For what reason did the King want to have an audience with me?
It was only 2 days since the announcement about me being a Paladin and a day since I caught two spies and handed them to Rania and the knight order.
The news shouldn't have been received that fast. Meaning he had another purpose for meeting me and had already planned it when he heard about a new Paladin. So he didn't want to meet me, but the new Paladin.
If that was the case, then the King's goals were probably one of the two.
'Either he wants to talk about political issues or form a relationship with me.'
Both were something I'd like to avoid. Getting involved with the Royal Family was trouble itself. That was why I didn't want to get close to the Princess that attended the Royal Academy, although she was also beautiful.
If I was asked which one I would choose, the Princess or that whore Beatrice, then I would immediately choose that whore. That was how much I didn't want to get involved with the Royal Family.
Getting involved with the Virtue Kingdom Royal Family, the Humilitas family, would only spell trouble.
But I couldn't hide this time.
The King personally visited the Academy City just to see me. I couldn't refuse to meet him, especially when many people had seen me earlier. That would hurt my reputation. At least I should show him some respect by showing up.
'Let's hear what he wants to say. I have the authority to talk equally to the King, so I have the freedom to do something as I please as long as it doesn't harm the Kingdom. He's also not a fool, so he won't say something unreasonable. I hope.'
I needed to postpone my talk with Sana, thanks to that. It was a shame, but I was in no hurry to create my own knight squad.
"When will the King come?"
"He would arrive after the morning prayer. So we have quite some time to prepare your outfit, Sir Arthur." Sana smiled brightly at my positive response. She clasped her hand and tilted her head with a hidden intention plastered beneath her innocent face.
For some reason, I felt like she had already planned this beforehand. Naturally, I should've known this since the start. Sana was a shrewd girl. She couldn't sit in the Archbishop's seat at her age without doing something dirty along the way.
A grin etched on my face as I looked at this wolf in pretty sheep's clothing. It made me want her more and more, but the requirements to dominate her were pretty harsh. I needed to dominate the Pope before her.
"It seems that you've prepared for this meeting with the King pretty well. Say, Sana. It's not like you were the one who invited the King to meet me, right?"
"My~ Whatever do you mean, Paladin?" She replied as she put her hand on her cheek, pretending to look cute.
"It's not like I want to tag along with you as your right hand and accidentally talk about people who wanted to kidnap our new beacon of light, you know? And surely, I didn't send any letter to the Pope regarding the incident two days ago."
'Look at her. She even has that information already and informed the Pope. I didn't even tell her about that yet. That means someone from the knight order sent some information to the church, huh? I saw a familiar knight among the crowd of devotees earlier. Maybe it's them.'
It was just as I initially thought. Those assassins were sent to poison me instead of killing me. That explained the knives that were laced with poisons.
Emilia would exchange the information we got from our interrogation with Rania later. And she would share it with me.
"Do you know how scary you are, Sana? I was scared of cockroaches, you know? And I accidentally found 2 cockroaches that could talk, and they spilled their master's name. I might spill who that person is because of fear later."
"That's a problem." Sana put on a troubled face as she sighed. "But what could we do? We are just scared."
We both let out a long sigh. But inside, I knew that she was also laughing like me because this was a chance to threaten the government with the information we got.
Many nobles were involved in conspiracies to kidnap the Paladin. That information was something really important. The spies might already be silenced now by taking them to the deepest jail or something.
They didn't know that Rania had always been by my side due to our relationship, and some knights were devout believers and helped the church.
The King might be confident because he didn't know these facts. Or he had already known these facts, and that was why he personally visited us. He was no fool, after all.
Whatever it was, I realized we were now in a higher position than the King.
"Well then, Sir Arthur." Sana rose from the couch and extended her hand toward me. "Shall we prepare your outfits now? We have prepared an official Paladin uniform for you to attend the morning prayer."
I looked at Sana, who was smiling widely with a bitter smile. I had never heard of this Paladin uniform, even back in the game.
'I hope it's nothing like the nun uniform. At least I don't want to look like a stripper in front of the masses.'
***
After our conversation, Sana guided me to a fitting room where four beautiful nuns had been waiting. They were already prepared to measure my body, waiting for me inside the small room with intense gazes.
If not for the fact that I wasn't really excited after going all out with Emilia last night and the morning prayer would start in a few minutes, I might already screw them up. They seemed to be waiting for that too, but unfortunately for them, I knew how to prioritize something.
So, in the end, they just measured my body over my uniform and stitched the white uniform that looked like a military commander's uniform hung on the wall. Thankfully, the uniform looked good and classy, with long sleeves, golden thread, and buttons.
A black belt was used to keep the pants from sagging, and when I looked at my reflection after changing into it with the nuns' help – they were blushing when seeing my bare body – I could see that this uniform suited me well. They left after I asked them to give me some time alone.
White pants and black boots with a white blazer with golden lining on top of a white suit. It was an all-white uniform that symbolized purity, Castitas.
My hair was slicked back, giving me a tidy look. Even so, I felt like there was something missing. And after looking at my reflection, I realized what made me not really look like a Paladin.
"I need a sword fitting to be a Paladin."
Then I browsed over my inventory, looking for a magic sword that would fit this uniform. Because the theme was white, I finally settled on one particular sword.
"This is perfect," I muttered, taking the sword out of my inventory.
Unlike the ones I used for battle, this sword was only for ceremonial use, perfect to be worn at a time like this.
A perfectly fine sword with a white hilt and sheath appeared in my hand. I strapped it on my waist, and now I looked perfect. I nodded, satisfied, and left the fitting room to attend the morning assembly.
"Let's greet those peasants."
The previous 4 nuns were waiting outside the room. Their mouths were agape when they saw my appearance, but they quickly recovered their calmness and guided me to the second floor, where my seat was located.
Apparently, I would be sitting with Sana, and she would introduce me to the masses later.
I didn't mind, so I went up the stairs and arrived on the second floor. The small room I was taken into looked exquisite, with only a couch facing the hall where Sana was sitting at. Of course, the nuns didn't enter with me.
"My! You look wonderful, Paladin!"
When I entered, the Archbishop greeted me. She beamed with a smile after she saw me entering the room and scooted over to give me some space.
"Thank you." I nodded at her and sat beside her. My eyes widened a little as I saw the crowd below.
They were all on their knees, facing the statue of the Goddess as a single priest stood in front of it while holding a book.
"It's about to start." Sana simply said before she fell into silence, clasping her hands together and closing her eyes.
It seemed like this morning prayer would be a bit more boring than I expected when I saw Sana fall into silence. Even if she was shrewd, she was still an Archbishop who was devout to Goddess Teri. So she took this prayer seriously.
Well, this was something new to me; I might as well watch it until it ended and follow what Sana did.
'I have nothing to do, after all.'
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