The palace was directly next to the church, on the same hill, but in a more central location, as it was in the exact middle of the city. It stood several stories tall and made of extravagant materials inlaid in elaborate styles giving it a one of a kind appearance. According to James, there was no building like it in all of Urabatos. The main entrance way was somewhat similar to the large door on the church, as it was eye-catching and large. However instead of an ethereal feel it was more of a materialistic door, with gems and solid gold contrasted by heavy darkened oak. The door truly seemed like it was the entrance to royalty.
Hera and James wasted no time admiring the door, instead they simply opened it wide and ushered us inside. The interior was brightly lit by what seemed to be electrical lights, however there was no wiring or metal to be seen so it could be assumed that they were made from magic instead. Portraits of various men lined the hall they walked down, each drawn man striking the same pose with the same crown. It was easy to assume that they were portraits of the previous Kings. As I was about to confirm my hypothesis the group suddenly stopped. We had come to a rest at an ornate door, this one of normal size, while Cardinal James knocked lightly on the first class door.
A small "Come in" was muttered from inside the room and James didn't hesitate before throwing the doors open and striding into the room as if he owned the place. The room inside was fairly normal for a room containing the King. A simple polished wooden desk sat in the middle with two velvet chairs positioned on one side, their dark wooden backs matched the desk they adorned, faced the door that we just entered. On the other side a glasses figure sat with his nose in various stacks of papers that lined the desktop.
The figure looked up slightly, his pink eyes peered briefly at James before returning to the stack in front of him. He ruffled his silver hair lightly before opening his mouth to speak.
"Sorry about this heroes, but a King's problems never end. I don't have much time, as you can see by the state of my desk." He chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I'm sure you've heard the news from Cardinal James here, I'm very sorry for having to rely on you all. To be honest, if I had the choice I would not have summoned you all, but I did not. You have my promise that after this whole absolute evil business is finished I will give you the most comfortable and luxurious lives you could ever dream of. So please, help us." He bowed his head deeply, the wrinkles on his forehead seemed so prominent and his sunken cheeks only popped out more now that his attention grabbing eyes were looking downwards.
I opened my mouth to speak, I felt bad for the obviously struggling King in front of me. But before I could, someone else beat me to the punch. Cameron spoke first, and in his usual cocky manner.
"Yo, the bow is nice, old man, but who requests something without saying their name first? Don't you realize it's rude?" My mouth fell agape at Cameron's words, after all who would ever speak to royalty that way. I wasn't the only one, most of the other students also looked surprised. Except for one girl. Her shoulder length hair was obviously dyed a bright blonde, and her black eyes stood out against her hair's bright color. Her ears were pierced multiple times and she was chewing on gum even in this scenario.
Her name was Alexandra, but most people called her Alex the Delinquent. "Ya, old geezer, what's up with you?" She spoke with her nose upturned, looking down on the still bowing King. His eyebrow twitched slightly but he kept his cool and peered upwards at Alex and Cameron. "So, name? Spit it out already, dumbass." Two girls quickly put their hands over Alex's mouth as she spoke, trying to quiet her down before she further offended the King.
A sigh escaped the King's lips before he finally responded. "Right, my apologies. My name is King George Haliborn, of the Haliborn Kingdom." He didn't bow this time, instead choosing to look into Cameron's eyes with a piercing glare. The room seemed to chill as the tension grew until Cameron finally couldn't take the pressure and looked away before speaking.
"Yeah, good. Don't forget next time, old man." He said as he turned towards the door we came in and began to leave. James quickly followed as did most of the students. I lingered for a moment before I finally decided to speak.
"Um, Your Majesty? I'm sorry about their behavior, they have always been like that, but we will try our best to help with your problems, so please don't be so downtrodden." King George chuckled slightly, nothing more than the soft exhalation of air, and smiled at my words of affirmation. I smiled back before quickly leaving to catch up to the rest of my classmates, with Hera following quietly behind.
When I exited the room, James and the others were nowhere to be seen, but luckily, or perhaps it was planned that way, Hera was there with me. "This way Caesar, Cardinal James is taking the others to their temporary residences for today to rest, we should do the same." She walked in front of me to lead the way and once again I couldn't help but admire the view. Not only was her bottom beautifully sculpted, but her thighs were a perfect mix of toned and fat that almost made me bend over to hide the growth in my pants. I stared so hard that I almost forgot to ask Hera something important.
"Oh, right, Hera. Or Miss Hera? Cardinal Hera? What should I call you?" She looked back towards me, her beautiful purple eyes drew me in as I was once again reminded of how beautiful she really was.
"Hera is fine, you are a hero after all, there is no need to be so formal with me who is but a servant to you." I blinked at her statement. Servant? But isn't she really high up in the church, why is someone of her stature saying that? I guess the confusion showed on my face because she chuckled softly. "You seem confused. I am a servant to the Holy Goddess, and you are her proxy, as such I am but a servant to your every whims. Please be at ease with me."
"R-right." I struggled to open my mouth and speak but eventually managed to squeak out a response. When she says anything does she really mean… No, there's no way. She's just exaggerating, let's forget about it. "Anyway, can I visit a library first? I'd like to learn a bit about this place while I have the time." She smiled towards me as I spoke my request.
"Of course, please follow me." She led me quickly in the opposite direction of where we were heading, it seemed that the library was far away from the residences. We eventually came to a somewhat rundown door on one end of the palace. Hera opened that door with a creak before motioning me inwards. The inside lit up upon entry and I saw what looked to be a completely normal library, almost like the public ones from back home.
"Right, thank you, Hera. Can you help me find some books about the history of the world?" She nodded, clasping her hands towards her chest as she did so, and bowed lightly. Thanks to this I got a good idea of what her chest looked like, and I was intrigued. Her twin mounds wrapped around her clasped hands almost encompassing them completely. I was dumbstruck, hypnotized by the woman in front of me. But she quickly lowered her hands, breaking the spell.
"Please sit," She motioned towards the only table in the room. It had a few chairs gathered around it so I moved to sit on the closest one. "Then I will return quickly with what you need." She stepped away, moving towards some shelves in the far back of the room. I still had a good sight line on her, after all the room was not too big, almost like the library that would be found at a middle school.
She arrived at the shelf and reached up towards the top of the shelf, standing on her toes. The view was perfect, I was glad to be sitting down so I wouldn't need to hide the difficulties happening to my lower half. The view didn't last long, as she quickly began walking back towards me with a book pressed to her chest. "Here you are, Caesar. Please ask me any questions you may have." I smiled in thanks then began reading.
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I pondered the information I just got while I followed Hera to the temporary dorms. The summary of that information was as follows: This world, Urabatos, consists of two continents split into three total Kingdoms. The first Kingdom is Haliborn, the one we were summoned to. Haliborn is a Kingdom that was founded by Humans but is now as of fifteen years ago all-inclusive. Meaning that no matter the race, everyone is welcome. This Kingdom takes up half of the western continent, shared with the Barolian Coalition. The Barolian Coalition is an empire made by elves and dwarves working together in harmony, and it has stayed that way since its creation. They are very wary of outsiders, especially ones of other races.
Funnily enough, the elves and dwarves were exactly like the ones in fantasy books back on earth, with dwarves being short, stout metalworks and elves being tall, beautiful nature-lovers. Their alliance shook the world at the time of the creation of the Barolian Coalition, as there were no two races who were so opposite in every way. Finally, on the smaller Eastern Continent, there was the Darok Empire. An Empire created by conquering the entire continent, it is a place purely inhabited by beastmen, or Daronians as they are called on Urabatos. They are extremely hostile to any other races that dare invade their land, but for good reason as there is a history of the Daronians being taken as slaves due to their natural strength being higher than any other race.
Hera told me that I would soon be meeting elves, dwarves, Daronians, and others at the place we will be training. Apparently Cardinal James had already explained it to the others, so Hera was explaining it to me. We will be sent to the Haliborn Academy, a place known even to the Barolian Coalition as a place of great learning. There we will be taught all the essential skills and knowledge that we will need in order to fight against what is coming.
Also, it seemed that I had gotten closer to Hera with our small outing, as she was no longer so stiff with me and instead had begun to joke around by the end of our time in the library. Something tells me, it's going to be a good relationship.
I layed down in the room that Hera showed me to and shut my eyes, I was exhausted. This day was hectic, and I would only get more crazy tomorrow, so I needed all the rest I could get. I felt my consciousness fading away as my muscles relaxed. I might just like this world.