18 Summons
1212 Words
A messenger came and sent him a letter with the King's seal. He was being summoned back to the castle for the Foundation Festival. Yvaine, who had been spending most of the past few seasons at the Empire of Midyr would be there as well. There was no mention of his two older brothers, which was for the best. Janus naively thought that he had been off the hook from meeting with the King. He had tried his best to keep a low profile. Surely he hasn't done any trouble of some sort for the past year. So why call unto him now?
Sir Arthan also agreed that it was quite a weird timing, but at the same time, he was happy to meet again with his fellow Royal Guards. The Knight assured him that he would be looking out for anything suspicious.
The Foundation Festival was the celebration of the founding of Galedon from the ten years war against the four armies and the dragon Darumendras. It was first and foremost a religious festival organized by the church with supervision from the Holy See himself. The Kingdom and its citizens would congregate on the Cathedral square to relive the moments of conquest and victory, along with all the suffering that the humans had endured over the war. After that, there were several festivities where each township of the Kingdom will share their harvest and provide offerings to the great Herald Almighty for a better season. The Herald Almighty was one of the titles of the god and progenitor of Kalesia and all its human Kingdoms.
He had looked it up on a book as soon as he got the summons. It was held annually with a country fair, side attractions, and tournaments of might and magic.
Finally, this was something with a strong cultural significance that he could study about Galedon. There could be a wealth of contribution points in there, and Janus wouldn't miss it for anything.
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The ride home was a great time of recollection for Janus, except for the fact that his butt still wasn't used to riding a carriage. He remembered the castle, the thick slab of stone where he woke up all of a sudden on that one fateful night. It would be almost a year since he got to this place. He remembered the panic that he felt as he found himself in an unfamiliar room with pain searing in his wrist.
His workers waved at him as they passed by the manor grounds towards the gates. Children chased the carriage, yelling his name in excitement and wishing for him to come back soon.
Hazzak and a band of goblins were out on a scouting trip that they organized as training as well as a hunting session for wild game. They were all wearing leaves and twigs as camouflage, on top of their leather harnesses and loincloths. Janus was surprised when they came out of the bushes to salute him as he passed by.
It was funny, he felt more at home in this manner than in the castle.
But still, the feeling of being lost and lonely came back to him. There was a barrier between him and his workers, they were after all his subjects. Add that to the fact that he was basically an alien dropped into this strange land with the only advantage of having a huge library of books to learn from.
He thought of his old home, his video games, and his fantasy books. Well, that last one was still with him today, only it was much more real.
He still didn't know his end goal in this world. Perhaps he could tell the King that he wants to become a scholar. He could stay on his manor and do research on better farming techniques, all the while exploring the wilderness and collecting CP for the library. Perhaps he could attend a local college that would enable him to be an emissary or diplomat and go out of the Kingdom to study the other races of this world. He has yet to encounter orcs, elves, dragons, and other creatures. It would be nice to find a job that would take him to other places.
The sight of the castle intimidated him. Compared to the manor, it was a grey bleak slab of stone. No one greeted him as he came in, not even the servants who passed by him when he was here.
The situation of the servants and workers was still as bad as when he left. They had the strong smell that Janus had almost forgotten. They still lived in cramped up quarters, despite having large chambers of empty space in the castle. There were still rats scurrying across the lower floors.
The men in his manor were cleaner and had work to look forward to, unlike this castle which was grim and brooding.
The only thing that Janus looked forward to was meeting Yvaine again.
She hugged him as soon as they met on the castle library. Her hair was longer now, reaching down her shoulders. She smelled of fresh spring flowers and cinnamon. She had a smile that was bright as always, but there were deeper bags beneath her eyes.
"How are you, dear brother? When was the last time we've met? How are my students faring?"
"Oh, they've been doing quite well, although I've been finding it hard to teach them anything lately. They keep telling me that Yvaine explained things much better."
"Well of course, what are you so surprised about? Those kids like you, but me? They love me." She said.
"Fair enough." Janus laughed. "How about you? How was your trip to the Empire?"
Her eyes fell as he asked the question. She seemed sullen.
"It was fine, the Empire is lovely, although their culture is a bit... strong." She said, shuffling her feet.
"What do you mean strong? Are they being aggressive? I heard they've been amassing a huge army for a few years now."
"Well, I guess you could say that. They've been attacking a few tribes around their territory lately."
"Territory that's getting too close to ours?"
"Yes, that's probably why Father has been sending me to talk to them more frequently. Keep our enemies close, as he would say."
"Wise words." Janus said.
"Listen..." he added "About our meeting with Father tonight, can you do me a favor and help me keep a low profile around him? I don't want too much of a hassle, that's all."
"What do you mean? You've done really well in the past year. You should be proud of your accomplishments."
"I just don't think I'd like to stand out so much these days. Just a thought."
Her eyes went stern.
"Look, you've improved the operations in your manor so much that Master Oswald has been copying your techniques and implementing them in the other estates, including mine." She said.
"Really? Wait... no one mentioned this to me at all."
"Why? Do you oppose to it?" she asked.
"Well, no... It's just that I don't want to attract too much attention to myself. You know I have enemies around the Kingdom and all."
"You're royalty. That's just inevitable, third inline or not."
"I mean... can you help me just this once? With father."
"The only thing that I can promise is that I will do what's best for you in every step of the way." She winked.
"Thanks, that's all that I need."
- Writer
