Tales Of New World: The Magus 9 Onryx

The reason is today he will meet the King and Queen of Haegia, Paulo Estrudiantes the Third and Helena Estrudiantes. And even if he looked really confident about it when he had a little chat with Romain Ambros yesterday, when the time has come he can't calm at all.

Volya then takes a deep breath and then mumbles, "Just think that they are normal people, like the other... Just... Think like that!"

He then nods and takes a bath to calm him a little bit and after that, he will take some breakfast. After he grabs something for breakfast, he hears someone knocks on the door. He stands up from his seat and walks toward the door. The moment he opens the door, he could see several knights stands there making a way for someone.

In the middle of the way, stand three knights. Volya knows the two knights who stand there as he already sees their armor back at Wildespring. Those two are Albert Martin and Clement Marvin. But, the last knight's armor is different from Romain's or Aubert's armor because the knight's armor has a greyish color with an insignia of Haegia with unknown family crest. The unknown knight walking towards Volya and then bow at him. Volya instinctively bow at the knight and then he hears,

"My name is Villias Pavlov, one of the Five Great Knights of Haegia. I will become your protector while you are meeting with our King."

"It's an honor for me to be guarded by one of the Five Great Knights of Haegia. And my name is..." says Volya that interrupted by Villias.

"Volya Portar, the magus, and the hermit that lived at Wildespring. The one who helped Sir Albert and Our Queen on their mission back then at Wildespring."

Volya gulps a little bit and then Villias stands up. From there, Volya could predict his height around 190 cm as the difference quite far for him and Villias. Villias then looked at Albert and Albert nods at him. Albert then walks towards Volya and says,

"We already prepared your horse to escort you to our Capital City, Onryx. Hopefully, you could cope with the journey, Sir Volya."

"Don't worry, I am used to riding some horse back then," answer Volya.

"Good to hear that."

Albert then looked at Villias and nods at him. Villias then looks around him and shouts,

"Sir Romain! Sir Petros! Both of you will be the one who rides behind Sir Volya! Make sure both of you protect him with your heart content!"

"Sir, Yes Sir!" shouts Romain and Petros from each side of the knight's wall.

Volya looked really surprised, and his surprise changed to happiness. At least he knows that Romain will protect him and probably he will have a little chat at Onryx in order to know more about the city. Villias and Albert walk towards their horse, while Clement walks towards Volya. Clement then looked at Volya and says,

"You should be really honored because of two of Five Great Knights of Haegia protecting you!"

"Oh... Two... Wait... Two of Five Great Knights?!" said Volya surprised as he looked at Clement.

"Yes... Two of it."

"So... Sir Albert is..."

"Ahahahahahaha... I can't believe you still didn't know that!" said Clement.

Even though Clement using his helmet, Volya knows that he is smiling with his untidy mustache hiding his lips. Both of them laugh together until Clement says,

"You should hurry up! I believe Sir Villias and Sir Albert are waiting for you now."

"Yes..."

Volya walks one step and from there he remembers something. He looked at Clement and says,

"So... Which one is my horse?"

Clement couldn't hide his laugh after hearing that question and then lead him towards his horse. After that, they start to move towards Onryx with Volya located at the back of the group with Clement and Aubert in front of him together with other four knights and Petros and Romain behind him.

Volya could feel different of aura from all of them and for the first time, he understands that he is INDEED someone important right now. He thinks, "So... This how every n.o.ble feel when a lot of knights escort them..."

Volya sighs for a while and from there he knows that Romain looks at him and chuckles a little bit. He then takes a glance at Romain that still focused on their surroundings and that really make Volya smile a little. Meanwhile, Clement and Aubert looked at Volya and then Clement says,

"I believe... This man could make Romain grow even more..."

"And looking on his appearance, he is around Romain's age, right?" says Aubert.

"Yes. You know since Romain become the youngest High Knight of Haegia, it feels like he is really lonely as the boy around his age is still a recruit or lower rank than him," says Clement.

"Yes..."

"Even though Romain has a lot of potentials and will become stronger if we leave him with Volya… We still need a good cause to make sure that this man will look after Romain and vice versa."

Aubert suddenly keeps silent and looked at Volya that really impressed with the wildlife and his surrounding there. He feels that Volya could help them with something, especially about their Kingdom. And at the same time, he feels like he looked like someone he knows. But, after a while, he let it slide.

Meanwhile, Clement slow down his horse to match Volya's speed. He then asked Volya,

"What do you think about this mountains formation? Really cool, right?"

"I could say I am really impressed. As someone who lived in the forest, this is something new," answer Volya with a smile.

"Right? I really happy when outsider really likes our place."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. You know it really makes you feel really happy when some outsider praises it. It makes all of us want to preserve this for our future generation so many people still want to talk about it."

Volya quite surprised to hear that from Clement as his impression from their first meeting quite bad. And his surprised gradually change into awe as he knows that the more he knows the other, then he will find out more about their personality.

He looks at the sky and remembers what his father tell him and his brother in the past,

"Everyone will hide their true personality to a stranger. So, in order to find out their personality, become their friend and later they will show it to you how wonderful or dreadful they are."

Volya smiles as he knows that everyone there sooner or later will show their other personality if he always comes to Haegia. And from there he determines to regularly open his booth at Haegia in order to learn more about the other knight, just like Romain and Clement.

Not long after that, Clement looked at the other side of the road and then points in one direction. Volya looked at the where Clement pointing and hear he says,

"There is the one and only way to enter this mountain. Our greatest fortress, Arkmunster."

"Arkmunster..." mumbles Volya

"Yes, you pa.s.sed through there when entering our glorious Kingdom."

"..."

"Many young men dreaming that they will become a knight and become the part of Arkmunster knighthood..."

Volya looked at Clement for a while and then looked again at the place that Clement point. He could see the small wall from where his place now. He then smiles and then says,

"Everyone has a dream..."

"Yes, it is,"answered Clement joyfully.

Volya nods at him and then continue to follow everyone towards Onryx. It needs around half the day to arrive at Onryx from Ironforge, and the moment Volya enters the city, he keeps silent because of the impressive city in front of him.

Different from Ironforge that created inside a very beautiful cave, Onryx created right beside a very big cliff and it has a lot of levels there. Clement then says to Volya,

"Welcome to Onryx, our greatest capital city!"

Clement then start to chase Aubert, Albert, and Villias that gather there. Meanwhile, Volya still stops there as he tried to remember everything that he sees now. Suddenly, someone pats his shoulder. He looked behind him and see Romain.

Romain then takes off his helmet and says,

"This is our capital city, Onryx. Really impressive, right?

"Indeed..." answer Volya without looking back from the city.

"This city consists of four main level with four different gates. The first level is where every citizen and outsider gather at Onryx. You will find the guild building here, together with market and most importantly blacksmith. And not only there, but you could also find a very cool park there. And we Haegian always calls the first level as 'The Plaza of Mountain'."

Volya nods after hearing Romain explanation as he sees a cloud from blacksmith there. Romain then continues,

"The second level is where scholar from Haegia gather, you could see a lot of libraries there and maybe you could find someone who could give you a recommendation on any book here."

"Let me guess, your people will call the second level as 'The Scholar of Haegia.'"

"Ahahahaha... You got it right."

Both of them interrupted by Albert that gives them a sign to enter Onryx. Romain nods and puts his helmet back. He then continues,

"I will continue it while we start entering the city."

"Alright."

Volya pa.s.sed through the gate that created from wood. The gate height is around 2 - 3 m and that makes him really tiny compared to it. And the moment he enters the city, he could see that they use brick as the road in order to help people to move around easily there.

He looked around him and could see the difference between Onryx and Ironforge in term of the building, as Ironforge is limited with the ceiling, Onryx didn't. The building at Onryx is higher than at Ironforge and have more ornament there. He also could see that most of them have a very big window where people could see each other.

While they moving slowly towards the second gate, Romain then says,

"Alright, let's continue it..."

"Ah... Yes."

"The third level is where the administration for the national problem will be processed. If there is a problem inside the Haegia territory, then it will enter there first. A lot of higher rank knight reside there and they also work there."

"Only for administration?"

"I am still not finished it, you know... There also where the barrack for Knight-in-arms train themselves for Haegia. And there also where academy for a knight building is. You will find a lot of knight at that place. Oh, you also could see the Five Great Knights of Haegia live."

"Except Sir Albert, right?"

"Yes."

Both of them then pa.s.sed the second gate. The difference between the first and second gate is there is two statue of a person that using a robe and have book and staff at each hand and mirroring each other.

As they pa.s.sed through the gate, Volya could see a lot of people using the same robe as the statue there. Not only that, but he also sees a lot of building that quite tall at each side. He can't hide his awe at all and that really make Romain laughs. Romain then says,

"Sir Volya..."

"Huh?"

"Well, I can't call you like before if we are still inside this formation."

"Ah... Yes..."

"Then let me continue it."

"Yes, please."

"Alright... The last level is where the palace it. You should know about it, right?"

"Yes, the place where your King and Queen lived and where every rule created or abolished depends on the situation or ruler's mood."

"Your tongue really sharp..."

"Well..."

"Not like I mind it, though."

Both of them laughs together until arrived at the third gate. There they could see two statues of knights that looked like guarded the gate. They pa.s.sed through it, and Volya could feel the different feeling from the first two levels.

He could feel that everyone really focused and they are full determination to protect Haegia. Suddenly their convoy stopped and that really surprised Volya. The moment he looked in front of him, he could see that Albert and Villias looked at him.

He then steered his horse towards them and then asks them,

"Is there something wrong with me, Sir Albert, Sir Villias?"

"No, it's not," answered Albert

"Then, why are the convoy stopped?" ask Volya.

"We are waiting for the other three Great Knights of Haegia. We will escort you when you are at the palace later," answer Villias

Volya looked really surprised and then he thinks, 'Wait, why must I be escorted by the Great Knight? Did they think I am really important or they think I am a threat? The more I looked at it, it's more on the later."

While Volya thinking about it, Villias could see three knights that moving towards him. He then salutes them and then shouts,

"It's an honor for all of you answering my call and swiftly come here."

"If you the one who calls us, of course, we will come as fast as possible, Sir Villias." answer the first knight.

"The moment I get that message, I immediately leave my post at Arkmunster to here... I really eager to meet with the person who helps our Queen." says the second knight.

"A man from the forest... I have a lot of question about him... But, I believe Sir Mikhail will have more question than mine." says the last one with a very soft voice.

"Then, how about the three of you introduce yourself to him? He is near Sir Albert right now," says Villias.

The three knights look beside Albert and see Volya there. Volya quits shocked to see that the three of them suddenly walks towards him with an uneasy aura.

Until one of them, the knight with grey armor that has an ornament of a dragon on the crest and Haegia crest on the shoulder takes off its helmet. Volya could see a man around age 40 with a very strong chin and strong gaze. He also has a very unique hairstyle, as he let his hair untidy. He looks at Volya and then bows at him, and then he says,

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Vitaly Kalinic. I am one of the Five Great Knights of Haegia and the one who responsible for a.s.sembling the knight in case of emergency or war."

Before Volya could say anything, the second knight move beside him. His armor also has a dragon ornament, but it's more modest on the chest and the helmet. The second knight takes off its helmet and lets his black hair shown to the world. Volya guess that the man is around his 30s. He then says,

"My name is Phillipus Cortes, also one of the Five Great Knights of Haegia and the one who responsible in leading the knight at Arkmunster. And you could call me Phillip when we meet again."

And then the last one move near Volya. The last knight has a silver armor with dragon ornament on the gauntlet and chest armor. The helmet also resembles a dragon that gazing at the enemy and will not hesitate if someone attacks it. The knight then takes off its helmet. Volya could see a woman at her 30s with a light brown hair until shoulder. She looked at Volya and then says,

"My name is Ludmila Karychenko. I am also one of the Five Great Knights of Haegia together with Sir Albert, Sir Villias, Sir Phillip, and Sir Vitaly. I am the one who a.s.signs the woman knights for protecting the palace and Ironforge in emergency and peaceful situation."

Volya then got off from his horse and then bows at them. He then says,

"My name is Volya Portar, the hermit that lived at Wildespring for several years. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Sir Volya," answer Phillip.

Volya really surprised that one of them quite friendly at him, but his surprise changed to awe for everyone at Haegia. Not long after that, Villias suddenly says,

"I can't believe all of you takes off his helmet when introducing yourself."

"It's ethical for us to show our face when we introducing ourself, right?" says Phillip as he put on his helmet again.

"I think you are right."

"Don't say that you didn't show your face at him, Sir Villias." says Ludmila as she put on his helmet.

"I will later when we meet our King and Queen."

"That's our knight leader... Ahahahahahaha," says Vitaly as he walks towards Villias.

Volya could see that the knight are a close-knit bunch and looks more like a small family. He smiles at them until Albert pats him. Albert then looks at the other knights and says,

"Let's go! I believe our King and Queen already waiting for him."

"Sir, Yes Sir!" shouts the other.

"Then, let's continue our journey, Sir Volya," says Albert to Volya.

"Sir, Yes Sir."

He then takes on his horse again and they start to walk towards the last gate. The gate where the wheel of fortune will unite several strings of fate into one line that could reshape the world.