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Audience and change
🕑 Added 2022-09-10 09:03:32 +0000 UTCSeth didn’t even get to enter Iris’s office properly when she said: “The king has granted you an audience.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Replied Seth with a smirk before sitting down on a chair in front of her desk. “And you’re coming with me.”
“Me?” asked Iris with a raised eyebrow, knowing full well she was not mentioned in the letter she received.
“Yeah. I need you to confirm a few things as well as be there when he agrees to create the new class. When is the audience?”
“At noon today. Are you sure he’ll agree?” asked Iris, doubt obvious in her eyes.
“Pretty much. If my initial plan doesn’t work out, I’ll keep throwing offers at him until he agrees.”
Iris sighed and nodded. “We’ll leave the academy an hour before noon. I’ll wait for you here. Don’t be late.” She then looked at his clothes and added: “Wear something proper for meeting the king.”
Seth nodded and went to waste his time in his office cultivating until the meeting time. With his students still on break, there was not much for him to do anyway. An hour before noon, he changed into proper noble clothing before walking to Iris’s office.
The two made their way toward the entrance to the royal palace at a slow pace. Walking the halls of the palace, Iris looked at Seth’s indifferent expression and asked: “Have you been here before?”
“Maybe.”, replied Seth with a smile
Iris frowned but didn’t ask anything else, getting the feeling she wouldn’t like his answer. They stopped and sat down on a bench in front of the throne room as they waited for someone to invite them in.
At exactly noon, a court officer came and invited them to step inside.
When they stepped inside the throne room, as they were walking towards the throne stairs, another officer called out loudly.
“Ascended Iris Golden and Ascended Seth seek an audience with his royal majesty, King Lian Crovan Oath.”
Seth knew it was just the introductory procedure, so he continued walking forward. When they reached the base of the stairs, both he and Iris bowed slightly, as was their right as ascended. Even nobles had to kneel when seeking an audience, but not the ascended.
King Lian was laying lazily on his throne, with one hand supporting his head, and passed his eyes by Iris briefly before fixing them on Seth.
“Ascended Seth. For what reason have you requested this audience?” asked the king, his tone obviously unfriendly.
Seth didn’t mind it as he lifted his head when spoken to and said: “I would like to offer the kingdom information on all the enemy spies if the king will do me a small favor.”
The king frowned and most nobles waiting on the stairs to the throne looked at one another with intrigue.
“Your offer is tempting indeed, without even knowing what favor you ask for, but how do I know if what you’re telling is the truth?”
Seth fixed his eyes on one noble on the stairs with a smile before saying: “Why won’t we have Earl Jasper help us with that?”
Most of the nobles looked confused, but the king just looked to the earl and asked: “How would Earl Jasper do that?”
Seth smiled at the already sweating earl before saying: “Well, as long as we search the hidden office behind a bookshelf on the second floor of his mansion, I’m sure it will be very helpful in convincing Your Majesty.”
The earl’s eyes widened in horror as he immediately fell to his knees.
“Your majesty, please, I had no choice. They have my….” Before he could finish, one knight, at the king’s mark, hit him on the back of the neck, making him fall unconscious instantly.
“Carry him to the dungeon and interrogate him. Do the same with his entire family. Also, check that office that Ascended Seth mentioned.” Said the king in an indifferent tone.
“Yes, sir.” responded the knight before dragging the passed-out earl out of the throne room.
Turning towards the smiling Seth, the king nodded and said: “I’ll take it you have more spies to expose. What do you want?”
“I want permission to construct my building in the academy where ascended can continue studying under me if they so choose. I also want them to be exempt from having to take part in the war.” Replied Seth with a serious look.
The king frowned at his request and thought for a moment before asking: “How many spies are in my court?”
Smiling, Seth shook his head: “I will only reveal that information after your majesty agrees to my small request. I can assure you there are a few more if that helps.”
The king clenched one of his fists in silence for a good minute before nodding: “Fine, but in case of enemy invasion, your class will also have to mobilize. That is non-negotiable.”
“I agree.” Replied Seth, not too worried about that.
The king turned towards Iris and said: “You heard my words, Iris. Give him what he wants.”
“Yes, your majesty.” Responded Iris with a bow.
“I’ll have a complete list sent to your majesty later today. For now, take these two into custody.” Said Seth before pointing towards a viscount and another earl present there.
The two didn’t even bother to kneel and started swearing it was not the truth, but two more knights dragged them out of the room.
“Alright. My daughter also told me you said she had a destruction affinity...”
“Indeed, your majesty. She is free to join my class if your majesty so desires.”, replied Seth, actually interrupting the king without care.
The king nodded with a frown and excused Iris and Seth out of the throne room.
On the way back to the academy, Iris looked at him and asked: “How did you know?”
“There’s little I don’t know.” Replied Seth with a smile, his goal already accomplished.
Iris frowned and said: “You can keep your secrets from me, but now that you blackmailed the king, he will for sure not let you go so easily.”
“Iris, I only did it like this because I promised someone I care about that I will not turn against you. Trust me when I say; I’m not even scared of that king and even his entire armies. You would do well to remember that.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Iris as she stopped with a frown, but Seth just shook his head and continued walking forward, leaving Iris behind with a puzzled face.
After arriving back at the academy, Seth went to his room and created a list of over 200 spies inside the kingdom, from nobles to peasants, and gave it to the caretaker of the dormitory without an explanation.
This was his way of telling the king, ‘I know a lot more than you think.’ He also added the date when he’ll resume teaching so that Henrietta would know when to come to the academy.
Being done with this troublesome task, he returned to his room and spent another night with Maya.
In the morning of the next day, a royal decree came from the palace, giving Seth permission to build his building in an empty slot of the academy, as well as an order exempting the students in his class from the need to go to war.
Seth knew this was just a piece of paper if the king wanted it to be, but for now, it was enough. The king will also not break his own decree lightly and risk people’s unrest.
Seth saved the two decrees in his storage space and went to look for an artisan to build him his classroom. He spent the next few days supervising the construction of his new building. The entire building only had a classroom, a small storage space, and a large practice room. He also made another visit to Necro’s storage to get some more gold for the project.
After the new marble building was built, Seth spent one more day preparing the furniture inside.
It was midnight and Seth was admiring his work while Maya was sitting at one desk with a bored face. Seeing him stop creating more stuff, she perked up and asked: “Are you done? Can we go back to the dormitory?”
“Not really. I’ll have to make the books now.”, said Seth before heading for the storage space.
Maya deflated like a balloon and followed him. Once they were inside the storage room, Maya looked at the large space and asked: “What do you need so much space for? You’re not planning on filling it with books now, are you?”
Seth chuckled and dropped all crates he had left with mixed energy vials from his storage space, making Maya’s jaw drop to the floor. He then did the same with the girls’ weapons and many unique books.
“Where did you get all these vials?”
“I stole them. From Necros.”, replied Seth as he ignored Maya’s astonishment and started creating more books on all energy types.
Maya looked at the books with blue covers and, since she had nothing to do, started browsing through them.
In the morning, Seth got a notification that his students have arrived and were waiting at the door. Looking at Maya and seeing that she was completely immersed in her book while laying on the floor, he just went to open the door and let the girls in.
At the door, there were Leora, Rebecca, Alexandra, Lisa, Caitlin, and a fresh addition from today on, Henrietta.
Seth told the girls to look around the place before explaining her affinities to Henrietta. As she was listening with interest, the storage room door opened and Maya walked out holding a book in her hand.
“Seth, do you mind if I….” She was about to say something when her eyes landed on Henrietta and she dropped the book in her hand: “Your majesty.”
The girls were also in class, and all turned to look at Henrietta with interest. Since she was usually inside the palace, not even the other noble girls knew much about her.
Henrietta smiled wryly and nodded toward Maya. “Good to see you, Maya.”
“You? Him? Student… how?” incoherent words kept escaping Maya’s words as she stared at the second princess and Seth.
Maya was the one who trained Henrietta when she was little since Iris was too lazy to do it, so the two knew each other well.
“Yes, I’m Seth’s new student. What are you doing here, Maya?”
Maya’s face kept changing for a few seconds before turning towards Seth and saying: “You knew. That’s why you didn’t tell me.”
Seth nodded with a chuckle before saying: “Of course, I knew. Now, aren’t you going to head to class? Or do you want to skip today as well?”
Maya was startled, having completely forgotten about class as she walked past Seth, giving him a kiss before bolting away.
Henrietta blushed at the public display of affection and asked: “Are you and Maya…?”
“In a relationship? Yes.”, replied Seth before ignoring the downcast look on her face and continuing his lecture.
Henrietta eventually decided on space, creation, destruction, and lust, to Seth’s complete surprise. He could understand the first three, but he couldn’t make sense of why she would pick lust as well.
“You know you will need to have sex with a lot of men to progress fast with the lust source, don’t you?”
Henrietta blushed and lowered her head before asking: “What if I only have sex with one?”
Seth looked at her expression and finally understood why her downcast look disappeared once he started explaining his lust source.
“Your progress will be too slow if you only have sex with me. I suggest you reconsider.”
Seth could see how even the tips of her ears turned red with her head lowered before she nodded softly. “I’ll take time energy then.”.
She knew Seth has seen right through her thoughts, but she was also happy that he didn’t push her away.
“Alright. The books are marked in the storage room and you can start studying as soon as you want to. I’ll give you each a key and you can come whenever you want to read, but remember, no book must leave this building.”
Henrietta nodded again before sitting up and bolting inside the storage room. She also closed the door behind her, too ashamed to even look into his eyes.
