Prince Alonzo's pale face, upon hearing Jack's pledge, brightened considerably. "Good! I'm extremely glad for your support. Please stand up!"
At that time, Jack heard another notification, informing him that his Social skill, Influence, had upgraded to Advanced Apprentice. Earning a prince's gratitude must have pushed that skill's proficiency by a great deal.
Jack said as he stood, "However, I must say, I'm just a weak outworlder. I doubt I can cause any ripple in your power struggle."
"I disagree," the prince said. "If I remember correctly, when we first met, you are still level 18, even lower level than me. Now, even though I have improved, you have improved much further at level 32, while I'm now lower level than you at level 27."
"I agree. The rate by which you outworlders is improving is scary," Commander Quintus said.
"Perhaps that is the reason that Therribus opposed your kind so much," Prince Alonzo said. "He was afraid of your kind. In that case, I'm afraid he will do something drastic if he sees outworlders keep on improving at this rate."
"I will keep an eye on him. As long as the king still draws a breath, he won't be able to do much," Mason said, then to Alonzo, he said, "you just focused on improving your influence to secure a strong enough position to contend against your two brothers."
Alonzo nodded. "In that case, I already have a target in mind. Mister Storm Wind, I would like to give you your first assignment. I have tried to approach and gained support from the Blacksmith Circle. I have made some contacts with them and provided them with rare materials. I would like you to head over to their base and give them this gift I have prepared."
A maid brought a miniature treasure chest to Jack. While receiving it, Jack asked Peniel, 'Blacksmith Circle?'
'It's another league faction. Those that had high proficiency in blacksmithing can become its members.'
"The other two princes didn't put much attention to the Blacksmith Circle, they think it is just a small faction," Mason added. "But this faction is not to be underestimated. It provides almost half of the kingdom's weapon supply after all."
"Yes, Royal Advisor Mason has been the one that proposed for me to get close to this faction. Now I am close to asking for official support," Alonzo said. "Inside this chest is also a letter. Please give it to a Master Blacksmith called Haestus. He is the one I have made contact with within the faction and is also one of the top echelons of the faction. I have been planning to head there myself, but as you see I am in no condition to travel. I've postponed this matter long enough. I wish you to represent me in sealing this cooperation with the Blacksmith Circle. Once he signed the letter, please bring it back."
'Uh, I'm not exactly a negotiator type,' Jack thought. But what could he do? He had declared so passionately just now to help the prince. If he declined the first task given to him, that would be embarrassing. He would just do his best, as usual. He stored the miniature treasure chest into his inventory and said to the prince, "I will head over right away."
He heard a notification voice telling him that the chain quest, Throne of Themisphere, had been updated.
"I will be counting on you," Prince Alonzo said.
Jack nodded. He then said, "There is one thing I think I should inform you all. This is about us outworlders. Although my theory had Prince Therribus as a possible culprit, we could not rule out Prince Rhemos as well. Previously, I've seen Prince Rhemos hanging out with an outworlder who is a part of a coalition."
Jack told them about the coalition and the name of the guilds that were part of the coalition. He advised them to be careful when dealing with outworlders who were part of this coalition.
"Unfortunately, I can't ban them from joining," Mason said. "Each prince or high official like me has the right to recruit someone into our kingdom faction. I believe Prince Rhemos must have invited many outworlders from this coalition you mentioned. But thanks to your information, I will pay attention to them. Make sure they don't do anything suspicious."
"Talking about outworlder guilds, I understand you also in one, right?" Prince Alonzo asked Jack.
"Yes, it's called Everlasting Heavenly Legends."
"Give me the names of promising members. I will invite them into our kingdom faction as well."
"Great!" Jack said. If the other could gain merit points and reached Viscount as well, they could exchange their merit points for the guild bonus. They didn't have to rely on him alone. He immediately informed them of the names of Everlasting Heavenly Legends' core members, except for Dylan. For the regular members, he didn't trust them enough yet.
"Jeanny?" Commander Quintus commented after seeing the list of names. "She is already a member of our faction."
"She is?" Jack was astonished. Jeanny never mentioned it.
"She is of the Military branch. A rather promising one, I might say. I didn't know she is your friend."
"Great. If you have anything that requires large numbers of workforces, you can contact her. She is the leader of my guild."
While Jack continued to chat with them, he asked them for directions to Blacksmith Circle. Contrary to his expectation, this faction was not located inside the capital. Their base was in the wilderness. More correctly, their base was at the other side of Mount Thenias which the capital was leaning on. Mason gave Jack the coordinates to the place.
Mason explained that the Blacksmith Circle built their base there to utilize the mountain's heat in forging their weapons and armors. That side of the mountain also provided many ore mines which they used to craft equipment.
Jack informed them in that case, he would head there tomorrow morning. He planned to rest inside the capital tonight.
After chatting about a few more things, Jack excused himself. Prince Alonzo asked him when he stood from his seat, "I believe you will be staying in Amy's Bakery?"
"That's my plan," Jack answered.
"Samuel will accompany you to the Blacksmith Circle. He will wait for you in front of Amy's Bakery tomorrow morning."
"He will?"
Samuel, who heard, immediately protested, "Your Highness, no! I need to protect you. My life is already yours. When I heard about that second assassination attempt, I've made up my mind. I'll stay by your side no matter what. No assassin will ever get near you again before going through me!"
Prince Alonzo gave Samuel a grateful expression. "I understand and appreciate your devotion. However, as you can see, I am just laying here all day. I'm fully protected within this castle. There is no need for you to continue standing guard. You will help me more by protecting Mister Storm Wind in his task. You can return to me again once the task is done."
"But..." Samuel was still hesitant.
"Samuel, this is my order. I hope you will abide by it."
"I... I obey," Samuel said as he bowed.
"Good," Prince Alonzo said. He turned to Jack and said, "he will meet with you tomorrow morning. I wish you luck."
"Thank you. I pray that Your Highness will recover soon."
Jack exchanged farewells with Royal Advisor Mason and Princess Sindral as well. Commander Quintus also excused himself and left with Jack. When they came out of Prince Alonzo's bed-chamber, Claudius' squad get into formation and followed them as they left.
During his walk out of the castle, Jack checked the new quest on his Quest page.
Throne of Themisphere (Chain kingdom faction quest)
Difficulty: SSS
Rewards: ???
Support Prince Alonzo in ascending the throne.
Part 1: Gain support from Blacksmith Circle
Difficulty: S
Rewards: 500,000 exp, 30 gold coins, 3000 merit points, additional rewards possible
Meet with blacksmith Haestus and form an official alliance with the Blacksmith Circle.
'The description is more detailed this time, probably this is how a proper chain quest looks like,' Jack thought. It was as Peniel told him, the difficulty of the individual quest was lower than its parent quest. S difficulty still sounded difficult, but now that he was an elite class, supported by a level 55 Special Elite native, he should be okay. Though he didn't understand why negotiating with a group of blacksmiths would have an S difficulty.
The exp points and gold coins were nothing much for an S difficulty quest, but the merit points were generous. He could request Imperial rescue two times with those many points.
As Jack and Commander Quintus walked through the palace courtyard with squad escort behind them, three figures were watching them from a balcony far above.
"I thought you said you have taken care of him?" Prince Therribus asked.
"I... I did," Warren replied with a nervous tone. "The Assassin Guild has confirmed his death. He is an outworlder, it is normal for them to come back to life. He is just a low-level weakling now, there is no need to concern about him."
"Is he?" Prince Therribus turned to the third person who was Lord Commander Claudius.
"I can't inspect his level," Claudius replied. "He must have worn something that blocked others' Inspects. However, from his aura, I'm pretty sure he is an elite class. No way he is a low-level outworlder who just revived from death."
Prince Therribus turned to Warren, who was now getting more nervous under the stare.
"I... I don't understand... I will demand an explanation from the Assassin Guild. I've paid a lot for his life!"
"Hmph, never mind. He must have used a tool to escape death. He is just a minor ant, no need to bother with him. Let's focus instead on Rhemos. I heard he had recruited a lot of outworlders to help him in doing tasks to secure more influence."
"They were just minor setbacks, Your Highness. Our camp is still stronger," Claudius said.
"Nevertheless, he will be more dangerous if he continued at this pace. Do not underestimate that brother of mine. Go and find out about these outworlder forces that had given their supports to him, then formed secret death squads to hunt those that are carrying Rhemos' orders out there in the wilderness.. It's time we start showing these outworlders what it means to oppose us."
