Chapter 432: The Two New Kings, and Kidnapped to the Divine Realm.
Chapter 432: The Two New Kings, and Kidnapped to the Divine Realm.
“Buhiiii!”
““Uuooooooooh!””
While being chased by a large three-horned boar, two bearded figures with one of their feet chained to each other by a pair of fetters dashed through the forest. As they had made a path that’s easy to run on beforehand, they manage to reach “that place” before the boar caught up to them. All according to plan.
“Don’t mess up the timing!”
“I know! 1, 2, 3!”
Together with the Zadonia king’s final shout, the two of them jumped over “that” with a large leap. The boar that was chasing them stepped on that area, upon which the ground gave way, and it fell headfirst into the pit below.
“Gugyo!”
““We did it!””
The two of them turned back, and upon seeing the boar fell into the pitfall trap, raised voices of celebration. As they moved closer, the figure of the boar lying at the bottom of the roughly 2m deep hole could be seen with sharp wooden stakes piercing through its body from below.
Using a rope made from vines which they tied to the boar’s feet, the two of them pulled it up. It’s quite heavy and so they had a fair bit of trouble with it, but since this will result in a rare delicacy for them, they worked hard in silence without any complaints.
It’s been 2 weeks since they were brought to this island. They’ve grown fairly used to hunting prey by now. Due to discovering a place where lots of sharp rocks could be found, by combining them with suitable branches, they were able to make spears and arrows.
After spending lots of effort rubbing wood together, they finally managed to start a fire, and have now built a hearth to cook food too.
The two kings thought that they simply managed somehow with cooperation, but they have no idea that a certain sovereign had been doing all sorts of behind-the-scenes work, like preparing obsidian shards and casting magic at just the right moment to create a fire, among other things. Ignorance is bliss.
They’ve also experienced incidents that they felt was life-threatening several times, like being chased around by a giant turtle and snake or being attacked by a blue dragon, but by now, they’ve also began to feel that they’re somewhat used to that too.
The two of them dragged the boar back to their camp at the beachside, where they sloppily carved it up with knives made from obsidian before roasting it bone-in on the hearth.
The two of them have no way of knowing, but this boar is called a Triboar, with a soft flesh that’s said to be delicious even if you eat it raw, and is a valuable magic beast that only lives in the southern regions of Knight Kingdom Lestia.
Of course, it was brought here using transfer magic by a certain individual.
“What should we do in the afternoon?”
“Let’s go fishing. It should work out somehow as long as we have stone spears.”
“That reminds me, you mentioned that you’re good at it, huh.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll catch a huge one for us.”
While chewing on the meat that’s still stuck on bones, the two laughed together. It’s a scene that would’ve never happened had it been a mere two weeks ago.
The figures of the two, with their beards growing wildly and their clothes in tatters, couldn’t be linked to that of kings of a country at all. No matter how you cut it, they look just like shipwrecked castaways. However, compared to before, they’ve mellowed out quite a bit, and are now able to laugh naturally.
They must’ve gained a new appreciation of life as they survived in the harsh environment (Touya was there to support them so it actually wasn’t all that bad) of this island.
As the two of them picked up a spear each, and turned towards the clear shallows in the distance, a scene which they remember seeing before popped up on the beach in front. A
young man, who was lounging on a beach chair while drinking a glass of tropical drink, under a parasol.
They would never forget; the figure of the culprit who kidnapped the two of them to this island in the first place.
Their rage instantaneously revived, the two of them charged towards the young king in front of them with a perfect three-legged running form.
““Nuuoooooo! You bas—dowaaaahh!?””
With a snapping sound, the two of them fell, once again, into a pitfall, and disappeared beneath the sands. Just like the boar from earlier.
“To think they would be done in by the same trick… Do they have no learning ability…?”
“Well, don’t say that, Kohaku. They’ve changed quite a bit despite that, you know.”
“Is that so, now…”
Taking off his sunglasses, Touya slowly walked towards the two people still struggling at the bottom of the pit, wearing an aloha shirt and beach sandals.
“Yaa, it’s been a while.”
“You bastard! How dare you throw us into a place like this!”
“Come down here! I’ll beat you into a pulp!”
While staying in weird positions due to the fall, the two of them hurled insults towards the young sovereign who showed his face. Towards the fact that they can still say things like that in this situation, Touya’s amazement has surpassed the limit, and he actually feels impressed by them.
“There, there. Today, I’ve actually come to show you two something interesting.”
“Something interesting?”
Suddenly, a video taken from somewhere began playing in the air above the pit. It’s a battlefield. Two different forces are engaged in a chaotic battle. One of them is wearing red leather armor, while the other is wearing blue scale armor. They’re the Dauburn and Zadonia armies.
“This is…!”
“What’s going on! Why have they begun fighting!?”
Their two neighboring countries are fighting against each other. The two of them, who have never seen that objectively, were lost for words as they looked at the terrible sight.
Soldiers ran through with spears. Families weeping before the graves of their loved ones. Starving children. Women bed-ridden with disease and just waiting for their end.
Such images were placed between clips of battle, and the two kings watched them in silence.
Although they stood on battlefields before, they only gave orders and didn’t look at what’s really going on. The reality that they missed was now placed in front of them.
The scene switched, and now a video of two youths clashing their swords together was shown. They were both wearing armor, but the two kings immediately recognized who they are.
“Akim!”
“Frost!”
Their sons were holding swords, and trying to kill each other. Their strengths seem to be even, and at the moment they’re looking for openings.
“Why is my son at the battlefield!?”
“Apparently they believed that the other country had kidnapped their fathers. You guys sure are loved, eh.”
“You bastard…! No, you demon!”
“Do you have no shame!?”
The two kings directed their rage towards the smiling young sovereign.
“The two of them are fighting each other, fueled by hate. Aren’t they just like the two of you?”
“No! Those two are just misunderstanding things, that’s all! You’re the real villain here!”
“Look who’s talking. Remind me, which of their parents kept saying to destroy the other country all this time? Isn’t this good for you? A conclusion might finally be reached this time. Oh?”
The two princes held their swords up while scrutinizing each other.
They both rushed out, and passed by each other while their swords flashed.
Their swords never clashed against each other, and both their stomachs split open, with a huge amount of blood gushing out.
Dropping to their knees, the two of them fell over on the spot. Two pools of blood spread out around them, staining the ground bright red.
“Impossible… Akim…!”
“Frost…! Why is this happening!”
“Simultaneous knockout, huh. Guess they couldn’t quite conclude it.”
Upon hearing Touya’s lackadaisical remark, the two kings turned their eyes, burning with hatred, towards him.
“You bastard! This is all your fault, isn’t it!? Return me my son!”
“I’ll kill you! Why does my son have to die like that!?”
“Eeh? Didn’t you two survive because I brought you here? You should thank me, if anything.”
“What are you—!”
The two of them tried to retort, but they were forcibly silenced by the killing intent the young sovereign suddenly released towards them. It’s a sensation far more terrifying than anything they’ve ever felt on this island. Their mouths became parched dry, and their bodies were rooted in place, much like a frog being stared at by a snake.
“Stop spouting those selfish nonsense. It’s a war the two of you started in the first place. Have you never thought about how you might end up because of that? Did you think you won’t die since you’re the king? Just how many times did the two of you almost die while on this island? It’s easy, you know, for a life to disappear like that.”
The starving and suffering people of Dauburn and Zadonia were reflected on the projection. Next, the image of the two kings having lavish meals and leaving plenty of leftovers.
Images of soldiers returning, weary from battles, and the two kings insulting each other’s country and constantly fuming were played in succession like a slide show.
Through the comparison, the two kings finally began to understand just how foolishly they were acting back then.
“Was it all our fault…?”
“Why… Didn’t we realize earlier… Frost…”
Crumbling down on their knees, the kings grew despondent as they lied at the bottom of the pit. While sobbing, tears came out of their eyes, and words of regret came out of their mouths.
The sadness of losing their precious sons because of their stupid stubbornness, and an immense sense of loss. The guilt to their people, who were caught up in their selfish conflict and made to suffer for it.
Various emotions rushed through the two’s chests like a tsunami, twisting their hearts.
And the two’s consciousness suddenly cuts off there.
“I wonder if they’ve actually repented with that?”
“Most probably.”
As Kohaku replied from besides me, I finished stealthily casting [Sleep Cloud] on the two of them.
The two kings easily let go of their consciousness, and fell into a deep sleep together.
“And well, it seems that these two were regretting pretty hard back there, but…”
I snapped my fingers and cancelled the [Invisible] spell; upon which, two young men appeared in front of the pit. The Dauburn prince, Akim, and the Zadonia prince, Frost.
“I was wondering why you had us put on that kind of acting, but to think it was for something like this…”
“For Father to shed tears over it…”
The two princes looked down at their sleeping fathers, lying inside the pit, with complicated expressions.
The images and videos that I’ve played to the kings up until just now were, of course, all fake. I had the two of them put up a show of killing each other, complete with blood bags in their stomachs. The others were made from memories I’ve gotten from the citizens of the two countries.
“It’s a bit of a forceful method, but they should’ve become more understanding of each other now. If they still want to continue the war even after all this, then I can only give up. This may be cold of me, but I won’t care anymore if either one of them destroys each other afterwards. I’ll leave the rest up to your own decisions.”
“We will definitely not let such a thing happen. Dauburn will never repeat such a stupid mistake again.”
“Exactly. If push comes to shove, I’ll force Father to abdicate even by putting him in house- arrest, and bring peace to Zadonia.”
The two of them looked at me with determined eyes. Well, I’m not worried about the two of them. If they don’t strengthen their relationships with each other, the ties they have with the Alent princesses would also be gone, so.
“Alright. Then let’s wrap this up.”
While looking down towards the two kings, sleeping with saddened expressions as tears, snot and drool flowed down their faces, I cracked my knuckles.
“Mu…?”
When the Dauburn king woke up, he was inside a bed. The same as usual, wrapped in soft duvet, and woken up by the sound of birds singing.
The same as usual…? Wait? Wasn’t it always a bed of sand and a blanket made with a cloak, and waking up to the sound of the tides?
As his thoughts gradually became clear, the Dauburn king kicked away the duvet bedding and jumped out of bed.
“This, this place is… My room… Isn’t it?”
His words ended in a question mark. This place is, without a doubt, his own room in the Dauburn royal castle. However, the Dauburn king was unable to understand how he came back, and looked around the room while standing still.
“Was that a dream… Or something?”
As he was muttering to himself, a certain object placed on the side table besides his bed entered his eyes.
“This is…!”
He picked it up, which produced a jangling sound. It’s a single fetter, and a severed chain connected to it. Without a doubt, it’s the half of the pair of fetters that was attached to his own right leg.
When he rolled up the hem of his nightgown, a mark is clearly visible on his right ankle due to the exposure to the sun. As expected, the days he spent on that island was no dream. Then…
“Akim…!”
The Dauburn king fell to his knees, and cried while calling out his son’s name.
And right then, that son of his opened the door with a click and entered the room, making the Dauburn king go eyes-wide with shock.
“Ahh, Father. So you’re awake.”
“Akim…? A, ah, A, Akim!? Y, yo, you were alive!?”
“What is it, out of the blue like that… You sound like you wanted me to die?”
“N-no! Of course not! I’m so glad you’re alive! So glad… So glad…!”
The Dauburn king clung onto his son and cried again. Prince Akim, who gently received his father’s hug, explained to him what happened to the country during the two weeks the king went missing. He is, after all, only the substitute for the king. Since that king had returned, all authority would now go back to him.
“I’ve proposed a temporary cease-fire with Zadonia since it wouldn’t be good if we were attacked while Father was away, but what do you wish? Since Father returned, some among the nobles were shouting for the reopening of hostilities…”
Prince Akim asked in a way that would gauge the king’s reaction. The Dauburn king sank into silence for a while upon hearing that, but eventually he raised his head and looked at his son as he spoke with a heavy tone.
“Fumu… Right, first let’s head to the mediation venue.”
“… Understood. Then, I’ll convey that to everyone else.”
On the face of the Dauburn king as he nodded to his son’s words, was a somewhat fierce smile.
Several days later.
The Lesaria Plains, an area situated at the border between Dauburn and Zadonia, with a relatively more normal climate. However, if you head a few kilometers in either direction, you would still feel the influences of the extreme heat and cold of the two countries.
In a camp set up in that place, the important personnel of Dauburn and Zadonia were having a meeting. Among them, the figures of Prince Akim and Prince Frost were present too.
Eventually, from both sides, the two countries’ kings showed themselves. Without saying anything, they sat down at a table with their positions facing each other.
And like that, they glared at each other for a while, before the Dauburn king opened his mouth first.
“Hah, so you somehow clung onto life, you glacier bastard.”
“And you, that mouth of yours can’t be fixed until you actually die, huh, you desert idiot.”
The two kings immediately started insulting each other, and a stormy atmosphere surrounded the two sides.
The two of them then stood up together, and continued glaring at each other from across the table.
This must be what people mean by a ticking timebomb… As the people around them were thinking that, a change suddenly occurred in the two kings.
“Ku… Puh…”
“Kukuku…”
They started leaking out suppressed sounds, and the retainers around them tilted their heads at that.
“Gahaha! So you were alive, you bastard!”
“Kakaka! The same to you! You stubborn fool!”
The two of them began laughing heartily, as if they find this truly hilarious. The retainers around them opened their mouths in disbelief and shock and couldn’t say anything as they looked on at the sudden and impossible development.
“How many times have I dreamt of that island since that day! Man, that was hell!”
“Me as well! It was truly a feat for both of us to have survived that!”
The two of them, who are speaking while hitting each other with their elbows, are the splitting image of two long-time friends no matter how one look at them. The people around them looked at each other, unable to believe that that’s the same two person whose relationship was like water and oil back then. They’re beginning to doubt their eyes.
“So, the reason I came here is actually to report something.”
“Me too. Aha, so you’re the same huh?”
The two of them grinned before turning to their retainers, and speaking of the thing they’ve constantly been thinking about ever since waking up from that nightmare.
“I shall pass my throne down to my son, Akim. This discussion can be carried out by the new king in my place.”
“I’m retiring to give my place to Frost as well. You shall be the one to decide the future of Zadonia.”
The two kings announced their abdication together. There stood two men, who were formerly kings, with refreshed expressions on their faces.
“And what happened then?”
“Prince Akim succeeded the throne of Dauburn, and Prince Frost succeeded the throne of Zadonia. The two countries will now walk hand in hand as friendly neighbors towards the future.”
While answering to Yumina, I leaned back on the sofa to rest my body.
That side has finally settled down for now. I thought it would be a bit earlier than this, to be honest. People become unable to express themselves more openly the more they age, eh.
While the two countries have become friendly, the two former-kings still hold a grudge against me. Although, since they didn’t tell their sons something like “Don’t acquaint yourself with Brunhild!”, I guess they’re aware that it’s a personal thing now.
“And what happened to Alent’s princesses?”
“Ah, that side’s going well too. Soon, the engagement between King Akim of Dauburn and Princess Leticia of Alent, as well as between King Frost of Zadonia and Princess Ariati of Alent should be announced.”
“My! That’s wonderful!”
Luu, who raised her face from the book she was reading, rejoiced when she heard the news.
I can’t be as honestly glad about it as the girls, though. It is a celebratory occasion, and I do feel happy for them, but if you think about it, everything has proceeded exactly as the grandfather of the princesses, the Holy King predicted. I can’t help but feel we’ve all been dancing on top of his palms the whole time.
It’s not really an engagement gift, but I’ve ordered the spirits of flame and ice to return the curse-like extreme weather conditions of the two countries to normal. With this, the land there should return to a hospitable condition slowly over several decades.
Hilda laughed slightly while putting down the pen she was holding in her hands.
“It’s good that one of our worries have disappeared, isn’t it. As expected, it feels bad to know that there’s a war going on somewhere when the world has finally reclaimed some tranquility.”
“Well yeah. Even so, there’s still a lot of things we have to do…”
The world barrier that remains broken, the behemoth problem, the restoration of the villages and towns destroyed by the variants, and the stack of paper that’s placed in front of my eyes right now…
I picked up one of the pieces of paper and read its contents.
“And who from where is this Earl Darlewin?”
“Ah, that would be from me. He’s an earl in the Regulus Empire. Etto, I think his is the family my great-grandfather’s sister married into.”
“And the relationship you have with them as a house?”
“Now, not that much. However, they do technically have imperial blood in their family tree, so while low in position, they’re still one of the potential successors of the throne.”
“That means, this goes here, huh…”
The paper with Earl Darlewin’s name went into one of the boxed categorized by rank. This is a sorting done to make it easier when deciding things like the seating order at the wedding ceremony.
After all, three among the fiancées are princesses. While obvious, there would be many people we need to invite courteously like their families and important retainers. Right now, those three princesses, Yumina, Luu and Hilda were here helping to confirm those.
Technically speaking, Suu and Sakura should be here as well, but Suu is part of the same family as Yumina, and Sakura is the Demon King’s illegitimate child, so they’re excluded.
Although I personally don’t want to do something like ranking them, to the general public, Yumina would be the first queen, Luu the second, and Hilda the third, or so it would go.
Fourth is Suu, fifth is Leen, and sixth is Sakura, with seventh to ninth in the order of Linze, Elze and Yae.
The order between Linze’s group was apparently decided by the order they confessed to me. I say apparently because I have no hand in it; everything below Suu’s position was decided by the girls without any input from me.
Anyway, this whole thing would only be for the sake of public occasions or things like that; everyone, including me, agrees that the nine of them would be equal.
Society sure is troublesome, isn’t it… We even have to pay attention to selecting our guests thanks to that.
Still, would Yae’s family as well as Elze and Linze’s uncle’s family be fine with being thrown into such a large group of royalties and high-ranking nobles? That reminds me, isn’t Elze and Linze’s uncle someone with a severe fear of nobles or something? Won’t he just faint on the spot?
“Etto, this Marquis Paulon…”
“Ah, he’s our (Lestia’s) finance minister. He’s a close retainer since the time of my father…”
“That means this goes here…”
The moment I was going to put this paper in a different box following Hilda’s words, Karen nee-san suddenly appeared right besides me.
“Touya-kun!”
“Waah!?”
This ever-elusive older sister of mine has already stopped even trying to hide it, and is now just brazenly teleporting around in front of Yumina and the others. Stop teleporting right next to people, it scares them!
“Hey, Karen nee-san! How many times have I told you not to teleport right next to people—!”
“Now’s not the time for that-no yo! Come here for a bit-no yo!”
Karen nee-san grabbed my arm as I was sitting, and forced me to stand up. Eeh? Wait a, what is this? Another troublesome thing?
“Wha, wait wait wait. Where are you taking me?”
“The Divine Realm-nano yo! Yumina-chan, I’m borrowing Touya-kun for a bit-no yo! We’re gonna have a family establishing meeting now!”
“Eh, ah, yes. Have a safe trip…”
Yumina nodded with a small motion while shaking at Karen nee-san’s intensity.
Huh!? What the hell is a family “establishing” meeting!? While still not understanding anything, I was kidnapped to the Divine Realm by Karen nee-san.
Oh mai gawd.
- Pixel