Godsforsaken

Chapter 7: Royal Summons

Somewhere along the way we may have given up on keeping the sheets clean. After almost a week of not having any fun we'd all been a little pent up and after a while we'd run out of towels to spread over the bed... No, that's not quite true. After a while we had simply stopped caring. I was certain it was going to make great gossip material for mom and her sister wives but I found it hard to regret any of what we'd done that night. If anything, mom, Michelle and Amelia were going to see that my women were in good hands.

After finally finding myself some partners I truly cared about mom insisted we come visit her more regularly and we promised her that we would. Martin told me he was going to find a tanner for me and would send me the furs as soon as they were finished. He also told Yume that he would keep a look out for the kind of sword she'd described to him but that he couldn't make any promises.

The most mortifying part happened during breakfast, where Michelle handed out cups of tea to my women and only after Selene had taken the first sip did they realize that Michelle had brewed them up some maiden's tea because apparently she'd heard us after all.

After some long goodbyes Alisha used her Homeward miracle to transport us back to the capital and after that the next few weeks passed by in a blur.

A lot of time was spent on finding a bigger home for the four of us but it turned out that the housing situation in the capital was even more horrendous than it had been when I'd first moved there and that just about anything big enough was either impossible to afford or in an awful location, like one place that had been right next to a fishmonger. We'd spent five minutes inspecting the place and even just those five minutes had made me think I'd have to burn my clothes to get the stench out of them again.

We also kept looking for a sword for Yume and I kept practicing my sewing until I could finally make her a kimono that didn't look to me as if a blind amateur with two left hands had sewed it.

Another thing we practiced was our Qi techniques. Yume had taught me Qi Healing, though it was not a particularly spectacular trick, while Selene had managed to master the Qi Burst to Yume's satisfaction, though she was still struggling with Qi Projection. Yume seemed satisfied with Alisha's progress but since I knew so little about magic I couldn't tell what she'd learned in that time.

After about two weeks a box from Aphrodite's Orchard arrived and it held six properly tanned tainted barghest furs and a letter from Martin telling us that he still hadn't found the kind of sword Yume had been looking for.

Along the way we also slew another Dark Lord, but it was about as routine as saving a region from certain destruction could be. Well, besides the part where we befriended a lupine demigod. But that, as they say, is a story for another day.

When fate came calling it caught us entirely by surprise.

We'd been out looking for yet another apartment and found yet another overpriced dump and when we came back to the Plucked Cockatrice a royal herald was waiting impatiently in front of the building, tapping his expensive shoes against the cobblestones. I made to walk past him, assuming it had nothing to do with me, when the man asked:

“Do you happen to be Felix Tailor, the Godsforsaken?”

I paused and looked at the man. The royal heralds were all lesser nobles trying to work their way up by working at the court, but a lesser noble was still a noble. “Yes, my lord, that would be me," I said. “Can I help you?”

He relaxed, clearly happy that he was finally done waiting around. “Your presence is requested at the royal palace tomorrow at noon," he said. “The queen wishes an audience with you.”

Oh fuck. I didn't think I'd screwed up with my tithe or something, but what other interest would the queen take in me? “May I ask what it's about?" I asked.

He shrugged. “You're not in trouble, if that's what you're asking," he said and I relaxed. “I am not entirely certain what the audience is for, but I believe you are being called on in your professional capacity.”

Huh.

“Is the invitation only to me?” I asked.

“No, you are to bring those you work with," he said and nodded at my women.

“In that case I thank you for taking the time to deliver this message to us," I said. I would have tipped him but he was a noble who probably considered any amount of money I could tip him with an insult.

“And here I thought you were an insolent wretch," he said.

“You shouldn't believe everything the gods tell you," I told him, smirking.

He snorted and walked off.

**

One did not simply ignore a royal summons. If it didn't start as an execution it might well turn into one if you ignored it.

Even more, I respected the royal family. I had an issue with the gods, but not with the queen.

And honestly, I was curious what the queen would want with someone like me. If she had summoned us as mercenaries then it was almost certain she wanted to either hire us or command us to work for her, the latter of which might actually be better if the conditions were right.

When we were back in our room, my girls asked me to explain a bit about the royal family to them. Yume was from another realm, Alisha was a Wood Elf who had precious little contact with the human authorities despite bowing to them and Selene had been from a small village and the only noble she'd had to deal with for most of her life had been the count who ruled her little village.

So I explained.

The capital was built around the royal palace, which in turn was built in such a way that it wrapped around the two giant intertwined crystal growths that made up the Crystal Crown. Of course, the palace had started off small enough that it sat entirely between the bases of the two growths but over time it had expanded until it now wrapped around both of the growths.

Some, like me, believed that the Crystal Crown, the giant crystal helix visible from most of the kingdom, was the manifestation of an impossibly old dungeon and part of the reason why I believed that was because private ownership of a dungeon would go a long way towards explaining how the royal family had gotten as powerful as it was. Dungeons were chock-full of rare materials, oftentimes even materials that were unique to dungeons or even unique to that one specific dungeon, and by leaving items within the dungeon's ambiance they could accumulate enchantments. All of this would explain why the royal family could get away with the pathetically low taxes citizens of the capital had to pay and also why the royal guards all wore such amazing gear, with even the weakest members wielding high tier magic weapons.

And then there was the Trismegistian royal family itself. Rumor had it that they were all incredibly powerful mages and if their family line had truly been living on top of a dungeon for centuries that would certainly be the case, as the mana flowing from a dungeon would, over time, nudge a family's affinity for magic. Like Lord Isaac of Shackled Hollow, whose family had developed an affinity for space magic after living atop a dungeon for over a century.

The current ruler of the kingdom was Queen Emilia Flora Trismegistus, still a gorgeous woman even now, in her mid-fifties. There had apparently been a bit of a scandal when she had married a stable hand instead of any of the heirs of the great noble families, but the biggest advantage of being a crown princess was that she hadn't needed to answer to anyone but her parents and since said stable hand had once saved her life her parents had been honor-bound to give him their daughter's hand in marriage. Of course, that story might just be so much bullshit. If Queen Emilia was as powerful as the rumors suggested then it was unlikely a simple stable hand had saved her life and it was more likely that it had happened the other way around.

Either way, King Luke was as just a ruler as his wife, but as he'd only married into the royal family as a commoner it still fell to her to do most of the actual ruling. Of course, some claimed Queen Emilia had married a commoner specifically so her husband wouldn't take her power away from her but they seemed happy enough that it was possible that their marriage hadn't been arranged.

Queen Emilia and King Luke had seven children, four sons and three daughters. The next in line to the throne was First Princess Mariabella, followed by First Prince Marcus, though I frankly didn't care about their affairs enough to know the names of the other princes and princesses.

**

We spent an inordinate amount of time getting cleaned up in the bathhouse to prepare for the audience and then considered for quite a while how to dress. In the end I decided that we had been called as mercenaries and so it would be most professional to arrive in our actual combat gear rather than in fancy dress.

And so, the next day, an hour before noon, we arrived at the royal palace. A surprisingly helpful attendant confirmed that we did indeed have an audience and would we mind waiting in the antechamber until we were called in.

The palace was a work of art. White marble floors polished to a mirror sheen, marble columns lining the corridors, stained glass windows that lit the white rooms up with a kaleidoscope of colors, and despite all that the rooms still felt a little understated compared to the opulence of some of the temples dotted around the capital. I wondered idly whether the palace had been deliberately designed to look less pompous than those temples or whether the temples had been deliberately designed to look more impressive than the palace. Either way it showed a certain rivalry between the gods and the throne.

After a somewhat harrowing wait in the antechamber's very comfortable chairs, the same herald who had handed us the invitation stepped through the gate leading to the throne room and led out a very relieved-looking man in clothes that were fancy for a peasant. When the herald saw us he nodded and told us to enter.

We walked through the doors, my girls right behind me, and then the herald raised a trumpet to his lips, blew it once and then said, in a loud, clear voice that echoed across the throne room: “Announcing the mercenary Felix Tailor, also known as the Godsforsaken, and his comrades.”

The throne room itself looked very similar to the ones I'd been used to from my work slaying Dark Lords, a rectangular room with a high ceiling and a glass dome that let in the light, except on a much larger scale. Also, instead of the marble pillars of the rest of the palace, this room had rows and rows of enormous swords, either made of glass or crystal. They were clear and almost colorless except for a red stain at the center of each one that reminded me of blood. It should have looked gruesome but the way the red stains reflected through the rest of the material made them look almost a gentle pink if you didn't look too closely.

We walked through the throne room, neither hurried nor dawdling, and finally reached the queen's throne, where we dropped to our knees.

To be honest, showing deference like this felt bizarre. I had been in a great many throne rooms over the last years and every single time had ended with me or my comrades killing whoever had sat on the throne when we'd arrived. But this was no Dark Lord. It was the queen, the one authority figure whom I unreservedly respected.

It also helped that the queen was a gorgeous woman, tall, with long blond hair tied in a bun with a small braid running around it and curly bangs hanging down to her shoulders. She had kindly features but a stern gaze, which was an impressive combination, and despite seven children she still had a great body that was accentuated by the white and red dress she wore. Although only an idiot would have allowed their gaze to show how attractive a woman she was while standing in front of her.

I would have asked her what she wanted us to do but the one rule the attendant had drilled into us was that one did not address the queen until she first addressed you. So I knelt and waited. To my relief she did not make us wait long.

“Felix Tailor," Queen Emilia said. Her voice was everything a queen's voice should be. Strong, clear, deep and yet still decidedly feminine. “I am glad to see that you heeded my summons.”

Now that she had addressed me I was free to reply, so I nodded my head and said: “We are honored to receive your invitation, your majesty.”

Her eyebrows rose a little and she said: “First of all, please stand up and be at ease.” We all got up and she continued: “Now, before we get to my reason for calling you here, I am a bit confused by you, Felix Tailor.”

“Confused, your majesty?" I asked.

“Yes," she said. “The gods speak of you, you know? They call you impertinent, subversive and insolent.”

I allowed myself a bit of a smile. Yes, the gods hated me. And they also couldn't shut up about me. I had spent more time talking to the gods than some saints had.

“And yet," Queen Emilia continued, “when my records clerks compiled all their information about you they found something entirely different. You do not make trouble for my guards, the only complaints leveled against you come from clerics upset about your alleged lack of manners, and you pay your taxes like clockwork. In fact, you pay us so much that I am left wondering whether your work pays exceedingly well or whether you overpay us.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “This strikes me as incongruous behavior. Would you be willing to shed some light on it for me?”

I nodded. “Of course, your majesty. It is quite simple, really. You are not a goddess.”

The corners of her lips quirked up into a small smile. “Some would call me a goddess," she said with a hint of amusement.

I nodded. “I respect you too much to call you a goddess, your majesty," I said. “Gods demand worship and obedience and then half the time they do not give their worshipers what they asked for. Think of all the wasted sacrifices to Demeter, all the gifts given to her so that she would bestow a good harvest and that were then rewarded by droughts and loss of crops. But you, your majesty? You give us laws that we need to follow, but then you also give us privileges in exchange for our obedience. You do more for the people than any god or goddess I have ever heard of. I also pay far lower taxes here than I did back when I lived in the countryside. Of all the edicts you have passed since I moved here half of them were irrelevant to me and the other half I have benefited from greatly. From my point of view, your rule is nothing but benevolent. So of course I am a model citizen of your kingdom. I would be insane not to be.” I was laying it on a bit thick but I did mostly mean what I had said. Compared to most gods the queen was as benevolent as a ruler could be.

She seemed to consider that for a moment, then nodded. “Very well, that is explanation enough," she said. “The next thing I am interested in would be your companions.” She looked past me at my women. “I have been informed that you had been joined by a priestess of Brigid and a former Chosen One of Freya, but your third companion is unknown to me. If the three of you would care to introduce yourselves to me?”

I looked back at them and nodded and Alisha began: “Your majesty, my name is Alisha Silvermoon, firstborn daughter of Ruaidhrí Silvermoon, current chief of the Silvermoon tribe of Wood Elves, as well as a priestess of the Goddess Brigid, as you mentioned.”

Queen Emilia nodded and then looked over to Selene, who flinched, but quickly recovered.

“Your majesty," Selene said, voice a little shaky. “My name is Selene Herder, former Chosen One of Freya and now..." she paused and considered before finally saying: “Paladin of Freya. Kind of.”

The corners of the queen's lips twitched upward before her gaze fell on Yume and she asked: “You are from the southern realm, aren't you?”

Yume nodded. “Yes, your majesty," she said. “My name is Yume. I am a kitsune of the Tenno's realm to the south. I was enslaved and brought to this realm. I was given to the god Ares, who then gave me to his Chosen One. Felix freed me and now I am working together with him and his.”

The queen frowned as she heard about Yume's enslavement, but then her expression changed into a smile. “I have heard of your kind before but I have never had occasion to meet one of you," she said. “Please rest assured that this kingdom condemns what the god Ares did to you, though I fear that is of little consolation to you.”

“I still thank you for your compassion, your majesty," Yume said.

The queen seemed to be considering us for a while before she said: “Now, as for why I called you here. I wish to hire you and your comrades to perform a task for me.” I winced a little and she asked: “Is something the matter?”

I considered my words very carefully before I replied: “While it would be a great honor to work for you, your majesty, I fear that hiring us might make your position with the gods precarious.”

She frowned and for the first time since we entered I felt nervous. “Are you saying you do not wish to work for me?" she asked, though thankfully she did not appear to be angry.

“I do wish to work for you, your majesty," I assured her before I continued: “But, as you have said yourself, the gods hate me. Not all of them, but enough. If you hire us, it might reflect poorly on you.” She leaned her head to the side, curious. “I know that a large part of your power comes from the fact that the Olympians, the Aesir and the Tuatha Dé Danann all approve of your rule. If you hire us, it might upset them.”

“What do you think they would do, Felix Tailor?" she asked, curious.

“They cannot act openly against you, your majesty," I said, “but in the worst case they might incite a civil war between you and the clergy if they become too upset with you. Thus, if us not accepting your request makes this less likely to happen then I would rather decline your request than risk jeopardizing your rule.”

She stroked her chin as she considered me. “You have put quite a bit of thought into this, haven't you?" she asked.

“Yes, your majesty," I said. “I have thought long and hard about how badly the gods can inconvenience this kingdom if they so chose. A civil war beginning with the clergy is just about the worst I can imagine them doing. Well, the worst so long as they still keep up the pretense of non-involvement.” The gods claimed they weren't free to act, which was the reason they gave for why they didn't always listen to prayers. I didn't believe a word of it but the advantage of this pretense was that they couldn't involve themselves in mortal affairs without admitting that they could have answered all those prayers they'd ignored. “And once such a civil war began, they could then, for example, make sure that good harvests only came to those who sided with them over you, to slowly bleed you dry of followers.”

She bit her lip. “Interesting," she said. “You have a lot of interesting ideas and I must admit you have given me food for thought, but you also have it all wrong.” I blinked. “You see, Felix Tailor, it is true that, as the queen, I have to walk a tightrope to keep all of the gods from being upset with me, but you misunderstand the scope of the issue. Let us say that I need to hire a group of specialists for a certain task and I choose a group that prays to the Aesir. Then the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Olympians would be upset because I was," she air-quoted, “'playing favorites'. So, in the future I would then be forced to hire worshipers of those two pantheons in order to appease them. This leads to me sometimes having to hire people for political reasons rather than because I believe them to be the best for the task.” She looked at me. “However, the task I have in mind for you is too important to play these games with. I need a competent team I can trust to take care of my problem, not a group chosen to appease some gods or other. And yes, the gods hate you, but in this situation that is actually one of your group's best qualities. If I upset all the gods, none of them can claim that I am favoring other gods over them. And even so, if I look at you all objectively, I see a priestess of Brigid, a paladin of Freya, a man whom the goddess Athena seems obsessed with and an honored specialist from the southern realm, so if any of the gods press me on it I can claim that I assembled a task force that represents four different pantheons.” I just barely managed to suppress a snort. I did think Athena was slightly obsessed with me but I hadn't known that rumors about it had reached the queen's ears. Or, gods above, maybe she'd actually talked to Athena and the bitch hadn't shut up about me. “Now, knowing that me hiring you would not be detrimental to my standing with the gods, are you still reluctant to accept my request?”

I shook my head. “If it is not to your disadvantage to hire us then we would be honored to work for you, your majesty," I said.

She nodded. “Wonderful," she said. “Now, to your task. I will explain to you what it is that I want and then you may decide whether to accept or decline. However, no matter what you choose, I will require your discretion. This is information that must not leave this palace.”

“Of course, your majesty," I said. “We have our pride as mercenaries and would never disclose a client's information.”

She nodded again. “Good," she said. “Now then. You may have heard rumors over the years that the Crystal Crown is the manifestation of an impossibly old dungeon hidden underneath the capital. Today I tell you that these rumors are entirely true.” My eyes widened. I had believed this for years, but I had never imagined to have it confirmed by a member of the royal family. “My family have stood as the dungeon's custodians for centuries. It has made us rich and powerful beyond measure. However, there is something wrong with the dungeon.” I frowned and she continued: “A few days ago we found the men guarding the dungeon entrance slaughtered and ever since then there has been a feeling of wrongness to the dungeon, a certain rot. We have stood watch over the dungeon for so long that we can feel it in the back of our heads and right now it feels like a toothache or a mosquito bite. It is possible to ignore it but once I focus on it it becomes nearly unbearable. I want those intruders and whatever they are doing out of my dungeon. It will be your task to find out who these intruders are. If it is within your capabilities to deal with the intruders, then do so. Otherwise, I want you to report on the situation so that I can send the royal guard to deal with the problem.”

“So you want us to dive into the dungeon until we have caught up to the intruders and then either come back alive to report or take them out?" I summarized. “Is that all, your majesty?”

“Almost," she said. “On this task you will be accompanied by my daughter, the Third Princess.”

I couldn't suppress a wince in time. “Is it wise to send a princess into the dungeon, your majesty?" I asked and the queen chuckled.

“Felix Tailor, we have stood watch over this dungeon for centuries. All children of our bloodline are required to train within the dungeon, both on their own and in groups. Thus, all members of the royal family are experienced dungeon divers. The Third Princess in particular is a competent adventurer and dungeon diver. If you are worried about her slowing you down, don't be. In addition... Felix Tailor, tell me, do you and yours have any experience dungeon diving?”

“I have some experience with it, your majesty," I said. “As for my companions?” I looked back and Alisha and Selene were shaking their heads.

Yume instead said: “I have been in two dungeons before, but I would not call myself experienced with them.”

The queen nodded. “Very well," she said, then asked: “Felix Tailor, can you explain the concept of dungeon malice to your companions?”

I nodded. “Yes, your majesty," I said, then turned my head sideways so I could speak to my women without turning wholly away from the queen. “The thing about dungeons is that they're aware. I wouldn't really call them alive, but they are aware of us. And they hate us. They hate the intruders who step into them. It's not just that the dungeons are full of powerful monsters but the dungeons themselves are actively working against us. It's usually quite subtle, like a misaligned stone making you trip at the worst moment or a group of enemies noticing you a little earlier than they should have which results in you having to fight two groups of enemies at once, but the longer the intruders stay within the dungeon the worse it gets until they either leave or die.” Then I turned back to the queen. “Was that about right, your majesty?”

She nodded. “Fairly," she said. “Now, here is the piece of information that absolutely must not leave this room.” The scribe who had stood off to the side made a point of putting his quill away to demonstrate just how serious discretion was right now. “If you share this with anyone, there will be consequences," she threatened and we all nodded. She took a deep breath, then said: “My family is immune to the Crystal Crown's malice. If you have a member of the royal family with you, dungeon malice cannot affect you, but the dungeon malice will still slow the intruders down, so having the princess along with you will make it much easier to catch up to them.” My eyes widened. “So you see, even if my daughter were helpless, taking her along would still be beneficial to you.”

I considered. “I understand, your majesty," I said, “but as you know, in a dungeon each member of a group must trust the others and we do not know the princess.”

The queen nodded. “That is correct," she said. “And that is why I propose something else. The Third Princess has to leave on a diplomatic mission this afternoon. You are free to wait until she returns before you head into the dungeon with her, but I could also send you along with her, in lieu of a guard detail. It would take two to three days and would give her the chance to get to know you before you all need to trust each other with your lives. Of course, since this would be additional work, you would be compensated for it.”

I bit my lip. “Your majesty is aware that my companions aren't ladies in waiting, right?" I asked very carefully.

The queen chuckled. “That is good, because my daughter hates being waited on," she said, then sobered and covered her mouth with her hand as though she'd let something slip she shouldn't have. “Does that alleviate your concerns, Felix Tailor?”

“It does. But if I may ask, what kind of compensation did you have in mind, your majesty?" I asked.

She nodded. “As you are about to go on a lengthy dungeon dive I would gift you a bag of holding filled with supplies for dungeon diving, such as healing salves and a teleport crystal that allows you to escape the dungeon in an emergency," she said and my eyes widened. “So, are you willing to take this quest and get me my dungeon back?”

I was about to nod but instead I turned back to my women, my gaze asking for their opinions.

“Absolutely," Selene said.

“Of course," Yume said.

“We can help, so we should help," Alisha said.

I smiled at them and turned around: “Your majesty, we humbly accept the quest you have given us, including the guard duty.”

For the first time the queen allowed a full smile to come over her lips. She actually looked much more attractive this way. “Very well, in that case I propose we discuss payment and then I summon for my daughter so you can get to know each other.”

I nodded and waited for her to continue.

“First, the part I will not negotiate about," she said. “You are free to keep anything you obtain within the dungeon. Treasure, materials from the monsters you slay, items from the dungeon environment, everything. However, there are a few special projects you must not touch. My daughter knows what I am talking about.”

My mouth opened in a tiny 'o' of excitement. “You are farming enchantments, aren't you, your majesty?”

She smiled. “Among other things, yes.”

“Farming enchantments?" Alisha asked and the queen nodded for me to explain.

“Items left in dungeons accumulate enchantments the same way they do in a Dark Lord's treasure hoard," I explained. “You could, for example, leave a barrel full of swords in a dungeon, wait for a few weeks and come back to find them all carrying minor enchantments. You could then hand those swords to an enchanter who could then extract and recombine the enchantments. Three minor enchantments make a basic enchantment and three basic enchantments make a major enchantment. So if that barrel had nine swords each with a minor durability enchantment they could be extracted and then recombined into a single major durability enchantment. Do the same for sharpness and armor piercing and you would soon have a bunch of major enchantments. You then take three of these major enchantments and apply them to a sword a master blacksmith crafted and suddenly you have a high tier magic item. Then you take the barrel of swords back to the dungeon to let them accumulate more enchantments. Normally the issue is that someone might find your barrel full of swords and just take them but if you own a dungeon and can control who goes in and out you can conceivably farm enchantments with it.”

Alisha's eyes filled with understanding and the queen nodded.

“I am glad you understand," she said.

“Of course, your majesty," I said. “We will leave all these projects in peace.”

“Then you are free to loot anything else you find. Now, about the rest of your payment," she said, clearly waiting for me to continue, but I waited. “You are a mercenary," she finally said. “You are used to bartering, yes?”

“I am, your majesty," I said, “but...”

She smiled. “I have to negotiate terms with nobles on a daily basis, Felix Tailor," she said. “I will not be offended by your haggling, so go ahead.”

“Very well, your majesty," I said, then suggested: “Two hundred thousand mun.”

She bit her lip. “A hundred and fifty thousand," she replied.

That was much better than I expected but I tried to push her, just to see if she had been telling the truth. “A hundred and fifty thousand or magical items from your own treasury up to that value," I countered and she smiled.

“Acceptable," she said. “Is that all?”

I considered and finally came up with an idea. “As I see it, your majesty, there are degrees of success to your quest. Dealing with the intruders ourselves would be more valuable than just reporting on them, wouldn't you agree?”

She nodded.

“So in the event we manage to deal with the intruders ourselves I wish for an open favor, redeemable at any time for anything," I said.

She shook her head. “While I am open to owing you a favor, I cannot give you an open favor the way you are describing it," she said. “There are things I simply cannot give you. I cannot start a war for you. I cannot abdicate and hand you the throne and I will not break allegiance with any gods for you.”

“None of these were what I had in mind, your majesty," I said.

“Then I can give you a favor provided it does not involve any of the things I just mentioned," she said. “Is that good enough?”

“Yes, your majesty," I said.

“Very well then, these terms are acceptable to me," she said. “But keep in mind that all of this hinges on you bringing my daughter back unharmed. If anything happens to her, take your dungeon loot and be glad I won't execute you.”

“Understood, your majesty," I said.

She nodded and then turned towards her herald and said: “Summon the Third Princess, if you would.”

“Yes, your majesty," he said and hurried out of the room.

It only took a few minutes before he entered again and blew into his trumpet before saying: “Announcing the Third Princess, Annabella Zafira Trismegistus.”

As soon as he had made his announcement a young woman in a golden dress walked into the throne room.

The dress was distracting but beyond it I could see that the princess was fairly cute. She was around Selene's age and had curly brown hair shorter than mine, maybe two inches long, that framed a pretty face with round cheeks and a cute button nose. What truly drew my attention, however, was her dress.

As I was raised by two tailors I knew a little bit about dresses and hers told me more about the wearer than she was likely comfortable sharing. It was made of a regal golden cloth that I knew was exactly as expensive as it looked, though contrary to popular belief it was not actually made from spun gold. The dress was tight around her waist, which made it pretty clear that the tailor who had made it had considered the woman's waist one of her best features and she certainly looked fit. Beneath her waist the dress expanded, clearly assisted by a wire to give it volume, and went down all the way to her ankles, which meant that someone, probably the tailor, hadn't wanted people to see her legs. There were many explanations for that but given how tight the dress was in her waist I assumed that, if anything, her thighs weren't too thick but rather too fit and toned for a noblewoman.

Most interesting were the rows of frills over the chest, which I knew were a way to camouflage a woman's lack of bust. The frills stood out and gave the impression of volume where there wasn't any volume to be found. In fact, from the way the dress was cut I was fairly certain the woman had no breasts to speak of. Now, as I said to Alisha before, I didn't have a problem with that at all but it did make me wonder whether the woman had been vain enough to insist on the frills or whether the tailor had added them against her wishes.

What cinched it, however, was how absolutely uncomfortable the woman looked in the dress, a perfect mirror to how Selene had looked when the priestess of Freya of her hometown had crammed her into a dress.

It made me wonder whether the woman before us was truly a princess or maybe an impostor, a commoner pretending to be a princess. My suspicion was not immediately alleviated when the woman addressed the queen with:

“Your majesty.”

The queen nodded. “Third Princess," Queen Emilia said, “these are the adventurers I hired. They have agreed to be your guard detail in Calice and your companions during your dive into the dungeon.”

The princess nodded. “I understand, your majesty," she said, then turned to us and gave us the most awkward curtsy I'd ever seen from a noblewoman. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, brave heroes.”

“A pleasure, your highness," I said as I bowed.

“I assume you wish to discuss your plans with them, Third Princess?" Queen Emilia asked.

“Yes, your majesty," the princess replied. “If there is nothing else, I suggest you follow me to my chambers?" she said, turning from the queen to us.

“Of course, Third Princess," Queen Emilia said. “Go forth with my blessing.”

“Thank you, your majesty," the princess said.

“Dismissed," the queen said and the scribe packed up his things as the princess turned to leave. “Annabella?" Queen Emilia asked and the princess turned back around.

“Yes, mother?" she asked.

“I have taken the liberty of passing your satchel through the castle's duplicator," the queen said and the princess' eyes widened. “So please feel free to use whatever you need to see your mission through.”

“Thank you, mother," she said and then the queen stood up from her throne and walked past us and rested her hand against her daughter's cheek.

“Good luck, my daughter," the queen said.

“Thank you, mother," the princess replied.