After Lender showed the gate guards his ID and verification forms, the trio was able to enter the city. This wasn't the capital, but this city near the border of the kingdom was where they were assigned to drop Allura off. Well… that was if they didn't run into the Single Order.
Their new destination was the town hall. They had to speak to the mayor in order to discuss the events that had taken place during their journey. In the meantime, Raza looked outside of the carriage. He saw people of multiple different races, all co-existing. At least to the best of their abilities.
"Hopefully, we will be able to resolve most of the issues today so that you can return home on time," Allura smiled hopefully.
"If we needed to make an appearance before the king or at least his advisors, then wouldn't I need to go to the capital? That would take at least another two or three days just to get there," Raza looked back at her.
"That's if you needed to get there in person. Thankfully, you don't," Allura smiled.
In her mind, meeting the king and his advisors was the last thing she wanted to do. She was excited about seeing her husband for the first time in months. Lender parked the carriage right outside the town hall and helped bring the captives inside.
"That's all I'm doing for ya, Kid. I'll come back for the carriage tomorrow. Be there, or I'll leave ya," Lender waved as he left the building.
Raza could only sigh. He knew that Lender wanted to spend the rest of his day with prostitutes and waste his money. It didn't matter what world one was in, scum was scum.
"Let's make this quick," Raza turned his attention to Allura.
"Someone is feisty," Allura teased him. "Don't worry, Raza. My husband is the mayor of this town. Once I explain everything to him, things will run much more smoothly."
"Allura? Are you back already?" A deep voice came from somewhere within the building.
"Speak of the devil," Allura giggled.
A man about a head shorter than Allura walked around the corner. Despite his height, he was well-built and devilishly handsome. His most noticeable features were his fangs and expensive red suit.
'A vampire,' Raza noted.
"Heinrich!" Allura ran to him.
"Allura!"
They embraced each other and gave each other a deep kiss. To them, the world dissolved into nothingness as they were absorbed by each other's presence. Heinrich began to move his hand to Allura's ass, but she stopped him.
"Not here… I still have to work... And there are still people here," She was heavily blushing. She was also fighting the urge to pounce on her husband.
"Very well," He sighed. "And is this your guard?"
"Yes," Allura cleared her throat.
Heinrich walked over to Raza and looked up and down. He noted that Raza was pretty strong, but one of Heinrich's skills allowed him to measure one's potential. He was disturbed to see that the man before him had limitless potential… Something that he had only seen in a handful of people. Heinrich decided it was best to be on his good side in the off chance that Raza became someone noteworthy.
"Thank you for protecting my wife. I am Heinrich Lustenfallen," He extended his hand.
"Raza Angovo," Raza shook his hand.
'This guy is purple… Assuming what Allura said about her husband being powerful was true, this man is stronger than anyone I have ever seen. I should be careful around him," Raza noted.
"Now, I doubt you came here just to see my face, especially with all of these captives," Heinrich grew serious. "If this is a matter that must be dealt with immediately, then we shouldn't dilly-dally."
"I agree, Heinrich," Allura put on her business face. "These men are part of the Single Order, and Raza captured all of them. After interrogating them, he found out about their goal to start a war world. We managed to capture someone with a higher rank, and we discovered something… startling to say the least," Allura gave a brief rundown.
"I see… That would be a huge problem. Servir!" Heinrich clapped his hands.
Heinrich's shadow began to grow in size. After a moment, a frail yet tall man took form next to Heinrich. He was at least 7 feet tall.
"Yes, Master Heinrich," the man bowed.
"Prepare the Communication orb with the king, and tell him we have a potential Code White," Heinrich ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
Servir went back into Heinrich's shadow and disappeared. Heinrich looked at the captives and observed them. After a moment, he snapped his fingers. Spikes grew on all the walls and then impaled all of the men. It happened so fast that they didn't have time to scream.
"What a waste. I brought them here to confirm my information," Raza sighed.
"Worry not. When someone is killed in this building, I gather all of their memories," Heinrich explained.
'With that in mind, I can see why Allura wanted to have an audience with the king… But this person that spent the last week protecting my wife… He seems too experienced for someone his age. Not to mention, he's a complete monster,' Heinrich thought.
"I see. If that's the case, my presence here is not required," Raza began to leave.
"Wait!" Allura called out. "You still need to be present for the meeting. For now, you will act as the intermediary between Mutants and Humans. You should report everything to your boss, and then I'm sure he'll report back to the king. Depending on how this meeting goes, it may actually play a role in further advancing the relationships of the seven kingdoms," Allura explained.
"That's because they would have a common enemy. Is the Single Order really that big of an organization?" Raza asked.
This question was met with silence. All of them knew that if the seven kingdoms banded together, something as simple as the Single Order could easily be dealt with. Why would they bother to work so hard to stop this group? It was because it only took a single spark to start a war. A world war was something that no one wanted or could afford.
"For now, I believe that it is best to meet with the king," Heinrich broke the silence.
"Very well," Raza sighed.
Something was still on Raza's mind. He couldn't help but wonder why the Single Order would want to start a war.
'If their only goal was to prevent peace between countries, there are many ways to do that without starting a war. One is charging high tariffs. This would stop trading between nations, and the relationships between kingdoms would drop as a result. There must be an underlying reason or cause for them to go so far… But what is it?' Raza pondered.
Heinrich and Allura were thinking something similar. So far, all members of the Single Order that they saw were humans. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to assume that the Single Order was actually working for the Human kingdom, Ambicia. They, too, wanted to know what the organization's main goal was.
No matter how hard they tried, there was still a distrustful aura between the races. Allura, Heinrich, and Raza walked into a small room with a single crystal in the middle of it. It was glowing purple and blue as it repeatedly transitioned from one to the other.
"Are you two ready?" Heinrich asked.
"Yes, dear."
"I am ready."
"I see…"
Heinrich touched the glowing crystal. The space around them warped until they found themselves in a completely different room. It looked similar to a war room, but all of the walls were different shades of purple with blue for the designs. They sat at a long table, with the head figure being the king.
Raza looked around and noticed that he sat the farthest from the king. He reasoned it was because he was human. Two men sat on either side of the king, and Allura and Heinrich sat across from Raza.
'This must be some be a pocket dimension made by the Communication crystals. It's like we are here in real-time… well we might as well be,' Raza reasoned.
However, his main concern was that Heinrich was the strongest in the room. Even the king only glowed blue. In a kingdom that valued strength over anything else, how was this possible? For now, Raza decided to let the matter drop.
The king wore a long, black robe. Four horns protrude from his temples, a pair facing forward and a pair pointing upwards. He was a confident and muscular man, but his key features were his eyes. To Raza, they looked… gentle. It was as if this king hated confrontation, but kept up an act of being king. Something about this bothered Raza, but no one else seemed to be bothered by it or cared.
"Why have you requested an audience with me, Heinrich?" The king said with a booming voice.