Chapter CLXXIII - The King of Veldonia (part 1)

The large gate was opened, and our carriage went inside.

There are only three of us that entered, including Egile, the knight captain. And there will only be the three of us until the end of this meeting, so it was very important as to who will be the one to guard the princess.

Everyone who didn't know me was very confused at first as to why I am the one going with the princess, but then Valon explained the reason.

"She is the captain of a White ranked adventurer squad. All of you have any objections, go ahead and spar with her."

Out of everyone, Jonus objected, obviously. So he sparred with me for a little bit. 

He was rather annoyed that I was viewed so highly by everyone, possibly because he did not know how much I have grown from just one and a half years since we last met.

He lost very easily, but he kept on trying to get back up. It was quite funny to remember.

And now, here I am, alone with the princess in the carriage. This might seem stress inducing for any man to be alone in the same carriage as a princess who is so beautiful, but there are way more stress inducing things happening outside, which made me extremely calm right now.

I turned to Lescia to see how she was doing, and I found her looking extra worried and scared. This might be a bit cheesy, but I grabbed her hand to take her attention away from her mind.

She turned to me, slightly startled.

"Hey, don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you. You can bet on it."

"Emm... Right, it's not that I am doubting you, but… can you handle all the dangers?"

… So that's what she was worrying about?

"I don't want to be too much of a burden for you… so if it does get really dangerous, please just escape without me--"

"Hey. I won't do that. I absolutely won't do that."

She asked carefully, but I simply tilted my head and I grinned. 

She is… more worried about me than herself. How can someone like her still exist in this cursed world…?

"I'm being serious… can you truly… handle the dangers?"

She asked with care, but she is slightly agitated that I took this whole situation rather not seriously. But the thing is, I am taking it seriously. It's just that it was so easy that I am basically overly fitting for this role.

So, can I handle the dangers?

"Easily."

I said with the same wide grin, and Lescia chuckled a little.

From inside the carriage, we can hear some people screaming outside. The entire path has been opened by the knights, while the people around us are screaming.

Lescia and I quickly turned our attention to the outside of the carriage, and it seemed like we arrived on a rather wide road connected to a plaza.

There are… a lot of people.

"Please!! Put an end to this!!"

"Save us!!"

"Help us! Please!!"

Hearing the screams of help from these people, Lescia shudders. 

She hasn't been to Veldonia, and she had no idea it was this terrible. Truthfully, I had no idea it was this bad.

I was here a long time ago, and it wasn't like this back then. The crimes of the kingdom were hidden, and the people still suffered. But, this is beyond normal. It is weird that no one has put up a rebellion yet. Or maybe they have, but got annihilated, such as the case from years ago when I was here.

"This is horrible…"

Lescia said as she lowered her head away from the window. I turned to her, and found her expression darkening once more.

"Hey. Just say the words."

I said to her, and she turned her gaze back to me. I grinned again this time while tilting my head slightly towards the window. And as expected, the princess understood what I was trying to say.

"Rize. Can you… save these people?"

I was tilting my head towards the window, specifically towards the people who were shouting at us. Lescia knows what I meant by that, but she understood it even better thanks to her eyes of truth, and she can see that I am very confident that I can do it.

Looks like I have extra work to do later on.

After the long trip, the carriage stopped, and we took a gaze outside from the window.

This is the bottom of Veldon's famous super tall tower that even reached the skies. The house of the royal family, similar to Mazino's middle castle or Xyphon's floating island.

We stepped out of the carriage, only to find knights surrounding us. One of them, a woman wearing full body armour with some of her cleavage opened came to us and bowed.

I paid no attention to any of them because I was facing straight upwards, trying to see the very top of the tower from the bottom. Lescia noticed that I was sightseeing and paid no attention, and she quickly slapped my shoulder.

"Princess of Mazino. Allow me to escort you to the king."

The knight lady with the full body armor said coldly, and without waiting for answers, she then turned around and headed towards the entrance. 

Lescia gulped down her saliva and followed behind her, and so did I.

ZRING!!

Before I could even walk far, multiple spears appeared right in front of me, stopping me from moving forward.

"Only… the princess."

The knights said, but then I glared at them.

"I am going with her."

The lady knight on the front turned around to see the princess, and the princess stared at her with a cold expression.

"Fine, let her come. The driver must stay."

Hearing that Egile is staying made him quite taken aback. I glared at him and grinned stupidly, and he quickly looked quite annoyed. I went inside, following Lescia and the knight lady.

We entered the lobby, where we could see a few people waiting by the door. Some of them are knights, but the rest aren't exactly wearing armour. They had colorful and diverse outfits, similar to adventurers, but much more shiny and conspicuous.

Rankers.

From their strengths alone, I can tell the ones that are in this lobby are high ranking ones. Rankers don't wear badges, but there is a way to identify their ranks. That is, by their pressures.

Rank one to three, huh…? Or so I assume. Because each one of them is already stronger than a Yellow ranked adventurer.

They are waiting inside the lobby, and they are all holding their weapons. They are purposely showing off to scare us, by showing off their weapons and all. 

I peered my eyes through them, and I recognized some faces.

Standing near a giant flower pot that was made out of stone are Elbrado and Merida. The two are always unseparated, and they have always stuck together as rank 1s. Meanwhile, sitting on top of the flower pot's wall is a guy I know very well.

Prym.

His gaze fell at me, and he immediately turned to shock. Seeing his expression, I noticed immediately what I have to do.

I grinned widely like a maniac at him, with both my eyes opened wide and curled my lips. I tried looking as crazy as possible with this expression, and from his reaction, it seemed to be working.

Long time no see… care for another round?

"Hik... Hiiii--!!!"

"Prym? What's wrong?"

Prym begins panicking as if having PTSD, but Elbrado and Merida shut him up immediately. Meanwhile, the other rankers around us began talking about him.

"Oh god, is his PTSD attacking again?"

I listened to their conversations, and it looked like Prym's mental state was wrecked after he met me.

Good…

Meanwhile, Lescia noticed that I was hiding an evil grin. She immediately felt scared as to what cruel things I was scheming.

We arrived at the very back side of the front hall, and the knight lady stepped into a room that was in front of us. The floor's tile looked like it was made out of metal, and I can see that there's a bunch of mechanisms behind this room.

"Hop in. This will take us to the king's room."

Me and Lescia stepped inside the room, and the door behind us quickly got closed. The ground started moving upwards, and taking us to the higher floors.

Lescia lost her balance slightly, and I helped her stand straight again. The knight lady looked like she was about to laugh, but then I quickly said something to divert her attention.

"So, it's an elevator."

I mumbled, and she immediately turned to me very quickly.

"That... is the correct name."

The knight lady mumbled, and I quickly got excited. Looks like they have some of my world's technology. That, or this is a very different concept, but only the same name.