The politician continued once Karl returned to his seat. “There will be formal testing at a later date, should there be any doubts about your advancements, but as of today, all of the advancements have been certified through informal testing by the Clergy and Government authorities. New uniforms will be available to all of our new Commanders, and if Prince Karl will rise, the Inquisition has won the lottery to present your Royal Cape.”
Karl stood, and the Royal Rank member of the Inquisition rose with him, holding a box he had taken out from under the table. It was a simple black robe with gold trim that went well with the Commander Rank black suit, and it attached across his chest with a heavy golden chain, bearing the twin dragon symbol of the Golden Dragon Nation on every link.
The cape bonded to Karl the moment that the clasp was fastened, and the badge on his uniform changed slightly to include a crown at the top, marking him as Royal Rank, should anyone doubt his word.
“Thank you, Inquisitor.” Karl responded once the man stepped back.
“It is an honour, Prince Karl. Just try not to taunt the others too much with your rank, no matter how tempting it is.”
[Behave, Your Highness.] Dana whispered in his ear using a tone that had his little Karl at full attention.
Karl gave her a wink and made plans for her upcoming birthday. He was going to have to give her a special present this year.
“I am certain that I can mostly resist the temptation. Besides, after spending months fighting along the Frost Giant border, the novelty of wearing a cape has already worn off. They’re just too practical for cold weather.” Karl joked.
The staff brought out a meal for everyone, the fancy sort that they usually reserved for visiting guests on the line, and Karl smiled at their efforts to make rice and beans fancy by putting long slices of pickled vegetables on top, then surrounding it with sliced meat.
The meal made it easy to see who was used to being out of the city and who was used to all of the fine dining establishments of either the Capital or one of the other large cities. The Inquisition members were pleasantly surprised to find that they had spiced the meat, while most of the politicians just looked like they were doing their best to ignore what they were eating.
The new Commanders from the other group were being swarmed by dignitaries, wishing them well and not so subtly pushing for them to commit to some project or another, the same as they had done to Karl when he advanced. Only, these ones were all in their final year at the Academy, and they knew all about the tricks to expect when they eventually advanced.
A few had approached Ophelia, but she seemed to know the ultimate trick to scare them away. She was normally a quiet sort, and rather gentle in her human form, but when they approached her to try to get her to join their projects, she was obnoxious, crude and affected a heavy accent that had them all politely excusing themselves within seconds.
They would eventually learn that they had been tricked and come back trying to get her to join their causes, but that tactic should work well enough for today, and then Ophelia would have some time to make a decision on her own.
Oddly, as Karl sat with his hand on Dana’s thigh, nobody tried to come over and pitch her for their cause. It seemed that his claim was enough to keep them away, with the assumption that her time was already spoken for by the new Prince.
Once they had eaten, the teachers came in with new badges for everyone who had advanced to Commander Rank, as well as their new suits, while the Nature Priestess came over to give new robes to the four clerics who had advanced.
The Blue Dragon Cleric’s were quite fancy and trimmed with gold embroidery, similar to the ones worn by the cleric in white except for the base colour. Lotus got simple green robes, but with beads and leather laces all along the edges and more natural ornaments instead of embroidery. They were fancier than the ones the older High Priestess was wearing, and Karl realized that unlike the other factions, the Nature Clerics rarely wore their formal robes.
Tessa’s, were red with black trim, and Karl noticed that the robes actually contained a mesh of metallic thread through them, as part of their enchanted defences.
They looked simple, but they were actually a rather powerful magical armour piece.
“I believe that we’ve crushed the previous record for the maximum number of Commanders enrolled in the Academy at one time.” Karl laughed as the last of the new advancements put on their new outfits.
A number of the politicians laughed, and the Lead Inquisitor shook his head. “Before this mission, it wouldn’t have just been a daily record, but a record number of Commanders as students. As it is, the Academy has doubled the number in a single day.
That advancement trial was a huge benefit to the Academy, and now that they’ve got a Royal Rank student on the lines, the Academy has little to fear from the Hill Giants.”
The politicians looked nervous as he finished that sentence. They had been fully intending to pull Karl from the area to have him do something else that served their department’s imperatives, but arguing with the Inquisition was a losing cause.
The best that they could hope for was to try to get his whole team moved to the Mountain Giant front, which was closer to the Capital, and easier to get to when they wanted them to do something.
The spokesman for the politicians stood to address the group. “Now that we’ve all eaten, why don’t we get the interviews underway? We can do them outdoors, where the battlefield will make a proper backdrop for the footage of the new Commanders? It’s a big day for the Golden Dragon Nation, after all.” That was the part that nobody, except the news people, were looking forward to. They would have to do multiple interviews, so that all of the dignitaries could be seen with more than one of the new Commanders, and to fill time for the TV stations.
Worse for Karl, he couldn’t even bring out Thor as a distraction this time, as it was likely to be more of an informal style, and he would be expected to interact with the officials who had come to congratulate them.
The spokesman for the politicians gestured at one of the classroom tents. “Prince Karl, if you would come this way, please. We would like to do a group interview with you while the Commanders are with the reporters. It won’t take long, and it won’t air with the other news, so we will be setting up a fake stage for your footage.” “Ah, I suppose that it makes sense that they don’t want anyone to know where exactly I am, now that I have advanced.” Karl noted.
“Exactly. Your footage will be held until there is a need for it. The next time that the news cycle needs a positive story, it will be released so that the people have something to cheer about, and they don’t have to focus on whatever had happened in the previous days.” The politician agreed.