Chapter 10: Delinquent and Kingdoms True Face!

The handsome king and his queen sat quietly in the beautiful throne room.

Around them, a beautiful display of elegance and regal aura filled the room. Servants milled about, cleaning the ornate golden vases, replacing old flowers with new ones, and ensuring the polished marble floor was always sparkling clean.

"How is her condition now?" the king asked his wife with a worried look.

"She is fine now, my love," the queen replied. "Our little princess is strong."

"I'm glad to hear that," the king said.

An enormous portrait of the couple hung on the wall, looking majestic and royal. The beautiful princess wore a fabulous silver dress. A few days ago, in the same room, they summoned dozens of outsiders as heroes to aid them.

Now, they watched four knights kneeling with respect.

"Knight Alan, you have worked hard for the kingdom." The king nodded his head.

"Your Majesty, I live only to serve Your Majesty," Knight Alan replied, kneeling.

Despite being a noble, Alan was a very faithful knight who loved the kingdom and his king with all his heart.

Thus, he is strict with the heroes when they appear to have no care and ignores the king's kindness in giving them time to adjust before laying on the actual task.

"How are those lovely new heroes?"

"They have some colourful characters this time. The amusing blond lad introduced himself with the funny act. Ho-ho-ho. Ryuji Vincenzo was it? Although his gaze was fierce, I felt a strong, stubborn will when speaking with him." The king rubbed his whiskers with a smirk.

Alan narrowed his eyes.

He had just met the boy, but his opinion of him changed entirely after today, though he was not a high-ranking hero. His sense of self-worth and his class and use abilities were excellent.

"He is a promising youth. Not only did he offer to help the non-combatant heroes become stronger. He only asked for two small copper each time he took them into the dungeon."

"Hmm? For you to speak so much, Alan. Do you like the boy?" the king asked.

Alan nodded, "My apologies, Your Majesty, I should not have digressed."

The king and queen exchanged a glance with a smile.

"Speak your mind, Duke Alan, my little cousin."

He also approved Ryuji's partner's permission to join him in eating hot meals. In return, they would have him help their knights once a week in low-level dungeons.

"Alan, is that tall kid really that interesting?" Dan asked, lighting a pipe.

"Oh? You want to meet him?"

The four knights walked down a beautiful hallway with a royal red carpet, golden framed pictures and beautiful artwork depicting the kingdom's history of 6000 years.

"I heard he has a giant stone axe and still comes in the top ten for the sprint. What kind of child can run a marathon without stopping in a single day and swing such a huge thing? How much can he lift?"

"Ho-ho-ho!" Alan laughed, "I don't know, but the princess has taken a liking to him despite the Holy Knight being such a rare class; he also seems to respect our ways and asked for a manual on etiquette... It's the FIRST time one of these kids has ever asked. It was rather amusing that he offered to pay, too!"

Another knight joined the conversation; she was female with long red hair and black armour. "The princess, huh? As her knight, I didn't realise."

"Haha, calmed down, Ange! He won't! Haven't you seen the partner he has? If she weren't a beastman, that girl is a top 5 rank beauty of the kingdom!"

"Tsk... men!"

"But it's a little hard, always pretending to be evil and bad, to weed out the weak-willed so we can help them settle down."

"I know..." Allen covered his forehead with a wry smile. "I pretended to kill a student on the first day, but luckily, that Ryuji kid intervened and saved the poor guy. He just didn't move or react!"

Dan nodded, "Ah, they always look at us with eyes of grudge as if to say. 'I'll get my revenge on you!' Then, one day, return and kill us all."

Ange snorted, "What kind of monster does that?"

"Your ex-boyfriend did that, didn't he?" Dan laughed.

"Hey!"

Alan stopped them by waving his hand. "All this talking is making me hungry. How about we go grab a bite?"

"Well, you saved us from having to help those newbie knights and the weaker heroes all the time. I hope the lad doesn't die..."

"Ryuji? Ah? Berserkers are scary because the closer they are to death, the more powerful they become. Not to mention, a berserker will heal faster. I think he will be fine."

Alan smirked as the knights entered the cafeteria for B rank and above, chattering into the night.

If the heroes knew of the truth or tried to find it, the future misfortune might never have happened.