LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 164: A Change in the Wind
Saeki suddenly appeared.
“Isn’t this strange!? This guy killed Kyogoku! Why is he not guilty!? It’s like what happened in Greyberg, the most likely cause for the castles disappearance is this guy! You think this guy is not guilty!? Oh yeah, well he’s part of dragon’s heart!”
Saeki was angry and his shoulders were shaking with rage while his glare was mainly directed at the seven kings. However I had good hearing and could hear what the kings were mumbling amongst themselves from here. ‘You know nothing.’ and ‘Should we charge him with the death penalty instead?’ One of the kings even looked down and laughed saying ‘what an excitable young man.’
Since I had just been deemed not guilty Saeki’s actions seemed humorous and the king of Greyberg addressed him.
“Saeki, calm down.”
Saeki looked at him angrily but as soon as he recognized the king that had called out to him fixed the expression on his face.
“You’re..”
“Arthur Greyberg, It’s been a while, Saeki.”
“….”
Not sure how to answer the king Saeki just bowed his head in silence.
“Saeki, can you come with me a bit? I will tell you a little bit about this inquisition.”
Saeki and the New king of Greyberg left the venue, although Saeki glared at me the whole way out.
“Nito…”
Then Manyoska appeared in front of me.
“Do you mind if I take up a little more of your time?”
His tone was completely different compared to what it was before.
“Sure.”
I nodded.
“This is a difficult thing to say right after you have been acquitted in the inquisition but..”
“…..”
“As of now, Totalica, Nem, Sufilia, and yourself have been expelled from Halekuwait.”
“……”
That sounds about right, although I was going to leave anyway so it’s fine I guess.
“Oswald and Sabrina might govern the schools but those in charge are really the seven kings.”
“…….”
“And for that reason, as kings they cannot permit someone who committed murder to be enrolled in the school.”
It kind of sounds like they are trying to protect their image.
“Therefore we would like you to exit the school within the next three days. This expulsion is permanent and you’re prohibited from entering into the schools henceforth so, please don’t.”
After finishing what he wanted to say Manyoska practically ran out of the venue.
………
I’m not particularly shocked to be honest. I was prepared for this outcome from the time that I decided to kill Kyogoku. This is just the result of avoiding a big risk.
“…….”
I turned around and walked to where the others were waiting.
“…Expulsion.”
When I told them the news all of them smiled gently.
“It can’t be helped and I was tired of school anyway.”
“Nem wants to have an adventure with master!”
“The school was like a prison and I hated it to begin with.”
“Oi-”
A huge man well over 2 meters high appeared next to me. He had a red beard to match his sideburns that ran up to his matching red hair. It was pushed back and with his muscular body he looked like a lion.
He was one of the seven kings.
He gazed at Sufilia with his hand on his chin thinking about something.
“Aren’t you Sufilia Artemias?”
Chills ran down my back.
“You’re mistaken.”
Sufilia replied instantly.
“…….”
The king looked back and forth between me and Sufilia like he was checking for something. Honestly though, I have no idea what the meaning behind him doing this was.
“…….I see……I see.”
The king seemed to be convinced.
“It’s unfortunate what happened to Fredrick.”
“……….”
Frederick….. Wasn’t that the name of the king of Atremias who that Sieg killed? Sufilias father right? The man glanced at me again.
“I was in agreement with those who acquitted you but maybe I made a mistake. It seems like that little boys claims may have been correct.”
“……”
Little boy? Is he talking about Saeki?
“Hey, Are you really the one who killed Aries and Johannes?”
“What?”
“Are you part of Dragon’s heart?”
“What are you talking about?”
“……..”
“………”
The man stared at my mask grinning and I was totally incapable of telling what he was thinking.
“Hahahahahahahahahahaha! I’m joking, I’m joking! Please forget about it, hero!”
The man bowed as he laughed loudly but he suddenly stopped laughing as he walked past me and his face went blank before he whispered quietly in a voice that only I could hear.
“See you later, Fool of the abyss.”
“That was Gram the king of Lithosphere.”
Sufilia explained.
“His country was very friendly with Artemias before it disappeared.”
His larger muscles made him look like a beastman.
“You three pack, we are leaving the academy today.”
“Today?”
Toa asked.
“Yeah we don’t have a need to stay here anymore. Let’s go ahead and leave for the demon country.”
“The demon country?”
“Yeah, let’s go see Toa’s hometown.”
We should go to the demon country first. I don’t know anything about the demons and would like to. I also want to take care of the little problem that Toa has but I don’t know what to do about it.
“Nem and Sufilia, are you two okay with that?”
“As long as master is there with Nem anywhere is fine.”
“I will be by your side for as long as I live.”
Maybe they think that I am going to abandon them but, I won’t force them away from me even if I said I was going to leave them. In the end it is their own choice as to whether or not they want to be with me.
▽
King Arthur said that he had something that he wanted to talk about but Saeki just seemed confused. When Arthur stopped outside the venue a person dressed inwhite appeared behind Saeki. It was probably Arthur’s escort. Saeki seemed to be surprised by the man who was standing a little away from them with his arms crossed.”
“Saeki, will you come to Greyberg?”
“Huh?”
“Previously I thought the countries situation was dire, and that you needed to learn. As such I asked Oswald to take over your schooling. However the country is stable now, although there are not enough knights. Johannas had a unit of knights that was directly under his command but they had many faults.”
Arthur suddenly switched speeds.
“Actually I created a new unit called ‘Paladin’. And I’m thinking of recruiting skilled mages and knights in order to help strengthen that unit. As such I would very much like you to participate in the exam Saeki.”
“The exam?”
“Yes, But of course it is not compulsory. As I said before you are free to do as you like. The exam will be starting soon but if you like you can stay here for the remaining four years. We of course will be recruiting into Paladin from time to time so you can come join us after you finish your schooling if you’d prefer but I definitely want you to come join us now.”
Saeki was confused by Arthurs words. Why is this person so interested in him?
“Uhm… Why me?”
“…Hmm…Actually I just decided this after I heard what you said. It was then that I knew that you were still in Aries’s trap.”
“…….”
“I have seen many people just like you. Aries was very talented and many people were swallowed up by her. There are plenty more people other than you that have pledged their allegiance to her. In their hearts they see Aries as a god, when I heard you talk earlier I could see that shadow inside you. However it is still just that a shadow, I asked you to join because I want you to help me. If you join Paladin, you will go through a lot of training and make a lot of money. The training will help strengthen your mind and you will see that you do not need to live by relying on illusions like Aries.”
Arthur could practically see Aries hovering over Saeki’s shoulder whispering something evil into his ear. In the Greyberg family there were many who were fools but Arthur was not one of them. Unlike his brother Johannes he truly cared about people and wanted to help Saeki.
“I said that you all were free but nothing comes with as much responsibility as freedom does.”
“Yeah, everyone is worried about what to do after graduation.”
“Yeah, I had laid the framework down for you but I wanted you all to decide for yourselves what you wanted to do which is why I told you what I did at the time.”
When Arthur spoke of freedom he also meant for it to include atonement.
“This conversation is only between me and you. You shouldn’t tell the other heroes about this, they should remain here for the other four years and study. I will personally guarantee the safety of all the others but I want Saeki to return to Greyberg with me, how about it?”
“That……”
“There is still time before my departure. A carriage will be prepared and I shall wait there.”
“……..”
Arthur was a strange man. Why would a king wait for a commoner? Originally however Arthur had never wanted to be king, his personality wasn’t suited for it. Fortunately for Saeki and the others however, he was the king they had now.
This was an opportunity for Saeki, he knew now more than ever that he was weak. The Demon queen had treated his attack like it was less annoying than a fly.
“Uhm….Can I ask something?”
“What is it?”
“Why did Nito not get the death penalty?”
Saeki seemed to still be angry and suspicious towards Arthur, but he answered immediately.
“That’s because we have no way to kill him.”
“Huh?”
Saeki had not expected that answer.
“We have no way to kill him. I heard Schneiser speak of this attack, that his entire body was enveloped by the flames of the demon queen and yet was completely unharmed. You might be unaware of this Saeki but a demon lord is an absolute existence for humans, there is no such thing as a human capable of killing a demon lord. To put it simply the methods for execution or burning or hanging, but even then do you think our swords would even be able to damage a body like that?”
“That….”
“Of course the seven kings have an item known as [antimagic] its a last resort and has only ever worked on someone like him once in the past. It was defined and an infinite class item but there is the possibility that this item would not work on him. So if we messed up we would be the ones that would end up getting hurt in the end so it was much smarter for us to choose to monitor him without taking such risks.”
“Monitor?”
“That’s correct, although the one responsible for this is Schneiser. But that’s all the time I have for right now I have something to do, and I believe you do as well do you not Saeki?”
Saeki seemed to have taken it for granted that they would have been able to kill Nito.
“But, he’s part of Dragon’s heart?”
“That’s just your own speculation right now. Can you really say that no one uses similar magic? The world is vast and even still no one can prove that it was actually dragons heart that attacked Greyberg. Only dragon’s heart would be able to confirm that.”
Proof is needed to judge someone.
“I saw them, that day in the forest. Some people said that they were from Dragons heart.”
“Did you see the attack?”
“No but..”
“Then it’s the same outcome. Did you not hear what went on in the inquisition?”
“Yes…”
“Or there is the case that before the king of artemias was killed and Johannas was still alive when a inquisition happened it didn’t matter what happened in the inquisition. The verdict was guilty before anything even happened. Do you think that is better?”
“ I won’t say that.”
“In that case the current situation is the best outcome.”
“…….”
Saeki still has a lot to learn, things don’t tend to work out if you act on emotions alone.
“Do whatever it is you need to do, I will wait for you at the carriage.”
After that Saeki left and Arthur stared at his back thinking that he wanted to help somehow.
“King!”
One of Arthur’s subordinates appeared there and guided him away but arthur stopped for a moment.
“……”
He squinted up at the sky.
“It’s ominous…”
Dark clouds had gathered in the sky and thunder rumbled.
“……”
Then Arthur looked back down and allowed his subordinate to guide him towards the carriage so he could wait for Saeki. After a while the wind changed directions and it started to rain.
The rain and the wind changing at the end of the inquisition made everyone involved question whether their decision had been correct.