CLA.S.S NEUTRAL: Stranger Is Coming

Beauty of the Сapital. Secret Investigation Office. King Ragan.

The developers seemed to have spent a lot of time creating the interior of the Secret Investigation office. The walls were decorated with patterns, frescoes, and bas-reliefs, with specially designated places for paintings. The pleasant light didn't hurt my eyes after the darkness of night. It had clean and fresh air, which was very unusual for a room without windows.

I liked the details the most. The models had been worked out almost at an atomic level. Hmm, very skillful. It seemed to me that we were coming in through a back door, rather than a front one. Some minutes later, we entered a large room with four doors.

"Go to the right door. This is an additional entrance to my office. There you'll see another door with a handle in the form of a feather, this is a room where you can rest. You can relax there. I still have things to do," Kurbakht said, and he headed to the far left door.

"Thank you," I said and followed his advice.

***

Despite the darkness, I could appreciate the beauty of this room—the president's apartment probably wasn't this luxurious: a massive table, littered with doc.u.ments and scrolls, next to which there was an exquisite marble lamp in the form of a beautiful girl, holding a deactivated crystal in her hands.

Massive mahogany bookcases with elaborate carvings hid the walls, and the ebony floor was covered with a fluffy carpet. I couldn't see its pattern because of the darkness.

What a city! Wherever you look at there are works of art. Okay, it's time to relax, I have a lot to do tomorrow.

I opened the door with the feather and, without paying attention to anything around, lay down in a large bed with a soft, light as a cloud duvet and fell asleep.

***

Kurbakht's voice woke me. "Allone, the king's reception will be in an hour. Hurry up and put on the camisole that lies on the nightstand. You won't go to the king dressed like that, will you?"

"You hate Ragan, don't you? So what's the difference how I go? On the contrary, we'll mock him this way."

"I respect traditions, and I don't want to disgrace myself. Put it on." The chief of secret investigations gave me the dark camisole with silver stripes on the shoulders and c.h.e.s.t. "Then we'll need to visit Nars' relatives and tell them how the head of the Karnad family died."

I looked like a nobleman. The camisole fitted me without issue. The color and the size were perfect. I also put on elegant black boots and gloves. I liked this look.

"It looks good. I guessed that a dark camisole would suit you better than a bright one, like most the aristocrats wear. You can keep it. Are you ready?" Kurbakht asked me.

I nodded.

"Then let's go."

***

It was a long walk. We wound along through the mazes of the palace corridors, passing through the vast galleries and halls. Many thoughtful servants rushed around, and aristocrats strolled, looking at portraits and enjoying conversations with each other.

Finally, we stopped in front of the large door. There were no guards next to it. It surprised me so much that my companion noticed it.

"The king doesn't like the door being guarded," Kurbakht answered. "He loves being alone in the throne room," the royal gatekeeper opened the door and said aloud, "His Majesty Ragan welcomes you," and closed the door behind us.

The hall was huge with a polished floor, white columns, peering out of the walls, and beautiful paintings on the ceiling. According to my estimates, its height was no less than fifty feet. I went through the hall.

The sun rays, passing through the high, but rather narrow windows, and stretching from the floor and almost to the ceiling, lay on the floor like canvases. The throne was located on a large pedestal, so to approach the king, it was necessary to climb a ladder with golden steps. Everything was done perfectly well.

The perfectly sharp edges of the golden stairs could cut, and they were polished to such an extent that it was easy to look into its surface and adjust your hair. I slowly climbed the stairs, afraid of slipping.

The throne deserved the highest praise as well for the masters who had created it. A golden stalk of wheat, iron and silver nuggets, swords, maces, spears, farmers, blacksmiths, aristocrats, scholars, and even entire cities were depicted on the throne. It seemed that everything that this country was proud of was right there. All the details were so perfectly matched to each other that it was a real eye-catcher.

King Ragan was sitting on it. He was a man of medium height, about half a head shorter than me, with gray short hair, done in an elegant but rather old-fashioned hairstyle.

The heavy gaze of his blue eyes tried to bring me to my knees, but this man didn't know whom he was dealing with. I had often come across similar gazes, but no one had ever been able to bring me to my knees, so neither life nor death would do it.

There was a royal red velvet mantle on the Lord of Mernor's shoulders. Decorated with diamonds and realgars, it sparkled like a divine robe.

The king's golden armor was also a masterpiece. The landscape of a part of the country with forests and lakes was depicted on it. I could see every blade of grass, slightly tilted by a breeze, and even ripples in the water.

A huge yellow diamond, symbolizing the sun, was encrusted in the c.h.e.s.t. Its reflection was seen on the water's surface.

Large scarlet rubies were inlaid in the plate gloves, and emeralds were fixed on the boots. Perhaps the former were a symbol of the fact that the ruler had a lot of blood on his hands, and he had to protect the people and remember those who had died for the country. The second represented the earth and the grass covering it, thereby showing that the king walked on the same ground as other people, and he had to protect his country.

There were several rings on the belt of a black dragon's skin for swords. However, the blades were now located on the side of the throne, leaning on the handles. A sapphire, dark as a sea surface, decorated the guard of one of them, and an aquamarine, the color of the sky, rested in the hilt of the second. Again, I easily guessed that the first was a symbol of water and its resources, and the second symbolized the air and sky.

I'd forgotten to mention the crown. It didn't go with the rest king's outfit at all. The triangular teeth, polished to a mirror shine, were made of dark gray metal, as well as the rim. Each tooth was sharpened so well that it seemed possible to be cut by it even from a distance. Not a single gem or pattern was on it, which was very strange and unexpected.

Ragan gave the impression of a strong man. There was not a single emotion on his calm face. Although something was strange: he wasn't old, but his hair was gray. I wondered why?