THE BARBARIAN KING OF THE EAST WEARS NO ARMOR
King Drach shared this magic with the other Noble families and laid the foundation of the Drachia kingdom. That was the reason the royal family could obtain the support of all the nobles in all these years across generations despite their lack of strength to rule over the powerful families.
"Why aren't the machines working?" I asked Kabigail.
"The Crown of Eloora is the key to operating this machine. With the sudden and unexpected death of King Laventios the Crown of Eloora disintegrated before it could be inherited by another", Kabigail told us.
"I don't understand, why does this powerful machine need the dead king's crown?" Ratatouille asked him.
"The Crown of Eloora isn't just any crown. It is a magic spell that is bound to the king which gave him the key to manage the machine in the temple. The crown of Eloora is usually inherited by the kings of Drachia during peaceful time and it will disappear if something untoward happened to the king without a ceremony of handover", Kabigail explained to us.
"I don't understand what the fuss about the crown is", Ratatouille told us.
"It is simple. This must be the arrangement made by King Drach when he procured this machine from the Mages of Prolis. He made sure only his lawful descendants could operate this machine and with the monopoly of magic that could advance the knights of the noble families. This ensured all the noble families would support the royal family even if their power is in a decline", Asterix explained to us her perspective.
"Can you manufacture a new crown of Eloora? There must be a way. There are many situations where the king may pass away and lose the crown even without being overthrown," I asked Kabigail.
"It is possible but extremely difficult", Kabigail replied.
"I was told about the Trials of the Temple of Eloora, is that it?", I asked him.
"To those who are not familiar with our technology, they will call it a trial, but we call it simply, key duplication", Kabigail told me.
"Alright, let's make another damn key", I told him.
"Someone must enter the core of the machine where the source of magic is and reset the machine. A new key or crown would be bestowed on him or her who successfully completes the reset", Kabigail told us.
"Alright let's do it", I said.
"There are conditions before that could be done", he replied.
"What conditions?" I asked.
"Firstly, only someone with the royal blood of the Drach family could enter the core. That is programmed in the machine. Anybody without royal blood in them will be executed by the machine", Kabigail said.
"Damn, we need to get one of the royals to go in to fix the damn machines?" Ratatouille asked.
"That comes to the second problem, the conditions inside the core of the machine are extremely rough. Even legendary beings might not survive in the machine for very long", Kabigail said.
"How many times did the royals passed the Trial of Eloora?" I asked.
"King Drach was the only person who ever entered the core of the machine. The Crown of Eloora has always been inherited peacefully and nobody else has attempted the trial nor was there ever a condition that required that, until now", Kabigail told us.
"King Drach, what was his magic tier?" I asked.
"King Drach was at least a Blue tiered Legendary when he duplicated the first Crown of Eloora. The only Crown of Eloora so far", Kabigail said to us.
"None of the royals in the Drach family could attempt the Trial of Eloora without being killed in an instant", Asterix told us.
"Assuming we could get into the magic core of the Eloora machine, what next?" I asked Kabigail.
"Well, hypothetically, if someone could enter the core and is not immediately burned by the magic in the core, there goes the second condition, the attempter must solve a difficult puzzle of runes inside the core in order to reset the machine and obtain the new crown of Eloora", Kabigail told us.
"Damn, the royals of the Drach family are both weak and stupid. They couldn't pass the Trial of Eloora", Ratatouille told them.
"Couldn't we get the Mages of Prolis to fix the machine?" I asked.
"None of us could contact the Mages of Prolis in all these years except King Drach unfortunately", Kabigail said.
"So, this machine is useless to us now?" Ratatouille asked.
"I'm afraid that is the case", Kabigail said to us.
"Do you know how to solve the puzzle in the core?" I asked Kabigail to his surprise.
"You can study our manuals and magic arraye. The knowledge will help you reset the machine", Kabigail told me.
"Good, show your manuals to Asterix", I told the Chief Scientist of Eloora.
"What about the first two conditions of the trial? Where can we find a royal who could fit the conditions of the trial?" Ratatouille asked me.
"Don't worry about that, I have the first two conditions covered", I replied to him to his surprise and all those who heard about it.
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After some preparations, it was time to enter the core of the Eloora machine to reset it and obtain the new Crown of Eloora.
"Which is the royal of Drach who will attempt the Trial of Eloora?" Kabigail asked.
"Nope, the royals of Drach will not attempt the Trial of Eloora today", Asterix replied to him to his surprise.
"But only those with royal blood could enter the core of the machine", Kabigail protested with disbelief.
"The King of Nyx will attempt the Trial of Eloora. Just show the way", Asterix replied to Kabigail.
"Whatever. Suit yourself. Enter that bright opening in the middle of the machine. That is the gateway into the core but beware you will be rejected by the core if you do not possess the royal blood of the Drach family", Kabigail told me and warned.
"That is easy enough", I replied to him as I walked toward the machine.
"Are you not going to wear armor?" Kabigail warned me.
"The Barbarian King of the East does not need armor. Quote that in your column", I replied and said to the artists from the Herald Times who were illustrating my attempt of the Trial of Eloora.
I walked into the core of the Eloora machine and soon entered the core to the surprise of the scientists and those around him.
"That is impossible", Kabigail gasped in surprise.