Published at 22nd of January 2020 4:02 pm

Volume 1, Prologue II: —Even So, We Want a Reason to Live

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The ceiling was obscenely high, supported only by stiff, heavily decorated pillars. It was the biggest and gaudiest building in all of the Roland Empire, and frankly it cost the most to make out of every building in Roland.

It was the place the king of all Roland resided in, after all…

Right now, it all belonged to Sion Astal. But if you asked him, it was all a horrible waste of money…

The old men surrounding him told him that it was important for the king to put on airs and show off his status for the sake of his authority.

“Putting on airs… how useless is that,” he mumbled atop the throne.

Social status couldn’t save anybody. Putting on airs wouldn’t help their people. That much was obvious. If he didn’t give them anything, and yet sat here and put on airs, would anybody believe in him?

It was all very stupid. Incompetence in a ruler was a sin. Not knowing the people’s pain was a sin, too.

And yet, when he’d come here, there hadn’t been a single competent person in sight.

“This is… the king.”

His eyes had narrowed. He had to change things. Everything.

That was the conclusion he’d arrived at. But that was only the beginning.

Their country had been sick for a long time thanks to the incompetent king, the nobility, and their long, meaningless wars. It had to be changed at the roots.

But…

Sion’s eyes fell to the bundle of papers in his hands. He smiled.

It was a report. Shabby words that were by no means readable lined the pages. Just what was in his hands held an enormous amount of information, and that wasn’t even one full section of it. If he assembled the whole thing to read through, he’d surely spend a number of days leafing through it…

Sion had obtained this report from prison the previous day. He’d split it with five scholars, and they each read a piece and then reported on their portion. So he basically understood the contents.

And amazing contents they were.

It was the sort of thing he hadn’t known anyone was thinking about. It greatly different from the norm.

In two years, he’d managed to research down to the smallest details, and this was the conclusion he’d come to.

The guy who’d written it… was changing the world itself.

“And here I went through hell to change it… geez, he’s a pretty big deal.” Sion smiled bitterly.

To top it all off, the title of the report was as follows: “What Do We Need to Do to Create the Napping Kingdom?”

He was really fucking around by giving it a title like that. The scholars lost motivation as soon as they read it, but Sion just laughed.

“He never changes.”

He was someone who calmly thought things through while his head looked empty.

Sion was happy about that.

Allies shouldn’t be like that. No, countries shouldn’t be like that. No matter what one thought, no matter what kind of guy they were, we should accept them without discrimination.

Now, to briefly explain the report’s contents.

The world’s history was once overshadowed by the great power of a people; a demon king, devil, or perhaps wicked god; those who called him by these names were innumerable. These devil kings had perfected a system of magic, gaining power far past what the people of today could imagine. Even an army of magicians and soldiers couldn’t defeat a single monstrous demon king.

Time and time again, the world tried to destroy the demon kings. Finally, the legendary heroes - Knights of Light, as they were known - appeared. These humans were said to have held the military ability to defeat the demon kings. However, this is dubious - just what were those heroes?

Leaving aside whether the heroes or demon kings truly existed… these beings known as “humans” obtained the power to defeat the monsters. Just what were they? The monsters were unable to stand up against their armies. According to a vast number of written histories, the monsters were easily purged by a single hero whose power outnumbered that of the hundreds of great magicians he’d sacrificed.

Stories of legendary heroes like this are scattered through the world. Though no one is searching for them, it should be possible to find documents related to them as well as the weapons and armor they used. Unfortunately, documents on the demon kings have proven to be even more difficult to find.

However, if these Heroic Relics are truly stronger than monsters, should we not make an effort to harness their power?

As an aside, the existence of the demon kings and heroes can be proven by the Alpha Stigma. It too is a wicked power; though it doesn’t directly prove the existence of the heroes, it does prove that such power can exist.

Searching for those relics is of unfathomable value. Because, with a power like that, wars might be stopped entirely before they even start.

The report continued on to list the probable locations of Heroic Relics, and even included a map of all the locations to check.

That was the gist of it. Depending on the person, some found it horribly foolish. To those who hadn’t witnessed the true power of the Alpha Stigma, it sounded like a fairytale. No, to everyone but Sion, who’d seen that power right before his eyes, the report was just too delusional.

And yet… Sion read it over and over. His eyes fell back to the first page, the forward where the author’s reason for writing it lay. When he read it, he couldn’t help but feel that the report was interesting. That it had worth.

His eyes were once more drawn to those words—but then he felt a presence. He lifted his face.

He stood, smiling. “Hi, Ferris. Good work, and welcome back. So? How is he?”

At some point, Ferris, the beauty with long, glimmering golden hair, had entered. He’d sent her to ascertain the author of this report and see if they could make use of it, but…

She studied him with her usual emotionless face. “He has a fairly stupid face, and to top it off, he always looks half-asleep. I couldn’t find even a shred of motivation.”

“Haha, right?” Sion agreed. “And?”

“Mm. Even when the situation changed, he didn’t react to it. He just yawned, far too relaxed. His ability to act under pressure is remarkably poor, and he’s dull as a doorknob.”

“And?” Sion asked, grinning.

Her tone turned indignant at his urging. “You’re as unpleasant as always, you know that? He was strong. I don’t think he could win, but… it’s the first time I felt threatened by a human other than my brother. He was even going easy on me.”

Sion’s grin broadened. “I see.”

He moved his gaze from Ferris to beyond. To a lanky man, who was sleepily stepping in.

“You came. Welcome to my court, Ryner.”

---

Ryner was astonished by the scene before him.

Sure, he’d vaguely felt it. He’d felt it from the conversation with that amazingly strong woman earlier, but…

Right before his eyes, Sion was at the royal throne.

He didn’t really understand what’d happened, but… that meant Sion had become the king.

That meant Ryner would likely forego the death penalty…

That meant that all his hard work today was pretty useless, in the end…

Ryner sighed. “I’m already really tired, so I’ll go to sleep for today. Night~.”

In order to quickly escape from reality, Ryner lay on his side for a nap.

Apparently, the knowledge that his friend had become king wasn’t worth the shock of it.

“Hey, you. Don’t sleep. Even if it’s only for an instant, I’ve become king, see?”

“Don’t care. I’m tired!”

“Geez… don’t be like that. If you keep it up, why I don’t I tell you something horrible about Kiefer?”

“Whatever.”

“She’s dead.”

“Huh!?” Ryner jumped up in an instant, grimacing in Sion’s direction. “That’s…”

“A lie. Ahahah. You’re finally awake,” Sion said, smiling maliciously.

It was about that time that Ryner made a vow to kill that asshole someday. He sighed. “Right, that’s the kind of guy you are… only you would spread rumors about me being a homewrecker…”

“Don’t be stupid. I wouldn’t have been able to become king if I wasn’t like this.”

“If a guy like you is king, this country’s done for.”

“Hahaha. Maybe. How about you become king, then?”

“No way. That’s way too much of a pain. So, what happened to Kiefer? You know, don’t you? See, I’ve been in jail the whole time, so I really don’t know.”

“Mm. Want me to tell you?”

“Not particularly. It’s fine if you don’t wanna tell me.”

Sion shrugged. “Fine. I guess you can’t be manipulated with her.”

“Hah!? You’re trying to manipulate me?”

Sion laughed, then continued. “It’s fine, I’ll tell you. Kiefer entrusted you to me and left the country to go see other lands. It seems that after being in Estabul and Roland, she became interested in travel.”

“Hmm.” Ryner nodded along, looking like he lacked interest. For some reason, Sion smiled at that…

“Anyway, I didn’t bring you here to tell you that,” Sion said. “I brought you here so you could tell me about this.” He picked up the papers he’d set on the throne and waved them at Ryner. “This matter that you spent two years researching.”

“You read that!?” Ryner shouted without thinking.

Sion didn’t mind. “It’s of particular interest to me. Legendary Heroic Relics, hm? Amazing. You really thought it through.”

“Hey… don’t go reading someone else’s report on your own.”

“I already read it.”

“Give it back.”

“I don’t want to. I’m king, so you have no right to order me around.”

Ryner turned to the woman standing off to the side. “Uwaah. Ugh. Did you hear that? It’s like people are just objects to him. This country’s already done for with him as king.”

She still hadn’t changed her expression the whole time he’d her known her, but she replied. “This isn’t the first time a king’s had poor character. Also, he acts too friendly.”

“So that’s how it is between the two of you?” Ryner asked.

“No, that’s how it is between the king and the sex maniac.”

“Aren’t I the one with the most common sense out of the three of us?” Sion said.

It seemed there wasn’t much difference between any of them…

“Anyway,” Sion continued. “I liked the report. Ryner, I want you to go and actually confirm the contents. I want you to travel the world in search of the Heroic Relics.”

“What!?” Ryner yelled. “Why me!?”

Sion ignored him and continued. “But if you went alone, I worry that you’d just slack off. So I want Ferris to help you.”

“……”

She stared at Sion. “What’re your intentions, bastard King?”

She didn’t sound like she was addressing him properly as a king at all…

Neither of them were happy with it. “Don’t decide something like this all on your own, Sion. I only did that research because I had a lot of free time. I thought I had my whole life to leisurely sit on it and fill my head with dreams, ‘till I got old.”

“You think I care? If you don’t obey, you get the death penalty,” Sion said nonchalantly.

That was absurd.

The woman… Sion had called her Ferris, spoke next. “Even if I’m of the Eris family, I’m not the head. I am not actually your subordinate. I have no reason to obey you, no matter how many times you order me.”

“I thought you’d say that, so I showed Lucile the report. He also found it interesting. He said if you fail, Iris will die. So, Ferris. If you don’t properly accompany Ryner, Iris gets it, see?”

“Mm. No problem. She can protect herself—”

“Don’t be naive, Ferris,” Sion interrupted with a smile. “Lucile also said that if you won’t listen to me, Wynnit Dango will be destroyed in an instant.”

In an instant, Ferris yelled like he’d never heard her before. “Huh!? What cowards you are!”

Then, a man’s voice resonated from somewhere. “You’d better leave in the next two minutes.”

It was really impossible to tell where that voice came from. Ryner looked around. It was really like no one else was there, and yet, he’d heard a voice.

“Guh……. you’re serious about this,” Ferris grumbled, voice barely above a whisper. She suddenly whipped out her sword and held it against Ryner’s neck. “You heard the situation. We have no time. We’re leaving.”

“Hah!? What situation? I had nothing to do with any of that! The hell’re you deciding all on your… uwah…”

His words stopped when her sword stopped not a millimeter from his throat.

Ferris spoke, her face so expressionless that it was scary. “I’m telling you, we have no time. Make your choice. Your neck flies, your whole upper half flies, or you come with me. Which will it be?”

Her eyes were dead serious. Though they hadn’t changed once from their meeting earlier in the day, and could always be called serious…

“Uu.” Ryner stood to escape her steadily approaching blade. “I’ll remember this, Sion!!” Ryner yelled, cursing him for anticipating everything with a smile.

“Haha. Glad you’re finally motivated to go.”

“Who says I’m going? I’ll definitely—”

That voice again resounded from an indiscernible location. “One minute left.”

“Hey, what the hell is that voice!?” Ryner yelled.

“This is bad,” Ferris said. “We don’t have the time for this. The dango is in danger. We’ll be going now, King.”

“Mmhm. I’ll leave Ryner to you, Ferris.”

“Mm.”

“Like I said, stop deciding things on your—huh?”

Metal flew towards him at an otherworldly speed. It was Ferris’ sword. Not the edge, but the blunt base.

“Bwuoh!?”

He collapsed to the ground, unable to find the power to stand back up.

“Alright,” Ferris said.

“It’s not alright!”

“What, you’re surprisingly energetic. How about if I do this?” Ferris asked. She stepped hard on his back.

Ryner lay limp under her.

“Now then. Let’s go, partner.”

“……What sort of partner… I’m not into… ugyahh!?”

She grabbed the nape of his neck for her finishing blow and dragged him around as she walked…

With that, the horribly incompatible pair set off on their journey.

Sion saw them off, then sat in his throne. He smiled, then picked Ryner’s report up again to look at the first page. How many times had he read it since yesterday?

Sion spoke to the empty room. “Lucile. What do you think this means for the path I’m on?”

“I don’t know,” Lucile replied. He suddenly appeared before Sion.

He wasn’t surprised about that anymore, though…

“It’s another path, isn’t it? And this isn’t where your path ends. So I won’t kill you yet. A king is an object - a single gear in what makes up a country. I won’t ruin something new. Haha. You’re still new.”

Sion stared at the man who could say something like that so easily.

That was the sort of place he was in now. This too was something of his.

In exchange for power, he’d lost various other things.

Even so, he felt he had to move forward. No matter what he lost. No matter how much sadness he encountered. Because this was the path he himself had chosen.

His eyes fell to Ryner’s report again. An entirely new path was written here.

“That’s fine,” Sion whispered.

Ryner could take that path.

“Even if it’s different from mine…”

I hate it when people die.

I also hate killing.

I hate crying and I hate being made to cry.

What’s the feeling called when you know you can’t choose your life? When your family dies? What about when the person you love dies?

Nobody wants those things to happen, and yet this world wishes for pointless sadness, laughing all the while.

I’ve never wanted to change things. I know it’s futile. But I’ll keep being sad if things don’t change, and I don’t want to lose anything else…

This is a pain to write, but… I think it’s about time to move forward. I’ve averted my eyes from the past until now, but if it’s necessary, I’ll look at it. For the sake of making a world where nobody will lose anything anymore.

A world where that kid and Kiefer don’t have to cry, where Tyle, Tony, and Fahle don’t have to die, where Sion doesn’t have to torment himself over the state of things.

To a world where everyone smiles and it’s okay if all we do is nap.

Ryner Lute

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