Ch-72: Kingdom of Prona (4)

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Prince of the Kingdom of Prona, Nell.

Having received proper education from his childhood, he was not an authority-drunk jerk. He was not arrogant and had an actually good personality.

There was nothing special about him, but most agreed that under him, the kingdom will have a stable rule.

And this prince was now lying in his room, quavering under a blanket.

– Pull the heretic to the guillotine!

– Haul the prince to the guillotine!

– Overthrow heresy! Overthrow the Prince!

The angry voices of the masses still echoed in his ears. They seemed unwilling to stop unless the prince was hung on the guillotine.

'The guillotine… the guillotine…!'

Wasn't decapitation by guillotine a death penalty used to publicly execute vicious criminals?

So why him?

Why? What wrong did he commit?

The prince trembled as he recalled the sharp blade of the guillotine glinting under the harsh sunlight.

"Prince!"

The door swung open and his escort knight barged in.

"Huh?! S, Sir Carr? You surprised me!"

"Your Highness, now is not the time to be surprised. Yours, the prince's name has been cleared!"

"What? No, I mean, how all of a sudden?"

"It is difficult to explain in words. Please, follow me!"

Nell felt very confused.

Just when he was thinking of the guillotine, feeling afraid, his escort knight suddenly comes in and says his name was cleared. How can anyone not be surprised?

But the escort knight's eyes were serious, so maybe? That thought made a small wave in his mind.

Nell got up from his bed and followed the steps of the knight.

"But where are we going?"

"To the dungeon."

"Dungeon? Why there?"

"Your Highness will understand only after looking with your own eyes!"

When he finally reached the dungeon, Nell could understand Sir Carr's words.

An octopus humanoid was shackled in captivity.

This was really hard to put into words. Even if Sir Carr had said it himself, Nell would not have believed it.

"Nell, you are here?"

The King, William, turned to Nell and smiled.

The king was not alone in the dungeon.

Butlers, scribes, knights, etc.

All the high-ranking officials in the palace had gathered.

"Father? I've been told that my name has been cleared, but… what the hell is this? What is this octopus humanoid!?"

"Calm down, I will explain everything. Good, take a deep breath."

Only after hearing the king's words did the prince realize just how excited he was. The thought of getting rid of the accusations that had been tormenting him for the past few weeks had made him exhilarated.

Nell took a deep breath and calmed his mind.

"…I have shown an insightly behaviour, apologies."

"It's alright. Everyone here knows how much you've suffered. Head butler, will you explain to the prince?"

"Yes, of course, Your Majesty."

The head bulter bowed and then began to explain everything Nell.

Hearing the explanation, Nell was astonished.

"Are you saying that the archbishop was holding hands with the demons to frame me? An archbishop, what in the Goddess' name?!"

Even if an ordinary priest had teamed up with the demons, it would have been a shocking matter. But the archbishop? No one would could have fathomed.

The prince could hardly believe the words of the head bulter.

"Can't that demon be lying to dirty the Archbishop's name?"

"The chances of that happening are… small. Which many people would have the audacity to label the royal family as heretics and incite the masses?"

"What… for what… what did he do this for?"

Seeing the prince staggering back in disbelief, the head butler shook his head with a bitter expression.

"That we haven't figured out yet."

At the head bulter's words, Nell sharpened his teeth.

He strode forward and grabbed the demon's collar.

"Say it! Why…"

The prince's anger quickly cooled when he saw the traces of terrible gashes on the demon's body.

Cuts, tears, pokes, and stabs.

Traces of simple but heinous wounds were engraved on the demon's body. There was no sense of focus in the demon's hazy eyes.

"What is this…"

"Those are the signs of torture. And what made the demon open their mouth."

Nell turned his head in the direction the voice came from.

Cloud was leaning against the wall.

When Nell entered the dungeon, his figure had been obscured behind the king and officials.

"Hero? Why are you here?"

"The thing the prince is holding, I caught it."

The prince turned his gaze to the king.

The king nodded his head notifying that the hero's words held the truth.

Nell's expression brightened.

He let go of the demon's collar, approached Cloud and grabbed his hand.

"You are my benefactor!"

"In retrospect, that's what it is."

"Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to get rid of the dirty accusations. I will repay this favor somehow!"

"Repay the favor?"

"That's right. Let me know if you want anything. I'll do anything that I'm allowed to."

"Then let me ask you that one thing right now. Please ask others to leave. I have something to say to His Majesty in private."

"Ummm…"

The prince gave him a slightly troubled expression.

To have a private conversation with the king.

This was a request that went beyond the authority of the prince. One could only do it with the permission of the king himself.

Nell glanced at his father, the King. Feeling his son's gaze, William met Cloud's eyes.

'…he must have something important to say.'

The king recognized it from Cloud's eyes and raised his hand to stifle the opposition of his subjects.

"Leave with the prince."

"Your Majesty, please don't. At least keep Sir Weasel by your side."

"Your Majesty, please allow me to stay with you as the head butler says."

The butlers and the knights asked for it, but the king was adamant.

"Why do I need Sir Weasel's protection when engaging in conversation with the hero? Do you think the hero will harm me?"

At William's words, the servants shut their mouths.

They did remember what the hero had done at the banquet. But they weren't going to say that.

Because there is a big difference between what you think and what you say with your mouth.

At this point when the hero had captured the demon and uncovered the innocence of the prince, it was even more difficult to put it into words.

"…Alright."

In the end, the servants had no choice but to bow their heads and leave. When they left, only the demon, King William, and Cloud remained in the dungeon.

William said, looking at Cloud.

"Before I ask you why you wanted it to be private, can I ask you one thing?"

"Yes."

"Thanks for apprehending the demon and cleaning the rumours, but why did you torture the demon yourself?"

"For information, as simple as that."

"Thanks to you, the demon has lost its mind."

"Because I don't have a deep knowledge of torture arts."

"There are excellent torture specialists in the palace."

"Stop asking more questions, Your Majesty. You are blaming my arbitrary torture because of which the demon lost its mind. But I did it for a sufficient reason."

"I am listening."

"Soulstone."

William's face hardened at the word Cloud uttered. Cloud grinned as if he had caught the right string.

"What are these demons aiming for, to be desperate enough to entangle even the prince's name? As I thought deeply, the direction of my thoughts turned to the royal family. Maybe they want something the royal family has. But as far as I know, there is nothing in the royal family's possession that demons would want. So I tortured it to see if there was something the royal family was hiding, and I was right."

Cloud got up and brushed the dust off his butt.

He walked in front of William and faced him.

"You will guide me."

"…I'm thinking I should have accepted the head butler's proposal, letting Sir Weasel stay behind."

"Nothing would have changed."

"Was worth trying."

William sighed deeply.

"Follow me."

William and Cloud walked down the stairs of the dungeon. After going down for a while, they reached the last floor.

"There are no prisoners here."

"Not enough prisoners that would requisite the need of this floor, and it wasn't made for that purpose in the first place."

William entered the sixth prison cell on the right and fumbled with the wall across the iron bars. A brick that touched his hand went deep.

Kugugung-!

The wall splitted, revealing a passage leading to the inside. William went in first, followed by Cloud.

"You don't look surprised."

"I've been through much to be surprised by just this."

"I've been curious about it for a long time. What kind of experience did you go through that changed you like this?"

"Not a great experience, I'll give you that."

"It's okay if you don't want to talk. We don't have time to listen anyway."

William motioned at the purple light he saw through the aisle. That was the end of the passage, and the place the thing Cloud mentioned was stored at.

Arriving in the small round room, Cloud found himself in front of a gem emitting dazzling purple light.

He recognized it at a glance, this gem was the soul stone, and at the same time frowned at the strong energy it oozed out.

Soul stone.

A gem that turns captured souls into energy.

A gem touted as a sacred artefact among warlocks.

Cloud had wondered why the Kingdom had this treasure, but now was more curious as to why the Soul Stone emitted such strong energy.

"How many people did you sacrifice to gather this amount of energy?"

"Not too many. I can count on ten fingers."

"You are saying that fewer than ten souls will radiate that kind of energy? Like what, had they all been the heroes of the century?"

"Don't say nonsense," Cloud laughed.

William went silent with a bitter face.

Cloud's expression hardened slightly.

"You said you can count on ten fingers. Exactly how many?"

"Seven in total."

"Which among them were heroes?"

"All seven of them… ugh…!"

Before William could finish speaking, Cloud grabbed him by neck. The neck was fragile, so fragile that it could be broken at any moment if desired, but Cloud did not.

He just looked at him with cold eyes, his hand around the neck.

"Tell me why I shouldn't break this neck."

"You… you're mistaken… something big…"

"Mistaken?"

"You think the kingdom… forced… their souls… don't you think…"

"Oh?"

"Never..! The kingdom never siphoned their souls! Kugh..! They sacrificed… for the sake of the kingdom… There's no way we could have siphoned the soul of a hero… who are beyond the realm of humanity in the first place…"

"Maybe with threats, you could. There are many other ways."

A hero is a superhuman.

However, that does not necessarily mean that the people around a hero are superhumans too. For example, what if you secretly kidnap a hero's family and force him to sacrifice his soul to the soul stone?

If he is a man with strong family affection, he will have no choice but to give in to the threats.

"Yeah… There may be many ways like you said… But think about it… If the kingdom had done such a vicious deed… wouldn't it have been punished by the Goddess?"

"Now that you bring in the Goddess, even the last bit of trust is gone."

"What?!"

What a blasphemous remark!

Just when William, astonished, prayed to the goddess that he had nothing to do with those remarks.

"So you are the hero of this time. If that child's words are true, won't you let go?"

A suspicious voice was heard.

Cloud turned his head in the direction the voice came from.

A spirit in the form of an old man was looking at him, hovering above the soul stone.

"…and who you may be?"

"Sylus, was the first hero of the Kingdom of Prona."

Starting with the introduction of the old spirit, six more spirits jumped out of the soulstone one by one.

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02