Excusing myself from the table, I moved towards the man at the door and answered his call, “I’m Aria, is something the matter?”

He looked at me for a brief moment before saying, “You are hereby summoned for an audience with your majesty, King Zephyr. Your orders are to head to the castle immediately.”

That was fast, shouldn’t the king have a busy schedule or something? I thought they’d make an appointment with me first… Well, no use complaining about it. “Alright, so… Do I just go there and talk to the gate guards and they’ll let me in?”

“I’ll take you there right away. And mind your vocabulary in face of his majesty.” Ugh, this will be a pain… I suppose it can’t be helped though.

I followed him out of the guild and we moved Southwest, towards the castle. We walked silently and that was honestly bothering me, I wanted to start talking to Iris, but I felt like it would be really out of place to start having some chit-chat right now… Annoying.

It was also a pain to walk all the way there, I could reach the castle much faster if I flew on my broom, but instead I have to go at his walking pace… At least he isn’t that slow, though I wonder if messengers adapt their speed according to whom they are escorting, after all, it would be quite troublesome if he started getting scolded by a noble if he moved too quickly… On the other hand, wouldn’t nobles have carriages to carry them? In this case they wouldn’t need to worry about walking speed in the first place…

While I distracted myself by wondering about those pointless things, we arrived at the castle... Or rather, at the moat in front of the castle. And gods, was this building huge. Pretty sure it’s bigger than Nyllia’s Mage’s Tower… Though I guess that’s a given, I mean, it’s a castle after all… Still, wow, it’s big.

He briefly talked to the guards and they moved around a bit then put their hands on some glyphs that started shining, then, a bridge started growing from the other side of the moat towards us… Just how much mana does it take to grow a bridge like that!? I can’t believe they waste this much each time someone wants to go to and fro the castle… Why not use a normal bridge instead or… I don’t know, lift a bridge with chains or something?! There ought to be a better way of handling that, dear Gods, such a huge waste of a mage’s potential… I wonder who approved this project and how the people handling the bridge feel about it… Probably not happy. They could be much more useful by doing actual meaningful stuff, like… Trying to find the Wild Rose thingy that my request is all about.

Wait, I wouldn’t get paid if they found it, so maybe it’s good they didn’t go after it… But I don’t think it’s nice to simply let this kind of wasteful thing keep going on just because I need to earn some money…

Ah, the bridge finished growing… Gods, it’s not even a fast process… Such a humongous waste! Regardless, we crossed the bridge and entered the castle.

Once inside I was a bit flabbergasted at it… This place was fancy, like, super fancy… I understand they are royalty and have plenty of money to spare, but… Wow, do you really have to adorn paintings with gold frames? I bet I could live my whole life with the amount of money spent in just one of those… Makes me wonder how much does the carpet I’m stepping in costs, perhaps I’d be able to buy a house if I sold it…? Just what am I thinking, this isn’t mine and I’d die if I tried taking… Royalty sure has it easy, don’t they?

We suddenly stopped moving in front a big and fancy door… Well, everything was fancy in here, but this one was especially fancy… The guy escorting me then said, “His majesty is beyond this door. Mind your manners.” You just said that a few minutes ago… I get it. Or well, I think I get it at least. “And don’t speak unless he directs the word to you.” Seriously? Such a pain…

He knocked on the door, and announced himself with some fancy long name and title that I didn’t quite get and said that he was escorting me, then the door opened from inside and some guards with fancier than normal armor let us in.

The room was some sort of big meeting hall… I think. It’s big enough to be one, but there is a stairway with a big red carpet on it right in the middle of the room, and I can see a throne on the top of the stairs, with the person that is probably the king sitting on it… Does he really need to have a stairway just leading to his throne? I get that he is above me in the social ladder, but is it really necessary to be above in the literal sense of the word?

“Bow, now!” The messenger that was with me whispered in a hasty tone… Oh, he was already on his knees, uhn… Right, I guess I should do the same? I slowly lowered myself to a position similar to his while looking at the king which seemed to be sighing… Sorry if I don’t know the appropriate manners for dealing with majesty, old man. “Lower your head!” The guy whispered again, it felt like he was panicking already… I can’t even look forward? Just what’s up with all that?

I lowered my head and was now looking at my feet. My shoes are a bit dirty, I wonder if I should have cleaned them up before coming here… Oh well, can’t do anything about it now.

Meanwhile, Iris, who was on my shoulder, quickly whispered to me, “You do know that if his majesty thinks you’re disrespectful, he can behead you on the spot, right? Stop making this grumpy face!” Even Iris is scolding me? I wanted to pout right now… But I guess she is worrying for my safety, so I can try to not show my annoyance at least…

After the hall went quiet, the king spoke… Or at least I think it was him, hard to know when I’m looking down, “Greetings, hero.” Isn’t the word heroine? And don’t you know my name anyways? You definitely received it in that expensive piece of parchment Thalia sent you… “You received the honor of seeking this country’s Wild Rose under my name.” Honor? You mean job, right? You’re not planning on skipping on my payment on the pretext that the honor is all I need, are you? “As of now, your request is officially approved and you can start your journey to retrieve the relic.”

And then there was some silence in the room… That’s it? I was called all the way here to hear that? Couldn’t his messenger just tell me that instead? This was such a waste of time…

The guy next to me suddenly whispered, “Thank him!”

Thank him…? “For what?” I whispered back.

“Just do it!” I think his head was about to explode from stress… Dear gods, dealing with nobility is such a hassle, hopefully this is the last time. No, I’ll probably need to do it at least once more when I clear the request… Such a pain.

“I thank you for your… Gracefulness, your majesty.” I ended up saying. Is this good enough?

A loud clap echoed across the room, and then the king spoke, “That will do for this meeting, talk to one of my counselors if you need anything. Dismissed.” So the ones actually working will be his counselors? This truly was a waste of time… No wonder the king could schedule a meeting so promptly, I bet he does nothing the majority of time.

I was about to get up, when the messenger grabbed my hand and said, “This way.” Immediately dragging me out of the room… Hey! Iris is the only one that can grab my hand!

We swiftly left the hall, and after he closed the door behind him, he spoke to me in an admonishing tone, “Didn’t I tell you to watch your manners? Be grateful your head is still attached to your shoulders.”

Huh? “Was I disrespectful?” I asked

He stared at me wide eyed for a moment before heaving a large sigh, “Dealing with commoners is certainly unworthy of my time…” Really? I’m the one that should be complaining about wasted time, alright?

I wanted to retort, but Iris chimed in first, “He means you should have bowed quicker and without him needing to tell you anything, and that you should have at least pretended to mean it when you thanked the king.” She’s so smart! I’m so glad my Iris is this great…

“Oh, that? I will… Try to keep it in mind?” I answered half-heartedly while trying to avoid eye contact.

At this point, the messenger was clearly annoyed and made no effort to hide it, “Is there anything else you need, or will you leave already?” Rude.

I then replied, “Sorry, man-whose-name-was-so-unremarkable-that-I-didn’t-bother-with-remembering, I will be on my way soon, I just need to know where is this counselor that I can ask about any details on my job and then I’ll leave you to your oh so important duties.” I think a vein almost popped in his head after that… Nice.

While I was controlling myself to not laugh at his fuming expression, Iris whispered to me, “Aria… This man is probably a noble as well, try to not be openly disrespectful at least.” He is!? How am I supposed to know the guy carrying the letters is a noble? “Anyone that can deal directly with the king is probably a noble, and he called you a ‘commoner’, remember?” Iris also answered my unvoiced question, I love how she knows me so well that I don’t even need to say what’s on my mind.

The man heaved a big and loud sigh before saying, “I’ll take you to the counselor… Try not to die, you would be wasting his majesty’s mercy.” And then started walking away without waiting for my reply, so I silently followed along.