The girls took my plan surprisingly well with all things considered. I mean, Kua did yell my ear off for such a plan, but after explaining she understood it, mostly.

I think Tyra would be on board with anything I suggested. Which is both good to hear and extremely concerning when I think about it.

Nyllie was given some of my larger clothes and Kua found some that would fit her as well. Out of the 5 rooms in the back, 4 were filled, including mine.

I'm starting to see a pattern here, though I can't put my finger on it. But going back to the present I am currently standing in front of the adventurers guild and I have some people looking at me for some reason which is partially uncomfortable for reasons. I slowly enter and approach Ailla who like usual is sitting behind her desk doing some paperwork, except she isn't being flirted with, so she must be in a good mood.

She notices me and glances up.

"Hey, hero." she teases me

I cough into my fist and close one of my eyes and look at her.

"Hero? Come on now. What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me Dantes, about half the city already knows you saved almost a hundred slaves."

A hundred? Maybe I should've counted, but I didn't check the other ships.

"I simply told the guard where to look, nothing much."

"I heard rumors of some man jumping from the rooftops."

Well....

That's troubling.

"How do these rumors spread so fast if I can ask?"

"Guards like to talk with the people."

"It hasn't been a day though."

She shrugs.

"Word travels fast." she says "And well magical messaging." she added

I should have thought of that.

"Alright..." I scratch my head "Listen, I don't think I can go on that date today. I need to leave the city and I'm on my way to see the king." I tell her

A bit of sadness comes over her face, fuck man, I don't want to see her mope or god forbid, see her cry. But I really can't spare anymore time.

"Yeah, it's alright....I understand." she said quietly "You said you were going to see the king? For what purpose if I can ask?"

"Well....let's just say that I am going to challenge him and accuse him of something."

A blank look appeared on her face. She leaned in, looking concerned.

"Are you..Are you insane? Why would you accuse the king of anything, let alone challenge him? Do you want to kill yourself?" she asked

Now I feel even worse for making her worry about me.

"Um, best way to experience is to come and see I guess, if you can spare the time of course. Listen, I don't want to be late so if you want to come, you know where to find me." I say as I step away from the desk and begin heading off

I wave to Ailla and hear her call out for me, but I ignore her and hurry outside and hop on a horse that wasn't Bob.

I ride past the city center. I can see the palace walls from where I ride. I think it was made out of marble? Or maybe a special type of marble. It has a bunch of towers, I think the king may be conpensating for something, now that I think of it, I've never actually seen him, I've only met the queen, gods, she is unforgettable even now.

As I get closer I see the gate to enter the palace grounds, it takes up quite a bit of space when you really look at it. The palace has a few beautiful gardens as well in the front, now the behind of the palace goes for many many miles, it's like fifty or something golf fields. Surprisingly there isn't much there, not much to my knowledge. A few gazeboos I think.

Finally I reach the gates and spot the girls with their wagon waiting for me. I wave at them and get close. I attach the horse I'm on the wagon and get off.

"Hope I wasn't long." I say

"It's hot..." Nyllie complains

Tyra just lays in the wagon looking at the sky.

"Took your time, mentor..."Kua says

Alright, they aren't exactly pleased with my poor timing, but that can be fixed. I head to the guard and greet him.

"Business?" he asks

"I'd wish to have an audience with the king."

"Was this date scheduled?"

"Naturally." I lied as I breathed

The guard nods, he isn't paid enough I see. He opens the gates and I hop back onto the wagon.

"Wha..? That easy?" Kua asks

"Yeah, don't question it, we need the luck."

Kua nods in silence as we ride in. The gardens are as pretty as I remember, it has flowers from the old world, but also some I've never seen before, not that I was the biggest expert of flowers, I just liked roses to be honest.

It's quiet as well, and the girls were right, now I feel it as well, its hot. It hasn't been this hot in a few weeks, perhaps even a month. Soon enough we reach the steps of the palace and to my surprise I see the Queen.

That beautiful dark skinned woman came to see me? Or was it by chance. She descended the steps and approached with her servants behind her. I get off the wagon and bow to her.

"Queen Serafina" I say

"No need to bow, Dantes." she places a finger on my shoulder

I stand straight up and look her in the eyes. Dark brown they were, her face had a devilish smile as well.

"What brings you here?" she asks me

"I seek audience with your husband."

At the mention of the word husband her mouth wrinkles, a sign of distaste about him I guess, but a moment later her smile returns. She nods.

"Please follow me, and you may bring your companions as well." she said

"Thank you, my queen."

She smiles once more and departs into the palace, I watch her as she goes, damn that man is lucky to have someone like that by his side. I chuckle to myself, then glance back to see the three girls on the cart looking a little...angry I suppose. Weird.

"Come on, let's go." I tell them and head on inside as they followed

The palace itself has a pseudo gothic look to it, but even on the inside everything is white as hell. Without stopping for much we reach the main chamber where I see the....oh god....is...that....the....king?

Upon the throne sits one fat ugly looking motherfucker, and on the other throne sits the beauty of a queen. I look back to my group who are also a bit disturbed by the fact the king looks like that.

"Stay back from his eyes." I tell the three

I walk forward and call out to the king.

"Great King of Locas! I humbly thank you for giving me an audience with you."

"What is it that you wish to see me for? I am a busy man." he replies

Well, not busy enough. I clear my throat and grin.

"Oh, King. I have to take you off your throne after discovering that you, the one who preached peace not only bought slaves, but also allowed our home to be a traveling ground for slavers and smugglers. What say you?"

The room fell silent, Serafina had her eyes wide looking at me, I glanced back to see Kua with her jaw dropped, Nyllie confused at my approach and Tyra just staring. I did change plans......a little.

"And so! I challange you, by your nations law to a duel to settle such an accusation." I add

Well, not bad Dantes old boy. Maybe polish up your charisma a little and you might be the next great politican in this world.

The King stood from his throne and lifted his hand.

"Execute this man." he said, to be expected

A dozen soldiers rushed in and surrounded me with pikes, I glance back to my group and wave them off hopefully reassuring them.

The king's advisor speaks up suddenly.

"Your majesty, he enacted the law, refusing is.."

"Do you want to be executed as well?" the king asks the advisor

He's charming, see I've never been a petty man, but there are certain things that would force me to take a more aggressive approach on certain things. I did have a friend back in the old world and he told me the story of a time he fucked his friend's wife because his friend didn't like a certain thing.

Can you imagine that? Being that petty to fuck someone's wife?

"There are three things I hate, Lies by peasants, this seat and strawberries." the king says

Alright, I'm going to fuck his wife.

"My king, if you do not wish to duel, send your strongest mage and I shall duel them in front of you and the people to prove my point!" I shout

The king glances at me, he rubs his chin, clearly tempted, now he just needs to take the bait. He raises his hand and the guards ease up on me.

"You have a deal, peasant." he says

Perfection.

"Before nightfall there shall be a battle in the arena, until then you shall stay in the dungeon." he says, walking off from his throne, he says something to his wife that I can't catch

She stands as well and approached me, she looks worried. I do seem to make people worry quite a bit, I guess I have some bad habits.

She waves off the guards and comes close to me.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

"That is the second time I've been asked that, and still, no, I'm not. I need you to trust me."

"I will speak with you in your cell....say your goodbyes to your group before you go.."

"Right, I'll be back in a minute."

I back away from her and return to my group. Kua rushes to me and jumps at me, ah she wants to hug me..nope, she just slapped me. Nyllie just looks worried.

"I believe in you." Tyra says

Thank you, at least someone has common sense.

"Have some faith, please." I say

"Are you crazy mentor? Whoever the king sends will kill you even if you are that summoned hero!" well, she's angry, I don't like to make Kua angry

"You're the summoned hero?" Nyllie asks a little shocked

"Um, questions for later please."

I pat Kua's head and she calls down a little.

"Don't worry about me." I tell her

I move to Tyra, she simply nods, but I still pat her on the head, I can even see her blush a little.

Now I stand in front of Nyllie.

"it..would be a shame...if you..died so soon..." she said

"So you don't hate me then?" I ask chuckling

Before she can speak I pat her on the head.

"I'm not dying anytime soon."

She simply nods.

I head back to the Queen and nod.

"I'm ready, but could you give them any room to rest by chance?"

She nods then motions for me to follow. She led me through the palace and it did quite surprise me how far we had to go down to reach the dungeon, but eventually we reached a decently sized cell, before I could step in Serafina grabbed my arm and pulled me close to her, placing my arm between her breasts.

I glance at her, she rests her head on my shoulder and speaks softly.

"It did surprise me that you figured out what my husband was doing."

"I had a nice tip that led me to the docks."

"Was there anything else besides what you mentioned?"

"No, just slaves and weapons."

"That is relieving, but now I can tell you this Dantes. You can help me overthrow him if you win this battle and there might be another thing that you can receive if you help." she says

"Well, to be honest once again, I was going to overthrow him and make you the queen, but I see that you have the same idea, and that other thing, well, we can talk about that a little later."

She nods and leans in and kisses my cheek.

"I hope you win, for your sake."

I nod and step into the cell, she closes the cell door and locks it. We stare at each other for a brief minute before she leaves.

Well, guess I didn't expect a coup from her, it is a pleasant surprise. I sit on the floor and lean against the wall and close my eyes.

Nice kiss.

I awake to a rattling sound and glance up.

"It's time." a guard says

I stand up and dust myself off, the crowd is waiting for me, I can already hear the cheers! Or..that might two rats banging a few cells down. I shiver at the thought.

The guard opens the cage door and leads me back up, but at one point we diverge from the way I came down. Now it really gets me thinking, I don't remember an arena being built here a few months ago.

Suppose there were already plans? Do they have gladiators? Am I going to have my Gladiator moment?! Now I'm excited, but that begs the question. Who will I face? I could probably use that infinity arrow I launched five months ago. We'll see.

I start hearing a crowd now and the guard takes me to one of the arena entrances, I did not pay attention at how we got here.

"Do you want to head in with a weapon?" he asks

"Nah, I'm fine." I tell him

He looks at me with surprise.

"You're crazier than I thought." he said

I shrug. He tells me to wait here until the gate is opened. Soon the guy would leave and I guess there isn't a better time than the present.

I do a few little strecthes, crack some bones, roll my wrists and shoulders. Get that adrenaline flowing, maybe this'll be fun as well.

The gate creaked and it began to descend, the light shone in forcing me to cover my eyes. Once it was down I made my way out, then it became clearer. I whistle at the sight. It's big, almost the entire city is here if I were to guess. Can't for the life of me spot the girls right now, I do see the king and queen, special seats and all that.

I took a few steps forward, the crowd isn't cheering anymore. Why aren't they cheering? Oh wait, they think I'm absolutely crazy...

Yeah I should have taken that into much more consideration. Yikes, Ailla must think she came to see an execution.

The other gate opened and three hooded dudes came out. They stood in a triangle and began to cast something, I think they're casting. Oh, yeah, yup, they're casting.

Small blue sky beam and everything. Oh they summoned a giant, that's nice, wait is that a giant? Or a golem? But still, damn that thing is tall. Taller than the arena itself, not wider though, luckily.

I think I'm about half the size of its toe. And I can see the three mages leave. The crowd sounds terrified if I'm being honest.

I summon my bow making the tone of the crowd change. I look at the center of the arena. Right, that should be good. I snap my finger and a decent sized portal opens a few thousand feet above the arena, yeah, I can just about see it up there.

Infinity arrow it is, has a nice ring to it.

I walk forward and so does the golem and soon enough we reach the center. I look up at it and it brings down its fist onto my position.

I swiftly dodge and latch an arrow and pull the string back, but don't fire. Need to build up a little more power. The golem continues to attack me by slamming at the ground. I can hear the crowd cheering me on to survive I suppose.

This goes on for about another minute before I let the arrow loose.

It cuts right through the golems arms and foot making him fall to the center. I hop back, unsummon my bow and snap my fingers again.

From the ground up a giant flash of light errupts vaporizing most of the golems body. I look up to see the light reach the portal and snap my fingers again and it disappears.

Worked like a charm. Arrow portals are so good.

I wipe my nose and look around. The crowd is as you'd expect pretty shocked, I can hear a faint clap. I think it's Tyra.

Oh, yeah. I should do it. I cough into my fist to clear my throat

"Are you not entertained!" I shout as best I can

It takes a minute but they begin to cheer, I look over to the two royals and well, the ugly bastard is absolutely shocked and so is the queen. The King begins to shout a few things I can't really hear and from the other gate about six mages and they stand in their triangles again.

"Hey! Are you sure you want to do that?!" I shout towards them

I don't think they're listening, oh great....

They summoned two more of those things, place is starting to get a cramped. I summon my bow quickly and latch two arrows and pull the string back. I hop back to my entrance and wait.

The two new golems charge, well, not much charge, more of take two large steps in slow motion to get to me. By the time their feet crosses the center I let my arrows loose.

They fly through the air crashing through both golems skulls. Their heads straight up explode. One begins to fall forward and the other to side to the people...oh shit..

I latch four arrows and quickly fire them at the falling corpse. The arrows destroy the corpse as it falls, turning most of it to dust. Hope they don't inhale that stuff...

I hop on the corpse of the one that fell forward and once again clear my throat.

"People of Locas! I have come this day to this palace for the very purpose of justice! With the discovery that the king himself dabbled in slave trade and illegal weapon smuggling! He broke the promises he told you and now wishes to corrupt the innocence of Locas!" I yell

Guess watching all those movies and shows paid off, the crowd begins to anger, seems I'm pretty convincing. As I look over to see the jolly king's reaction I see him already being detained? By the Queen? So she wasn't kidding.

They take the guy as he yells injustice, treason and stuff. I scan the crowd for a few minutes before I spot my group. Well, safe to say Kua and Nyllie have their jaws dropped and Tyra is still clapping quietly. I wonder where Ailla is.

Well I suppose standing here won't progress the plot any further. I make my way back to my entrance and speed walk back to the main hall, kind of want to see the fat bastard's face as he gets thrown in a cell.

As I re-enter the main hall I sadly don't catch the fugly man, but there is a rushing crowd of people coming at me. They're screaming questions and praises and I try to put all concerns at ease, then the queen speaks up.

"Order!" her voice, a little more powerful than before echoes over the yelling of the people and they quiet down real quick

"Today we have witnessed a trial. The King of Locas has been accused and has been found guilty. I urge you all to return to your homes and celebrate today as justice has been delivered. Dantes, I wish to speak you." she finishes

The crowds do move past me, I get a few pats on the shoulder and a good job here and there, it feels nice. I mean praise always feels nice, though I suppose it depends on the context of the praise.

I don't see my girls, guessing they got swept up with the crowd, they should be in soon, I think. I look to the throne where the queen sits, I suppose she's expecting me.

I head closer to the throne and I see a wry smile on her face, oh she looks more pleased than I thought.

"Dantes you...certainly did not dissapoint." she says

"I never do." I reply with a chuckle "So, you're the only ruler now. What happens next?" I add

"Considering you finished my plan about two years early we shall celebrate with the people, but first I did promise you with a reward, follow me." she stands from her throne and motions for me to come

I have a hint of what it is, but I'm still very curious and so I follow. We head up one of the many towers which gives me the realization, that many of the people here have some great leg strength, but soon enough we arrive at her bedroom. Oh so this is going to be sex. Nice...

She closes the door behind me, I glance back to look at her, she has an interesting look in her eye.

"I promised a reward, but I also need assistance from you once more, but answer me a question. Are you the hero that was summoned? The one from the rumors?"

"Yeah, that's me." admitting it is much more easier than lying about it at this point

Her mouth curls into a wide smile which does unnerve me a little. She walks from the door to me and hugs my arm.

"Now may I ask for your help, hero?"

"O-Of course?" I surprisingly stumble with my words

"You see, my husband was more eager about other women than myself, hence the slaves, not that I would have let him have me, but one thing was needed and he could never provide it. Do you know what that is?"

"Um...A loving relationship?"

"Almost had it." she chuckles

She leans in to whisper in my ear.

"An heir."

Oh...OOHH, I see now. I glance over to with one eye.

"And you want me to, give you an heir?"

"Smart boy."

"Wouldn't that be you know, bad that I am the father?"

"Technically you wouldn't be the father, my next husband would be. As heroic and strong as you are, you'd have no political standing in the world, not even after you saved it. And that means the child would have half the standing."

"I see...."

I seem to have fallen into a trap of sorts.

"So, hero, shall you assist this Queen once more?"

Well, well, well Dantes. Thinking with your dick got you into this situation, suppose using with it further will get you out of it. Won't mention this to anyone else...

"And, this stays between us?" I ask

"Yes of course."

"Then I suppose I feel obligated to aid you."

You can guess what happened next.