22. The Fake Elites March To Death

So I got a bit carried away today and the chapter went over 3k words so I decided to split it up into two separate chapters!

So today is a double chapter day!

(1/2)

“The Princess has requested your services, Captain Beldroth.” A royal scribe commanded from Beldroth’s door.

The tiny man looked comical sitting at such a large and imposing desk, surrounded by mountains of paperwork.

“The hell does she want? I'm almost being worked to death over here already!”

“Language, Captain, do not speak about the Princess in such a rude tone.” the royal scribe said in a cold voice.

Beldroth hated these pompous clowns that were exempt from taxes simply because they were willing to sell their souls and loyalty to the crown. Soul contracts existed for better or worse, this little dog's soul is in the hands of the Princess so if she dies he dies.

“I don’t work for the Princess, I am a second-tier captain for the Queen! If she wants my help, tell her to come to me.”

The royal scribe was about to bark again, so Beldroth cast some Aerokinesis to slam the door in his face. He could hear the weasel cursing him from the other side before leaving.

“Doesn’t the Princess know we are low on people?” Beldroth shook his head, trying to hide away from the upcoming headache. His hands opened a side draw and retrieved a silver flask, which he took a swig of. “Darn, old habits are hard to break…” Beldroth muttered as he felt the burn down his throat.

“The Queen already gave the Princess agents to fulfill her missions, so why does she keep bothering me?” the little elf sighed for the hundredth time today “Ever since escaping Silvermoon and entering this political marriage for refuge, the Queen has spent all her resources trying to recover knowledge from the now destroyed clan… I do feel bad that both the Princess and Queen are stuck in their magical studies without the guidance of the scriptures.”

He sighed again and looked at the mountain of papers, he knew he was short and everything looked daunting from his perspective, but this stack of paperwork went up to his head!

Beldroth picked up a piece from the top and read it. “An appeal for higher pay… Do these people not understand that I'm here working for free? What do you mean by higher pay? The Queen gets an allowance of 10 platinum a month for her expenses. She hasn't even bought a single dress or piece of new jewellery because she's busy paying for your booze!”

Beldroth is a distant cousin of Queen Kaylessa, so he is willing to work for free and instead makes money from running a few inns that he purchased in the city a few years ago.

Soon a knocking sound could be heard, “Come in.” Beldroth replied, sighing once again. He found dealing with Princess Emilia incredibly difficult. She was just too adorable and reminded him of his own sister when she was young. So saying no to her requests was almost impossible for him, especially when she called him elder cousin.

“Hi Elder Cousin Beldroth…” the Princess said while entering with a massive smile on her face.

‘Oh no, she opened with my weakness right off the bat, it must be a big favor this time…’ poor Beldroth thought.

“Hi Emilia, how can I help you today, I'm rather busy as you can see…” Beldroth pointed to the massive piles of paperwork and made a strained face. Hopefully, this was enough to convince her to leave him alone.

“I know that Elder Cousin is very hardworking, and I'm so impressed!”

She came over and gave him a bear hug, it was a little humiliating that she towered over him, and he felt like a child, but the hug was full of warmth and melted all his stress away.

“Okay okay, let go of me, I'm not a toy!” Beldroth wiggled out of her embrace and gave her a serious look, “What do you need help with this time.”

Emilia’s childish smile vanished, “Elder Cousin a girl visited me today and claimed that my spy Imyrll is staying at their place because she found a parchment of Luna runes and is too worried about delivering it to me safely.”

Beldroth’s eyes went wide with shock. “Is she telling the truth?”

Emilia shrugged “She passed a lie detector stone, and she knew Imyrlls name and abilities, the girl told me to come with her to pick Imyrll up, but obviously I'm worried it may be a trap…”

“So you want me to go instead of you?” Beldroth asked, totally serious. Although he didn’t answer directly to the Princess, any information regarding Luna runes was his responsibility.

“I have received no word from Imyrll in days so the fact she is staying at their house is possible, the claim of her having Luna runes is a stretch, but it's worth investigating. I would also like to meet the resident of that house personally. My brother took great interest in him a few days ago, and I still don’t have any information.”

“So I have to bring back Imyrll and verify the validity of the runes, and also convince this noble fellow to come with me?”

“I will give you a Royal Decree,” Emilia added to make his life a little easier.

“I will need some troops…” Beldroth said cautiously, although the mansion was just on the city outskirts, knowing that Prince's August is interested in the noble makes this entire operation a lot more dangerous.

Emilia looked deeply troubled for a moment while nervously tapping her foot, “I don’t really have any elites on hand…”

Beldroth wanted to say how insane trying to escort the noble without elites was, but seeing how nervous Emilia was, he decided not to comment.

“How about I take out some trainees for some field experience?” Beldroth finally said after a long awkward silence.

Emilia put on a strained smile, “I could arrange that, I have twenty young elves in training that I could call on… how about I also provide Elaith.”

Beldroth winced a little, “I hate Elaith, he's a complete pervert.”

“I know, trust me I know, but a Psychic mage is very valuable and he can contact me with Telepathy if there's an emergency, I can beg mother to send some of the hidden elites to save you.”

“How will we transport the noble? Carriage?”

Emilia again went deep into thought, but her answer surprised him, “Take my car and the water mage, Walter. Considering how weak the soldiers I'm sending, it's only reasonable that I provide my safest transportation.”

Beldroth was a little shocked. Emilia had been given the car as a gift due to her deep friendship with the person who invented and created them. But to buy one normally would cost more than an entire mansion. It was practically a moving castle, if the doors were locked then only a B tier could deal any damage to its exterior.

“Oh Emilia, I also suggest we dress the recruits up into the elite guard's gear, hopefully, they will intimidate any enemies enough that they will think twice about engaging,” Beldroth mentioned.

Emilia nodded with a strained smile. This was quickly becoming a very expensive operation if it were to fail. She is risking losing her car, twenty sets of enchanted armor, and some promising recruits.

“Sigh… hopefully nothing goes wrong. Sometimes I feel I worry too much, it's only a thirty-minute escort mission. I just wish I had more actual elites on hand, but they are all away on missions at the moment, and I can’t send my hidden guards or Prince August will make a move on me.”

Beldroth grinned and patted Emilia on the back, “It's okay Emilia, you are developing into a fine ruler.” his face then became dark, “that's assuming we can wrestle the throne from that demon August.”

Emilia gave Beldroth a sweet smile, “Father is still in good health, we should have time to gain enough power to seize the throne. But August does have some dangerous and powerful backers.”

They both stood silent for a minute, a solemn atmosphere, as they both felt the impossible task ahead of themselves.

“Alright, I think it's time I got a move on!” Beldroth suddenly exclaimed and pushed his cousin's daughter out of his office.

“Be careful, Elder Cousin…” Emilia said before leaving.

“Don’t worry” Beldroth grinned, “I can always run away if I have to!”