Monarchs and Departure
Everyone in the room went silent hearing the woman's words.
The woman in question looked Black over for a moment before closing her eyes and pointing at an empty chair beside the two kings. "Sit, young one."
Nodding his head, Black moved towards the seat she pointed out and sat down.
'So this is the current ruler of the depths.'
If there was any word to describe her it would be beautiful, just like the other queens. However, she had a more mature appeal that could be considered difficult to find.
The owl woman opened one of her eyes, directing it towards Black. "Young one, wear your crown, it is foolish to keep it hidden here as it is a sign of weakness."
"Understood." Black said, summoning his crown.
After taking a glance at the crown, the owl woman opened both of her eyes. "Now that everyone's here, introduce yourselve-"
The white haired girl suddenly raised her hand, interrupting the queen and gaining everyone's attention.
"Excuse me but where's Sol?" The girl asked.
The owl woman didn't take any offense and answered the girl's question calmly.
"She won't be making it, something important came up which caused her to remain in her kingdom."
Hearing the queen's answer the two kings smirked and the scarlet haired woman released a small giggle, these actions weren't unnoticed by Black.
He couldn't blame them either, this was a competition to become the next ruler of the depths. The less competition there was the higher chance of victory.
"I see, I apologize for interrupting." The white haired girl said, lowering her head.
The owl woman nodded her head. "Don't worry, Sol would be glad to hear you worrying about her well being. Now, introduce yourselves."
The white haired girl was the first to stand, she looked to be around the same age as Black and seemed to be the shortest in the group.
She gave off the vibe of a child who only wanted to have fun, however her curvy figure contradicted such a personality.
"My name is Lily, queen of the cnidarias, nice to meet you!" The girl or now Lily said, enthusiastically introducing herself to Black.
"Likewise." Black responded.
Lily smiled then sat down only for no one to stand up after her. It remained this way for a couple of minutes until the queen turned to the man with green hair who looked to be in his late 20s.
"You, up." Said the owl woman.
The man wanted to complain but seeing the woman's cold eyes on him he kept it to himself and stood.
"My name is Ethel, king of the sarcos. Don't forget it, rabbit." Ethel said, introducing himself in a somewhat scornful tone.
Black shifted his gaze towards Ethel before releasing a bit of his aura of the abyss king for the first time. "You should watch that tone of yours."
Ethel shivered feeling Black's aura fall on him, yet, instead of backing down his face contorted. He couldn't accept someone from a race his species considered prey to pressure him.
Before Ethel could say another word, the man with midnight purple hair stood up and pulled Ethel back into his chair.
Unlike Ethel's lanky build the man was chubby and looked to be in his mid 40s.
"Please forgive this idiot, my name is Nicholas, the king of the karkinos and a proud blacksmith." Said Nicholas doing a small bow with a gentle smile on his face.
"A blacksmith?" Asked Black looking at Nicholas with slight curiosity, causing the man to scratch his cheek.
"Indeed, when I was younger my father wanted me to carry on his dream to become a master blacksmith, I may not be at that level yet but I'm not bad either haha!" Responded Nicholas releasing a laugh.
From the way Nicholas spoke about blacksmithing, Black could tell he enjoyed it and was very passionate about it. In a way, it reminded him of himself before his parents died, at the time he was trying to learn the violin.
"Maybe I'll order something from you one of these days." Said Black.
Nicholas chuckled and sat back down in his seat. "I'll hold you up to that "
Seeing that the two were done, the scarlet haired woman stood up from her seat with a small smile on her face. She looked to be in her late 20s with an hourglass figure.
"My name is Scarlet, queen of the megalodons, it seems our little jellyfish fancies you so please do take care of her." Said Scarlet in a slightly amused tone introducing herself.
"Hey don't tell him that, that isn't true!" Lily exclaimed, hurriedly jumping into the conversation to defend herself while bringing her hands down onto the table.
Scarlet held her hand over her mouth and chuckled at Lily's reaction. "Don't worry Lily, I'm just teasing you."
Lily turned from Scarlet with a 'hmph' sound causing the latter to let out another laugh.
Noticing they had all introduced themselves, Black stood up to finally introduce himself. "My name is Black, king of the horror rabbits, a pleasure to meet you all."
Nicholas' eyes slowly widened hearing Black's words and looked at him in curiosity. "Oh? You look nothing like one, are you by chance?"
"He might be," Said Ethal not giving Black the chance to answer before continuing on. "But you're forgetting mutated rabbits only have a thi-"
The two kings fell silent feeling the owl woman's cold gaze on them.
"Stop it, it is in none of our places to bring up things he doesn't wish to speak about. I say this again, you're monarchs, act like it." Said the owl woman.
""Yes, your highness."" The two responded simultaneously lowering their heads.
The owl woman let out a sigh then turned to Black. "Young one, my name is Moon, the current ruler of the depths. I'm assuming you already know what it means to be a monarch?"
Seeing Black nod she continued. "Good, you understand that not everyone in this room is your friend, they wouldn't bat an eye to your death, you're nothing but possible prey here."
Black was unaffected by her words, this was nothing new to him and he expected this after Angelica's explanation when they entered the city.
Moon released another sigh observing him. "You remind me of myself when I was younger..tell me, do you have a maiden?"
"A maiden?" Asked Black, staring at Moon somewhat confused causing her to assume he had misunderstood.
"A maiden is someone who advises and guides a monarch, this also includes watching over them whenever they're up above on the surface." Moon explained.
"Ah..I do not have one at the moment." Black answered.
"Then you are advised to find one within two months or one will be assigned to you." Said Moon, half closing her eyes.
"For those who wish to leave you are free to do so, we've already completed the main reason for this meeting, the welcome of the new monarch." Moon said.
Hearing Moon's words, Ethel, Black, and Nicholas stood up and headed for the door leaving the queens.
Black felt he needed to get stronger quickly remembering the other monarchs' levels, out of all of them he was the weakest.
Leaving the castle, Black looked above towards the hole in the sky and noticed the light was slowly returning. 'That took longer than expected.'
Releasing a sigh, Black walked through the city until he found a secluded area and opened a portal back to his cave.
…
Black appeared inside of his cave and took a look around.
The cave was getting small, not to mention the smell. They were sleeping on uncomfortable mattresses, and compared to the people of the city his people were wearing rags.
Black knew he couldn't keep at the same pace as he was before, he needed to develop his kingdom faster, especially so when another monarch could launch an attack at any time.
But, there was only one major problem standing in his way, knowledge. Not a single one of his rabbits could make homes, clothes, or cook.
Thankfully, he had a solution for this. The system had told him before that it contained manuals in the shop so he opened the system store.
[System Store - Manuals:
Gold Balance: 59,000
--------------
Architecture Manual (Beginners) - 100G
Carpenter Manual (Beginners) - 100G
Blacksmith Manual (Beginners) - 100G
Seamstress/Tailor Manual (Beginners) - 100G
Chef Manual (Beginners) - 100G
Heavy weapons Manual (Beginners) - 150G
Medium weapons Manual (Beginners) - 150G
Light weapons Manual (Beginners) - 150G]
'This is cheaper than what I expected.' Black thought causing a purple window to appear in his vision.
[Answer:
This is because these are the beginner levels. Adept - 500-1000G, Expert - 1,500-2000G, Master - 2,500-5000G]
Black nodded his head and turned towards the rabbits who were awake. Finding Nell in the crowd, he called out to him. "Nell, come here for a moment."
Hearing Black's call, Nell walked over with hurried steps then kneeled. "Yes, my liege?"
"I need you to bring me the rabbits who have the most experience with creating things." Said Black.
"It will be done." Said Nell hearing Black's command. Standing up he hurriedly moved throughout the cave to fulfill Black's order.
While Nell gathered the rabbits, Black took a seat and brought out his phone. He hadn't had the chance to message Bell since he had left the cave.
{Black Rabbit: Bell?}
{Golden Bell: Hey, you took longer than what I expected.}
{Black Rabbit: I told you I'd be busy.}
{Golden Bell: True, how was it?}
{Black Rabbit: It was..alright, about to leave soon.}
{Golden Bell: Know for how long?}
{Black Rabbit: No idea.}
A minute passed with no reply.
{Golden Bell: Am I able to come?}
{Black Rabbit: Maybe next time.}
{Golden Bell: Don't get my hopes up.}
{Black Rabbit: …}
Black glanced away from the phone to see Nell coming towards him with 5 individuals in tow.
{Black Rabbit: I'll see you when I'm back, still have some things to handle.}
{Golden Bell: Don't take too long.}
Black put the phone away then stood up and walked towards the rabbits coming his way, causing them to kneel.
"My liege, these are the ones." Said Nell.
Black's eyes scanned the rabbits Nell brought along. There were 3 males and 2 females who looked to be twins.
"Tell me, what are you good at?" Asked Black.
One of the twins raised her hand, unlike her sister who had short white hair, she had long white hair that reached the middle of her back.
Seeing she had Black's attention she didn't hesitate to answer him. "I consider myself good at finding new things to wear, before we had this form I'd usually find some kind of flower and put it on my head."
"And my sister here always finds a way to make food taste good, no matter what it is." Said the twin.
The twin with short hair covered her face hearing her sister and quickly responded. "You're gonna make me blush, it really isn't that difficult."
Observing the two, Nell couldn't help scolding them for their behavior. "You two, please behave, you're in front of the king."
"It's alright Nell, they're fine." Said Black, turning towards the males who were kneeling quietly.
"What about you three?" Asked Black.
"I'm good at drawing if that counts my liege, the only problem is that can not see all that well." Said a slim man with cloudy eyes.
Black pulled a pair of glasses from his inventory then handed them to the man after hearing about his eyes. "Put those on."
He wasn't sure if it would work but it was worth a shot.
The rabbit did as he was told, when he put the glasses on his eyes slowly cleared up.
"I can see more clearly now, thank you my king." The man said lowering his head.
Black only nodded and shifted his gaze to the last two. Sensing Black's gaze the two raised their hands at the same time then spoke in sync. ""We're good at building!""
The two had the same bulky build, Black would have assumed they were twins if it weren't for one having spiky hair and the other having theirs slicked back, there were also their facial structures.
"I'm assuming you all don't have names?" Black asked.
"We do not." Answered the rabbit with glasses.
"Then your name will be Quin, you will be the architect." Said Black.
Turning to the twins, he named the long haired one first. "Your name will be Olivia and her name will be Ophelia, Olivia will be the seamstress and Ophelia will be the chef."
"Lastly you two will be Ivan and Tarron, Ivan will be the carpenter and Tarron will be the blacksmith." Black said looking at the spiky haired one first then the other.
Black bought the manuals alongside a couple of adept ones then tossed them to their respective rabbits. "Practice what's in those, once you feel confident talk to Nell."
Black turned to Nell, catching the rabbit off guard. "Nell, you're tasked with beginning the development of the city and overlooking everything, you're permitted to look for a new location to begin construction if needed."
"My liege, I'm sorry if I am intruding but why are you doing all of this?" Nell asked, causing the ears of the others to stand up.
Black stared at Nell for a bit before releasing a sigh. He knew they deserved at least an explanation for his actions, after all, a king putting someone else in charge usually is a bad sign.
"I'm going out and I won't be back for a while, that's why I'm putting you in charge, however.." Black's gaze sharpened and he released his aura onto Nell causing the rabbit to freeze.
"If I find out you have been abusing your position I will not hesitate to execute you upon return. Every decision you make, every action you take, you should have my satisfaction in mind." Said Black.
Nell lowered himself even further, in respect for his king and because of the pressure falling on him. "Y-yes my liege."
"Good." Black retracted his aura then opened a portal beside him, he already had a world in mind that he thought would help him grow tremendously. The only problem was time.
He knew it was possible to halt time completely from his last trip but he didn't want to do that, it would bring too much suspicion if he suddenly appeared the next day far stronger than he originally was.
There was also the fact of Bell, he didn't want her to wait possible decades.
'System, is there a way for me to slow down the time of multiple worlds?' Black asked.
[Answer:
The ability to slow down or halt time is provided by the world travel ability. Whenever the host decides to hop worlds he is able to pause or slow the world he departs or has been to until his return.]
'Thank you.' Black closed the system window and thought of slowing down the flow of time in the world he was currently in and that of Bell's.
The area vibrated around him for a moment before returning to its natural state. With everything done, he walked through the portal.