The waiting room was wide and definitely comfortable. What's more, it was soundproof, meaning we could no longer hear the hustle and bustle outside the room.
I was sitting on the sofa, drinking the tea served by the maid, while the girls were pacing around and looking at everything inside the room with curiosity. Only Fina stayed beside me to enjoy the tea and snacks together.
Fang was staring at paintings, tilting her head here and there, seemingly puzzled. Igni was looking at the display armor with curiosity. Her little tail was swinging left and right as she did, while her large halo released bright colors as it spun rapidly.
Ember, on the other hand, was reading the books displayed on the shelf at the far end of the room. She seemed interested in its contents, seeing her call for all her available clones, about 23 in total, to read everything at the same time. That's 24 books read at the same time!
Yorm and Judy were, of course, stuck with Fina. But the two weren't paying the food any heed and only laid down on her thigh to sleep. This scene continued for a few hours... Literally.
What's taking them so long? Aren't we just going to greet the king? Or did we come at a busy time, and he's currently flooded with things to attend to? But the letter did include the time for the audience, which should've been several hours ago. The sun's setting already, and we're not even seeing the king's shadow!
Irritation and a slight fear were crawling in my mind. Irritation from being made to wait endlessly and fear from—no, wait, I didn't do anything. Never mind.
Finally, a knock was heard on the door. The maid who was serving us food and refreshments endlessly rushed towards it and opened it, revealing a few more maids in a line while bowing their heads.
The one in the middle, who seemed to be the head of the group based on her different attire and aura, walked forward and spoke.
"We're extremely sorry for the wait, Clan Head Ein. The King has just finished his urgent meeting and is on his way back now. He should be here in a few minutes. Thank you for your patience."
The head maid bowed her head, and the rest soon followed. Seeing them apologize like that, I can only sigh. Well, I've already waited for hours; what's a few minutes more to that?
After they went out, only leaving the same maid to stay, the rest of us continued spending our time leisurely. About five minutes later, the door suddenly burst open. A man wearing a large golden crown peppered with gems and wearing a fluffy-looking red cape over his gray attire entered with a deep frown.
His gaze, filled with killing intent, scanned the whole room until it landed on me, the only guy in here, who was sipping tea leisurely.
"Are you Will?!"
The man, probably the King, shouted in a loud, reverberating voice. The maid, realizing who had just entered without warning, quickly did a 90-degree bow before moving to a corner and killing her presence.
With a calm mind, I stood up and smiled at him before bowing my head lightly in greeting.
"Good evening. I don't know why you're angry, but it's probably not my fault."
Ah, my excuses came out too early. The angry king scoffed at me before moving to slam his tired body down on the sofa before me, making it creak as if it'd break from his weight.
His body wasn't that much different from mine build-wise, though; why is he so heavy?
"Ah, don't mind my mood. It's just from talking to the others from my previous meeting. Anyway, this is the first time we see each other face-to-face, right?"
Ah, so he wasn't angry at me for that little turd from before? I heaved a sigh of relief after learning of this.
"Forget about formalities now and speak casually."
He added this while taking a teacup and literally pouring tea for himself. I could see the face of the maid behind him turn blue. She'll probably get scolded later by the head maid for letting the king serve himself.
"So, let's get straight to the point."
As if he didn't even have a conversation partner, he continued speaking as if giving a speech.
"First, congratulations on becoming the new Clan Head of both the Seimei and Luo clans. It's a rare occurrence to see two clans combine into one at the drop of a hat."
Seeing his friendly attitude, despite his sour expression, I smiled before responding in kind.
"Well, technically, they're still individual clans. I'm only like a general manager that's coordinating two local managers to be in sync."
"That, in itself, is already amazing, I tell you."
The king sighed as he savored the calming scent of the tea. Then, after drinking about half of it, he placed it down and turned to me with a flat expression.
"Well, that greeting should've been the only reason I called you here... At least before my previous meeting."
His gaze suddenly became sharp as he gazed straight into my eyes.
"Will, this is still a confidential matter, but the neighboring kingdoms are asking to have you."
"Pfft!"
Ouch, that went down the wrong pipe... As I coughed, I looked at the king, but the spray that came out of my mouth stayed in the air as if time stopped before it all returned to my cup like a movie running backward.
"Time element!"
I shouted reflexively. After all, it was a rare element. Almost as rare as the Void Element in the current era.
"Are you listening? I said the neighboring countries want you!"
The king raised his voice, making me return to the topic at hand.
"Why would they want a random nobody like me? I'm just a little clan head, nothing worth mentioning."
Although I tried to think of the benefits they could get from me, there are tens, if not hundreds, more who could provide the same benefit as I could. The king shook his head, his frown returning.
"No... They want to have your life to claim the top administrator privileges of the system."
"..."
Holy... Is this the result of the bad premonition I had earlier today?
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