195: Summons
It was early the next morning, while I was sitting in the dining room with a melon on the table as I was practising the rune, when Archie came inside.
“Hello, sir. Princess Kathrine would like to speak with you. She is at the entrance.”
I was surprised that she didn’t just come in like she had done in the past, but shrugging, I stored the melon, collected Crisplet from the kitchen, and made my way to the entrance hall. I was surprised to see she was already speaking with Hari at the entrance, who appeared to be annoyed over something, as he currently had a deep frown.
“Ah, Trevor. I’m sorry to bother you so early today. I was hoping you could join me to the palace. The King has requested an audience,” Kathrine said.
It wasn’t until she turned towards me that I noticed just how fatigued she looked. She even appeared to still be in the same clothes she was wearing yesterday, with noticeable bags under her eyes, and I remembered back to when Milo was avoiding sleep in Greyrock. I was sure I still had a couple of the honeyed-herb mana candies handy.
I was just pulling one of the sticky things out when Sylverith came through the door leading to the library.
“I’ll come along too,” she simply said.
Kathrine looked to go visibly pale but didn’t protest it.
“Here, Kathrine. Eat this,” I said, handing the candy over.
She hesitantly took the sticky candy from my hand, looking at me oddly.
“It will probably wake you up a little. It has all three regenerations along with endurance,” I said happily.
Kathrine just shook her head. “Of course it does.” Before putting it straight into her mouth.
“Honey, with an interesting tang,” she mumbled before pulling herself together.
“The carriage is waiting out front if you’d like to get changed into your formal outfit and join us to the palace now?” she gestured.
Hari still had a look of concern, but Sylverith seemed to notice it too.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get him back here without issue,” she said, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder.
I didn’t see Lily while I was in the room, but I’m sure she wasn’t far away, or in the kitchen wondering where breakfast was, so I rushed back downstairs with Crisplet hot on my heels, waving to Hari and Liane, who were now talking, before joining Kathrine and Sylverith in the carriage.
The silence of the trip was broken by Kathrine, who was already looking slightly better.
“Do you have more of those candies I could buy? It worked great.”
I shook my head. “No, unfortunately, I only have a few left. I could probably make similar ones, but they are stronger than I’d like to normally share with people.”
“Even if I promise only I would use it and not share it with anyone else?” she said hopefully.
I really wasn’t sure. I wasn’t that worried about sharing it with her if she kept it to herself, but what I did have an issue with was using too much of the rare honey I had. It was a limited supply. I decided instead to tell a half-truth.
“I don’t have any more of the honey I used to create it. Rare ingredients are difficult to source,” I said.
“If I could source the rare ingredients for you?” she asked hopefully.
“This particular one, no. I would like fewer people in the dark forest, not more,” I replied. I would have liked more.
Sylverith was nodding beside me.
“So, what am I walking into?” I asked curiously.
“Well, it’s been a lot to deal with since we had nearly forty people placed into our cells, and this has caused some other nobles to grow concerned,” she started.
I couldn’t help but notice the smile on Sylverith’s face.
“She did well with that one. She wanted to kill them all, for fairly obvious reasons. However, they were just pawns,” Sylverith commented.
I couldn’t help but notice Kathrine’s eyes open wide at that comment and seemingly struggle to respond.
“But she didn’t, so it’s fine!” I chuckled awkwardly.
“I think the main concern is Marie Belwyn. She’s causing some issues,” Kathrine added.
“Oh, she’s still here, is she?” Sylverith said, raising an eyebrow.
“Not by choice. She’s tried to escape dozens of times and insists you’re going to burn down the city around her if she doesn’t get out,” Kathrine added.
Sylverith nodded. “Well, she’s being rather dramatic. I simply said I would slowly turn her to ash while her entire house burnt around her, unless she left the city and never thought about interfering again.”
Kathrine let out a sigh. “It’s okay. I think we’ll continue the conversation with my father in private, but first, Trevor, ah, never mind. It’s best you see it rather than explain it. You’ll be fine, though.”
I wasn’t overly worried. I had Sylverith and Crisplet, and I could feel the very faint presence of Lily watching as well.
Looking out the window as we moved, I activated my arcane foraging. The talk of rare ingredients reminded me I needed to complete my quest, and the only place I knew there would be a collection of rare ingredients right now was the royal garden.
It wasn’t long before I saw the notification come through.
Notification:
Evolution Quest:
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Discover a land of abundance, view 20 or above rare items at one time: Complete!
Seven evolution options are available for Arcane Foraging.
I had gained two new Arcane Foraging upgrades,
Skill: Arcane Foraging → Bounty Sense
- Cluster density becomes visible.
- Soft directional pull towards the rarest cluster of three or more items.
- Locations where rare ingredients were found are remembered.
- The afterglow of rare items slowly fades over months.
I was distracted from my musings by Kathrine. “Alright, here we go. Follow me.”
Following Kathrine and Sylverith, we walked into a completely different building to last time, and I immediately felt nervous as I entered the throne room. On both sides there were people dressed in their red formal wear, some with cloaks, others with silk scarves. All eyes turned to me as I entered.
The room itself was long with an incredibly high ceiling, where shadows seemed to swallow the rafters. There appeared to be a clear separation between the people, with a few familiar faces sitting right at the front, Reginald smiling at me as I approached.
There was a large gap of polished stone floor between the front seats and the King, who sat on a raised dais upon a deep red wood throne that had been intricately carved with a phoenix. Behind the chair was a giant banner that seemed to come from the roof itself, depicting the same image that was on the mural of Alira gifting a feather, much like I had myself.
“My, Alira will enjoy seeing that,” Sylverith commented.
Many around the room muttered, both in curiosity and disapproval, before the booming voice of the King came thundering out.
“Silence. Please step forward, Dragon Sylverith, Trevor Ashmoon, Crisplet Ashmoon,” Marcus called.
I didn’t need to be told twice, so I walked forward, noticing Crisplet’s ember crown appeared as we moved, soon we were standing just before the dais, where I bowed, and Sylverith stood tall. I noticed Gerald was standing next to the King with a frown on his face. Perhaps I was supposed to kneel or something?
“Thank you for coming on such short notice. I am hoping to ask a couple of questions and settle some concerns the other houses have,” Marcus began.
I heard more murmuring behind me, but this time Sylverith turned her head towards them, and every single person went so quiet I think many of them were forgetting to breathe.
“The court recognises Trevor Ashmoon. By the will of the crown and the witnesses of this court, I establish the House of Ashmoon among the greater houses of this kingdom.”
There was a pause as the King’s eyes travelled across the room.
“Let any who wish to contest the right of this house to sit among them speak now.”
Again, there was perfect silence, and truthfully, when someone could contest, I really thought they would.
“Then let it be so,” Marcus said finally, and the doors opened, as a new chair like the nine already lined up was brought to the front and placed in the row. I noted it was placed on the right-hand side, in the middle.
I was sure the placement meant something, though I wasn’t sure what. I also couldn’t help but notice two empty seats, which I imagined must have belonged to Corin and Marie.
“Now that that’s out of the way, Trevor, if you may, what did you know of the events that started yesterday?” Marcus asked.
“Uh, sorry, Your Majesty. I really didn’t know anything about yesterday and have only found out information second-hand. I believe Corin wished to confront me again since our disagreement in the market,” I explained.
Again I saw a wince from Gerald when I referred to Corin.
“I see, and the events surrounding House Valrith and House Belwyn after the confrontation?” Marcus asked.
“I do—”
“He didn’t know anything about that. I spoke with the young lady myself, and Lily was enacting your decree that if they disrupted business, you would strike their house from power and charge them all, though she would have very much preferred to kill them all,” Sylverith said, a clear smirk on her face, having fun with this.
“I see, and Marie Belwyn. Why did you attack her?” Marcus asked.
Sylverith laughed. “I didn’t attack the troublemaker. If I had, she’d not be in the basement of this very building chained to a wall and sedated.”
The King seemed to go pale, clearly not used to the imbalance of power.
“Though the reason I did it was because she was pulling the strings and ultimately the reason young Trevor’s friend was killed and nearly killed on the military march. She is also the cause of inciting Corin to act yesterday, and at the market, along with his son,” Sylverith explained.
I just looked at her, wide-eyed. It was her the whole time? I couldn’t help but wonder why she would just let her go then?
There was a soft, almost painfully ethereal laugh that was directly in my head.
“Do not worry yourself. A swift death would have been kinder than what is happening to her,” Sylverith said. Clearly, no one else could hear it.
I felt very uneasy about this.
Sylverith’s eyes just studied me for a moment.
Marcus continued on.
“I see, and you have proof?” Marcus asked.
“Her mind said it all, much like the minds of several individuals in this room right now are thinking about their own involvement and guilt,” Sylverith said simply.
“You read minds?” Marcus asked, confused.
“No, dear.” The voice went to all our heads. “Weak individuals let their thoughts leak out. Anyone with a moderate use of telepathy is able to hear them clearly.”
“And can you point them out today?” Marcus asked.
“I could, but I won’t. I don’t involve myself in humanoid politics. However, if they act against my daughter’s friends, I will interfere,” she said, again smiling, and I noticed she turned to face directly at Henry Boltron. The glance was seen by all, as every eye followed her gaze.
Henry threw himself onto the floor. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I was taken in by grand ideas and promised wealth and power by Marie. Please forgive me.”
The rest of the court erupted into murmurs while Henry sobbed on the floor.
“Enough! Silence,” Marcus boomed.
“Take him to a room and keep it under guard. We will talk later,” Marcus said with a deep sigh.
He rose from his chair, standing before everyone. “I have been careless in my duties; this is clear to me, I have been trusting my aides too much, and clearly corruption has taken hold in my kingdom. This will not stand. I think it’s time we did an overhaul. I will call for a meeting within a week; there will be changes.”
There was a lot of chatter and murmurs, and I felt like the court was about to wrap up, remembering what we had discussed for this moment.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. While I have the chance, I was wondering if you could grant me the land of the Dark Forest.”
Marcus looked at me before sitting back down in his chair, and the room went silent again.
“You intend to build there?” he asked.
“No, but I intend to put a stop to other logging and building there,” I said.
“I see. I expected this anyway, after a conversation I had with Sylverith where she made it very clear that anyone encroaching on her forest would be dealt with, so very well. Granted. That land will be yours to manage and enforce the laws of the kingdom upon. We will draw up your boundaries over the next week.”
“Court dismissed.”
As everyone started to leave the room, a guard entered from a side door, whispering something into the King’s ear before promptly leaving.
“Trevor, Sylverith, Crisplet, would you mind staying for just a moment longer for a private conversation? Gerald, you can leave. Liam, have your guards stand outside and secure the room.”
Gerald appeared as though he wanted to protest but didn’t make a scene, instead leaving with the Royal Guards.
When the room was empty and the doors all shut
Marcus studied us for a moment, clearly trying to choose his words.
“Were either of you responsible for the death of Marie right now?” Marcus asked.