Monarch's Rebirth: Chapter 37

Felix and I walked through the city to Wilkins' pub to have a meeting with him. We were recognized quite a lot as usual but luckily there were no more journalists.

We walked into the pub and it was packed inside. Many people were drinking and eating as we entered. All of their heads turned to us when we entered.

"It's King Artorius! He's come to the pub!"

"It's him! It really is him!"

How hard is it to have some private talk with your business partner?

I worked up a joyful smile from seeing the reaction of everyone as we entered the pub. Without saying a word I walked through the busy and crowded pub that just went quiet when I entered.

"Is Wilkins back?" I asked the waitress as I took a seat at the bar. She panicked as I took my seat and looked around her. "Y-yes! He came back today. He's just checking some stuff in the back."

"I need to talk to him. Could you bring him out here?"

"O-of course! I will go bring him!" She said, being completely flustered.

The waitress goes to the back while I sit and wait for Wilkins to come out. Felix takes his seat next to me and looks around the pub, amazed by the renovations.

"I haven't been here in a while. It's completely changed!" He exclaims in awe.

It was the first time I saw the pub fully packed. Usually I came here after closing time when everyone including the bard was gone. This time the bard was here and playing music while others listened along and drank to the melodic tunes.

"It has. I'm glad he's making good use of our money. It's taxpayer money." I replied back to Felix, gawking at the shelf in front of me with all the alcohol.

Not too long after the waitress left Wilkins came through with the waitress and a big smile was put on his face as he saw me.

"My lord! Welcome! It's been a while since we last talked. Come with me! Let's talk in private." He says with enthusiasm and excitement.

I smile seeing how cheerful he was from seeing me. "It's good to see you back, Wilkins. Lead the way. I actually should've brought Vincent with me but he had some work." I told him as I got up from my seat.

Wilkins looked at me with a surprised expression. "Vincent? The man that was helping me during the festival? I didn't know he worked for you!" He exclaimed.

A smug smile breaks from my lips as he realises Vincent's real work. "How come you're so ignorant of Vincent? He's the talk of the town apparently."

We walked into the backroom of the pub where the storage was. It had all kinds of liquor from wine to whiskey, a dreamy place for me!

There was a rectangular table in the room with one chair on one side and three on the opposite, perfectly set up for the amount of people that would be present.

Wilkins takes his singular seat. Felix and I take our seats opposite to him. I sat down facing directly at him while Felix sat on my left. "Do you want to wait for Vincent or do you want to talk now?"

"We can start now. I don't think Vincent's presence is that necessary for the business we would talk about."

I smile and nod in approval of his decision. "True, but he is necessary for our plans. He is our errand boy."

"Heh, errand boy." Wilkins scoffs. "It's better than nothing I suppose. He's hated by the public apparently. Poor guy."

I had sympathy for Vincent. The man just wants a simple and calm life with his family. Instead he's having to deal with his public image being torn.

"Well, back to business. I need to talk to you about how you're planning to take on this business."

Wilkins' thinks for a moment before answering. "It's quite simple. I have a recipe for wine and mead which I want to sell for a low price. The recipe is cheap so I would be making a profit when selling them at a low price. It will be the cheapest but the most exquisite alcohol."

Quite ambitious. But what kind of recipe is he thinking of?

"How much are you selling a bottle for?" I asked him. "One bottle of wine would be one gold coin. One bottle of mead would be twenty silver coins." He answered back.

The cheapest wine bottle would cost about five gold coins. It would be quite the price drop if he drops it below. It would sell well due to the price tag. Mead usually costs forty silver coins. He is selling for half the price.

"That is outrageous! And you have what it takes to charge only this much for premium quality wine?" I asked him, skeptical of his plan. "Would you like a sample?" He asked me with a cheeky smile.

I nod in response, "Yes. Let me determine if it's any good."

Wilkins gets up from his chair and walks over to an icy cabinet, used for preserving wine. He takes out a cold bottle and cracks it open before placing it down on the table.

"Taste it. If it's to your liking then it seems we have struck gold."

I picked up the bottle and gave it a sniff. The smell of mixed fruits nearly knocked me out from just the smell. It smelled just like the premium wine I had at Alaric's castle. "This smell… It's… familiar…" I muttered out.

"Go ahead. This is the first I made a few months prior as a test. I put it in here for ageing and I haven't taken it out since." He said with a big smile on his face.

Felix and I made eye contact as he looked at me with a skeptical glare. He was not so sure about the wine, but I was!

Without another thought I took a swig from the bottle and gulped down a mouthful of the wine.

The taste of wine exploded in my mouth and made me go blank for a moment. It was blissful and tasted like no other wine I had tasted in the past. It was different yet felt familiar, Nevertheless it was perfectly aged and preserved.

"Good god! This is really good!" I said licking the leftover wine on my lips. I handed it to Felix who didn't waste any time in drinking it. He took a small sip and was blown away from the taste.

"Oh my! This should be priced higher! How did you manage to make it for below one gold?" Felix said, bewildered by the price and taste of the wine. "It's a secret recipe~" Wilkins winks.

Suddenly I heard footsteps coming from behind us and a man walked through the doorway. The man would be none other than Vincent who came late.

"Sorry about my delay. I had to send a letter to my family. So what's the business?" Vincent says as he takes a seat next to me.

Felix slides across the wine bottle to Vincent who looks at it, confused by it. "What do you want me to do with it?" He asked. "Drink it. See how it tastes." Felix says with a joyful smile.

Vincent took a swig from the wine and had the same reaction that I did. "Lord Boreas! This is amazing!" He exclaimed while placing the bottle down roughly.

Wilkins had an arrogant smile on his face as all of us became surprised by his alcohol. "By all of your reactions I will assume you all liked it."

"Yes. Now how many can you make per month?"

If we really could make a profit off of this we need a lot of it all together. Since it's difficult to age wine it would probably be quite difficult in the beginning to sel. It might take months to begin selling.

"If we start today I can make a thousand bottles today and set it to age for a month. If we go by next month then we could have over thirty thousand bottles since I make a thousand bottles per day."

"Wait what."

The way he worded it confused me. What does he mean?

"I can make a thousand bottles per day. I let it age for a month. After the month is over we can sell it." He said it, emphasising on the more important details.

That makes more sense. "Sounds good. How much do you need to get started?" I asked him, hoping it won't be much.

"Five thousand gold coins. I need some fundings for this month only. From next month onwards we can start selling and making a profit." He said with a deceitful smile.

"This seems too good to be true." Amelia told me through telepathy. "I know. But he isn't lying for sure." I replied back.

I thought about it for a moment. Five thousand gold is something I could throw away but I would like to use that money for more renovation in the more rural sides of the kingdom. But this business deal can let me earn loads…

"Take whatever you want. It must all be business expenses and not personal expenses." I told him after more thinking.

He bursted into a fit of laughter as I agreed the deal with him. "Thank you so much! I can start paying you back for every coin next month."

Felix takes out some contracts and paperwork that Wilkins had to do before we made it official. "We still have business. Firstly this is the contract for five thousand gold that you will withdraw from my vault. Second is Vincent's contract. You can sign him for work for however long you two decide and an amount that you will pay him monthly."

I just had to make things more official with contracts. I could give him my word but contracts seem much safer, plus it's more professional that way.

"That's it for my side of the deal. Start your brand however you like. Just don't go bankrupt." I told him with a smile. I turned to Vincent and patted his shoulder. "And give this family man here a good salary."

Felix chuckles before getting up from his chair, knowing our work here is done. "I suppose we can leave the work contract with Vincent at your hands."

Seeing him I also got up from my chair. "I'll see you tonight. I haven't had a drink at your pub in a while."

Vincent nervously turns around as me and Felix take our leave. "W-wait! You're leaving so quickly?" He asked me. "Oh right. I forgot."

I walked back to them and picked up the bottle of wine again. "Thanks for this exquisite wine. I'll be taking it home." I said while taking the bottle of wine. Vincent shrieked, realising I wasn't going to stay with him to make his contract come out better.

We left Wilkins and Vincent to deal with their contracts and left the pub. Many had seen me holding a bottle of wine and were interested in which one I just took out of the storage room. It had no branding on it and was just a glass bottle.

"The wine is catching the attention of everyone. This is one way to market this." Felix said as we walked outside the pub. "It is." I simply reply

The sun was already setting as we walked outside the pub, surprising both me and Felix. "How long were we in there for?" I asked Felix.

"I wasn't sure but I wouldn't think it would be this long." Felix replied back.

The colour of the sky was mesmerising. The blue hue of the sky somehow mixed well with the white clouds slowly drifting off, being coloured by sunlight, causing it to have a pink tint. The sun's light that shined through covered the sky in an orange hue, mixing with the blue of the sky, adding onto the natural beauty.

We were stunned by the beauty of the sky and hadn't realised the people that were waving and saying hello to us.

"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?" Felix spoke out, finally getting some words out of his mouth. "It is…"

I still had to do some work on my own before going home though. "You can go back to the palace. I'll go talk with Kathlyn about our little plan." I told him with a reassuring smile.

Felix looked at me and gave a smile back. "As you say. I'm surprised you still remember her." Felix asked me.

I was taken back by Felix's words. "Pardon? What do you mean still remember her?" I asked him, skeptical of what he meant.

He sighs and shakes his head. "I guess you don't. I don't blame you, you were quite young."

"What are you implying?"

We both walked away from the doorway as some people came out of the door. "You and Lady Kathlyn were close when you were young, even went to the same academy. I'm sure she will talk more about the past."

Why this again.

"Wait… So that's why you call her Lady Kathlyn rather than just Kathlyn?"

"That and because of other reasons." He said with a wink.

I sigh a breath of displeasure. "Whatever. I'll come back later." I told him while walking away. Felix also walks away and makes his way to the palace.

"Make sure you know your limit! It will be really awkward later on!" Felix suddenly says as he walks away, catching me by surprise.

Without a witty comeback I chuckled and continued walking away with my hands in my pocket.

"Are we going to meet mama!?" Amelia exclaimed happily. "Yes. I need to talk to her about going to the party. It's in a week so I need her to be prepared."

"Woah, isn't that Master Artorius? He's been quite busy it seems."

"It's King Artorius now! He's quite the changed man now."

"He always looks so good! How is it possible!?"

Why are people so amazed at seeing me? It's like they are seeing me for the first time. They see me everyday.

The walk over to her shop was difficult due to how many people were waving at me and trying to ask me questions, or even sell me things. It was becoming quite annoying.

I turned the corner and walked down the road her shop was in. More people recognized me, some even fearing me because I slaughtered a noble here. It was humorous seeing the people's petrified faces.

We finally made it to her shop which seemed to currently be unpopulated, perfect time for us to talk!

I entered her shop and that familiar aroma of plants and nature wafted into my nose, taking me back for a moment.

Footsteps came from a doorway that was present in the room, covered by a curtain. Kathlyn came through the doorway, expecting to see a customer but hadn't realised it was me.

"Welcome to Watson's Garden! How may I help- Oh! Welcome your majesty!" She exclaimed as she recognized me. "Good evening, Kathlyn." I simply greeted her. She walked around the counter and walked over to me so we could speak.

Amelia as usual was excited to see her. She jumped down from my shoulder and ran up to Kathlyn within a heartbeat. "Oh~! Hello Amelia! How are you?" Kathlyn said as she picked up Amelia in her arms.

Kathlyn hugged her softly before taking her attention back to me. "I'm sorry! I was just distracted by Amelia."

"Heh, it's fine. Amelia is always like this with you so I've grown used to it." I told her with a comforting smile. "Anyways, I have this letter for you. Please give it a read."

I take out the letter from my pocket and hand it over to her. She held onto Amelia and took the letter and opened it. I remembered I still had the wine bottle in my hand and it still had some wine left.

She read the letter and held her mouth from shock. "O-oh my god! Am I really allowed!?" She asked me. "You were part of the nobility, you look pretty and you won't be a misfit." I reassured her.

Kathlyn is the perfect person to come with me to the party. I'm sure she has enough experience as a noble fallen from grace to know what to do at such parties. I'm only taking her there to not make Alaric suspicious of me.

She read the letter thoroughly and her eyes widened in disbelief and shock. She held her mouth shut with her hands. I stared at her blankly, waiting for her to say something.

"B-but isn't this going to cause more rumours for us?" She said in a panicked manner. "About that… It's fine if you wish to not come with me. It's just that you're the only other person I know that I can take to the party."

Her face was red from blushing. Her hands were shaking as she glanced back and forth between the letter and me in disbelief.

"N-no! It's nothing like that! Actually… it's the opposite. I would love to go with you!" She said with a huge smile.

Her smile caught me off guard and my heart skipped a beat. "W-well, that's great! Just remember that we have to act close, as if we are together. I hope you're okay with that."

"Well, I'm not a stranger to you. We've known each other since we were six!" She said while fixing her bangs.

I was reminded of what Felix had said back then about Kathlyn. "Yes. I'm sorry I forgot you when we first met. It's been way too long. You've also changed quite a lot."

I felt bad lying to her. It didn't feel right to lie about it. But there's no way she would believe me if I told her the truth.

Amelia kept hugging Kathlyn as we talked about the entire thing. She planned on not letting go that easily either.

"I want to stay with her longer! Can we~?" She told me through telepathy. "Ugh, I'm not sure. Let's see."

I accidentally let out a tired expression when replying to Amelia. Seeing my tired face Kathlyn seemed concerned. "Are you feeling okay? You seem tired."

She walked closer to me while putting away the letter I gave her inside her pocket. "I-I'm fine! Don't worry about it." I told her, hoping it would reassure her. "You don't seem fine at all."

Suddenly she caressed my face with her hands. Her hands were soft and had an odd sense of comfort in them…

"You really don't look fine. You have dark circles under your eyes, you know?" She said with a concerned look on her face..

"I know." I told her with a gentle smile, trying to not concern her further.

"Have you been sleeping enough?"

"I'm… not sure."

She sighs in disappointment. "You looked so happy back then… A lot happened, right?" She said softly.

"I'm… sorry for all of this… I need to get going…"

Her hands gave me a sense of relaxation for the first time in a while. Since the war I've felt quite pent up, even during baths which used to get rid of my fatigue in an instant. This is the first time I felt like this.

She stopped caressing my face "Do you want some tea? I can make some quickly!" Kathlyn said joyfully.

Deep inside I really wanted to, but I felt like I would be too rude.

"It's fine! It's not that bad. I'm just overworked with a lot of stuff happening. I'm still recovering from the war as well. Thank you for caring enough to be concerned though!"

She sighs a regretful sigh and looks back up at me with a happy smile. "Alright! That's fine too!"

"Well, I have to get going as usual. Thank you for accepting the invitation."

Amelia really didn't want to let go of Kathlyn but she reluctantly jumped back onto my shoulders. "Thank you for the invitation! I'll be looking forward to the party!"

Kathlyn seemed quite excited for the party. She also seemed fine to act like a couple with me too. Alaric should definitely not be suspicious of me now.

I walked out of the store and realised that it was already dark. Time seems to be going quite fast nowadays. "Let's get home and relax for the day." I muttered under my breath.

"Days feel much faster. So much to do, no?" Amelia said as I began walking back to the palace.

"It really is. Though even just simple tasks make time fly by so quickly."

A slight existential dread set in as I walked through the city, thinking about how my life is going to pass by so slowly. With the locomotive coming by smoothly and Wilkins' starting his business… everything seems perfectly in place.

I can lead a peaceful life from here on out.