Chapter 57 Dragon Demon Prince (4).
Chapter 57 - Dragon Demon Prince (4)
5
They were reunited after only a day, but Arrieta looked completely different from the appearance Azell had known. She really looked like a princess in her feminine clothes. She had her hair up and was swearing a silver circlet with a gem embedded in it. She wore a white dress with silver and light blue tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Azell spoke after he stared at her absent-mindedly for a brief moment.
“…I"m surprised.”
“Mmm? About what??”
“For a brief moment, I thought you were a different person.”
“I didn"t realize that this was such an unflattering dress. I suffered through 2 hours to wear all of this.”
Arrieta tossed a joke toward him. However, the fact that she had suffered through 2 hours was the absolute truth.
Azell queried.
“Do you always wear those kinds of clothes inside the palace?”
“No way. I"ve worn more comfortable clothes than the ones I wore on the road. For two hours, I"ve been the subject of my two maids playing doll. I would never do this everyday. It"s been awhile since his majesty has asked me to breakfast. Moreover, he"ll probably have various people gathered there so I have no choice in this matter.”
Yesterday, Arrieta went through the trouble of dressing up, but her appearance had been an extension of what he saw during the trip. It was an outfit which allowed her to pull out and use her sword at any time.
Today Arrieta was perfectly dolled up as a lady of the royal family.
The maids displayed their skills over two hours, and it wasn"t an exaggeration to call the result a work of art.
Azell grinned.
“I guess I’m lucky today.”
“Yes, you are. This isn"t something you can see everyday.”
Arrieta spoke as she lifted the tea cup that had been filled by Enora. After she savored the scent of the tea, she asked her question.
“So your popularity exploded in just one day?”
“Yes. I have a mountainous pile of invitations.”
“The n.o.bles of the capital have nothing better to do than whisper entertaining rumors. It can"t be helped. I bet it"s annoying for you.”
“Yes. Princess knows me well unlike Ms. Enora.”
“What did Enora say?”
“She informed me how the n.o.ble society works like an adult.”
Azell told her what had happened, to which Arrieta laughed.
“I see. Well, if you were someone capable of thinking in such a way, it would have been the right advice. The opportunity to showcase one"s ability is quite precious for someone without a background. Enora"s advice is correct.”
Enora"s face became red at those words. Arrieta enjoyed seeing Enora"s expression, but she let out a bitter laugh when she looked at Azell.
“However, no matter how I look at you, you aren"t someone who is driven by promotion of rank.”
“If I was, I would have already given my pledge of loyalty to princess.”
“Hoo hoo. Well, if you want it, I can still give you a pretty decent position.”
“I"ll have to decline.”
“That"s too bad. So I heard you received a recruitment offer from Seigar?”
“Yes.”
“Seigar is greedy about gathering talented people. When he heard about you from me and teacher, I a.s.sumed he would go looking for you. Did he bother you much?”
“Not at all. He cleanly backed off after I declined him once.”
“Is that so? How unexpected. Ah, you might receive a similar offer from my teacher soon. He"ll try to scout you to the Duchy of Tarantos instead of recruiting you for the throne.”
“Of course, I"ll also decline that offer.”
“Of course, you should do that. Or else I"ll be very miffed.”
“However, I do plan on visiting the Duchy of Tarantos.”
“Mmm?”
Arrieta was puzzled. She couldn"t fathom why Azell would want to go to the Duchy of Tarantos.
Azell spoke.
“I have to go collect on the bet I won from the duke.”
“Now that I think about it, you are 3 wins ahead of him. You"ll have to ask for something comparable. What are you going to ask for? I"m guessing it isn"t money.”
“I have something in mind. Moreover, that is the reason why I have a favor to ask of you.”
“To me?”
Arrieta tilted her head.
6
After Azell started staying at the palace, spending most of his time at the palace"s library. He had a chance to visit a place with so many books. He knew this was a precious opportunity, so he wanted to gather as much information as he could.
The palace library held about 6 thousand books that he was able to view. It was a huge task to even determine which book to read. There was enough books here to overwhelm his senses.
The Nad.i.c.k Empire"s library he had visited before he went to sleep was of a similar size.
It was the same now as the time before he went to sleep, the method of printing hadn"t progressed much. One had to transcribe all the books by hand. Fortunately, there was a magic that would allow a single person to transcribe and produce several books at a time, but the books didn"t really circulate into the public. Even a n.o.ble with a pa.s.sion for books only had several dozen in their collection.
This was why he couldn"t help but be surprised at seeing 6 thousand books in a single place. Moreover, there were over 100,000 books if one counted the books in the forbidden section.
‘Well, these are mostly Imperial Record. I wouldn"t mind seeing the forbidden texts.’
Most of the forbidden texts were literature that insulted the throne or the G.o.ds. From Azell"s perspective, he wondered if he could find the information he wanted in those books.
Azell received help from the librarian and he found the history books dealing with the era he was interested in. He also read the books regarding the current situation of the continent.
This allowed him to clearly find out how the current 7 kingdoms divvied up the Nad.i.c.k Empire"s territories. Unfortunately, the marquisate of Karzark wasn"t in Rulain. It was within a different country.
“It would have been impossible considering where it was located at.”
He had already expected this. Unless the Rulain kingdom was much larger than the other countries and held a supremacy over the other countries, the marquisate of Karzark was too far away to be included in the Rulain Kingdom.
Azell decided to stop reading about the current information at that point and focused on the historical side.
“Poot. Wow... This is amazing.”
Eventually he ran across records of himself. As the person who had actually experienced the events, he found the stories embarra.s.sing or funny. Normally, after discussing the techniques of the heroes, the history changed depending on the inclination of the historian and the inclination of those in power. There were different interpretations to the events, and the history became distorted. There weren"t any negative distortion about Azell. Most of his deeds had been embellished.
It was understandable, since he was the legendary hero who had defeated the Dragon Demon King Atein. Moreover, it was largely influenced by the fact that he hadn"t gotten involved in anything after the war. Officially, it was recorded that Azell had suddenly gone into hiding. There were various theories and idle imaginings regarding his disappearance.
“It wasn"t my intention, but my life as a hero transitioned into something of a mystic legend.”
His walk through life had turned into a legend. Moreover, his end was too mysterious that it evoked the romantic imagination in people. The record of himself was written by strangers. Since they a.n.a.lyzed and imagined their own versions of his life, he was unfamiliar with a lot of the stories. It really made him wonder if this was really about him.
As he kept reading the books, the suspicion he held turned into a certainty.
‘Those Dragon Demon King worshippers are amazing.’
They had manipulated the history from behind-the-scenes. The record regarding the Dragon Slayer"s Ritual and Dragon Demon qi was expunged from the records. As a member of the Guardian Shadows who fought the Dragon Demon Worshippers, the legendary martial artist Kairen Tarantos had no knowledge about it. This was astounding as he was over a hundred years old.
‘They aren"t the ruling power, yet they were able to manipulate the history to this extent....’
From Azell"s perspective, he had no idea how they had done it. If they had conquered the world to publicly use their power and change the history, he would have understood such a result. However, they had done this while hiding in the dark parts of the society. Was it possible to extinguish the knowledge that had been spread across the world?
‘I get their intent. However, the problem is now figuring out how they were able to do this...’
He could easily guess why they attempted to manipulate the history in this fashion. A human had to go through the Dragon Slayer"s Ritual to create Dragon Demon Qi within oneself. It was a necessary process. This was the only way a human could get strong enough to defeat the Dragon Demon King Atein. At the very least, Azell had earned transcendent power through this method. There had been no one like him.
‘Did the Great Darkness affect the world that much?’
The Great Darkness made the world go crazy, and it created cracks where the Dragon Demon King worshippers could worm in. Maybe this impossible task would have been possible during that time.
‘So what were the Guardian Shadows doing during that time?’
According to Kairen"s explanation, the Dragon Demon King worshippers had to hide from plain sight even though they possessed great power. They had failed to conquer the world. However, the history had been manipulated and they had succeeded in severing the pa.s.sage of knowledge. Wasn"t that a bit strange? It was hard to accept that the confusion caused by the Great Darkness was the reason for all of this.
‘Hmmm…….’
Azell fell deep within his thoughts. A familiar presence stimulated his senses.
“If anyone saw you, they would think you are a scholar instead of a martial artist.”
It was a handsome young man from the Dragon Demon race with long black hair, Kairen.
The Royal Library wasn"t accessible to anyone. However, no one would stop the Dragon Sword Duke if he said he wanted to read some books.
He approached Azell and looked at the opened books.
“Do you have a lot of interest in history? Oh wow? You are even reading up on a hero with the same name as you?”
“Hahaha. I became interested in the Dragon Demon King worshippers.”
This was the excuse Azell had given. The Dragon Demon worshippers ran at him without a regard for their lives just because he had the name that was considered to be soaked in sin.
“I"ve also looked at the record about the heroes in the Dragon Demon War, but I couldn"t take it seriously. There were too many absurd stories. Those who claimed to be historian were all filled with hot air...”
“Please give me an example. What part was unbelievable?”
“Mmm. For example….”
Kairen thought for a brief moment at Azell"s question before he answered it.
“I think the account is in one of the books you have opened her. It"s the part where they smashed apart the Dragon Demon Army"s machination at the Lithia Lake.”
The famous general of the Dragon Demon Army, Encinder, was known for his meticulous control over his monsters. He was able to make the monsters move like a human army, and he had dealt fatal blows against the human army.
Originally, the Lithia lake was very deep, but Encinder had made a dam upstream to block the water flow. In time, the lake was shallow enough to walk across it. Encinder"s troops acted as if they couldn"t contend with the humans as they were being pushed back. The human army was baited into the lake. Encinder had broken the dam. He had tried to drown the human force numbered of over 3000.
Kairen couldn"t help but laugh.
“If one uses one’s common sense, it’s obvious no one should be able to counter this tactic. According to the records, that wasn"t the case.”
“What does the records say?”
“The might hero Azell Karzark parted the flood of water coming down on the army with a single cut of his sword. Then the Archmage Carlos used his magic to disperse the current, and there were almost no casualties to the troop. Do you think that even makes any sense?”
Anyone, who heard the story would think the story was groundless. Kairen shook his head from side to side.
“The Lithia Lake isn"t a small lake. If you actually see the Lithia Lake for yourself, you would realize how absurd that story actually is.”
Azell swallowed the words that had almost popped out at those words. He put on a bitter smile.
‘…No. That really happened.’
If one read it through the records, it sounded absurd. However, Azell and Carlos really pulled that off. If he wasn"t a person who could do such a task, then he wouldn"t have been able to win against the Dragon Demon King Atein in a fight.
‘At the time... That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Encinder had a priceless expression on his face.’
They had broken the carefully laid out plan using such a ridiculous method. Encinder was a man ruled by logic. However, when his troops were in danger of losing, Encider"s mind broke. In the end, he couldn"t run away from Azell"s sword and he had died in that place. It had been a critical loss to the Dragon Demon King"s army at the time.