King's Teacher

Arden came out from the room after meeting the new king and was greeted by the guard that guided him there. The guard said, "Sir, I will guide you back to the city, please follow me"

The guard did his job and Arden is standing in the city at that moment, right in front of the king where the king resides. He looks at the keep for the last time before making his way to wherever he needed to go.

Suddenly, Ady with his group of noble friend approach him while he was still looking at the castle and pat his back... a little bit hardly He didn't expect that and was shocked being patted at the back.

Almost at the same moment, he reached for his sword before seeing who did. Instantly, he sighed in relief and push his hand farther than the sword on his waist.

Then, he asked them, "I give my thanks for giving the report to the king. If not, I'm afraid I would be the one punished because of this issue"

They laughed it off and just stated, "We are just helping a friend"

After that, they informed Arden that they were going to a place, "We are heading to the pub now, care to join us?"

He smiled before saying a short "yes" and making their ways to the pub itself.

On the way to it, a sudden thought came into his mind related to the king himself, 'It seems that I'm going to become the king trainer from now, I must teach him how to fight like a real man then!'

His thought was disrupted by the familiar sound of the bustling city where merchants shouted everywhere. He focused his mind on the walk and reached the pub in no time.

Once they were in the pub, there were different opinions being shown there. Arden told them, "We should get the seat at the corner so we can do our discussion and conversation there"

One of the nobles from the group said, "We should get the seat in the middle, that's cleaner and better even though it's a little bit noisy being there"

With that being said, the nobles voted for the seats they should choose. In the end, Arden won because no one care about cleanliness and they wanted to do conversation and not being disrupted by the noise.

They all sat at the chairs. Even though it's a little bit cramped because it's in the corner. But everyone liked that. One of them even said, "We became closer like this"

Which everyone liked, even the one that supported to sit in the middle as well. They realized it was better since they become more like a family and a mutual.

All of them ordered their foods, which is like the normal foods people get when they visited the pub. And also a glass of beer for each of them.

Many different waitresses delivered the food and drinks from the kitchen to their table and the group of nobles began talking here and there. Between everyone, there is a conversation, sharing a story or giving an opinion. Everyone shared it at the table.

That's when Ady that sat beside Arden at the moment asked him something, "Hey, what do you think about the future of our kingdom?"

Arden looked at him for a few seconds before answering the question honestly, "I think it would be great if the king appointed a good person to a different sector, but…"

There is a moment of silence between 2 of them but it was broken by Ady while a little bit tipsy ask bluntly, "But what? Come one, you can share your opinion here and we will keep it a secret"

Arden looked at him for a few seconds while waiting for the doubt in himself to disappear. Right after that, he informs his friend, "I think we will have a civil war against the opposing group and this kingdom would be a little bit shaken from its position at the time"

Ady looked at him and laughed loudly. No one at the table cares cause they are in their own conversation. Ady then said, "Thank you for sharing your opinion! I know it won't come true though, probably you just made that as a joke!"

He then looked away and strike up a conversation with another noble beside him. Leaving Arden thinking to himself, 'What my best friend said might be the truth, but I have this gut feeling that it will come true sooner or later"

In the end, all of the nobles there go home with the help of the city guards while Arden himself climbed the stair after getting drunk from the beers he drank with all the other noblemen.

He lay his head at the pillow and quickly fell asleep after a minute laying at the bed. He didn't have a good dream nor a bad one and ended up waking to the sound of a knocking on the door.

He basically dragged himself there forcefully with a posture of slouching then opened the door. Since he just woke up, he couldn't see who it was clearly and asked in his head.

'Who is he? What did he want?' He decided to rub his eyes to clear his vision, and there he was. The guard from yesterday that guided him.

Upon seeing this, he panicked as soon as possible, with the little bit of courage left in his mind. He asked the guard, "Yes? Can I h-help you?"

With a little bit of stutter, he managed to do it and sighed in his mind. The guard then responded, "Sir, this is the next day after the day you go to the courtroom. You have something to do with the king this morning, please prepare yourself"

Arden smiled upon hearing this and just closed the door as quickly as he can but manage to keep the silent. And tried to remember what appointment he has with the king, 'What session with the king? About me being his trainer? No no, it must be the answer! I must get ready then!"

After that, he cleaned himself as fast as he can and remove the alcohol smell by chewing on a mint and he was ready! Just like that, he opened the door like a brand new person and a nice smell all over his body.

The guard even said, "Woah, you are very good at keeping yourself good in just a few minutes, sir! Let us not waste any time and proceed to the castle!"

Both of them make their way toward the keep where the king is waiting patiently while sitting on the throne with the training uniform. That's what Arden saw when he arrived at the throne room.

He knelt down and his face is facing the king and then proceeds to ask the king, "Your majesty, where would we train for today?"

The king answered the question after giving a loud, "hmmm," and this is the answer, "it's best if we train at the camp of the noble houses outside the city wall, they could give me advice too!"

Arden looked at him for a second before answering, "That would be an excellent choice! I suggest we do it until the sun is above us!"

The king then answered with an assertive sound, "No! We will train until afternoon, I need to strengthen my body and fighting skill and then led nobles into the battle!"

Then, he continued, "We shall make haste for the training because I want to start it as fast as possible"

Arden smiled upon hearing this words and in his mind, he is praising the king, 'The king is such a cool and easy-going one, I'm sure he will do good deeds in the future for his people!'

…

Arden found himself inside a carriage, a normal-looking one prepared by the servants of the king. He was sitting facing directly into the king with his sword on his lap.

His brain screaming at him at this point while saying, "You are nervous, you are nervous, now strike up a conversation with the king!"

He gathered his courage and said, "Your majesty…"

Before he could continue, the king responded with, "please don't call me that, that made me feel uncomfortable and it's not suited for me, just call me Ast, the short version of my name"

Arden answered with, "I understand, Ast"

His bran told him something that he can actually agree with, 'That name would be uncomfortable to say using a normal tongue'

He couldn't help but chuckled a little bit and soon, the king did the same as him. Both of them strike up a conversation from that chuckle.

But the conversation stopped when they have reached the training grounds. All nobles were confused about seeing the mysterious carriage and gathered.

Then Arden came out of the carriage, and soon, the king followed. Upon seeing the familiar face as king Astria himself, they immediately knew that was the king himself.

All of the nobles informed others, and they rushed to the king and circled him