The Knight of Settadel

Chapter 14

The guard led us to another enormous room, although all rooms at the palace are enormous so I guess that's obvious. The guard just stood by the threshold as he waited for Louella and I to enter the room. Once inside, he didn't bother going inside and just went to close the door behind us.

Inside the room were three people, excluding Louella and I, of course. I'm not even sure if I still fit in that group... People.

Of course, there was the King, his Queen, and his daughter, Princess Mackenzie, who I had yet to speak to, and a man that is foreign to me, but had a wide, proud smile on his face. Its 'General Lee' moustache makes the features on his face stronger than it actually is.

He stands proud which makes the attention on the room be brought to him, you can even sense the discipline in him just by the way that he stands, although you can sense a little bit of playfulness with the smug look on his face. He has a large, thick scar on his neck which disappears under the green uniform, which is adorned with patches, that he is wearing. He doesn't seem bothered by it, though. He even seems proud to wear such a big scar like that.

Instantly, I was curious where he got it from. But, of course, that's not something I can ask him openly. I don't even know the guy's name.

"Based on the look on both your eyes, I believe that you are curious as to who this man is" The Queen spoke, a proud tone on her voice as she smiled at Louella and I.

"Soren, if you please" was all the Queen said and the man had suddenly stepped forward, only losing his proud stand for a second and he fell back into it with ease with his smile now wider than ever. 

"Good day to both of you, my name is Soren" then he made a very dramatic bow with one of his hand outstretched on the side, the other tucked behind his back, then he stood up straight again. "My name is Soren Maximum, and I am the 17th Queen's Guard of the 24th Queen, Queen Lorie Maximum Powell. But, I am not just the Queen's Guard, I am also responsible for the peace of the whole kingdom. It may not be hard to believe, for you at least" he pointed at me, then he signaled over to Louella.

"But I do believe that this wise lady here had experienced the worst of this Kingdom, yes?" Soren asked.

"Unfortunately, I do. Not the best time to have lived in, but it had indeed brought the best out of everyone that had lived through" Louella spoke, an underlying dark tone on her voice.

Louella never told me of that. With the powerful sorcerers  and sorceresses  living amongst them, I had assumed that they had helped ease the troubles away with no casualties, or at least help bring everything back to normalcy. But I guess that's not the case.

"I agree with you on that one, my lady. That is why I am here, to help prevent those things to happen. Me, as well as the other living Queen Guards that we had." he then paused dramatically.

"Now I am here to teach the 18th Queen's Guard" he announced, prouder than ever, as he looks at me with his eyes squinting a little, as if to emphasize something.

"Oh, Soren, always want to make everything so dramatic" The Queen then stepped up and placed a gentle hand on Soren's shoulder. "Soren here is my brother and, before he was assigned as the Queen's Guard, he was one of the best Knights of the Kingdom, which is why Tristan's father had not questioned his choice when he made Soren my Queen's Guard as soon as he became the crowned King, other than the fact the Soren is my brother."

"All of that aside, Soren is also one of the best fighters and I have no doubt that you will learn a lot from him. I also have no doubt that you'll be able to work with him effortlessly, and that is exactly what we need now that we know that there is another tragedy that is about to hit the Kingdom?"

As if it wasn't enough news for today, another one has revealed itself.

"Wait what?"

"It is quite obvious that you were not informed of information such as this. Other than the fact that the sorcerers and sorceresses keep our Kingdom hidden from plain sight, they also use their powers to look into the future and give us a little bit of insight as to what may happen." the princess' voice had surprised me. It has a bit of a bite in it, as if she couldn't be bothered about everything that she has been dragged into, but it also seems like it physically pains her of my innocence about their Kingdom.

"Although they make sure to not give us too much information that may change or ruin the timeline, something that they are quite particular about" she continued.

"How so?" I asked, letting my curiosity get the best of me, the fact that there is also a sharp look being directed to me by the princess not registering on my mind. 

I just had to know.

I can tell that the princess wanted to release a deep sigh, a sigh of frustration, but had to hold it back because of her parents' presence in the room.

"They say that using their capabilities to avoid minor chaos will not only disturb the timeline, but will also build up the minor chaos and create a major disaster that will be everyone's doom... to put it simply" she said, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice.

"Thank you for that explanation... Mackenzie" The King softly spoke as he glanced at his daughter before speaking again.

"To continue, Emilia had sensed a disturbance soon. We believe that it is the aftershock of the earthquake that had recently struck the Kingdom, but we cannot also cross out the fact that we may have been discovered due to the time that we had been exposed. We know that there are far too many eyes out there, so we need you to be one of the Kingdom's defenders"

Despite the seriousness of everything that the King is telling me, I cannot help but to think how long it took the King to master positioning sentences positively to convince his people, and me, to whatever it is he wants to be done, because I am being convinced, but I also still want to try to get myself out of this.

"I don't know if you've heard of this, but I am better at building houses than... fighting. I can help the townspeople increase the strength of their houses, maybe even build defenses on the walls of Kingdom" I said.

I can see that the King had considered it, and I did hoped that he would give in, but he found a way around it.

"I know that it is in your passion to help those who are in need, and I have no doubt that you'll be of great help to all in terms of strengthening the walls of everyone's houses, but I know that you will be an even greater help in defending them, especially with your new... form"

And that was how I knew that there's no way out of this.

I know that he's right. The new strength and speed that I have will be unbeatable if I become knowledgeable in battle, and if I know how to properly use it.

I turned to look at Louella, silently asking for an advise.

She looked back at me. She did nothing for a second, then she slowly began to nod her head. It first began as a slow nod, as if she wasn't sure herself. But each time she bobs herself up, it becomes more consistent, as if she's getting more confidence in her choice at each nod.

If Louella thinks that it's the right choice, then I will trust her.

I took a deep breath before turning to look back at the King, Queen, the Princess and, of course, Soren.

"I'll do it"