The chariot pulled into the castle's courtyard, giving me a good line of sight of the castle and its grounds. From up close the hedges were cut perfectly around the grounds, no overgrown shrubs and the fountain in the middle of the courtyard was clean.
I saw several grounds keepers cutting the hedges, most likely trimming them so as to keep them tidy. You could tell this was a place of royalty, and not just because the castle and the grounds, but because of they way even the servants carried themselves.
"Hey, Kichi," Sora pulled me out of my gawking. "What do you think the king wants with us?"
"I don't know," I replied with a sigh. "But if you want me to guess, he probably wants us to clear another dungeon for him. I mean, that's what we're known for apparently."
"Oh, you know about our spreading popularity?" Han asked.
"Wait, all of you did?" I had only found out because Stavia.
"Well, yeah. We just didn't tell you because we didn't think you would care. I mean, you hate attention, so we didn't want you thinking about the fact people know your name now." Rubellia chimed in.
"Yeah, they even gave you the name 'Reaper'." Patora smiled. "I think it's pretty cool."
"I know about all of that already," I sighed. "It's the main reason I don't want to meet with the King. He knows who I am, yet I know nothing about him. I don't like that."
"Well, you don't have to speak to him if you don't want to," Sora started. "I can speak to him for you. No promises that he won't try and speak to you specifically though." I simply sighed in response.
Not soon after the carriage came to a halt in front of the castle. The driver got out and opened the doors for us. I stepped outside and looked at the castle that towered above me. "Just head through the doors and the King and Queen will be there waiting for you." He spoke.
We did as told and made our way up the stairs into the royal chamber, which was right at the entrance, as we were told. We were greeted by the King and Queen, sitting on their thrones in the middle, with staircases leading up on either side of them.
The King was large in size, both in stomach but build as well. He had a rather long salt and pepper beard with a bald head. The Queen had straight Snow-White hair and fair skin with a rather angular build. They both had to be at least late 50's
"You must be Kichirou," the King started as we all walked up closer. "And you must be his party."
"You must be the King," I stated blatantly.
"Indeed," a smile came across his face. "You….are strange." He stared at me. I could feel power emitting from him. He may be a King, but not like one I've ever seen. He held an immense amount of power in him. I could feel it.
I could feel him observing me, studying me. He probably can tell I have no magic power and that's what he finds strange.
"What is it you called us here for," I asked rudely, mostly trying to change the subject to stop his studying of me. "I have more important things to do than sit here and be studied and judged by a lazy King."
"K-Kichirou!" Sora slapped her hand over my mouth. "W-we are so sorry, your majesty." She bowed, as well as everyone else. She still had her hand over my mouth. "Bow, Kichirou!" She hissed so I could hear.
I looked over at the King, who just stared with amusement in his eyes, and the Queen who simply sat with a straight face. I moved her hand from my mouth so I could speak.
"Why should I bow when you're the ones that need me?" I looked the King in the eyes.
"I knew the Reaper was a strange fellow, but I didn't expect him to be like this," the Queen stated as she looked at the King.
"Strange?" I asked.
"Well, you and your party cleared a dungeon. Something no one has done in, well, ever." The Queen continued. "We find it strange that you did it, and at lower levels as well."
"That's besides the point," the King interjected. "We do need you, as that is why we called you and your party here, Reaper."
"Just call me Kichirou," I said. "I don't like that nick name." If anything, I don't deserve that name. Reaper is the name of one who brings death. Who strikes fear into peoples hearts. One look at me and everyone thinks the same thing.
"That's strange. I don't sense any magic power from you."
They all say the same thing.
"So, what did you need us for?" I repeated once again.
The King and Queen didn't answer, but instead a look of sadness and hopelessness came across their face. "It's…our daughter," the Queen started.
"She was kidnapped, about a week ago," the King continued, his eyes downcast and voice scarce. "We've sent out several search parties, but none of them came up with any clues, nor have they found her."
"So, what? You want us to find her? Not even your royal guards or whatever you hired could find her. What makes you think we can? We cleared a dungeon; we didn't find a secret…." I went quiet for a moment.
Scan…could I use it?
If I could, how would it even work? I scan the area and it tells me where things are, whether it be monsters, people, items, or animals. But it doesn't help find any specific thing. Maybe if I tried focusing it?
I doubt it. That's not how it would work. The skill itself states that it's a scan of the area on my minimap, nothing more, nothing less. It's not a tracker. But…I haven't used any skill points, let alone looked at my skill tree as of recently. Maybe there's something new.
I opened my menu in my HUD, looking at the skill trees. All my attack skills were still level 30, so I quickly invested skill point into them, leveling them to 58. I looked at the Observe skill and the skill trees under it. Scan was still there, and sure enough right below it was a skill called Track. Although it said I needed to be level 70 before I could unlock it.
That's kinda lame. I have to be such a high level for such a minuscule skill. But nothing I can do about it. I kept looking until I found myself at the pyrokinesis skill. That's when my eyes widened.
Underneath the skill, were other skills that branched off from it. Like a true magic spell. There was Fireball, Meteor Strike, Fire breath, Fire wall, and others. Pyrokinesis itself was level 1, I quickly changed that and invested skill points into it, making it level 58. Not like I was short on the points. I have 432 in the bank right now from leveling up. Plus, the fact I got 25 skill points every time I leveled up helped. On top of the fact that previously I had very little skills and no magic, so I didn't have anywhere to put the remainder of the points.
After pyrokinesis leveled up to 58, a window appeared in my HUD.
Pyrokinesis has reached level 50
New skill branch unlocked: Fire Bender
Description: After working with Fire magic for many years, you have finally mastered it, unlocking its true potential. You can now control fire, not just your own, but others as well.
100% resistance to fire and fire magic.
I blinked slowly, mostly out of shock. If I read that right…it thinks I've had this skill for years? How…how is that possibly? It's not even been a day since I had it, so why does the description say that?
Unless…maybe, do others get skill points also? It would be weird to ask that, because what if they don't? It would make sense though, if I was the only one that had it. So…does that mean I have a cheat system? I can learn a skill and master it in less than a day while others practice for years?
"Kichirou?" The King brought me out of my trance.
"Hu-oh, sorry. I got sidetracked." I muttered.
"We understand that you aren't a search party and that y'all don't focus on search and rescues," the King stood up and walked up to me. "But please," he bowed his head to me. "We beg you. Try. Try and find our daughter!" His voice croaked and I saw tears falling to the ground below him.
"….Tsk, don't beg like that," I snorted. "It makes you look pathetic and makes me want to help you even less."
"Kichi!" Han pulled my hair.
"OW! What the hell?!" I looked at him in anger.
"You're going to get us killed!"
"Why do you act like that?" Sora scolded.
"Because royalty is garbage," I sneered at them. "They're nothing but a blood like that has been favoritized. They're no different than the rest of the people that they look down upon. They're blood is red, just like everyone else's, so what's so special about their blood line? Nothing. Just like how we give a meaning to currency, they give a meaning to their own blood. It's disgusting."
"You don't give any chances for others who could possibly run the Capital better than you. Royals like you are all the same. Teaching the same traditions, the same rule of thumb. Your children will run the country the way you taught them, not changing anything, not advancing anything. You stay stuck in one place because you don't give others a chance who may have ideas greater than your own." Oops, I went on a rant.
The King and Queen looked at me in silence for a moment before speaking again, ignoring my rant.