Chapter 708 - Reality and Game (1/2)

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.