Chapter 16: Royal Commision

Alice ended up telling Arthur everything the System had told her before she headed back to Cleo's place. When she got back, Cleo was up and about. Fortunately for her, Alice wasn't all that tired. The two stayed up late, doing a quick catch-up before doing other things. Alice woke up late in the morning, soon after Cleo would wake. After having eaten breakfast, the duo made their way to Clairs to see what commission she has for them now. " Good morning, Clair! What commission do you have for us today?" Cleo greeted Clair; she was full of energy this morning. Clair smiled warmly at them, " Good morning to you, too, both of you." Clair unpinned a paper from her bulletin board before handing it to Alice, though it looked different from the normal commission paper. "This commission is from the Crown Prince himself; he specifically asked for the Thousand Wars apprentice," Clair says with an odd smile, How odd indeed. " He wants you to guard him during the Subsequent Banquet, of course, it won't be just you two; he and the King will have multiple guards on constant lookout, but you two will be with him almost at all times during the event," Clair explained, This one shouldn't be too hard, like who would be stupid enough to try and assassinate the king or his son? " Did something happen? The Crown Prince doesn't normally keep personal guards with him during the Subsequent Banquet?" Cleo asked, This " Subsequent Banquet" sounds rather important. " A while back, when you two were away, there was an attempt on the Prince's life. Fortunately, if it failed, but the King is afraid there will be a second try during the event." Huh, she had seen him a couple of days ago, to think that someone really would make a move like that. " The Banquet is in three days, you've got some time to prepare. If you wish, you can head over to the palace and familiarize yourself with the layout," Clair says. Alice didn't need to worry about knowing her way around; she had the map(which she forgot was a thing when she first visited with Hana), so Alice decided to check in on Morningstar. Due to almost everyone on this planet knowing who he is, Clair has grounded him to his room, allowing him to only roam around the guild building at night when mostly everyone is gone aside from the employees, who don't seem to mind seeing him every now and again. Right now, he was lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling. " How are you doing?" Alice asked, and Morningstar tilted his head back to look at the two, "Bored, very bored. What about you two?" he asked. " We've been tasked with guarding the Crown Prince," Cleo answered, " Ah, guard duty for the young Prince, I've never met him. Being imprisoned and all," He reaches over to the plate on his table and tosses a sweet into his mouth. His room was rather empty, aside from the small pile of wrappers from all the kinds of foods he had been eating. They said their goodbyes as Alice needed to head to a smithy, or wherever it is one would go to acquire armour. From her last fight with the sub prisoner, she realized that going into a fight with no body protection was stupid. Hana not having any made sense, she was an immortal and had 100+ years of experience fighting, Alice had like a month total. Cleo led her to a shop that sold weapons and armour; the inside smelled like metals and was rather warm. On one side were the weapons, on the other, the armour. She took a look around the weapons section, though she didn't need one. The sword Arthur had given her was really good and still in decent condition, so she had no need for one, though having a second sword would come in handy. Nothing really appealed to her, so she joined Cleo, who was checking out the staffs. The armour section was a little bigger than the weapons. There were all kinds of pieces on display, some of them in a full set, while others were just one or two pieces. " Is there anything in particular you're looking for?" asked the lady, who wore what looked like an apron, but it was probably a smith's apron or whatever; her face had smudges of black, and her hands were particularly covered. " Nothing in particular, I just need a good set of armour." The Smith lady walks over to a simple-looking set and turns back to Alice, " Based on what I can tell from your build, this one here should do fine." Alice joins her and carefully looks at the set she had picked out. Alice had no idea if it was good or bad; she did, however, know that it looked pretty good. It was a simple, made from a metal of some kind, so it had a dull metallic color. It was priced at around 350 gold coins, an amount that she didn't have. " Obviously, I'd have to make some adjustments for you, so if you want, I can hold on to it for later?" The smith lady said, eyeing Alice up and down, seemingly getting measurements or whatever it is she'd need. Alice agreed to this and left with Cleo, who hadn't bought anything either. Alice had nothing else to do for the rest of the day, so she helped Cleo clean the house before going back to doing nothing. The next day, they received a package from the palace, which was uniforms. They bore the colors of the royal family: dark orange, white, and a purpleish blue. The note that came with the uniforms read that they were magic-enchanted, which meant they doubled as armour. How thoughtful. Alice and Cleo checked in on Morningstar. Soon enough, the day of the event arrived. They were to be there a little earlier than the guests, so Alice set an alarm, which she woke up to, but Cleo did not. They were able to get in thanks to the official uniform. When they reached the inside of the palace, Cleo looked around, amazed. This was probably her first time having been inside. Using the map, Alice was able to navigate them to the Crown Prince's room, where she would knock on the door and wait. It would be rude if she just barged in, after all. " I'll be with you in a moment!" Valkus shouted from within. The duo stood on either end of the door, and soon enough, the doors opened. Upon seeing the Prince, Cleo bowed, but Alice wasn't sure if she was supposed to do so or not, so she didn't. He wore a much more refined suit compared to last time, his hair combed back. Before they could set off, the sound of footsteps resounded in the halls behind them. Coming into view was an old man, but judging from Cleo's small(but noticeable) gasp, it was the King. Following Cleo's lead, Alice knelt as he approached his son. "I see you're ready, son," the King spoke. Alice glanced up at the two. Valkus looked annoyed at something, but he kept a smile on his face. The king walked away, and his deep purple coat flowed behind him as he walked. Valkus took a few steps forward before aggressively exhaling, " Stand up, both of you," he snarled. Was that what annoyed him? That we knelt before the King? She wanted to ask, but she held her tongue. They escorted Valkus to the room where the event would be held. When they arrived, it was mostly empty, aside from the maids and servants getting everything ready, setting tables up, and putting dishes onto the long table. They had entered from the side doors; the front of the room was where the guests would enter from, and directly across from it was where the King and his son would be eating, along with their guests. Soon enough, the guests began pouring in, servants walked around the crowd with a tray of wine glasses filled with a redish wine. The room would become crowded with people, and the sound of chatter would bring the room to life. The duo followed Valkus around as he walked, occasionally stopping to talk to someone. He would eventually make his way over to the table to grab a paper plate and toss small slices of meat, cheese and other such things on before moving off to the side, " You don't need to stand guard over me while I eat, go do something else until I call you back," he snapped, still clearly pissed. Throughout the whole time guarding him, his mood remained sour, only lightening when talking to someone, and Alice NEEDED to know why. So while Cleo was about to walk away, she asked. "What's wrong?" she asked him as he tossed a cheese cube into his mouth. He sighed as he chewed. "I'm sorry, it's nothing you two did. I'm...not a fan of when people bow to me or kneel for my father; it feels wrong. And this whole event is stupid, but I understand why it's held," He admits. To this, Alice couldn't help but smother a laugh, causing Valkus to smile a little. " What is this event for, anyway?" Alice asked; she knew what it was called, but not what it was for. To her, it just seemed like another lunch. Valkus had cleared his plate pretty quickly, so he decided to get more. " This event is to strengthen relations with other Kingdoms, the Kings and Queens of those Kingdoms are here, along with many different nobles, my father is gonna talk to them about the future of Calriva," He answered. A little later, Valkus headed over to his table and sat off to the side, his father was seated in the middle, where others were next to him, aside from one seat to his right, where the Queen would sit. Behind Valkus was a smaller table supposedly for his guards. Cleo took her seat while Alice remained standing. " My my, if it isn't the little Immortal," mused a voice from beside Alice, startling her. It was Lady Astar." Sit, sit," She gestures to the empty seat in front of Alice, " I would love to, but I can't. I've been assigned over there," Alice points over to where Cleo was seated, and was currently eating. She bows lightly and heads over to sit down. She wanted to take Lady Astar's offer but didn't want to leave Cleo alone. Once everyone settled down, the King stood and began with a welcome speech, going on about how he was thankful everyone managed to make it or whatever she really wasn't listening. Alice would be startled again when a chair is pushed to their table. Lady Astar sets her plate and glass down before taking a seat. Alice and Cleo were confused. Cleo looked more nervous and scared. " I wasn't intruding, I hope?" Alice shook her head. She couldn't just tell her to go back to her table; it would be rude, plus Alice was fine with it. " I take it that this one here is the friend you mentioned last time," Lady Astar asked, pointing her fork at Cleo, her face tinted red slightly as she smiled sheepishly. Alice told her about what had happened in Ko'An, but kept the part about Morningstar out of it; she wasn't sure how Lady Astar would take to finding out a potentially dangerous individual is still in the kingdom. " So they've hit Ko'an Prison, too, huh?" Lady Astar asked, confusing both of them, " The one who freed Morningstar was most likely an Elder of the Valued one." Cleo nearly choked on her food upon hearing of the disciples. Alice had never mentioned anything about the disciples, much less an Elder. She lets out an amused laugh before, " I know many things, little Immortal. I have tabs on the disciples and what they've been doing. Recently they've been the cause of, now confirmed two, prison breaks, and in both occasions they've gone for highly dangerous individuals who might aid them in their end game." Lady Astar explained. The second Kingdom hit by the disciples was Kharon, where some dude was freed. The conversation drifted away from the disciples to other things. Alice noted that many people came up to both the King and Valkus to speak to them before heading back to their tables. Everything seemed to be going alright. 

                                                                -NEW MAIN QUEST-