Rodentia Adventures

CHAPTER 24: THE TRUE THREAT REVEALED

"So, uh. I'm yer king now. 'Nyone gotta problem with 'at?" he said. 

Everyone looked to one another, turned back to him and shook their heads. 

"Kay. Good." Theos replied. 

There was a long silence while the large group of citizens waited for some sort of coronation speech which wasn't coming. They all seemed to realize this at different rates, leading to an awkward response of poorly timed lone cheers and smatterings of applause. They were excited about the news, of course, but without a set moment to properly react, they were all kind of lost. 

He walked down the steps towards Jerin in the others. There were a series of murmurs among the citizenry as Leon, formerly King Deathlocke Soulcrusher followed close behind, still visibly injured, supported by the shoulder of minister Taro. 

"He made it out okay, huh?" Jerin asked in a questioning voice, uncertain of whether she should be relieved or not. 

"Yup. E's a bit of an ass, but I gotta admit, he's got a coupla good ideas." the king said. "I've never been good on tha whole policy thing. Figger he can help me out as crown prince." 

"Huh..." Jerin said, turning her head towards the very tired looking Leon, "So you're a prince now?" 

"No." the prince replied. 

"I didn't even have a chance to say-" 

"Just... no." he shook his head, looking somehow even more exhausted than before.. 

"He's still a jerk." Jerin huffed, biting her lip, paws folded across her chest. 

The event which could sort of be called a celebration was quickly interrupted however, as a panting mouse in tattered armor rushed to the palace courtyard. 

"Sire!" he said, not exactly certain of who was in charge, having just gotten here, but reasonably confident that it was someone within earshot. "I bring dire news from the front-lines! Our forces are annihilated, and as we speak, the Shadow King, Mollenoch and his army of cyber-mice march from the southern continent!" 

The southern continent was, of course, the neighborhood a few streets down. 

"What?" Theos growled. "Send out the palace guards!" 

"Um, about that..." one of the guards replied. "Nearly all of the guards are currently incapacitated due to severe head injuries." 

"How about you lead the charge?" Jerin asked Theos, "You seem to really enjoy the whole fighting thing." 

"Uh, yeah, about that..." Theos said, rubbing the back of his head, looking away. "Turns out there's a tonna paperwork involved in changin' leadership. I'll be stuck here a while." 

"Clearly, only you, the hero of the kingdom and her allies can stand against the might of the shadow king, and bring peace to the land!" the messenger called to Jerin, followed by a murmur of agreement from the crowd. 

"Nah, I'm going home." she replied. 

There was an awkward pause. 

"W-what?" 

"I said I'm going home. I'm sick of adventuring. It's nothing like I thought it would be... there's so much walking, even more just standing around. The villains are either disappointing or lack any real depth, and even when you do get to the battles... well, those things hurt! A lot! Even after you're done fighting, it still hurts! A lot! It's all just really unpleasant." she nodded. "...so I don't think I'm going to do it anymore. I miss my mom and dad. I'm going home."