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It was a bright and sunny summer morning for the kingdom of Soluna, which wasn’t unusual for this kingdom with such a name. The town was waking up along with the sun, birds singing their usual songs as they made nests for the season, shops were opening, the smell of fresh bread came from the bakeries, children coming out to play along with the dogs and cats, the sound of music coming from a young man in the middle of town. It was a typical morning for the town.
Inside the castle of the kingdom, down in the basement where the blacksmith laid, a young slime was working on organizing the place. His blue face was covered in soot and ashes from keeping the fire lively, his hands covered in little cuts from carrying the swords around and placing them where they needed to be, his ‘hair’ pulled back into a little ponytail but it had some strays here and there. He placed a now cleaned and sharped axe onto the wall, wiping his forehead of sweat afterwards. He stepped back a few, admiring the progress he had made.
“Phew,” he sighs, taking a seat on a stool and resting his head on the stone wall. “Just a few more then I should be done, hopefully before the other knights start getting up.” He went over to a barrel full of dull weapons, pulling out a nice thin sleek sword, a nice golden handle resting at the bottom. He smiled a bit, recognizing the sword belonged to the princess of the kingdom. “Hm, Cherri uses this more often than I thought for it to be this dull. Must be doing some practicing when she finds the time.” He examined the sword carefully, it was cleaner than the other swords, no surprise considering who Cherri's partner is, so it looked like all he had to do was sharpen it and give it a few wipes afterwards, which was appreciated.
“Inspecting the princess sword I see?” a familiar voice came from behind. The slime turned to see a tall blonde man leaning against the entrance of the black smith.
“Oh Alistar!” the slime, known as 4c, sort of shouted in surprise. “You’re up early.”
“Hm, well I mean so are you,” Alistar hummed. “must have been up earlier than I to get all these weapons done.”
“Ehhh well…” 4c gave a nervous laugh “I.. haven’t really slept.” There was a pause between the two, before Alistar sighed and gave the slime a stare.
“...4cvit..” Alistar mumbled
“Hey, I told you before!” quickly added before the knight could say more. “slimes don’t really need to sleep that much. I can be up a full night and still run just fine.” He gave a little nervous smile, then started to walk over to the sharpening area.
“Uh-huh,” Alistar stood up, walking over to 4c, “Says the man who passed out 2 weeks ago during training” 4c gave a little squeak noise at that.
“That was a uh…” he stuttered for the right words “different situation-”
“Right, right.” Alistar sighs again, giving up this what would soon be fight. “Well it seems to have done you a favor, you’re nearly done with those swords.”
“Yep!” 4c says, relieved at the change in topic, pointing to the walls of all the weapons he has cleaned and sharpened. “Just a few more left then I can call it for the day.”
“Well then, I might as well help. I’m not necessarily skilled in blacksmithing but I know a few things.”
“Be my guest!”
Alistar walked over, grabbing two swords that were bigger than 4c out the barrel. inspecting them closely, then walking over to get a clean rag to start the cleaning process. 4c started to sharpen Cherri’s sword as Alistar did that, watching carefully to not break it. He couldn’t imagine how Cherri would react if he did that.
“Speaking of training,” Alistar said, breaking the silence that had fallen on the room for a bit. “I want to apologize for the lack of it recently.” 4c stopped sharpening the blade for a second, turning to look at the moon knight as he spoke “As you know our beloved king is stepping down from the throne soon. Along with the current peace treaty we have with Thornhelm, we’ve been trying to get a somewhat normal life in the kingdom again.” There was some sadness in the knight's voice as he spoke, 4c could understand why.
“Oh no, don’t worry about it! I understand it’s not easy being the protector of the king.” 4c remembered back to when he was in Bannerfall, and what his friend Katie went through when she was just knighted, having to be the knight of a rotten frog, what he made her do… he shook the thought from his head. “Besides, I'm not in a rush to finish my training anytime soon, I don’t mind taking it slow.” he turned back to sharpening Cherri’s sword.
“I see…” Alistar paused, “Well we appreciate it, these weapons have needed some cleaning and sharpening for some time now, it’s good to finally have it done.”
“Do you not have an actual blacksmith?” if they did, 4c had never seen him.
“Oh, we do. Sir Abolish is our blacksmith.” Alistar expected the sword again after giving it a few wipes, before continuing “But he has been busy with a mission the past month which leaves him unable to do his usual duty.”
“Abolish? I don’t believe I’ve met him yet.” 4c finished sharpening the sword, reaching over to Alistar for the cloth as they switched places.
“Not too shocking. He usually keeps to himself, spending most of his time down here. But he is an excellent knight on the battlefield.”
“Ah,” 4c hummed, thinking back to an old friend who was like that when he was down. “ Well I hope to meet him at some point.” 4c gives the sword a few good wipes with the cloth, stopping for a moment to admire the shine of the sword, looking like it was almost glowing.
“Have you met any other knights than myself and Dame Apokuna?”
“Not really, not any that I could remember by name.” He placed the sword onto the wall, making a mental note to remember to hand it to Cherri later. “I did bump into this one knight, and I mean really bumped. I thought my tail bone broke when I hit the ground. I've never seen someone apologize so fast then immediately blame the person they bumped into.”
“Ah,” Alistar gave a weird half laugh. “ You meet young Shauna.”
“Shauna?” 4c repeated.
“She is a knight in training much like yourself and yes certainly is an… odd one. But she’s got heart and is pretty decent with a sword.” Alistar started to sharpen his sword, which looked a lot more calculated than 4c’s attempts. “I’m surprised you haven’t met many of our knights. You’ve been here for a good few years now.”
“Ah… yeah...” 4c gave a nervous laugh. “I’m not too well liked in the kingdoms I was in before.. Guess it's a habit to try and stay hidden as much as possible.”
“Ah, I understand.” Alistar held up the sword to get a closer look at it. “I do believe you should meet some more knights here. I promise we won’t bite.”
“Heh, I don’t know if I fully believe that, especially with how Apo is…” 4c chuckled, grabbing the final sword in the barrel.
“Ah well, Dame Apokuna is a very different story... okay, not everyone here bites.” 4c let out a good laugh at that, Alistar joining. “Oh shit, I just remembered.”
“Remember what?”
“I do have somewhere to be with the king, I was sent down here to give you something.” Alistar reached into his armor, pulling out a red letter stamped with the royal symbol. “Here, from the king and young princess themselves.” Alistar walked over to the wall of weapons, placing his on the wall.
“A letter from the king and princess?” 4c repeated. “May I ask what for?”
“A personal invitation for a party the king and young princess are hosting, everyone in the kingdom is getting one. But Cherri asked me to personally give it to you.”
“Oh, well thank you!”
“Of course. Now I’m sorry to leave in such a rush and not finish what I promised to do, but I do have to go.”
“Yes, of course! Thanks for at least getting one done, one less for me.” 4c gave a small smile. “I will see you later then.”
“Yes, good day 4cvit.” and with that, Alistar gave a little bow before exiting the blacksmith’s. 4c turned back to the letter, looking at it carefully, the paper felt weirdly soft. He carefully opened it, careful to not damage the seal, and he pulled out an even softer paper than the envelope holding it. He opened it to find the letter addressing him by name, two little papers falling out. It read,
Dear 4cvit,
Your royal highness, King Ren, and his young daughter, Princess Cherri Fire, has formally invited you and the kingdom to a Masquerade Ball that will be thrown in the castle grand room later tonight at 10 o’clock sharp!
You have no need to worry about gold. All you need to do is show the guard at the door the little note signed by King Ren himself and the name given to you for the ball, they should have fallen out of the note when you opened it.
The rules are simple for this party,
No weapons of any kind are allowed
That includes the knights
Knights weapons shall be left in their quarters during the party
If there is any means of needing a weapon, they will be found in the front behind the lock door.
If needed, yell for Sir Alistar and he will open it for the knights there
And, of course, the most important rules:
This is a masquerade, masks will be delivered to you three minutes before the start of the party
You shall not remove the mask until it is allowed
Those who do will be escorted out of the castle immediately
This party was the idea of King Ren
As final a huzzah from him before he retires his throne to his lovely daughter
We hope to see you here!
Signed by your royals,
King Ren and Princess Cherri
A masquerade ball? That sounded familiar. Cherri probably came up with this idea... Does she miss Bannerfall like I do? He reached down to the two little papers that fell out of the letter. One with King Ren’s beautiful handwriting, and the other that had the name he will be called for the night. Neboux.