In the kingdom of Azolias, the Dukes family were formed by a four household.
The Duke Azolias, Duke Luozov , Duke Calfield and Duke Ractos.
First, the duke Azolias who became the current king... and of course the part of the royal family.
At the same time, they would be the one who act as proxy for the king in the absence of the king if something happened.
The second one. The duke of Luozov. Eighth generation ago they had severed their relation with the current royal family.
They were family who quit the war for the throne because they didn’t had strong heir.
Although, in the present day, they didn’t had that much power as in the past, but they still held a great power within the country.
They still had the blood of the royalty and has been allowed to build their own household because of their excellence in their work.
Third was the duke Calfield, was a kingdom that peacefully surrender and absorbed into the Azolias during war of distant past.
It was at the early stage of a war and when that kingdom realized that they couldn’t win the force of Azolias kingdom, they decided to surrender to avoid a pointless ma.s.sacre.
The decision of Calfield king won the admiration of the king Azolias at that time and then he welcomed them as one of the duke in Azolias.
Now they were mainly in control of the n.o.bles in Azolias.
The fourth was the Duke Ractos, the one who receive the perigee of Duke due to the achievement of the “hero of the war” in the previous war.
Even thought this family didn’t had any relation to the royalty, but due to the extraordinary and amazing result that Diebold=Ractos, the sorcery king, had on the previous war, the previous king deemed their family was worth enough to granted the duke t.i.tle.
... That was the reason that was given into public, while it was also a fact, but there were another reason that was so that Grid=Ractos, the person who held the reign of the economy of the kingdom so that it wouldn’t collapse, would stay in Azolias.
So the family job was to manage the country finance problem and to not cut off the blood of the hero.
--- Well, that was the rough explanation of the four duke household, but in the meantime, we don’t need all of those information.
Now at the present time, the head of the duke of Azolias and Calfield weren’t present in the throne hall.
The one that was present were the head of Duke Ractos, and The head of Louzov.
Now, let"s get into the matter.
The prime minister of the Azolias kingdom. Igor=Lauren=Ozova=Louzov.
The head of Louzov family, and already reached the age of 52 years old.
He had a high 170 cm tall height with good posture for someone of his age.
With a rather thin body but didn’t made him look like a sickly person. He had a monocle on on one of his eyes with grey pupil. His hair were black, it recede a bit, but no white hair could be seen.
Just like what mentioned above, he had the bloodline of the king from eight generation ago.
The king who overthrew the former king and became a king by force. A man who were proud of his overwhelming power as the king of Azolias, but at the same time he was a brutal man.
Although he wasn’t a dumb king, he was far from a wise king.
... Then, as if punished by the heaven for his act, his bloodline never had strong body.
His sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, cousins, and even his grandchildren"s, none of them could achieve the same power as the Azolias household.
Then as the matter of course, the next king were come from another household.
His bloodline should become the part of the Duke Azolias, as he was the previous royalty.
But as they were about to do so, they had found out that his bloodline held the ability to govern politics.
The savage king of the eight generation ago wasn’t called as monarch precisely because it was his family who was in charge of politics.
The king of the seventh generation ago, the ancestor of the present king, took this as a special case, and separate their family and give their family a perigee of duke household. And finally entrusting them with politics, that was the history of Louzov household.
Of course, due to the impression that people and n.o.bles had on the past king, people didn’t had any good impression of their household
But, they worked really hard to overturn those impression and to make Azolias a better country.
The effort of the the current prime minister, Igor, his father, his grandfather and even his great grandfather, finally made Azolias more prosperous and Louzov family finally recognized by the king, n.o.bles and it’s people.
----- Yes, they were Louzov Family... a loyal prime minister who devotes everything they got for the great of his country.
If we go further to the past, perhaps it could be said that what they done was their atonement for their country, but there wasn’t any lies in their devotion to their country.
As for the current condition of that loyal prime minister, he bit his lips to the extent it’s bleed, with a red vein popped out from his temple he glare at the king with killing gaze.
The reason was simple, it was because the duke ractos, who was in charge of the country’s economy put into trial by the Prince.
In a way, the one who should’ve receive the angry, almost killing intent, gaze by the prime minister and in worst case got imprisoned was the prince, but the situation was a bit complex.
The minister.... Igor did said to the king that his son perhaps had some misunderstanding toward the duke household and so he told the king to explain the thing to the prince.
Nevertheless, this happened.
What the h.e.l.l in the world did the king do for this to happen!?
In addition, the prince command him to not open his mouth so now the condition turned into a state where only king could stop the thing from going to bad from worse, but the king didn’t do anything at all.
And the trial came to an end without solving anything.
“You seems to have done many things in the back, but now this is the end of it. This is the end! Duke Ractos... no, Ractos household!!”
As the prince Alto=Azolias, the son of the king, declared so to the Duke Ractos... who was put into trial due to the misunderstanding, hanged his head with dark expression on his face.
At that moment, a sound of something snapping in prime minister’s mind could be heard.
“.... The trial, is it over? His highness Alto”
“Ah, ah”
Prince Alto who suddenly called by Prime minister answered in surprise.
No wonder of his surprise, since the prime minister’s voice were colder and lower than usual.
“So, that’s it... Your majesty, do you have anything other to say?”
The prime minister said to the king who remain silent all this time.
“... It’s just, I’m sorry”
A brief word from the king.
Everyone in the room looked at Igor who then suddenly bursted into laughter with a crazed expression.
If you only hearing the laughing voice, it would felt like a happy laughter that pleasant to be heard, but when you saw his expression, it wasn’t so at all.
Well, of course, the situation wasn’t something that could be solved with a simple apology.
On the contrary of how the prince accuse the Duke Grid=Ractos as an evil ruler.
He was a very good man who is harmless to a people and animal. There was also a fact that he had a very fragile heart.
To the extent that the mental burden that he receive today would affecting the country finances very much.
But if he had only been angry with the king, as expected he wouldn’t had reacted like this.
That’s right, he wasn’t only angry at the king, but he also angry at his own uselessness, too.
As mentioned above, he was a loyal minister that was recognized by the king and the other.
Nevertheless, the matter just now was still something that was ridiculous even for him .
“What Loyal Minister? All this time I’ve been acting just like how a loyal prime minister should act, but I wouldn’t do in this situation”
Suddenly the prime minister said something that didn’t had any relation at all with the trial.
Everyone at the room, whether it was someone from duke side, or even the prince side, looked at each other dubiously.
“Yes, it isn’t a loyalty if you just blindly follow the order like that. It is also a loyalty to correct their mistake even if your life is at stake”
As if he just found some enlightenment in his life, the minister looked up leaked such word that wasn’t meant for anyone.
Then he looked back into the people in the room, as if he had a great determination on his face.
“Yes... that’s right... What I will do is a loyalty”
---- In an instant, gust of wind rose into the room, and the figure of the prime minister suddenly disappeared.
Curtains were fluttered, doc.u.ments were flying, so were clothes. Looking at the prime minister who suddenly disappeared from his place, everyone in the room made an expression of surprise.
Not only the one who didn’t had any experience in fighting like Grid=Ractos and Raul=Nizzet, even the king of Azolias .... Leon=Azolias, a man who was known for his strength, as well as the talented prince who would inherit his position, Alto=Azolias, couldn’t caught up with Igor movement.
“Because the king Azolias is a strong man, he didn’t know how it felt.
And so, he must learn how it felt...”
Suddenly, the people who were searching as to where Igor went, heard a voice coming from behind them .
The prime minister, Igor, stand in front of the entrance door.
Grid, Jake, Raul and Alto were thinking about the same thing, why he stand at that place.
But Leon... Leon=Azolias perceived what the prime minister about to do, as he spent many years with Igor, as his prime minister and friends.
That was a distance that Igor would take for stance.
“If you make a mistake, you will suffer because of it, so I’m gonna hit you!”
Once again sharp gust of wind rose in the room.
In a blink of an eyes the prime minister swing his right arm while opened his eye widely.
“THIS IS MY LOYALTY!”
The prime minister vigorously swung his right arms.
It surely wasn’t the speed that could be seen by naked eyes.
But why? For some reason, everyone in the room felt like they could see the moment the fist touched King’s face in slow motion.
The minister’s fist slowly moved toward the king’s face. The governor couldn’t help to cover his face. His son, Jake, and Grid’s a.s.sistant, Raul, couldn’t do anything, as they couldn’t catch the speed of the prime minister.
The were also the prince who was confused as for what happened, and the king who already gave up and close his face and clenched his teeth in resignation.
“GO TO h.e.l.l!!!”
Together with the murderous and cry of loyalty of the prime minister of the kingdom, Igor=Lauren=Ozova=Louzov, the time seems like turn back to normal.
It look like as if the Minister"s fist, were made of steel or something like that. The speed it moved breaks through the sound barrier and created sound wave.
The punch with so much destructive energy, the it causing internal bleeding rendering the strong muscle and skin of Leon=Azolias useless.
Nevertheless, the power were immeasurable. The impact transmitted to the skin create a scar on that skin.
“Uguu!”
The king, Leon=Azolias, whilst made a pitiful sound, flies and spun around from the Throne.
The king felt like something were lost inside his mouth that spit out blood as he felt a burning pain on his cheek.
Moving his line of sight, he saw his teeth flying in the air as he flung from the throne.
The king, while moving in the air, moved his tongue to felt that his wisdom tooth had fell off it’s place, and fell into the marble on the floor.
====
While it didn’t actually happened, I ... Alto=Azolias, for a moment did that the thing had already reached the happy end.
Searched for the evidence for the evil thing that the duke had done to the country, showed it to the world and save the kingdom from the evil plan of the duke.
It was because I kept that thought, I could stand in this place right now.
But that thought only last until several minutes ago.
In the current situation, I.... Actually, let me be honest.
I don’t know what was going on right now, and confused.
You know, in the end, it seems that I still didn’t know anything about what really happened.
At the end of my trial, the prime minister suddenly fly toward my father.... the king and beat him up badly.
It wasn’t Grid=Ractos or even his son, Jake=Ractos who fell into fury, but actually the prime minister who stand behind his majesty all of this time who was doing such violent thing.
Well, more accurately.
“This is loyalty! Loyalty! Oh! Loyalty!!”
His beating continued.
The minister straddled the king with ghostly look and blindly punches his face.
His majesty could only let a faint groan escape his mouth the time the fist touched his cheeks.
What in the world was going on here?
What connection does the prime minister behavior with the trial that was done one the Grid=Ractos?
Was it due to the lack of my evidence, that even the prime minister was protecting the Duke Ractos?
Also, why did he beat his majesty?
Was perhaps, his majesty actually also working together with the Duke Ractos.... No no no, what I was thinking?
No, I shouldn’t sit idly and thinking at the moment like this.
Yes, for now, I had to stop him.
I should stop this acrocity and save the king from the beating of the prime minister.
But, I couldn’t .
As for why, I couldn’t felt my feet as it felt like it was nailed to the ground.
And my body felt as stiff as an iron.
No, to be honest.
I was just scared of the prime minister’s fist.
Everytime he swung, the shout of “loyalty”, it only add my fear more and more.
The loyalty that I knew wasn’t something so rude, and aggressive.
Move, my body, move. If I let this thing goes one, his majesty will be...!
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!”
When I was trying my best to move my body to stop prime minister atrocities.
The first person who moved to stop the thing was the very person whom I put into trial, Grid=Ractos.
“.... Governor, please don"t’ stop me. This man wouldn"t understand unless I smack things directly into his head. It’s a loyalty, a loyalty. Therefore, he wouldn’t die, because what I do is a loyalty, ha ha”
I didn’t know where the usual calm prime minister were gone. But the prime minister who seems already totally lost his mind said some word with unknown meaning at Grid=Actors who tried to stop his act.
Even so, when I could clearly saw the fear on Grid=Ractos as he trembled while looking at prime minister appearance, Grid=Ractos continues.
“No, that’s not it... Prime minister. That’s right! If you keep beating his majesty by the face, it would extremely difficult to treat his injuries before the founding anniversary next week and it would cost a lot to hire a sorcerer that could cure his wound! The country financial will wounded because of it!”
“haha, so that it! That’s right. Then let’s stop with the face... Loyalty!”
The prime minister stop straddling his majesty after hearing the word from Grid=Ractos, but then he kicked his majesty on the flank and sent him flying like a pebble.
His majesty made another painful groan as he glided on the ground.
That power was so much that his majesty flies like a small rocks.
“NO! I didn’t just mean that you shouldn’t kick the face!.... Prime minister, Please stop! I will work! I will work hard!!”
“Are you serious! That’s good, I couldn;t stop being angry by the thought that his majesty haven’t told prince about the truth about you that could bring the downfall of the country’s finance. HAHAHA!”
“That right. So please, you should stop kicking his majesty soon... Look he is bleeding”
“No , for time being, I just want to show my loyalty to his majesty. Please let me continue for a while....OH!”
The minister who stopped beating his majesty’s face, and now was showing his ‘loyalty’ to his majesty’s body.
Wait a minute, why does Grid=Ractos worried about his majesty’s body? Didn’t he intended to a.s.sa.s.sinate him in the first place? Beside, what did the prime minister meant by the collapse of the country financial in relation with Grid=Ractos!?
Also, What did minister meant just now? He was talking about his majesty forgotten to tell me something about the governor? And then....
“Excuse me, your majesty. Is prime minister here? I have some information... Oh, could it be I have come in a wrong time?
As I pondered over the conversation between prime minister and governor, I heard a knock and stopped my thought.
I wondered who had came, and looked over there standing a blonde haired man with blue eyes just like me.
It was a young man who looked really similar to me but with a weaker body.
The second prince of the Azolias Kingdom, Hanz=Azolias. It was my brother.
“hmm....”
Hanz looked around as if trying to a.s.ses the situation.
Prime minister who kicking his majesty and Grid=Ractos who tried to stop them.
Then his gaze moved to Count Raul who stopped his thought.
And then The a.s.sa.s.sins that I brought, also Jake=Ractos who fell dept in thought.
The witnesses and the guard who totally clueless about what was happened, and then myself.
“It’s just my conjure, but big brother, did perhaps you just put the Duke Ractos on trial?”
Hanz body was too weak for martial arts.
I said weak, but it’s not like he was sickly or something like that. It"s just, he was weak by the standard for the king of azolias.
Therefore, in his early days, he already gave up the right to inherit the throne and decided to become the a.s.sistant of the king.... and learn the way to become the prime minister.
Maybe that was why Hanz was so smart that he could able to deduce that I put Duke Ractos into trial in this chaotic situation that even I didn’t know exactly what happened.
“Ah, yes, I found the witnesses, evidence, and a.s.sa.s.sin...”
I explained to Hanz that the prime minister started to hitting the king after I finished the trial.
In the middle of my explanation, Hanz face turned blue and then he sighed, and when I finished my story, he put his hand on his face and seems to understand what exactly was happened.
“Now, brother, listen to me carefully... Duke Grid=Ractos, is a kind man. Maybe, he was one of the kindest among the n.o.ble in the country:
The first sentence that Hanz said to was Grid is a good person. Grid=Ractos, you said that Grid=Ractos was a kind person?
“NO, You lie!”
“I didn’t. He just not your normal kind n.o.ble on the top of that. He is the one who manage our country finances, without him, out country finances will be in danger. In worst case, it could lead into financial collapse”
Hanz continued to said that Grid=Ractos was also a delicate man, he will stopped working whether his heart hurt. Hanz, said that with a serious expression different from his usual expression.
It really doesn’t look like he was lied to me.
No, wait a minutes. If what Hanz said were all truth, then how did he would explain about the a.s.sa.s.sin? The a.s.sa.s.sins did confess that he was one, you know?
Thought about that, I moved my sight to the a.s.sa.s.sins.
Jake=Ractos stood on his knees, confirming the confession from the a.s.sa.s.sins”
“Hey, Yuuga, why do you call yourself an a.s.sa.s.sins? Aren’t you a trainee cook?”
“a.s.sa.s.sin...? What?”
“a.s.sa.s.sin. Ah... it’s a people who kill people to make money”
Hearing Jake’s word, the man shakes his head violently with paled face.
“NO, NO,I didn’t kill! No money! He speak to fast! I don’t understand!!”
He gave Jake a very different answer from what he said to me before in our language.
“It seems that not only he doesn’t understood what brother is talking about, he doesn’t know what a.s.sa.s.sins means, too. Well I understand what you feel, if I was on your position, it possible that I will also thought of the same things”
Wait, wait a minute.
Seriously? Did Grid=Ractos and Jake=Ractos really didn’t had any intention to harm the country?
Did you meant that Grid=Ractos was just a good guy with a scary face, all this time? And all of this, all of this was just my misunderstanding?
“Hanz, did you already know about it? Did you know that Duke Grid=Ractos is someone who is not evil at all?!”
“Well, of course, whether it is his majesty, prime minister, knight captain, and the higher ups of Azolias kingdom are know about this fact. You see, the face of the governor is like that from the start, and indeed if you weren’t told directly it will cause some misunderstanding... nevertheless, In fact, no one has ever told me about it though”
As Hanz said that, he looked away from me and moved his sight to the corner of the room where the “loyalty” still continued.
“It seems that his majesty should told this fact to me and brother... but from what I have seen, it seem that he failed to do so, and as a result we arrived at today”
I followed Hanz’s eyes.
“ What happened today...”
His majesty who groaned in pain as he kept received beating and kicking, the governor who couldn’t even look at the event anymore as he covered his face with his hand.
All people who looked at this knew very well that his majesty’s face started to paled as he already lost so much blood.
I had done it. It seem I had done something so bad, right?
Although it was all based on misunderstanding, and father who did not properly convey the fact to me, and now the act of atrocities of the prime minister who based on the thought to prevent the financial downfall of the country, wasn’t I the one who pulled the trigger for all of what happened?
“... Hanz. Will I be punished of exile or something like that?”
I asked Hanz, with a look of a dead man. Hanz showed a shocked expression for once, then sighed before answered my question.
“Baah... Brother, haven’t you read too much book and plays? Although I didn’t really know how the custom in the other countries. I would be impossible for that to happen in Azolias. Listen here? Only I and brother are the one who have the blood of the royalty, and I already withdrew from the right of the throne in the past. Only brother have the right and the ability to be the king of Azolias. Although the governor is important person for the country financial and could be said to be an indispensable person, you have the same value as him... no, you’re more important than him. Moreover if this matter really ended up being exiling you from the country, the governor will think that the matter was happened because of him, and it will shock him much. Wouldn’t that be meaningless act then? That is how much kind man the governor is. So it is impossible to exile you from the country, you know? Even if brother meaninglessly kill ten or so innocent people, it will be completely hidden, oh? Brother, I should say this, even if you shed tears and blood, and reject it, you still have to sit on the throne, you know. You know that right?”
Oh, oh... I always felt that Hanz had a rude att.i.tude toward me today.
At the end of his long monologue, I felt the same pressure as the prime minister, it scares me a bit.
Could it be. This guy got a little angry due to the riot that I caused?
But then again, you wouldn’t abolish me? No, but.
“Hanz. Even so, for things to end like this... It would be shame on me to not receive any kind of punishment. If all you say is true, and even if this all started due to father, I also still held responsible for this. After all, not only I misunderstood them , I also gone so far as to put them into trial”
I told Hanz something that sound reasonable.
As I said, I did felt responsible for what had happened so far. If I had to honestly spoke my opinion, I would create a speech in order to make them easier to punish me.
I wonder if he was aware of this. But, Hanz punishment proposal was overly cruel one.
“Ha, in that case... how about brother also try to taste the minister loyalty, as the one who involved in all of this?”
I looked back at the scene that I really want to forgot by not looked. It was just a carnage scene where the prime minister lost all of this restrain.
“OH! Loyalty kick!!”
His majesty, under the impact to his flank(the loyalty kick) flied, rolled several times ignoring the work of gravity, turning horizontally like a wheel before hitting the wall and stopped.
It was due of this I understood. That his majesty was a king. The king of Azolias.
An existence that could stand in toes with the captain of the knights. It wasn’t something that could be overwhelmed by the power of someone old.
It’s just.... the prime minister’s loyalty and righteousness was deviated from the norm in some respect.
“... I am very sorry. Hans-san. Can we do another way?”
That was the first time I used a honorific to call my brother’s name.