"Would you like some tea?" asked a maid in a neat black dress with a white apron and headpiece.

  I thought I knew what tea was. You took some dried leaves, boiled them up in some water, then drank the result, trying not to accidentally drink the leaves while you were at it. Alas, what I was being offered didn't seem to be the tea I was used to.

  The first clue was the way it had arrived on a miniature cart—a tea trolley, apparently; they had a trolley just for the tea—with three pots of different sugars, four different types of milk, and an assortment of little cups that were so heavily decorated that they wouldn't have looked out of place in the temples. There were even little plates to put those cups on.

  I had a suspicion that her 'tea' was to my idea of tea what a gold coin was to a copper.

  The same could be said for the rest of the room. I'd been instructed to sit on a chair that was far too big for one person. I could have comfortably lain on it. Apparently, it was called a sofa, and while I'd assumed it to be wood with patterned fabric draped over, it wasn't. It was soft. I'd squeaked with surprise when I'd first sat down and sunk into it. For a horrible moment, I'd thought it was some sort of trap.

  Nonsense, of course. Given the residents of this building, there were no need for traps. I'd thought of knights as singular entities, each off doing their own thing, but this building was full of them. I still remembered how Leo had felled a swath of forest and demolished a chunk of his camp with single uses of a Skill. I was in the middle of an entire building of people who were, presumably, capable of similar feats.

  And in that building of people who were so utterly superior to me, I was being offered tea. I had absolutely no idea how to react.

  The floor was carpeted with a plush red carpet. The furniture was spotless. Weapons were proudly displayed on painted walls, blades gleaming. A large fireplace was full of wood, but not yet lit—it was warm enough not to need it. The door was not merely a block of wood, serving to delineate inside from outside, but was itself an ornately carved artwork. The room was the most opulent place I'd ever been in.

  As I'd taken to doing recently when stuck in a difficult position, I resorted to telling the truth. The actual truth, this time, rather than the technical kind.

  "I'll be honest," I said. "I am completely out of place here. There's nothing on that trolley that I recognise as tea—it all smells far too nice for that—and even if I did, I'd be far too terrified to take any in case I spilt it on the carpet or furniture. I really have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing or how to behave."

  The corner of the maid's mouth twitched. "I wouldn't worry about spilling anything, sir. If you do, it will simply be cleaned up."

  "Please don't 'sir' me. Sitting in this room is bad enough without people sir-ing at me..."

  The mouth twitched again. "I apologise, sir, but breaching protocol could cost me my job."

  "And again, I don't even know what your job is."

  "A maid of the estate of the Knights of the Thorned Rose, sir," she replied. "An estate in which you are currently a guest, so..."

  She looked very much like she wanted to say 'suck it up', but wasn't sure how to phrase it in a way consistent with protocol. In a way, I sympathised. This was probably awkward on both sides of the interaction, and from the continued twitching of her face, I was fairly sure she was suppressing laughter.

  Thankfully, we were saved—or at least distracted—from further class-shock by the room's ornate door opening. Two knights entered, taking seats on the sofa opposite me. Neither was armed or armoured, but I felt confident in my guess based purely on the amount of muscle on display. One in particular looked like he was in danger of bursting out of his own skin.

  The maid poured each of them a cup of 'tea', using different milk and sugar in each despite neither knight speaking, then primly left through a side door.

  "So..." said the almost-bursting one. "Your name is Robin, correct?"

  "Yes," I agreed, happy to be back on firmer ground. My name was something I knew.

  "I am Earl Alexander, the commander of the Knights of the Thorned Rose, and this is my adjutant, Sir Christopher."

  And there went the ground again. Earl? I thought these people were knights! Never mind Baron Cargellen, this guy outranked Count Harvent!

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  "From the way you're still alive, it looks like you came here before visiting the Society of Exploration and History," continued the earl, ignoring my panic and adding another layer of distress to the situation.

  Tea had been such a small problem, in the grand scheme of things. Where was the maid and her tea trolley? I'd much rather have a day of that than whatever was happening here. Why was an earl talking to me?! Why would some society want to kill me?!

  "Y... yes. I came here first," I stammered out.

  "Hmm..." said Earl Alexander, pulling Sir Galahad's missive out and resting it on his knees. The letter had already been opened and, presumably, read. All while I was left in here to wonder what was going on. "This is a dangerous item you've been travelling with, but now that we've been informed, things should get a little easier. I will arrange to make a protestation to His Majesty immediately."

  So now the king was involved. Yup, this was all way over my head. I wasn't even sure why I was asked to wait around. It should have just been deliver letter and leave. But no. I had to come in and wait.

  "The tides of power have shifted somewhat since Sir Galahad was last here," continued the knight. "Still, I believe that Count Harvent will be deposed in short order, and a more suitable candidate appointed to inherit his title."

  "How short?" I asked, the memory of Greyforge cutting through my out-of-depth feeling. "Greyforge had about one day of food left three days ago."

  "Not that short, I'm afraid. The wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, but I can assure you that they do turn. We'll save who we can. However, it's best that you deliver the remainder of the missives today. Sir Christopher will escort you."

  "Uh... That's... that's not necessary. I know the way!" I squeaked, not wanting to wander the streets of the capital with a noble.

  "Possibly, but for your own safety, it will be best if an unimpeachable witness observes you entering each estate. It increases the chances of you leaving."

  "Sir Galahad never said delivering these letters would be dangerous!"

  "Oh, you needn't worry. It won't be, as long as you follow his instructions. He requested an escort from us for this very reason. You were instructed to come here first, were you not?"

  "Thank you then, I guess..."

  "Which brings us on to the second item in this missive."

  "There was another?" I asked.

  "So he didn't tell you? Interesting."

  "No, I thought this was only about saving Harvent Canton."

  "It's true that this is only a minor thing compared to that. Sir Galahad has, in fairly strong terms, suggested that I recruit you into my order."

  I was really glad I didn't have a cup of tea, because if I had, I'd most certainly have dropped it. Had I had any in my mouth, what wasn't on the floor would have been splattered over the pair of knights.

  "W... why?" I managed to squeeze out.

  "Apparently you're thoughtful, incredibly talented, and have no hesitation in striking down evil when you find it."

  "But... but... I can't be a knight!"

  "Well, there would obviously be a period of training first, but why not?"

  "I don't even know how tea and sofas work! This place is so alien to me that I may as well have been whisked off to the moon!"

  "Nothing a few days with an etiquette teacher wouldn't resolve. I'm more concerned with whether you're truly as talented as Sir Galahad seems to think. What were your plans for when you had finished your deliveries?"

  "I planned to join the adventurers' guild."

  "Hmm... You currently do not have any combat Skills, correct?"

  I nodded.

  "Perhaps we should sponsor you there, which would permit you to skip the more menial part of the process and jump directly to E-rank. Inducting a peasant from a rural canton directly into the order would be... unusual. Even if Sir Galahad vouches for you, you'd still need to prove yourself in some way. Ascending through the ranks of adventurers would suffice, and when the time comes to take the oath, you could join us instead."

  "The oath?" I asked. "What's that?"

  "Well, the kingdom is hardly going to let a raucous mob of armed, high-level, combat-trained people run around unchecked, is it? Adventurers wishing to rise above C-rank are required to prove their loyalty to the kingdom. A simple oath to the gods is the usual method."

  Ha. I was right. I knew they wouldn't let powerful adventurers run around unchecked!

  Of course, being right meant that even adventurers weren't 'free'. Probably more free than a knight, though. The thought of rushing into Harvent Canton in shining plate armour of my own, carrying some of the weapons on display in this room, and slaying the evil count and saving his people was kinda enticing, but that was spoilt by the way I was currently here, in this room, with the leader of the knights.

  He was here, unarmoured. The weapons were on the wall, clean and unbloodied, rather than in his hands, or, better still, Count Harvent's face. His men were around the estate, training or relaxing. The people of Harvent Canton had needed help for months, all the while these knights sat here in luxury. It was obvious Harvent Canton was having difficulties. Had no-one gone to check as to why? And even now that he knew the extent of it, it wasn't 'we'll move immediately'. It was a mere 'we'll save who we can'.

  Did I want to live in this luxury? The question had never previously arisen, but giving it some thought, I'd have to answer no. Perhaps, had I been asked before leaving the village, I'd have answered differently, but having seen Harvent Canton with my own eyes, my opinions had been changed somewhat. There was no way I could sit here in comfort knowing travesties like that were taking place only a few days away. If fighting to save people meant spending my nights up a tree, well... In my freshly moulded opinion, it was a price worth paying.

  "We should put that aside for now and get these other letters delivered," I said, not immediately turning him down. After all, even if I had no intention of joining the order, I could still make use of his sponsorship to the adventurers' guild.

  "Yes, I agree. We can have another conversation on the topic at a later date, after you've obtained some public achievements in the adventurers' guild. For now, let's get the wheels of justice turning."