Chapter 708 - Reality and Game
Chapter 708 - Reality and Game
Chapter 708 Reality and Game
The royal palace was quite well-guarded. Elite, heavily-armored soldiers and the Mages hired by the royal family were on patrol.
Most nobles and diplomats who attended the ceremony were thoroughly examined. Only a few of them, including Roland and Schuck, managed to go through without being stopped.
When Roland got off the carriage in the courtyard of the royal palace, he saw that a lot of people had already gathered. Those people were all dressed in glamorous clothes.
Then they all looked at him.
They had to, because Roland was too eye-catching at this moment.
Roland himself was almost blinded by his magic robe that was flashing in different colors, not to mention others.
However, nobody found his clothes amusing.
They all looked at him enviously.
The more light pollution an item caused in this world, the fancier it would be. The light pollution of magic was the greatest fanciness.
Roland sighed.
But very soon, he found a bro who was as wretched as himself.
It was Schuck... who stood not far away in a cool long robe that was emitting golden light. There was also a pair of vague wings of light on his back.
He was also causing light pollution that could’ve blinded others.
The two of them looked at each other and both smiled helplessly.
Neither Roland nor Schuck was fond of such pompous attire.
But there was nothing they could do except follow the etiquette of their respective organizations. Also, they had to wear as much eye-catching clothes as possible on such occasions to demonstrate their abilities.
A lot of heavily-armored soldiers surrounded the court, which had a lot of guests that were divided into two areas. Those on the east side were nobles, big shots in the capital, members of the royal family, and the local lords and generals.
Those on the west side were from other forces, such as Roland who represented the Association of Mages and Schuck who represented the Church of Light.
Of course... the Church of Life and the Temple of the Water Goddess had sent representatives too. But they weren’t very influential in Fareins, so they each sent one envoy to attend the ceremony.
Apart from the religious forces, the other countries’ ambassadors in Fareins, as well as the ambassadors of the elves and dwarves, were also on the west side.
The most unexpected participant of all that Roland saw was a dragon.
Although he had turned into an elf, the dragon horns on his head and the dragon tail that wasn’t fully disguised betrayed him.
In comparison, when Margret, the dragon that Schuck rode, turned into a girl, she carried few characteristics of a dragon. The gap between them was quite huge. Roland walked to him, and Andonara followed him.
She was his guard at this moment. Although she wasn’t armed, as a Great Swordsman and a grandmaster at arms, she could launch a Sword Aura Slash with her bare hands.
But of course, it would cause some damage to her hands.
However... Roland had a lot of longswords in his system Backpack.
If they were truly engaged in a fight, Roland could give the weapons to Andonara anytime.
Behind Schuck was another Saint Samurai, who was also unarmed but evidently another guard just like Andonara.
When they stood together, they attracted most people’s attention.
They had learned a lot about Roland and Schuck and knew that they were quite close. What they saw confirmed their intelligence.
Although the abdication and enthronement ceremony was important, not many people really attended it.
It would be enough as long as the witnesses and the influential men were here.
Therefore, there were only about a hundred people in the courtyard.
They waited for about ten minutes, until the court officials unrolled a red carpet that divided the courtyard.
Then, a bunch of maids showed up and stood on the two sides of the red carpet with flowers.
After that, many musicians and singers stood next to the maids.
Soon, the court official who raised the flag of Fareins arrived, followed by the royal guards and two people in glamorous clothes.
Roland turned around and saw King Edward who did not seem to care about anything in the world.
Behind him was Stephanie who was wearing a scarlet dress and had her long hair braided.
She looked even more gorgeous than usual on this day.
The two of them walked to the end of the red carpet.
The king looked back at his daughter, who went on one knee.
Then, the court official introduced the honor and glory of the royal family of Fareins, the magnificent achievements of King Edward during his eighteen-year reign, and outlined how capable Stephanie was to govern a country, in a lilting tone.
To sum it up, it was just bragging.
Many people felt like laughing, but nobody
did.
The court official went on for about half an hour, before he finally said, “The great King Edward finds First Princess Stephanie exceptionally competent and is willing to hand over his crown to her. Is there any objection?”
No one said anything.
Although many members of the royal family, particularly the princes, seemed discontented, nobody dared to utter an objection.
Edward looked around with great satisfaction. No matter how they felt, they did not dare to say anything at a moment like this.
Edward took off his crown that had a large ruby embedded on it. He then stood solemnly before his daughter and asked loudly, “I’m about to hand over the crown to Stephanie, my most beloved daughter. Is there anyone who’s willing to witness that?”
According to the protocol that had been shared earlier, Schuck stood out and smiled at Stephanie. “I am Schuck. As a representative of the Church of Light, I’m willing to witness First Princess Stephanie’s coronation and acknowledge her as the rightful queen.”
After that, Roland stood out too.
“I’m Roland. On behalf of all the Mages in the Association of Mages, I’ll witness Lady Stephanie become the queen. The Association of Mages is willing to ensure and protect all her rightful interests.”
Stephanie didn’t raise her head, but she put on a smile.
“I acknowledge Stephanie’s claim to the crown on behalf of all the members of the royal family.”
“I witness.”
“I witness.”
The bit shots and nobles made similar declarations one after another.
Their opinions actually didn’t matter.
Schuck and Roland were most important of all. As soon as their organizations acknowledged Stephanie, it wouldn’t matter even if all the others didn’t.
But since they were willing to acknowledge her, it was quite a great thing. After all, nobody liked needless trouble.
After hearing “I witness” more than thirty times, Edward put the crown on Stephanie’s head.
He said with a smile, “Congratulations, my good daughter. You’ll be the new queen from today on, and I can take a good rest.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Stephanie held back her excitement and hugged her father with a smile.
Although Edward was rather unreliable and had a lot of women, he was one of the few kings who treated his children quite nicely.
He was a good father for a king.
Joyous music was played, and applause went on for a long time.
Most nobles were happy to see a peaceful transfer of power.
The abdication and enthronement ceremony came to an end. Then it was a celebration.
The people joined the celebration too. While the nobles and diplomats stayed in the royal palace and partied, Stephanie circled the capital on a flowered carriage and accepted the cheers and admiration of the people beside the road.
Roland and Andonara sat on her sides to protect her.
Of course, apart from them, there was also a team of elite heavily-armored cavalrymen next to the carriage who offered protection.
Most people were happy to see the new queen.
After the parade, the party in the royal palace was already over. The nobles and diplomats had already left, but Roland and Andonara were asked to stay by Stephanie.
In her bedroom, she took off her shoes, lifted her dress, and rubbed her knee hard.
She had been on that knee for half an hour during the ceremony. Although she was a Warrior, she was still a tender, beautiful woman. The scathed skin on her knee made her rather uncomfortable.
Seeing that, Roland cast a Minor Healing spell on her.
Sensing that her pain faded away, she winked and laid her hand on Roland’s neck, before she smiled alluringly. “Would Master Mage Roland like to accompany the queen tonight?”
Roland’s eyebrows rose. “Wasn’t it a one-time thing?”.
“It was the last night for me as a princess. Now, it’s the queen’s time.” Stephanie spoke rather domineeringly and seductively. “This is your queen’s first order. Are you doing to defy it?”
Roland had to admit that Stephanie did have a special vibe with her crown and her queen’s dress.
However... He looked at Andonara who was by her side, only to discover, to his surprise, that Andonara was already taking off her clothes.
“Let’s teach her a good lesson together.”
Andonara smiled even more charmingly and leered at Stephanie.
Roland put on a smile.
Time went by quickly. By the time Roland put on his clothes, it was already dawn, and the game time was over for the day.
Roland crawled out of the virtual cabin. After breakfast, he went to the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau with his ID card and the Residence Booklet for registration.
Because the clerks had been informed of his visit, the registration went particularly well. Then, it was a three-month publicity period, and a one-year internship.
Most of the civil servants would work as clerks in the municipal government during internship, so Roland’s life routine became fixed again, going to work at eight and getting off from work at six.
Naturally, his parents were quite happy.
Although Roland made a lot of money in the game and already bought a few houses, they wanted their son to have a steadier job.
It was barely possible for a civil servant to be fired unless they made a horrible mistake.
So his parents were quite relaxed. Next, they had to get Roland married.
Could he be lacking a good wife now that he had a great job?
Besides, he already made a lot of money. So, his parents asked their friends and relatives to introduce possible girlfriends to Roland.
The following days became surprisingly dull.
After Stephanie became the queen, she was fully occupied. It was inappropriate for Roland to stay in the royal palace for long, so he returned to Delpon with Andonara and continued his magic studies while he waited for the few organizations to search for his enemies.
In reality, he lived a normal life and hung out with Schuck and other friends now and then.
Time went on quickly just like that.
Thirty-seven days later, Douglas came to the municipal government and found Roland. “Come with me. What you want has been constructed.”
Although Roland had work to do, Douglas seemed to be in a high position and he easily took Roland from the municipal government.
On a racing car, Roland looked at the pass that was hanging on his neck.
The pass said “Level 1 Special Material Researcher: Huang Wenwei.”
Underneath his title was his photo.
The car left the city and rode into a mountain, until it arrived at a cavern that appeared to be an air-raid shelter.
Some soldiers were defending the cavern.
The two of them got off from the car and swiped their passes at the entrance of the elevator. Then they took the elevator down.
Because the elevator was sealed, Roland couldn’t see the surroundings.
About two minutes later, the elevator stopped.
Roland walked out of the elevator, only to find himself in a huge observatory. In front of him was an enormous space that was hundreds of times bigger than Roland’s own secret base.
Inside the space, quite a few large areas had been separated with walls.
“Do you see? All the space here is at your disposal,” said Douglas with a smile. “You can run experiments however you want to.”
“That’s for dangerous experiments, right?” Roland pointed at the largest area.
It was the only area that was shielded by steel planks, when other areas were all surrounded by glass.
“Yes!”
Douglas said, “Let’s go and meet the researchers.”
Roland followed Douglas to go down the observatory. They were soon surrounded by a bunch of people in white coats.
They had different faces and personalities, but they had one thing in common, which was their lack of hair. One-third of them were completely bald.
They were all experts.
Douglas introduced the researchers to Roland and asked, “Roland, do you want to run an experiment?”
“I can try one.” Roland nodded.
The researchers around him all cheered.
Then they quickly returned to their offices and fetched portal equipment.
Roland, on the other hand, followed Douglas to the largest experiment area, which Roland estimated was more than three hundred meters long and wide.
After he entered the area, he saw a few dummies at the center.
Douglas rubbed his hands excitedly. “Why don’t you try it right now?”
He really wanted to see magic in reality.
At this moment, the researchers all gathered around.
But they didn’t approach Roland; they simply turned on their equipment from twenty meters away.
Roland searched his memories.
He had devoted himself to minimizing and weakening the blue fireball in the past month, so that he could cast it in reality.
He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and turned his hands upside down. Blue flames rose from his palms.