Douglas Miller
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MiP B2 Chapter 61: Royal Appreciation
🕑 Added 2025-12-23 23:13:49 +0000 UTC<< First | < Previous | Next >
Carlos quickly grabbed all of Nyralis's disabled items with Mass Telekinesis and stripped them off of him, then pulled them out of the cage and held them well away from the man. He was pretty sure Nyralis had no way to undo what they had done or to get out of his cage, especially with all of his soul structures removed, but there was no point taking unnecessary risks. Nyralis glared impotently, and even ground his teeth together when Carlos extracted a blue gemstone engraved with many tiny runes from under his shirt. The gem, which Carlos guessed might be a sapphire, had an attention diversion ward on it, plus a rather hefty mana reservoir connected to a manual-activation Teleport enchantment that had a large array of add-ons for pushing through all kinds of interference.
[Okay, Purple, I think we've got him, now. Focus everything on breaking the traps on the king and scions until they're out. We'll help, too.]
A flicker of acknowledgement and agreement flashed across their bond, and the dungeon domain around them ceased spreading and instead bore down on the bubbles of force like an industrial sander combined with a heavy-duty acid bath. The spell lashed out in response to the assault, but there was nothing for it to hit. It was like reality itself had taken objection to the spell's existence.
Carlos, for his part, cast a powered-up Force Drill, focusing as much power into as small a point as he could manage. He'd sent similar spells at the same barrier before, but this time, he made the tip self-repairing and gave it access to half his remaining mana to sustain it. Perhaps more importantly, he surrounded the tip with gluey hooks that wouldn't allow the barrier to pull away, copying one of Nyralis's tricks, and he made it hollow with a hidden expandable passage. He could have gone for cracking the barrier spell's control construct, but this spell protected itself strongly, and he was still wary of revealing too much about what they could do.
Inside the trap, the king avoided Carlos's drill in favor of continuing to attack other parts of the barrier. Carlos tried shouting to him, "If you focus where I'm drilling, it will break faster," but to no avail. Amber pressed her own attack on the other side, however, and pincering the slippery barrier between their spells finally made real progress. The barrier dropped a small section to allow their two spells to push against each other directly, much like it had before when the Kalor scions coordinated with their father, and they acted almost as one to take advantage of that gap immediately.
They projected sheets of force perpendicular to their drill tips, jamming their own barriers between the two sides of the trap, then separated and pulled back. They finally had the tips of their drills sticking through the barrier and into its interior, and Carlos poured mana into expanding the hollow passage hidden inside his spell, widening the hole in all directions. The barrier tried to resist, but it was weakening under Purple's constant erosion, and its design held no specific countermeasure for the widening of a tube that was already securely embedded through it.
Nyralis, seeing them seemingly distracted from him, drew an unenchanted steel dagger they had overlooked. Still on his knees in the cage they'd placed around him, he tried his last remaining option for escape. He whipped the dagger toward his throat to slice. Carlos intercepted the movement with a Telekinesis spell—he'd dedicated one of his minds to watching Nyralis the whole time. He followed up with a set of restraints that would hold the enchanter almost completely immobile, then scanned for a hollow poison tooth. That search came up empty, and he settled that mind back into just watching.
Meanwhile, Carlos called out through the passageway he'd opened, "Your Majesty, it's open here!"
King Elston glanced at him, suppressed a shudder as yet another razor scraped across his soul, and turned away. He pressed his armblades together, pointed them straight ahead of himself like a single combined weapon, and flew forward with all the force his royal-grade essence could exert. The trap tried to move with him, as it had before, but part of it was caught by Carlos's and Amber's spells. Carlos blinked at Elston's refusal, then mentally shrugged and pulled on his embedded drill.
Caught between Elston's push at one end and the twin anchors of Carlos's and Amber's drills, the trap spell's membrane stretched and distorted. Purple's mana continued wearing away at its substance, and it was becoming noticeably thinner. After a few more seconds, the spell finally tore. Elston's twin armblades pierced through the barrier, and he emerged. He swept his armblades to the sides, casting the remains of the trap behind him, and immediately set to freeing Brenelle next.
Carlos shared a look with Amber and considered whether to help, but Elston didn't give them much time to think. Elston clasped hands with Brenelle, causing her trap to open a small hole, then shaped his hand into several wide spokes, spread in all directions and digging back into the trap's force bubble. The trap tried to just let his spokes back out, but he thickened and flattened them faster than it could react, ending up with something very similar to the solid sheets of force that Carlos and Amber had used to prevent Elston's trap from evicting their intrusion into it.
In only a few more moments, Elston and Brenelle together had pried the trap open and broken it. Then Patrimmon used the same trick to get his hand through to the outside, and put them both to shame by somehow reshaping his whole body to flow through the conduit of his wrist. He was out almost faster than Carlos could blink.
Then the three of them lined up together facing Carlos and Amber, floating perfectly steady in the sky as if that was the most normal thing. Elston scowled at them, and though he had turned his arms back into normal, if heavily muscled, arms, he held them ready at his sides. "Who are you, and why are you here?"
Princess Lornera's voice answered from behind them before Carlos could more than open his mouth to reply. "Father, these two are the ones I told you about; the victims of the House Carlos kidnapping incident, who led to discovering the rotation agreement and the sabotaged enchantments, and who found a way to fix the sabotage. They are here because I called for aid, and they accompanied the only guards who responded. I had no idea that they had developed a royal-tier soul plan, but they proved willing to reveal that secret to answer our need. They have rendered priceless aid to the Crown, and they deserve to be rewarded accordingly."
King Elston hovered in place, his scowl unmoved, while he silently assessed each of them. His bruised and scratched soul extended some essence to probe Carlos, then Amber. Carlos felt almost naked, with the exact person he had been the most concerned about personally inspecting his soul while his disguise was completely dropped. Still, Carlos kept himself calm and waited. He didn't dare inspect Elston in return, but even just his passive senses picked up a lot of thin cracks being held together more by active exertion of will than by healthy integrity. Elston's probe shook slightly once, and Carlos pretended not to notice.
Finally, Elston withdrew his probe and curved his mouth upward into a smile. "You have the Crown's thanks, Lord Carlos Founder and Lady Amber Carlos. I will have to consider what reward would be appropriate. But first, deliver the traitor and his items to me."
Carlos and Amber bowed deeply, and Carlos plucked Nyralis bound and helpless from his cage. Elston grabbed Nyralis by his throat, then unleashed a suffocating wave of soul pressure on him. Elston's soul quivered briefly, but Nyralis's face blanched even whiter, and his body slumped and relaxed. Nyralis's soul, impotent without any soul structures despite his high Level, yielded to the pressure. All conscious direction or purpose in the movements of Nyralis's mana ceased.
Elston shook Nyralis's unconscious body, then lowered it and casually grabbed the enchanter's various items out of Carlos's telekinetic grip and tossed them to his children. With Nyralis dangling from his left hand, Elston looked at Carlos again and cocked his head. He glanced at Amber, then back to Carlos. "Would the two of you consider marrying into my house? Loyal mages of royal potency could be a worthy addition to Kalor's power."
Carlos's thoughts screeched to a halt, and he looked at Amber. Her eyes met his, every bit as shocked as he was. The idea of marrying a Kalor felt terribly wrong to him. The idea of marrying anyone—anyone except Amber—felt equally wrong. One of his minds reached out to her through Purple's bonds, and he felt a deep stew of embarrassment, shock, affection, and incredulous growing hope reaching back to him.
He firmly and emphatically pushed his own similar feelings toward her through the bond even as he schooled his face into a mask of polite calmness. He bowed deeply again. "Your Majesty, I am greatly honored that you would consider such a union, but the question came to us rather suddenly, and such a weighty matter should be considered at length."
Elston looked at the two of them quietly for a few seconds, then shrugged. "Very well." He looked past them at his younger daughter. "Lornera, you called for aid, and only the Carlos mentors responded? Why did you not ask them to bring you to personally marshal the palace garrison?"
Carlos slapped his forehead, but refrained from commenting. Lornera replied sheepishly, her voice filled with chagrin, "I didn't think of that in the moment. In that, I failed you, Father. I will serve whatever penitence you see fit."
Elston waved off Lornera's statement of contrition. "What's done is done. We have more important things to handle now." He looked sternly at Carlos and Amber. "You two, retrieve your minders and teleport Lornera to Kalor Palace. She and the garrison will handle matters from there. Retire to… wherever for now. Return to Kalor Palace at noon two days hence. I will have a suitable reward prepared for you at that time."
Carlos bowed and mentally nudged Amber, who hastily bowed as well. "Of course, your Majesty. At once!"
Carlos cast a short-range Teleport to pop down to where Lorvan and Ordens were, wrapping the spell around Amber and Lornera, too. A quick question procured the needed destination coordinates from the guards, and they all departed unceremoniously with another Teleport.
Purple's awareness and influence in the area faded quickly with the loss of his connections to it, but in the few seconds it lasted, he saw the three remaining royals react to Carlos's departure. Elston let out a great sigh and relaxed his iron grip on his soul's surface, and Brenelle and Patrimmon followed suit. Hairline cracks opened all over their souls and mana poured out for a moment before they all shuddered and clamped down again. The two scions rushed to their father's side and, despite their own injuries, pushed themselves to help the king.
___
Two days passed in a haze of nervousness and speculation for Carlos and Amber. Would they be hailed as heroes in front of every noble in the nation? Would they be given vast riches? Would they be greeted in a private ceremony and given a medal or other token of appreciation that they would never be able to publicly explain? Would King Elston insist on tying them to him by a marriage alliance? Would they be able to marry each other, as they had realized they both wanted? What of the fears that had prompted them to disguise their royal-tier souls in the first place? Had their investment in those disguises been a complete waste? Should they replace those soul structures now that the secret was out, and with what?
Finally, the time came for Carlos and Amber to return to Kalor Palace. Colonel Lorvan and Major Ordens escorted them, but Lorvan had firmly admonished that no others were invited, so everyone else stayed at the wellspring. An honor guard of eight royal guards greeted them at the teleport receiving room. Carlos tried not to be too obvious about gawking, but the amount of mythril on display greatly tested his self control, even in the short walk the guards guided them through.
The doors they arrived at were 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide. A few pieces of adamantium inlay decorated the massive wooden slabs, which together with the size assured Carlos that this at least would not be a small private audience. It seemed that even the Crown was not so rich as to use actual orichalcum metal for mere decoration, though; the inlaid designs featured the color of orichalcum prominently in depictions of crowns, auras, and wings, but none of it was the actual metal.
The huge doors opened ponderously as they approached, then closed behind them with a muffled thud. A walkway of flawless marble, lined with mythril on the sides, led straight forward from the doors. Ranks of royal guards stood at attention on either side of the path, gauntleted hands held in motionless salutes. After 60 feet, the marble path widened into an open area, though the mythril lines continued up to the dais 40 feet farther on, where King Elston Kalor waited on an ornate throne. There, at last, was a tiny bit of orichalcum on the tips of the throne's armrests, though Carlos suspected that it held some potent enchantment rather than being solely decorative. It was hard to distinguish a potential enchantment from the mana and essence inherent in the metal itself with only casual observation.
Three mages in the Crown's uniform stood at the back, behind the dais, and Carlos recognized the feel of Felton's soul as one of them. Princess Brenelle stood at the king's right hand, and she stepped forward as Carlos and Amber entered the open area. Prince Patrimmon and Princess Lornera stood behind the lines of guards on either side.
Brenelle greeted them. "High Lord Carlos Founder, and High Lady Amber Carlos, I welcome you in the name of the Crown. You have done much for the Crown. Extraordinarily so, for nobles so young, and especially since you have not even reached the point of public announcement of your house. You uncovered a treasonous conspiracy against the Crown, and in the course of that conspiracy's attempted revenge, you exposed the first evidence of a second, deeper conspiracy. You found a way to neutralize the work of the deeper conspiracy, and you provided this service to the Crown freely. When the Crown called for aid, you answered. And at the last, your intervention may well have saved the Crown from a rebellious plot that had grown in hiding for generations. Come forward, and receive your reward from the Crown himself!"
Carlos shared a look with Amber, and the pair walked forward in unison.
King Elston stood from his throne, and power filled the room. The bruises and scrapes on his soul from two days ago were gone, his soul healthy and whole once more. He nodded to them. "Perhaps your most significant achievement is that you have developed a soul plan with potency that rivals that of the Crown. The first nobles to ever do so." Abruptly, his face morphed into a hateful glare. His eyebrows creased, and he frowned and drew back his right arm. "And that cannot be allowed!"
Elston transformed his right arm into a sword blade and charged, seeming through sheer speed to almost teleport across the intervening distance.
An orichalcum blur appeared in front of Carlos, intercepting Elston's attack. Wind blasted in all directions from the thunderous collision.
Elston's shout echoed a fraction of an instant after the thunder. "Lornera?!"
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Comments
Melissa Harden
The reason so many wars are over who gets the Crown in succession is a because of the nasty civil wars between Heir and sitting Ruler to force passing the touch down when there's a clear declared line of succession. Civil wars and rebellions tend to stoke the flames for more civil wars and rebellions.
Gregoire Brougher
"receive your reward from the Crown himself" is a nice touch here showing what the king thinks the crown means
Ben Bass
TYFTC! I love how Carlos and Amber were able to handle everything, and I think they learned quite a bit from the fight. Now it isn't too surprising that there was a rebellion if the King immediately attacks people who could potentially match his power someday, even after they have done so many things to aid him.
Nate W
Amber is a local, far too young to have had a mage's education, and known to have been an unskilled novice upon their meeting. Yet under Carlos' tutelage she's superior to every crown mage after only a few months. From Lornera's observations, it appeared that they knew exactly the right spell to counter every spell the enchanter threw at them, something she didn't think was possible. They clearly have ways of communicating beyond speaking. That they've done the long range communication with their adventurers, and even the mayor, the crown is surely aware of it. The mayor is also aware that they have an intelligent dungeon core they're able to communicate with, which the crown is likely aware of. They've deconstructed every enchantment in the royal guards' armor, found and removed the sabotage, and even made improvements to the power souce the enchantments use. Their dungeon core is able to spawn copies of royal guards with the same enchanted armor. Their royal guards have surely reported back how powerful their dungeon has become. They've helped Kindar develop a completely different type of noble soul plan from their own. He fought Jamal in single combat, and won. Both have warrior soul plans. Jamal is a scion of a high noble house with likely the strongest warrior soul plan in the kingdom, excluding the crown's. She's trained all her life, and she lost to a brand new mythril noble. What would happen if they helped him develop a royal soul plan? Would he be able to defeat the king in single combat? Chapter 59: > Carlos couldn't move his mouth fast enough. Elston was already moving. Carlos hastily cast a spell to shout for him, and even had it speed up the words for the enhanced perception speed he knew House Kalor had. "IT'S A TRAP!" < This possibly shook the king the most of anything.
Lucy Marsden
The fact his kids seemingly did not know about this, implies he was trying to attack two of them and their dungeon. Given he lost to Nyralis and these two beat him handily and could seemingly both do it alone, it seems very foolish of him. I think this is some weird ruse or act.
Lucy Marsden
We appreciate the extra length chapter, it was lovely. I would not be opposed to a 2 week wait every time if this is the quality we get in return!!
Markell
Continuing on from @Jahith_Voice comment. Carlos and Amber have managed to establish a house, a royal soul plan, have some sort of cooperative relationship with a dungeon, managed to trounce the guy who made you look like a farce whilst being stupidly under-level… IN LITERALLY A FEW MONTHS. They’ve literally popped out of nowhere and upset the power of balance and just so happen to uncover two hidden plots? Yeah, no. The king may be acting brashly but the dude has every right to be terrified of them. (The only reason we as readers aren’t terrified is because we know that Carlos and Amber aren’t like every other noble.)
Graeme
I was thinking of ways that our dynamic duo could restrain the royals if they do end up hashing it out. Obviously they can’t teleport them anywhere, but I remembered their gate spell. I wonder if they could create an infinite mirror box using the gate to trap the royals, sorta portal style. They can’t attack it like a conventional barrier I would assume and it would basically negate there speed factor while causing no real harm.
Jackboeface
Will there be another chapter this week ?
Areanori Aleanor
Alright, see from *that* perspective, Elton's attack is... Actually completely justified.
M
That was my thought, too. It's a show and in a moment they all start laughing and congratulating the two. Well, or the king really is that arrogant and fucked in the head from who knows how many decades of uncontested rule...
Graeme
Maybe, though there’s always a chance the offer was a farce and this was going to be the outcome regardless
Sebastiano Carcangiu
Could the king behavior be a reaction to the refusal of the mariage proposal?
Person8
There's a small chance that the king's attack and Lornera defending them is a performance... They hold the king up as unreasonable and threatening and then Lornera and her siblings 'convince' him to allow Carlos and Amber to live only if they marry into the royal line. Since they probably picked up on the fact that they weren't jumping for joy at the opportunity a couple days ago.
Graeme
We still haven’t heard any mention of a Queen yet, so think your commoner theory would hold water. Wouldn’t put it past the nobles to keep concubines. It’s not like they’re an inherent “Noble Lineage” or blood that makes the Nobles Superior.
Dwarf_King
This chapter brings up a point, that I never considered before but has big implications for the entire noble cast. How do marriages work? Or how do you decide where the kids belong to? Each house has an own secret soul Plan, that can't combine with the soul Plan of other houses. Do they split the children up between the houses? Half goes to one house and half goes to the second? Until now, we have only seen one parent in each house. No wives or husband of the leaders of houses and so on. And we have seen noble scion of all genders, so it's not like that the wives take on the soul Plan of the husband's house. They could use "commoners" for reproduction and no interlocking noble houses (which would keep them weaker). But that doesn't explain the proposal of the king.
Jahith_Voice
From the point of view of the crown Carlos is terrifying. A guy from nowhere pops up in your kingdom, then from nothing starts building noble soul plan (as we recall when their soul plan was analyzed some similarities were detected to the royal soul plan) he keeps a lot of secrets as per reports of the royal guards are sending and additionally a debrief that must have happened after the incident. He has an insight into functioning of spells and enchantments beyond anything you ever seen to the point he managed to dismantle an opponent you and your family had issues subduing and who killed your son AND did so while at level of 50 and didn't even brake a sweat so you pretty sure they didn't even went all out. Bottom line is; If this guy is not a plant from another kingdom placed there to replace you you're gonna eat your crown.
Josh
Yeah, I've never actually seen "the king is evil but the royal family is on your side" before, that's new.
pfreya
Oh Elston my lad, you’ve sorely miscalculated 😅 I wonder if the broader/deeper connection with Purple is still active— I bet they would feel A Way(tm) about this underhanded attack! e: also wonder how Amber and Carlos reacted to the attack — I could see them both manifesting defenses in front of the other, the adorable romantic nerds <3
pfreya
Frfr! Amber and Carlos and Purple managed to completely fend off higher-leveled attacks, *while* problem solving the big-picture issue, *while* reaching out olive branch after olive branch to Elston and the kiddos. They showed themselves to be loyal and helpful through actions and words, but he was too damn proud to notice. Elston’s behavior drives me nuts, but that’s just a sign of great characterization and writing!
MoonlitShade
I expected it, but I’m not happy about it. I was really, really, REALLY, REALLY hoping that for ONCE in an isekai, the king would end up not being the bad guy and would be cool and supportive. Kinda annoying, actually. At least Princess Lornera seems to be on their side.
Miles Sumida
Honestly, we probably should have expected this from a man who chose to go to war in hot-pants.
Worros
I think if you rephrase your argument slightly... "Just two days after" _suppressing_ "TWO rebellions, the soul killing of most all the high end" _treasonous leaders_ " in your nation? Towards the ONLY people that " _witnessed any success in fighting against us_"?"
Josh
The charitable interpretation is that there might be some magical explanation for this behavior. For instance, maybe Elston has a soul structure that makes him cold and calculating and it's affected him negatively over time, or some curse or foreign soul structure infected him. The uncharitable, merely human, interpretation is that power hates competition, Elston knows that anyone with power rivaling his own is a threat to his own power base, and he sees enemies everywhere. Royalty in our world relied on a political power base, support from the nobility and ideally the people. But in their world, power is a personal thing, and individuals can take on armies; powerful mages are a power base unto themselves. So their power relies on personally being the most powerful, which they did through knowledge they thought no one else had or would find. And that was always going to be fragile.
Irakli Jishkariani
Third option, royals get their sh*t handed to them by carlos and amber
Vytmuir
Hmm, being honest, this is a really disappointing course of action. Not unexpected, and I definitely believe that he would have acted like this before the rebellions, but now? Just two days after TWO rebellions, the soul killing of most all the high end people in your nation? Towards the ONLY people that were capable and loyal enough to answer a call for help? No, I was expecting that he would make good on his word and reward them, maybe adopt the house into the royal family as a collateral line to maintain the power of the crown. This is just stupid. No-one even remotely capable would do this.
John Vistica
Or he just stabbed her because she put herself in the way.
Worros
Wow. I'm so very surprised Elston decided to kill off the only witness to his defeat by Nyralis. With a large chunk of the nobles culled by soul killing, the unhappy nobility are suppressed for another generation.
Worros
Have you been expecting Carlos to groom Amber?
unmellow the gamer
I think the difference between stupidity and evil is thin. Like this is fundamentally short sighted and foolish as is everything else he has done on screen so far.
Douglas Miller
Fixed. Thanks!
Graeme
Well this goes two ways I suppose; either Lornera actually convinces her father and there’s a tentative peace. ..Or more likely they fight, Carlos and Amber help but to no avail and they’re forced to flee. Possibly either with Lornera or she’s holds her family off and is imprisoned. Setting up a possible future rescue. Real question is are their formal royal guards going to be loyal to crown or have a change of heart?
John Vistica
Wow, Elston is truly all ego and power. He blatantly ignored all of the signs of the various conspiracies and threats posed by the master enchanter because he could not conceive of anyone or anything bigger than him. Now he wants to execute the only two people who had the skills to save him.
Darkarma
The king is dead. Long live King Carlos and Queen Amber in the kingdom of Purple.
Person8
...so, I kinda expected Carlos and Amber to end up together since just about the first moment they met. Definitely since they started travelling together... because that's the trope. But in actually reading this story, I remember maybe 3 sentences that ever actually supported that, so I'd assumed that the author intended to subvert that expectation... I guess not?
Lee Hulbert II
The king has shown himself to be naively over confident but not really evil up until now. I honestly thought this was a nightmare until Lornera stepped in.
Dale
Inb4 Carlos divides by 0 in the throne room
Irakli Jishkariani
Disappointing reaction. Not unexpected. First they refuse to take help and work as team. Now instead of gratitude and stuff, trying to kill. Says a lot about their character. Only lornera has potential to be normal at least, maybe good, by her actions here. There is no turning back from that for king, brushing this under the cover and pretending nothing happened will be idiotic move. So one option I see is they support lornera on the throne if they even want to do anything with royalty at all. Can't help but end in cliff huh? 😀 Looking forward to how this goes
William
With enemies on all sides a friendly Noble House that just demonstrated they were on your side and your response is to try to kill them. This seems incredibly unwise for a ruler. I don't know if we've seen enough of the king to know if this is completely on brand but it does share similarities to the restrictions he put on the other Noble houses to keep them weak. Rather than fostering a good relationship he can't stand anyone more powerful than himself or even the potential to grow more powerful.
NightKhaos
What an utterly stupid move. The arrogance, I'm glad that Lornera some sense. Even if you defeat C&A, an outcome not assured, the consequences of this action will only cause a far more prepared rebellion next time.
The Random NPC
then closed behind them when a muffled thud. -> with
Toua77
Please tell me we're getting a rebel arc with Lornera aiding House Carlos. I would adore seeing what they could do with helping the adventurers get their own unique Royal plans or improving on the Crown's.
viperfan7
Honestly, I think he's just scared. He's not used to actual potential allies as powerful as he is, rather, any "ally" he's had was just trying to use him., just none were ever powerful enough to even come close to harming them. So when there's someone who can potentially act upon that, and with the loss of one of his children, something that up until that point, was utterly unfathomable, well, he's NOT in his right mind right now. Lornera's about to beat some sense into him I bet
Olli Erinko
Holy cliffhanger!
Diplodicus
Thanks for the chapter! Will there be one next week with the holidays and such?
Loading_M_
Real shame Elston didn't actually pay attention the what they did during the fight... If he did, he'd know this was a terrible idea.
Troy Diebel
Take care of yourself and also nice chapter boooooo cliffhanger though
Mike
Your reward is to die? Whelp, there goes the neighborhood.
Test Patron Plz Ignore
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