When they arrived, they noticed something unusual, the port wasn't that populated by guards, and the people around didn't seem to be that poor. They were normal port workers and some security guards patrolling.
This surprised Ars, unlike the previous troubled kingdoms he visited, this one seemed somewhat different.
A member of what Ars thought would be the port security approached, and started inquiring about Ars reasons for docking.
"Good morning, I would like to ask the motive of this visit. Business, stopping to stock on supplies, tourism or trying to obtain a permit to live here, while our kingdom is not one of those super rich kingdoms, everyone actually lives decently well. "
Ars thought about it and decided to answer the truth while inquiring about the situation of the kingdom.
"Honestly? I heard the kingdom was troubled, and I thought I could rescue a few refugees, but now I see this is not the case. Do you know why the rumors of this kingdom being troubled are circulating on the sea?"
The man nodded and replied with a depressed expression.
"Before answering I would like to request a small tax of 30.000 berries, for the docking of the ship."
Ars nodded and gave him the money, after all while it wasn't the case in all kingdoms, it wasn't that unusual to ask a small tax.
The man smiled and then answered Ars' previous question, while clarifying the situation.
"To start with I doubt that you will find a large amount of people willing to leave, because the current king and royal family are actually quite competent and actually do their best. And the source of the rumor should be the royal family itself, after all they are troubled."
The man stopped, and thought this would be enough to satisfy Ars curiosity, but once he looked at Ars and saw that the curiosity in his eyes did not fade he elaborated further.
"You see the kingdom doesn't generate enough money to pay the heavenly tribute, but unlike the normal nobles approach to this problem, our king decided to talk with the world government, to see if it was possible to pay only when they had the money, after negotiating for a while they reached a consensus."
The guard looked a bit disappointed, but then kept explaining.
"The kingdom would only be protected when they paid the heavenly tribute for that year, thanks to that we do have marines here but the quantity is fairly low, only enough to keep the marine base running, and it will stay like this until they pay."
He looked Ars in the eyes with a serious expression. And finally concluded explaining the reason for the kingdom's problems.
"The problem that the kingdom is facing is a group of pirates have been surrounding this waters waiting to attack, and the number of their ships has been slowly increasing, and if they go through with the attack we don't really have a way to defend ourselves properly."
Ars thought about it and inquired.
"Some of my soldiers left to collect a bounty, do the marines still offer those services?"
The man confirmed.
"Rest assured, besides the low numbers the base operates normally, and that shouldn't pose a problem."
Ars was thinking about departing once his soldiers returned, but when they did, they were being followed by a young boy and a young girl.
One of his sailors introduced their followers.
"Sir, these children are the prince and princess of this kingdom. They wish to invite your majesty to meet their father, the king. Apparently they might have a proposal for us."
The young prince introduced himself and his sister respectfully.
"It's an honor to meet you, your majesty Ars, my name Is Vin Lagos, and this is my sister Vin Resta. We would like to invite you to meet with the king and queen for negotiations."
Ars nodded and replied politely.
"The pleasure it's mine, my name is Ars Nautical, and I'm the king of a small new nation, please lead the way."
Ars then looked at his sailors before leaving and ordered.
"Guard the ship, I will be back after the negotiations are over. And did you finish the task successfully? "
The Soldier replied.
"Yes, the task was finished successfully."
Ars added.
"You can use some of the money to buy a few drinks for everyone, but do not get drunk."
The sailors smiled and nodded.
"Yes, sir!"
Ars left with the young royals, with the young prince leading the way.
On the way to meet the king, the princess looked at Ars and made a comment that made her brother get cold sweat.
"Your guards don't seem to like you very much…"
Ars looked at her confused.
Before Ars could ask why she thought that, the prince was already bowing his head and asking for forgiveness in panic.
"I'm really sorry, she is still young and was not taught properly, please forgive her, she didn't mean to be disrespectful!"
The young prince was regretting bringing her along.
When she had asked to come he had allowed it without a second thought because she was his baby sister, but now he was afraid that was a mistake. Now he could only hope that Ars wasn't that angry.
Ars didn't mind and was simply confused why she thought such a thing, so he questioned her about it.
"How old are you? And why would you think that?"
She was very confused about why her brother was apologising, and then very proudly, without realizing she was rude to Ars replied.
"I'm 7 years old, and my mother and father always say that the guards they send to protect me are a signal that I'm very loved. "
Ars laughed a bit, much to the relief of her brother, and calmly asked her with an amused smile on his face.
"Do you know why the guards coming with you to protect you are a sign you are loved?"
She thought deeply about the question, and couldn't find an answer, so she returned the question.
"No…Why?"
He just replied.
"Because they are stronger than you and can protect you if someone evil tries to harm you."
Her eyes showed that she understood it now, so Ars continued.
"In that case do you think that my guards can protect me, when I'm several times stronger than them? I mean… They still could use their lives to protect me, but I'm strong enough I don't even need that."
She asked very adorably.
"So they love you?"
"Love is a really strong word, more like they like me and respect me."
Ars himself did not realize that he was wrong, everyone in his kingdom with the exception of a few people who he interacted with more often, had reached the point of idolizing him to the point of being fanatics.
The prince, seeing Ars being quite calm about the situation, relaxed and before anything else, he hit his sister's head, which resulted in her starting to cry. Then he looked at her and admonished her.
"That was a rude thing to say, you were lucky he didn't decide to punish you…"
She looked confused at her brother with tears in her eyes and her hands holding her head. Then bolted off, crying in the direction of the castle, leaving the prince behind panicking not knowing what he should do.
Seconds later he called a guard that was nearby and asked him.
"Can you take this guest to the castle? I need to chase my sister before she gets herself in trouble, and be very respectful."
Without waiting for the guard's answer, the prince started running after her, Ars simply laughed lightly.
The guard looked at Ars and gave him an awkward smile and requested his forgiveness.
"I'm sorry, they are both very young and are not used to receiving guests."
Ars just smiled and added.
"Don't worry I am aware that they are children, I won't take offense."
The guard nodded feeling relieved and started leading the way. He was a little bit nervous because of the prince's warning to be very respectful, he had no idea who Ars was but he would do his absolute best to stay respectful.
Before long, they arrived at the castle. Unlike the usual fancily decorated castles and noble houses, this one was simplistic with little to none of the normal decorations one would expect.
When he arrived a butler was awaiting him, near the entrance, the guard paid his respects, and left. The butler looked at Ars and welcomed him "Welcome, the king and queen await you, please follow me."
Ars nodded and followed the butler.
When they arrived, they could hear a female voice berating the children for doing such a bad job, and a young girl crying loudly.
The butler knocked on the door and a tired voice replied.
"You can come in…"
When they entered, Ars could see the king with a tired face and the queen looking angrily at her children, who were now both looking at the ground silently. The prince only had a sad face, the princess was sobbing loudly.
When the king saw Ars he was shocked, they had heard from their son, that the ship's captain was actually the king of a small nation he was quite regretful of sending his children.
When the queen heard the reason they were both here before the guest she went pale, and when she discovered that the guest was actually a king she nearly fainted.
They already had problems and they didn't need more.
Both of the children had been rude, one made questions she shouldn't have, the other left the guest he was supposed to lead to the castle behind in the middle of the street, and had ordered a guard to lead him instead.
Like her husband when she saw Ars she was shocked by such a young king, she expected him to be older, but he looked like he was only a few years older than her son. But his aura was completely different.
This young king's aura made her instinctively scared of him. He wasn't posing or showing off, he just stood there with a serious expression, yet she felt like she was in front of a monster.
The king was also feeling Ars' aura, and nervously introduced himself and his queen.
"My name is Vin Moun, and this is my queen, Vin Flo, and your majesty Ars already met my children. "
Ars returned the courtesy with an amused smile.
"I am Ars nautical. It is a pleasure to meet your majesty Moun, and your majesty Flo. I thank you for the invitation."
The king's face turned serious.
"I requested your presence, due to the bounty you collected…"
Ars was confused now, why would the king care about such a small bounty, so he interjected.
"I apologize for interrupting, Is your kingdom in dire need of money?"
The king was surprised, then he understood why Ars made that question, so he clarified.
"While we do need money, that's not the reason I requested your presence."
He stopped then started explaining the actual reason.
"Our kingdom is not rich, to be precise we are kinda poor, and that actually served as a deterrent for most pirates, the others saw the marine base and added the previous point, we are mostly left alone by pirates. But for some unknown reason a pirate crew started aiming for us."
He took a deep breath and finally continued, with a very depressed and conflicted expression.
" If it was just one or two crews we could still stand our ground but… The number kept increasing, and with more than 4 crews, we have little chances of surviving. Without any outside help we were destined to be destroyed, and we saw no way to solve the situation, until today when you traded the bounty of a captain from one of those crews. I called you here to request your help. Of course we will also throw some compensation for the help, we don't have much to give, but I hope we can reach a favorable deal to both of us. "
Ars thought about it.
If all the pirate crews were that weak it would be an easy job, and if he could keep the bounties of the crews, and get something extra, even if minimal, it would be a decent gain.
Ars then nodded at the king and answered.
"We can negotiate, and if we can reach an agreement I will help."