"Have you heard the rumours?"
"What rumours?"
"They say that a tall pillar of blue light descended upon the castle two days ago."
"Yes, and they say that it was some sort of divine radiance which healed the king!"
"What? Seriously?"
"Yes! One of the guards who worked here saw the light!"
The meeting hall in the palace was large enough to occupy nearly a thousand people, and was built in Cayden's glory days. However, there were only about 300 people present, 100 of which were soldiers to maintain order, and the rest were nobles.
Since Cayden was not a very large nation, two days of riding from any part of Cayden would allow them to reach here with a few extra hours to spare, even counting breaks along the journey.
The total number of nobles within Cayden was precisely 201, which meant that more or less every noble had arrived after receiving the king's declaration of every noble within Cayden to get to the royal palace in 2 days' time.
"Could this be revenge for not helping him while he was dying?"
"Tch. Who would make an enemy of every single noble of Cayden for something like death? Such an action would disrupt the stability, which is already tipping over the edge, and cause the nobles to revolt and sparking an internal war, destroying what little we have as a nation."
"The king should also know this. So, what will he do?"
"His majesty the king of Cayden, Ken August, has arrived!" yelled out the announcer before disappearing into the soldiers as though he didn't exist.
All the nobles turned silent as the doors and the entrance opened and the king walked out in his red robes. Behind him were two children, of 12 and 14 years each, and behind them was a man wearing white clothes, a white wooden cane, a white top hat, and a black mask covering his face. This time, he had his eyes shut to prevent anyone from fainting on the spot.
Naturally, Jack could still see everything even if his eyes were shut, and was moving rather fluidly, which was confusing for the nobles present.
'Who was this man?'
'What is his relation with the king?'
Their questions did not remain for long as they were more shocked at the appearance of the king.
His sunken cheekbones had become full of life once again. His slouched posture which had been clucking more and more had been pulled upright with his chest puffing out pridefully. His whitening hair from the poison had been returned to their initial golden lustre, and his listless eyes had once again regained vitality.
His whole being was exuding the pride of a lion who had been re-awakened. The pride of a king.
Ken August went ahead and sat at the throne placed at the end of the long room, while his two sons sat on either side of him. The mysterious man casually walked up the stairs to the throne. He walked up to the left side of the king, and moved a little more to the side since the second prince was seated there. Once he had moved a meter away from the prince, he raised his staff and hit the marble on the ground, which began to morph and formed a throne made out of marble, just a little smaller than the king's, and most definitely larger than the princes' thrones.
This action stunned every single noble present and angered many of them.
"You!"
But before one of the angry nobles could say anything, King Ken raised his right hand, silencing his.
"Are you not going to greet your king?" he spoke with a calmness which innerved many of the nobles present.
Realising the breach of courtesy and mannerism, the nobles hastily bowed down to a various angles depending on their status.
Currently there were 2 dukes present, who merely nodded slightly and greeted the king with words.
Following that were the Counts, who were one level of nobility lower than Dukes. These nobles had to bend their waist down to 60 degrees and greet the king without looking straight at the king.
The Viscounts also had to bend down to a similar degree, but needed to remain in that bent position until the king told them to rise.
The same restriction remained for Barons as well, who had to kneel down on the ground with one leg.
"Rise"
The king spoke in a slightly milder voice than before.
"I will get straight to the point since we have a lot of work to do. Yes. The rumours are true. I had been poisoned and was dying. Last night, I was on the verge of death, when I received a revelation."
"The God of Systems had decided to help Cayden and he started this off by completely healing me. As a show of trust, he also sent over his Pope, Espeeu."
Said the king as he moved his hand towards the calmly seated SPU.
Hearing this, many of the nobles understood the position of the unknown man in white called Espeeu.
Not only had he saved the king's life, he was also the pope of a church. Just the latter fat alone made him more important than any of the members present other than His majesty the king, and therefore allowed him to assume the position of second only to the king.
"There is also something a lot more important than my life to be announced right now."
Suddenly, the curtain tension which had been briefly lifted descended onto the room once more as everyone waited for the king to speak.
"Henceforth… The kingdom of Cayden shall have a state religion, not forcefully, but voluntarily. We shall follow the mighty God of Systems. This will be the turning point in the history of this decaying nation. I will also appoint Pope Espeeu as the royal advisor, who, if anything happens to me, will hold power over the kingdom until one of my sons becomes capable enough to inherit the throne."
As soon as Ken finished speaking, SPU stood up abruptly.
"Not that that is over with, I would like to clear the field and pull out some unwanted weeds you majesty."
Without waiting for an answer, Jack moved instantly, and appeared behind a noble and picked him up by the neck, before disappearing and picking up another and throwing them both onto the ground before the king, before moving once more.
In total, 14 nobles were pulled into the centre of the hall in an open space between the nobles and the stairs to the throne.
They were all lying motionless, but were still breathing. Jack had just dislocated all their limbs and instantly healed it, giving them immeasurable pain without doing any visible or lasting harm to them.
The 14 nobles were yelling out in agony in front of the astonished and frightened crown.
"God declares them to be treasonous! They shall be sentences to death."