"Quite skilled is he not, my prince ?"
Marquis Bulloupe asked as he watched Arthur completely defeat knight After knight in a row, the way he moved was like that of an experienced swordsman, even if the knights he was fighting were no were near the same level as Gazeff Stronoff, to defeat 20 knights in a row was a feat worth noting, Gazeff was equivalent to a 1000 knights by himself and if this Arthur completely manages to defeat all the knights that challenge him, he'll be comparable to Gazeff and that wasn't good.
"indeed he is Marquis, however Defeating a measly 20 men hardly makes him better than me"
Prince Barbro, the first prince of the Re-estize kingdom, commented hardly impressed, prompting the Marquis to roll his eyes at his words before responding.
"indeed my prince, however we should keep in mind that he might be holding back as such assuming he can take a 100 men is the best bet. Not only that, but as it stands, you need someone like him to solidify your position similar to how Gazeff does so for the king"
He explained, the two of them were watching Arthur from high above in the castle with a monocular, it was midday and the spot they were in is usually a place to watch the sunset and a good place to feel the sun if one is feeling a bit cold.
"I am the crowned prince. The throne is already mine, plus with your support. I should be sitting on it already."
"Yes, however the princess getting someone that is even remotely powerful could be a problem, not to mention she's friends with member of the Aindra family and that family hasn't involved itself much in matters concerning the succession."
"what are you saying, Marquis?"
Barbro turned to look at the Marquis, not really liking what he was implying.
"I'm saying the princess has a better reputation than both you and Zanac amongst the commoners, the knights also favour her over the both of you, if she gains allies like the Aindra family plus a powerful knight by her side, she has all the pieces to stake her claim for the throne, hence we need to prevent that"
The Marquis explained without looking back at the prince, and Barbro placed his hand on his chin and began to contemplate what he heard. After about thirty seconds, the prince spoke again
"What do we do?"
"we simply need to poach him from her. We'll let him garner a reputation for a bit and poach him before he gets a proper public image"
"Why not do that now?"
"we need to assess him first and see if he will truly be useful to us. The type of reputation he gets is what will determine if we want to associate with him or not"
"Oh I see"
The prince understood while the Marquis watched Arthur defeat another two men. It was midday day, so he wonders if Arthur can continue to win until sunset.
...
Back within the princess' chambers, Renner was having her midday tea time, however this time she was joined by a beautiful blonde Haired woman that nearly rivalled her in beauty who had the added benefit of looking much more mature than her, the woman had beautiful Emerald green eyes with hair curled into ringlets, she was Lakyus Alvin Dale Aindra and she was an Adamantite level adventurer.
"So how is your operation going, any headway?"
Renner took a sip from her tea as she questioned. She maintained an elegant look as she did so.
"to be honest it's going so and so"
She said with a bit of disappointment on her face mixed with frustration, dealing with 8 fingers is always troublesome.
"it doesn't seem like that?"
"it's just that we keep finding the same people back in their hands, and it's really frustrating, to be honest"
Lakyus complained, her and Blue rose have been going around The Re-estize kingdom trying to free all the illegal slaves captured by Eight fingers but for some reason when they go to raid a location they often find the same people they rescued.
"Are you saying that the people you guys rescue somehow end up getting taken by 8 fingers again"
"that what it looks like"
Lakyus confirmed and finally took a sip from her tea. She was never really a tea person, but it would be rude to refuse it.
"hmm"
Renner sounded as she began to think deeply about the situation, it would be easier to assume that all the temples in the kingdom are Under 8 finger's thumb and are being bribe but the church us its own force to be reckoned with as such she finds it hard to believe it would buckle under the threat of viol from eight fingers, it Also possible that the church sells the people rescued back to Eight fingers but if that were the case there would be a bit of conflict between the two groups, After all selling Eight fingers Their own merchandise would be disrespectful.
"are you certain that these people wanted to be rescued?"
"what do you mean? Of course, they wanted to be saved who would voluntarily want to stay being a slave?"
"That is true to some degree but Eight fingers might be doing something to it's captured slave perhaps putting them under a spell or using some sort if drug, they do have an extensive drug trade so I imagine they'd some sort of hallucinogens to compel people to go back to them"
"But then that would mean our work is completely useless, not unless we get rid of whatever it is they're doing"
"exactly, for the time being, stop the raids on eight fingers until we have concrete information on this. Not only that, but doing something frequently might cause the enemy to adapt"
"Hah! At least there are few that we actually rescued, so it's not completely useless"
She sighed and placed her elbow on the table, letting go of her lady like posture for a bit. She didn't quite like the idea of people being enslaved and was the type to act first , however having a friend who does the thinking to collaborate with was a good thing because if she was doing this with her team she most likely would have probably taken longer to realize.
"I understand what you're saying Lakyus but to deal with an organization like, 8 fingers we need all the information we can find not only that but we'll need to neutralize all the nobles in cahoots with them in order to be successful in getting rid of it"
Now Renner wasn't naïve Enough to think an organization like 8 fingers could be truly taken down, as things such as drug trade and prostitution and slavery will probably preserver, she also didn't believe that it'd complete eradication was necessary, what was needed was to reduce its influence by significant enough margin that its presence doesn't threaten the crown's authority.
"Yes…"
Before Lakyus could get her full thoughts out, there was a knock on the door, and Renner responded, welcoming the guest. The door opened, revealing both Briana and short and chubby young man with blonde hair.
"Good afternoon, sister, and lady Lakyus"
The prince greeted them, and Renner responded with the typical response expect when someone gave their greetings, while in the on the other hand Lakyus stood up and gave a bow as she returned his greetings
"good afternoon, your highness"
"No need to stand on ceremony, lady Lakyus, so be at ease"
Once Lakyus was sat back down, the maid pulled out a chair for the prince, who sat down and asked the maid to fetch an extra cup as he wished to have some tea as well.
"Marquis Raeven isn't with you, brother? This is quite a surprise. You always with him that some of the maids believe you to be lovers"
"is that true prince Zanac?!!"
"Do not play into her games, lady Lakyus, my sister is quite the tease"
He brushed it off, not taking any offense to the joke, although it seemed the Lakyus was quite quick to believe things or the way Renner delivered sound too serious.
"work on your delivery when you're Jesting sister"
Renner simply smiled, and it ignored his words and spoke. She was curious about his sudden visit to her by himself no less.
"what brings you here brother, it can't be just because you want to share a cup of tea with me"
She asked, no one ever comes to her for anything other than a favour, especially so for her brothers, most of the nobles simply come to her to introduce their sons to her in hopes of marriage and the majority of women her age generally avoid her, aside from Lakyus of course but she's more like a business friend rather than an actual friend.
"can I not simply visit my beloved sister with no strings attached"
Renner gave him a deadpan stare, causing him to sigh in surrender.
"well fine I do have something in mind. However, the fact that you believe I can't visit you simply as your brother is troubling, I'll have to remedy that in the future"
Truly, he felt bad about the situation, after as an older brother, he should have time with his sister every now and then.
"I believe it's important for siblings to get along well, so it's not a bad thing to see your sister every once in a while"
Lakyus gave her own comment on the matter. Although she has no siblings to speak of, that comment of her came from her simply feeling like that's how siblings should be.
"Moving on, I bring some news that I'm sure you haven't heard yet seeing that you hardly ever leave this place."
"go on, I wonder what information you could have that would interest me"
"I have information, but I also need some of your thoughts on it, and Lady Lakyus being here is actually a fortunate thing as I believe she might be an expert on the whole…"
"If you would please to the point dear brother, my tea time is very precious to me"
Lakyus widened her eyes a bit, which was quite out of character for Renner, she hardly ever rude to anyone or the very least she would never cut some off as they werecspeakingk
"Well according to a few sources there's some unusual occurrence in the Katze plains, an unusual increase in the number of undead, apparently there's been a few seen wondering close to E-Rantel"
"Apologies your highness but that is a regular occurrence every year, there's usually an increase to the undead throughout the year which is why adventurers always seem to be there, the guild makes it a point to monitor and reduce their numbers."
Lakyus explained but she didn't explain that about a hundred to 200 adventurers lose their lives in the plains, and that can contribute to the difficulty of the quest given to exterminate the undead.
"So you're saying there's nothing to worry about?
"
"Yes, as long as the guild dispatches some people, it should hardly be a problem, but what do you think, princess?"
She turned to Renner and asked, as an adventurer she was an expert to things like this but Renner was much more smarter than her as such there might a side that Renner might see that Lakyus can't.
"well I'm not an adventurer, and to be able to voice my thoughts properly I'd need reports concerning activities done in the Katze plains. Do you suspect foul play?"
"Yes quite a bit, as you know the criminal organization Zurrernorn is still at large and we have hardly ever managed to catch any of their members, one of the spies we sent to infiltrate was killed a Month ago however his first and last report was about the Katze plains"
"So you think this increase in undead might be caused by Zurrernorn?"
Prince Zanac nodded his head. It wasn't completely out of the question as Zurrernorn is known for it's specialty in necromancy and are rather fervent believers in the God of death Surshana
"Lakyus could request all reports about the Katze plains made in the last 2 years if they still have them?"
"Will do princess, please excuse me"
Lakyus gave her a nod and quickly stood and bowed to the prince and exited the room, leaving the two by themselves, however, before they could continue their conversation. A knock on the door was heard, and Renner answered, a Maid entered, she had brought more tea.
"My lady, I have someone that requests your presence"
She announced as she arrived at the table and placed the tea set on the table and began to pour tea for Zanac and refill Renner's cup.
"What is it?"
"One of the guards has informed me that sir Gazeff has requested your presence on the training grounds"
"Huh? What for?"
"indeed what business would my sister have in such a place"
" I do not know my prince, I'm simply passing on a message"
"If sir Gazeff is the one asking, then I can not ignore him. Very well I'll be there in a minute
....
A/N: remember AU some stuff will change and the lore might be changed too but not too much.
JJK s2 is over, I'm sad but I still have frieren to look forward to so I'm not that sad.
10 chapters ahead on Patreon.