The Distinguished Mr. Rose Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Ganelon, the High Tribunal

Read chapter 51 of The Distinguished Mr. Rose by QuiteTheSlacker on NovelPedia.

Chapter 51: Ganelon, the High Tribunal The mood onboard the train was rather down, unsurprisingly. But the players were thankful that they could finally leave the withering land that was Roncevaux Fortress. Goodbye, vomit green skies, and hello beautiful countryside! The farther they traveled, the more life returned to the soil. The bustling townspeople and the swaying fields were a sight for sore eyes—oh how innocent the Frankishmen were, unknowing they would soon need to abandon it all. It was Ruggiero who had the unfortunate task of delivering the news to them. Their voyage took longer than usual, for he swooped near every village and dropped off a squadron of paladins to help assist with the evacuation. There was confusion, at first: disbelief and horror over their guardian’s passing. How could such a thing be possible? Ten long years had he protected the outer territories. In that time, the people never once worried, and continued to sow the land as they had always done. This region was supposed to be safe; they had lived here for generations. Now, here came a man in darker skin to foretell a coming disaster. He told them to spread the word to every house and every street, to your neighbors and those beyond the wheat: Roncevaux fortress was lost. The demons were soon to arrive. Thus did they flee in droves, leaving behind buildings filled with fond memories and the gardens ever so thriving in flowers. All of it would soon be trampled under the demonic surge. The players viewed the depressing spectacle from within their airborne seats. It was here that they were reminded just how real Francia was. There were real people outside of the main scenarios, bystanders and innocents simply wishing to live their lives; and so it was that the consequences of the players’ actions were also real. Well, only one player. Lucius to be exact. Everyone else fought their hardest, and how commemorable that effort was! Before the gentleman knew it, a few days had already come to pass. By the time they reached the midlands where the next bastion was to be built, a long line of refugees had formed, stretching far out of sight full of downtrodden souls wishing to be let past the checkpoint. Fortunately the Hippogriff was able to fly over the walls still in the midst of construction, but it certainly wasn’t a pleasant sight. “Yep, this is depressing,” Harper said at the time. “Seeing all this go down… makes you realize just how important Ogier was. He was a rough guy, but one full of tough love. Still hard to believe he suddenly went insane.” “Right?” Mili replied, scrunching her face. “Something’s fishy about all this. Sure, he was all frowns most of the time, but you’d need to go through something real shocking to start rampaging like that. I might’ve believed it if he went crazy right after we killed that eye demon thing. But he didn’t. It was only after we all went to sleep that something must’ve happened.” Marco shifted in his seat and spoke in a low hush. “Ya think someone caused it, then? Did something to him to sabotage the fortress?” Now that was quite rude. Lucius had no such intentions! Sabotage, such a vulgar word. All he did was encourage Ogier to become his most beautiful. Surely there wasn’t anything wrong with that now, was there? >[Sinister Interdimensional Bureaucrat applauds your shamelessness]< >[Virtual Goddess of the Wired tells the Bureaucrat to stop misunderstanding Lucius’s good intentions]< >[Top 1 Rated Salesman 1997 grabs some popcorn]< “Maybe, did you see how grouchy Ruggiero was when he came back after three weeks?” Mili said. “Guy looked like he was about to kill someone. There’s definitely something going on in the castle; I can smell dirty politics from a mile away.” Despite coming up with an amusing assortment of theories, Lucius’s fellows were a far cry from reaching the truth. He listened to them with great interest as the hours passed by. Eventually, their destination was finally within sight. The Frankish cas