Chapter 8: Chapter 8: The Royal Summons

Alex stepped forward, putting himself between Olivia and the noblewoman. "My lady, I would assume that if this is a royal summons, there will be a copy of the royal decree backing this summons on your person?" Victoria switched her focus from Olivia to Alex as he spoke. "But of course. Elizabeth, if you would?" The demoness stepped forward, producing a leather-bound rolled piece of parchment, handing it to Alex, who passed it to Olivia. Olivia unfurled the notice, taking care to examine the authenticity of the royal stamp with a simple spell, before nodding and handing it back to Alex, who also glanced over it.

"Very well," Olivia said, "all is in order. Lady Victoria, it is we that you seek out, there is no need for you to travel further. My name is Olivia Greaves, and it was my summoning that his highness registered, and likely another today. My village was under attack from a bandit raiding party, and so I used my negligible summoning knowledge to seek out a warrior that could help us defeat this menace." She gestured to Alex. "This soldier answered my summons and aided greatly in our victory, saving our village once the contract was complete."

Victoria's eye twitched, and she turned to her liege. "Bring forth the royal archmage, verify the girl's story." The demoness immediately bowed, then disappeared into the carriage, appearing again with a stoic and aged man in purple robes, carrying an orb in his right hand and an enchanted staff in his left, his sandy blonde hair mostly hidden beneath the cowl that covered his head. He turned to Alex. "Please, place your hand on the orb." Sensing Alex's discomfort, he smiled softly. "Relax, it is a simple identification orb. It will verify your identity, specializations, and any contracts and statuses you have."

Alex glanced at Olivia, who merely nodded. He placed his hand on the orb, which immediately pulsed with orange light, warming but not burning his palm as it rested on the orb. A holographic image of an identification card appeared in the air above his hand. The Mage squinted at the ID. "Alex Martin, a human soldier, with ranged, stealth, and scouting proficiencies, trained formally in his world's army. His artifact weapons..." the archmage gestured to the rifle in his hands, "...utilize small but potent ammunition called bullets, which are shaped metal heads wrapped in a metal sleeve with small amounts of explosive powder that launches them at deadly fast speeds many times that of conventional arrows. I would very much like to examine one of these once we are done.' Olivia reached into the inventory and produced the bullet that Alex had given her during their contract, handing it to the mage, who nodded, holding on to it but not yet looking it over. "It says here that he is indeed in a binding contract with young Ms. Greaves here as, according to his understanding, her mercenary and guard.  He seems to have some malus of a mental sort due to a past combat event, but it is in no way affecting his competency, and seems to be diminishing under her care." The archmage lowered the orb, and Alex moved his hand back into a relaxed, non-threatening grip on his rifle.

The mage then offered the orb to Olivia, who placed her palm on the artifact, and her ID appeared. "Olivia Greaves, self-taught hedge summoner. It seems our girl is indeed more powerful than even our alert gave us reason to believe. She is at the same level as a C-ranked Licensed summoner from the Summoner's academy. It seems his highness was correct to send us here to collect her and her familiars. She has two, Mr. Martin, a rare oddity as a human summon, and her mount, the griffon Solaria, who she utilized a companion's summoning ritual to call to her side and enter into the contract with. It seems Ms. Greaves and Mr. Martin are highly compatible companions, it is no easy thing to call forth so rare a familiar as a tenth-level Griffon. My Lady, the king must meet with this party at once. I recommend an immediate teleportation spell, as traveling conventionally could be highly dangerous at this juncture." The archmage stepped back, beginning to prepare the spell at the Lady's nod.

"Well, it seems we must delay your travel a bit, I'm assuming you were headed to Veradin to register as adventurers?" Olivia nodded. "Yes, my Lady. We were going to join a party, hoping to find one headed toward the capital that we could quest with and gain strength and experience, as well as silver to better equip the party." 

Victoria nodded. "Well, it seems you can bypass the intermediate steps for now. I have a feeling the King will have a much more lucrative offer for you once we reach him. Is everything prepared, archmage?" The mage smiled. "At your command, Lady Victoria." She nodded, and a large blue sigil appeared, surrounding the carriage, and the entire party, including all the soldiers. "Take us to his majesty, then, if you would. Just breathe normally, wouldn't want you to arrive before the king unconscious." Alex's world was suddenly enveloped in a stream of bright orange light, and the feeling of speed and being carried at ludicrous speeds across a long distance.

The feeling slowed, then faded away completely. As his eyes adjusted, he took in a large throne room sculpted of marble with copper trim. The party stood at the end of a long crimson carpet, leading to a large raised platform. In the direct center was a giant copper and velvet throne, with smaller but similarly designed chairs on each side. The second largest would be, Alex assumed, the Queen's throne, situated to the left of the King's throne, and on the right, three smaller thrones, likely for the princes and princess, rounding out the royal family.

Filling out the dais were five other chairs, two on the right, and three on the left, Alex assumed they were for the royal advisors. The Archmage approached the foot of the throne, as a procession filed in from a door at the back, behind the throne. Members of the kingsguard filed out first, taking places on each side of the carpet leading to the throne, then the king, a tall man with a regal air to him, dressed in crimson armor with a velvet cape and large golden crown, stepped to his throne, accompanied by his queen, similarly dressed in a crimson and velvet set of robes, with a smaller but no less regal crown atop her head, who took her place in front of her throne.

Behind them, the royal heirs also took their places on the right of the king. First was the heir apparent, a younger spitting image of his father dressed in silver and copper armor, a large broadsword at his side. Beside him, a younger male, dressed in a mage's robe of crimson, with green trimming, denoting his affinity for nature magic. At the last throne stood a young girl in her teen years, dressed in a regal dress of crimson and gold, standing demurely at her older brother's side. She looked Alex over with apparent interest. Alex had stowed his rifle on his back before anyone could notice, hoping not to cause an uneasy atmosphere or draw the ire of the kingsguard or the royal family.

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The advisor's seats remained empty at the present moment, though Alex figured they would enter after the party was formally introduced and called before the king. Medieval history had always been one of his interests, and he found himself in a state of awe at being in a similar situation to the ones he had long read about in history books. The archmage bowed deeply before the king, and All others in the throne room followed suit, so Alex did the same. He felt Olivia's hand on his arm, just a gentle touch to calm them both.

"Your Majesty, I, archmage Willhelm Folds, present to you the Lady Victoria Von Helstraughm, demoness red mage Elizabeth Fieldings, and her retinue, escorting the subject of your summons, the hedge summoner Olivia Greaves and her familiars, soldier Alex Martin of a realm called Earth, and the griffon Solaria from the realm of Kindredshelm."Having made his declaration, the archmage ascended the steps of the platform and took his place at a chair on the king's left, to the left of the queen. Four other advisors appeared through the door at the back of the platform, moving to their seats on the left and right of the royal family.

At the king's behest, all others in the throne room stood from their bowing. The king looked them over."Greetings, Lady Von Helstraughm, Ms Fieldings, it is good to see you back and having accomplished your task thoroughly and expediently." Lady Victoria bowed once again. "It is a pleasure to have served you well, your majesty." She stepped back to her position. The king nodded in response. He then shifted his gaze to Olivia, Alex, and Solaria. "Ms Greaves, please approach the throne with your familiars."

Olivia stepped forward, with Alex and Solaria flanking either side, a step behind her to show their allegiance to her. Olivia had been coaching them both through their bond as the events were taking place. They stopped at the foot of the throne and bowed. "Your majesty," Olivia began,"I am Olivia Greaves, and these are my summoned familiars, Alex Martin and Solaria. We humbly heed your summons and await your command."

"Rise, Olivia, Alex, Solaria. If you will all bear with the formalities, as two of you are new to the realm and our kingdom, I am King Thomas Crenall the Second, King and commander of the nation of Crenallia. To my left is my wife, Queen, and court sorceress, her Majesty Helen Crenall. To my right is Crown Prince Adrian Crenall, heir apparent and Captain of the Kingsguard until his ascension to the throne. At his right are prince Carmaine Crenell, Court scholar, and nature druid. and to his side is princess Jasper Crenall, a scout and scholar in training. Rounding out the advisor's panel, you've already met Archmage Folds. He specializes in identification, support, and teleportation magic, some of which you already have experienced. To his left is treasurer Phillipe Jongstun, and to his left is General John Harkstrong, Commander of the national military. To the right of the princess is Christian Rivens, the hand of the King, and completing the assembly is Scribe Killian Montgomery. Now, with that out of the way, let us begin."

He gestured to the Archmage, who gave an overview of the events of the day, from their meeting on the road, to the verification spells, and to the current summons. The king listened with much interest, his eyes flowing over the trio as Archmage Folds explained their IDs and Statuses. when he was done, the king thanked him and bid him back to his place. He then called Lady Victoria, who verified all the events and information. His gaze then lay on Olivia. "Ms. Greaves, I would like very much for you to tell us the circumstances and events of both summoning, and why you felt the dire need to perform unlicensed magic in my kingdom, despite the rules against such actions."

Olivia bowed, then gave her account of the events surrounding the sommonings, from the goblin raid that threatened her village, through Alex summoning, contract, and his actions that saved the village, through the companions summons that brought about her contract with Solaria. which caused a bit of a stir amongst the advisors and royals. The king silenced the outcry with a raise of his hand. "Well, ms. Greaves, it seems you have had a most interesting few days. Ordinarily, unlicensed magic practitioners are gravely punished for their actions."

Olivia shivered, but bowed again, holding a hand out to Alex, who almost stepped in front of her protectively. "I understand, your majesty. I lay myself at the king's mercy, and accept any punishment you deem fit for my actions. Please know that they were in no way meant as crimes against the crown, and I had fully intended to make my way here you seek your justice and counsel after registering ourselves at the Adventurers guild in Veradin."

The king nodded, "Rise, Olivia. You will not be punished for merely seeking the salvation of your home and people. In fact, quite the opposite. I have called  forth the court summoner to register you and train you more thoroughly as a summoner. You possess raw talent that will be of much use to the crown, and we offer you and your familiars a place amongst us here in the capitol. I am giving you the noble title of viscountess, and you will be taken under the wing of Baroness Helstraughm to be trained properly for court. Your familiars will, of course, remain with you as your guard and personal mount, and you will be given a stipend of 10 gold a month, plus the tutelage of the court summoner and Baroness Victoria. In return, you will be registered with the adventurer's guild here at the capital, and will possibly be called upon in times of need in service of the kingdom. Are these terms acceptable?"

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