The next morning:
Ran, having just woken up, felt quite rejuvenated this time around. Not only were the blanket and pillow covers woven with silk, giving a cool and smooth feel all night long, even the bed itself was seemingly made with spiritually nourished cotton.
The entire experience reminded him of… home.
Sighing to himself, he shook himself to forcibly stop from reminiscing. He then freshened himself and Fluffy up as they would first meet with the Lord formally before enjoying breakfast.
Usually, it would have been the other way around since no one could really force the Lord to meet with them before he ate—his daughter on the other hand…
When they left their room, they were met with their assigned servant, which had been dutifully watching over their room.
"Sir, the Lord does not tolerate tardiness."
"Alright then, let's go."
Ran took one step before he abruptly stopped.
"Is something the matter?"
The servant looked at him, slightly affronted by his change in behavior, but Ran didn't mind the stink eye.
"Do you smell that?"
"Smell what?"
"Meor?"
The servant and Fluffy sniffed the air, but neither found anything odd.
"Sir, now is not the time for—"
"Shh…" Ran gestured, using a finger to shut the lips of the servant, who was a middle-aged man.
After sniffing a few more times, he confirmed it and his facial expression changed in the opposite direction of good.
"It smells like death."
Indeed, he could see it now. All around him, in every direction, he was surrounded by a faint fog of darkness. It was so faint that he could've just as easily blamed the effect on poor lighting conditions; except, there were no poor lighting conditions in this palace. Even then, the effect was so faint that it only made everything like half a shade darker.
But when he breathed, it forcefully condensed some of the fog as it went into his nose, otherwise, he wouldn't have noticed as soon as he did. Furthermore, it seemed to be getting worse.
The smell itself was also rotten, as putrid, and as disgusting as that of a decaying corpse.
And yet, despite being in this situation for the first time, he felt something familiar about it.
However, because he had forgotten to take his finger off the servants lips, Ran now put himself in a precarious circumstance. Moreover, he started talking about death out of nowhere, and as such, any normal person would instantly be wary of such a person. Such was what this servant was feeling, and so, to extricate himself, Ran coughed a bit before heading ahead as if he didn't say anything.
The servant glared at him for a bit, vowing to explain this to the Mistress, before forcing himself to once again lead them because Ran clearly didn't know where to go.
…
Thus, with the guidance of their assigned servant, they were led into the throne room which appeared to be a ways behind the house where they first met the Lord. From Ran's experience of also living in a structure as magnificent as a palace, this one was quite unordinary. Or rather, from Ran's point of view, its layout was sloppy, as if whoever made it was unacquainted with architecture and interior design.
When they reached the throne room, Ran realized that the others were just getting here as well, leaving everyone grouped up in silence as they waited for the Lord to come in. And soon enough, he would make his appearance through a backdoor where he then propped himself on his red throne.
The throne itself was as if it grew from the palace itself, giving it an unrefined and rugged look that stood in contrast to the not-so-barbaric Lord.
By now, the Lord appeared to be in much better shape, and was even relaxed enough to come in what was probably a bathrobe. Not only was he clean shaven, even his hair was washed and tied into a ponytail. Better yet, his cheeks were rosy and his eyes appeared less tired than before as even some tension seemed to be broken in them.
And as the Lord of the city of the Red Brick Road looked down on all these people below him, he chose to first address the most important matter to him.
According to what was reported to him, some of his scouts as well as one of his more powerful servants had followed his son as he went south, and that way just so happened to be the route that Queenie took when she left for the lower-layer. Now that she was back, the question was, did she take the same route coming back? If so, then…
"Princess… did you happen to uh…" the Lord stammered. Clearly, the words were difficult to say as some of the implications that came afterward would practically change his life forever. He did finish his sentence though.
"Did you happen to meet your brother?"
After he spoke, it seemed that the already silent room dropped some more decibels; in fact, any lower and they would go into the negatives.
And of course, knowing what we know from what happened, we can guess the answer as well. However, unexpectedly, or expectedly depending on how you look at it, Queenie didn't respond to her father's question.
Rather, the scenes of the fight with her brother Kingsley, his death, as well as the overall confusion of the situation, seeped a pressure into her such that her emotions broke through her cold demeanor.
Nonetheless, the most important factor was actually merely the presence of her father, which was the actual trigger.
Of course, seeing how unstable his daughter had become, her father had already appeared by her side the moment something was off. Yet, taking her into his embrace only caused her to go from trembling to full-on crying.
Her father turned solemn upon seeing her reaction—something had happened! But she's fine right next to me, so then…
"Papa! Kingsley, he… he's dead!"
Oh… So it was the worse-case-scenario. The only thing worse than losing one child was losing both; to the father, all scenarios were worse-case-scenarios!
Indeed, it was like a bolt of lightning struck as he was dazed from the revelation that his son no longer resided on this earth.
Unknowingly, his grip tightened, but it wasn't enough to cause Queenie discomfort. However, they were both in discomfort from the loss of a direct family member as they shed tears in silence.
Even some of the servants teared up as someone they had taken care of since birth was now gone; this would surely affect not just the future of the palace but also of the city itself.
Among the group, only Ran was still sensitive enough, both in personality as well as experience, to tear up. Both Fluffy and Ann were a bit desensitized with the way they grew up. Only Bob was completely indifferent in this situation as he had witnessed entire swathes of his tribe massacred time and time again while growing up.
No one stopped them, however, and they had their moments of silence.
When they were a bit more calm, Queenie explained the situation. Or rather, she only mentioned the part of Kingsley waiting for her on a nearby mountain as well as the fact that Ran's party were the ones who ultimately defeated her brother.
As for why she omitted literally every other part, who really knows? Well, I do but maybe she was simply being considerate to the safety of the group, or maybe she simply didn't think everything else was relevant?
Either way, hearing her words, the Lord looked at them momentarily before going back to Queenie.
"Is he… with you?"
"Y-yes."
Okay, at least we can bury him.
Unlike quite a few tribes, humans valued their burial practices deeply. It wasn't only surface level stuff like for sanitary reasons. Rather, it was ultimately for respect.
It was respect for the mere fact that you existed and that people valued your existence. This was also irrespective of any actual substantial difference that may or may have not been made. Although, of course more respect should and is given to those who have given back.
And to royalty like Queenie and her brother, their lives and deaths are intricately tied to their home more so than others and deserve to be buried in peace where they belong.
This was what her father thought and a single glance at a servant was all the signal needed to prepare a funeral.
Afterwards, now that this matter was dealt with, he would speak with the group.
Firstly, he stood in front of the group before he bowed firmly at them.
"Thank you, sincerely, for saving my daughter."
Then, before anyone could respond, the king disappeared and reappeared on his throne with his daughter on his lap. The group were at consensus that the Lord clearly retained some pride.
The Lord wanted to mention something else, but Ran, who had stayed quiet this whole time, finally spoke up. Or rather, he knelt down.
"Ran, you—"
"Stop," Ran said to Ann, holding up a hand to her, seeing that she wanted to help him get up. In her mind, he was almost of the same status as the Lord himself—being the next generation of the Holy Guardian.
Of course, without a place to "guard", the title was in name only at this point.
"Lord, with all due respect, I suspect that I am involved with the matters pertaining to the condition your son was in."
With regards to what happened with Kingsley, ever since then Ran had a nagging feeling that he might have played a role, however major it was. I mean not only did Kingsley know his name when he shouldn't have while inclining about a so-called mastermind named "Frank", but he also bore the same strange black runes the tower did. And we all know that the tower only opened with his fetal organ acting as the key.
It was as if there was a direct line connecting everything, but he could never grasp it.
Now, in actuality, the reason why Ran decided to mention this was because of two reasons. One was because he thought the Lord deserved to know the full story, and two because he thought that perhaps the Lord had some insight that could enlighten him of his own situation as well.
Of course, hearing this, the Lord immediately wanted to use his aura to pressure Ran into speaking, but he ultimately decided against it. Since Ran wanted to talk, then let him talk.
And so he did; from the sudden disappearance of Shirley's toad, to the tower, to the self-destruction of Kingsley in a last ditch effort to eliminate all of them. Everything was said, and by the end, the Lord was flabbergasted.
Wasn't this story simply too fantastical?
He looked at Queenie as if to confirm everything that was said, and seeing her nod sent him reeling yet again. He… he couldn't even contemplate on it; there were too many factors in too many places and with the key pieces still missing, the puzzle was as good as dead.
That was… until he looked at the group again. This time, it was slightly different.
Compared to yesterday, he noticed the insignia on both Ran's and Ann's clothes, the Starward Lion.
Wait a minute, wasn't this the insignia of that place?
Also, upon taking another look at their faces, wasn't one of them somewhat familiar?
Then, he thought about what he had said to Ran yesterday, comparing him to a man named Torian.
Finally, he saw… how short Ran was and then immediately confirmed it.
But it didn't end there, to the Lord, this appeared to be… a key piece of the puzzle?
A scene appeared with the Lord's mind, a memory of him and Torian when they were younger.
At the time, they were training in the wilderness and happened to meet after Torian ambushed the Lord, thinking he had been a "training partner".
Needless to say, although Torian had been a whole rank ahead of the Lord at the time, he had not carried any supplies with him. In fact, as a ritual, the next generation of the Holy Guardian, upon awakening, is basically exiled.
Wait, no, that's not right. Rather, they were commanded to explore the world to train. They also weren't allowed to take anything with them.
Now, Compare that to the current royal prince at the time who carried every conceivable spice with variable kinds of meat with them; the end result was… two new friends sharing life stories over a bonfire with some wine and dinner.
After sharing their lives with each other, they realized how different their worlds were.
But to the Lord, this scene was important because the stories Torian had told all shared the same theme.
They were all incredibly fantastical stories and Torian always used one word to describe them:
Anomalies.