Elementals

Chapter 9

The dining room is enormous and an impressively large table took up most of the space in the room. Large paintings of anything from knights to cities adjourned the walls and of course no room can be complete without the chandelier hanging over the center of the table. The king sits at the head of the table with his attendant standing behind him. Everyone else was seated in random places along table. The cooks bring out a strange cheese-like substance that Ro eyes warily along with a seemingly whole cooked chicken and set it in on the table in front of everybody seated at the table.

"So why did you personally invite us here your highness." Ro asks as he picks at his chicken. The king looks at Ro for a second and smiles. "Why wouldn't I want to meet the men..." He looks at Alisa. "And women who protect me and my castle?" Ro cuts off a piece of the chicken and ignores the cheesy substance. "Fair enough."

The king cracks his knuckles before digging into his food. "He's like a wolf." Rico whispers and quickly looks down when he sees the king wink. The king slows his eating frenzy after a few minutes and clears his throat. "Now, I will explain why I have brought you here." He begins. "I you probably have already surmised, I used the tournament in order to find the strongest team of elementals. I have reason to believe there will be either a large scale attack or an attempt on my life so I want you to patrol the castle and the immediate area in two groups in order to dissolve any suspicious activity or problems that may arise inside and directly outside these walls. The other team Eco will be guarding the patrolling the city itself" The king looks at everyone in turn. "Does anyone have any questions?" "I do." Bruce speaks up and the king gestures for him to continue. "Can we operate as our own unit sire?" The king scratches his head. "I always intended you to work independent of the main guard but you still answer to the commander of the guard for assignment. I know Mr. Cranel can be quite rude but I will have a word with him so he knows not to get out of hand." Bruce bows his head. "Thank you sire." "Now." The King claps his hands. "Eat! You begin your duties tonight."

Later that night the co-strongest elemental team stands in front of the castle doors and look up at the night sky. "We should've asked him when we get to sleep." Ro jokes. "I've never eaten that much in my life. I'll stick with you guys forever." Rico breathes. "I can't believe I got to meet his majesty." Bruce says. Alisa and Jerome just stretch after sitting for so long. "So how is our alternate mission going to work?" Ro asks. "We just do our jobs." Alisa says. "If you hear any information on water elemental or hooded figure tell the rest of us when we meet up again. Once we find out where he is we'll hunt him down." "What about after that?" Jerome asks. "What are we going to do then?" "We'll help Ro get back to his own world if he wants to go back." Alisa says. "Or we can stay here as the kings guards and live a good life." "Don't worry about that." Ro says. "Outside of my leisure activities I'll never get a life as good as this in my world. I wouldn't mind finding out how I got here and why I was in that room though." "I'll follow you guys wherever." Rico says. "As long as you feed me." Bruce takes a deep breath. "I wish to stay here when everything is over. I want to be the General of this country's army one day. I'll always be sure to watch your activities from the shadows." "It's cool man." Ro assures him. "Follow your dreams. Now let's get this patrol slash recon mission started already."

"So who's going with who?" Rico asks. Jerome yawns. "I think Ro and Alisa should be on different teams since they are the strongest so they should pick who they want with them." Ro ponders this. "Okay then. I want Rico." he says as he pulls Rico next to him. "Then I want Jerome with me." Alisa says. "He always has been. And his healing powers will come in handy." Jerome blushes in the dark. "I got Bruce then." Ro says with a chuckle. "Last pick isn't always the worst pick buddy."

Suddenly a loud yell rings through the night. Alisa and Jerome slap Ro's shoulder as they pass him. We're on it." Alisa says as they begin to run in the direction the yell came from. Once Alisa and Jerome disappear into the darkness of the night Ro, Bruce and Rico look at each other. "So what are we supposed to do?" Rico asks. "Walk around I guess." Ro guesses. Bruce pushes them both in the direction opposite the yell from earlier. "We are soldiers now. We must remain focused and aware at all times. The other two are in that direction so it makes sense that we go this way right?" Ro and Rico both stare at Bruce. "Why are you so excited?" Bruce can't hold his smile back. "I got a direct order from the king himself." He pumps his fist. "And I won't let him down." "Not with us here at least." Ro says as the trio begins their random patrol.