A King's Duty

What a mess. Who would have guessed that all this was going on in Silverfield? Not only were there demons running amok, but there were also more people, humans to be exact, that were also seeking the demise of Silverfield. Were they the nobles that escaped? No, that probably wasn't it. None of them used magic when they fought and even though magic was a trump card that should be hidden and only used when necessary, Kies was sure that they would have used it in the fight as all their lives were in danger.

Unless of course, they didn't have the chance to do so. There could be a mage or even several in the pile of bodies and they never had the opportunity to use magic because they got slaughtered so quickly. But the likelier possibility is that they weren't related to the nobles and are from another organization that holds a grudge towards Silverfield.

That was enough thinking for tonight. Although there were only a few hours until sunrise, he might as well try to get some rest. He didn't need it but also needed it at the same time. He wanted to clear his mind for the time being as there were too many things going on. So Kies did just that. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

***

Lentis paces around his office in a state of worry. He has been waiting for hours for something to come. "Any moment now," he mutters to himself. That's what he told himself a few minutes ago, that it would come at second then. And that's what he also told himself an hour ago. He has been doing this the entire time instead of finishing up the paperwork that was piling up on his desk.

When was it going to come? Lentis sits down anxiously on his chair and takes a sip of the tea from his cup. It was cold. Rui had brought him it this morning and it was already the afternoon. Right next to that cup was another cup with more tea in it that a maid had brought him for breakfast even though he told her that he wasn't hungry. "D*mn it, I really need a break. He hardly got any sleep last night either and his head hurt so much that it felt like someone was splitting it with an axe.

*Knock Knock* Lentis shot out of his seat, almost kicking his chair into the wall. Finally, it was here... he hoped. 'Please don't let it be another maid delivering him food and more tea,' he prayed. If that happened, he might lose his mind. Silverfield had so many problems to deal with right now that it was almost unbelievable. Actually, he took that back, it was completely unbelievable how much of a mess the kingdom was in.

Lentis went over to the door and opened it to find a woman with a tray of food in her hand. "Sir, I thought you might want lunch. You haven't eaten anything all morning."

"..."

"Sir? Is there something wrong- Ah! Is the food not to your liking? I'll get something else right away."

"No, no, no." Lentis sighed and rubbed his forehead. "The food is fine. Just bring it in, thank you." He had been at a loss of words temporarily when he saw her since she is not the person he wanted to see right now. Where were those knights for the love of God?

Lentis moved to the side and held the door for the maid so that she could drop off the tray on his table. After placing it down on an empty spot on the table, the maid left the room. Lentis thanked her again and closed the door after her. He then went back to the table to find a third cup of tea sitting on the tray for him. 'Great, now I have another cup of tea I need to finish.'

At the rate things were going, he might not even finish drinking all three cups by the end of the day. He was less than halfway done with his first cup and it has been hours since it was delivered. Lentis banged his head against the wall continuously for a moment and didn't hear as there was another knock on the door.

"Sir!? What is that sound!?" The door swung open and Rui appeared with her sword drawn, expecting an enemy of some sort, but found something completely different. "Uh..."

"What?" Lentis turned around and saw Rui. Behind her on the carpet was a dropped report. "Oh, finally!" he shouted in relief. Rui put her sword away and walked up to Lentis and put her hands on his face. "Um, what are you doing Rui?"

"Didn't I tell you to go rest? Why didn't you take a nap? You look even worse than before, and it wasn't even that long since I left."

"Ah, don't worry about it," he told her. It hasn't even been that long since he took the position of king and his hair was already beginning to turn gray. Heck, he was pretty sure that he had a few stands that were fully white by now. He now sympathized with his father and understood to some extent why he didn't do his job properly and left it to the nobles to make all the decisions. Being a king was stressful.

"No, this won't do. Go rest right now," Rui demanded. She was very concerned about his health and wanted him to go to sleep. Lentis was going to work himself to death if he didn't take a break.

"It's fine." Lentis tried to move away from Rui and go grab the report but she wouldn't let him.

"No, I'm not letting you look at that report until you have some rest."

"I'll go take a nap after I read that," he offered. That way both of them got what they wanted. It was a reasonable deal, but Rui disagreed.

"We both know that if you touch that report, you won't go to sleep any time soon. After you finish reading that, it will lead to something else, and then it becomes a whole chain of events." Rui knew him well and wasn't going to let him anywhere near that report until he rested first.

"Ugh... Fine, you win. Wake me up in thirty minutes. I need to read the report as soon as possible."

"Why not just leave it to me?" Rui suggested. For some reason, Lentis never asked for help when there were so many people who were free and willing to help him. "It's not like everything you do has to be done by you."

"I can't. You guys are all busy as well. Plus, it's my duty as the king-"

"Here you go again. What? Does all the work say that it has to be done by the king? I'm certain that most of them could be done by a normal person and that only a few of them actually require your attention."

Rui was right. In fact, she was spot on. Out of all the documents that he needed to review and sign, only a handful of them actually needed to be done by him. The rest could be given to anyone with the right amount of authority, like a commander or retainer for example. Now that the nobles were gone, there weren't as many people he could hand the work to, but there were still options nevertheless.

"You do have a point," Lentis grudgingly admitted. He wouldn't be so tired if he just had some people help him out with his work. "I guess I'll do as you say."

As much as Lentis hated the idea, his health wasn't the best right now and it wasn't exactly improving either. Taking a short break was probably for the best.

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