CH.365 Meeting the King

CH.365 Meeting the King

Finally, the day had come. The day I would meet the King, and after that I could move HomeBase out from above the capital and do whatever I really wanted. ... aka. I’d probably take HomeBase towards Alewatch, at least temporarily, so we could do some dungeon diving in TinaWood, while also visiting a few of the surrounding towns like Yuva and Krame.

But enough about future plans, I have to get through today first. And it wasn’t just me who had an important meeting to get to, because both Alice and Lua had been invited to have tea with Her Majesty the Queen. I don’t know why she decided the same day as when I was meeting her husband was a good day for that, but I’m not going to question the Royalty.

As a preparation for this day, yesterday, I met with His Highness Prince Elias. He gave me a quick rundown on what should happen and so on, but also warned me that his Father might go off the script at some point, so I should expect something that he couldn’t warn me about. Not that I’m one to say anything about that. I’m also as impulsive as anything.

Of course in preparation for the meeting, I put on a suit. And not my old one, but a new one Wilma made for me. I didn’t know she had the skills to do that, but apparently she does. Something about armor making requiring sewing skills. The new one wasn’t amazing by any means, I mean, I didn’t let her use legendary materials for it or anything, but it was higher quality than my previous one, so it is fine. I had also upgraded the color from brown, which is usually seen as the cheapest, to a nice black color. I definitely prefer black myself, and being able to produce fabrics that are pure black, not some wannabe black, made for a good looking suit. I think the gold terminal on my revealed left forearm also just goes super well with the black suit.

On my right arm, I had a bracelet made of just gold, but it had a beautiful magic stone embedded in it, made/converted by Alice and Lua, with some help from Dark Sage. I really liked having it, because it was a clear sign that I was taken.

For my ride, I was of course in my own carriage. I actually ended up making another copy of it using HomeBase, just so Alice and Lua also have a carriage for today.

But because I was heading for the castle, I wanted to have a horse pulling my carriage. Sadly, I can’t summon just a horse. I mean, I have Nightmare Horse, which is a bit too scary. I also have Chiron the Mage and Mystic Horseman, but having a centaur pull my carriage might be a bit egotistical. And The Trojan Horse really isn’t an option because of its size.

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I did consider using Shrink to shrink down The Trojan Horse, but even after halving its size with Shrink, The Trojan Horse was still too large to pull a regular sized carriage.

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But when you can’t use your own cheats to do things, you just have to go with the old reliable. Ask for help from someone else. In this case, Cressida. She used a carriage every day to get to the castle, and hers used regular old horses. So with just a bit of help from her, I was acquainted with a coachman who owned horses. I hired both him and two horses for today, and while I could have also loaned a carriage from him, I obviously have my own, so I just used it instead. I visited him yesterday, just to make sure he can attach the carriage to the horses, and I also showed him how my magic carriage works in case he wants to lighten the load on the horses. Not that my carriage is that heavy in the first place, especially if I turn the levitation thingy on that lifts the box off of the frame. At that point, all the horses would have to pull is the base, which is mostly blood iron, except the axles that are vampiric steel. Sure it had some heft to it, but nothing much for trained carriage horses.

After arriving at the castle gates, the carriage was checked like last time, aka. they checked who was inside. I still wonder how little security they really have at the castle. Just a letter and my noble’s ID and they let me in no problem.

I was dropped off at an entrance to the castle itself. Not the front door, but a side entrance. I left the carriage in the care of the coachman, and headed inside with a civil official who had come there to get me.

From there, I was guided to a waiting room. It was nice enough, but nothing really special. Some snacks and drinks were also available. The official then left, after asking me for the gift I had prepared for the King. I handed him the magic fanny pack with some TinaWood products inside of it. It also had a similar dagger as the ones I gave to the Queen and Nevelle, as well as five of the resurrection bracelets. I decided to go with five because ... I actually don’t really know why. I just think it was a good number.

After a bit of a wait, two guards came in and performed a basic search on me. Again, nothing super invasive, just making sure I had no weapons on me. I still question this security. I mean, I meating the King, and they don’t even use some sort of skill sealing device. And sure they checked me for weapons, but the dungeon terminal can turn into a weapon, and that should be commonly known. And you don’t need a weapon to cast magic either. Well, maybe they have something else that solves the security problem.

After the check, the guards left and I was left in the room with just a maid. I asked her for some tea while I waited, and she called out to someone else to bring me some.

And while I waited, I got in contact with Alice and Lua. They were still preparing for their tea time with the Queen, so I didn’t bother them for too long. So instead, I pulled up my Pack Opener and decided to crack open a few more Cyberdark Impact packs.

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CDIP 1

Snipe Hunter, Allure Queen LV3, Barrier Statue of the Heavens, Barrier Statue of the Drought, Man Beast of Ares, Stray Asmodian, Level Down!?, Instant Fusion, Allure Queen LV5

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CDIP 2

Abaki, Barrier Statue of the Abyss, Alien Infiltrator, Combo Fighter, Blast Asmodian, Alien Mars, Chain Detonation, Corruption Cell "A", Rampaging Rhynos

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CDIP 3

Barrier Statue of the Heavens, Justi-Break, Linear Accelerator Cannon, Chain Strike, Queen's Bodyguard, Alien Infiltrator, Chain Detonation, Blast Asmodian, Blasting Fuse

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CDIP 4

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“Hello Brian. Sorry to barge in.” He set the tone for the conversation.

“Don’t worry about it Elias. ... is that fine that we keep this casual?” I asked to confirm. I know he was casual, but we are inside the castle, so maybe I should call him with honorifics?

“We are friends, right?” Elias asked. “Just call me like you would any other friend.”

“Elias it is then. So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Nothing much really. But I did want to know. You gave both His and Her Majesties some interesting bracelets. Why didn’t I get any?” He asked.

“Because I hadn’t made any when I met with you after I arrived in the capital, and I wanted to give all the ones I had ready to His Majesty, so I couldn’t have given you one yesterday.” I answered him honestly. Well, mostly honestly. I could have made him one, I just wanted the King to obtain one before his son got one. “I can make a few and have Cressida bring them to you, if you’d like.” I then offered.

“Yes. Please do.” Elias agreed. “... and what of the knives made of Ursa Major’s claws? Would ..?”

“Nope. Not possible.” I quickly said. “I’m out of materials.” I lied. Honestly I just wanted to keep the rest of the Ursa Major claws for making star titanium.

“... I see.”

“But I might have something else, if you give me a bit of time.” I offered. “See, and I know this isn’t on official record so this is just between the two of us, just a few days ago, Alice, Lua and I happened to take down a Fenrir, so I have some interesting materials from it.”

“A ... A fenrir? Like an SS-rank fenrir, and not a lesser fenrir?” Elias asked.

“Yeah. An SS-rank Fenrir.”

“... Where? When?”

“As I said a few days ago. The location was near the Ruiso and Narra border in an uninhabited area. If you have a map, I can show the exact location.”

“... I do not see the need to know the exact location, as long as you ensure everything is fine.”

“Yeah, we didn't break anything other than a few trees, and I made sure to fix the forest afterwards.”

“Good. You really go above and beyond. ... as for making something for me ... Would you?”

“Yes. I might be able to make something of it. Is there something you prefer? A staff? A sword? A dagger? Maybe armor?” I asked.

“... We are friends, right? A friend will accept any gift, so I’ll let you choose.” Elias said.

“Alright. I’ll make something amazing.” I agreed. “What do you think your brother would like?” I then asked.

“... My brother?” Elias asked.

“Yes. I don’t think giving just one of you something would be a good idea. While I understand our friendship, in the eyes of the other nobles, that might be shown as me picking sides, so I’d prefer to stay at least somewhat neutral for now. I don’t know your brother, after all.”

“Yes. Better not to judge someone you don’t know.” Elias agreed. “... My brother is quite the fan of hidden weapons like sword canes and wrist daggers. Perhaps one of those?” Elias suggested.

“Thanks. I’ll see what I can do.”

Elias and I spoke for a little longer, mainly him asking if I’d take him dragon riding again, as well as him asking questions about HomeBase. I of course told him that I’d soon be revealing HomeBase, and I was going to invite him.

After our discussion, the civil official said that the King would not be having an unofficial meeting with me, so I was guided out of the castle, and I left the castle grounds.

I think it went okay. I didn’t even piss anyone off, and now I have a new project to work on with Wilma. Though I have to say, I really wasn’t expecting to work on a sword cane. I think it will be a fun project.