Chapter 153 - Chapter 15 (Interlude: In the Throne Room of the Royal Castle)
A twenty-four-hour grace period was given by the Revolutionary Army.
At the same time, an unacceptable 'surrender recommendation' was issued.
For the King, it was effectively a death sentence. It was as if a sword were being held to his throat, told he would be killed after twenty-four hours.
But at the same time... though it was infuriating, it meant he had gained time to prolong his life.
Depending on how one thought about it, this was an opportunity. The hateful Revolutionary Army likely didn't think the royalty would launch a counterattack. That was why they had arrogantly 'granted' this 'grace.'
The rabble of the Revolutionary Army, especially the great criminal Violia Nico Fortesia, acting so high and mighty was extremely irritating, but for now, they had to escape the siege of the royal castle and survive. Then, they would hide in a safe place until the day came when they could strike down the evil Revolutionary Army.
"Father... we can no longer do anything. We have no choice but to surrender."
"No! There is no need to flatter the Revolutionary Army like that!"
It would be fine. The King believed so.
There were still soldiers. The servants could be used as decoys, and the mages who did nothing but research and were useless could finally be put to use.
By sending them all out at once, the royalty would escape the castle. With the number of people remaining in the castle, that much should be possible.
Besides... the royalty had dragons.
The Revolutionary Army seemed to have dragons as well, but naturally, the royalty had at least some preparation of dragons. To the Revolutionary Army, which would only be wary of escape by horse or carriage, an escape using the sky would surely be unexpected. After that, they just had to shake off the dragons the Revolutionary Army had released.
The King immediately issued orders.
Namely, 'When six hours remain, everyone leave the castle at once to distract the Revolutionary Army. Until then, remain on standby.'
That order was issued not only to the castle soldiers but to everyone, including servants, mages, and scholars.
...But.
"F-Father! Look at that!"
One of the princesses looking out the window screamed.
The King also hurriedly looked outside.
...What he saw there was the sight of servants fleeing from the castle.
"Fools... they betrayed me!"
The King struck the window frame with his fist in anger. But the wave of servants did not stop. The Revolutionary Army accepted the fleeing servants and added them to their ranks.
Seeing this, the King thought, 'Perhaps they are pretending to betray us to infiltrate the Revolutionary Army and destroy it from within,' but the servants showed no sign of moving.
...Apparently, the servants had truly betrayed him. Despite having taken care of them and keeping them in the castle all this time, they had forgotten that debt and betrayed him.
The King expressed his fury at their truly unforgivable actions.
But... no matter how angry he was, the servants would not return.
The next to betray him were the mages and scholars.
They, who had done nothing but research and were completely useless, also quickly defected to the Revolutionary Army.
Useless people are useless to the end. The King realized this, and his anger intensified.
And, seeing the nobles who had remained in the castle, and even the castle soldiers, going outside... the King finally realized.
No one followed his orders anymore.
The situation was much more serious than he had thought.
It had been deemed serious by those in the castle. It had reached the point where they thought it was safer to abandon the royalty and surrender to the Revolutionary Army.
As the King realized this, the figure of a dragon flying in the sky caught the corner of his eye.
...That dragon was slightly different in color from the other dragons around it. Its scales lacked luster, its body was frail, and its way of flying was somewhat weak.
But still, as he watched it fly amicably among the other dragons... the King realized.
On the horn of the weak dragon, there was something glittering. It was a horn ornament engraved with the royal crest, something equipped on dragons used by the royalty.
...In other words, that dragon was the one prepared for the royalty's escape. The King had finally lost even his escape route.
"...Is this finally the end..."
"Father, let us surrender after all. Even if we fall to the status of slaves, if we can survive, there may be an opportunity for revenge."
"That's right, Father. At this rate, the Revolutionary Army will swarm in and we will be killed!"
"Ah, why must we suffer like this!? We did nothing wrong... ah, why..."
The princes and princesses also expressed their lamentations and called for the King to surrender.
Listening to them in silence, the King thought deeply.
...To hand over the castle to the Revolutionary Army like this was a truly pathetic story. The King's pride would not allow such a thing.
But he valued his life. He also valued his honor. The opportunity for exile had already been lost. If he had acted sooner, he might have been able to keep his life and honor, so why...
The thoughts with no answers went round and round, causing the King's thinking to stall.
...But, as the King continued to think, he reached a certain thought.
A convenient conclusion, like a dream.
'The royalty counterattacks the Revolutionary Army and takes back the country.'
An impossible hope.
...Yes. Such a convenient conclusion existed. It had to exist.
Because the King was a noble person who drew noble blood.
...This noble blood would surely bring about a convenient conclusion. The blood of the royalty was, in short, the blood of victors. The old kings had once obtained this land at the end of battles. They had counterattacked and silenced all who opposed them. He had heard they even did things bordering on pillaging at times.
Yes. The members of the royalty were those who drew the blood of the strong. The history of winning and winning battles told that story.
...And, for those of the royalty who had won battles in the past, a secret plan to win battles was provided. The King had been raised hearing that.
Naturally, such a thing had been completely lost by now, and its very existence had been forgotten until this moment. He had thought it was a dream, a fairy tale, or a legend... but apparently, the 'secret plan' truly existed.
What he had heard from the previous King, almost like a fairy tale, was surely...
"The treasury. Search the treasury! A secret art passed down through the royalty should be hidden there!"
The King said so and left the throne room, accompanied by the princes and princesses.
...Stepping into the treasury, the King was aghast.
"Wh... what is this?"
The treasury was completely empty.
"W-What does this mean! There was certainly..."
"Could it be that cleaning was done? And the contents of the treasury were just temporarily moved somewhere else? Right, that's it, isn't it, Father..."
For a while now, he had been busy because of the Revolutionary Army and had not managed the treasury. But even so, for things to be lost so cleanly like this...
"...Search another one!"
Having no choice, the King hurried to the next treasury. The castle did not have only one treasury. Then, somewhere, some fragment of the secret art passed down through the royalty must remain.
But, in vain of the King's expectations, the next treasury he searched was also completely empty.
The next one too. And the one after that.
...Yes. From every single treasury in the royal castle, all sorts of things had vanished.
Not only that. He noticed that books from the library had disappeared, and the vanity from the princess's room was gone; all sorts of things had vanished.
He didn't even know when they had been stolen. But things that were certainly there had certainly disappeared.
At that fact, the King was aghast.
"When on earth..."
"Could it be that the soldiers and servants who just fled stole them...?"
"Ah, how...! What ungrateful people...! This is why those of lowly birth are!"
The princes and princesses also lamented, but the King's despair was deeper.
Why was nothing going well? Betrayed by his vassals, and even the secret art that was his last hope could not be traced like this.
The King, realizing the destruction that was finally approaching, slumped his shoulders.
It was then.
From the head of the slumped King, the crown slid off.
The King, who had been staring blankly for a while at the crown that fell to the floor with a heavy clatter... there, suddenly noticed.
"This is...?"
The King, who picked up the crown that was the proof of a King, found characters engraved on the inside of the crown.
It was magic written in ancient characters.
It was the secret art passed down through the royalty that he had been searching for all along!
The King, who read the characters lined up on the inside of the crown... noticed the commotion outside the castle and started.
What he saw outside the window was the sight of the soldiers who had not betrayed the country until the end, standing up against the Revolutionary Army.
...That was right. it was not over yet.
The King gained hope.
Encouraged by the sight of the soldiers, and clutching the secret art engraved on the crown... the King gathered the princes and princesses.
"'Through the proof of the royalty, the Dragon's Guarded Blood Radiance, the King shall obtain power surpassing even the gods.' So it is written on the crown. The proof of the royalty and the 'blood' guarded by the dragon... namely, it must mean the blood of us royals."
The King spoke to the princes and princesses. The hope he saw simply drove the King.
"In other words, if we combine our powers, we can obtain power surpassing even the gods! The true power of our royalty, which has defeated any great nation, shall be revived here!"
Yes. This secret art was sealed because it was too powerful. The reason it remained only in the form of being engraved on the crown was that if used carelessly, it could destroy the country.
But now was the time. Revive the secret art of the royalty and crush the Revolutionary Army. In doing so, the royalty would regain its former brilliance.
"Now, there is no time. Use the magic. The true power of our royalty, here..."
The King, along with the princes and princesses gathered in the throne room, began to use that magic.
The magic engraved on the crown was complex, but if he took the time, he could surely give it form.
Feeling the approaching time limit keenly, the King desperately unraveled and wove the magic.
...Outside the castle, a roar resounded, but without lending an ear to such a thing, the King simply clung desperately to the secret art.
The King did not know.
That the dragon prepared as the royalty's last means of escape had been guarding a single treasure.
That the bracelet set with a large red ruby... the 'Dragon's Guarded Blood Radiance,' had already been lost from the royal castle.
The King, knowing nothing, was simply concentrating on the magic.