Master Of None

They all chatted idly as Laurence cleaned things up, Elise with her order to finish things up used her soaring assimilation skill to fly up and completely destroy the flame doll with Stella. The two were in pretty good coordination and Walker wondered if she had really avoided practicing the skill while they were all underground. Seeing her use the skill and quickly withdraw it Ribbolt was proud of the young tamer learning to control her mana. However he refused to let this show even a little on his face to keep up his strict persona. He couldn’t have them thinking he had gone soft on them. 

After a bit more time Laurence and Elise guided the party to another building, Ribbolt had headed back to the caverns with a few shooing motions not wanting to talk any longer. He was definitely a rough kind of person but after hearing a bit about him from Laurence and how Ribbolt had worked to build himself to this point no one could say a mean thing. The smaller stone building had plenty of beds and communal areas, it seemed to be a general sleeping and resting place for the Tamers. This was because many of the Tamers only stopped here to rest and would often be back out on a quest or traveling soon. The only members that would stay long term were the newest members of the guild which needed to learn the ropes and the members that helped care for the large property. 

Not a single one of them had realized just how tired they were until their heads hit the pillows, sleep took them almost instantly. Midnight seemed to still be caught in though and had fallen asleep resting her head on Walker while thinking of the flames she had seen at the forge. Her dreams were filled with her own hopes for power and strength. 

Hearing a commotion the party was brutally awoken by the noise. For some reason there were plenty more tamers running around than usual, wanting to see what the commotion was. Walker quickly started to shake awake the others. Remey was the hardest to get moving, the constant moving on the trip had pushed her harder than expected and her body was trying to reclaim the lost hours of rest from staying watch at night. But once she realized things were busy around them she was able to put it aside and help getting Gil and Su awake. Midnight had gotten up with Walker and Onyx was fine in his tattoo form wrapped around Walker. Luckily Onyx was kind enough to now avoid sleeping on Walker’s face. He could only imagine what the tamer’s would say seeing him covered in tattoos. 

They all rushed outside to see a large group of guards standing at the entrance to the tamer’s guild. The party was able to guess why they were there after yesterday’s event at the gate. The same demi-human man was in attendance with more guards and one very large guard that had a muscled arm pattern on the chest of his armor. It would seem that he was the guard in charge. Laurence had already arrived at the gate speaking with them explaining something, easily arriving next to him Walker could hear that he was refusing to let them in to meet with the party. ”Laurence no need to worry, we all just woke up and came to see the commotion. Thank you for trying to let us sleep more, we were pretty tired from out journey.” Walker said this last part for two reason, one to properly thank Laurence for being a kind friend and second, to show those who had come to see them that they were in an unhappy state having been woken earlier than they needed. This could make their visitors more apologetic and help the party a bit. 

”Hello and good morning emissaries of the Crystal kingdom. I have brought an escort today to invite you to the castle of our king. He has been notified properly of your arrival and wishes to meet with you today.” The man was very prompt with his words knowing that his orders were absolute. 

”Well we have just woken up, please allow us a few moments to make ourselves presentable. I know it would be improper to meet a king in shambles as we are now.” In truth the party looked fine but showing the right amount of respect could get them very far, Walker also wanted to speak with Laurence for some inside information on meeting the king of this kingdom. They only had limited knowledge on how things worked here and it would be important to make the right impression.

”Of course honored guests, please take some time. My escort and I shall remain here until you have prepared.” The demi-human man stood still with an expectant look. 

Laurence grabbed Walker by the arm leading him to the larger building where the guild master’s office was. The hustle and bustle was much more than it was when they had arrived the day before. Heading up to the office they found that the door was wide open and Ribbolt was tearing through paperwork. ”Finally you brought them, took forever. Now you all have a medal of emissaries from your kingdom, it would have been nice for a better heads up but that’s past us. Since you came here first you showed them you had a relation to our guild and if I don’t send something with you I will be slandered. You will be taking these documents in my stead.” Ribbolt threw a sealed envelope to Walker who barely managed to catch it. On top of that Walker saw a bundle of cloth on the coffee table. ”You’re also taking the sword from yesterday as a gift, you will be paying me back for it. When an emissary visits they often bring gifts for the reigning king and since the king likes to battle in the coliseums that sword will put you in his good graces.” Ribbolt continued to move about in a rush, It was naturally rare to have so many guards come to the guild and he wanted to make sure everything was in proper order when they came to inspect. 

After Walker stored away the wrapped sword Ribbolt nearly pushed them all from the room and began issuing orders to ever tamer in sight. There were tamers furiously cleaning and moving boxes around, it would seem the kingdom puts harsh regulations on the guild, most likely because of the tamers beasts having some of the traits that demi-humans did. They wanted to keep a strict leash on the guild so as not to cause any friction in how the tamers acted within the kingdom. 

”Laurence I know we are in a rush but can you give us any advice?” Walker wanted just a bit more before they left, Laurence was planning on doing just that if Walker had asked or not. 

”The king has traits of a lion, his bloodline has always been some of the most powerful within the kingdom and they own the coliseums. He has four generals that reign over each sector of the city. They also recruit their army from each coliseum often holding daily tournaments where they offer those who do well positions. It does not matter your social standing, you are judged by strength. My best advice is not to show fear and not to look down, look him in the eyes and do not start a fight.” Walker and party all glanced at Remey and Midnight. 

”Stop it I’m not planning on starting an all out war, I like it here so far everything looks different.” Remey responded a bit angry with all the looks on her, Midnight however just snorted and looked away, equally unhappy. 

They all moved forward, many thoughts racing in their minds. This would be the second king they had met, not a single one of them believed they would ever meet a king let alone two, at this rate they might end up meeting every king in the continent. The demi-human man was waiting for them still unmoving, with their approach the fence lowered in to the ground again and the guards made way for the party. The guards were the same gorilla traits as the day before. The leader of the guards was easily a whole head taller than the others. His traits seemed much more prominent showing his strength. They could all see that his armor was engraved with many patterns mostly depicting battle. He must have fought his way up to earn the position. 

Once they had left the guild completely the fence rose and two guards held the rear, the party knew they were being escorted but they still felt that they were being taken off to as prison and not a meeting with royalty. The guards steps in unison rang around them as they set off.