Dawn- An age of Darkness

Alisa sighed as well and came in front of me, again. "Forgive me for my rude performance earlier my lord." She bowed on her knees.  Well, that was new: apparently, a lot of things were new today. "We were merely testing you. And what my lord said, were all tests as well. Of course, he means to lend you a hand and it is true he is seeking the weapons but even he knows he cannot just claim your treasures without your permission." She was basically saying the same stuff just with a lot more politeness. Well, she certainly would\'ve won me over with that. "And we haven\'t received any missions to dethrone you either. My lord is terrible with lies."

And she also saved the butt of the earl. Clever. 

It was a problem because of my stupidity in the first place though. So yeah, in a sense, she was just covering for me. 

The king laughed hard. "Yes, it would seem that way." I wasn\'t lying though. I was still relieved. Alisa really was something. "Then you would lend us your strength?"

The nobles were relieved and so were the ministers. I guess everyone bought Alisa\'s words. 

I could hear the relief from the earl too. The poor guy probably hated me right now. 

But I had to do something now. I couldn\'t screw up again. "I cannot speak on behalf of my kingdom as I already gave the reigns to someone else. I can, however, negotiate with the humans and find out what happened and also get back your son, if you should trust me." I sure hope I could do that. "So, yes, I\'m on your side." Assuming, these guys weren\'t the kidnappers. 

He thought for a second. "I do trust you, not because you came with two gods, no. But somehow you seem kind enough to actually help us in this dire situation." I guess that was a yes.

Well, that sure was one hell of a roundabout way of saying, we just want your help. 

But yeah, at least all this worked. I really, really had to thank Alisa later on. Wait, wasn\'t it her fault, to begin with? Or had she planned all this from the start?

Sigh. I wasn\'t sure anymore. Why was my life like this? 

Anyway, with all that over with, I switched my attention to something else. That being the actual war. "Can you tell me more details of the war? As in when it\'ll happen, what are the stakes and all that?" I had to know more about the actual thing if I wanted to stop it in the first place. 

"The battle will take place today afternoon and we will commence a ceremonial fight. Afterward, it\'ll be a full-blown war from tomorrow." The king started to speak in informal terms, meaning he was taking this a bit easier than before. 

I had no idea what this ceremonial crap was but I could take a hint. "So basically, today no one would kill one another?" At least that was my best guess. 

But seriously? The fight would start today?

"Yes, but you may mortality wound your opponent." The king reassured me as though he thought of me like some mindless killer or something. 

Just what kind of image did the dwarves had of me?

I have a glance back at the earl and he smirked a little. \'I saw that!\'

What the hell was the point of not killing your opponent? In the end wouldn\'t they just suffer some more? 

I sighed again. "Where will this ceremonial fight take place?" 

"Near Saram."

No wonder the earl was so into having me save him. "Alright, we\'ll do something with that and use this as an excuse to initiate a negotiation with them. If I think they are hiding your prince then I\'ll snatch him from them and they\'ll be punished accordingly. Obviously, the same goes for you." I had no idea who or what we were dealing with, but after taking this whole thing on, it was too late to give up now anyway. So I just went with the flow.

I was definitely regretting all this though. 

The king chuckled. "That goes without saying. If you should find proof that we\'re hiding them, you have my word, I\'ll abdicate my throne to even a failure like that." The king sure was in a hearty mood. But I got the impression he really trusted me, or maybe he was even more of an expert at pretending than Araan was. 

I really hoped it wasn\'t the latter.

Obviously, he was talking about the earl. I gave earl another glance and he just had his head down. I was actually expecting him to give me another smirk but I guess even he had a heart. He was probably just pretending though.

"Because he\'s not big enough? I remember once calling a dwarf fat and nearly losing my life. Do you guys treasure your sizes and divide yourselves accordingly? Of course, I don\'t mean that in any offensive way."

"Yes." The king wasn\'t offended. I guess this was a problem then. "We do have such hierarchy among the nobles."

The nobles nodded along and they didn\'t actually question this either.

But I didn\'t have anything to do with it. I turned around and stared at the Earl. "Well, let\'s go I guess. Our job is finished. Do you have anything to say?"

"No." He didn\'t look me in the eye. He probably hated me and he also probably hated his father. I could feel it. 

I could see where this was going. And I didn\'t like it.  "Say, your highness. Let\'s say I solve all this without any bloodshed, what will you do then?"

A very bold claim on my part but I intended to finish this without actually killing people. It was probably just my naïve thinking and I knew I\'d eventually end up killing people regardless, but I didn\'t want to. So far in my journey, the only things sentient I\'d killed were demons, undead, dragons, and goblins. And I knew the agony I went through. I didn\'t want humans or dwarves or even elves to be added to that category. I didn\'t want another regret. 

It really was naïve thinking but I wanted to stick with my principles. 

"I will hand over the mystic weapons to you and open diplomatic relations with your country if you should wish that. Of course, anything more than that-"

"Would be a stretch, I know." I smiled. "But, I had one request and I was hoping you\'d listen to it after completing all this."

"That being?" The king was a bit skeptical but he was willing to listen. 

"Please treat this moron a little nicer too. If it weren\'t for him, I wouldn\'t have come to this place and frankly, you guys would have been in trouble. There\'s someone almost as powerful as me with the humans. And if your best couldn\'t match my companions, then what hope do your armies have against me, and in consequence with them? I\'m not saying you would have lost, no. I\'m just saying would have lost a lot of people, a lot of blood, and a lot of faith. Surely, your highness doesn\'t wish the suffering of your people? And your son has the same vision as you. He wishes the best for the people. That\'s why, it would please me greatly, if you treated them not equally, no, but at least with enough affection."

The king remained quiet for a minute. Did my performance fail? I sure hope not. After all, I kind of messed it up for the earl and I had to fix it regardless. And not to mention I tried extra hard with this performance. 

The whole room was silent. \'Did it really backfire?\'

I was about to sigh when the king chuckled and then broke into severe laughter. "Very well. If you should end this without much bloodshed, you\'ll have my blessing and support." Strangely for the first time ever, the king\'s eyes were behind me. "You\'ve done well." He smiled. 

I guess that settled that. The earl\'s eyes sparkled but he didn\'t cry.  "Yes, father."

"Now then." The king looked at me. "What will you do now?"

"I\'ll head over the city and procure some weapons and head back to Saram." The mere thought of using Ve as transport was kind of mind-boggling and definitely terrifying. I did not want to experience that and for that, I was willing to even take a train that was much slower. 

"I see. I did want this war if I\'m being frank but as you said, it would create a lot of suffering. If you should end this without complicating things further, I give you my word, I\'ll be indebted to you and keep my end of the bargain." Well, he really was being honest now.

I gave him a smile. "I\'ll try my best.

  We all started to walk out now. 

Just outside though, I saw the earl smirk. Well, that was anticlimatic.

But I kind of knew this guy was something else. "Now we\'re even I guess." He grinned. 

"Looks like you can pull off a performance too." Alisa winked. 

"I\'ll give you six out of ten," Ve said.

I sighed. I only had walking-talking trouble makers surrounding me.