I was content with that response. More than content, in fact, as I watched my princess sashay away, staring at her shapely body and elegant curves the whole time from behind. Chiming as she walked, I could hardly believe it was legal for her to wear so little clothing in public—she was wearing only a thong just behind that sheer drape, for Keeper's sake.
I had lost track of time. I wanted to see more of her. That's all I could think at the moment. However, Snow was trying to get my attention in the background.
"Yo, Dweeb!" His nickname for me. "You really trying to pick up the Golden Rose Knight's Captain?"
"Say what?" I asked.
"That chick you just tried to get at is the Captain of the Golden Roses. Please tell me you know who she is," Snow inquired.
"No idea," I replied nonchalantly.
"Dang, you've really been out of the loop since Captain Asura went O.O.C.," he said, meaning out of commission. Snow shrugged, then continued, "The Golden Rose Knights, or Golden Roses, joined about a year ago and since then have risen to the rank of number 1 Guild in the Valley Kingdom. Their captain was a mage who came out of nowhere, rose to the ranks of Vice Captain in the Snow Lilies, and then started her own Guild to replace the one the Kingdom abolished, called the Gray Cranes. Her name is—"
Snow caught my eye and found me picking my teeth while he was talking. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!?" he snapped, seething steam from his nostrils.
"Look, if I'm gonna learn about her past, I'd rather hear it from her directly than from you. So no, I'm not listening," I said in response to him.
"You fucking asshole!" he snapped in a non-serious manner.
Turning my head, only to face him for a brief moment, I continued, "All I know about her right now is that she's hot and I wanna sleep with her." I half smiled at the end, revealing my shark-like teeth.
Snow's face was now plain. Like three dots had appeared over his head, giving me a look like, "Are you fucking kidding me?" and he said it out loud too.
"You really are the most shallow motherfucker I know, seriously. What do Ophelia or Star see in you?" he complained. "Wait. Is this the secret sauce I've been looking for? My ticket to pull any girl I want? Is Greed's bad vibe attitude what I need in order to—"
At this time, a loud booming voice caught the air and perforated through to our ears, "SNOW! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET OVER HERE!" said a large man, maybe mid to late thirties. Powerful build, and had gray hair that was slicked back. His face had faint wrinkles and had a gray, wispy mustache.
His coat jacket was similar to Snow's, but he had his collar down and wore baggy blue pants and black boots. The jacket was a little too tight on him, given his build, but still eagerly displayed that Silver Sharks logo on the back of it, sewn in.
Man to man, I envied his physique.
"Looks like I gotta get going. The old man's calling! Please tell Ophelia to message me back on social media… Okay, see ya!"
"SNOW!" the large man yelled again.
"I'm coming, you damn tree trunk! Fuckin' Keeper," he yelled back, heading over to him and joining his Captain, Jecht of the Silver Shark Knights, at the throne where they were stationed. Snow flaunted his Silver Sharks logo embroidered on the back of his jacket as he left us.
Aside from Snow, Havoc and I were one of the last ones in the middle of the meeting room.
"So, how do you know Snow?" Havoc asked as we made our way to our podium and throne.
"Oh, that guy? He, Ryo, and I, plus two others, were novice mages together back in the day," I said, reminiscing. "After we passed the Kingdom's Guild Draft and we got selected into different Guilds, we made a pact together that we'd always have each other's backs even when we went our separate ways."
"Ah, it makes sense now," Havoc concluded. "No wonder you guys seem close." He finished as he sensed another mage coming through the other set of doors across the room.
Sirus, the Arcane King's assistant, appeared from the doors in the back and made an announcement, "Captains and Guild members, if you would be so kind as to make your way to your thrones. We will be starting the Kingdom's Guild meeting now."
Sirus then formed a hand sign, and a magic circle appeared from under him.
"Assembly Magic: Supreme Ruler's Throne."
Right then, the back wall where he, Ryo, and others had come from started to disassemble. Blocks of stone were shifting over and under each other, as if forming something new.
The other side of the meeting room, where we entered, was shifting too. But it was only shifting to remove the doors completely. Shutting us in with no way to leave.
When the wall behind Sirus stopped assembling, it formed a tenth throne. This one was grander and more eccentric than the rest of ours. Behind it, there were stone wings that flew out and curved toward us, engulfing the whole wall.
There were now parts of the wall that were missing, and through those missing spots, you could see space itself.
Sirus was not only a user of Assembly magic but also an Elf. And a powerful one at that. I haven't seen him fight, but if he wanted to, he could probably reassemble the whole Wolves Den with a simple spell.
"Now, my fellow Knights, if you would please be so kind as to help me welcome our Royal King, Ezkar."
Standing applause rippled from within the room at this time.
Code clapped and Havoc followed after, while I stood there, hands in my pockets. Code gestured with his eyes to my hands as I glanced at him from my side. Reluctantly, I rolled my eyes and ended up clapping too.
At this time, I glanced around the room to study my peers.
Starting from the door we entered was my princess and her golden boy bodyguard, Lance, representing their Guild—the Golden Rose Knights.
Her second Vice Captain, Love, was on her other side. She had light lavender hair with blonde ombre. Her armor was less than Golden Boy's, revealing her arms, stomach, and thighs. Just like him, she wore a sheer white cape that stopped right at her ankles. With a golden rose logo on the back of her cape, just like the rest of them, embroidered, symbolizing their Guild. She was easy on the eyes as well, but when she caught me looking at them, she formed a nervous look on her face, blushing and looking away afterward.
My half-naked princess, not even paying attention, sat slack in her throne, giving a faint clap for the Royal King.
I looked back to Code and gestured her to him with my eyes in her direction, and in turn, he rolled his eyes at me. Already knowing where my mind was going to be focused on this whole meeting. I gave him back a playful, incredulous gesture afterward.
On the Golden Roses' left was my buddy, Ryo, and the Crimson Dragon Knights. All three of them wore the same red flame poncho with white on the ends. The white ends looked like a cutout of flames throughout the whole bottom of it; each of them with silver armor underneath. And in the back of their cloaks was a white embroidered dragon logo.
His Captain, Ark, stood up from his throne and clapped, eyes seemingly closed. His hair was short and silver, and there was a gnarly scar across his face that could rival Havoc's, except his was over both his eyes, forcing them shut.
The other Vice Captain, Zeke, had long blond hair and looked like he was about to pass out as he clapped too. Reminded me of a certain Ace Member of ours who was currently not present and away on a mission…
And Ryo, obviously, was respectfully clapping in an overly obnoxious way.
They looked like they were in three different stages of enthusiasm, with their Captain in the middle being the balance between the two personalities.
To the left of them were the Snow Lily Knights. A more proper and mysterious Guild, it seemed.
Their Captain, Friera, wasn't able to be present for this meeting, but the 1st Vice Captain, Sylva, filled in on her behalf as her stand-in. She was the only one of the three who had her hood off. She had short, light green hair and pointed ears, and she was noticeably an Elf. She wore black visor shades on her face and carried a bland look underneath them.
The obvious male on her right, Goro, was large and burly. I couldn't see much of him, but his skin seemed gray.
The other, Rin, was also female, but with her blonde hair flowing out of her hood and face hidden just like the male's.
All three of them wore white and silver cloaks with a silver lily embroidered on the back of them. Their gloves, white as they clapped, glittered when they did so.
To the left of them were Snow and the Silver Shark Knights. His sturdy Captain, Jecht, stood between him and the third one of them, Marley, their 1st Executive—a woman with a blue bob cut. Slender and shapely, wearing attire that was slightly different than Snow's and the Captain's.
Sporting the same jacket, but oversized, she wore what looked like a blue bodysuit underneath and had the jacket dropped, hanging to the sides of her shoulders and arms, the Silver Sharks logo harder to see on her. The bodysuit ended tightly on her thighs, and she wore black boots to finish it off. Her earrings were dangling and in the shape of silver sharks. She gave me cool, tomboyish vibes as she blew a bubble from her mouth, chewing her gum. All three of them were clapping casually.
Next, the Purple Panther Knights, who were closest on that side to the Royal King's exaggerated throne. Sporting purple, light blue, and gold-trimmed robes. Their Captain, Tubolt, was a blond bowl-cut-looking man. He looked taken care of and proper as he clapped from his seat to the Royal King.
He wore a single dangling earring on his right that resembled that of an orb and was silver, just like the rest of his jewelry. Every finger had a ring on it, and his nails were painted purple. The Vice Captain, another friend of mine from our novice mage days, was not present. Instead, he had two executives there: Wilren, with curly, dirty blond hair, and Zayden, a normal-looking brown-haired guy. The logo on their back was that of a purple panther with gold outlines, and they clapped nonchalantly to the King. I didn't know any of them personally, but I did know that Tubolt and Asura were rivals back in the day.
On our side, to the right of the Golden Rose Knights, were the Green Owl Knights. This group wore olive hooded ponchos and dressed like hunters. The owl logo on their backs was brown, matching their brown leather paddings from underneath their ponchos.
The Captain, Laylee, was a brunette girl with bright green at the tips of her wavy hair. She looked fairly young and wore a seemingly disinterested look. Her eyes matched the tips of her hair.
Their Vice Captain, another friend of mine with that shared past, was also not present.
The two executives with her wore black masks that were both uniquely painted in white and red, and were both male. The one on her left, Maine, had long black hair that was tied up, and the other, Rowen, was short and dirty blond.
Captain Laylee clapped casually from where she sat along with her subordinates.
We were next to them. As I casually sat down after growing tired of clapping and lounged in the throne with a leg up on one of the armrests, my head turned, and next to us on our right was the final Guild.
This Guild was the Blue Phoenix Knights. Their Captain, Syemore, had long white hair with a braid on the left side of his head. He and his two other Vice Captains were wearing the same attire, royal blue cloaks with thick seams that were gold. Their pants, blue and baggy, were cuffed in gold just above their ankles. Their shoes were black monk shoes. Both of them had medium-length black hair, but one was a few inches taller than the other and had heavy bags under his eyes, like he never got any sleep. His name was Henza, on Syemore's left. The other, Terek, had a rat tail like Havoc, but on his right side, and seemed to have a crazed look about him. There seemed to be something off about that guy as he seemed to carry a wicked smile that he was holding back. The golden phoenix behind them on their cloaks glinted as they clapped for the Royal King.
At this time, the Captain, Syemore, looked right back at me with a faint smile as his glance met mine. It was almost as if he was observing me too…
We both stared at each other for a good moment as he remained seated, and everyone finished clapping for the Royal King.
"What are you looking at me for, you damn creep?" I said under my breath.
Everyone's clapping halted as the Royal King, now in view, raised his hand and signaled us to stop.
He was wearing a thick, red cape with white fur trims. He wore a white button-up underneath with a blue pinstriped vest. The pants matching the vest were tapered at the bottom and fell neatly onto his gold dress shoes. Thick gold and silver rings were worn on each of his fingers, and a gold chain fell effortlessly from one end of his cape to the other. He surprisingly didn't wear any jewelry on his neck, but his crown was as grand as his throne. Gold with an intricate design and gems of each color circled it. He was clean-shaven, and it looked as if the years had been good to him despite his age.
The King was escorted to his grand throne by another mage. Once he was situated, the mage made his way to where Sirus was, occupying the Arcane King's seat in his place.
The King's voice, raspy and light at the same time, didn't carry much weight. You could tell by the way he carried himself that he was born into riches. The man had never been in a real battle his whole life. But nevertheless, everyone listened when he spoke, simply because he was royalty.
With his chest out and voice echoing through the room, he said, "Thank you all, the Eight Guilds of the Valley, for attending this quarter's meeting. It makes my heart happy to see you all here on this very important day. Without further ado… Let the Kingdom's Guild meeting commence."