At the sound of the door slamming behind us, the king spoke. "Is this it then?" One thing was clear from the sound of his voice: he thought this meeting was a waste of his time.

"Yes, father..." was all Raya was able to get out before the king continued. "Do you really need another Demon blade in your harem? Don't you have three already?"

She has Demon Blades in her harem? Had she forced them to join? No! I can't afford to get distracted right now. Not paying attention would be a really bad idea right now. I'll try to look into it later.

"She's not joining my harem." Raya responded shyly.

Three sets of eyes locked onto Raya. Apparently, that was not something they had expected. The king was the first to look away, his eyes settling on me. He seemed to study me, evaluating me like an item he was considering buying. It felt disgusting.

"Step forward." He commanded, his eyes remaining locked on me as I advanced. "Any sponsors you may have will stand in line with the princesses. Anyone else can stand by the door." Once I was about ten feet from him, he raised his hand, motioning for me to stop.

"State the name of your smith." the king ordered.

I didn't like how he framed the statement, but I still answered. "August." the word felt like bile on my tongue.

Leaning over, Boburt whispered something to the kind. A look of realization spread across his face. "Ah. Yes. he was the one responsible for the troublesome twelve. Or should it be thirteen." he said, giving me a severe look. "Shame to lose such a talented smith." His words gave off a sense of loss that his eyes did not share.

Not giving anyone time to respond, the king continues his orders. "Each sponsor will now state their name and position."

Raya was the first to speak. "Raya Sinel, crown princess of Sestria."

Followed by her sister. "Sophia Sinel, second princess of Sestria."

Then was my mother. "Eliza Drasia, Champion of Eluna.

Lastly was Asra. "Asra and Lyra, co-captains of the Luthis city guard." Lyra stood beside Asra, nodding her head as Asra spoke.

The king looked surprised for a moment as my mother spoke but composed himself shortly after. "Next, the Demon Blade will state its name."

Shooting a quick glance at my mother, she gave me a gentle nod. Turning back to the king, I told him my new name. "September Drasia."

The king looked to be in utter disbelief. His focus swiftly shifted to my mother. "Eluna has recognized her as my daughter, if not by blood, then by bond." She told him, a kind smile on her face.

The king's eyes fell on me once more. "Why should we allow you refuge in our kingdom? Why should we risk the inquisitions' wrath?"

I took a deep breath, pushing away everything else and letting the words flow. "I offer my skills to the kingdom in exchange for protection. Over the years, I have worked on various projects that I believe you might find quite invaluable. I have brought the result of one such project to show you today, your Highness."

My mind focused on three things as everything else became distant. My words, the king's expectant glare, and the hammering beat of my heart. "May I ask for a memory crystal projector?" I asked, holding out my grown memory crystal.

The king nodded to his right and, for a moment, layered bordure wheels on an extravagant-looking but dusty projector. The device was nearly my height and twice as wide. Its bottom half looked like a ridged half-oval with wheels. Above that was the crystal chamber, a cylindrical segment with a hole in the center. Its surface was etched deep with runes, and a handle was attached to its back. Five spikes of magically attuned metals sat inside the crystal chamber, waiting to suspend a crystal. The top of the device was an intricate array of mirrors designed to project the images contained within.

Giving the device a once over, I noticed it appeared to have been opened recently. Crouching down, I opened the service hatch on the lower section, taking a look around. It didn't take long to figure out what had happened. Someone had scratched out some of the internal runes.

Instantly regretting my lack of a tool belt, I started charging mana into my right hand. With a pop, a black cyclone the size of a pinhead formed at the tip of my pointer finger. I pressed my finger to the metal and watched as it ate away at it.

I heard a few voices shouting as I Reetch the runes. I didn't pay any mind to it. I had to stay focused. I couldn't let the spell drop. It would cost too much mana to cast again.

When I had finished, I could still hear the shouting. So I stepped back from the projector and looked towards its source. A few feet in front of the king, Boburt held a thrashing Norburt in the air.

"This is a disgrace. She is clearly tampering with the machine." Norbert screamed as he continued his struggle in vain.

"Sorry for the delay. Someone had tampered with the projector. I had to reetch some of the runes to restore its functionality. Would you like to examine my work to make sure I've not done something untoward?" I said, staring down the quickly stilling Norburt.

"Continue." was all the king said as Boburt returned to his side, not releasing Norburt.

"Right. So what is the main issue restraining the widespread use of memory crystals?" I asked, pausing for a response. When no answer came, I continued. "That's right. The process of creating them is extremely inefficient, and they can't be produced on a large enough scale. But what if I told you I had discovered a way to grow filled memory crystals."

That seemed to get their attention. "Through the method I have discovered, filled memory crystals can be grown and later harvested. Each harvested fragment retains a copy of the original memory. These fragments could then be disseminated throughout the populous for various purposes. Leaving the original crystal to continue to grow for later harvests."

"This crystal..." I said, loading the crystal I held into the projector. "contains the memory of a friend of mine. She is an Otherworlder, and this is a song from her world."

As I pressed the play button, the image of a red-haired man standing in front of what appeared to be the shadow of a leaded window was projected into the air. Then came the percussion, followed by the strings. Then, the red-haired man stood in front of three brick arches and started to sing. "We're no strangers to loovee..."

I watched as the three of them were entranced by the projection. The king watched on, completely enraptured by the projection. Boburt tried to stealthily tap his foot along to the beat while Norburt glared at the projection.

As the recording finished, the men stared into the space where it had once been projected. The recording didn't last long, only about three and a half minutes, but it seems to have left an impact. I'll have to thank Mel for the memory next time I see her.

Surprisingly, Boburt was the first to speak. "Truly wonderful. What an honorable man." His voice trembled when emotion and tears poured from his helmet.

"How do we know that that wasn't a standard memory crystal? We haven't been given any proof your method actually works." Norburt spat out his voice full of venom.

Raising his hand to silence Norburt, the king spoke. "Impressive, but I must ask, how long has it been since you were crafted?"

I was surprised by his question, but I answered anyway. "Three days. Today is the fourth."

His face cemented into a stony expression. "I see. It seems you've retained most of your smith's memories. That will be troublesome." That didn't sound good.

"I need you to understand something. You are not August. You are something made of his soul. You may share his memories, but you are not him. Until you can prove your skill, you are worth nothing more to us than a book that contains the same knowledge. Do you understand?" The king spoke with the condition of an arrogant god ordering around an ant.

With each word he spoke, I felt my anger rise. With each word he spoke, I felt the fire stir. By the time he finished, I had reached my tipping point. I was ready to scream at him. I had never liked being August, but the way he insisted that I had not lived through that, that those were not my accomplishments, it struck somewhere deep.

The only thing that stopped me was the ancient voice that creaked through my mind. "Every action has its consequences. Are you ready for the cost of yours?" The crone's words were like a bucket of water to the flames of my anger. I was not ready to pay this cost.

Swallowing my anger, I told him what he wanted to hear. "I understand, your highness."

"Good." He said, sounding very satisfied with himself. "That being said, from what I have seen here, I have decided to give you one month to create something of your own. If your creation impresses me, you will be granted permanent residence."

The king seemed to be about to dismiss us when Norburt spoke up. "With that out of the way, should we move on to the inheritance of August's Property?"

With a nod from King, Norburt continued. "It has come to our attention that August does not have a will on record." I helped my heart drop as he spoke.

"As such, all property formerly owned by August and their content will be seized by the kingdom unless his next of kin, one Lyra, pays a 2,500,000 crown fine within the next two weeks." Norburt finished looking quite satisfied with himself.

I felt broken. There was no way I'd be able to pay that. It was over five times my yearly profit. Even with all my savings, I barely had half that. I doubted it would even be possible to make 1.25 million crowns in two weeks.

Right as the despair was about to consume me, my mother stepped forward. "The blacksmith, known as September Swords, sits on land belonging to the temple of Eluna. Do you plan to seize this as well?"

Norburt looked surprised by that question, but it was the king who answered. "The property shall be returned to the temple of Eluna for them to do with as they see fit, and 500,000 crowns shall be subtracted from the fine."

I let out a sigh of relief. 750,000 crowns, while still quite a lot of money, felt much more manageable than 1.25 million. I still had no idea how I was going to do it, but it felt so much more possible now. And at the very least, even if I couldn't pay, we still have the shop.

"Anything else, Your Highness?" I asked

"Leave the crystal. You are all dismissed." the king ordered.

Mother, Asra, Lyra, the two princesses, and I quickly exited back out into the hallway, finding a bored-looking Beylith leaning against the wall next to the door. Finally, being free from the king's sight, the group quickly split into three groups of two, with Mother being the only one to stand alone. Slowly, she made her way over to Asra and I.

Leaning heavily into Asra's side, she wrapped her arm around my waist. "You feeling alright?" She asked, the concern obvious in her voice.

"I'm fine, just exhausted." I told her.

"Perfectly reasonable." she said, shooting me a bright smile. "It has been a long day."

"And it's nowhere near over." I told her. "Not only are we still having that talk when we get home, but we need to figure out how I'm going to get the money to pay that fine as well."

Squeezing me tighter, Asra tried to reassure me. "I have a feeling things will work out in the end. They have so far."

gNatonthewall

Hello, everyone. I think I prefer releasing on Friday. It was much less stressful than then trying to fit in time for writing on my D&D days. What did everyone think about the chapter? What about the memory? Anyway, next week should be a longer chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for reading, favoriting, and commenting. Have a nice day.