The king’s throne room was resplendent.

As it so happened, it was also very color coordinated: The tapestries which hung over the marble walls, the carpet which led to the throne, and the throne itself were all a rich emerald color. The throne, in fact, appeared to be cut from actual emerald. Whether that was some sort of trick or they’d truly managed to find a gemstone that large, I couldn’t say, but the effect was breathtaking either way.

Atop the glistening throne sat a broad and powerfully built man with hair twisting down to his chest. Eschewing the puffy clothing I associated with royalty, he wore well-fitting black garb with additional emeralds woven into it. The only thing which deviated from the color scheme was the plain circlet he wore, a much more traditional gold.

In addition to a handful of guards and aides who ringed the room, one more figure stood to the man’s left: A girl, perhaps just over twenty years of age. In sharp contrast to the clothes of the king beside her, she wore billowing robes of white and mint-green, and her hair had been placed into a series of tight braids.

More than anything, as I stared at their faces, I was incredibly certain that these two were the first people I’d met with Charismas above 25. Frighteningly smooth, midnight black skin stretched tight over features that could have been expertly chiseled from stone. For all the art and extravagance that the room held, none of it held a candle to their force of presence.

“Protagonist,” the king boomed in a warm and rich bass. “What an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Introductions are in order. I am Antaiu, Sovereign King of the Antaean Kingdom and ruler of Ftheran city. To my left, my daughter Calilah, Priestess of the Light.”

I had a strong urge to identify the two out of curiosity, but suppressed it. Elphaea had been able to sense my attempt and had called me out for it; I hardly wanted to have a repeat with royalty.

Suddenly remembering myself, I knelt before the man. “I’m Tess, your highness. Thank you for meeting me on such short notice. It’s an honor.” In comparison, my introduction was a bit lackluster, but then again, I wasn’t a king.

He chuckled and motioned for me to rise. “There’s no need for that among friends, Protagonist, and I hope that we will be able to call each other such. Now, to what do we owe this visit?”

And with that, I began my tale.

As I recounted the events of the past month, I left out a few things. The king, for instance, did not need to know that I was pitifully weak or from another planet. Save for those small omissions, however, he got the full story of what lay in the deadlands to the south.

When at last I finished, the room fell silent for a time as the king pondered. After a time, he spoke.

“I see. A hard tale to swallow, though stranger things have happened when one of your ilk is involved, Protagonist. Dark gods and forgotten cities. Poor omens indeed. You say you come bearing a vision crystal? I would see it should you be amenable.”

I bowed, fishing through my inventory with a great sense of relief. The Elder hadn’t known much about the king’s temperament, and I was half expecting him to scoff and turn me away immediately. That he even wanted to see the crystal was a win in my book.

I pulled the small yellow diamond from my bag, and an aide rushed over to take it from me. Instead of handing it directly to the king, he cast some manner of spell on it, likely to check for any foul play. As an extra layer of precaution, the aide then used it himself before passing it on to the king.

Having finished watching the vision, the princess then took the crystal from her father. He seemed a touch surprised at the act, but didn’t argue, and once they’d both watched it, their faces bore mirror frowns. The crystal was returned to me, and the king grew silent for a time once more.

“Mmm. I will confess that this presents me with quite the conundrum, Protagonist. On the one hand, you come to me seeking to rid me of a most serious problem. We have of course noticed the deadlands expanding along our southern border, and while the matter is not particularly urgent for us, it is only a matter of time. Your aid in halting its advance is undeniably a boon.”

A great sigh escaped him like wind from the bellows. “And yet, what you ask of me… it is no small matter. My people are not hostages — I will not stop them if they wish to live in your settlement — but in the same vein, neither can I force them to do so. If your city is in truth as you describe it: barren, dark, lifeless, and in ruin, I’m afraid I cannot imagine a single person would be content to move there.”

All right, kind of a bummer, but I couldn’t really fault him on that one. It wasn’t exactly my dream getaway spot either.

“What about the builders though? Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity for them to level up their skills? Maybe study some of the old ruins?” I wasn’t exactly sure how professions worked, but the Elder at least seemed to think we’d have a chance here.

“There is some truth in what you say; however, on that end, you’ve come at a poor time. I’m sorry to say that we have a shortage of builders and architects right now. There’s barely enough to keep the city in good repair.”

A shortage? How did that sort of thing even happen? Couldn’t they just start training more?

Unexpectedly, the up-til-then statuesque Calilah bent over and whispered something into her father’s ear. His face shot up at her words, leaving me wondering what she could have said to have such an effect.

“It is a dark time when a king must ask for aid from outsiders, but perhaps you are right, my daughter. Perhaps this is the hand of fate making itself known.” The king turned to me with purpose in his eyes.

“Very well. As I said, we frankly do not have the builders to spare right now. That is not due to poor planning or happenstance, however — we, as a city, are facing a bit of a problem. If you could help us to fix it, we may be able to help you in turn.”

Yeesh. Here we go again with people thinking I can help them just because I have a swirly mark. Then again, I actually had helped the Elder with his quest. Maybe I could go two for two?

“As you probably know,” he said, unaware that there was at least a 99% chance he was about to say something I did not know, “most important labor is done by those with the appropriate class. If you want to build a house, you hire people with the Architect and Builder classes. Can people without those classes build a house? Of course. In practice, though, they don’t, because leveling up a profession without the proper class takes forever, doesn’t give much experience, and produces lower quality work.”

Huh. I’d kind of figured that most classes were focused on combat. After all, when you played a video game, there was never an option to choose the Farmer class or the Baker class. I guess that made sense though. Not everyone needed to be fighting all the time.

“Considering that you normally can’t get a class until you hit level ten, however, most people come to us, and we assign them one.”

My ears perked up at the man’s words. “Assign them one? You can do that?”

The king nodded. “I suppose it’s no wonder you wouldn’t have heard of the practice. Many larger nations have no such need. Once a settlement reaches a certain level, however, its owner is given a Scepter of Assignation which can accomplish exactly that. From there, it’s a win-win. We can make sure the city has enough people in each profession, and the people get the classes that help them with their work.”

All right. Made sense so far. I still failed to see where the problem was or how I figured into the equation.

“Rather, that would be how things worked if we still had our scepter.”

Oof. And here I was hoping to ask them to use it on me. “How did it end up getting lost?” One had to imagine they’d guard something like that, no?

“The how, we do not know. It was under lock and key in a hidden area, and by all accounts, should have been completely safe. The who, however, we do know. People with unapproved classes have been popping up around the city, and we’ve traced their origin back to the local chapter of the Thieves Guild.”

Oh, wait. Thieves who have classes even though they’re not level 10? I winced. That sounded slightly familiar. Was that how Temrin and his pals had gotten their classes?

“What about the why?” I asked. “I get it’s valuable to you, but are they demanding a ransom, or why’d they nab it?” One imagined you didn’t break into a guarded palace and steal something that important just for kicks.

“It may shock you to hear this, but the crown is not in the habit of giving people classes that work well for people who join the Thieves Guild. You can’t simply go to city hall and say ‘I’d like to be assigned the Pickpocket class, please!’ As long as the city guards catch any criminals before they hit level 10, then, it’s pretty easy to keep things in check, but with it in the wrong hands, the city will end up far less safe.”

All right. I could roll with that. It wasn’t like I was helping the guy screw his people over or anything. “What can I do to help?”

“Bring the scepter back to us. If you can manage that, we can start training new Builders and Architects to help you with your city.”

You have been offered a quest: The Scepter of Assignation

King Antaiu, King of the Antaean Kingdom and ruler of Ftheran city has tasked you with retrieving the Scepter of Assignation and returning it to him. He believes it to be held by the local chapter of the local Thieves Guild.

Requirements:

Acquire and return the Scepter of Assignation

Rewards:

1000xp

Increased reputation with the Antaean Kingdom

Builders and Architects to rebuild the ruins of Emer’Thalis

Simple! All I had to do was magically find something that the king hadn’t been able to locate even with all the resources at his disposal, and then out-thief an entire guild of thieves. I read through the quest details and nearly hit the accept button before wavering.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but sending people to the ruins to help contain the dark god is already in your best interest. Why does it sound like I’m being asked to do something incredibly hard and important, and the reward is just giving me something that benefits you further?”

The words left my mouth before I could stop them, and I hoped I hadn’t just put my foot in my mouth. I was, after all, talking to royalty. Still, though, I was apparently a big enough deal to get a rush meeting with the king. Hopefully I was also a big enough deal that he wouldn’t want to royally screw me over with the quest rewards.

Thankfully, instead of taking offense, he let loose a bellowing laugh. “Of course I would not ask this of you without reasonable recompense. Any mighty kingdom contains rewards of commensurate value.”

A new prompt popped up, identical to the last but with an additional line: One item of choice from the royal treasury. Following it was a separate prompt, perhaps less exciting, but no less welcome.

You have learned a new skill: Trade

Increases skill in all negotiations.

Prerequisites: 15 Charisma

I briefly wondered if I could milk out even better rewards from the king — after all, it sounded like he really needed this scepter and was having no luck retrieving it — but I opted not to. For starters, I’d already pushed my luck, and if I got onto the man’s bad side, it was going to be infinitely harder to build up the ruins.

More than that, though, I wasn’t even all that confident that I’d be completing this quest in any case. I was a Protagonist, true, but it wasn’t like I’d taken any detective skills or something that would let me infiltrate a bunch of thieves. I hadn’t told the king what my level was, so maybe he didn’t know, but I was feeling pretty out of my depth here.

Still, I’d give it a shot. I’d had similar misgivings when the Elder had asked me for his help, but that hadn’t stopped me then, and it wouldn’t stop me now.

Besides, this time around, I actually had a lead.