As the announcer stopped, Marcus broke off from his stupor, kneeled and said: "Marcus Cervos of the Cervos family greets His Majesty, The King!". After Marcus, Titus also performed a formal greeting and they remained kneeled.
"Rise, you two." said the king in a mellow, but fierce tone full of authority.
As both Marcus and Titus stood up, Marcus didn't know what to think. He couldn't imagine what will happen now since both Titus and he thought that they would meet a King privately and Marcus would get an appropriate award. Marcus felt a bit stiff while some sweat trickled down his forehead, because now when he could observe those powerful presences and aura's they felt 10 times more imposing.
"There is no need for fear before me, boy." the king suddenly said. "There is no threat to your existence in this palace," he added while showing a small but kind smile.
"Thank you for your kind words, Your Majesty!" Marcus responded even though the King somehow misunderstood his actions. He wasn't nervous because of fear but because he knew that if he went against this kingdom he would have to deal with all of these powerful people. For example, the weakest presence he could feel was from a red-haired middle-aged man sitting in one of the chairs
on the right and that presence was pretty much the same as his Master.
The King slightly nodded and said: "You must be quite tired from your trip, Lux City is quite far from here after all". after a slight pause he continued "Why not go rest for a bit and then we shall speak privately after you rested properly?". even though it sounded like a proposal or a question it came out as more of an order.
Titus quickly nodded and said, "We are very thankful for your kind words and we shall oblige to your will for the later meeting!". While the doors started opening both Marcus and Titus kneeled again and said in unison: "We thank His Majesty, The King for his hospitality and look forward to meeting His Majesty again!". With that, they stood up and left the throne room. When the doors closed, the same butler appeared in front of them and asked them politely to follow him to their personal guest rooms. Both of them followed without a word and while Marcus was still kind of tense, Titus was carrying a slight smile he would have after meeting an old friend he hadn't seen for a long time.
The butler who introduced himself as the head butler Servan lead them both to luxurious rooms that didn't resemble a guest room in the slightest. Each room could pass as Kings personal bedroom. The rooms had a grand bed with covers made of the smoothest silk one could find that could easily fit 5 people lying side by side. There were paintings that didn't falter even against those exhibited in the main hall. The room itself was white in color as it was the best fitting color for any interior. There was also a big hardwood desk with one chair in the back and two in the front. It was placed just in front of a massive window of the same height as the room itself. The view was simply astonishing as one had a complete overview of the whole garden. There was also a bathroom right next to the bedroom with a bathtub full of hot steamy water that made Marcus gulp desirably as he hadn't had a proper bath in days.
He had to hold on to that thought as he had some business first. He went to see his Master since he had a couple of questions for him. He left his own room and went to knock on his Masters' door.
Just before he knocked he overheard something from inside the room.
"Richard sends his best regards and he is very happy to see you after all these years."
Marcus recognized the voice as the voice of Servan, the head butler. And just with that all of his questions were answered. He decided to listen for a bit more as he was interested in what his Master had to say. But his plan was shattered to pieces even before he started with its realization.
"Come in, Marcus" he heard his Masters' voice call out to him. He decided to just enter and not resist whatever was coming after this.
As he came in he noticed his Master seating at the table in the exact same looking room as his own.
He also didn't fail to notice Servan's widened eyes with a hint of curiosity and caution.
"We have a lot of talking to do, but we will talk with the King and then you will understand everything, but before we do..." he said turning over to Servan "Let me re-introduce to you, His Majesty's head butler and also His eternal Protector, Servan Taurum".
The silence continued for a good 10 minutes as Marcus couldn't comprehend what was told to him.
After those 10 or so minutes both Titus and Servan lightly chuckled while looking at the blank face Marcus had. "You think you could pul up some more feeling to it?" Servan said.
Marcus blinked a couple of times just to be sure he was seeing properly. Then he turned over to Titus and asked: "P-Protector?" he stuttered a bit before continuing "That title belongs to the magic beasts that protect and sustain order in the forests around the Kingdom and I can barely feel any presence or aura from him" he said.
Titus said nothing and only turned over to Servan with a look of expectancy. Servan sighed before standing up and performing some hand signs. As he finished his face and the whole body contorted to an unrecognizable shape before slowly taking a form of a humanoid being with hind legs of a bull, muscular torso with a big scar running across the whole of it and had a head of a bull with massive horns protruding from the sides to stretching to the front. Marcus recognized this being as a minotaur since he studied various demi-human races.
"I am originally from the Iron Bull clan that inhabited a forest that existed at the place the Capital currently stands, but I use this form since the Iron Bull one is quite massive," he said."I was the Protector as you call them. I blessed the Bovem family's bloodline with a higher affinity for fire and metal that is a sub-element from the earth element. I also managed to give them a part of our own body cultivation technique that even further strengthens the body even though they were already born with tough bodies." he continued.
"Life was great back then as both sides profited from it, but you could say it wasn't meant to last after the Great War. The ground on which the Capital lies was once full of Pluma metal as you call it. The noble families requested permission to mine it, but we refused since Pluma metal has a natural property that lets it attract mana to it and we always prospered because of it. The noble families weren't willing to let go of it as it was a truly astonishing amount of metal and with that much amount of it they would also prosper even more." he paused with a sad sigh.
"We were attacked by the joint forces of all the noble families. Richards' great ancestor was killed, my whole clan exterminated, I nearly died and for what!? For some metal!? We were living because of it, we numbered in thousands thanks to it... To them? It was only one of the many deposits they found and dried out!" he cried out furiously but soon calmed himself and continued his story.
"A butler that served the Bovem family back then found me wounded and took me to see them... The ones responsible for me living through it all and giving me a second chance to take revenge - the demi-human refugee camp." A hint of happiness was evident in his tone as he talked about that whole event. "Can you even imagine how hard it had to be for those demi-humans to defy everyone and everything and help the one thing that helped humans hunt them? I very much doubt that you or anyone can but they helped me. Those refugees were stealthily traveling to the Kingdom of Mons but still helped me with their already almost non-existent provisions. They asked for one favor and that was to safely escort them to the Kingdom of Mons when I heal while they lay low because of the Church's suspicious movements around the area".
"Surprisingly, the noble families didn't exterminate the Bovem family but instead used their still underage descendant to control the newly-founded Kingdom from the shadows and they were successful for some time but they didn't predict one variable in the grand scheme - the butler. He solely educated the descendant who was still a boy at the time and managed to tell him all the truth behind all the lies he was fed daily. When I healed I came before that boy who grew up to be a fine young man and asked for vengeance. His answer? "I swear to you by my father and my whole bloodline to fight to correct all the damage done to you." he coldly said" Servan chuckled slightly at the fond memory as it seemed.
"Before we started doing anything seriously I, of course, had to help the demi-humans as their escort but when I got to their temporary camp everything was burned and bodies littered the ground". he said while radiating a massive amount of bloodlust. "I learned after that, how foolish I actually was... I only thought about the human nobles as my enemies any never gave a second thought who might be behind all that chaos. It was, of course, the Church. They orchestrated everything - from the beginning to the end. I was ready to give all of me to the boy for another favor - save the demi-humans. And yet again he managed to completely astonish me, he just smiled and said: "I was already planning that". "
"And from that day I was there for him and all of his descendants protecting them while getting stronger and trying to establish connections with possible allies waiting for the right time - and trust me Marcus the time is near," he said with an excited look.
"Soon, I shall get my revenge and so shall Richard because we will destroy the Church and everything connected to it!"