Mythran's Master Of All

The crowd burst out in cheers and hollers, then they started to applaud. After a minute, the sound of laughter grew. The applause and cheers died down, and all that was left was the laughter. Everyone turned to look at where it was coming from, and they were surprised at the source.

It was Ren. He had tears streaming down his face, and he didn't bother trying to wipe them away. When he noticed everyone looking at him, he calmed down. They all thought he was extremely happy, but if people had been paying attention and looked over at his personal maids and Ereka, they weren't laughing at all; but, the tears on their faces matched his.

“What's so funny about being pregnant?” Narhilda asked Ren. “Is it because I'm older than the average mother?”

No one was sure if it was a spell or not, but her voice was loud enough that everyone heard her. Ren took a deep breath and stepped forward into what he hoped was the area of effect to boost his voice.

“No, Your Highness.” Ren said, and the tears stopped flowing. “You know I don't think of you like that at all.”

“Then why...”

“If I may speak frankly?” Ren asked, and she nodded. “When I received the invitation for tonight, I thought... in my infinite stupidity... that this event was in celebration of my successful defense of the kingdom.”

“It is.” Narhilda said, then motioned to the others on the stage. “You've all helped this kingdom...”

“No, Your Highness.” Ren said. “I thought this event was for me only.” He said. “I had assumed, quite wrongly, that you had gathered everyone together to praise my accomplishments.”

Narhilda blinked her eyes for a moment. “But... that's what we did.” She said. “We gave you the Medal of Valor.”

Ren chuckled, and no one needed to feel his feelings to see how much it was hurting him. “This thing?” He said and held it up. “You could give this to one of, or all of, the soldiers that helped dig the giant pit trap that I used to capture all of the crazy giants.” He said. “You could give it to the dwarf that helped me plan and carry out the rescue of 7 girls from the Thieves Guild, and returned them to their families.”

There were several shouts, and Ren looked out over the crowd to see those families wave to him. He waved back and looked at Narhilda.

“What you shouldn't do, is insult someone that put their life on the line for this kingdom.” Ren said. “If you had tried to give this to the dwarves that stood by my side when we battled the platoon of giants from the Guardians of the Land, I'm sure they wouldn't have accepted it at all.”

Silence fell as Ren's words rang true.

“Of all the things I've done after coming here to the dwarf lands, I thought... I mean, when I saved the kingdom yet again...” He shook his head. “I had hoped you would at least acknowledge it.” He sighed. “Then you shuffle me off to stand in a line, and make me wait for an award that you could easily give to the guard at the gate for doing his job well.” He chuckled. “Any man worth his Honor would be insulted if he put his life on the line for the kingdom, and this was the only thing you deemed him worthy of receiving.”

Ren saw the surprise on Narhilda's face, and looked around. He saw the same look of surprise on everyone's face.

“I didn't even get a thank you.” Ren said. “I even died for this kingdom. Quite brutally, actually. Did I get anything then? No. No notice from the castle. No thanks for protecting us. Nothing.” He kept looking at the crowd, because he didn't want to look at Narhilda anymore.

“I saved this kingdom from being ruled over by a corrupted Council, from a man who had close ties to the head of the Thieves Guild.” Ren said. “You don't have to worry about that anymore, by the way. I took care of it. I killed him, along with the rest of the guild, when I rescued the kidnapped girls.”

No one spoke, and Ren could barely hear anyone breathing.

“That's when I became the illustrious owner of 5 personal maids. I brought them as my dates tonight because they were the only women I knew that I wouldn't automatically get married to, if I showed up with them.” Ren smiled. “Not that the contract would last anyways. I'll be forced to leave in about 2 months when my invitation is revoked.” He looked at Narhilda. “I also won't be able to be invited back, thanks to your proclamation.”

“You know why I did that.” Narhilda said. “We need to get things back in order before...”

“I already did that!” Ren said. “I put you in as ruler of the kingdom over a new Council, and I've removed several of the largest threats this kingdom has ever faced.”

“You didn't have to do all of that!” Narhilda said. “The owner of the Garrison at House Lodur would have taken care of it.” She said and smiled smugly. “They would have handled it without you!”

“That's a lie.” Ren said, and Narhilda looked at him with wide eyes.

“Wh-what?”

“You said the owner of the Garrison would handle it.” Ren said. “I did.” He smiled. “House Lodur doesn't own the Garrison; I do.”

“WHAT?!?” She yelled, and looked back at the Advisor to the Throne. He nodded slightly and left the stage.

“You can tell if I'm lying.” Ren said.

“But...”

“I've been the owner since Lord Lodur was hung.” Ren said. “It's been a huge responsibility to have on my shoulders.”

“You... you've been...”

“I've been tasked with the defense of the realm.” Ren said. “I've also done that several times.”

“Then, it was you that paid the 5 years of taxes on the Garrison.”

Nearly the whole room started talking at once as Ren nodded slightly. Dural, the Advisor to the Throne came back with the female dwarf that controlled the Hall of Records.

“Hello, my Lord.” Beryl said and bowed slightly.

“Ma'am.” Ren said, and could almost feel the sigh of relief from everyone, because he hadn't said her name in public. He took her hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she giggled.

“Is Ren telling the truth? Does he have the deed to the Garrison?”

“He does.” Beryl said, and produced a copy of it with a large VOID across it. Ren's name was clearly on it.

“What do we do?” Someone in the crowd shouted. “If he's forced to leave in 2 months, we'll be completely defenseless!”

Ren turned to the crowd and held his hands up for quiet when the talking was too loud for people to hear.

“I had planned on dealing with the situation when the time was right.” Ren said. “I thought that would be tonight. I was going to hand the deed over to the Queen and the Council.”

“W-was?” Narhilda asked, and Ren turned back to her.

“Even though you know of the things I've done for the kingdom, for some reason you obviously don't want anyone to know what's going on; despite the fact that's exactly what went wrong with the Council before.” Ren said. “I can't in good conscience hand you a document that could let you suppress all knowledge in the kingdom.”

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“Now wait a minute.” Barnar said and stepped over. “You can't talk to her like that.” He said. “Who are you to question her integrity?”

“I know a lot more about her integrity than you do.” Ren said. “In fact, I-”

Ren's words were interrupted by Narhilda's hand as she slapped him. The sound was amplified through the room and to outside, and everyone froze.