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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Obsequium_Minaris on 2025-06-27 01:04:19+00:00.

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"Geez…" Kayla muttered as the six of them marched through town. She was looking all around as they walked, trying to take in the sights around her. Her brow furrowed at the sight of it all. "This place is… certainly something else."

"You can just say it's extremely opulent," Pale said from beside her.

"Opulent?" Cal echoed. "What's that mean?"

Cynthia let out a tired sigh, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Honestly, Cal, if you'd just read more often-"

"Reading is boring, though."

"It means this place is extremely wealthy, and not in a good way."

"Hey," Allie said from beside her, getting her attention. "Might want to keep those opinions to yourself when we meet the king, Pale."

"Why is that?" Pale asked. "Is he liable to throw me in prison for speaking my mind?"

"Can you really afford to find out?" Allie shook her head. "Just… try to control yourself, alright? I can only back you up so much."

Pale grimaced, but nodded. Obviously, though, her opinion about the city itself was unchanged – it was, for lack of a better term, an extravagantly useless display of wealth and power from the ground up. She'd known it would be like that from the moment she'd initially looked out the window back in the hospital, but her opinion had only worsened as they'd moved deeper into the upper-class sections of town.

Not helping things was the luxurious castle looming over the city, which only seemed to grow in height the closer they drew to it. It was constructed almost entirely of yellow bricks, and its spires were topped with large brass domes that shone brightly in the midday sun.

"Probably could have fed a lot of families with whatever that cost…" Pale muttered quietly.

Kayla's ears flicked towards her, but nobody else gave any indication that they'd heard her.

Nasir, meanwhile, was equally as curious about the city as Kayla was, looking all around with wide eyes. As opposed to the rest of them, though, he seemed to almost revel in the luxury around him, though not, interestingly enough, in a way that seemed to indicate he was being greedy, at least to Pale. Rather, it was more akin to a sense of childlike wonder, or at least, that was the closest emotion Pale could associate with it.

"Wow…" Nasir breathed. "This is… I've never seen anything like this. Not even back at the Luminarium. I thought that would be the height of wealth, but… wow…"

"Truly?" Cal asked, surprised.

"Mm." Nasir nodded. "My people… we come from the forests, remember? Most elves do, no matter what kind they may be. We all come from the natural world, in a way that other species don't."

"That… makes sense, admittedly," Cal offered. "I honestly never gave much thought to your heritage, Nasir. You don't talk about it much."

At that, Nasir's expression faltered. "We… prefer to keep it a secret," he confessed. "As Pale could probably tell you. She approached me about Dragonsteel a few weeks ago."

"Did she, now?" Allie asked, suddenly curious. "What's that about?"

Pale shrugged. "Engineering project I was interested in."

"Ah, I see. More weapons, then?"

"Something like that, yes."

Allie let out a huff. "Fine, keep your secrets, I guess. I won't pry."

With that, she fell silent, continuing to walk alongside them. Valerie, meanwhile, scowled as she looked around the city.

"Honestly, Pale, I'm not a fan of this place, either," she admitted. "Bad memories, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"You've been here before?" Cynthia asked.

"I have," Valerie confirmed with a nod. "My father used to bring the whole family with him here back when I was young. Guess he still thought I'd be following in his footsteps and wanted to impress upon me how things were supposed to work around here. That idea went places, to say the least. But you all already know that; I won't harp on it."

"Five minutes or so," Allie suddenly announced. "Goes without saying, but you all need to be on your best behavior. The king isn't a strict man, at least not in the way most of you might expect him to be, but it wouldn't pay to antagonize him. Watch yourselves."

They all nodded, then fell silent as they continued walking. Before long, they'd reached the front gates of the castle. A contingent of guards in bright bronze armor came to meet them, each one carrying a large halberd of some kind, though at the sight of the silver-armored Mage Knights, they were quick to stand down and allow the group entry. Allie gave a nod to one of them – the only one with a purple cape attached to the back of his armor – and they continued on their way, into the castle's courtyard.

As they walked past the front gates, Pale continued to look around, scanning her environment for any threats. She hadn't expected to find any, and indeed, the only thing out of the ordinary she was able to see were the various statues and flowers that lined the stone walkway leading up to the actual entrance of the castle.

"Hm…" Pale grunted as she laid eyes on one of many statues of a knight on horseback driving a spear into an enemy knight's chest. "Guess there's no accounting for taste around here…"

"Pale," Allie softly warned.

"I know, I know – keep it to myself when speaking to the king. You don't have to worry about that, Allie."

Allie let out a sigh of exhaustion. "I'll believe that when I see it. Just… please don't make me regret accompanying you here."

Before Pale could respond, they reached the front doors of the castle. A pair of maids threw the doors open and ushered them all in; Pale gave them both a grateful nod as she passed by and continued on.

If the outside of the castle had been gaudy, then the inside was even worse. Large paintings and tapestries lined the walls, each one appearing to tell some kind of historical tale. Pale found herself staring at one such painting, depicting two armies meeting on a battlefield somewhere, staring each other down. Somehow, their weapons and armor looked even more archaic than what the Mage Knights and guards around her were carrying.

"Allie," Pale said softly.

"What is it?" Allie asked sarcastically. "Another biting comment I'm going to regret hearing?"

"This kingdom… is it still ruled over by the same dynasty depicted in the paintings and tapestries around here?"

Allie blinked in surprise. "Uh… wow. Not the comment I expected to hear…"

"Is it?"

To her surprise, Allie shook her head. "No, it isn't. There hasn't been a dynasty in charge of the kingdom for many years now."

Pale was dumbfounded. "...Maybe this is a bad question, then, but if there's no royal lineage, then why have the people continued on with a monarchy?"

Allie blinked in surprise. "…Sorry?"

Pale stared at her for a moment. "If there's no real royal family or line of succession for one, then it doesn't make sense to still continue on with a system of kings, does it?"

Allie looked at her like she'd just grown a second head. "No offense, but did they not teach you history in that school of yours?"

"We weren't there for a full term," Valerie offered. "Plus, Pale is from very far away, to begin with. And Professor Virux preferred to start from the very beginning, so we didn't get a chance to break out of ancient history before enlisting."

"Hah… typical Dragonborn, I guess." Allie shook her head. "Anyway, it's not important right now. All you need to know is that we have a system in place, and it works well enough that nobody wants to risk messing it up. If you've got a suggestion for an alternative… keep it to yourself."

"Of course," Pale said. "I was just curious, is all. I won't say a thing about it if it doesn't get brought up."

"Good."

Their group turned a corner and emerged into a large parlor of some kind, and Pale was suddenly struck by the sight of a regal-looking door on the opposite side of the room. As if the castle wasn't already opulent enough, the door in front of her was lined with some kind of crest – a shield crisscrossed with swords set against a blazing sun – that seemed to be made out of gold inlet into the stone itself. She wasn't the only one to be surprised at the sight of it, as Cal suddenly let out a low whistle as he appraised it.

"Looks expensive," he commented.

"It is," Allie assured him. "Don't touch it."

"What, not even the knob? How are we supposed to open it, then?"

She rolled her eyes. "Smart ass… You'd be wise to let Pale do the talking once we're inside."

"That's the throne room?" Pale asked, tilting her head. "Seems to be in an… unexpected spot, to say the least."

Allie shrugged. "Every king seems to like it in a different spot. It's a big castle, after all; it's got a lot of rooms, so might as well use them."

"If you say so."

Allie suddenly motioned for them all to follow her. "With me, all of you. I'll take the lead. Be sure to kneel the same way I do once we're inside. And before you can say anything," she said, noting the look on Pale's face, "it's decorum more than anything, yes, but best to make a good first impression."

Pale's scowl deepened, but she nodded nonetheless. She didn't like the idea of lowering herself in the face of someone else's reputation like that, but in a way, she'd already ...

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