[RE-ESTIZE KINGDOM]
It was late, and the sun had begun to set slowly. It. was a time for the people to begin preparing to either eat dinner or to go to sleep after a long and hard day. However, that wasn't the case in the capital city of the Re-estize kingdom.
There was an unmistakable tension in the air, one that was felt by everyone in the city.
A new king was crowned and the citizens were not happy about it, unfortunately however they had no power or rather, they hoped that this would be temporary, the army only just left to fight a war against the Baharuth Empire, it would return and put an end to this nonsense, they just had to wait.
All the citizens of the capital held onto that hope.
Within one of the Inns in the capital, a particularly high end inn, The members of Blue Rose sat together in a room playing cards, with Evileye reading a book while lying on the bed, her mask removed, revealing her youthful face and red vampire eyes.
The room was silent, with only their breathing being the only noise. However, despite this silence, the adventurers were engaged in a heated game of cards.
"What do you think?"
Gagaran broke the silence, her questions addressing the leader of their group, Lakyus.
her hands moved, handing Lakyus a card, and a small smile showed itself. She was one card away from winning the game.
"I don't know, we can't just attack. The conflict would spill out and involve civilians"
Lakyus answered, with a smile, after having received the card she needed from Gagaran and gave Tina an extra fifth card before sneakily placing her four cards face down without the others noticing,
Tina, who was keenly focused on the game, passed on the extra fifth card to her sister and waited.
"What about the Princess? I highly doubt he's going to do nothing to her?"
"Renner will send someone to contact us. If she needs us, I'm sure she knows we need to wait for the rest of the army to return before we do anything"
Lakyus stated, while internationally gesticulating, causing the twins to notice her hands were free and her cards face down. They quickly placed their cards face down and smiled.
"I suppose that's true, but I.."
She paused as she noticed that everyone had their cards facing down and that she was the only one with an extra fifth card.
"Damn it!!"
She cursed as she realised she had lost the game once again.
"Ha! Fools. You are nothing before my strategic mind"
Lakyus boasted and struck a pose, causing Gagaran to throw her hands in the air, as she announced she wasn't playing anymore and the twins nodded before teasing Gagaran about how she'd only be good at strength bases games.
"Aside from waiting for contact from Renner, we're also waiting for Arthur and Gazeff and Brain. While I'm sure we could put up a good fight against an army, we still need people like those guys to be able to succeed."
Evileye added and placed the book beside Her, she took note of Lakyus's expression changing at the mention of Arthur.
"She's right, and besides, right now, the new king has done anything we need to fight against, so we need to lay low."
Lakyus stated and received nods from everyone in the room.
....
The castle was silent, eerily so, and the tension within the capital seemed to be concentrated within it as the very servants found it difficult to work.
The maids even with held any form of gossip as that might have them killed, most of them knew Barbro was quite volatile and understood he did not take disrespect from servants as such they kept their mouths shut, plus it did not help that there were more guards than usual, every corner of the castle was manned by at least one knight.
Within the throne room, Barbro sat comfortably in the throne as a big and wide grin was plastered across his face, the crown fit perfectly on his head like it was made for him and the throne Itself felt comfortable and welcoming.
His eyes gazed around the room, where only a limited number of nobles were present, and each of them were bowed. They had bent the knee and welcomed him as the new king of the Re-estize kingdom, although not by free choice.
Marquis Bulloupe stood right beside him with a stern look on his face, however deep down he was hoping that Fluder Paradyne was able to complete his part of the agreement, if he never sees Arthur again it would be too soon
"Humph!"
An audible snort exited from the New king's nostrils, he understood very well that they did not bow to him because they accepted his rule, they bowed to him because they had no choice but to do so.
Taking over the castle was as simple as taking candy from a baby, all he had to do was disguise the forces given to him by the Emperor as knights from the Re-estize kingdom which allowed for about 10 000 soldiers to walk right into the kingdom without much problem.
This was possible because of Barbro as the prince and because of Marquis Bulloupe who is respected by most of the knights in the kingdom so with the excuse of "The king wished to reduce the number forces and have a few return in the case another country decides to attack while the war with Baharuth is happening" they managed to have an army walk right into the kingdom without issue.
Taking over the castle was much simpler as well, in face of a whole army the castle guards were outnumbered and were quickly forced to surrender and thanks to the fact that all the powerful armies in the kingdom were away there wasn't much that could stop Barbro from seizing the throne.
Of course, despite his success in taking the throne, there were still others who did not accept the new King.
"What are your orders, my prince?"
Count Lytton addressed. He was one of the six great nobles and the only one amongst them that did not go to the battlefield.
"watch your tongue, fool. Am I not your king? Address me as such"
Hearing the words of the king, the count hesitated.Technically speaking one cannot crown themselves king without the unanimous agreement of the six great nobles, as such Barbro could call himself king all he wants as long as the six great nobles don't recognize Him as one, his rules is illegitimate.
"What are you waiting for? address your king"
"Apologies, I misspoke… My king. What are your orders?"
He asked, it was fine. Barbro may force him to submit, but there's still four of the six great nobles who no doubt don't support and would denounce his rule, especially since the King is still alive and well.
"Before all that, have you captured my sister yet? she will be a thorn in my side if we do not get rid of her"
"No your highness, the knights are having a difficult time breaking through the reinforced doors of the dungeon"
He informed, and Barbro frowned.
"It is a measly door!! Do we not have a battering ram to blow it open?"
"we do my king. However, the dungeon is right beneath the castle, and it's important we keep its structural integrity stable. Otherwise, we risk collapsing a large section of the castle"
The count informed, inwardly he was impressed by the Princess' forth thinking, the moment Barbro arrived with an army she quickly headed down to the dungeon, had her servant take any keys that can open the door and locked herself inside.
"grrr! No matter, in just a day, she'll need to eat, and that will force her to come out. Eventually, we just have to wait for her to do so."
Barbro growled as he said but ultimately decided to let his anger dissipate. There was no need to be angry when she was trapped and would eventually reveal herself to him. He'll get to kill her eventually.
"Indeed your highness, it's as you say."
....
A/N: ngl I had a bit of writers block on how I was going to write this and how thing will move forward from this point, in fact I wrote this whole chapter without a script, so please tell me if anything feels rushed or off.
I appreciate all of you and your support. Thank you.
Zesshi for member of the harem??
I initially wanted to stick to two, but I'm getting a bit greedy, what do you guys think? I feel like she wouldn't get along with Renner and would cause constant drama.