The totally not suspicious King

Finally it's the day of my audience with the King, I dressed in my best suit and got ready.

Before noon, royal guards came to my room to escort me to the great door of the throne chamber, where Eris, the king's trusted advisor, was waiting for me.

It's amazing to think of how much profit this woman has made from the family name she got when she married.

The Johansens have served the crown for generations, with their lineage going back to the founding of the kingdom, where their ancestor was already the right hand of the one who would become the first king, and for generations the Johansens have continued to serve the crown, and have rejected all titles that kings of past generations have bestowed upon them for years of service, except for a few that have managed to place them as marquises.

For her part, a young Eris, who knew all this and the Johansen's closeness to the king, approached a young Maximilian Johansen, with only one idea in her head, to take over the kingdom from the inside.

The past of Eris in the game is diffuse, they wanted to surround her with an aura of mystery and never reveals much, but what I have managed to get clear is the following, she is the ninth princess of a distant kingdom, ahead of her in the succession to the throne had 8 older sisters and 12 brothers, not counting cousins, bastard children, uncles, and other people with a minimum of royal blood who coveted the throne, so since her childhood she had to deal with assassination attempts, betrayals, lies, and everything related to a savage war for the throne of her country, although perhaps she could have taken the throne, she realized that it was too much work, and the kingdom in question was not so big, so she decided to go and conquer a kingdom for herself.

His target was Karris, the largest and most prosperous kingdom in the entire continent, so the first phase of his plan was to first approach the throne by marriage to the young successor of the Johansen family.

Her plan was going perfectly, the young Maximilian could do little against her charms, so the wedding didn't take long to arrive, then she revealed herself as a woman of an intellect and amazing capabilities, which earned her the trust of the former Marquis Johansen and the king, little by little she was gaining so much political power and influence, while leaving the kingdom more and more worn out, her plan was to increase the social inequality, to leave a people so exhausted that they would hardly be able to defend themselves from an invasion, an invasion that she would initiate and end with her own power, with the kingdom so tired after a war, she could take the throne.

But her plan failed in something she never thought possible, when she held her first child in her arms, all her desire for conquest was gone, the love that had awakened in her was against all her ambition, she had lost interest in being queen.

From that day on, he preferred to protect from the shadows the kingdom that his children would inherit, he created a network of information so precise that not even a fly could escape from it, but everything that happens continues to pass through his peculiar criteria, so knowing what to do, it is not so difficult to hide.

But the damage she caused to the kingdom was still there, she was never interested in repairing it, she believed that adversity created more capable people, so she preferred to leave things as they were.

Now, although the Johansens continue in their position as the king's right-hand man, Eris is also one of the king's main advisors, leaving no room for any change.

Already in front of the doors of the throne chamber, I looked at Eris.

Things have turned out well for you, haven't they? you may not have what you wanted, but you found happiness, I on the other hand, can't have any children, since no life can grow inside a witch.

(Eris) finally the time has come honey, I'll just give you a few tips for when you see his majesty, the poor guy usually talks to himself, so do not pay much attention to him.

Yes, of course, after what you did to him, that's not very surprising.

The guards opened the gigantic doors revealing the great throne chamber, Karris is a very prosperous kingdom, the richest and most developed of the continent, all that is reflected in this room.

Beautiful marble columns adorned the pathway, and on the walls hung paintings portraying the kings of the past. From both sides of the corridor, soldiers in gigantic armor were ready to protect the king in case of threat. The king, for his part, was siting on a great golden throne, adorned with precious gems and fabulous engravings.

King Thenerras Farlord Valarm Tirax Nix Zalasar XIII, that man with a leafy beard full of gray hair, his skin had an unnatural grayish tone, marked dark circles under his eyes, wore a black plate armor, and a thick velvety cloak, even despite his 67 years his body kept its shape, standing was an imposing man over 2 meters tall, whose mere presence commanded respect and fear.

Yes I know, it sounds like I'm describing the final boss of an rpg, but I can assure you that King Thenerras is completely harmless.

I approached the throne, and knelt down as a sign of respect.

(King) standing young man, now that we finally meet face to face, I wished I could see you, as this meeting could be our last.

Yes, I know, I know it sounded highly suspicious, but I assure you it is harmless.

I stood up and looked him square in the face, to which he smiled in a rather terrified manner.

(King) since I heard about your father, I wanted to bring him to me, it was a real pity about his death, but if he had obeyed me, perhaps he would still be alive at this moment.

Yes I know, I know it looks like he murdered my father, but I remind you that he never existed, and technically I killed him, so the king had nothing to do with it.

(King) So young man, I hear you want a title from my country? Tell me why I should give it to you?

At that moment Eris, who was next to him, interrupted him, and between whispers corrected him.

(Eris) my lord, it is we who wish to give her a title.

(King) ahh yes?

(Eris) Yes, we request your presence.

(King) for real?

(Eris) that yes, now continue with the naming ceremony.

Eris returned to her place and the king continued.

(King) is one more proof, that destiny smiles upon me to have you here today, now by the power vested in me, I, Thenerras Farlord Valarm Tirax Nix Zalasar XIII, hereby appoint you, Leon Lazaruz of Tarrazzca, Count of Karris. If among those present, anyone dares to challenge my authority, let him speak now and confront me.

No one in the entire room showed any hint of nonconformity, confusion perhaps, but not nonconformity.

At that the King let out a loud laugh.

(King) Very well, everything is going according to plan.

There is no plan, keep in mind that a minute ago he didn't even know what I came for

Eris approached the king again and whispered in his ear, and I returned to his place.

(King) Now, Count Lazaruz, because of your age, in order to have full use of the rights of your title, you have the duty to attend the royal academy, otherwise, I am afraid you will have to be revoked of your title and could even be exiled from the kingdom.

At that the king smiled again in a terrifying manner.

(King) and we don't want that to happen, do we? Or do you wish to share a fate similar to that of your already existing homeland?

And here it is...

(Leonora) no my lord, I promise you that I will wear the title you have bestowed upon me with great pride.

(King) I know you will, I hope you will, now you can go.

(Eris) my lord, I remind you that after his appointment, the crown organizes a great feast to present Count Lazaruz.

(King) ahh yes?

(Eris) yes my lord, besides he had been invited to stay in the palace so that he could enjoy our beautiful city.

(King) for real?

(Eris) yes.

(King) then Count Lazaruz, I hope you enjoy the party I have prepared for you, as the young people would say, it's to die for.

Again the king laughed uproariously.

Finally the ceremony concluded, I looked in the direction of the boxes where people were watching the ceremony, and I could see Aisha making a strange face, she was completely confused about what had just happened.

The party in my honor would be until the evening, so I decided to go back to my room in the meantime, soon after Aisha returned accompanied by Irma and Camille.

(Eris) umm Leo, what the hell was that?

(Leonora) the king of our country.

(Aisha) No, no, really, what the heck just happened? I have never seen anyone in my life who would drive my lie detection crazy.

(Leonora) do you know how your ability works?

(Aisha) What do you mean?

(Leonora) you can´t detect lies, you detect that someone is lying, which is different, if that person is sure that what they say is true, then your ability will not be activated, keep that in mind.

(Aisha) That doesn't explain anything to me, why was my ability turning on and off at every word of that man?

(Leonora) He's just a senile old man, don't pay much attention to him, he doesn't even know what he's saying.

(Aisha) Are you sure he's not planning anything bad? He looked incredibly suspicious.

(Leonora) don't worry about him, he's totally harmless.

(Aisha) Okay, if you say so, but it still seems very suspicious to me.

(Leonora) to everyone.

True, in the game, the King was the prime suspect in the murders, but in his defense, he was so, so suspicious, it was impossible for him to be the culprit.

The truth is that years ago, the king almost discovered Eris, so she was forced to make him stop being a threat, magic, drugs, hypnosis, I'm not sure the method she used, but when she finished, the king was in the lame state he is now, but when her plans changed, she never gave herself to the task of returning him to normal, because if he regained his sanity, he could prosecute her, and therefore, separate her from her children.

Now, few know the true state of his majesty, all others believe that the years have left him senile, and do not see the time when his only legitimate son succeeds the throne.

To all this, the king also has a bastard son, well, in reality it was not his intention not to recognize him as his son, it's just that a motherfucker took away his mental faculties, and the poor boy spent years accumulated hatred to the crown, or it should have been so, except that years ago, a person managed to make him be recognized several years earlier than it was supposed to be in the game.

Unfortunately, his status as a bastard son cannot be taken away from him by anyone.

Well, for better or worse I will have to see both today, Maxwell Zalasar, the crown prince, the game's capture target and the coward lion.

And Bruno Zalasar, bastard prince, the one who committed the crimes by Leonora's orders, secret capture target, and for lack of a better equivalence, the winged monkey? I don't know, I tell you that the relationship of the characters with the wizard of Oz, was made by the fans, and not all of them fit perfectly.

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As night fell, I was taken to the party of which I was the guest of honor, it seems that a Tarrazzca nobleman attracts more attention than you can imagine.

Today, Tarrazzca no longer exists, in the past the civil war ended with the nobility, but from there they were unable to have a stable government, in only 3 years they had more than 30 kings, monarchs, emperors, warlords, dictators, ect. Every so often a new madman would emerge with enough military power to stage a coup d'état, just to stay in power for a few weeks while the next madman arrived and overthrew him, in the end, they were conquered by the country next door, personally I think the inhabitants must have felt relieved.

For now, without me having anything to do with it, there is a rumor that my father was a cousin of the last king of Tarrazzca, and that he fled to Karris to save the royal lineage, therefore, now there are people who believe that I am the rightful successor to the throne of Tarrazzca and that someday I will return to claim what is rightfully mine, or something like that. Obviously nothing could be further from the truth.

Even, at some point during the party, Camille arrived very excited saying that she would be willing to help me reclaim my throne, the truth is, I'm more worried about the party not being attended by all the characters of the game, and shaking hands with dozens of people who want to win my favor, or do business with me, than worrying about stupid rumors.