As Edward entered the audience chamber, he saw two other men inside. One was a striking blond man with golden pupils sitting behind a study desk where his dagger and gun were placed. The other was a young man with piercing blue eyes and brown hair in a midnight black and silver military style jacket with a battered-looking sword hanging on his waist.
Assuming the man sitting behind the desk was the prince, Edward bowed slightly towards him, "Greetings, your highness."
"Is that how you greet royalty from where you are from?" The prince had a amused and curious tone as he queried.
The other two man's expressions remained blank but their mid-riffs were vibrating a little.
"To be honest, there is no longer anymore royalty from where I am from." Edward replied.
Tarin raised an eyebrow at that and the other man scrunched his brow. However, the prince still carried that amused look.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Aureus Astrea of the Astrea Empire, the man who escorted you is Augustus Tarin and the man beside you now is Johan Hans. You are in Everdawn province of Astrea Empire in the outer realm."
"I assume you must have questions, I too am curious due to the circumstances of your arrival and this unidentified artifact you have in your possession."
"Why don't you start first?"
"Highness, what is the outer realm?" Edward asked.
This time both Tarin and Johan both had an incredulous expressions on their face. Unperturbed, Aureus replied "One of the realms which make up our world known as the Three Realms."
"Highness, is this Three Realms you speak of, on a planet?"
This time it was Aureus's turn to have a puzzled expression. "Planet? What is that?"
Being prepared this time around, Edward did not choke on his breath but instead took a deep breath before answering "An astronomical body orbiting a star."
"I heard both the terms astronomical and star but I do not know the context in which you are using."
"Where are you from?"
"I am from a place called Earth in the Sol system," Edward replied while looking unsettled.
"I never heard of this Earth or Sol system," Aureus replied. "May I know what were you doing before being unconscious and what can you tell me about the circumstances leading you here?"
Edward then described in detail what happened prior to him falling unconscious. He claimed that he was leading a military operation on a retreat when a burst of sudden white light enveloped him. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in the castle.
Aureus steepled his fingers and had a grave expression on his face while considering what Edward just told him.
No one interrupted Aureus while he was thinking. Slowly, an overbearing and pressurizing aura spread out from Aureus and bore down on all the men in the room. At the same time, Aureus's pupils began glowing. Tarin and Johan had no visible reactions but Edward was astonished.
Aureus noted Edward's expression and withdrew his aura.
"What are your plans?"asked Aureus as the glow in his eyes faded.
"To be honest, from what I gathered so far, it appears I am not in the world where I was from and there are many things I do not understand about the current world I am in. One of my motives for attending this audience was to seek employment."
Tarin and Johan were scrutinizing Edward again after he stated his intention.
The amused expression returned to Aureus "Well, since we established that you are a military personnel. What rank did you hold and what skills do you have?"
This time Edward had a perturbed expression as he considered (Should I hedge my bets and answer with the partial truth or come clean completely?)
Aureus expression became even more pronounced as he seemed to decipher Edward's thoughts, "Pencil pushing is fine too, any army needs capable administrators who can file papers and count numbers."
This time, Tarin had a broad smile on his face while Johan's mouth curled into a corner at Aureus's remarks.
Shaking his head and smiling, Edward replied,
"I was an officer in my nation's army with the rank of Colonel and my specialization was special operations."
Aureus requested an overview of Edward's military structure. Aureus paid attention as Edward explained.
"While I do not know what your military special operations entail of, I can say your military rank structures bears similarities to some powers in the three realms. From what I can infer based on your explanation, you are considered the equivalent of a Tribune here. An officer of senior rank. Flag rank we call it here." Aureus commented after listening. "How close were you to making this Brigadier General rank?"
"I was to slated to be awarded my star at the next promotion ceremony." Edward answered.
"You seem a little young to be a general though, how old are you?" Aureus looked over Edward while creasing his brows.
"Your highness, when transferring to this realm I have either changed a body or became younger hence my current appearance. My current age is pushing 38."
"That is still quite a young age to be a general, it appears your accomplishments are numerous."
"Highness, at 38 in my world it would be considered having lived half of one's lifespan already. I cannot be considered young in my world."
This time, Tarin and Johan exchanged surprised looks.
"I see the discrepancy. Over here, people living to over two centuries is the norm. Many of the nobility live up to their third century."
Edward looked dumbfounded as he considered what Aureus had just said.
Aureus then further enquired what would have been Edward's responsibilities had he made general.
Edward answered that he would have command over a special forces regiment numbering in the 10,000. Of which, 5,000 were combatants.
"A 5,000 man commander then. However, I am unable to ascertain the scope and depth of said combatants hence I cannot gain an accurate gauge of your abilities."
"I might be able to demonstrate up to a certain extent with the help of the gun on the desk and a piece of armor."
Aureus tilted his head a little before picking up the gun and handing it to Edward.
Edward stepped forward to pick up the gun while ensuring the barrel stayed facing floor-wards.
"Johan, you see that gaudy red armor to your right? Bring it over with it on the stand, please."
"Highness, that is a gift from the 9th Prince that he ordered from the Eastern Coalition for your 35th birthday. I could order the guards outside to fetch a normal chain mail from the armory. There is no need to use the armor for a demonstration." Tarin said as he exclaimed in consternation while looking in the direction of the armor.
"I never liked that gift, anyway. What does Claudius know about war? All he knows is how to curry favor with father and the rest of the senior officials of the court. "
"Moreover, he was sending me a message via the gift about how happy he is about my posting to the outer realm. He was boasting of how sturdy the armor he had custom-made for me was. I am rather skeptical but never bothered to try testing it out. Now is a good opportunity."
Edward went up to the stand and positioned it near the door to the chamber.
With his back facing Aureus, Edward took off the safety and aimed.
Edward fired.
The bullet pierced through both the front and back of the armor then tunneled through the door and shot out into the wall of the passageway outside before being embedded in it.
Stamps of heavy footfalls resounded at the entrance of the chamber as the guards outside came in. Catching sight of Edward holding a strange artifact, they approached him with weapons drawn.
Aureus commanded the guards to hold and declared that what happened was done at his behest.
The guards sheathed their weapons before genuflecting and headed out.
Aureus had a strange look on his face as he gazed at the gun in Edward's hand before walking to the entrance of the chamber.
As Aureus made his way, Edward lowered the gun and made sure he did not point it anywhere in the prince's direction, since both Tarin and Johan were both as tense as a compressed metal spring.