Touch of Fate

Chapter 271: Stealing the Show

Chapter 271: Stealing the Show

"Do you think something may have happened to him?" Prince Johnathan asked once they'd been waiting close to a half hour for the Dragonknight's arrival. So far, the acting Prime Minister, who'd taken over after the previous one had vanished mysteriously, was delaying things with a lengthy speech. However, the crowd was already growing restless. If something didn't change soon, it could lead to a riot.

The four members of the royal family were sitting in evenly spaced thrones on the raised dais. As none of them had been crowned yet, it was improper for any of them to take precedence of the others. They were placed at the very rear of the performance section of the Stadia Almira, the massive open-air building that dominated the south eastern portion of the New City. It was mainly used for major shows, sporting events, martial arts tournaments, religious festivals and ceremonies, and the occasional high profile duel. It also doubled as the city's venue of choice when performing public ceremonies.

In front of them, and a little lower down the dais, the Ministers and other major government officials were seated in rows. A podium enchanted with voice enhancement was placed slightly in front of them, and it was from here that the acting Prime Minister was giving his speech. Beyond him on the stadium's floor were additional rows of seats set aside for those individuals whose contributions were deemed sufficient to be personally rewarded by the crown. Finally, in the rising tiers of spectator seats was the audience. While it was unclear exactly how many people were in attendance today, the stadium supposedly had a capacity of nearly 90 thousand. From the looks of it, they were close to filling it.

Mattew shrugged idly. "Hard to say for certain, but I would be surprised. It's more likely that he ended up enjoying the festivities a bit too much last night, and failed to get up in time."

"He's not that unreliable." Andrea broke in with a grumble, "I'm sure he has his reasons for being late. That is, if he's even still coming"

Nathaniel chuckled, "It might be better if he didn't show up. Just think of all the money we'd be saving if we didn't have to reward him."

"Nathan!" Johnathan scolded.

"What? You know I'm right. Between the reconstruction and supporting the sudden influx of the Tenundian refugees, we hardly have enough gold in the treasury as it is. Preparing a proper reward for the Dragonknight will practically bankrupt us. Especially since he doesn't want any territory, which is the one thing we have in abundance." He shot back.

The First Prince frowned disapprovingly. "It's not honorable to be this concerned about money. As soon as we get everything back in order, the money will start flowing in again, no need to be worried. Until then, I'm sure we can scare up the funds somewhere."

Nathaniel gave his brother a disbelieving look. "This is exactly why I didn't want you to be king! What has honor to do with being financially secure? If we don't take steps to prevent the systematic hemorrhaging of money out of our treasury, we'll be broke within weeks. Once we are no longer able to pay our soldiers, how long do you think it will be before they rebel? Or even worse, desert to the service of some major lord who thinks they can do a better job ruling this country?"

"Brothers, please." Matthew interrupted. "This is supposed to be a celebration. Not to mention the fact that we are in the public eye at the moment. We can figure out our financial situation later, behind closed doors. For the record, though, I feel that there is some merit to what Nathan is saying."

Johnathan sighed, and then smiled. "Perhaps I've been taking our treasury for granted. Once we've finished here, would you all do me the favor of joining me to discuss our finances with the Minister of the Treasury? I'm sure that between the four of us, we can come up with some solution."

"Hmph. Yeah, I suppose I'll have to." Nathaniel grumbled. "You won't even know the right questions to ask."

He was about to say something else when a roar erupted from the crowd, quickly drowning everything else out.

Descending from the sky were three humanoid figures. It didn't take much guessing to determine their identities, so few were surprised when the Dragonknight and his two companions landed in the middle of the awardees. By this point, the cheering had grown to a deafening roar.

Looking sheepish and a little embarrassed, Mike waved at the crowd, bringing their energy to a fever pitch. Judging by his resulting grimace, this was contrary to his intentions, and only by making a lowering motion with his hand was he able to gradually bring the audience back under control.

After a few moments, the stadium quieted down to the point of near silence. Tens of thousands of eyes were gathered on the Dragonknight as he opened his mouth and began to speak.

"Sorry about being late, I kinda overslept"

----------------------------

[Well, that could have gone better.] Mike thought once he was finally in his seat, Tal and Sera to his right. It had taken a little bit more time than he'd anticipated, but the ceremony was now finally underway.

The bearded man who'd been standing at the podium when they landed had been replaced by Prince Johnathan. The popular royal heir, judging from the way the crowd cheered once he was introduced, made a short speech thanking the people for their support during these trying times, and swearing to continue to defend the country from all hostile invaders. He then segued into recognizing the achievements of certain individuals, and the role they played in halting and eventually defeating both invasions.

[He's pretty good at this. Definitely knows how to play the crowd. While it takes a lot to be a good ruler, he at least has the public appearance part locked down.] Mike thought idly as he let the words wash over him.

Between the heat of the afternoon sun, and the comfortable chair he was sitting in, it was getting hard not to feel a bit drowsy. Quite naturally, his mind began to drift as he started planning all the things he would need to get accomplished in the next few days. Honestly, he felt like he didn't even have enough time to properly say goodbye to everyone he'd met, let alone with all the loose ends that had cropped up during his time in Almirn. Hell, he still had a few library books he needed to take back.

[Hopefully they are still in my bag somewhere. While they would probably forgive me for it at this point, I dread the idea of pissing off those librarians. Especially since I have every intention of visiting the highest levels of the restricted section now that they have no reason to bar my entry.]

He was so deeply lost in thought that when he heard his name being called, it took a second for him to remember that he was supposed to go up on stage to receive his rewards. After a brief hesitation, he swiftly stood and marched over to stand next the Prince as calmly and naturally as he could manage.

"Once again, may I present the Hero of Almir, Michael Rasmussen, also known as the Dragonknight Erasmus." Johnathan started jubilantly, waiting until the cheering had quieted down a bit to resume. "Listing this man's many accomplishments would take longer than we have time for today, and I am sure that most of you are already quite familiar with them. So, I will summarize by saying that without him, this country would have ended in a wave of bloodshed and death. The Kingdom of Almir owes him a great debt, one that we may never be able to fully repay, but we will attempt to honor his efforts to the best of our abilities."

After once again waiting for the crowd to quiet down, he continued. "As Sir Erasmus has done more for this country than anyone in recent memory, we felt it only reasonable that his rewards were equally unprecedented. As such, we have chosen to bestow upon him the rank of Sebastos, the highest noble title we have the authority to grant."

The crowd descended into confused muttering. Most probably had no idea what the title actually meant, and were unsure if it constituted a good reward. For his part, the Prince glanced over apologetically, and whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Sorry, but since you didn't tell us anything, we went ahead with our initial plans. Hope you don't mind."

Mike shrugged, unable to really say anything. It had been his fault for forgetting about his promise in the first place. Besides, he wasn't exactly opposed to the title itself, since it didn't carry any overt responsibility. Judging from the look of abject shock on Sera's face though, he was likely in for an earful in the near future.

"Additionally, he is to be awarded the sum of five million golden wrens and any three items of his choice from the Royal Treasury." The Prince concluded almost nonchalantly, earning a brief moment of stunned silence from the crowd, before they erupted into cheering once more.

[Hm? Five million? That's a lot, right? Is it really alright to be giving out that much?] The amount concerned Mike a little, since it might make him and his friends a target. That said, he did enjoy watching Sera's response to the number, and had to suppress a chuckle as an almost dizzying array of expressions passed across her face, before finally settling into the blank and staring appearance of someone who'd achieved a long time goal and didn't know what else to do with their lives.

After another round of thanks, he was invited to return to his seat and allow the next awardee to take his place. The remaining rewards were generous, although never anywhere close to Mike's in terms of value. Several of the participants were raised to noble ranks and given territory in the annexed regions of Tenundi. Even Emmanuel was granted the rank of Viscount and given control of the territory that once belonged to Viscount Wendel.

[Hmm, that reminds me. I really should try to track him down at some point. That orb of his would be definitely worth acquiring.]

Near the end of the ceremony, Tal was also called up. Johnathan even managed to pronounce most of her full name correctly. For her efforts in staving off the assault of the Furies, she was to be given fifty thousand gold and some kind of elven artifact called the Eye of Ashae.

After close to three hours, the ceremony thankfully came to a close with another round of applause and a general dismissal. The awardees themselves were invited to join the royal procession heading back to the palace and actually receive their rewards. Dozens of carriages had been set aside for that exact purpose, so Mike, Tal, and Sera had one to themselves.

As soon as the door closed, the Oracle began speaking. "Alright, this changes things. We need to discuss ramifications."

"Are you talking about the title or the reward money?" Mike asked while glancing out the window at the crowd lining the streets. They were getting quite raucous, and he suspected that another night full of celebrations were in the offing.

"The money does make our situation a bit unusual, since five million gold is more than the annual budget of most noble territories" She trailed off as a slightly idiotic grin spread across her face. After a few moments, she shook her head. "However, the title is the real issue here."

"Well, it's not like it carries any actual responsibilities, right? Shouldn't it be fine to simply ignore it?"

She gave him a dark look. "I take it that they explained it to you at some point? Did they tell you where it originated from?"

"More or less. Apparently, it was used by the old Pyrathien Emperors to acknowledge rebellious rulers during their decline rather than try and fight them."

"Haa," Sera sighed while rubbing her temples. "That's not exactly wrong, since they did make use of it that way, but there's a problem with giving it to you. It was originally created for the Imperial Family as a means of distinguishing relatives outside of the usual line of succession. Calling yourself a Sebastos is essentially saying that you are part of the Imperial Family, even though it's mostly symbolic."

"Have authority?" Tal asked, obviously pointing out that Prince Johnathan may not actually have the ability to grant an old imperial title.

"As I recall correctly the current royal line of Almir is actually distantly related to the Pyrathien Emperors through marriage. It's not the strongest link, but they can certainly make the argument that they have the authority to name a Sebastos and there really wouldn't be anyone who could challenge them on it."

"Oh, how so?" Mike asked.

"The only recognized descendants of the last Emperor used to make up a significant portion of the upper class of Bergel, the City of Coins. However, they were almost completely wiped out in the merchant revolution that took place about eighty years ago. As it stands now, there are only a small handful of people who can verifiably claim to be part of the Imperial Family. None of them, however, is a Tier 4, which itself presents another problem."

"I'm assuming you are going to elaborate."

Sera paused and fixed her gaze on him. "You have to remember that the Sebastos title was around for a long time, and more than a few bearers managed to inherit or seize the position of emperor for themselves."

"Does that matter?The empire doesn't even exist anymore."

"True, but how do you think the world is going to look at it when they learn that the youngest Tier 4 in recorded history now has a claim to the ancient throne of Pyrathia? Especially one who is believed to have ties with the Dragonknights, the closest thing this region has had to a unifying force since the fall of the Empire. Will they dismiss it as an honorary title? Or, will they see it as the first step towards the rise of the Third Pyrathien Empire?"

"...Hmmm...that could be troubling."