Chapter 10: 6:

“From what I hear, there’s an opening”

I burst into a laughing frenzy so wild that
I nearly fell off my throne. First he wants to be king and now he wants to
become the king’s advisor. It would really be a shame to kill such a man.

“How about I hire you as my jester instead”
I said in between small laughs

“It would make sense, you could finally
have someone you can trust in court”

“Why in the world would I trust a
commoner?”

“For the same reason why you haven’t looked
at your truth-seeker’s crystal ball for a while now”. I turned towards Jafar
and saw that the mist in the ball was still very much blue, He was right, I had
completely forgotten about Jafar.

“It’s not that you can trust me because I’m
trustworthy but rather in the fact that I simply cannot lie to you my king”.

There was a great silence that ensued the
court as I begin to think about Alaric’s offer, it would be nice to finally
have someone who I know couldn’t lie to me, Truth-seeker magic doesn’t work on
royals or nobles just like many other sage arts. I’ve been putting off getting
a royal advisor because I have been looking for a trustworthy one, could Alaric
truly be what I was looking for?

“And what makes you think you’re capable of
the job?”

“Your highness, surely you can’t be
considering this?” asked Jafar.

“Did you hear me stutter? Jafar?” I replied
looking him dead in the eye, making him bow his head “I’ll call for you of I
need your opinion”

“Alaric? I believe I asked you a question?”

“I believe that I already demonstrated some
intellectual prowess by deducing Lord Caspian’s true intentions in the noble
court”. He was right, it was impressive but there certainly had to be more.

The way this court proceeding has been
going, it all feels too fluid. He barely wastes time with his responses, like
the entire conversation was already laid out in his mind. He intends to win, in
order to win, one must have more than one hand. I wonder what else he has to
offer?

“That’s not that impressive, everyone in
the court noticed Lord Caspian’s true intentions. You’ll need more than that to
say you are capable. I said wondering what else he had up his sleeve.

“My life”.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“The verdict of this trial is that I am
guilty of treason and the punishment is death, the alternative would be to
become your capable royal advisor, if that condition cannot be held by your
standards then my life is forfeit”.

I almost fell for it, putting his life on
the line seemed to be his final card but it’s been his first card. If
everything is part of some plan putting his life on the line was his first card
which is what brought him to the noble Court and then to the royal Court to
have a one on one conversation with me.

I was a little disappointed, I was
expecting something else. But alas the time to stop entertaining this
ridiculous idea was coming to an end

“While this idea is extremely entertaining,
there is still the problem of you being a commoner, a commoner cannot assume
such a position”

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“…. Unless you bestow upon me the title of
an aristocrat” he replied.

First, the royal Court and now the title of
an aristocrat. Two old and forgotten customs brought from the dead in one day,
this commoner certainly is remarkable to say the least. The title of Aristocrat
is given to a commoner by the king of Valencia after completing certain
challenges and trials as deemed fit by the king.

The title gave the commoner the status and
power of a small noble, which in theory would make any commit eligible to contest
with a Lord of Valencia to become the next Lord and in turn become the royal
advisor if they so wish it. The last time a commoner was bestowed the title of
an aristocrat was during my grandfather reign, King Mathias.

I remember reading about the traditions as
a kid preparing to become king but never did I think that…

“It’s been at least eight decades, since
there’s been an aristocracy ceremony yet you seemed to have pulled the thought
from thin air, so easily I might add, how?”

“Think nothing special of it, my King. It’s
just the desperate attempt of a man to stay alive.”

“You seem rather calm and in control to me
than desperate”

“Desperation comes in many forms, my King”

“Nonsense!” I yelled getting off my throne
while holding on the arm rests before regaining my composure and sitting back.

Maybe Lord Caspian’s intent was wrong but
he did have some interesting questions, this commoner is well learnt, people
don’t just learn things like negotiation, history and court etiquette, they are
taught. Taught by someone who intends to trample upon the very foundations that
holds Valencia together.

This Alaric might be nothing more than a
pawn, but if he’s a pawn? I wonder what meeting the mastermind would be like? I
could feel Goosebumps across my arms.

“Do you intend to go against a Lord of
Valencia to become a Lord yourself?”

“If there is no other way” he replied

“You’ve given excellent reasons as to why
you should be kept alive and assume the role of my royal advisor and even
provided a loop hole to achieve that goal but that doesn’t exactly give a good
reason why you shouldn’t be hung” I said

“Well, you said it yourself, we both know
that it was nothing more than the actions of a commoner who didn’t know any
better”, “I’m guessing it wouldn’t really look good if the King was intimidated
by such trivial matters”

Checkmate. This was his final card, if he
had more, he didn’t need it. He was right, my curiosity got the better of me
and I held a noble court to intervene in the matter to see the jester for myself
but in doing so, I had called unwanted attention the matter.

Ordering his execution now would seem like show
of cowardice. The only way forward would be to declare him innocent of the
charges and allow him to partake in the aristocracy trials and an apology for
the “misunderstanding”

I had lost this battle but I could feel my
heart racing and my blood pumping with excitement cause I knew that there would
be plenty more battles like this, battles to watch and to participate in, and
just like every other commoner in Valencia, I will place him where him
underneath my feet.

“Jafar!” I called out “I’ve made my
verdict, this is my verdict for this case…”

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