Normally, according to a brief once-over with Aerys, meeting a Royal would either be because of a heinous act or a righteous one. Today, it was for the latter. That would be true in most cases, but for Reiki, it felt like his luck was soon going to run out. Especially when it was overwhelming to be standing before so many people. After all, he wasn't expecting such an audience. 

He would’ve been fine if it was with just Aerys, and Maybe her parents too. However, her parents had invited a few of her extended family. Three of which were also present, including a few adventurers and two trustworthy guild members; both from Froesé’s most popular guild, “Fruntbell”. Some adventurers were cautiously sceptical, and rightfully so, that some random kid took down the head of an illegal system faster than any guild was able to. This almost began a misunderstood rumour about him, but King Malachi quickly caught it before it could spread to the public.

After that debacle was when he learned, from the Princess’ closest Maid, that royal names were sometimes hereditary due to birthmarks. Aerys is the fourth family member in her family tree to take on her name. Reiki found the system interesting, but he would learn about it later on. The reason? Aerys’ father wanted to have him meet the rest of his family. A family who at the time wasn’t available for the morning until their duties caught up to them. This was why Reiki was currently overwhelmed.

Although Aerys had been a member of royalty and had to uphold a level of royal posture, she usually preferred to simply be herself. At least when no other royals were around, or when she was in public. Reiki wasn’t to put on a similar facade, no matter what anyone thought of his unintentional feat or for being considered as her “unintentional saviour”. To their surprise, it was only the size and status of her family that had caused him to faint. Luckily, after his fainting session the previous day, he’d been given immediate medical care to make sure he hadn't damaged his head on the stone floor. 

He had woken up in a room the size of a top-notch hotel suite back on his Earth. He had been informed how he’d banged his head rather loudly on the floor and her parents, Malachi Runa and Aurelina Runa The Second had called for their "Royal Medicians". The maid that had been assigned to him had given him the biggest info dump of her family history to the point that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to remember it all on the spot.

After learning of their escapades, Aerys’ father pulled a few strings to explain how the guards who were on duty had lost sight of her two weeks prior to her return. It was also revealed that her mother looked to be tough on her daughter, but it was just a display to be put on around other royals. In case they got any ideas.

At the present, Reiki could be found in the room he’d woken up in. Sat in an eggshell white tank-top-like shirt with a frill in place of the sleeves and a pair of lime green underwear. The clothes he’d arrived in had been torn and muddied beyond belief and had been thrown out before they’d left for Aerys’ home. He was unaware he had been swinging his legs as he stared out across the city. Having the bed beside the window did help ease his anxiety. Well, until there was a brief trill of knocks on the bedroom door. The sudden sounds made him jump and he raced to hop back under the covers of the bed. 

‘Is the young master occupied, or can I come in?’ A voice called out. It wasn’t Aerys’ voice, nor of her parents, but had a young and unrecognisable tone to it.

‘I’m... I’m decent.’ He called out after a cough, in turn prompting a young maid to enter the room. 

‘Okay, I’m coming in.’ They replied, as the door creaked slightly and they appeared, entering backwards with something occupying both of their arms. 

The first thing he noticed was a pair of pointed, brown animal ears above brunette hair, styled into a short, twin ponytail that turned into a plait. Their maid dress didn’t hand outwards like it did in the usual anime or manga Reiki had seen online. It hung close to their legs and emphasised their body shape. A wide but short, fluffy, white-tipped tail that matched their hair puffed out from behind them as they twirled into the room, the door closing slowly. 

‘Here’s your set of clothing, as requested by Aerys.’ They placed the clothing down on the back of the seat by the wooden table, and then stood attentively. ‘She thought you’d prefer something that didn’t make you stand out... I also heard that you mentioned the clothing you arrived in the Capital was a little irritating around your neck. After mentioning this whilst you were unconscious, our Royal Seamstress has modified it slightly. We hope it’s to your liking. I’ll leave you in peace to change, but I’ll be outside if you need anything else.’ 

After that, they promptly left the room after reminding him to rap twice on the door when he was done changing. Reiki was surprised at how quickly that had just occurred, then got up after reminding himself that he needs to get dressed. There weren’t any showers open to the public, but to his surprise, there was one in his suite. It was more like the public showers found at campsites back in Europe and England, but it was better than nothing. 

In the span of about ten minutes, he finally felt refreshed once again and managed to put on the clothes that were gifted to him. He rapped twice, and the maid opened the door then proceeded to guide him through the vast building. She answered a few of the questions he had about some of the rooms they passed, especially that of the library. During the walking, he managed to paint a rough map in his head of where he guessed everything was. He found it a bit of a surprise when the map in his head didn’t seem to vanish into a hazy memory like it normally did. But to avoid looking weird, he kept on going, mapping out the place with a top-down style picture in his mind. Then he remembered his odd minimap feature and that it’s now mapping out his immediate surroundings for him. Even though it no longer showed up on the upper corner of his peripheral vision like a videogame’s heads-up display.

After a short while, his sense of anxiety over getting lost had lowered significantly as the maid slowly guided him out towards the front of the building until her eyes shifted. She guided him down the stairs to the mid-way landing before bowing slightly and escusing herself from his presence. Just as he turned to head down the stairs, Aerys’ mother had just stepped out from a side room and had started walking towards the stairs.

The instant she spotted Reiki coming down the stairs, following the maid, she stopped and briefly stared at him before relaxing her mind as she met his gaze. 

‘Good morning, Reiki. I’m so glad to see you’re unharmed.’ She said gently, as he finished the last step off of the stairs. ‘I trust that the Medicians treated you well?’ She added, briefly glancing slowly at where the maid had walked off to.

‘Uhm, Good– Good morning, Queen Aurelina.’ He replied, offering a curt bow as they came to an appropriate talking distance. ‘Yeah, they were nice and friendly once I stopped panicking about how I reacted.’

‘Well... That’s to be expected of them.’ She hesitated, an openly amused expression suddenly appearing on her face. 

Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting such a casually formal response as she briefly snapped her head around to look at him and started heading back into the maze that her mansion was to him. 

‘Is it? Oh.’ He replied, following her as he strolled off to the side of her. ‘I was sure there would be a repercussion for fainting in your home.’

‘Don’t you worry, young man,’ An unfamiliar voice spoke from behind Reiki, making him visibly jump and giving off blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sparks of his neon-green lightning. 

The queen visibly kept her calm body manners, excluding her genuinely humoured smirk, but internally she giggled and was wholeheartedly amused at his skittish reaction. Their conversation continued as they walked down a few corridors, with a few turns - left, straight, right, left, straight, left - until she approached her destination.

‘–ut he’s not even up yet!’ Came a young girls voice on the other side of the doors. ‘That boy must be given a highly ranking profession!’ She exclaimed. ‘Or at least he could date me for a short while.’

‘That boy saved your cousin before she had permanent damage done to her body, Reubyssa!’ Came a stern voice, so loud that the door had shaken audibly. ‘Don’t think for a second that I’ll give you preferential treatment even if you are just her sister-in-law!’ The bellowing continued.

Reiki visibly jumped at the volume of that last comment, while Queen Aurelina was used to such outbursts. Luckily, the door was blocking most of the voice out, yet it was clear that the voice had been very loud when a young girl, with triple-tailed plaits interwoven through her hip-length, maple-brown hair raced out. As she passed the two of them, he noticed she had a pair of twin-tailed plaits down the back of her head and raced out of the room holding her ears and bawling strong tears. 

‘Who’s that?’ He asked Aerys’ mother, curious about the girl. 

‘That would be my daughter-in-law, Reubyssa.’ She replied curtly as the sound of the girl’s wailing faded into the distance. ‘As my husband is now the ruler of the Froebel Empire, he’s required to have at least two wives in case one is unable to have a proper childbirth or if they’re incompatible with each other.’

His eyebrows raised quickly as his face gave away his inner feelings at that very moment. 

‘... That’s... that’s actually quite interesting.’ He responded after a few seconds, regaining his composure as he struggled to find the right words to say next. 

He would’ve continued thinking about it, but her next comment caught him off-guard.

‘If it’s all the same with you I’m not too fond of the rule myself, but I do see the few benefits it has had for our family bloodline.’ She added as her forced face vanished briefly, the brief hint of her lips curling up in distaste at such a thought crossing her mind. ‘I’d rather not reveal this to anyone outside of our family. It’s a bit of a big deal.’ She added after a deep sigh.

‘Got it. Avoid mentioning the royal contingencies in public.’ Reiki reminded himself, he nodded quietly in response, as they finally entered the room. 

The room consisted of two walls with large shelves almost covered with various objects. The third wall was less of a wall and more of a connected, wide balcony that overlooked a fairly large open space within the confines of the building itself.  What drew Reiki’s attention was the man he’d briefly seen earlier before passing out sitting behind a large desk with a stack of books and some lazily placed sheets of paper around him.

The man seemed to him like he was under a lot of stress. But after entering the room, the King not only did a double take, but he stood up so quickly that some papers flew into the air. He composed himself, collected the papers and sat back down. Coughing in the process to hide how he’d acted.

‘Young man,’ Spoke King Malachi, his slightly wavering tone anything but strong and royal-like. ‘I’d like to say a big thank you for saving my daughter, Aerys.’ He added, shifting his weight as he rested his elbow on the table, chin in his hand.

‘I think it was just a big stroke of luck, your Majesty.’ He replied, hoping to keep some level of formality between them. ‘I could’ve made it out completely and gotten better help, but I don’t think she would’ve been alive by the time I’d return for everyone.’ He bowed slightly as he finished talking. 

‘We’re just glad she’s safe,’ Replied Queen Aurelina, as she sat down across from her husband. ‘Now come, there’s no need to be so humble and formal with us. Despite my husband’s messy desk, it’s actually a rather small amount to deal with today. Now sit, and tell us how you got drawn into all this.’ She’d added, patting the armrest of the chair beside her. 

This lead into a full length disclosure of how Reiki felt, what he’d seen and what he experienced during his time in the illegal operation. From the discovery of his superspeed, to the rage-induced sense of speed at the end. Within that time, they had been interrupted two times by three more visitors. Two guards, a tiger-girl a wolf-man, along with Aerys herself had made an appearance whilst Reiki had been wrapping up his side of their escape. The guards that hadn’t known anything of how Aerys’ rescue ensued were astonished at the descriptions Reiki was giving. Especially the guard who seemed to be nervously shifting on their feet, as their ears twitched every time their head shifted to look somewhere other than at the King and Queen.

‘...and that’s how I ended up in your care.’ Reiki said, as he finished his telling of the events from his perspective. Excluding the gods and how he previously lived on another Earth, but including his cover story that his parents and grandparents were dead. 

‘That’s incredible.’ King Malachi exclaimed, obviously on the edge of his seat from the events he’d just listened to. ‘We have to get your abilities checked out. Would you like to take a visit to the Adventurers GUild, Fruntbel?’ He asked after a few seconds of thought as he’d rubbed his thin-bearded chin.

‘That would probably be a good idea.’ Aerys finally interrupted. ‘I could take him down now if he’s up for it. That way, both of us can avoid my sister-in-law for the rest of the day.’ She quickly added, her voice going quiet as if Ruebyssa was on the other side of the door, listening in. 

Which there was no need to, as she was not. She was sulking in her room, cuddling a pillow from her, ironically named “king-sized” bed. She sneezed twice in succession, then crawled over to her dresser to take a sip of water.

‘I would normally say that it’s not a good idea to go out so quickly after yet another kidnapping of yours Aerys.’ One of the guards quickly responded, as a new thought entered their head. 

‘Please tell us what you were thinking, Ephyr.’ Malachi asked, a brow raised slightly as he leant back in his high-backed chair.

‘The young man and the young lady should now be safe, seeing that the large slave-ring operation has finally been shut down.’ Everyone in the room turned to look at the guard as they finished talking. To Reiki’s internal surprise, she was a tiger-girl. 

‘That’s cheap, coming from you, Ephyr.’ Scoffed the other guard, his wolf-ears pointed forward and attentive to the discussion before him. 

‘Quinn, what did I tell you about running your mouth before my parents?’ Aerys said, letting the side of her mouth curl up mischieviously as her head tilted down slightly whilst she glance sideways.

In his haste to rectify his outspoken comment, Aerys just covered her mouth slightly to stifle a giggle that threatened to escape her mouth. The discussion continued and it shifted to accusing and as a surprise to Reiki, consoling the Royal Guard. Whose name was revealed as Ephyr Fortuna and one of Aerys’ small number of Personal Guards. Reiki was glad that this world felt more like his when they heard that she was to be demoted to a General Guard. That didn’t stop her from continuing to protect her though.

‘I was merely fulfilling my duties. It is, well, was my duty to protect you, but I was lapse with my focus on keeping you safe.’ Answered Ephyr, her voice gentle and calm. Aerys opened her mouth to protest but then closed it. ‘For that, I am sorry for failing you and your family.’

‘Apart from me almost not being able to live properly for a few days, I’m fine with it.’ Aerys said, as she ignored a brief but stern glance from both her parents. 

The room then idled down into a general chat amongst everyone. Reiki sat quietly as he absorbed everything they were talking about. At least the things they would say verbally. He triggered his Telepathy secretly whenever something didn’t add up and reading the King’s mind seemd to give him some form of understanding behind this world’s economic logic. He was surprised when he could use his ability without being detected. It hadn’t levelled up or anything, but this base level allowed him to read surface thoughts as well as choosing to project his own. 

‘If all is well now, then I think now would be a good time to step outside.’ King Malachi spoke after a long while. ‘I have a letter that needs to be delivered soon but the Regal Delivery Office is just so slow lately. Even adventurers who can run fast still take more than a day to reach the closest cities to us.’ 

‘Hey Dad, weren’t you going to take… um, Reiki to see Fruntbel?’ Aerys said, which reminded him of when he’d said that. ‘Also, he still needs to do that thing before them as my savior still. Not that I’m complaining mind you.’

‘You’re right,’ King Malachi replied, opening a drawer on his desk and fishing around for something he was after. ‘This should suffice as a letter of introduction to the Guild for us.’ He added between brush strokes, applying his signature hastily to the page.  

He handed the sheet over to Aerys before he ushered the four of them out of the room. He wanted to speak to his wife privately about something before he’d meet them down at the Guildhouse.

They all started making their way to the entrance, Reiki between Aerys and the two Guards. The guards hadn’t known much about Reiki or his ability, but now knew that he was nothing like they’d heard before. After a brief scan through their minds from Reiki, he discovered they really wanted to see what he could do in the Trials. He could quite see memories yet, but it sounded like something that tests how strong you are against someone stronger than you. 

Reiki kept his mouth shut as they hopped into a royal-gold-coloured, Vaikyren-drawn carriage. The cobbled roads shook the carriage a little once they left the grounds of Aerys’ home. The ride was supposed to be short, but the amount of people moving out of the way whilst trying to get the attention of Princess Aerys was slowing the carriage down. They got slow enough to the point that Aerys decided to poke her head out of the window. 

‘Hello everybody!’ She exclaimed as she stood up through the roof hatch that had been unhinged from inside. ‘And yes, as you can see, I am safe once again!’ 

She continued her little spiel for a short while to the crowds, keeping Reiki hidden from their curiosity. Before she had the chance to ask if they could be allowed to get to the Fruntbel Guildhouse before her father, the crowd suddenly parted. After arriving at the Guildhouse, the General Guard Reiki had met earlier, Kae, had revealed that she and some of her off-duty men had push the commoners aside. 

‘Thank you, Kae!’ Aerys yelled as the carriage sped off, with Kae and some of her Guardspeople riding inside and hanging off the carriage. ‘Right, let’s head inside, shall we?’ She added after a pat down of the hem of her dress around her waist, followed by a shuffle of the hem around her neck.

When they entered Fruntbel’s entrance, the sight of about thirty adventurers milling about, waiting or discussing quests and adventure, made his eyes light up. He almost forgot Aerys, Ephyr and Quinn were with him. 

‘Hey kid, why don’t you go and take a look around with Ephyr whilst Aerys and I go and talk to the guildmaster?’ Spoke Quinn, as he looked around. ‘If anything happens, just make sure Ephyr steps in to make sure you don’t get into trouble.’ He added before he walked off, with Aerys leading.

‘Uh, thanks?’ Reiki replied to thin air a second later, confounded by Aerys just leaving him there. 

For a full minute, he felt very awkward just standing there until Ephyr motioned to him to make He started to look around and was intrigued by some of the quests on the wall. He never made a show of it, but he could feel a deep glare being aimed his way by only one individual. Activating his Telepathy, he skimmed the minds of everybody in the general area until he felt the presence of a male mind fogged over a little with an odd, foggy image of his general area forming before it vanishedinto a hazy fog again. 

‘People can get drunk whilst working?’ He thought, shocked at the individual’s condition. ‘Man, what type of world... Wait, nevermind, it’s a different Earth. Obviously there’s going to be some slightly different rules.’ 

‘Mytal Bugs… Resonating Crystal collection… Demented EarthFrog’s Tongue…’ He muttered as he read through the core parts of all the different quests he looked at. ‘Herb collection… Battle of Strengths with a Demon Warrior… these sound like real challenges. Some even require cores from dead labyrinths.’ He added, as he stopped to read more about the quest beside the labyrinth one.

It was for an urgent delivery of a unique blood sample for research purposes with a few paragraphs of text. The contents below the opening paragraph were just strange mashup of numeric-looking shapes and symbols. 

‘Hey Ephyr, what’s this one about?’ He asked, as the man he’d mentally scanned loudly got up and clumsily made his way over to them. ‘I can’t read this lower half.’

‘Oh that half is in Dymoq.’ She replied, as the man came up to them and stood just off to the side. ‘It’s the home language of the Demons. It must be for the research of that new condition they’re looking into. The one that Princess Aerys has.’ She added, blatantly ignoring the man behind the two of them.

‘Hey miss, I’ve never seen that kid in town before… S’He new in town?’ The man slurred, as he turned his attention to Reiki. ‘If I were you kid, I’d get some combat training in. Your arms and legs look a little thin.’ He added, with a strong pat on Reiki’s back before turning around and returning  to his seat.

Reiki did not expect such a clear-cut response for someone who’s mind felt drunk, intoxicated and foggy. 

‘I guess adventurers are good at holding their liquor.’ He thought to himself, until a different idea came into his mind. 

‘Wait… Does my Telepathy skill not work on drunk minds?’