Prince Alden swiftly recomposed himself, "Unfortunately, we don't have an identity plaque yet. We were in a hurry to complete the tasks, so we were unable to get one," he responded, sighing.
He understood he needed to resolve this quickly and speak with the Guildmaster so they could swiftly leave and continue their tasks.
Hearing his response, the receptionist sighed. She had seen many prominent individuals like those before her walk in here and behave like they could resolve any issue with their wealth. However, rules were rules, and she couldn't do anything if they didn't have an identity plaque.
"I am sorry, sir, but I am sure that you are aware of one of the five main rules of the Gardeners Guild, which states that no individual whose identity hasn't been officially approved by the Gardeners Guild or has yet to be given an identity plaque is allowed to engage in any activities related to the management or handling of weeds or harvest within the Garden. So without your identity plaque, there is nothing I can do for you," the receptionist responded, shaking her head.
Prince Alden nodded in understanding. He realized that the receptionist was only doing her job. "I would like to speak privately with the Gardeners Guild Guildmaster. I am very familiar with him, so I am sure everything will be settled when he sees me," he said.
The receptionist furrowed her brows in response. The man's request to speak with the Guildmaster privately meant he was from a prominent background and had some familiarity with the Guildmaster. However, she knew the Guildmaster despised dealing with such situations, and she could face punishment for calling him.
"The Guildmaster is in a very important meeting, so I cannot summon him. However, for your sake, sir, I will overlook the matter of breaking one of the Gardeners Guild's main rules if you drop the remains of the dead weeds and leave. You can return another time to be tested and given your identity plaque," the receptionist responded.
She also didn't want to anger them, as she was still uncertain of their background and feared the repercussions. Since this was her last shift for the week, she decided to leave this issue for another person to handle.
Prince Alden sighed in defeat and decided the only way to resolve this issue was to reveal his identity. "Look, I am fourth Prince Alden, the fifth child of the royal family. I joined the Gardeners Guard temporarily to help handle the weeds and the Garden, so I would appreciate it if you could speed up the process of getting us an identity plaque and verifying our deposits," he said, flashing a smile as he lifted his leaf cap, revealing his face to the receptionist.
He didn't bother revealing Orion's identity as that would create a stir, which he wanted to avoid.
"I am sorry, sir, but if you don't leave right now, then I will have no choice but to call the guards and have them escort you out," the receptionist responded, her voice tinged with irritation.
Though she hadn't seen the fourth Prince before, nor any other members of the royal family except for the High King, High Queen, First Prince Kael, Sixth Princess Morgana, and Sixth Prince Erik, all of whom she had glimpsed on special occasions, it was well known that the Fourth Prince had the worst reputation among them, thanks to the scandal surrounding him. Thus, it was common for people to use his identity to do anything terrible or sketchy.
Moreover, even though he was the Fourth Prince, she doubted he would choose to go through such a tedious process when he could easily have someone from the Canopy Palace prepare his identity plaque without much difficulty.
Therefore, she began to doubt the identities of the two individuals before her and even started to scrutinize them more deeply, suspecting they were here merely to cause trouble.
Prince Alden felt his face twitching in annoyance. He began to regret why he hadn't taken care of this earlier instead of wasting time here worrying about whether his elder brother would suddenly arrive early and ruin his plans.
Nonetheless, as he noticed the gazes focused on them since they entered the building slowly becoming silent, he understood that their conversation was already attracting the attention of several others in the room. It was best they leave before it created a commotion.
"Let's go," Prince Alden said, shifting his attention towards Orion as he turned around.
Since they had already started on the wrong foot here, it was best they went to the Gardeners Guild branches and approached the matter more delicately from there. Though it might be the longer route, it was a price he was willing to pay for his future.
Orion shook his head in response, "How about I try it?" he asked.
Having observed the conversation between Fourth Prince Alden and the receptionist, which seemed filled with misunderstandings, Orion decided to take a more direct approach despite Prince Alden's concerns.
"Are you sure, Mr Orion?" Prince Alden responded, his voice sounding like a whisper as he attempted to dissuade Orion.
"Since we're already here, we can't afford to waste more time and delay the rest of the tasks. Besides, if anybody dares to come looking for trouble, then I'll make them regret their actions," Orion responded, nodding before shifting his attention towards the receptionist.
'Of course, I know your strength, but wouldn't this disrupt everything I've planned?' Prince Alden thought, his shoulders dropping in defeat as he couldn't reveal his intentions to Orion to stop him.
Orion removed his leaf cap and introduced himself to the receptionist, "My name is Orion, and I just arrived in the Pixie kingdom today. I hope this clarifies why we don't have an identity plaque."
Orion couldn't help but smile wryly as he remembered that High King Eldric had assigned him this task to experience what the Gardeners face when tending to the Garden and wondered if this situation counted as one.
Nevertheless, he had several issues to handle, so he needed to resolve each quickly.
