An hour and half later, I was walking toward the teleportation gate with Lance Aya. I wasn't trusted to be alone, Elder Virion and others thought I would make a run for it.
All the people that lived inside of the castle got to leave early to find seats in front of the balcony. The speech was taking place in Etistin, which didn't make sense to me with all the ships heading there.
"Are you getting nervous?" Lance Aya asked me as we got closer to the teleportation room.
"Not if I don't have to speak." I told her honestly. "Which I don't have to, so we are fine."
"Oh, does Veer have a fear of public speaking?"
"Sort of." I didn't really like to speak in front of large groups, but I don't really fear it. "Could you speak in front of the entire continent?"
"No, I suppose I couldn't." Aya answered me as we turned down the hallway where the teleportation gate was. "Don't get scared on me now."
The guards aligning the walls bowed to us, and the guards in front of the teleportation door opened it up for us, inside were two Lances, a dwarf I suspected, and the royal families. I noticed that Lance Mica was not here, and well, we knew that Lance Olfred wasn't going to show up.
"Tch." I made a noise as I pulled myself into the room with this armor set dragging me down.
"Very dashing." Queen Eralith said as I walked into the room, the elven royal family was to my immediate right. "You look very good, Virion."
"Thank you, Queen Eralith." I said with a bow to her, I appreciated everything she's done for me. I turned toward King Eralith. "It's good to see, King Eralith, I feel like it's been a while." I bowed to him as well.
Both King and Queen Eralith were wearing silver clothes, he was in a silver tunic, and she was in a silver dress, It made sense that they were matching.
"It has been, Virion." The King sent me a smile, and I returned it.
"Veer, how does it feel to wear armor finally?" Tess asked me from beside her father, she had a fight with Arthur last night, so she probably won't speak to him unless he approaches her.
I went to speak, but Queen Eralith spoke before me. "What do you mean to finally wear armor?" She looked at Tessia, and then at me.
I took a peek around the room; everyone was staring at us as we spoke. I turned back to the Queen with a smile on my face still. "Uhh." I shook my head at Tessia. "When I am out there in the field, I typically don't wear armor."
"What?" Both of them said at the same time.
"I tried to get him to wear some more, but he didn't listen to me." Tess told the two of them. "Isn't that, right?"
"It is." I answered honestly.
"Tessia, you should go now." Elder Virion spoke up and motioned for her to enter the portal.
"Okay." She sent me a smile and made her way to the portal. "I'll see you soon."
"Virion, you should wear armor when you are there." I think King Eralith was trying to figure out how I defeated a Retainer dressed without armor.
"I know, I'll consider it." I shrugged, and then turned to the three Lances, all wearing the same colored uniform as me. "Lance Varay, Lance Bairon, it's good to see both of you."
"Likewise, Virion." Lance Varay told me, looking amazing in her white uniform that went well with her hair.
"Virion." Lance Bairon said seriously, we may be on better terms than my brother and him, but I could still tell he resented me a little. "Where's your brother?"
"On his way, I can sense him approaching." I scratched my nose. "I heard you had to wake him up this morning." I said jokingly.
"I did." He nodded his head seriously.
I sent a smile towards Lance Aya, I was with her all morning, so I didn't have to say hi. Arthur and her actually have never had a proper conversation, which now thinking about, makes sense.
Finally, I turned toward King and Queen Glayder, they were wearing black designed clothes. I didn't know if that was appropriate, isn't that the color of mourning, it didn't completely make sense to me.
I spoke first as I stepped toward them. "King and Queen Glayder, it's good to see both of you again." I stood tall; the King's red hair had a couple stray grey parts. I know I've been around royalty so much, but I could tell that both these families exerted an air of dignity.
"Virion, you look very good in the Lance uniform." Queen Glayder said to me with a smile.
"Thank you." I said, returning the smile, I didn't know if it was appropriate or not to say she looked good as well.
King Glayder spoke next. "I remember the young boy you were when we were at the Helstea Auction House, you have grown a lot over the past couple years. I haven't had the chance to say that to you."
"I have, King Glayder, I also remember that day, it was, entertaining." I told him with a head nod, referring to the incident that occured.
"Just like your brother, the two of you will grow into fierce fighters, that's what I need in two of my strongest fighters." I tilted my head at the King, then nodded, not trying to say that I was going to be an elven Lance in front of him.
"I suppose that's true, but we all need to get stronger." I told him, trying to change the topic slightly.
"I agree." The King spoke, and that's when Arthur walked into the room. I backed up toward Elder Virion and the dwarf next to him.
"Finally, you took your damn time." Elder Virion shot at him from a distance.
Arthur shrugged his arms, and then began to talk to the others in the room. "You ready?" I asked Elder Virion, waiting for this to get started.
"I am." Elder Virion assured me. "I can't help but notice, you only bowed to my son and daughter-in-law."
"You know why." They didn't have my respect; I'm not going to bow to them. I haven't bowed to them once when I was inside the castle, so they were used to it by now I believe. I turned toward the dwarf. "I don't think we've met, I'm Virion Leywin."
"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce you." Elder Virion said before the dwarf could respond to me. "Arthur, come here." Elder Virion motioned for him to come over to us.
Arthur, wearing the same clothes I was, made his way over to us. He was speaking with King Glayder just then, I'm sure that was a pleasant conversation. "Gramps."
"It's nice to finally meet the Leywin brothers." The dwarf was around my height, but I'm still growing. There was this scar that ran down his face on the left side, going right through his eye. He reached out a hand toward Arthur first. "My name is Rahdeas." I froze as I stared at the dwarf across from me.
Arthur took his hand, and then after a shake, released it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rahdeas." Arthur spoke, and Rahdeas then turned to me, reaching a handout toward me.
The Serpent's Will was acting up, I wanted to kill this guy right here. I took his hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you Rahdeas." Could I grow an ice dagger in my hand and slide it into his throat without explaining anything to anyone? He released my hand and faced the both of us.
"I've heard many stories about the two of you from Elijah's letters." I could see Arthur's face turn to one of surprise, I already knew this. Why the hell is he here? "I have been his Guardian ever since he was an infant."
"I'm sorry that I didn't get to him in time during the attack, I'll make sure to bring him back." As Arthur spoke, I could feel a laugh starting to come up, I quickly pushed it down. This was not the time to laugh, they all think Elijah was this saint.
"I appreciate that." Rahdeas said.
"He is going to be the new dwarven delegate." Why is he the dwarven delegate? I hope Elder Virion is using him for some plan. "Now, it's time for us to go, you will be signaled when to step through."
Arthur and I backed up as King and Queen Glayder, King and Queen Eralith, Elder Virion, and Rahdeas walked through the teleportation gate. The sudden urge to kill was still there, I wanted to know why they would let the foster father of Olfred be here. It made zero sense to me, like why was he here?
"Veer, what's wrong?" Arthur nudged me, pulling my gaze away from the portal. "You're exerting a dark pressure."
I looked around the room, the other Lances were also staring at me. I pulled the pressure I didn't know I was exerting at the time back into me. "My bad."
"I can't believe that was the man who raised Elijah." Arthur said to himself, ignoring the fact that I was just exerting a pressure towards the dwarf. I'll kill him later.
"Yeah, amazing." I said sarcastically, and then Aya spoke up.
"Arthur Leywin, I hope you are as strong as your little brother." The elf said, standing before us.
"Lance Aya, I don't believe we've ever been introduced." Arthur reached out a hand toward her, and she took it.
"I hope we can work well together." Aya smiled at him as they released each other's hands.
"I see you your training has gotten you to the mid silver stage." Varay spoke, joining in on our conversation.
"Yeah, I still have a long way till I make it to white core." Arthur said, and I realized that I hadn't given him Uto's horn yet.
"Shit." I said out loud, and they all turned to me. "You got you dimensional ring on you?" Arthur nodded his head, and I pulled out Uto's one horn. "Here. Use this to absorb mana." I handed it to him.
"Why do you have a horn in your dimensional ring?" Arthur asked me, then his eyes widened. "There's a lot of mana in this, Veer."
"Yeah, it was Uto's." I told him straight up.
Sylvie jumped onto my head, and I smiled up at her. "Are you sure I can have this?"
"Yes, I already absorbed the mana in the other, so that one is all yours."
A guard near the gate spoke up. "It's time, you may enter through the portal now." I felt anxious actually, to stand up in front of so many people. I was also still getting over the fact that Rahdeas was here, and inside the castle. I needed to make sure Elder Virion knew of his background.
Lance Bairon was the first to move, then Lance Varay and Lance Aya. "Let's go." Arthur said, turning to the gate, and following the other Lances. I walked behind him, staying in the line we formed.
I was the last to step through the portal, and when I did, I was met with the sudden noise of the crowd before us cheering. It shook the floor beneath us, it was actually an awesome feeling.
We were in a rectangular room, that led to a balcony that overlooked the people. The royal families were on the edge, waving down at the crowds, Kathyln and Curtis were there, so they must have left a little before I arrived at the gate.
"This is awesome." I said loudly, causing Arthur to turn to me.
"I agree." He said, as I lifted a hand, and scratched Sylvie's ear.
"Generals, welcome, be ready to go on command." A guard said to us as we stood there.
I spun around, Aldir was there drinking tea in a chair. "Aldir." I said walking over to him, abandoning the line we formed for some reason.
"Lady Sylvie, Virion, Arthur." Arthur was now next to me, staring at the Asura. "It's good to see you three here."
"Aldir, do you know what's going on? What exactly is our job? Veer and I haven't been told anything." Arthur asked him, and I hit his arm, causing him to turn to me.
"I know why we are here." I sent him a smile. "Aldir, you aren't really hiding in the shadows in the middle of the room drinking tea." I told him as I walked back to where the other Lances were standing.
"You'll find out soon enough." Aldir told Arthur, and he came back over to me.
"He doesn't know?" Aya spun and winked at Arthur. "How cute, he's so innocent."
"Haha." I laughed at her.
"What aren't you telling me?" He asked us, I shrugged and Aya faced forward.