Chapter 93: Princess of Nothing

“Sorry I’m not much of a tour guide, I don’t really know this city much better than you guys.” Aegis explained as he walked through the streets of Kordas with his small entourage. Following behind him was Priestess Clara, Yuki, Josephine, Erikson and Elric, and Aegis was spending the entire time keeping an eye out for Lina.

“It’s okay, the buildings look different than Arallia but the signs out front are mostly the same.” Erikson replied.

“It also seems really friendly and peaceful here. None of the players have tried stealing from any of the refugees yet.” Josephine replied. “It’s refreshing to play somewhere without a bunch of big ego players.”

“Heh, that’s what Quinn said about Arallia, filled with big ego players.” Aegis replied.

“Why did you decide to play here? From the stuff you pulled, I figured you would fit in better in the more popular islands such as Lanusk or Savringard.” Erikson asked.

“Oh…” Aegis tried to recall why he picked Kalmoore. “A friend from school said to play here, it’s where most people in my school are playing, so…” Aegis shrugged.

“You are in school?” Yuki asked with concern in her voice suddenly. “How old are you?” She asked quickly, but realized after she’d asked how abrupt it was. “I mean, sorry, just curious.” She added.

“No problem, I actually finished school as of about a week ago. Going to university in the fall. I’m turning 19 in a month.” Aegis replied.

“Oh, okay.” Yuki let out a sigh of relief. “I-I’m 22.” She added.

“You guys are making me feel old.” Erikson sighed.

“You are old.” Josephine teased him.

“Yyou even have some gray hairs already.” Elric said as he pointed at Erikson's head.

“Hey I don’t wanna hear that from you.” Erikson ruffled Elric’s hair. The group of them made it outside of the Kordas city gates on the west end to see the sea of tents that’d been erected around the main roads and farmlands outside the walls. Aegis could see quite a few low level players talking to the Arallian NPCs and then gathering in groups on the road.

“The Arallians are giving a lot of quests for wolf leather, do you guys know where to get a bunch?”

“Yeah there’s a den in the northern forest, you guys want to group up and gather some together?”

“Yeah I’ll come, I can use my creature harvesting for everyone, it’s pretty high level.”

“Okay sweet lets go!” The players concluded their conversation as Aegis and the others watched them head off as a group of 5.

“Wow, you’d never see something like that happen in Arallia.” Josephine commented with her eyes wide.

“It really is friendly here.” Yuki smiled.

“That’s probably the command tent.” Aegis pointed out the largest tent in the area, nearly twice the size as the others, and headed towards it. It wasn’t just players helping the Arallian refugees, but Kordas guards and NPCs were patrolling around and helping out as well. When Aegis arrived at the large tent, he saw a familiar NPC standing guard out front, [Celestian - Level 30].

The moment that Priestess Clara saw him, she ran towards him and he her, and they threw their arms around each other.

“Oh Celestian, I was so worried. I’m so happy you are okay.”

“I was worried to death, I didn’t see you on the Airship!” Celestian replied as the players watched the two NPCs hold each other tight for a few moments.

“Ahem.” Aegis cleared his throat after he’d felt it had gone on long enough. “We’re here to speak with Princess Savika. Is she in this tent?” Aegis asked, and Celestian and Clara released each other.

“Yes, she’s inside, she’s been hoping to speak with both of you.” Celestian motioned to Aegis and Yuki before pulling the tent flap open so that they could enter. Aegis gave a respectful nod before walking in, the others following behind him.

The inside of the tent was open and spacious. Despite its size it was relatively empty, save for a bed and a single shelf with folded clothing on it, and a small table with a plate of food that was being cleaned up by an Arallian servant NPC. Laying on the bed, above the covers with her face buried in the pillow was Princess Savika.

“Savika?” Yuki called out, causing her to look up and lock eyes with Yuki. The moment she did, her eyes filled with tears and Yuki’s heart broke, she ran forward to hold Savika as she started wailing into her shoulder. Aegis couldn’t really comprehend that this was an AI NPC, she was conveying such powerful emotions, just as a human would if they’d lost as much as Savika had. He was feeling himself getting emotional too, and when he looked over at Erikson and Josephine and Elric, he could see they were tearing up as well.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now.” Yuki said.

“I miss my papa, I miss everyone. It’s all gone, it’s not fair.” Savika cried out into Yuki’s shoulder.

“I know, I know, but it’s okay now.” Yuki gently stroked her hair to try and comfort her. “A lot of people are safe now, because you were so brave. And Yumily and the others are all on their way to come visit us, okay?” Yuki tried to cheer her up.

“O-okay…” she tried to calm herself down. “B-but what should I do now? What am I supposed to do? I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know this place. I don’t know anything.” She began to panic, crying between her words.

“Don’t worry about that right now.” Yuki replied. Aegis stayed quiet and waited for her to cry out her tears for a few minutes until she quieted down thanks to Yuki gently holding her and rocking her in her arms as they sat together on the bed, and in this time Celestian and Clara had stepped inside the tent behind him.

“How much do you know about ruling?” Aegis asked, causing Savika to look up at him.

“It’s you, you are the one who saved everyone.” Savika said with watery eyes.

“Did you learn much from being the daughter of the King?” Aegis rephrased his question as politely as he could.

“Uhm. Y-yes, father taught me many things, he always said I would rule the people of Arallia some day.” She nodded back at Aegis, trying to act tough.

“Good. It was really brave of you to make that decision back in Arallia, if you hadn’t, no one would’ve survived.” Aegis said and she smiled weakly. “I own land here, in Kalmoore. It’s not much, it's basically a big empty field with a few buildings and a handful of residents. I’m not much of a ruler, I have my own goals in this world and plan on being out adventuring, often. I could use some people to look after my land while I’m gone. A Princess,” Aegis pointed at Savika, “Her Royal Guard Captain,” Aegis pointed at Celestian, “A Great Prophet of Eirene,” Aegis pointed at Priestess Clara, “A Famous Craftswoman,” Aegis pointed at Yuki, "and some reliable players hanging around to keep things safe. Whatever you guys want to do, I dunno.” Aegis motioned to Elric, Josephine and Erikson. It went quiet for a moment, Aegis could see all the players and NPCs anxiously looking around at each other, surprised by Aegis’ suggestions.

“I, me? The new Great Prophet? Surely someone else is more suitable, perhaps the high priest of Kordas?” Clara replied anxiously.

“We’ll find out, won’t we? I’m going to rebuild the Monastery of the Stars. I’d like you to pray to Eirene once it’s done, and let Eirene decide.” Aegis said confidently while crossing his arms looking at her.

“W-what about my duties, in Orm?” Clara replied.

“Eh, what about ‘em? I thought you’d be excited, you know. If you’re a Priestess in Rene, and Celestian is the Royal Guard Captain for the Princess, that’d mean you guys could live together.” Aegis suggested. “But hey, it’s up to you, if you really want to stay in Orm...” He shrugged noncommittally.

“I’ll come! I will pray to Eirene!” Clara replied with determination.

“I’m not sure I am strong enough to be a Royal Guard, or if the Princess trusts me with that duty.” Celestian added nervously, looking to Savika.

“I trust you… you protected me to the very end. I trust you the most out of any guard. I would be really happy if you would be my Royal Guard Captain.” The Princess insisted.

“Don’t worry, we’ll train you up so you’re nice and tough.” Aegis patted him on the shoulder. “Any problems with you guys?” Aegis looked at the players in the tent.

“Nope.” Yuki smiled. While Erikson and Josephine looked to each other as if having a silent conversation, before turning to him.

“Well, we were thinking…” Josephine started.

“We talked about what he’d do after the White Flames, and we both agreed that it’d be fun to run a tavern.” Erikson said.

“Good, perfect. Tavernkeepers, I’ll need those. I think. I honestly don’t know what I’m doing, so you guys are now all members of the Council of Rene.” Aegis clapped his hands together, letting out a sigh of relief. “I’ll make it official later, there's a few more council members back in Rene you’ll need to meet. They don’t know they’re council members yet though…” Aegis trailed off in thought. “Eh, it’ll be fine.” He waved it off. There was an aura of excitement in the tent as they all started exchanging looks with one another, Elric included.

“Like I said, the land is basically a big field of grass, so it’s going to be a lot of work building it up. I don’t want any lazy slackers, I’ll need you all focused.” Aegis said as softly as he could, focusing his gaze on Savika.

“Of course, I am a hard worker.” Savika replied with adorable determination.

“Great, then I have your first task, for all of you. I want to get back to Rene and build the Monastery for Clara quickly, so tell your people that anyone that wants to come is welcome. I’ll give them each a plot of land based on their family size, it’ll be tax free but in return they’ll have to work for free with me on construction projects. Or something like that, I don’t know, we’ll sort out the minor details with my Merchant Lead.” Aegis said to the group.

“Really?” Savika asked with wide eyes of excitement.

“Yeah, sure, why not? Is that weird?”

“How many people are allowed to come?” Savika asked enthusiastically.

“I dunno, as many as you can gather? I can’t imagine a lot of people will like the idea of working for free…” Aegis thought out loud.

“I think you’re underestimating the value NPCs put on free housing.” Erikson whispered to him worriedly.

“Eh, it’ll be fine. The more free workers, the better. I got plenty of farmable land, you council guys will figure it out.” Aegis brushed it off. “Celestian, specifically look out for Arallian guards you trust, we’ll need more protectors if the population goes up too high. I’m not looking to spend all my playtime in this game resolving squabbles.” Aegis ordered him and Celestian gave a salute.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Nope, nope. We’re not doing that ‘my lord’ stuff.” Aegis wagged his finger at him.

“Oh, sorry sir.” Celestian replied embarrassed.

“Just, Aegis.” Aegis sighed.

“Okay, Aegis.” Celestian bowed, gave a quick smile to Clara, then headed out of the tent. Once he was gone, everyone stared around at Aegis with excited expressions for a moment before he clapped his hands loudly.

“C’mon, chop chop, hustle, I want to be back in Rene as soon as possible. Yuki, Erikson, stay with the Princess just to be safe.” He rushed them and they all jumped into action, herded out of the tent by his waving arms. Once they’d left and spread out around the tents, Aegis stepped out of the tent himself and opened his friends interface, giving Amlie, Ruffily and Chax a heads up, but Ruffily woofed back and let him know she was watching his stream and they already knew what to expect. As he heard the voices of his new council members calling out and organizing the refugees, he made his way to the main western road leading towards Orm, and stretched his arms out to the sun.

Without having much to do, he felt himself just looking around at the tents nearby patiently until he spotted a familiar face approaching from the campsite.

“Hi.” Lina waved nervously as she approached without looking Aegis in the eyes.

“Hey.” Aegis replied, suddenly remembering their kiss from the last time they'd seen each other. “So, did you uh, how was your quest, was it okay?” Aegis asked awkwardly.

“Yup. I finished it quickly.” Lina replied.

“Thanks, for what you did. That was you, right?” Aegis said, not wanting to be specific just in case.

“Mhm.” Lina nodded again.

“I still didn’t finish my quest.” Aegis sighed. “But I guess the others haven’t either.

“Nope… Intermediates are hard though, and take a while.” Lina shrugged. “I checked in on them… I think everyone is also second guessing what class they want.”

“Really? Why?” Aegis asked her.

“You.” She smiled. “We all saw the notification. Then I think they saw the quest you were doing and figured out what you were up to.” She added.

“Do they know you checked in on them?” Aegis raised an eyebrow, he couldn’t imagine Pyri would've invited something like that.

“N-not really.” Lina awkwardly kicked a rock on the road. “I had some extra time waiting for you to come back, s-so.” She replied. Suddenly she jerked her head upwards in panic, then knelt down into a ball and flung her cloak upwards to cast a large shadow around herself. “Shadowstep.” She whispered, disappearing from Aegis as he heard a loud stomp behind him. Aegis turned to see that Herilon had jumped from atop the walls of Kordas and landed there, smirking with his arms crossed.

“The easiest way to find a Shadow Dancer is to figure out where they’re going.” He said as he stuck one of his fingers in his ears to clean it out, staring at Aegis expectantly. “We can’t go showing favoritism when it comes to keeping the peace, y’know.” He returned to crossing his arms. Aegis knew there was no point lying, Herilon wasn’t an idiot. The two spent a few seconds glaring at each other on the road outside of Kordas, Aegis tense. He could sense that Lina was watching nearby, but they both knew that Herilon would wipe the floor with them even if they tried their darndest to fight him.

“Eh, whatever, I’m too tired, and Shadow Dancers are a pain in the ass to catch without light magic.” Herilon suddenly went lax, uncrossing his arms. “Let your friend know that the Kordas guards will arrest her if she comes back here though, unless she pays the fine. Punishment for killing players isn’t nearly as bad as NPCs, but we gotta uphold justice.” He turned and started walking back into the city. Once he was gone, Aegis let out a sigh of relief, but looking around him he couldn’t see Lina anymore. He’d imagined she’d stay hidden for the next little while thanks to that exchange.

The commotion in the tents picked up a great deal over the next hour, and it wasn’t long after that before Aegis saw a large group of NPCs being led by Celestian, Yuki, and Princess Savika as they made their way to the road where Aegis was standing. Behind them he could see wagons being pulled by horses and other familiar beasts loaded with goods. Many of the tents had been packed up and loaded onto these wagons, and the NPCs were all carrying large bags and backpacks.

“So, how many do you think we got?” Aegis asked curiously as he looked at them all, seeing a crowd much larger than he’d been expecting.

“Well, out of the 2000 Arallians that made it through the portal, about 1000 are in these camps out here.” Yuki explained.

“And out of those 1000, around 800 of them would like to stay with the me and leave the city. The rest are afraid of what living away from a Capital city would be like, given that they lived in Arallia their whole lives.” Princess Savika explained.

“800?” Aegis asked in disbelief. He imagined Quinn smirking at him evilly in the clouds above. “And they’re all ready to work?” Aegis confirmed apprehensively.

“Yup.” Savika smiled.

“I’ve found a suitable number of guards, in total nearly 50, that would like to continue to protect the people of Arallia. They are included in that number.” Celestian said proudly.

“Right, right.” Aegis looked over the crowd once more, this time much more worriedly. “Alright, sure. Come on, let’s go.” He motioned them forward as he started off down the road west, making his journey back towards Orm. The Princess and her people began to follow him while Yuki ran up to walk beside him.

“Is it too much?” She asked worriedly.

“Pfft. I don’t know.” Aegis shrugged. “I’m dumping all the work onto you council folks.” He added with an awkward smirk, causing Yuki to laugh.

“Me and the Princess will handle it.” Yuki gave a reassuring smile. Once they walked a bit further away from the city and beyond the farm fields that surrounded it, Aegis spotted Lina near a tree lining the road, and when she locked eyes with Aegis and spotted Yuki, she quickly hopped out to walk beside them.

“Oh, hello?” Yuki asked, confused as she saw her approaching and looking at them.

“This is Lina, she’s my party member, and in-game wife.” Aegis introduced her with a wave of his hand.

“Hi.” She smiled and waved at Yuki.

“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Yuki! I’m a tailor from Arallia.” Yuki bowed politely as they shook hands.

“I know, I have been watching. Nice to meet you.” Lina smiled with a light bow back, after which moving to walk on the other side of Aegis. They then both went completely silent and Aegis couldn’t help but feel tense. He wasn’t sure why, but the silence of the two of them on either side of him began to feel really awkward, really quickly. It made the long walk back to Rene feel even longer.