"I heard a rumor about what lives inside of the main branch of the Adventurers' Guild." Isaac directed the conversation further towards the information Cain had accidentally given him.

"There are many of those." Eris agreed. "I have heard rumors of hydras, fire dragons, devils bound for all of eternity for the sole task of doing paperwork." She laughed at the absurdity of the final rumor that she had mentioned and Isaac couldn't help but smirk as well. "As for the truth? If you know, then you know, if you do not, then you do not. It is not my place to speak on things that are outside of my authority."

"And how much is in your authority?" Lenna questioned.

"Oh ho." Eris said with a smirk and a chuckle. "Fishing for information on your beautiful guide? Usually it is the male doing that." She teased Lenna with a wink. She reoriented in the direction that they were traveling and rounded the last corner before the castle came into view.

The castle could be seen from the outside, to a much lesser degree, but it was noticed as the most likely impact point for whatever had made the crater that the city was built inside. The ground abruptly, over the course of around ten feet, rose well over a dozen feet upwards to the base of a wall that separated the king's residence from the rest of the city. From its central location, the king could command the defenses of the city in an emergency without worry of his location being directly assaulted.

Where the trio had arrived, there was a large iron gate and two royal guards on either side of the incredibly steep stone steps. At the top of the steps, right at the frame of the gate itself, there were two more royal guards. Two more could be seen, with their backs to those two, on the inside of the gate facing inwards. On top of the wall there were royal guards patrolling in irregular patterns who kept constant vigil over the entire surrounding area and each other. Isaac could have sworn that there were as many royal guards guarding the castle as there were guards guarding the entirety of Safeharbor. That most likely wasn't true but there was still a ridiculously large number of them.

"Is His Majesty expecting a siege?" Isaac wondered as they approached the guards at the base of the steps.

Eris maintained eye contact with the guards as they approached but spoke clearly to Isaac and Lenna: "This is common for rulers in the region. A kingdom in turmoil is easily conquered and we have the most secure kingdom, geographically speaking. Our neighbors send assassins at irregular intervals."

"I see." Isaac replied.

Eris nodded towards the guards and stopped at an appropriate distance from them as one took a step into her path. "I bring Lord Darkness and Lady Lenna V'Nova to meet with His Majesty." She explained to the guards and Isaac felt the need to turn his eyes entirely black with death flames as his eyes met the guard's. They returned to normal a moment later but Eris's knuckles had gone white with how tightly her fists had clenched. The guards had shifted slightly but had maintained almost perfect control even though the event was unexpected.

"Understood, my Lady." The guard that had stopped Eris replied. All of the royal guards were wearing full plate armor with heavy protection enchantments and something else that Isaac didn't recognize. "A drop of your blood please." He continued and held out a small iron plate with platinum engravings on it. There was a needle sticking straight up out of the center of it and Eris didn't hesitate as she pressed her thumb onto the needle. She picked her thumb back up off of the needle and squeezed it with her other hand so a drop of her blood could pool and drop off of her finger and onto the plate. A moment after the drop of blood landed, the entire plate began to glow and the guard nodded to Eris. "Thank you, my Lady, you and the guests may pass." He finished and then moved back to his old position.

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"Thank you, Nivvy, we appreciate your diligence." Eris told the guard and then motioned for Isaac and Lenna to follow her as she entered. The guard did not reply but simply nodded in acknowledgement and returned his gaze to the rest of the area around him.

Lenna spared each of the guards that they passed a passing nod. Most did not nod back but simply nodded with their eyes in acknowledgement as they stood sentry. Just inside the gate, there was a large road that seemed to circle the entire compound. There were a few dozen buildings ranging from training grounds to barracks, storehouses, ballrooms, courtrooms, and throne rooms that were all detached from the main mansion in the center. There was a tower that went straight up from the middle of the king's manor a full seven stories into the air so it could overlook the entirety of the city with ease.

Everything was enchanted and conjured stone covered in marble, silver, and red banners adorned with golden tassels. There were sounds of guards training and servants seen bustling about the entire time they were walking towards a building that looked like a throne room had been removed from an older castle and placed down next to the main manor with only a walkway connecting them. It had the general shape of a chapel but instead of religious imagery it was adorned with crowns and flying eagles. There were also guards standing outside of it like they were specifically protecting whatever was inside. Isaac and Lenna felt gazes follow their every move from almost every direction and Isaac knew that there were countless numbers of wards waiting to activate at a moment's notice. Even one wrong move would lead to an immediately violent end at worst and an inescapable capture at best.

"Eris, do all of the nobles come inside of the castle for meetings or do they happen somewhere else?" Isaac wondered.

"They all happen in one or multiple of the nearby buildings, if His Majesty is in attendance that is. They often host their own in the city as there are a few venues capable of accommodating them." Eris explained and then stopped just outside of the building as one of the guards once more stepped into her path.

"My Lady." The guard greeted her.

"Otus." Eris greeted him with a nod. "Are we clear to proceed?"

The guard looked over Isaac and Lenna and then nodded. "All is as it should be." He informed her and took a step back into his previous position. Both he and his partner knocked on the door once and then returned to standing at attention.

"Good." Eris replied. "Please, follow me." She told the duo and then walked towards the closed double doors as if she was going to phase through it. The doors opened in perfect synchronization to allow her to pass and the duo followed behind her. As they did, a look of slight worry passed between them as they realized exactly what kind of paranoid monster they had walked into the mouth of.

Isaac figured, in a world of magic, rulers could not be too careful. There were mages with invisibility spells, mind control spells, spells that tunneled, spells to make them fly, spells to drop meteors, spells to look like someone else, spells to cover large areas in poisons, spells to turn night into day and day into night, for all intents and purposes anyway, so no amount of caution would ever seem like enough.

Inside of the detached throne room, there was a red carpet that led the entire fifty foot distance from the doors to the dais. The carpet was almost as wide as the doors and had gold tassels all around it. There were columns every seven feet, along both sides of the carpet, with a guard standing between each one with their spears planted on the ground and pointed high into the air. There was only ten feet between the columns with the carpet in the middle. It was not a grand throne room but it was a secure one. Security obviously meant more to the royals of Altia than pure opulence though they did enjoy marble and silver to rather extreme degrees.

Eris led Isaac and Lenna up the red carpet until she stopped thirteen feet away from the twin thrones, though only one of them had someone seated in it. That left Isaac and Lenna to stop just past fifteen feet away from the king. The king wore layers of silk dyed red and white that was absolutely covered in golden runic enchantments. His suit was extravagant but comfortable as he rested in his throne with a scepter resting across his lap. On either side of both thrones there was a sword and a shield just in case the royals needed to protect themselves in the event that something prevented their guards from doing so.

The king's emerald green eyes almost shone against his coal black hair and pale white skin. His beard was full but trimmed short to keep him from looking scruffy. He looked younger than any of the dukes or duchesses that the duo had met were. He could have been in his twenties but something about the look in his eyes and his posture spoke of more years than that. The small handful of gray hairs alluded to his true age.

Eris's hair began to shift colors until it was iron gray and her skin got paler. Her clothes rippled downwards and she took a step forward. Her clean commoners dress turned into a dozen layers of pure white and radiant red silks adorned with countless threads of platinum and gold tracing enchantments through it all. Her casual shoes turned into glass heels with red liquid flowing through them. She strode towards the open throne and easily stepped up onto the dais. Not a single soul in the room moved as she turned and took her rightful place at her husband's side. She looked barely twenty but she had an aura of authority that made sure no one questioned her no matter the consequences. Her sky blue eyes locked onto Isaac's. Then, the queen smirked.

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