A letter from the castle

The next morning, I wake up to a conversation between two women.

“I see, so that is how you first came to the Dark Dragons.” The first voice says.

“I guess you could say Alice’s daughter is now in the same position.” The second voice answers. “Except she still has her biological mother. She will fare better than me. Though, growing up around so many adventurers, I would predict that she will want to become an adventurer as well when she gets older.”

As the fog lifts from my mind I start to recognize the first voice as Amelia’s and the second is Kiara’s. I get up from the bed and open my eyes to see the both of them already dressed. Amelia is sitting in a chair and Kiara is behind her combing Amelia’s hair. Except, Kiara doesn’t have her hood up right now. She is leaving her face bare, but is not affected by her anxiety. I guess it’s because nobody is staring at her. That makes me want to keep quiet and let Kiara think she is not being seen. It would be a good opportunity for me to see her as she would be if she wasn’t suffering from all that anxiety.

“Yeah, I bet. Her whole world is going to be adventurers now.” The first voice replies. “Still, I kinda feel bad for taking your hood off yesterday. I didn’t want to make you feel bad or anything. I just felt it would be easier that way.”

“Don’t worry about it.” The second voice says. “I’ve been trying to overcome my anxiety for a while now. It is night impossible in public places, so I got to do small steps first. I started with only Darx, but now there is you too. I can work on exposing my face to two people now.”

“I’m glad. I’m happy I get to help you with this.”

Just then, my stomach makes a loud rumbling sound and alerts the girls to me having awakened. Kiara’s demeanor immediately changes from confident to shy. For a moment she reaches for her hood, but then decides against putting it up and leaves it down. She also takes a deep breath and breathes out slowly, causing her to instantly relax and calm down. I am confident she will overcome her issues one day.

“Well, well, look at who decided to join us.” Amelia says with a big smile.

I smile back at her and say, “Well, I am shocked that after all these years you are still surprised I am a late sleeper. But it does do me good to see the two of you being such good friends.”

“Oh yeah. Kiara is a wonderful person.” Amelia says while looking over a Kiara. “And I do think that last night brought us a lot closer.” Reminding herself of the girl-on-girl stuff from last night, Amelia quickly starts blushing again and continues, “I, uhm, well … I am still going to have to adjust some. I mean, I’ve, well, never thought of myself as being into girls. But, I didn’t exactly mind and, well …”

As Amelia’s speaks, Kiara starts blushing as well. But then Amelia’s words tail off and she doesn’t finish her sentence. But I think I understand what she means.

“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I am getting hungry.” I say. “So, I am going to get ready and then the three of us can have lunch. Good idea?”

The girls agree and shortly the three of us are in the guild’s great hall. Unlike last night, there are a large group of adventurers, our fellow guildmembers. This is how a great hall should be. It makes me feel like everything is going to be alright again.

As we are getting to the end of our breakfast, one of the guild’s servants comes to us with a letter.

“Good morning, sir.” The servant girl says. “I have a message for you from the royal court.”

I nearly **** on the milk I am drinking when she says ‘royal court’. Why is the royal court be interested in me? I grab the letter and start reading. Amelia’s curiosity is too much for her to hide and reads the letter along with me over my shoulder. Basically, it is a summons. They are requesting me to show up, and the letter is signed by Harold.

“What would the queen’s counselor want with you?” Amelia asks.

“Harold has helped me a lot in the past.” I say. “Maybe he has discovered something new to help me out. I recall him asking about my heritage because of my eyes. Perhaps it has something to do with that.”

“Well, if you’re going, I will go with you.” Amelia says as she reaches for my hand and holds it.

“I know my way around the castle and a lot of people there. I’ll join too.” Kiara says.

We finish up our breakfast and then leave the guild to make our way to the castle. Though after only a few streets, a familiar looking carriage slows down as it drives past us and a familiar looking nun sticks her head outside.

“Wow, Darx. Fancy seeing you here. I was just looking for you.” Charlotte says.

Having someone like her show up so shortly after I return from my quest makes me feel this is not a coincidence at all. I try my best to not roll my eyes and reply, “Ah, Charlotte. Is there something I can help you with?”

“It is about the request you made of the Priest?” Charlotte says. “It seems that he has found a way to help you with your visions.”

Amelia quickly pulls on my arm and asks, “What visions?”

“Oh, she’s talking about those nightmares” I reply.

“You still have those?” She asks.

I grimace and say, “Eh, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“We’ve been summoned to the castle, Darx.” Kiara tells her. “Can we do it later?”

“I’m afraid that would be difficult.” Charlotte interrupts. “The cleric with the solution only has a limited amount of time. He might not be around for much longer.”

“The letter didn’t say we have to appear at the castle right now, right? I guess we can make a small detour.” I tell my girlfriends. Then I turn to Charlotte and say, “Alright, we’ll come with you.”

Charlotte smiles and tells the driver to stop. When she opens the door to her carriage, I make sure to let Amelia and Kiara get on first, I only get on last. As the carriage starts moving, I open my mouth to say something, but Charlotte manages to start talking first.

As we are driving towards the Cathedral, Charlotte breaks the silence and starts talking about my recent adventure.

“I heard of what you’ve done to break the monsters invasion. Such a daring tale of heroism and banishing the monsters from our lands. You should be proud of yourself.”

“I didn’t do it because I wanted to slay monsters. I wanted to save my other.” I tell charlotte. “But yeah, there was some heavy monster slaying involved.”

As the ride goes on, Amelia and Kiara join in and we all tell Charlotte a lot about our adventure. One big thing that stands out is the fight against the trolls.

When the carriage stops and we get out, we are indeed at the Cathedral, but I barely recognize the place. There are decorations everywhere and the plaza in front of it is full of stalls, except there are barely any people here. Like a market without customers.

“Charlotte, what is going on here?” Amelia asks.

“Oh, that’s just preparations for a celebration.” Charlotte answers. “For now, people are in the Cathedral attending a ceremony. But once that’s over they will come out and then we’ll have a big party.”

I see. We must have gotten here on the same day as some religious holiday. Maybe that’s the reason the cleric is only here for a short time. We then follow Charlotte into the Cathedral and see a large group of people, all kneeling and praying while the Priest is giving his ceremony. The seats where people are expected to be are all full and there are people on the sides. It is obvious that more people have gathered here then this place is designed for. Among the parishioners I see not only commoners but also a few adventurers. Among them I see one of the girls I dueled in the tournament. I think her name was Neku.

Charlotte leans in with a big smile and whispers to me, “We have never had this many people gathering for prayer before.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” I whisper back.

“Sometimes I feel a little jealous of the Priest.” Charlotte continues. “Imagine standing there, addressing so many people, all of them hanging on every word. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I imagine myself standing in the place of the priest, not sure if I should be wearing religious robes myself. I would probably be expected to do so, especially if I join the Church. And then making a great speech for what I am guessing is close to a thousand people to hear.