Jack was half expecting the person to be the king of this kingdom himself. But then again, the king was sick if according to the rumors, so it was not possible for the big man to be here. Still, the royal advisor was the next best thing. He was the one who had sent Jack the invitation letter to join the kingdom faction, so in a way, Jack owed him a favor.
Jack did not forget to express his gratitude, "it is an honor to finally meet you, My Lord. I have to thank you for the opportunity you have granted me to join this kingdom faction."
"I only did it because you are worthy, as you have proven yourself to be. The Duke spoke highly of you, as with the Commander and Prince Alonzo."
"We meet again," prince Alonzo took the chance to greet Jack at this time.
"I heard you will be joining the expedition as well?" Jack asked.
"I am. I hope we can work together again."
"You will only be in the expedition as an observer, you cannot get into any dangerous activity," the woman with the fancy hat said to Alonzo.
"Sister, don't worry. I will take care of myself," Alonzo said to the woman.
"Let me introduce you, this is Sindral, princess of Themisphere," Mason introduced.
Great, was he going to meet all the royal lineage of the kingdom today? Jack thought. He had met three princes and one princess in this single morning. He wondered if the king had any other offspring. But based on Rhemos's words, there were only three candidates to the throne, so he guessed a princess was not eligible to inherit the throne in this kingdom.
"It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Your Highness," Jack said with a slight bow.
Sindral smiled warmly at the gesture, she said, "please take care of my brother, sir Storm Wind."
"I will do my best," Jack replied.
"By the way, I met your brothers outside just now," Jack said to Alonzo.
Alonzo seemed to be taken aback by the news. He asked with an uneasy expression, "Did they say anything to you?"
"Your big brother threatened me. Your second brother tried to recruit me, using threats," Jack replied.
Alonzo said with an apologetic face, "forgive me, you shouldn't have been involved in my trouble."
"I'm sorry you have to witness the ugliness of this kingdom," Mason also added. "The king's sudden deteriorating condition had brought about a sudden vacuum in power. The first and second princes took this chance to assert their dominance. Sigh… I tried to maintain stability as much as possible, but it seemed that internal strife is difficult to avoid. Unfortunately, the third prince is still young, his personality is the better one amongst the three siblings. He would have been the best candidate otherwise. If my position does not require me to be impartial, I would have openly shown my support to him."
"If we are talking about the best candidate, it should have been sister Sindral here," Alonzo said. "It's a pity that this kingdom doesn't accept a queen as its ruler."
"Well, if you think so, maybe you can change that rule when you become the king," Sindral teased.
"Becoming a king… I really can't see something like that happening…"
"You are too pessimistic, brother. That is your only flaw. As a prince, you should be more confident."
Alonzo nodded as Princess Sindral counseled him. Jack could see that Alonzo looked up to his sister. While the two siblings were still talking, Mason came closer to Jack and said to him, "if you don't mind, can you come with me for a moment? There is something I need to talk with you about."
Jack turned to the Duke. "We still have some time, go," the Duke said.
The royal advisor took Jack a little distance away out of earshot from the group.
"I would like to give you a task," Mason said to Jack. "Despite Prince Alonzo being the weakest amongst the candidate, he is still a legitimate heir. Which made him a threat to the other two princes. Though they won't focus their attention on him as they have each other to contend with, it still won't guarantee that they will not do anything that will harm him. Even during this expedition, they might do something. Hence, I want to ask of you to watch over Prince Alonzo."
At this time Jack heard a system notification, "you have been offered a kingdom faction quest, Escorting Prince Alonzo, do you accept?"
'Another kingdom faction quests?' Jack exclaimed in his mind. 'If I accept, won't that mean I have two kingdom faction quests? I can have two at one time?'
Peniel who heard his mind answered, "If it was a general faction quest issued out for the public, you can only take one at a time. But if it is specifically given to you, you can have more than one."
"I know it is a high responsibility, but please considered it as a favor for me," the royal advisor added when he saw Jack did not reply.
"I'm just a low-level outworlder, why didn't you ask this of the Duke?" Jack asked.
"They will naturally protect the third prince, they are under his camp after all. But still, they have duties that will take up much of their attention. You outworlders, on the other hand, had the reputation of fiercely accomplishing tasks that were given to you. So I considered my request to you as an extra layer of protection for the prince."
By that reputation he must mean our passion in completing quests, Jack thought. Well, dealing with quests was the main bulk of RPG games after all.
After giving the matter some thought, Jack agreed with the request. Alonzo could be considered his NPC friend. If he was in trouble, he would not just look the other way. So whether he got the quest or not, he would still protect the guy, then might as well accept the quest.
"Thank you, you have given this old bone much relieve," Mason expressed his gladness. "I must warn you though, you need to be vigilant. I doubt either the two other princes had stayed idle after learning of this expedition. The third prince might be tightly protected by his retainers all the time in this expedition, but still, he was out there. Anything can happen. I implore you to remain alert on all possibilities."
"Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes and ears open," Jack said.
At the time, the Duke approached them. "We should head out, it's getting late," he said.
Mason nodded and said to Jack, "go. May the Gods and the Goddesses watch over you and the others in this expedition."
The Duke took Jack to the head of the column formation. Commander Quintus was already waiting there. Jack did not see Lindsey, perhaps the father and daughter had said their goodbye.
The Duke handed a small item to Jack. Jack accepted it and checked it to be a wooden whistle.
"Your mount," the Duke said, and then he turned to his ready troops and yelled out a command, "mount up!"
All the soldiers took out a similar whistle and blew on it. Blue light flared beside each of them and was soon replaced by an adult horse complete with saddle and bridle. Jack used Inspect on the whistle on his hand.
Stallion Whistle
Summon an uncommon steed
Jack blew on it and a large black color stallion emerged beside him. Its mane was also black but had an attractive shiny quality.
Cool! Jack thought as he admired the horse beside him.
"Am I allowed to keep this? Or I have to return it after the expedition is over?" Jack asked the Duke.
"Since you are part of our faction, you are allowed to keep it. Your friends who joined, on the other hands, will have mounts lent to them which must be returned after the expedition is over," the Duke answered.
Jack then saw the Duke and the commander brought out their whistles and blew on them to summon their steeds. The Duke steed was more impressive as it was larger and had red skin with an equally flaming mane. It huffed with an aggressive manner but when the Duke placed his hand on it, it behaved like a docile kitten. Jack assumed that steed was probably a rare grade one.
The three of them mounted on their horses. The Duke looked back on the ready troops and gave a hand signal to begin marching. They then marched following the Duke's pace.
Jack felt honored to be allowed to march at the head of the formation beside the Duke and the Commander. When they came out of the noble district and into the business district. The players who saw the march were especially baffled when they saw a player at the front part of the marching troops.
Ah, this was a bit too eye-catching, Jack thought. But then again, he had also been making quite a wave in the past week, so low-profile was no longer feasible for him.
😉