We took a day to rest, which somehow was just enough time to recover—physically and mentally—from the battle.
During that time, King Wey decided to combine both the elves' victory celebration and our official send-off into one event. We were told it was scheduled for later this evening. It seemed to be a countrywide affair, as he had made sure the news spread across all the kingdoms.
I'm sure the message spread far and wide.
It would be held at our own king's—King Chesterly's—castle in the Human Kingdom, within the royal city of Crowntown.
Everything was happening so fast. I'd already accepted that I'd probably never feel like we truly deserved all this attention, but I was starting to get used to it.
After leaving the inn in the Elf Kingdom, where we'd stayed for two nights, we finally headed to what Alva called the Talos Party's hub—Flower Tavern.
On the way there, I don't think there was a single person Alva didn't tell about our plans. He'd been saying it nonstop since the moment we left the battlefield:
"Meet us at Flower Tavern in Apple City! Pre-celebration at Flower Tavern, everyone—don't be late!"
There was no use stopping him, so we just accepted it.
I knew Earl would be looking forward to it and would be on his P's and Q's to make the most of the event. I remembered the last time we went—it was already pretty packed, even on a random ordinary day. If it was that crowded then, I can't imagine how packed it must be now.
I wondered how Luka would feel.
If you were to ask me, the trip itself felt like a celebration. People stopped us constantly, cheering as if we were royalty. It took us several hours just to enter the Human Kingdom, and a couple more to reach Flower Tavern.
I wanted to see my parents, but I knew they'd be at the celebration anyway—and we decided it was best not to connect with them yet, just to spare them the attention that came with our newfound fame.
When we finally approached Flower Tavern, we could barely even see the building through the crowd that had already gathered.
And now we're finally back to where this story began—in Chapter 1.
We've been through quite a lot, haven't we?
Maybe I've misremembered a few details here and there, but all in all, there were cheers—mostly for Talos, as usual—and Alva had his fair share, too, while Uri and I sat quietly, listening to Luka's flute melody. Alva did the Alva thing, and now you're all caught up.
Now, what comes next… is new territory.
After we finished there, King Chesterly sent a royal carriage to escort us to the castle, since we'd never met him in person.
Apparently, he wanted to make a good first impression.
The king wanted to impress us? What was life anymore?
His Kingsguard said they'd follow behind with our horses. After saying my goodbyes to Juniper, we stepped into the carriage.
I glanced around at my party—Alva, bubbly as ever, touching every part of the interior; Uri, quietly examining things; and Talos, still as focused as ever.
At a time like this, I felt like I needed a mix of all three of their moods.
Yes, this was all amazing, and I knew I should take it all in—but I couldn't let it distract me. We still had a job to do.
We needed to be ready to defeat the Orc King before he could pull off whatever he was planning next.
But until then, we were headed to Crowntown—a town in the middle of the kingdom, mostly home to older people who refused to give in to the new age of commerce and trade, choosing instead a quieter, simpler way of life.
The king himself was very old—wise, I mean—and just as old-fashioned. He'd rejected countless requests to rebuild the castle in Rainbow City, insisting on keeping it here out of respect for our forefathers' traditions.
I remembered coming here with my parents a few times for various events, though I'd never paid much attention back then.
As we traveled, the buildings grew smaller and fewer, giving way to open pastures—and with them came the smell.
It hit Uri the hardest, though he tried his best to fight his reaction.
And then, there it was—the castle.
Sitting in the middle of a circular moat, it looked like a square stone fortress—four massive round towers at each corner, a tall gatehouse at the front. Its thick walls and narrow windows made it clear that this was built for defense, not for show.
It came from a time when castles were meant to withstand sieges, not host royal banquets.
We were just crossing into the courtyard when the carriage finally stopped.
As we stepped out, there he was—King Chesterly himself.
A stout man, only a few inches taller than me, with a thick white beard, rosy cheeks, and kind eyes. He wore a yellow royal tunic under a brown fur-trimmed cloak.
"Welcome, Talos Party! I'm King Chesterly—welcome to my castle!"
We bowed. "Thank you, Your High—"
"Oh, no need, heha!" he interrupted cheerfully. "Come, let me show you around while they finish preparations."
We shared a look, then followed him inside.
"So, you all have made quite the names for yourselves, eh?" he said, still leading us forward without turning around.
Talos started, "Yes, you could sa—"
"Well, that's wonderful for us humans, ya know? Heha! You've done us a great honor!" the king interrupted.
Unsure whether we were supposed to respond or not, we just kept following.
We were led into a grand hall with stone walls, tall windows, and long rows of banners beneath chandeliers hanging from a vaulted wooden ceiling.
Clean but bare—a sharp contrast to the other two castles.
As we walked, the king explained the history behind every single banner on the wall.
"And this one's from the North Sea War about 145 years ago. No, 146, sorry. "King Elroy the Third led three parties to the southern orc border—by swimming! Can you believe it? He swam there! Heha!"
He kept walking, then suddenly paused.
"Say… do you all have a banner?"
We froze.
He turned back, expectantly.
Alva jumped in, "Oh—yes, we do, I—"
"Wonderful! I'd love to see it one day," the king said, already turning back around.
After what felt like several years of war history, he finally led us to the dining hall to prepare for the evening.
"Oh, and one more thing—if you enjoyed your stay here, you're welcome to stay as long as you like."
Alva quickly interjected, "We'd love to, King Chesterly, but actually we have to head out soon after the festivities. Thank you very much for the offer, though."
"Right! Right, that's fine by me. You've got more important things to do than sit around here with me, heha!"
For once, I was thankful for Alva's materialism.
There was food on the table, and we took our share.
I glanced outside—and froze. A humongous crowd had gathered.
My heart stopped. I immediately lost my appetite. It looked like every person in the entire country was out there.
This was actually happening.
"Hello, everyone," King Brar greeted, snapping me out of my thoughts as he entered with King Wey.
King Brar was here? I hadn't expected that—but thinking about it, it did make sense.
"Hello," Talos greeted.
"Take your time," King Brar said. "We'll head out when you're finished."
Once we finished eating, we followed the three kings out onto the massive balcony overlooking the wide, open grasslands where the crowd had gathered across the moat. The cool afternoon air swept over us, carrying that familiar countryside scent we were finally getting used to.
A large bell rang from somewhere above, and the crowd's attention shifted upward toward us.
They erupted in cheers as we stepped forward—just us, and the three kings.
King Chesterly stepped forward and spoke, his voice carrying over the crowd:
"Welcome, all! Beastarians, Elves, and Humans alike—welcome to Crowntown, home of King Chesterly… that's me!"
Cheers erupted again.
In the midst of it all, my brain was still trying to process everything—the crowd, the kings, this entire moment. It didn't feel real.
Admittedly, I blanked out for a bit, but when I tuned back in, King Wey was speaking.
"First," he said, "I'd like to award these brave heroes with my highest honor—the Blessing of the Elf Kingdom."
King Wey revealed a beautiful medallion and held it high.
The audience erupted once more.
Talos reached for it, but Alva jumped in. "I can hold on to this one!"
"And I," said King Chesterly, "King of Crowntown and ruler of the Human Kingdom, would like to honor them as well—before they set out on their next quest—with the Blessing of the Human Kingdom. For their continued, stellar representation of our people… and for preventing the orcs from ever reaching us. Who knows what might've happened if you hadn't."
He held up his medallion—less gleaming, but just as prestigious.
Talos held the Beastharian one.
Alva raised the Elven one.
Uri forced me to hold the Human one with him as Alva reached for it too with his other hand.
We raised all of them high—and the crowd roared. Fireworks burst in the sky.
Talos' usual humility cracked into a wide grin as the energy became infectious and reached even him. Our smiles turned to laughter.
Now, with this gust of confidence, I scanned the crowd and saw them—so many familiar faces.
Our parents were all together—my mother crying with joy.
Earl and Luka.
The shopkeepers, the stable master and hands, Governor Ducott.
Haron's party.
I spotted the orc woman and her child—disguised, but still clear as day to me—waving, staring right at me.
And even the witch from the swamp, way back then.
I saw Uri staring at someone and noticed it was the young Beastarian boy who'd asked him to teach him after all this was over—his first student.
Everyone came.
Everyone who'd helped us along the way.
Everyone who'd been part of our journey.
I couldn't drown in the pressure now. Not when we were so close.
Stay focused, Velara. We can't let these people down.
As the speeches ended and the festivities began, the kings approached us.
"You all work remarkably well together," King Brar said. "We know you could handle this on your own—but we still wish to aid you however we can. We'll gather our finest knights to depart soon after you. They won't interfere—only lend support where needed."
King Wey added, "The land of the Orc Kingdom is rather untamed, so if you could leave them a path to follow, we'd greatly appreciate it."
We accepted, then made our way down to the crowd to greet our parents, getting stopped countless times along the way.
Thankfully, Talos and Alva took most of the attention until we finally reached them—our parents rushing through the crowd.
My mom and dad pulled me into a tight hug, my mother immediately whispering about all the "handsome boys" in the crowd I should consider once this was all over.
I hugged them back, then gently shooed her off as we continued through the crowd.
We then ran into Haron and his party, who smiled softly when they saw us.
"Why don't you come fight with us?" Talos said. "No other parties are coming."
"We could barely keep up with you—you saw it," Haron replied. "We were lagging behind during the battle. We just aren't cut out for it."
His party behind him nodded in quiet agreement.
"The only reason we won and are here today is because of you," Haron said with a smile. He patted Talos on the shoulder, then looked at the rest of us. "Go beat him for us."
We watched as they walked off.
Then the booths caught my eye. Luckily for us, the money-making never stops for these shop owners — stalls lined the perimeter of the crowd, smartly making the most of the occasion.
The three of them split off while I went to fully peruse all the best spells available. We couldn't let these King's Blessings go to waste, right?
I hadn't realized just how many miscellaneous ones there were.
Spell of hunger? Really?
A perception enhancement caught my eye — with Uri's already heightened senses, that could come in handy.
I bought a myriad of enhancements and enchantments without really looking through them—just grabbed a bunch in one go. I figured it'd probably look stupid to stand there examining each one when I had a King's Blessing in my pocket… but maybe not inspecting them was even more stupid.
Still, most probably wouldn't come in handy, but the more the merrier. I did feel a little bad for nearly clearing out the stock—but we were trying to save the country, so I'd say it was warranted.
After finishing my purchases, I looked for my party members when I spotted a white, featherless bird with glasses and a cute little hat perched on a fence nearby.
I'd said everyone was here, but how could I forget about Mr. Feathersworth? He tipped his hat, and just beyond him, I saw Wiz — smiling and waving in the distance.
The fact that they'd come to see us off added a gentle warmth to my chest.
When I finally found the others, we decided we'd leave at dawn. But that night, we celebrated.
And honestly, it was fun.
When things were wrapping up, we spent one night in the castle—despite Alva's strong insistence that we should sleep in the carriage—and woke up refreshed and rejuvenated. After a good wash and a huge meal, we set out.
By morning, some people had already left, but most stayed to see us off.
As the knights led us to our horses, we mounted up with one thought in mind:
One more quest—defeat the Orc King.
With the hope of the country's people behind us, we rode off, their cheers and waves fading as we ventured into the unknown.
End of Volume III
***
Wow, we've really come a long way. Thank you so much for your continued readership. We're in the home stretch now. The next chapter begins the final volume of the story!