Chapter 50: Best friends hundreds of years ago
Upon hearing my words, I felt a sense of everyone in the throne room holding their breath.
“The human king, descendant of my dear friend.”
Synovidos spoke with Demon King-sama’s face, Demon King-sama’s language, and Demon King-sama’s voice, staring at the throne.
I felt the discomfort I had been holding onto melt away like snow.
That’s right. Although he changed the tone of his voice, it was certainly the same low, gentle, and calm voice.
“Answer my question. Why did the royal family abandon the promise made since the first king, Eitzicht?”
He asked the king sharply with a stern voice.
“The Lucidia royal family and the Demon King made a pledge of friendship, promising to greet me upon their ascensions after the coronation ceremony.”
――Is it just my imagination that Synovidos’ voice sounds somewhat sorrowful?
“What are you talking about?”
Amidst the commotion, the king faced Demon King Synovidos-sama’s gaze head-on. As a king, he seemed to be able to face the sudden appearance of a man in black clothing who turned out to be Demon King-sama calmly.
The king slowly asked Demon King Synovidos-sama to confirm.
“Isn’t it because of the power of the first king that the Demon King, who commanded the ancient god Black Dragon, is now subservient?”
“. . .As I suspected, the legend has been lost. I had a vague idea from the treatment I received at the Friendship Corridor.”
Demon King Synovidos-sama bit his lip and shook his head slightly.
“Your Majesty. I was never subservient to you. The first king, Lord Eitzicht, and I were close friends with a common goal.”
“What is the Demon King talking about!”
“Even that story hasn’t been passed down to the royal family. Have you neglected to read the memoirs of the first Eitzicht?”
“. . .Huh?!”
The king was astonished.
“Why would the Demon King know about the national treasure that is only mentioned during the coronation ceremony?”
“If it’s just a formality, then it makes sense for nobles like Kasdar Streltsy to exist.”
He called out Kasdar’s name and showed clear disgust.
Demon King Synovidos-sama stretched out his long fingers and pointed to the curtain that concealed the back of the king and queen.
With a rough sound, the curtain was opened by magic.
From within, the portrait of the first king appeared.
“Your Majesty, what do you see in this?”
“This is a portrait that is only shown during the coronation ceremony and the founding anniversary. . .”
It was the solemn figure of the first king sitting in the darkness with a gentle smile.
To me, it looked like the left side of the portrait was unnaturally empty.
“Did you erase the Demon King’s existence?”
A wrinkle appeared on Demon King Synovidos-sama’s forehead. The king quickly retorted.
“The black part on the left represents darkness, in other words, the Demon King. Isn’t that the meaning that the first king ruled over the heretical black dragon and the demon king and was glaring at them?”
“You don’t have to lie. I know the true picture of this.”
“If it’s a lie, then I. . .”
In the eyes of Demon King Synovidos-sama, who had been filled with anger and severity until then, a hint of pity mixed in.
Perhaps it was compassion for the king who had been placed on the throne in ignorance.
“. . .Descendants who were not informed. I will show you my true form.”
As Demon King Synovidos-sama waved his hand, the black paint on the painting disappeared as if it were being sucked away. In its place appeared a painting of the king sitting on the throne in the shining palace garden, looking ahead with a black-haired man beside him.
The room became noisy.
The reason was that the man depicted in the painting and Demon King Synovidos-sama had exactly the same appearance.
“What on earth. . .”
“This is. . .”
The nobles were in an uproar, and the clergymen turned pale and gripped their staffs.
The king, although pale, remained silent and attentive to the truth he had not been informed of.
Demon King Synovidos-sama turned his gaze to all the people gathered in the audience room and made his palm glow.
“I will show you. . .the promise between me and the first king.”
A dazzling light burst forth like the setting sun. A story flowed into their minds.
❂❂❂
――Several hundred years ago, at Yarilas Beach on the southern tip of Draco Cocoon Peninsula.
The young king of a small kingdom rescued a black-haired man who had washed ashore with the wreckage of many ships that had run aground.
While using magic to translate, the two exchanged conversation.
“I see, so you were a king from a distant foreign country.”
As they conversed with the help of magic translation, the young king, Eitzicht, the future first king of the Lucidia Kingdom, listened to the man’s story and sympathized with him, as they shared a similar fate.
“Shinobu-dono. Actually, I also lost the previous generation and the royal family in battle and became a lord at a young age, just like you. I feel your pain as if it were my own. If you don’t mind, would you become my friend in my country?”
“. . .My benefactor, please don’t help me. I am a man who couldn’t protect his country.”
“Shinobu-dono, please use your experience for the peace of our country. Let’s create a country where no one is sad together.”
“If that’s what you want. . .I will live the rest of my life for you, Lord Eitzicht.”
The manーーShinobu took Eitzicht’s outstretched hand.
The man who had lost everything decided to make up for his lost homeland by becoming Eitzicht’s strength and protecting his country.
Afterwards, it was discovered that Shinobu was a powerful supernatural being loved by the earth.
At the recommendation of the young king Eitzicht, he went to meet the land god, The Black Dragon, enshrined in the sacred mountain, Kuze, and was able to communicate with him.
The giant rock at the summit of the sacred mountain, Kuze, which had turned into a black dragon, awakened and stretched out to look down on the visitor.
“You have a rare soul, young man. You’re not from around here.”
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