Ryan understood something of all the Kings and Queens of the Trial System, and there were a lot of them. You could name all of them and he could categorize and tell you roughly what they were like. King Theskar was considered an eccentric king. Mostly doing as he pleased and shaking things in an unpredictable manner that often infuriated adventurers.

  Though he wasn’t supposed to be so ‘eccentric’ as to allow slavery into his kingdom or torture adventurers for kicks.

  Yet slavery had happened. was why Ryan had been caught so off-guard on this one. He understood that his Trials were some of the most edge cases of edge cases, but slavery? He couldn’t recall King Theskar allowing that in recent history.

  Or rather Ryan never checked closely into King Theskar’s motives. He had believed the fifth Trial wouldn’t be a problem and now the lack of research was biting him in the ass.

  It was a day's worth of travels. Every time he tried to pause for Agrinth’s sake, the teen refused to rest and would run until he collapsed.

  After that, he realized there wasn’t a point in resting, Ryan continued to run without pause. The roads were becoming more maintained with more people traveling through them. Horse drawn carriages would panic upon seeing him and it wasn’t hard to know where to go.

  All roads led to the crowing city of the kingdom.

  A brilliant bastion of civilization. Of life and prosperity. High enchanted walls, a tall shining castle that overlooked it all in the center. Gold, green, blue lights shone brightly along the castle’s exterior. Magical prowess that signified protection to the populace and a threat to invaders.

  Yet despite this prosperous display, not a single person was in sight. Nobody was lining up to go to the gates, no army was nearby.

  Instead a single long knight stood between him and the city. In gold and green armor, perhaps a sixth realm in advancement. Not adventurer grade, meaning they were likely fifth realm in strength.

  The flicker of fear at least showed that this knight in shining armor wasn’t quite prepared to die.

  The knight nodded his head as Ryan and Agrinth approached. “I’ve come to escort you to the King.”

  “Lead the way.”

  The gate had been left wide open, the streets had been cleared. What should have been a prosperous, bustling city had been evacuated for his arrival. Despite being a perfect location for it, there was no ambush set up for him in the streets, just an eerie silence. As if they had all fled from a natural disaster.

  They continued their way into the center of the city, where grand steps greeted them before the palace. They continued, still no ambush or danger that Ryan could sense.

  Not even fear. This place had been well and truly emptied for his arrival.

  The royal palace itself was disgustingly opulent. Displays of wealth that were truly too much. Crystal chandeliers that radiated mana, ornate decorative engravings used to enhance the looks of runes that shone in the castle’s walls.

  When the door was opened to the throne room, it was a much simpler affair. Still regal and impressive, but more of a reserved oppressiveness.

  Like a judgment hall.

  King Theskar sat on the throne. His eyes shining with interest. For a moment he stared at Ryan’s right arm and his interest sparked further.

  And the true Fifth Trial began.

  –

  Ryan could tell a few things from King Theskar’s aura.

  This was no warlord king that fought in the front lines, this wasn’t a man that rose from the conquest of his foes. This was a man who had been ordained his right to rule from the day he was born. A proud man that believed he had the right to rule because he was born from it.

  It did not mean he was small, nor did Ryan look down on it.

  Theskar’s aura held the weight of all of his entire people. He had taken on that burden and was mighty for it. It stood firm against Ryan’s aura, demanding that all would abide by his rules while in his kingdom.

  King Theskar opened his hand. “At last, we meet face to face. I am King Theskar, son of King Welskar the third. You stand within my kingdom.”

  Ryan wasn’t one for pomp and circumstance. He was a weird mix of tyrant and saboteur, but most of all… an adventurer.

  “Are those going to be your final words, Theskar?”

  The royal knight unsheathed his sword in one quick motion, held to strike down in a moment’s notice.

  “Stop!” King Theskar boomed, glaring at his royal knight. “Leave!”

  “Your highness!”

  “If you are not able to do as I command, then leave

  The knight stood gripping his sword tightly, duty and orders conflicting against each other. Ryan just eyed the threatening posture casually, all four in the judgment hall knew that the knight had no chance.

  King Theskar’s eyes softened. “Old friend, it is fine. We will meet again, sooner or later, you know this.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  The knight finally lowered his posture, brought a fist to his chest and bowed to the King. Then turned around and left. That was interesting, so the King had told his royal knight that all of this was just a Trial on repeat.

  King Theskar sighed. “If you are wishing for a more casual conversation then perhaps leaving the child outside is best? I can promise no harm to come to him.”

  Ryan hummed, thinking about it for a bit. Then he turned to Agrinth.

  The teenager glared at Ryan, not quite having the balls to glare at King Theskar. “I’m not leaving.”

  “I was only going to ask.” Ryan teased, then he turned back to the King. “The kid stays, he at the very least, deserves his own choice in this.”

  King Theskar scratched at his magnificently trimmed beard, noticing the bruise marks where Agrinth’s chains and collarf had been, then he turned to Ryan with clear amusement in his eyes.

  “Interesting. Well then, Trialist, how do you wish to proceed?”

  “, thank you very much.”

  Theskar seemed taken aback by that. “Truly?”

  “, adventurer Artigan, here to see if there is a monster problem in this great city.”

  The King didn’t miss a beat. “Oh-ho. Now that truly is fascinating. Because if there is indeed a monster problem in my kingdom, then I fear that there is more than just one monster infesting it. One surely impossible for even you to take down.”

  “Indeed, that greater monster is still a problem I’m trying to understand. But for now, one less monster is still one less monster that can terrorize the kingdom.”

  Both King Theskar and Ryan were enjoying their bout of words. Agrinth, who had demanded to stay and listen, was clearly unable to keep up. Theskar’s eyes started to dance with the flames of his aura, baring it open for all to see.

  It was a wondrous grand aura of regality and pride, of true pride in yourself and your people that would blind anyone else in its presence.

  “So then tell me, adventurer Artigan. What is your assessment?”

  The blatant flaring of aura irritated the tyrant part of his arm. He could feel a disconnect there between a king and a tyrant, it wanted Theskar under his fist, to submit to him. Fortunately for Ryan, he was far, far better than just his class. Amusement, intelligence, curiosity and pride.

  King Theskar laid his soul to bear and it was a wondrous, amazing thing.

  Ryan just chuckled. “I am not an expert at judging auras, but it seems like the stories do not do you justice.”

  “I must admit that I’m curious. Pray tell, how exactly do my stories go?”

  “That you are an eccentric king that delights in making adventurers’ lives difficult.”

  “Excellent.”

  In a surprising bout of fashion, the adventurer and king hit it off. King Theskar immediately understood what Ryan stood for and how he wanted this conversation to go. Meanwhile he was being tactful of the teen nearby.

  “So why slavery?”

  Both the King and adventurer stared at each other for a moment. Then Theskar began.

  “Allow me to answer your question with my own, limited perspective.”

  The King stood up hands behind his back, looking down on Ryan with a sharp glint in his eye. Not a hostile stare, but a judgmental one of his own.

  “The village of Millerstone, slain to the last with three unidentified foreign bodies in what was clearly a manipulated conflict. My scouts found three foreign unidentified . One dwarf, an unidentifiable human in the midst of the slaughtered villagers. One drake body was found in the skeleton lord’s chambers, killed by what looked like an ambush. One destroyed skull of the Skeleton Lord. I moved my men to investigate, routing the drakes and dwarves. The beginning of the conflict of all the kingdoms you see.”

  The King was referencing Ryan’s first Trial and how things had gone on from there. Theskar was trying to paint a funny picture, one that put him at fault.

  “That’s why the kingdom’s so speciesist, . Those goddamn soldiers from Earth ruined everything.”

  It had to be noted that not all human kingdoms in the Trials were so blatantly speciesist to the point of denying useful help like they had done with Valee’s team. He hadn’t realized that conflict with the soldiers had been the root cause of it all.

  King Theskar nodded, still looking amused. “After this event, only three years later, my people told me someone had killed both the demon strategist and my top General. An unidentified young human man.”

  The King gave Ryan a knowing look, as if saying that he knew Ryan’s current appearance as an elf had to be a disguise.

  “That is, of course, my view as a King of my kingdom. In my other, role, I saw something different.”

  This time the King’s aura changed. It was less of a regal and proud thing but more cold and calculating. The change was so seamless that Ryan was taken aback, he was sure the king’s regal aura wasn’t fake, but neither was this more solemn judgmental one. Multiple facets to a person, something he’d missed.

  It put him on guard.

  The King simply nodded at his wariness and continued. “I saw someone that understood the world well enough to make it his playground. I saw someone that was either in trouble with the authorities of his world or would stab anyone in the back to become stronger. I reacted accordingly. Do you understand?”

  “So, everything’s my fault huh? With no responsibility for your own actions?”

  King Theskar’s aura became colder, the other side any true ruler of a nation needed to have. One that understood that sometimes the right choice was one that could sacrifice a few for the whole.

  “King Arctus may have lost sight of his responsibility, but I never have. Everything that has happened, all of it has been the end result of your actions. The temporary prosperity from dominating a kingdom that has lost its King. Allowing the most powerful rats to take reins of my Kingdom by the openings that have created. I may not have fought them as hard as I could have but this is the end result. In the end, my authority has been split amongst those with the most power and influence. A Kingdom that will sooner or later collapse into warring factions.”

  The King looked disgusted at the demon teen. His eyes were locked onto the fading marks of slavery. Even for this cold hearted King, there were lines he disliked crossing.

  His eyes flickered over to Ryan. “I have simply shown you what lies at the end of your path. Where might makes right, and nothing is sacred to the ends of your power. The strongest will rise to make their own laws, and those that seek power are the right people to rule. Duchess Rudalia was only one of those people.”

  When King Theskar put it like that, all the pieces started to fall into place. This wasn’t an eccentric king that did as he pleased or raged against the Trial System. This was a king that was doing as he had promised to do from ages past.

  To oversee the Trialists and guide them until the very end, no matter where their choices took them.

  was the reason why adventurers tended to get higher achievements under him. Not necessarily because the Trials were more difficult with King Theskar, but because he was always leading to the end result of the adventurer’s choices.

  In short, this was just a fucked up situation where King Theskar had completely misinterpreted Ryan’s forced actions.

  He decided that this wasn’t a monster to be slain. Though Ryan did have problems with Theskar’s statement.

  “You do have one thing wrong though.”

  “And what is that?”

  “You said that those that seek power are never the right people to rule. Well, I’m from a place where it’s worked. I know it can be done.”

  “Truly?”

  The King seemed dubious, as if doubting his words. Which was fair considering what he knew of Ryan’s first Trial.

  He just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I guess it’s only been fifty years since the Pioneers took over, but they’ve made their world a really nice place after all this time.”

  “Fifty years. Only a wink in time.”

  Ryan conceded that point to King Theskar. Plus, even The Realm was beginning to show deep cracks. A benevolent ruler only worked for as long as the ruler stayed benevolent, and the Witch Tyrant had stopped being benevolent.

  Then again, that was a problem he was still trying to figure out. Not so important for Agrinth’s world, no, King Theskar’s kingdom was similar to something else.

  “You mentioned that your authority’s been split between the most influential and powerful people right?” Ryan hummed, thinking about it for a bit. “Hmm, a world where oligarchs have split the world between themselves and have started implementing their own laws while a crowning government still technically holds sway over all of them.”

  Ryan grinned.

  “Sounds like a great testing ground.”

  The King smiled gracefully. “That is what we are here for.”