Every child looked at the murals with awe and adoration but were still respectful enough to not make a fuss around it. Even children knew of the man's feats enough to show respect to him. This showed how deep of an impression the late king left in everyone's hearts.
"We all heard of a ti when the title of a mage was sothing exclusive to the nobles and the wealthy. The only way for 2nd grades and below to find out that they were a mage oneself was through luck and bravery. They needed luck to find a World Shard, and they also needed luck to survive its powers. And of course, even then, they were never accepted as mage by the rest."
Everyone knew of the story that was about to co. Most probably, everyone in the kingdom listened to at least once in their life. And of course, a story that Evin would listen to a hundred more tis if he could.
"But all this changed with King Roland's new decree. Suddenly, everyone in the kingdom received a chance of being accepted as a mage," Leanne exclaid proudly, gesturing at the murals.
The change was so revolutionary that 10-year-olds like Evin knew about it. He could also confidently say that out of all the 10-year-olds in the kingdom, no, in the whole Empire itself, he probably had the most knowledge about Roland Arcwall's epic history.
Granted, he learned most of it due to the voice in his head, who sohow knew of the situation and narrated everything to him. Evin hated listening to the voice and its pretentious 'life lessons', but secretly, he loved listening to the voice speaking of the previous King.
"But of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Due to this new Law of accepting every mage, the late king received heavy backlash from the corrupt and evil nobles under his control. The situation even reached a point where the people were even considering the possibility of a civil war. But since Roland himself was one of the most powerful mages at the ti, the opposing nobles couldn't just mount an attack on the capital.
"They knew that if the King wished to, he could easily wipe them off the face of the world. He just didn't have a good enough reason to do that. And obviously, the nobles weren't willing to give the man that excuse with the revolution."
'It must be so aweso to single-handedly still an entire revolution just by existing,' Evin thought wistfully.
"But of course, things didn't end there. The evil nobles hired a group of the most powerful mages at the ti hoping to assassinate the king while he was alone. They sent six mages of similar power towards his way, but not only king Roland manage to fight them to a tie, he even convinced one of them to switch sides and fight alongside him. A young prodigy by the na of Urven. With the six on one fight turning into a two against five, the tides of the battle quickly turned towards the king's side.
"After this incident, King Roland executed the heads of the noble families responsible for this treachery, though he couldn't make himself kill their children, as he was a righteous person who understood that the children didn't bear the sins of their parents. He only stripped the surviving offspring of their noble titles, but aside from that, they were free to do whatever they wanted. King Roland wasn't afraid of another revolution staged by these remnant children. The people of the kingdom loved him to the core, so any kind of rebellion was practically impossible to mount."
Evin rembered the voice saying sothing similar, about how the correct move was to execute the children as well, so there was no chance of a rebellion down the line. The voice also explained that if King Roland was ruthless in his conduct against radical nobles, then the other, more neutral nobles would feel more afraid of trying sothing similar in the future.
Evin didn't know how to feel about this view. Logically, he found himself agreeing with it, but he couldn't quite accept it wholly with his heart. In his heart, the late King's thod was the righteous and correct way.
"Next, king Roland consolidated his rule even stronger, and introduced many policies that helped the kingdom's people. The 21 years he ruled were definitely the most prosperous in the kingdom's entire history. During this ti, life inside the kingdom beca easier for everyone, and finally, after 50 years of a stalemate, we've started seeing signs of the Southern front being pushed back against the enemies.
"But unfortunately, as the natural law of the world dictated, in the year 1486, King Roland Arcwall t his end at the age of 130. He prolonged his mortal life to almost double the amount of normal people, both through magic and his own hard work, but in the end, the Empress's arrangents put an end to his glorious life."
Evin really wanted to say 'Shut up,' but considering the place and company he was in, he could only curse inside his heart. He was sad as well, but he knew there was nothing he could do. He'd accepted the possibility of this outco long ago.
One in sixty, those were the odds of a mage being born from two non-mages. It could be said that it was a miracle for this room of 21 kids to have one mage among them.
But just as he was wallowing in despair, Leanne looked at him straight in the eye and said.
"And also, that well-washed and well-dressed young boy over there. Please co over."
'Does she an ? But I'm definitely not well-dressed and the least of all, well-washed…' a random thought appeared in Evin's head, 'But I'm the only one around here, since everyone else is keeping their distance from .'
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