[Randall's POV]
Around two days later, we arrived at the Capital around noon.
We had stopped a few hundred meters away from the entrance, using the rocky terrain to hide the wagon. And waited while Jean went over to request the aid of some knights.
"Due to the nature of this artifact, we'll need some protection from the Royal Ensemble," she explained earlier.
"Protection? From what? Aren't you three enough to scare away anyone who even thinks about that?" asked Ren, who scratched her chin slightly.
"No." After voicing that, Jean looked at me for a few seconds.
"The Royal Guards would be enough to deter most potential attackers. As for the few clans that would dare to give it a shot, they'd need time to prepare."
I gave her a thumbs up. "Smart."
… So, we stayed there, while she seeked out the guards.
In the meantime, we talked about the Capital itself. How the citizens lived, what kind of jobs were the most common, and even food.
… However, the conversation ended on an interesting topic.
The slums of the Capital.
The dark place where Ren lived for a few years. It's also where a plethora of criminals hung out, and resided in.
Of course, some of them end up creating criminal groups, which are known as "Clans".
"... The slums are definitely not the best of places to live in. Any alley is usually much, much better than… that."
"Why?" inquired Natasha, to my own surprise.
"Clans run and handle whatever they want, however they want… For example, we beastkin are prohibited entirely from going anywhere near Buried Shovels' territory."
'Buried Shovels? Didn't we capture some of their people?... Yeah, like five of them.'
"I see… I can't blame-"
"Why'd you ask, by the way?" I cut off the elf, instinctively.
"Edelchia doesn't have something like that. Except for the outliers, we live in harmony," she stated, almost looking proud.
After suppressing that conflict before it happened, we kept talking peacefully.
Eventually, Jean returned with a squadron of nine armored knights. The yellow in their armors resembled gold, but the metallic spots revealed the truth of their hard, yet resilient nature.
"Guys, we can go. Natasha, I assume you're coming with us?"
"Correct. I need to get something from the Monarch."
We nodded, and went back to the castle.
… On the way over, I saw multiple facilities that resembled hospitals.
Many humans, and a few individuals from the other races, crowded around most of them, waiting patiently. Not even a single one tried to complain, in spite of the concerning wounds some of their bodies had.
One thing in particular caught my attention, though: Some of them were given a strange, golden fruit.
The Hiltden.
A fruit highly valued in the world due to its unique properties. Particularly, consuming one is one of the few known methods to mitigate the unique "tiredness" that comes with wielding the Ego.
Luckily for them, or technically "us", Jobbernowl's lands seem to yield the best results for raising these heavenly fruits.
"We're here," declared Jean, before my thoughts divagated a bit too much.
'Indeed… The Palace.'
Those familiar walls separating it from the rest of the city greeted me, while everything else within its confines didn't even know of our presence yet.
… Then again, it does grant them protection from outside threats. Tons of it.
The knights took the moving wagon to one of the workshops, while one of them escorted us all the way to the throne room.
"Hey, Maxie. Long time no see," I told him, casually.
Gotta break the ice somehow.
He showed no reaction, but I could tell he'd have sighed in disappointment from the way he stared at me. "... Hello. I assume everything has been taken care of?"
"Yes, Monarch Orwell. I have finished my part of the deal."
Orwell nodded, and requested one of the knights to get an item. Then, he faced us.
"So, what was it like? You know, getting to know some parts of Edelchia."
"Not bad. Not bad at all. Their way of living is especially amusing," I commented, while sparing the elf in the room a side glance.
Definitely just a side glance.
'Truly bringing the concept of a tree house to the next level.'
"... By the way, Maxie, would you mind if we talk later? I have some questions."
The Monarch's gaze oversaw the 3-person party, plus me, and nodded after five seconds.
Then, he requested Jean, Ren and I to leave.
"Wait."
Natasha walked up to Jean, and shook her hand. Then, she took a few steps, and shook mine.
… Afterwards, she stood in front of Ren for a few seconds.
And the figure with the green hood, shook the gray hooded woman's paw- or rather, panda-woman's paw.
"Like I said earlier, it was fun working with you three."
With that, we were dismissed, and Natasha stayed behind to discuss something.
Instead of wandering around, we decided to head to a bedroom.
Apparently, sleeping in something as hard as a wagon was not the most comfortable thing in the world.
'Wait, sleep…?'
Exhaustion took over my collapsing body.
'Right. I haven't slept in over two-'
And everything went black.
…
It took some time, but one of my hands twitched. Afterwards, a yawn escaped my mouth, unwillingly.
"Where… A bedroom?"
It resembles the guest room I slept in sometimes, too… And the bed is as cozy as I remember it to be.
I looked out the window, only to spot the stars floating in the space blue sea, as if it was no one's business but theirs.
'...There's something disturbing my legs, though.'
My back rose, only to be met with the sleeping figure of the panda. She still had the hood, along with a blanket. However, her head was uncovered.
"uh?"
'What's Ren doing here?'
My concentration jumped towards the door, as someone opened it.
A woman in her 20's carefully walked into the room. Her somewhat unkempt dark hair almost seemed to fly around, with each step she took.
She brushed the hair on her forehead off her diamond-shaped face, revealing a pair of eye bags underneath her tired crimson eyes.
"Back to-... Ah, you're awake again."
"Hey…"
She looked at me rather nicely for a few moments, but that gaze quickly vanished.
"You collapsed in the halls of the palace, and we had to drag you all the way here… Do you know why this happened?"
I laid back on the bed, again.
"You haven't even taken a nap since the trip back started… Meaning, you haven't slept for two days."
"I know. Don't worry about it."
My reply may have been enough to finally set off the fire, considering how she's glaring at me now.
Jean's rather quiet footsteps reached my ears, and stopped in front of a table, where a pair of fluffy, woolen gloves rested. She put them on, and walked back to where Ren slept.
The two hands covered Ren's ears, while her mouth moved.
"It's not the first time you do this sort of thing... You did it back in Danpold by pushing yourself far beyond your limits… Then here, by almost getting into a conflict with members of the Fallen Cups; in St. Looned, by messing with one of THE clans; on the way to Edelchia, by going out to slaughter monsters every single night… And also on our way back."
'... I didn't even realize it was that many times.'
She was still covering Hiyoshin's ears, by this point, albeit a tad too strongly. "Just… Stop being so reckless. It'll be impossible to protect you if you keep making so many enemies."
With her teeth gritted and her breathing unstabilized, she looked down on me. Even when she wanted to yell, she still maintained the same voice tone.
Not raising it.
I got up, and stood in front of her.
"Sorry."
… The only reaction she showed was a sigh.
A dejected, tired sigh. Along with a yawn.
"Looks like you're tired. You should catch some sleep, we'll be busy tomorrow," I told her.
We both looked at the same spot: The bed. And spoke at the same time.
"You sleep on the bed."
"You take the bed."
"..."
"..."
Did we both manage to speak at the same time? Yes.
"You haven't had any proper sleep in over two days, so you should take the bed."
"And you have spent two days sleeping stiffly on a metal wagon. Besides, from the look on your face, it's not hard to tell you haven't even taken a nap since our arrival."
"Sleeping badly is better than not sleeping."
"Not sleeping? What do you think I've been doing up to now, then?" I retorted, with my eyes pointing at the unoccupied mattress.
"It was just two hours, that's nowhere near enough."
"It clearly is, I can argue with you while running on two hours of sleep just fine."
She clenched her fist, and unleashed her glare. "If you don't rest on the bed, I'll sleep on the floor."
"I'll do the exact same thing."
Her body staggered ever so slightly, but she still laid down.
In the meantime, I took off the bed's sheets and gently placed Ren on top of the mattress. Then, I covered her and sat down on the wooden surface.
"... I can't believe you're serious about this," she muttered, with her eyes half-open.
"Do believe it, it's the fourth time I had to do this."
As the stubborn souls we are, we went along with the claims from earlier and slept on the hard, wooden floor. Sitting, and leaning on the frame.
… The next morning, I woke up with my head on her shoulder.
And only a while after that, did we both realize that the palace had more rooms to sleep in…