39 Coronation!? (1/2)
I look like a penguin in this!” This isn't right! I am about to fight for my life and I look like some opera singer from Italy!
”This is the traditional garb for the coronation. No chance to get around it.” My mother explains.
”Wonderful. At least we can please the audience.” I stretch a little. ”This will rip during the fight! I will be butt naked on the throne.”
”That would be bad. I will go and get you my old robe! I should fit you just fine.” Nicosar offers and runs off.
I let out a heavy sigh. ”You are king of the fucking world and you can't get a suit that fits.”
”You remember the right words to take the crown from the priest?” Ireth interrogates me again. She asked for the fourth time now.
”Yes. Hereby I take the throne and swear to protect the country and it's people. Not that hard to remember. Much more important, anything new about our brethren?” I ask with a displeased tone.
”No. But I am sure they will come. Though I didn't officially invite them.” Ireth smiles at me.
The door flies open and Nicosar storms in. ”Here try this. I wore it just once, so it should be fine.”
I get dressed and surprisingly, it fits! ”Hoh, not bad, at least this proofs that you are my grandson. You have the same build as me, when I took the throne.”
”Hmpf. Yeah, I suppose this will work.” I nod while looking at myself in the mirror. At least this suit isn't so close to the opera style. ”I will be off then, I'll be back in a few minutes.”
”What? No, the coronation is in half an hour!” Ireth wants to stop me, but I already teleported.
The world around me distorts and reforms again. I am in my facility and in front of me is the cold fusion reactor, which supplies the city with energy.
Three workers are repairing something. They are very concentrated and have their backs to me. ”Hrm. Hrm!” They turn around. ”Prince! Shouldn't you be at the coronation!?”
”I need something, and that's the access cover for the main power supply line, am I right?” I ask them.
”Yes?” One of them answers with an enquiring voice.
”Step back, I just need a second.” All three step back and I take a look at a knot of cables. Some of them are a little burned. The distribution device, which I am looking at is under high strain and has to be maintained very often.
But it's no problem, the workers were just replacing the old parts. Everything in my facility is redundant. There are at least two replacement systems for everything.
I am only interested in the heavy red plate behind all the other cables. It gives access to the big cables, which transport the electrical energy to the city. I grab the plate, which protects against accidents and pull it off.
”!!That's dangerous! You need the right protection prince!”
”I know.” I feel the energy, which is running through the cables and grab them. Even before I touch them a spark of energy reaches for my hand, but I just absorb the power and convert it to mana. A little bit of smoke rises from my fingers and I cut my nerves with telekinesis. Sparks of electrical energy wander around my body without harming me. The lights start to flicker.
Humans may be the best containers for magical power, but it's way more convenient to convert mana from another source of power like I am doing now.
I waited with this until the last moment to be sure to walk into the fight with every ounce of power I can hold. Unfortunately Markorn is a real talent and will still have much more mana at his disposal.
This will somehow even the odds.
After a minute I pull my hands back, which are a little charred at the fingertips. It's hard to control the conversion process. A little healing spell fixes the problem.
The lights come back online, seems like I drained a little more than the systems could handle. I turn around and look at the three pale faced workers.
”Ar.. Are … you okay?” Seems like they already saw their heads being lopped off for letting the prince commit suicide.
”No problem, I just needed a little more power than the system could handle.” I look at the now completely charred electronics. ”You will have to do a little more work than you anticipated.”
”N.. no problem, we will work overtime.” Another one of them offers. I smile and wave my goodbyes, while I teleport back to my room.
”Where have you been! We had a short power outage here.” Nicosar asks.
”I just paid a short visit to my lab.” I walk to the door and leave for the throne room. Nicosar and Ireth follow me with grim determination.
When I arrive at the entrance I can see Celes with Katrine and Arthur. I wave at them and walk into the throne room. There are just nobles from Tirna. No wonder, why should a Stricc noble visit the coronation of the king of Tirna.
I make my way to the throne, where a priest of the church is waiting for me. Everyone's eyes are on me. The hall is completely silent.
While I am on my way, I identify some familiar faces. I identify Sandra, Gabriel and the Cygnus siblings in the first row of spectators. I smile, while I walk by.
I couldn't find Markorn or Seredorn. Though I know Seredorn just from bad pictures. It is unlikely that I would recognize him.
Arriving at the priest beside the throne, I nod to him and he starts to speak to the audience.
”Nobles of Tirna! We are all here today to....” I stop to listen to boring speech and scan the people for the problematic individuals. But it's hard to find a special person inside that crowd. Mother and grandfather took place in the first row of the audience.
A few minutes later the priest arrives at the important part of his speech. ”.... and if there is someone, who believes himself a better king. He may speak now or remain silent forever!”
The priest looks over the crowd and just as he wants to speak again. ”I will be a stronger king! I challenge Angrod of Tirna!”
Murmurs start to spread inside the big hall and everyone tries to find the rude person, who disturbed the coronation.
The crowd parts and two people are standing there. It's Markorn and a guy which couldn't be anyone else than Seredorn. Seredorn is strongly resembling my father. He holds himself upright with a walking stick and his left leg is missing from the knee downwards.
The priest is shocked. ”And with which right are you challenging Angrod?”
Markorn steps forward. ”I am Markorn of Tirna, son of Seredorn of Tirna. The previous kings brother!”
The priest grinds his teeth. Obviously he wasn't informed about this breach of protocol. ”Then the challenge is legal! You are the challenged party, you have the choice of weapons and location.” The priest turns to me and looks at me.
”Right here, right now! No weapons.” This will be over fast. At least I hope so. If this becomes a long fight it could go badly for me.
The people try to enlarge their distance from us and I approach Markorn. Seredorn limps to the side with a sly smile on his face.