permission to officially open the [Adventurer Guild] in the capital of Larbung. Groundwork had been laid and unused for decades but now? We can officially open it. Damn those people were complaining and fussing about for how long they would have to unofficially stay in that place.”

Susanoo gave him an unamused stare while the other were sweat-dropping except for [Star Cardinal] as he did not care one bit about him.

‘Isn’t that basically saying that your ‘spy’ were in that Kingdom for decades?’

Sentiments of everyone in the room. After much time spent in idle chatting and such, the envoys from Larad, Elsev Urik and Larbung were allocated a room within the castle while Arthur and the envoy from Ushur bid a goodbye as they left. Actually, Arthur had left a while ago so as not to bore his Master who was in the sea-side resort.

Thanks for reading.