Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

"Wait here, please, she will be right with you." Petril Wyvernjack said and left Kaizen alone in a room on the first floor of the Royal Palace.

In that room, there was a set of red leather padded sofas whose frame, that is, the arms and legs, was made of solid gold. In the center, a black carpet, filled with embroidered details, provided grace for the shiny, waxed wooden floor. At the opposite end of the door through which Kaizen entered, there were two Victorian glass doors that were wide open to the balcony. Beside these two separate doors, long, white curtains swayed gently with the whipping of the wind.

In addition to these more macro-decorative details of the room, there was also a lot of art present in the room, such as paintings of landscapes on the walls. One of these pictures was clearly painted with the Light Lands as reference, because there were bits of land floating around that were very similar, except that the aurora borealis was not present because the square depicted that farming area during the day.

Kaizen waited for a few minutes, which soon became very long. It was not his custom, nor his liking, to wait for a long time. He hated long lines, so he also didn't usually go to crowded places or to the doctor.

To occupy himself and also to relieve the stress he was feeling from the delay, Kaizen began to explore the room. Looking through some of the items there, he found a beautiful vase that was on a table that caught his attention. This jug did not appear to be made of porcelain, nor clay, so Kaizen used the <Analyzing Eye> and eventually discovered that this was made of enameled ceramic, which was a material that required very advanced materials engineering that only the very wealthy had access to.

'Those designs on the surface of the jug...seem to reference some landscape as well. I wonder if this is very expensive.' Kaizen thought, looking at the beautiful object very closely.

Suddenly the sound of the wooden doors opening behind him startled him and he immediately turned away, trying not to look suspicious.

Ravastine entered the room accompanied by Patril, but contrary to what Kaizen had expected, she looked completely different from the day before. Her hair was more disheveled than after her fight, she had a sleepy face, and she was wearing baggy silk pajamas, whose buttons that were supposed to close the top of her shirt were open, showing more of her bust than a daring neckline would.

The woman looked at Kaizen's startled, and slightly shy, expression and took a few seconds to process what was actually happening. Then she looked down and remembered the garments she was wearing. Gradually, her countenance changed from sleepy to a deep blush.

"Whha!" Ravastine externalized her internal confusion as she tugged at both parts of her shirt to stop the gratuitous display. She then pulled Patril out of the room, and as he left she made a sign with her right hand indicating 1.

'Wait for another 1 minute or 1 hour? That's got to be a joke.' Kaizen thought.

When the doors to the room were closed, Ravastine immediately inquired to her butler:

"Patril, you said this was a professional meeting, not that it was Kaizen!"

"But he told me it was a professional meeting."

"And you didn't even think to mention that the person I would meet would be him and not one of my politics professors? Besides, you saw the outfit I'm in." She was angry and embarrassed simultaneously.

"I told you to put on better clothes right when I woke you up, however, you grumbled a little and left the room five minutes later in the same clothes, so I thought you weren't caring enough about this meeting to the point of putting on formal attire."

"How could I not care? Kaizen literally saved my life yesterday. You know that."

"All right, miss. I will prepare your formal attire immediately."

"Thank you, Petril."

When Princess Ravastine returned to the room in which Patril had left Kaizen, she was wearing an outfit very similar to the previous day's, which was a black military formal uniform with red details, only without the long cape. As soon as she entered, she didn't locate Kaizen until she looked out onto the balcony and saw that he was petting a blue sparrow that landed on her shoulder.

"Patril, can you leave us alone, please." She asked as she admired Kaizen's scene with the bird.

"As you wish, miss." The butler bowed slightly, left the enclosure and closed the doors.

Ravastine slowly approached the balcony and during that continued to observe Kaizen, who looked even more handsome this morning than the day before. His chin was considerably broad, his arms strong, and his eyes made him unlike any other man this princess had ever met. Unlike how she saw Taznaar, who she thought was an ordinary man with an exacerbated ego, to her Kaizen was like someone strange in a good way and mysterious, which made her feel strange.

"Hello~." Ravastine said as he approached.

Kaizen slowly turned his neck to look to his left and was relieved to see that she was wearing a totally different outfit. The bird in his hand took flight at that moment.

"Good morning, Princess Ravastine!" he uttered, and then tried to bow, but Ravastine stopped him.

"Lift up your head, Kaizen. There is no reason to bow down to someone to whom your life belongs."

"What?"

The brown-haired woman's face immediately flushed. "That's not what I meant, forget about it. I'm just grateful that you saved me yesterday."

"That is an honor for me." Kaizen placed his hand on his chest and smiled lightly. Internally, he only wished to get the mission continued as soon as possible.

"You probably don't care about this, but the consequences for yesterday's event were moderate. Even though that battle was a formal challenge of me against Taznaar, he made it clear in advance that it would not be he who would fight, but one of his subordinates. His interference, which saved my life, made my stepmother and some of my father's advisors furious, but it also pleased most of the members of the nobility who, even though I am only the second-born of the King, would not like a princess to be killed by one of the subordinates of a newly decorated Commander. That would diminish the nobles' influence."

As Ravastine began to explain, she walked to the edge of her balcony, where she could see part of the garden up close.

"Since no one knows you except for the rumors going around about you, they are still debating whether you saving me was something premeditated or not, so I need to ask you about this to ease my conscience: did you save me because someone ordered you to do so or not, Kaizen?"