Hatake looked at the slumped figure on the throne. It would almost look tragic if not for the expression on the slumped figure's face. An expression that on a petulant child would look obnoxious but, on this masculine-looking man in front of him it was terrifying.
The expression was of intense anger. With an expression that made Hatake quake in his boots. Hatake had one of his arms bound at his side, it was still injured after the incident with the girl and the recovery had been slower than expected. Although he struck a pitiful figure like the man in front of him. He was still kowtowing on the ground.
“The girl left the country?” The figure asked with a low voice, hiding rage.
“Yes, it seems like she was taken away as an Eris queen’s candidate”
“And you didn’t stop her?” the voice said rising in volume
Hatake was kotowing even lower. His body was nearly parallel to the floor.
“The moment she became a queen’s candidate she was immediately protected by a stray queen’s guard!” Hatake said quickly defending himself.
“YOU FOOL!” the voice roared the sound of the voice echoed throughout the throne room. Loud enough to make the various decorative armors that were laid out in the room ring in response.
Hatake shook in fear. It would almost be a funny sight, seeing a man as large as Hatake shirking from the figure in front of him, but Hatake knew better than to show defiance. The man in front of him was a king after all
“Forgive me! I didn’t know her importance!” He cried out.
King Andschlatt rubbed his temples in frustration. He cursed himself for having such incompetent subordinates. He had a few choices now, either he could punish Hatake or he could accept that it was an honest mistake.
Unfortunately for Hatake, King Andschlatt was not in a forgiving mood
“Take him outside, cut off that useless arm,” He said waving to his retainers.
“Your Majesty! anything but that!” Hatake said his face growing panicked.
Adventurers were people who made a living off their bodies after all. Losing a limb was tantamount to losing one’s livelihood. Not to mention the fact that the lost limb would also prevent the adventurer from getting more conventional jobs.
A voice suddenly interrupted them
“Now, Now, ‘Riggy’ we don’t need to punish poor Hatake with an amputation. The man is already half scared to death.”
A woman appeared from behind the king. She was pale with silvery hair. The woman had a shapely figure and large breast, in terms of clothing she wore clothes that amount to little more than light pieces of fabric strung together. Their composition looking so haphazard that one would felt as if her clothes would slide right off if she moved the wrong way. She had a caring and even saintly smile on her face. One that would put even the most defensive person at ease.
“Lisetta save me!” Hatake cried out instinctively.
The woman who had appeared behind Hatake was none other than the “queen” of King Andschlatt’s adventurer group. A mysterious woman she had appeared nearly 15 years ago, she rose quickly through the adventuring ranks and eventually became the top adventurers in the country. Despite her prominence, her identity had remained a mystery, as well as how she managed to stay unaging despite all that.
She had been the first adventurer to join the King and it was through her power that he made the other adventurers bend the knee to him. Some wondered if it was a move out of romance,
Hatake had been young then, nothing more than a novice working his way up, and even then, he had heard of her.
Wielding two daggers she would cut a deadly swathe across anything foe she met. Although she had registered as an adventurer with the name “Lisetta” due to her unageing face, and her mysterious power she was known by another name among most adventurers.
“The Saint”
The woman walked towards the prone Hatake, she bent down caressed his face and bringing his face closer to hers.
Hatake held his breath at the beauty who was looking at his face. It was a sight that would make any man tremble, and Hatake himself was also trembling. The problem wasn't that he wasn’t trembling in awe at the woman’s beauty, rather he was trembling in fear.
For those who knew more about “Lisetta” outside her past achievements, there was another name for her.
“The Ice Witch”
Lisetta was a solo worker, any adventurers who tried to steal her prey or intrude on her grounds would be hunted as well and cut down like a dungeon monster. Even more terrifying was the fact when confronted with the deaths she wouldn’t even remember it. After all, who would remember a bug they had killed?
Lisetta did not see other humans as “human” rather, any life other than her own was meaningless.
Hatake who was staring into the eyes of the woman who was giving such a caring expression, couldn’t even speak, he was simply petrified.
“Well, what would you have me do Lisetta?” The king said with a bored expression on his face he was done with Hatake. He was going to expel Hatake once his arm was cut off anyway”
“I just think it would be more merciful to end his life, losing an arm would be painful after all” The woman said smiling.
“Do as you wish” Andschlatt said waving his hand away and turned away from Hatake
“Wait! Your Majesty, I’ll go to Eris and bring them back myself! Yes, I’ll even fund it myself! Let me redeem myself!” Hatake begged further
Hatake’s pitiful struggling was already too late. King Andschlatt had already finished the conversation and was ignoring Hatake.
“C’mon on Hatakyun! It’s time for some fun!” Lisetta said smiling gleefully while grabbing Hatake’s ankle.
“No No No! My king, please amnesty!” Hatake screamed and begged. His fingers left deep marks in the stone floor as he was dragged away by Lisetta.
Andschlatt’s bored expression continued until the sound of Hatake’s screaming left the room.
Once he heard no more, he turned to his retainer next to him.