Zach, Aurora, and Aria made their way into the palace. But Aurora was walking as though she owned the place.
“Why do you look so excited and disappointed at the same time?” Zach asked with a curious look on his face.
“I grew up in a palace, so I know at what spots there should be guards and how powerful one,” Aurora asserted. “At the main gate of the palace, there should be at least eight elite or elder guards and 20 normal guards. After that, the power level of the guards should increase the further we go in. But this palace… is defenseless.”
Zach let out a soft chuckle after hearing Aurora.
Aurora puffed her cheeks and muttered, “Why are you laughing?”
“You told me the defense system of your palace…” Zach kissed Aurora on the cheek and said, “Now, if your father ever tried to oppose our relationship, I can easily infiltrate the palace and abduct you from there.”
Aurora’s face flushed after hearing that.
“I will wait for you,” she said in a low voice.
Aria sighed in disbelief after seeing Zach and Aurora and remarked, “But first, try to beat the game.”
‘This is my limit. I can’t see them acting like this anymore. It’s making me feel annoyed and frustrated,’ Aria uttered to herself. ‘My heart feels tight, and… it hurts…’
They made their way to the palace’s hall to look for the king, but they couldn’t find one.
Zach was growing impatient because he hadn’t done anything yet, and the time was passing. He didn’t want the other players to complete the task before him.
After walking for a while, his gaze fell on a man who was decorating the flowers in the pot. He was wearing ragged clothes, and he looked like he had no awareness of his surroundings.
“Excuse me.” Zach called out to the man and said, “Do you know where I can find the king?”
“Yes?”
“Where is he?” Zach asked with a curious yet calm look on his face.
The man placed the last flower in the pot and replied, “I am the king.”
“Uhh… you don’t look like one…”
“Heh.” the man chuckled softly and clapped his hands. Suddenly, his ragged clothes changed into a luxurious golden attire with fur around the neck. And a crown appeared on his head.
“How about now?” he asked with a grin.
‘… he is certainly Aquitius’ the seventh brother…’ Zach sighed. ‘The oldest brother, Aquitius the fifth, is by far the most mature.’
“So, you were looking for me?” the king asked.
“I am here to complete a task for you and in return—”
“I will have to undo the sea,” the king added. “I am aware of it.”
“So, what’s your task?” Zach asked with a curious yet calm look on his face.
Zach was worried that if he somehow managed to bring Aquitius the fifth’s wife back, Aquitius the sixth would give a challenging task to Zach that he might not be able to complete. That’s why he came up with a simple solution: to complete the second task first.
“My task is simple,” the king uttered. “The one who fights the strongest warrior of my kingdom, and wins, will complete the task. The event will start at night, so you can rest well until then.”
Zach sighed in relief and muttered, ‘Now this is simple.’
The king squinted his eyes at Zach and said, “You went to the Xavier kingdom first, right?”
Zach didn’t want to lie in case the king had proof, so he asked, “What makes you think that?”
“The water in Xavier is different from here, and you reek of that smell,” the king responded. “However, that’s not the only reason.”
“…”
“You came in the royal carriage, which should be three times faster than the normal carriages. Yet, you came in last. Unless… You went somewhere else first.”
“…!” Zach was amazed by the king’s perception ability, but he wasn’t surprised. But, there was one thing he couldn’t understand.
‘We are currently in the inner area of the palace, and we didn’t see anyone coming this way. So how does he know that we came in the royal carriage?’
‘This man is more dangerous than he looks…’
“Now, tell me…” the king looked into Zach’s eyes and asked, “What task did my older brother give you?”
Zach’s simple solution flopped.
“He asked me to bring Rilu back to him,” Zach answered,
The stare in the king’s eyes turned into a glare as he yelled with a frowned face, “How dare you!”
Before Zach could even realize it, he, along with Aurora and Aria, were surrounded by hundreds of guards, and they all were pointing their spears at them.
“Well… shit.”
Zach thought that the older brother was calm and mature, but it was the opposite.
The truth was the fifth never had a wife named Rilu. He wasn’t even married.
Rilu was the sixth’s wife. They have been married for 20 years and have a beautiful daughter, the princess of Ribel’s kingdom.
The fifth lied about Rilu being his wife and asked Zach to bring her back. He basically asked Zach to kidnap the sixth’s wife and bring her to him.
Not only that, but he also lied about the rule of the kingdoms where a low-rank king wasn’t allowed to enter a high-ranking kingdom. Furthermore, he had sent many of his elite guards to kidnap Rilu, but all of his attempts failed.
The sixth had once invited the fifth and the seventh to celebrate his daughter’s 18th birthday. That was fifth’s first time meeting Ruli, and he fell in love with her at first sight.
He tried to woo her, but he failed. Then, he forcefully tried to kidnap her, but the sixth caught him and banished him from stepping foot into his kingdom.
It was completely natural for the sixth to get angry at Zach, because according to him, Zach was with the fifth.
Both the sixth and Zach were deceived by the fifth, and it had caused a misunderstanding between them.
***
Total players in the game 403869.
0 new players logged in.
38 players died.
===
Author’s Note- The names were getting confusing, so I switched to ‘fifth’ and ‘sixth.’