Arthur entered the room, and the butler closed the doors behind him. The knight was met with two figures. Prince Barbro who remained seated as he gave Arthur a glare that he could only interpret as a form of displeasure. The other figure was Marquis Bulloupe, who stood beside the prince, maintaining a calm demeanor before opening his mouth to speak.
"AH sir Arthur, please have a seat. Would you like a drink?"
Arthur resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the man. It was the typical display of hospitality. Honestly, he wished they'd all get to the point quicker rather than waste time. Giving a nod, the marquis then poured him a glass of red wine, handing it to him and taking a seat.
"I do hope we did not interrupt you in the middle of something"
"no its fine, I would not dare keep his Majesty waiting, so what is the matter you wished to discuss with me?"
Arthur decided to cut to the chase, rather than listening to a nobleman ramble on about whatever nonsense that would eventually lead to him getting to the main point after minutes of pointless drivel.
"How does it feel to be knight of the princess?"
Arthur once again felt the need to roll his eye. The marquis seemed determined not to get to the point of this meeting.
"Why does that matter?"
"Well as you know, women, while complicated and hard to understand, they can never grasp the true mind of a man. We are equally as complicated, perhaps a lesser extent, but still complicated nonetheless"
"Yes that's a given. What are you getting at Marquis?"
Arthur couldn't help but crease his brows in confusion. There was no doubt that Humans in general were complicated and often times hard to understand, but that had no relevance to their conversation.
"Sir Arthur , are you a warrior?"
"Yes, I'm a warrior"
Arthur answered and stifled his desire to chuckle at such a statement coming from his mouth.
"Then it should be obvious that that the princess, a woman can never accurately understand you, men such as yourself, myself and His majesty over here are kindred spirits—"
"Marquis, more to the point please"
The prince interrupted, seemingly not liking the idea of the Marquis being slow to get to the point of this, he was already displeased about doing something so humiliating to begin with, he wanted to get this over with so that he will gain a new chess that he can control.
"Ahem! then I'll get right to the point."
The Marquis stated he had wanted to meander around the issue for much longer to get a better understanding of Arthur, at least enough insight to know what he reacts to and what he doesn't but no matter or rather since he agreed to his point about the princess not understanding him he felt confident that Arthur should not be hard to handle.
"his majesty wishes for you to defect to his side and be his knight"
"Is that so?"
Arthur asked as he spared a glance at the first prince who in turn shared a stern and a somewhat disapproving look, one that conveyed that this whole meeting was a farce and that The Prince clearly did not like that he had beg a commoner to be on his side.
"Yes, unlike the princess, his majesty here has not only more to offer you but he also has more freedom of movement as such with him you are less likely to be stuck in the castle for long periods of time"
He explained, unlike the other two princes, Renner was actually much more restricted from moving. A majority of her time is spent in the castle and hardly ever leaves beyond the castle's perimeter, and likewise as her knight and protector Arthur is required to be by her side, of course there are exceptions, like his own personal time, doing errands for her or his most recent monster hunting under the request of the throne.
While the Giant basilisk isn't the most powerful of monsters it was difficult enough to deal with that the Guild had struggled finding the right adventurers for the job, most Adamantite adventurers were too far away and those who were close were already busy, while the guild can just send a mid level subjugation squad of adventurers to overwhelm the beast they couldn't, ¹since most resources were spent to help in rebuilding in E-Rantel and a lot of money went into paying the adventurers after the Undead incident, So the problem of the Giant basilisk was handled by the crown which Arthur had volunteered to do.
"Hm"
Arthur gave a nod, what he said was certainly true at least true enough, although it's not like he was very social in his past life so not going outside is hardly something he'd consider undesirable although he has been feeling more thirsty for battle and such but sparring with Gazeff satisfies that urge at least enough that he doesn't need to seek it out.
"not only that but among the royal family His majesty here, is by far the most connected, having connections with many individuals of interest, this means he knows individuals that know about artefacts and magic items that I'm sure would be useful to you."
This Started to feel like a sales pitch, The Marquis took a sip from the glass of wine at the table allowing all that he said to sink in and let Arthur digest it, he knew that anyone who fights monsters will always find magic items and artefacts as invaluable boons since a good magic item can mean the difference between life and death, an item that decreases the damage done by a critical hit, or one that increases his strength for a specific amount of time, were things warriors like Arthur lived for.
"interesting, very tempting offers, I have no doubt you'd provide me with plenty of items to nurture my strength however…."
He paused. In all honesty, those were cool things and all, but he didn't really care for them. If a person is truly strong, then artefacts and magic items are not that necessary.
"I don't really care for them, and honestly there's not a thing you and the prince can offer that would make me come to your side, so this entire conversation was pointless."
He explained himself whilst preparing to stand up, he only came here to give these two face since it would be disrespectful to not respond to a summons from them, he didn't have any reason to make enemies out of the nobles. unfortunately, the prince seemed to take his words as an insult.
"You would spit in the generosity of a prince such as myself?"
Barbro stood up, his face revealing his emotions, he had listened to this farce long enough, for him to entertain this idea of begging for help from a mere knight was already testing the limits of his patience, yet this commoner still chooses to throw his generosity back at his face, to work for princess such as himself is an honour in itself.
"we were already offering you far more than you deserve, knave. You think just because you have some value that you can simply say no? Don't overestimate your worth. You're nothing but a piece that is to be used for our gain. You are nothing but a tool, understand. A tool for us to use, now accept what we are offering so that I can get the throne"
The prince explained, his towering figure staring at Arthur with clear arrogance and annoyance. He did not like it when those beneath their station acted as if they had any rights to refuse him.
"my prince perh-"
The Marquis could not finish his sentence as all of a sudden there was a scream from outside the room followed by sounds of someone falling, and before he could say anything his body stiffed as hard as rock and beads of sweat trickled down his Forehead, the same could be said for the prince who had to stumble back in fear as his body screamed at him that he was in danger.
Arthur stared at the prince in silence, his eyes focusing at him. His face seemed calm and collected without a hint of emotion, but it was clear that he did not like what Barbro had said. Being straight up told to your face that you are a tool and aren't allowed to say no brought rage to his eyes, rich assholes always believed themselves above others, and Arthur never liked that. His aura flared and drowned the entire room in a thick unseen miasma of a demon lord, one that forced the two individuals to nearly soil themselves. At least one of them nearly did.
The Marquis' heart beat like a drum on his chest and his long dulled warrior instinct screamed at him to bend the knee and show subservience If he wishes to live, he felt like his lungs were filled with water as he struggled to breath properly, his vision becoming blurry as he barely resisted going down to his knees.
"could you repeat your words, your highness?"
The prince remained silent, he didn't choose to stay silent but was too struck by fear to do so, Seeing this Arthur shrugged and sighed before standing up and turning his back and walking away, opening the door he was met with a passed out maid that he soiled herself.
"Damn, I should learn to control that better"
He said before retracting his aura and stepping over the maid and going to get some help for her. [Demon lord's Haki] was another skill he recently discovered he had, which basically confirmed that he probably got the skills randomly rather than having wished for them, although he didn't know how many he had.
In the room behind him the Marquis gasped as he took in a deep breath and coughed due to the sudden fast intake of air, wobbling over to the couch he let himself fall on it and took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat. Barbro, on the other hand, stood over a puddle of his own fluids as his eyes were rolled back with his mouth gaped open. He had fainted standing up
"What was that thing? What is he??!"
He questioned as he felt that he was slowly calming down.
"did we let a demon enter the castle?"
He could not answer that question posed by himself. However, one thing was certain Renner gas with something monstrously dangerous some Gazeff can never contend with. Taking a look at Barbro, the marquis sighed.
"Hopefully he won't remember this"
.....
[I wanted to explain further on the part of the Guild having to pay adventurers and not the kingdom, but that explanation would have strayed too far from the conversation, so for now just know the nobles often interfere when it comes to either funding the guild or spending money for the guild, I'll Try and explain this in detail in later chapters if I don't forget about it.]
Yall are probably not gon like the next chapter.