Chapter 34 - When My Thinking Changed, What I Saw Changed Too (4)

Just as that heat was about to burst out of my body.

"Whoops!"

A cry pierced my ears.

At the same time, something cold poured over my face.

The sharp smell of alcohol stabbed into my nose.

My mind snapped clear.

"Your Highness. Are you all right?"

There was some old man in front of me.

"I was in such a hurry to greet Your Highness. My apologies, Your Highness."

The old man kept apologizing with his mouth as he wiped my face with his sleeve.

But unlike his flustered manner, his eyes were strangely calm.

Our gazes met.

There were so many words contained in the wrinkles around his eyes.

I looked at the ambassador from Bourgogne.

Pushed aside by the old man's commotion, he was frowning heavily.

I watched him for a moment, then turned away.

"I suppose I must change my clothes."

"My old body would not obey me, and I have committed a grave discourtesy. I am truly sorry, Your Highness."

The old man apologized again.

I waved my hand roughly and turned away.

"..."

The ambassador opened and closed his mouth as he looked at me.

But I ignored him and walked right past.

"Your Highness. We will escort you."

Karl and the Royal Knights surrounded me.

"Who was that?"

"That was His Excellency Marquis Bielefeld."

At the name Bielefeld, I turned my head without realizing it.

Marquis Bielefeld, who had been looking this way, bowed his head.

"So not all of them are rotten."

"Your Highness?"

When I muttered to myself, Karl looked puzzled.

"It's nothing."

When I wiped at my neck, orange-red wine smeared all over my hand.

That old man spilled it very thoroughly.

SHAKE, SHAKE.

I shook my head irritably.

Wine streamed down.

* * *

"Your Highness?"

Seeing me drenched, Adelia was horrified and rushed over, fussing as she tried to wipe my hair with her sleeve.

"I'm going to wash anyway, so just do it roughly."

After saying that, I stripped off my clothes.

"Phew."

The dampness was gone, but the unpleasant feeling, as if filth had stuck to me, remained exactly the same.

It was because I had seen something truly ugly at today's banquet.

After several hundred years, the country had become a mess.

And not just a mess, but so ruined that it had rotted down to its roots and become useless.

The descendants of those who had once risen in righteous anger for the powerless had turned into snakes, and the wicked people of Bourgogne flaunted their prestige in the very heart of the kingdom.

As the thought came to mind, flames surged up inside me again.

Judging by how things looked, it did not seem to be something that had happened only for a day or two.

The arrogant imperial ambassador, and the nobles watching him, were far too unbothered.

As if it had always been this way, their behavior was far too natural.

Had the empire and the kingdom perhaps made some dramatic peace over the past four hundred years?

Had they decided to bury old grudges for the sake of a new age and become allies?

There was no way.

I recalled what had happened in the banquet hall again.

For peace, the atmosphere had been far too tense, and for allies, the relationship had been far too one-sided.

Bourgogne's people acted as if they were the masters, and the nobles of the kingdom kept watching their mood before them like submissive dogs.

The King's face came to mind.

"After acting so high and mighty all by himself."

Just what had the King been doing while the country came to this state?

He had mocked that scoundrel's incompetence and violent temper, yet he himself had left things as they were while the nobles of his own country worshiped a foreign noble like a king.

It was absurd.

"I hear something happened."

At the sudden voice, I turned and saw my maternal uncle looking at me, though I had no idea when he had appeared.

"I heard the general circumstances from Marquis Bielefeld."

My maternal uncle approached and dropped into a chair.

"What exactly were you trying to do?"

What had I been trying to do after meeting one of Bourgogne's people?

It was an unfamiliar question.

It was also a question that would not have been asked in the past.

Because what someone born and raised on this land had to do after meeting one of Bourgogne's people was obvious.

Die, or kill.

"So it was true."

Seeing my face, my maternal uncle let out a groan.

"The marquis said your face looked as though you were about to cause some kind of incident."

"And he was not wrong."

"I am not that rash."

Of course, I had been swept up in emotion for a moment, but even if Marquis Bielefeld had not intervened, I would not have caused an incident.

There might have been some circumstance I did not know.

"How in the world did it happen?"

That was why I intended to find out from now on.

"How did the country end up in this state?"

I intended to hear, even now, what that paltry circumstance was.

"Tell me."

My maternal uncle's face grew heavy.

"In the past, the kingdom stood firm despite the empire's countless invasions."

"It suffered great damage, but each time, outstanding knights stepped forward and drove back the empire."

"The kingdom did not yield even a handful of land to the empire, and the empire's invasions failed every time."

"But as time passed, the situation changed."

He said that as time passed, the empire swelled even further, and the gap began to widen.

He said the battlefield expanded to a scale that could no longer be held back by a few outstanding knights, and in the end, a small nation had no choice but to kneel before a great power.

It was nothing special as history went.

But by the time I had heard that all-too-common history of war to the end, my chest had cooled cold.

Because it was far too coincidental.

"By any chance, did the gap begin to widen around two hundred years ago?"

So I checked.

He nodded.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Past or present, the fact that this country was incomparably smaller than the empire was the same.

But the kingdom of the past had the spirit and strength not to submit to the empire's power.

Because this country had something special that no other country possessed.

It was a country founded by those who had been driven out and driven out again, expelled beyond the realm of humankind.

It was a country that fought day and night against things that were not human, and only after defeating those mighty 「lords of other species」 could it barely lay down its foundation.

And only when it defeated the 「Mad Dragon」 at their summit could it finally proclaim its founding.

It was only natural that countless poems and songs were born in that harsh process.

On this narrow piece of land, there existed an astonishing number of [Myths] and [Heroic Tales].

And those songs were the power that protected this country.

But where had all those songs gone now?

They had been forgotten, erased, and even their descendants had ceased to believe in them.

And the songs of unbelievers were nothing more than absurd tales.

The countless [Myths] and [Heroic Poems] that had protected this country must have lost their power that way.

That must be why it had come to this.

Knights who had reached Transcendence disappeared, and what remained in their place were knights who had learned the techniques of circuits.

For a small country like this, simply crushing it with numbers would have been enough.

I steadied my breathing.

After a long while, I opened my eyes.

My maternal uncle was in front of me.

A knight who would have been called a Sword Master in the past wore a face steeped in defeat.

"Uncle."

Perhaps I would regret this.

"I have changed my mind."

No, I would certainly come to regret it.

"I will give it a try."

Even so, I chose.

"I mean I will try becoming that thing called a king."

Perhaps someone might say this to me.

A stolen body—what right do you have?

If there are such people, I will say this to them.

That half of this country is as good as mine.

Because this is the country my friend and I founded together.

* * *

My maternal uncle left.

The unpleasant feeling that had clung to my body was gone, but I did not attend the banquet again.

Since Marquis Bielefeld had conveniently made an excuse for me, there was nothing to hesitate over.

But there were still two days left until the banquet ended.

And I absolutely had to attend that banquet.

Because I had to see clearly with my own two eyes which trees were rotten, and which trees were not.

The next day, I put more effort into dressing myself than ever before and headed to the banquet hall.

My maternal uncle was with me as well.

"His Highness Adrian Leonberk, First Prince, rightful bloodline of His Majesty King Lionel Leonberk, the proper ruler of the Leonberk Kingdom and the noblest of all, and eldest son of the Royal House of Leonberk, is entering!"

"Lord Vale of the northern House Ballorhard, Commander of the 3rd Legion and proud Silver Lion of the kingdom, is entering!"

The attendant announced the entrance of my maternal uncle and me.

The same gazes as the day before poured onto me.

Countless nobles were already present in the banquet hall.

Among them were some I had not seen the day before, and some I had already seen.

They awkwardly offered their respects.

A courtesy worse than what they showed when dealing with foreign nobles; at that paltry reverence, I twisted my lips.

When my friend of the past stood before the people, not one of them thought he would become king.

Nor did anyone acknowledge him as their monarch.

Because he was nothing more than a country boy who had come running out of some remote village.

Among those who had been plundered and driven out, he was not someone exceptional.

No, rather, he was even looked down on for being young.

That shaggy-haired boy stepped forward that way, under the contempt of the people.

Just like me now.

"Before a flock of sheep with eyes yet unable to see, I stand tall."

『You sing the [Poem of the King].』

『With your current ability, you cannot bear the poem's grade.』

『Part of the poem is omitted.』

『Part of the poem is omitted.』

『Part of the poem is omitted.』

『You sing only one verse of the poem, a poem equivalent to half of half of it.』

My Mana Heart ached as if it were being torn apart.

But it was not unbearable.

This was not a [Myth], but a Poem of Martial Deeds about a [Hero].

And at that, it was the very first verse, no different from a song for me.

『I stand tall before a flock of sheep.』

A low song rang out in my head.

And in that instant, the air around me changed.

WHOOSH.

The nobles, who had been stealing glances at me with their heads awkwardly lowered, suddenly bent at the waist.

Among the great lords who had knelt but not lowered their heads, several bowed their heads to the floor.

STEP, STEP.

I walked.

Staring straight at those who had not yielded to my stature.

Bewildered, or shocked.

Looking at their faces, I raised the corners of my mouth.

At my smile, their faces turned uneasy, and they lowered their heads.

Slowly, very slowly.

Receiving the worship of the nobles, I stood in the center of the banquet hall.

"Raise your hea..."

I was about to speak with as much force as I could muster when I felt a strange gaze from somewhere.

It felt terribly alien, and at the same time, familiar.

I turned my head.

A being dressed in clothing distinctly different from any ordinary noble was staring fixedly at me.

He approached me.

Step by step, his gait was light enough to seem as though he were flying.

WHOOSH.

A fresh scent that pierced my nose.

The moment I smelled that thick scent of grass, I knew his identity.

"An elf?"

At my words, he removed the hood that had covered even his face entirely.

For a moment, the surroundings brightened.

From here and there came the sound of people drawing in sharp breaths.

His—no, her—beauty was that devastating.

But I could not enjoy that beauty taken to its extreme in the slightest.

Why the hell are you here?

Because she was a being who should not be here.