| Author: Waxford | Original Source: Scribble Hub |
“Excuse me. Is this seat taken?”
“As you can see for yourself, it’s empty.”
What’s with her attitude? She isn’t looking my way.
“Mind if I join you for a game?”
“You can try.”
Is that a challenge? Aight missy, I don’t like being mocked. Now that I look at her she has some strange uniform. Doesn’t look at all like what I saw so far. Her silver hair is pretty and long and her exposed chest would definitely draw the eyes of many men. But her level was surprising. Her level is 117. She’s the highest level I’ve seen so far. Is this Magnolia’s secret weapon or something?
“Well? Are you planning to move, or just stare?”
Oof. I was lost in thoughts. Maybe I can learn a bit about her with this game. So I made the opening move and the match started.
How much time passed? I couldn’t say. Eventually Elenore and the old man found me. They tried stopping us; both me and the silver hair girl replied in unison “Shut up”. I really got into this game. She was a pro. And the gamer inside me ain’t backing away. They had no choice but to wait and let us finish. The girl surrounded her king by defences, while my pieces were more spread out across the board. She’s good. But I’m no fool either. I prepared my next move. But that made her tilt her head.
“Advancing your king?”
“If the king doesn’t have the guts to lead, how can he expect his troops to respect and follow him?”
“Such a foolish strategy. The king doesn’t give himself to the country. It’s the country that gives itself to the king. And it doesn’t matter if the country likes it or not.”
“That sounds a bit like tyranny.”
“Call it what you want. But a throne achieve with brute strength and blood, is a throne you can sit on. No benevolent or idealistic king has met a happy end.”
We clearly had opposite opinions. She also started sacrificing her units.
“Aren’t you loosing to many pieces? I just got your Queen.”
“Sacrifices are needed. Even the Queen.”
“You’re forgetting that every pawn has the potential to become a Queen. Turn your back for too long, and you’ll end up getting bitten in the a̲s̲s̲.”
“I don’t intend to let the game last that long.”
When she said that, she moved her bishop across the board.
“Check mate.”
Dang. I didn’t see that one.
“You’re an interesting person. I feel we should play again some time.”
“I feel the same way.”
She took off her white glove from her right hand and extended it to me.
“Edelweiss.”
“Izunahime.”
We exchanged a formal hand shake. And with that, the old man finally managed to drag me away. It was time for the audience with the king.
We were invited to the throne room. The doors were opened. A red carpet continued straight ahead.
Lined up on the left and right of it were heavily armed foot soldiers that held spears, and several retainers such as cabinet ministers and generals.
And then, on a platform, an old man around 60 years with a grey beard and mustache was sitting on a throne.
He had a strong presence, but his level was on the lower side. He was barely level 20. I’m curious if levels drop when you start to get old. I don’t know about his leadership skills, but his power is weak. His retainers started to whisper.
“Is that her?”
“She has Her Highness’s fan.”
“Might the other rumor about her also be true?”
The king finally made a signal as if to silence them.
“Welcome! It’s a pleasure to meet my daughter’s savior.”
Did they already know about me? News sure travels fast. And to be honest… I don’t know how to react to royalty.
“Your Highness, we feel delighted that you granted us an audience.”
Way to go Elenore! You’re amazing! Yeah. I’ll just leave all the talking to her.
“Forgive my bluntness, ladies, but I would like to confirm something. An Astral Storm occurred near the small town of Rodgar. Rumors say that a woman matching your appearance defeated the wave all by herself. Is it true?”
“Sure is. They were foolish to challenge me. Whoever stands in my way will be annihilated. It’s as simple as that.”
The retainers murmured again and Elenore was kinda shaking. Should I not have said that?
“So it was true.”
“A new hero.”
“But we don’t know her background. She might be hiding something.”
“According to our reports you charged in alone.”
“They invaded a town I was staying in. So I crushed them. That’s all there is to it.”
Finally, one of the people in attendance came forward. He was a man that was still young, and had glaring eyes. He wore a military uniform that had jumbled up decorations attached to it.
“That is a lie. Something like that is utterly impossible! I am captain Wilbur Vespar. And there is no way one person can defeat an entire wave.”
“Believe what you want, it makes no difference to me.”
“What!?”
“I came here at princess Iris’s suggestion. But if you guys are gonna be so rude, I might take my leave. So out of the way, small fry.”
“Small fry? Me, who has achieved high military feats at the age of 20? How dare you!?”
Well you’re only level 53 buddy. For someone to actually even think to fight me, you need to be at least level 85+ to force me to use my high level skills. The retainers became noisy, but there was no one that tried to stop me.
That is, until Wilbur blocked my path and drew his sword.
“I will unmask you here and prove that everything you told His Highness is a lie. I won’t turn a blind eye to this.”
Yare yare. This guy needs a lesson. You drew first, so don’t blame me if I break your bones. I made my spear manifest. Let’s see if he likes this.
“Take this fool… [Thunder Strike]!”
It was a level 80 high damaging spell. An electric yellow laser beam was fired from my spear. If this hits him, no trace would remain. I aimed away from his body. I hit only his sword and the beam collided with the wall. A strong sound reverberated, but it didn’t stop there. It penetrated several walls until eventually making a huge visible hole outside.
“Hiii!”
Wilbur immediately fell on the ground and pissed himself from fear. Everyone else in the room was pale as a ghost. Did I perhaps overdo it?
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