As the adventurers chosen by the Grandmaster Alosrin were finishing their preparations to leave, having only arrived two days prior, a new group arrived in Marrowburg. The king of the Traezzugary Kingdom had arrived. While most of the group wore cloaks that identified who they were with, one of them wore a very different cloak, as it looked cheap, not something the king's escort or the king himself would wear. As all of the civilians bowed, including the adventurers, the grandmaster did not. He stayed standing as the party approached him.

“It has been a long time Grandmaster Alosrin.” One of the figures spoke, stepping forward, “shall we head to the town hall to continue our conversation. It would be a lot easier with fewer people listening in.”

“Of course your majesty, lead the way, and might I ask who is this woman using magic to disguise herself?” Alosrin spoke, looking at the women

“She insisted on coming; apparently, she is the wife of that man that stayed behind, her name is Hikari.”

“I see, well alright then,” Alosrin said, turning to the adventurers. “What are you all still standing around for? GET MOVING! It's been four days since the army returned, if the dragon toys with him he might still be alive.”

Upon hearing this, the Hikari's expression lit up; her husband might still be alive. She quickly regained her composure and said that there is something that she must tell them regarding her husband, remembering that he is a null. They turned to look at her before motioning for her to come with them as they headed for the town hall, which soldiers already surrounded. As soon as they all entered the town hall, everyone removed their hoods except for Hikari. They were then lead to a medium-sized room adorned with expensive magical trinkets to prevent scrying. Alosrin and the king sat at the medium-sized table while the guards scattered around the room, with two remaining outside the room. Hikari stood at the end of the table, her hood still up, concealing most of her features.

  “It's been a while, my old friend.” Alosrin said, “I was in the area when I heard about the dragon. I just sent the adventurers on their way to hopefully slay the dragon. Since you are here, I'm guessing you got my message?”

“Yes I did, but I only received it yesterday.” The King began, “I actually heard about the situation a while ago when a fresh new member of my royal guard returned from his brother's wedding, with his sister-in-law with him, holding draft papers. Miss Shepherd, could you please introduce yourself?”

“Oh, yes,” Hikari said nervously. She removed her hood to reveal a tall, slender woman with long black hair dressed in the most formal attire she most likely had as a commoner. She then snapped her fingers, releasing the spell she had cast on herself, causing her form to start changing. Her ears moved and changed to be cat-like ears as she adjusted her outfit as a tail popped out from underneath her cloak, her face elongated, giving her a slight muzzle, and black fur grew all over her. She was a Beastkin panther. “Hello, I'm Hikari Shepherd.”

“A Beastkin, not what I was expecting,” Alosrin said, leaning back in his chair. 

“And what does that mean?” Hikari said, glaring at Alosrin. Despite having grown up surrounded by humans, she still took pride in her heritage. 

“I'm sorry, I meant no offense by my statement. It's just that all of the Beastkin I have met have a dislike towards Humans. So please forgive me for interrupting you as well, continue.”

“So, a couple of months ago, during our wedding,” Hikari said as she began to rummage through satchel. “Close to the end of the ceremony, Sir Narfad came bursting in, yelling some bs about Arthur being drafted and even produced a copy of the draft documents that were supposedly signed by his majesty.” She continued, pulling out some documents. Hikari set the documents down on the table in front of Alosrin so that he could read them. 

“So I'm guessing you never signed this, your majesty,” Alosrin said, scanning through the documents. “Hmmm, they even mention the agreement with the northern towns that talks about how they would be in charge of keeping the low to mid-rank monsters in check.”

“That is correct, but what she had told me next was what made me start thinking that Narfad was not who he claims to be.” The king said, leaning back in his chair and whispering something to one of his guards. “Would either of you like anything to drink? I just asked Radlan here to tell the maids to bring some green tea here.”

“I am fine with anything your majesty,” Hikari responded, still nervous.

“Same for me, my old friend,” Alosrin said. “I do have one quick question though, is it Elvish green tea?”

“Of course it is; the tea leaves grown by the elves have healing properties, even if they are minor. Also, I just realized how rude I have been to you ma'am, please go ahead and sit down.” The king said, ushering to one of his servants to bring a chair over for her.

“You are too kind, your majesty,” Hikari said, taking a seat. “I should probably explain my first encounter with Lord Narfad, shouldn't I.”

As Hikari told her story, a maid came in with the tea and poured a cup for all three of them before leaving the room. After Hikari had finished telling the two about everything Narfad had been doing to her, Alosrin was visibly displeased, despite his efforts to try and hide it.

“So I'm guessing that you have come to the same conclusion that I have?” The king asked him

“Yes, I have, and now I am completely sure of this. I didn't want to mention this earlier, but he seemed rather pleased about something when I had encountered him the other day. It was almost as if he had planned this from the very beginning.”

“The hardest part about this is that our only evidence is useless, and the only victim, is most likely deceased.” The king said, looking out the window.

“Wait, I thought that there was a chance that Arthur was alive?” Hikari interjected, despite knowing that he is a null she still hung on that thread of hope.

“Sadly, it is very unlikely that he is alive. When you were telling us about your interactions with Narfad you had mentioned that your husband was a null, correct?” Alosrin said, rather coldly. He knew when to be blunt and to the point, and knew that it would not be wise to sugarcoat the subject.

“Yes that is correct,” Hikari responded, taken aback at Alosrin's bluntness.

“Then his chances of survival are even smaller, he should not have been sent to fight a dragon.”

“But Arthur is very strong, he has been able to use aura abilities since we were twelve.”

“Even prodigies have their limits, I know you're trying to give him hope, but against a creature that has a resistance to almost all physical attacks then he will either need to bargain for his life, or outrun it, and since it is angry I doubt either of those being a possibility,” Alosrin said, he had seen many prodigies die in the past because of their own hubris, so he knew that everyone has a limit. “Now your majesty, I believe we should begin discussing what we should do about Narfad.”

“Yes, we should.”