"Brother what's he going to ask of us?" Loren was accompanying him to the castle with Joel leading the way.
"Whatever he asks don't deny it Warren I'm saying this as a friend" before Warren says anything to Loren Joel answered instead.
"Besides it's better to have someone powerful behind you Warren"
Joel said.
Warren could see Loren's worried face as he himself wasn't so sure about what Joel's employer is going to ask of him. After hearing about the injuries inflicted on General Hozai by the half-elf girl and the healing potions used to heal Warren's men as well as the injured soldiers, Warren had some idea about how powerful Joel's employer compared to him and his men.
Finally, the three of them reached the doors to the throne hall as Joel slowly opened the doors. Warren had no mood to enjoy the beauty of the throne hall as his eyes were locked onto the two people standing before the throne.
The moment Loren saw the half elf girl her eyes went wide in surprise and shock.
The half-elf girl wasn't beautiful in a cla.s.sical way, no flowing golden curls or ivory skin but had raven black hair and bluish color eyes. She was taller than average and certainly prettier than any woman Loren ever met, she didn't wear any fancy clothes or armors but something radiated from within that rendered her irresistible to both genders. Men desired her and women courted her friendship.
Unlike Loren, Warren was amazed by the powerful aura radiating from the man before the throne. He had black shoulder-length hair, which was thick and l.u.s.trous. His eyes were a mesmerizing dark sky black. His face was expressionless, strong, and defined, his features were like molded from granite.
He wore a set of black shiny armor as the shoulder plates were fairly rounded, very wide. They were decorated with a dragon's head on each side.
The upper arms were protected by rounded, half covering rerebraces which sit nicely under the shoulder plates. The lower arms were covered by vambraces that have a row of long, curved spikes on the outer sides.
The breastplate looked like it was made from a couple of layers of carefully crafted leather, mimicking dragon scales as the upper legs were covered by pointed, layered leather cuisses and the lower legs were protected by leather shin guards which have layers of crafted leather, mimicking dragon scales as the breastplate. Thick leather pants were worn beneath this all.
"My lord" Joel said as he went to kneel but stopped by Don in a midway.
While Warren and Loren stood awkwardly without knowing whether to bow or kneel.
"So Warren how's everything outside?" Don asked.
"Its uh many building were destroyed by the fire and fortunately we didn't suffer many casualties just a few thanks to your people"
"Good we will provide all the help you need but you have to do something for me" Don said and retrieved a scroll from his s.p.a.ce ring.
"I want you to pledge your loyalty to me and rule this kingdom in my stead"
The words struck Warren and Loren like a thunderbolt. Even though Warren knew that he was the one who helped him feed all his people and helped their kingdom avert a disaster, Warren couldn't get himself to pledge his loyalty to a mysterious youth and the biggest shock was to him that he was asked to rule this kingdom.
Warren was a soldier so he realized that Emir has now become powerless and leaderless as anyone had the power could conquer them without much effort.
"Don't think too much Warren if you don't do it someone else would and I have many people who will happily accept such offer"
Don calmly said.
"But why us? You just said you have many of your own people who would accept this" Don was a little surprised to hear Warren's sister speaking before Warren.
"Its because you born and raised here in Emir, your people won't accept me as their king for them we are outsiders but if their king is someone who they trust and that someone bends their knee to me they will follow their king without any doubts" Don paused for a moment to let the information sink into Warren and Loren.
"Read this" as Don said he sent the scroll flying towards the both of them.
Seeing the scroll floating before them Warren slowly grabbed the scroll and opened it to read the contents on it.
As Warren and Loren read the contents they realized it as an agreement between two kingdoms. Loren carefully read the contents to see anything that could be disastrous to them in the future before agreeing. However, all she could see is the arrangement in trade between Emir and Everlight which Don named his kingdom after knowing that it was how his kingdom was called in Ken's time beside he kind of liked the name.
The next thing Loren's eyes caught was the small sum Emir had to pay to Everlight as Everlight's child kingdom which is pretty common for a kingdom to pay a sum to the empire which they were paying to the capitol of Moon Empire till now. Loren could see the people of Emir easily pay this tax compared to the h.e.l.lish amount of tax King Hedor imposed.
Finally, there were a bunch of common statements such as if Everlight is going to war Kingdom Emir should provide all the help they can and vice versa.
However when Loren laid her eyes on one of the last statement she frowned
"Slavery is a crime punishable by death?" Loren mumbled under her breath.
"Yes there will be no mercy to those who deal in slaves and as the last line suggests you must treat your citizens equally no matter what their race is" Arrora's said as her voice was full of dominance.
After reading the scroll over and over Warren let out a heavy breath of sigh and looked at Don
"It's a decision that will affect not just me but also my people can you give us some time to consider this?"
"Two weeks I will give you two weeks to make a decision and meanwhile my people will help you provide all the help you need until then there won't be a king in Emir" as he was saying Don noticed that Joel is trying to say something but waiting for his permission.
"Joel you have something to say?" Don asked looking at Joel.
"Yes my lord, I think the n.o.bles and ministers might prove to be quite troublesome about this matter "
"Arrora order your unit to investigate every n.o.ble and minister in Emir then I will let the king of Emir decide what to do with them after a week" Joel knew that this answer was different from what he was expecting but he knew Don didn't care about the n.o.bles and ministers in Emir and he could simply kill them if they prove to be troublesome.
"Yes my lord" Arrora said as she didn't want to call him Don before his would-be subordinates like Warren and Loren.
"Joel" Don raised his hand towards the door as Warren and Loren bowed slightly and followed Joel towards the door to leave the throne room.
"Don what now?" after seeing the three of them leaving the throne room Arrora asked Don.
"Now we earn these people's trust and loyalty with coins" Don said as he looked at the direction of the treasury room.
"You think he would accept being a king under you?"
"He didn't ask time to consider whether he should be a king a not rather he asked time to think about pledging his loyalty to me" Don said.
Arrora knew someone with the least brain would accept such an offer and dare not to cross a powerful man as Don.
"Cat send them in "
Just after a few seconds, the light beam of teleportation appeared before Don as a group of dwarves stepped out of the light.
"Kimreack Goldengrip son o' Fostaic Goldengrip greets me king" the dwarf leading the group bowed his head towards Don as well as the dwarves standing behind him.
"Kimreack I believe you have already briefed by Knight about why are you here" Don asked.
"aye me king we will rebuild all those burnt houses in nae time leave that to Kimreack" the dwarf punched his chest and looked Don with full of confidence.
"Good then I will leave you to it" as he said Don and Arrora started to walk towards the treasury room leaving the dwarves to plan their work.
After a few minutes, Don and Arrora reached the front door to the treasury as Arrora pushed the door with a force of wind using her bound energy. The moment the door opened Don almost couldn't believe his eyes as he felt like he entered into a small treasure trove.
"Amaryll going to have fun with all this wealth" Arrora giggled as she said.
