It was evening, and the drinks and food ca out on cue.
Even at sixteen, one should be able to drink alcohol. Children at that age often have so fantasy about alcohol, so I thought Roka would show interest, but it was far from the case.
Nom nom.
Munch munch.
Roka only showed interest in the at dishes the attendants brought. She had not the slightest interest in wheat noodles, sweet pastries, or especially dishes where vegetables made up more than half of the ingredients.
Co to think of it, alcohol is also made from grains, fruits, or rare things like honey, so it made sense that Roka had no interest. There probably wouldn’t be any alcohol made using at.
At this point, I realized that this child was a trendous picky eater.
Since she seems healthy even without eating greens, I can’t forcefully coerce her, so I just let it be. An attendant brought an entire barrel of ice-cold alcohol and placed it next to us. It seed like it had been stored in the warehouse for aging and was just brought out.
“When you’re in the position of an emperor, there are tis when you can’t always act as you wish.”
The person who handed a cup of alcohol didn’t have that majestic appearance from before.
He just seed like a tired and exhausted old man chugging alcohol, trying to endure the hardships with it.
“I apologize for earlier. I called you, my benefactor, but couldn’t express my gratitude and instead only talked about myself incessantly. It’s late, but let thank you now. I’m truly grateful that you saved this child and .”
“It was sothing I had to do.”
“Then I should naturally reward you, but I already heard what you’re seeking. You said you’re trying the aning of the word ‘cycle’. I don’t know the answer to that either.”
I lifted the cup and took a sip of the alcohol. I couldn’t properly feel what the alcohol tasted like.
I didn’t even have the leisure to savor how it differed from ordinary wine. My mind was complicated, and my thoughts converged into one. Indeed, going to the North Pole may be unavoidable.
The Ancient Demon King. That Demon King whose lifespan is unknown.
Only he, whose level of knowledge is undoubtedly that of a sage, would know the answer to the cycle. If even he doesn’t know, then no matter how much I think about it, there’s no one else to seek the answer from.
At best, maybe Demon King Harmael? But if Grimudo doesn’t know, would she?
“I see. As expected...”
“So I’d like to prepare a different reward, what would you prefer?”
“Just...”
As I was about to say it was sothing I simply had to do, I suddenly saw Roka.
I recalled what that child had told earlier. That she wanted to beco stronger.
“Rather than , I’d like you to help that child.”
“Are you referring to that child with the delightful table manners?”
His Majesty laughed, and Roka’s eyes widened as she swallowed a chunk of at.
“That child wants to beco stronger, but I don’t know how to help her since I don’t handle mana. I’d like Your Majesty to provide so assistance to that child.”
“I heard my daughter has already beco that child’s ntor. I can’t assign another ntor to help a child who already has a Master as her teacher, but I’ll have sothing helpful bestowed upon her.”
His Majesty raised his hand and summoned the imperial steward. Then he ordered Roka to be guided.
“Make arrangents so this child can take any one item from the imperial treasury.”
“Anything, you say?”
The steward showed a surprised expression, but His Majesty the Emperor was unhindered.
“Child, go and pick out whatever you desire. No matter what you choose, everything in there will only be things that will help you, so it won’t be the wrong choice.”
“...Thank you.”
Roka swallowed what she was eating and only then politely expressed her gratitude. Then she glanced at for a mont, and when I smiled and nodded, she disappeared with short steps following the imperial steward.
“If you intend to go to the North Pole to et Grimudo and seek that answer, rather than leaving right away, wait just a little. I will personally send an envoy to Grimudo, so how about accompanying them as part of that delegation?”
“An envoy, you say?”
It wasn’t , but the princess who had been silent all along suddenly raised her head and exclaid.
“S-Sending an envoy to Grimudo is absurd. If the temple finds out about this, they will rush in like wolves to protest, but...”
I also know what the princess is worried about.
There are two ways to go from the continent to the North Pole. One is to travel by sea, crossing the Near Eastern Sea full of drift ice and monsters, and dock the ship at the North Pole, which is very dangerous.
Even skilled explorers often had their ships sink and lost all their supplies, barely returning alive. In fact, even just saving one’s own life and that of the expedition was enough to be treated as a hero.
Sailing there by ship is a dangerous task. But is the other path not dangerous, you ask? That’s not the case either.
“Doesn’t the Kalkamir Mountain Range, the highest mountain range on the continent, block the way between the North Pole and the continent? An envoy cannot cross that frigid mountain range. Unless it’s soone like , a Master...”
“Yes. What’s the problem? You said it yourself. It’s possible if it’s you.”
“Your Majesty’s words couldn’t possibly an...”
I was surprised, and the princess was greatly astonished as well. When I asked His Majesty, he nodded.
“Not an envoy, but an emissary. Why do you think I gave you so many positions and a symbol to represent ? It’s because you are my friendly emissary who must visit the North Pole Castle representing the imperial family.”
So, in other words, does that an the princess will also accompany us on the journey to the North Pole?
However, there is one thing I must warn them about. Grimudo is absolutely not soone to be taken lightly.
“Your Majesty. This may be a rash statent, but to Grimudo, Your Majesty’s authority is infinitely insignificant. I don’t believe he would refrain from laying a hand on the princess just because she represents the Empire.”
“I am aware of that much as well. Although my daughter has reached the level of a Master, if her opponent is Grimudo, it may be difficult for her to even flee alive.”
But surprisingly, His Majesty readily acknowledged my words.
Ordinary people of the continent tend to underestimate Grimudo to so extent. Since they have no occasion to face him directly, they also have no chance to witness his power, and as a result, they often think of his existence as rely sothing from legends or ghost stories.
However, His Majesty the Emperor was different. As if he already knew a bit about Grimudo, he seed to acknowledge to so degree that the power he possesses overwhelms the imperial family and even the entire empire.
“Therefore, this is not sothing I can force upon you, Ardein. What about you? As my emissary, do you have any intention of following this Saint here to the North Pole Castle?”
“That is...”
“If you cannot go, I will simply send soone else. But as a father, I must ask one thing. Child, are you still interested in my position?”
Mumbling and unable to continue her words, the princess muttered softly.
“That’s not the case. It’s just...”
“Just?”
“I just cannot tolerate that bastard Edmund becoming the emperor. Father told to forgive that bastard, but I cannot do so.”
“I understand. Then, think a bit more about what I said. I don’t expect an answer right away, so take your ti and ponder.”
His Majesty the Emperor gestured.
“Now, you should go and get so sleep as well. I will converse a bit more with the Saint here.”
“C-Can’t I stay too?”
“It’s nothing much. But it’s also an important matter. It’s also sothing you shouldn’t hear, so go and sleep. Child, the night is deep.”
The princess reluctantly bid farewell to His Majesty and left, disappearing from the place.
Watching his daughter’s back as she disappeared, His Majesty suddenly asked .
“So, Priest.”
He blurted it out as if it were nothing, but there was no way this could be a trivial question.
“What do you think of my daughter?”
*****Southwestern continent. Kalderan mountain range.
“Tsk, my luck is just terrible today.”
The herbalist, Ada, stretched his hunched back and looked up at the sky. Searching for dicinal herbs while pushing through grass and trees is a difficult job, and the pay isn’t great either. Rich people don’t buy dicinal herbs; they visit temples for treatnt, so the wallet situation of those who search for dicinal herbs is obvious without even looking.
So even if they manage to pick dicinal herbs and sell them, the profit left in their hands is miserably small. Moreover, there is a lot of competition even for this kind of work.
That’s because picking dicinal herbs is a side job that any commoner would think of at least once. There can’t be any idiot among the villagers who can’t even distinguish between dicinal herbs and poisonous herbs.
“If I sell all of this, I should at least be able to get a few coins.”
The Citadel Kingdom has beco the Citadel Republic, and now a system has been established to elect the Doge by voting, but it’s none of Ada’s business, just like any other countryside herbalist. No, it’s soone else’s business.
Because in order to have the right to vote, one must pay a large amount of voting tax to the state. A country where everything is solved with money. The center of mariti trade on the continent. It was a typical rule befitting the Citadel Republic.
Honestly, what does it matter whether it’s a king or a Doge ruling above? In the end, they are people of high status whom one will never see in person in their entire life, and that doesn’t change.
“Oh well, at least the weather is bright and nice today.”
Whether it’s the Doge or the king, what’s above him right now are the clouds. The sun peeking through the clouds was glaring and shooting out light, and the clouds were blocking the sunlight just enough to make it cool.
“The sunlight is as hot as midday...”
The herbalist, who was looking up at the sky from the shade to avoid the sunlight, felt sothing strange and narrowed his eyes. That sun over there is clearly hidden in the clouds.
The surroundings are as sunny as noon without a single cloud, yet the sun itself is half-covered by clouds? If that’s the case, it’s common sense that anyone, not just an herbalist, knows that the sunlight can’t be this bright.
“The, the, the, there are 2 suns!”
Then where is this light coming from? As he looked around the sky, his gaze found the sun standing intact and illuminating the world.
The sun, not obscured by clouds, was brightly illuminating the earth with its glare, and Ada’s trembling gaze cautiously turned to that sun from earlier. Hoping that he had seen it wrong.
But the sun, shining alone amidst the abundant clouds, definitely existed. Even if its brightness was faint compared to the real sun, that was undoubtedly the sun. The sun in the sky!
-Rumble?
Or perhaps it was the eye of sothing absurdly gigantic. In the clouds, the sun closed.
When it appeared again, two suns were looking at Ada. As the wind blew and the clouds parted, it finally revealed itself for all to see. A burning bird with a pair of sun-like eyes was leisurely hovering in the air, surveying the world.
“Mo, mo, mo...”
No matter how vast the world is, how many things that big could there be?
Ada, who was also a citizen of the Citadel Republic, knew well. Even if he didn’t know its na, he couldn’t not know what to call things that looked like that.
“Monster, it’s a monster! One of Grimudo’s monsters!”
Just recently, their own Doge borrowed a monster and used its power to overturn the country.
It wasn’t sothing that could be hidden by keeping one’s mouth shut. How big is the monster?
Are you saying you have to massacre all the citizens who saw that huge thing just to keep one secret? Even if you do that, the secret won’t be kept, so that fact is already a public story that’s hardly a secret.
Why did such a monster appear here now?
If he could coolly raise this question, he probably wouldn’t be living as an herbalist. Ada was terrified and ran away. He ran away spewing tears!
He cried out in prayer to gods he didn’t even seek in normal tis. Nemi, Elysia, Hillai, Aldehir, Ortà... He spewed out nas that seed like they could offer even a glimr of salvation and ran frantically.
The Monster King paid no attention to him as he ran away, snot dripping down his nose. In the first place, it didn’t co to eat sothing like that.
Screech!
It cried out once and began to descend toward the ground. Its distance from the ground got closer and closer. 500 ters. 150 ters. 100 ters... At so point, the vegetation caught fire, and a wildfire began to spread. The ground dried up from the heat, and a hot blast of wind swirled in all directions.
And finally, 0 ters.
The ground undulated like waves. Dirt and dust reached the ends of the sky.
Everything standing on the ground was destroyed, unable to withstand the impact, and the shaking earth and rocks toppled everything. Ada, who was desperately running away, was buried under a pile of dirt dozens of ters in size, leaving no trace. Just burrowing into the ground caused this tragedy.
The immortal demon bird, Phoenix, didn’t co here and commit this act to tornt humans. It was even less so because it received orders from Grimudo.
It simply needed what was beneath the mountain range. An act committed without any malice brought about a great disaster, and this was only the beginning.
Monsters are too large for the terrain of this world to handle.
It took less than a minute for the capital of the Citadel Republic, Valles City, to realize the problem. The prelude signaling the beginning of the red nightmare reached the city of Valles.
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