The Immortal Player

Soon, they arrived at the front gate of the castle. At this moment, Pedro can't help but gasp as he glanced upon the castle that was beautifully covered by vines. Its roof was made of bricks—where giant magic crystals were embedded and illuminate the surroundings with bluish light be it day or night.

The thick green vines extended from the roof to the ground—running along the sides of the runic formation written in the castle's walls. And from the ground, the runic formation extended to the pillars scattered around the castle with magic crystals placed on top of it.

On the other hand, Neerak Axutar and the three village soldiers from Axutar Village were mesmerized by the elegant and luxurious view from the outside. They can't help but stood in awe, thinking how rich and powerful the Tarala Kingdom is.

"One, Two, Three… How many Magic Crystals are in this place?" Neerak Axutar asked in amazement. "Isn't it that Magic Crystals costs around two gold coins each? Our village only has five Magic Crystals—that was even only enough to be used to power the Teleportation Portal!"

Pedro frowned as he glanced towards Neerak Axutar and asked, "Is this the first time you saw a Royalty's Castle? Aren't you the son of a village chief? Shouldn't you have seen this a couple of times already?"

The other NPCs could not help but stare at Neerak Axutar—waiting for his answer. Thus, Neerak Axutar could not help but force out a smile and said, "Yes, Sire Aron! This is, indeed, my first time seeing the royalty's castle of the Tarala Kingdom this close from outside. Ever since I was young, Father and I went here—the Tarala Kingdom, to seek talented people who would be willing to reside in our village. Since that day, I was intrigued by the light coming from the roof of the royalty's castle. It is only until now did the question I had in mind--since my childhood days, was answered."

Klader Morphus chuckled in response. Then, he said proudly, "Of course, it is only natural that only a few people would be able to see the real beauty of the Royalty's Castle of the Tarala Kingdom. Its perimeter is heavily guarded by the Royal Knights—hindering anyone from getting close to the castle. If you don't have authority, an invitation, or an acceptable reason why you are within the castle's vicinity, the Royal Knights would take you down without hesitation. So, no one dares approach this area and create trouble."

Before they could even gather themselves, Klader Morphus smirked as he waved his hands to the two Knights—who were standing by the gates leading to the Tarala Kingdom's royal castle. Then, he said, "They are all with me!"

"Sire Klader? What's the meaning of this?" One of the Knights asked.

"What do you mean?" Klader Morphus frowned in response. Then, he said, "They are important guests of our Kingdom. Based on our protocol, I must bring them immediately to the King as soon as possible. So… I would like to ask one of you to guide us directly to the King."

"Guide?" One of the two Knights asked. "You should think first whether we would let you into the vicinity of the Royal Castle, what much more helping you guys find his majesty! So… Stop daydreaming!"

"Eh?" Klader Morphus went towards the Royal Knight and said, "This is an urgent matter requested by Sire Aron! It must be done immediately!"

"So what if it was requested by whomever!" The Royal Knight said, unyielding. Then, he continued, "I apologize Klader, but… The entry of anyone is prohibited until the end of the Annual Conference. It is his majesty's order a few days ago."

"But…" Klader Morphus was about to argue with the Royal Knight but Pedro interrupted him by placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Let me handle this," Pedro said, smiling towards Klader Morphus. Then, he glanced towards the Royal Knights and bowed, saying, "Great Knights of the Tarala Kingdom, I am Aron Death. The Captain of Karakoa fleet from the Bearth Human Organization. May I humbly request an audience with his majesty and talk about our fight against the sudden increase of monsters?"

The Royal Knight simply sighed in response and said, "Forgive me, Sire Aron! His majesty had given us an order to restrict anyone from entering the vicinity of the Royal Castle until their conference is finished. As a Knight serving directly under the King, we are to follow his orders at any cost—even if it required us to sacrifice our lives just to fulfill our duties."

"I see…" Pedro said in a calm demeanor. After a few seconds, Pedro rubbed the back of his head and said, "If that's the case, then we could only come back when His Majesty is accepting visitors already."

"Thanks for your understanding, Sire Aron!" The Royal Knight said, seemingly relieved that Pedro did not make things more complicated to them.

"This… Sire Aron?" Klader Morphus could not help but feel embarrassed towards Pedro. He knows that Pedro was an important Person—akin to another visiting King. Thus, he did not want to give up in trying to set Pedro a meeting with their King.

Unfortunately, Pedro seemed like he was firm on his decision already. So, Klader Morphus had no choice but to rub the back of his head and follow Pedro's decision instead. 

"Is there a problem, Sire Klader?" Pedro asked with a faint smile.

Klader Morphus could only force out a smile in response and say, "No, No, No! There's no problem, Sir Aron! If that's your decision, then I could only do my best to serve you, sire, on behalf of our King!"

"You have my thanks, Sire Klader." Pedro said, "However… For now, I would like to check the Kingdom on our own. Check the shops and see if we could find something that would pique our interest."

"I-If that's what Sire Aron wants…" Klader Morphus said in an embarrassed tone. "Then, I would humbly respect your decision. But in case you needed something from me, please don't hesitate to look for me at the Teleportation Hall. It would be my honor to serve you, respected Sire!"

"I will!" Pedro said as he nodded towards Klader Morphus before he turned around and glanced towards Neerak Axutar and the three village soldiers from the Axutar Village. Then, he said, "Let's go grab some food to eat. I know that you guys haven't eaten anything yet since afternoon, yesterday."

The four NPCs did not speak. That said, their happiness could be seen through their eyes—where tears had even started to fall as if the gods and goddesses had sent a blessing towards them.

On the other hand, Pedro could not help but force out a smile in response. He can't help but slap his face deep inside, thinking, 'Why am I so stupid! I just forgot to feed a child! If this was in real life, I would have been charged with child abuse by the people.'

As they left, Pedro stole a glance back to the Royal Castle and thought, 'Anyway… The King is dead. So does everyone else inside that castle—probably including everyone in that conference. What's suspicious though is that these so-called Royal Knights were acting too calm despite hearing no news from their King for several days already.'contemporary romance

Then, he shifted his attention back to the four NPCs who were happily drooling in front of him, and thought, 'Whatever is with those Royal Knights is not my problem. Sooner or later, the truth would be revealed. Whether they were related to the death of the King and the other royalties or not, we'll know about it in a few more days. It's best for us to lay low at this moment and wait for the rabbit who ate the carrot to come out of the hole. By that time… It would be easy for us to steal the throne from the rabbit.'

Pedro smirked which Neerak Axutar was able to notice. Thus, Neerak Axutar could not help but frown in response and ask, "Tssss… Sire Aron, why are you smiling? Don't tell me that your mind is changing?!"

Hearing what Neerak Axutar said, the three village soldiers could not help but force out a smile in response as they glanced towards Pedro—seemingly waiting for his reply. At the same time, their stomachs growled, making Pedro laugh.

Pedro simply shook his head as he calmed himself. Then, he said, "What are you saying, young man? I am a man of my word. We will definitely eat first before anything else. It's just that I am also looking forward to the delicious food available in this Kingdom. So… I can't help but smile—thinking that we are about to have a good time, while the other teams are very busy doing their task."

"Hahaha! We are just lucky that the King is not available at this moment!" Neerak Axutar chuckled, "It's not our fault that we are 'unfortunate'! Hahahaha!"

Pedro simply forced out a smile towards them in response. Soon, they arrived at the bustling market and the four NPCs immediately run towards the nearest food stall that they were able to see. They bought pork skewers that costed a few bronze coins each. Then, they rushed back towards Pedro and gave him a stick of pork skewer.

"Thanks for the food!" They said in unison as they chowed down their food.

done.co