3RD PERSON POV
Shortly after leaving Laeseo, Regulus was soundly asleep when the carriage suddenly stopped, immediately waking the king.
"Huh!? We stopped….?" The young king muttered as he peeked out of the carriage window. He was surprised to see soldiers in armor bearing the banners of the Kingdom of Syndis and the Church of Michael. "Surprised they weren't bandits… But what are the Church of Michael and Syndis doing here? This is northern territory not theirs.
"Halt! This road is closed until further notice." One of the knights yelled out.
"Closed? We just passed through here yesterday, why would you close it now?" Alicia asked, clearly confused.
"Yesterday? Then consider yourself lucky…. A horde of undead passed through the area very recently."
"How much harm can a ho-"
"They are not just any undead horde… My lady."
The conversation went back and forth for some time until the young King had enough, unwilling to waste any more time, Regulus partially exited the carriage wearing his crown.
"Time is of the essence, my good Sirs." The young King said plain and simple. "You are wasting the time of a king! Not only that, who gave you authority to block the roads that belong to the north? You have no authority over the north, now I will ask only once, return to where you came."
"My a-apologies your highness, but we were merely tracking down a horde of undead that destroyed one of our vill-"
"Then your so-called king should've reported to us that a horde of undead was entering my territory, not violating the treaty we signed."
"M-My apologies, your…. Highness, we did not realize that someone of your status was in our presence." He said curtly bowing and barking some orders at the other knights, which made them give way immediately.
When they were some distance away, Cregan asked how he was able to make them give way almost immediately, when they didn't give in to Alicia at all.
"You see, most of the knights from Syndis are arrogant, especially when they reign from a noble house. But if they meet someone of higher ranking, their pride shrinks to that of an ant. To add more, from the rumors I've heard…. Syndis and Battleborne are currently in terrible terms, so seeing that we came from the road that leads to Battleborne, they must've thought I was King Sigurd or somewhere along those lines." Regulus responded, a smirk forming on his face.
As the conversation finished, Regulus closed the window to his carriage and leaned back once more, closing his eyes as he went back to sleep.
Hours later the king and his entourage were met by a welcome from the citizens of Eldorin, as they were eagerly awaiting for his return. Walking out of the carriage he shook the hands of a few who were lucky to be close to him. He was then briefly escorted back into the main castle as Lucius and Eadic were already waiting for him inside.
"Give me a few hours to relax." Regulus mumbled as he lazily went out of the castle using the back door. Grabbing a hood on the way he replaced his robe and crown with it which he hid in a crate that was concealed by a much larger crate.
As he walked through the town, he went straight to a tavern, ordered a mug of ale and quickly went on to a place he frequented, the underground fighting pits.
Obviously as a king, he should ban illegal fighting pits like these, but for him this was the opportunity to find hidden gems which could be recruited in his army. He even had a spy work as an insider, informing him of the fights that would happen.
REGULUS POV
"This is all?" I asked as I opened the scroll given to me by the informant.
"Yes your majesty, the co-main event will be between Karl 'the hook' and a kid named 'Hanz', the main event will be between the current champion, 'The Berseker' and a traveling knight." He swiftly answered.
Hm, a knight, I wonder why he would join an underground fighting pit considering his status. Maybe he was a hedge knight that worked for the money? Or maybe he simply loved the thrill of battle?
"Do you have any other information about the knight?"
"Unfortunately no, all I know is that he had visited the palace and introduced himself to Lucius who substituted for you while you were gone." He answered.
"I see, very well, you may return."
As soon as I spoke to the informant, he made a curt bow and blended in with the crowd. "I still don't get how they do that?" The young king murmured as he went inside an old building, inside it led to the underground fighting pits.
The first few fights were all similar to each other, cutthroats and small-time bandits fighting each other, there was no magic used and the winner was decided by first blood or whoever gets knocked out first. Then it was the co-main event of the night, a man with a hook for a hand stepped in first, raising his hands up he started exciting the crowd while making weird noises.
Then a young man, not younger than 18 stepped in, he looked like one of those street kids, ragged clothes, a dirty face and held a rusty blade and a wooden buckler in his offhand. Unlike his opponent, he barely had any armor, only wearing ragged clothes and a leather chestplate.
As the fight began, the older man attacked first, dashing in and swinging his hook relentlessly. The boy, though sloppy, managed to dodge all the attacks. But as soon as Karl paused to rest, the boy took advantage, driving his blade into his opponent's neck with considerable force.
The crowd erupted in protest, some accused the boy of cheating, some getting mad at the boy for finishing the fight too quickly. Though I have to say, it was smart for the boy to finish Karl quickly, he obviously had the speed advantage but aside from that, that was all he had.
The next fight was the same as the previous one, the underdog, the wandering knight surprisingly taking down "The Berserker", though he, to the surprise of everyone, spared him as he walked away with the gold.
Leaving the fighting pits the sun was now past its peak, which meant that it had been nearly an hour since Regulus went inside. And now it was back to reality, just as he was strolling back to the castle, he spotted the twins, along with Rosaria waiting in line for the opening of the Adventurer's Guild.
Which surprisingly only took a week to build, though it was smaller compared to the average adventurer's guild, it had everything along with the examination arena, the lounge, a guildmaster's office and even a small shop.
But Regulus had more important matters to address, throwing the hood back to the crate he lifted the box up and grabbed his robe and crown, entering the castle he walked up the stairway, greeting a few maids and the cooks in the kitchens.
Finally back in the throne room he was, sitting on the throne he readjusted his crown and motioned to the guards to open the main door.