Foreigner Volume 9, Chapter 210

Volume 9 Chapter 210, Demonic Dragon ~ 25

　Last year, he lost his wife. And this fall, after losing their successor and the head of the family in succession, the Dantes Barons of the city-state of Ares is in a state of limbo.

　The reason for this is that it was the dead Count Kraut who was secretly working on the disposition of Baron Dantes. In addition, Baron Dantes personally was guilty of disobedience to the decisions of the Senate, but he could not be sounded out as a crime against the barony. The royal family of Ares is quite powerful, but not so overwhelming that it could force the Senate to ignore it. And the loss of Count Kraut, who had been a powerful force in internal governance, was a considerable blow that tightened the grip on King Faisel Kurt of Ares.

　By definition, a country's king must be recognized by both political and military leaders, and he or she must have his or her magical slaves at his or her knee. This is the same for any nation in the world. And the wife or husband must be a magical slave as well.

　In other words, a king must have enough soul to have at least three magical slaves, and therefore, the royal family favors those with high soul. The reason why personality does not come second is that even if it is a mere formality, a king must be recognized by the heads of both the political and military branches of government.

　In the chaotic period immediately after the Seven Days Disaster, a man seized control of hundreds of people and called himself a nation. The surrounding countries did not regard the gathering as a country, and the false king fell ill after less than a season.

　It is said that this agreement on magical slavery was established during the time of the war with the demon race. In the end of a man who tried to be a king by ignoring that covenant, this covenant is still accepted as the common sense of this world through the ages, and the king without a magical-slavery contract would not be recognized as a king by the surrounding nations, and would not be taken seriously by them. Even if he did, he would be punished by the gods for being a false king, and the king without a contract would die―That is what they believe.

　It is partly because it was accepted as common sense, but it is also because it was more convenient to continue the practice, whether in the days of the Ancient Magical Kingdoms or in the modern age of swords and sorcery.

　The need for practitioners to be able to use the magical-slavery contract is also not to be overlooked. The middle level of the Holy Arts is a gateway to the higher levels, and the number of people who can use it is very small, about two or three out of every 10,000 people. It is said that without such people, no matter how powerful a country is, it will not be recognized as a country and will be abandoned by the gods of the earth.

　Two hundred years ago, there was a nation that was established without a contract. At that time, when the king of the country died, only a man with a small soul was left to succeed him, and there was no room in his soul to accept two magical slaves, so the country was established. Just 20 days after the man with the small soul took office as king, there was a major earthquake centered in the country.

　The damage was enormous. And the new king died cruelly in the collapsed palace.

　It may have been a coincidence, but people at that time interpreted it as the wrath of God against a country that had violated the rules. This kind of accumulation makes the ancient rule more persuasive.

　In the case of Faisel Kurt, the current King of Ares, he had a magical contract with both the Prime Minister, the head of government, and the Supreme Commander, the head of the military, but kept his distance from both of them. The Queen Mother died four years ago, and although he has a lineup of beautiful princesses in his palace, he does not have any of them as his heirs.

　He does not lean toward either side in politics or military affairs, but keeps an equal distance and continues to treat each other only with courtesy, and in effect, manages the country separately. This is not unusual. The system of having to conclude these contracts with a magical slaves has been in place for hundreds of years as the foundation of this country, and there is no need to be beholden to them any more than necessary.

　This is often used to strike a balance between royal power, politics, and military affairs. If a royal family is too close to one side or the other, it is easy to upset the balance, and in some cases, the neglected side may remain in a rut with the royal family and refuse to recognize the next king.

　Faisel Kurt thought deeply that the loss of Count Kraut was a terrible blunder. Count Kraut, as the king's personal advisor, had tremendous power and financial resources, but he also had the ability to match them.

　It was lost―Whose fault is it, in Sheryl's opinion, it was the king who came in contact with Satoru and tried to get Minerva, and it was his arrogance that was to blame, but the person in question does not think so.

　No one wants to admit that they are the bad guy. And they try to pin the blame on someone else. In the case of Faisel Kurt, he believed that the blame lies with the former High Mentor Graham Coogan, who showed himself a mental image of Minerva, and who was the catalyst for taking his heart, but he is already dead.

　On the other hand, it is too frightening to put the blame on Satoru for killing Count Kraut.

　That beautiful sorcerer woman who said she was Satoru's magical slave and Coogan's granddaughter invaded the castle of Ares with only two of them and intimidated the king. It is said that it was their Lord who made the royal castle Strahltraun, which had shaken the majesty to the distant land, crushed by a tremendous rock.

　After Sheryl and Solor left the castle, the huge rock floated above the castle and crushed it before the eyes of the king, who was praying for a way out of the situation.

　The humiliation and despair of that moment are deeply etched in Faisel Kurt's heart.

　Meanwhile, Coogan said that he had talked to the Holy Sword Clan. The king had also heard that someone who looked like them was at the Academy of the Wise. Nevertheless, Coogan returned to this country with only his head. In other words, the Holy Sword Clan was defeated.

　A man who slaughtered a supreme imam, the symbol of wisdom in this world, defeated a legendary swordsman who was said to be able to defy the demon race, and with such a soul, a man who can use sorcery at will.

　Who could win?

　Even though he knew it. Faisel Kurt could not admit it.

　He did not want to admit it. A man he knew nothing about had destroyed his prosperous castle, killed his first love and was now leading around a beautiful woman with big breasts who had stolen his heart, and was taunting the soldiers and knights of the royal palace as if to show them the difference in power.

　Admitting any one of these would be admitting defeat to Satoru.

　The defeat was unacceptable, and such a thing was unacceptable.

　Knock-knock, There was a knock at the door of his office, and the king gave his permission to enter, slowly raising himself from the backrest he had been resting on. The visitor, seeing the fatigue hovering over Faisel Kurt's shoulders, let a line of concern spill out of the corner of his mouth.

「You look tired.」

「It's the fault of the previous generation of fools at the academy.」

　In any case, a dead former High Mentor is a convenient way to impose something. However, it would not make Faisel Kurt feel better, nor would it rebuild the crushed Strahltraun

　The visitor to the office was Diki Parcell, the current High Mentor of the Academy of the Wise. He is three years older than Graham Coogan and is an old sorcerer with a specialty in fire sorcery. At his age, his soul would have become small and fragile due to old age, but it was not convenient for the royal court of Ares to simply appoint Mentor Areus, who was said to have been named by Coogan as his successor after his death, to the position of High Mentor.

　Therefore, this old sorcerer, who was obedient to power and disliked Coogan, was appointed as the High Mentor as a link between the two. He wanted to remove Coogan's influence from the Academy of the Wise and manipulate it at the will of the royal court of Ares.

　As for Parcell, his own reputation within the academy was not so good. Therefore, he wanted to have a backer, so he approached the Senate and the royal court to manipulate them at the same time as Coogan's death.

　The appointment of the High Mentor requires the approval of King Ares. He campaigned for himself rather than Areus on this point, and as a result, his intentions were matched by the royal court, which did not want to continue the trend of Coogan.

　If Coogan had died a year later, Parcell would not have taken the position of High Mentor. Although Areus had a reputation as a man of character, he was still young, just over 40, and his influence was different from that of Parcell, who had been at the Academy of the Wise for many years.

「Do you have any new information?」

「My apologies.」

　Faisel Kurt clicked his tongue at High Mentor Parcell's apology. He has nothing to hide.

　The collapse of the Chalk Tower did not cause that much damage. There was a warning before it was destroyed, and under the leadership of Mentor Areus, who was acting for Coogan at the time, many valuable items and documents were removed before the collapse. Human casualties were also zero.

　In contrast, the damage to the royal castle was enormous. The damage to the human casualties was only in the single digits, and many treasures were able to be saved, but many works of art and other items collected by successive kings of Ares were buried under the huge boulder. The total amount of damage must have been considerable.

「The very same Coogan, the god of plague.」

「His granddaughter, that girl who has fallen into the Demon King Satoru's slave. No one has come in contact with her since the last Senate.」

「Indeed. It seems that the nobles of the Senate are hanging around Viscount Maylander's mansion, seeking a meeting with that girl. I have heard no reports of a meeting.」

　The abominable Coogan's granddaughter, after intimidating the King, has been in hiding since the Senate the next day. Faisel Kurt was not sure how to deal with that little girl who was left as a watchdog for Satoru, who must not be touched unintentionally.

　He knows that the best thing to do is to ignore her and pretend not to know her, just as he has done with the Holy Sword Clan up to now.

　But that would be tantamount to telling him to forget his shame.

　Did you catch anything at the academy? When asked with his eyes, Parcell shook his head from side to side. Parcell has no feelings about Coogan's granddaughter itself. However, as a symbol connected to Coogan and to Satoru, the Demon King who killed Coogan, he has mixed feelings.

　The fact that he does not know Sheryl's whereabouts is due in part to the successful maneuvering of her uncle, Viscount Maylander, and the butler of the Coogan mansion. Derek was also involved in this, and since Sheryl herself was not making any public moves to keep herself out of sight for the time being, he was not able to find any of her footprints.

「We have guards posted at the Viscount's residence.」

「If you get anything, you'll let me know right away.」

　Parcell curtsies condescendingly to the king, who looks weary.

「I cannot bear to see the humiliation of having the Strahltraun crushed so cruelly, and to be remembered in posterity as the king who had his castle destroyed.」

　Ever since Faisel Kurt's heart was stolen by Minerva, he had been away from even the back palace, which had been ridiculed as his original residence. It was almost as if he was seriously in love with Minerva.

　The man, who had always won the women he had been attracted to with the help of his subjects, could be said to be a bundle of pride.

　Then came the destruction of the royal palace and the tragic death of a close aide―events that were enough to break his heart, and he turned his back on reality, becoming obsessed with his own delusions.

　Faisel Kurt seems to have come into the world as the king of Ares and has enjoyed his life, but his life has been anything but tranquil.

　He is not the son of the previous queen. The previous queen and the previous king had three children, but all of them were born girls. The previous king also had a younger brother, but he, too, was born only to a girl, and if things continue as they are in the male-dominated Ares, the direct male line will be cut off―Amid such concern, the concubine gave birth to Faisel Kurt.

　The previous king was delighted at the birth of a son in his old age, but the fact that his concubine was a mere daughter of a knight's family and of low status and the fact that a boy was suddenly born after all the girls had been born, the Senate and others continued to suspect her of infidelity. This was even though Faisel Kurt had a soul worthy of being a child of the royal family.

　The previous queen was not amused. She harassed Faisel Kurt, who became the crown prince, and his mother relentlessly, and eventually, when Faisel Kurt was five years old, his mother died of a mental and physical disorder.

　The first thing Faisel Kurt did after his father's death at the age of 10, when he became King of Ares, was to send the first queen and the second of her three children to join Kurt's father as martyrs. He remembered the murder of his own mother and took his revenge.

　He could not touch the eldest daughter because she had married into a family from one of the thirteen city-states, but it is rumored that he forced the unmarried third daughter ― his sister-in-law ― into his own back palace, where he relentlessly tortured her with sexual intercourse. According to records, the sister-in-law was allowed to remain in the palace as a caretaker and died of illness three years later, but in fact, it is widely believed that Faisel Kurt bullied her to death.

　He has a 13-year-old prince with the queen, who died four years ago. 15 years ago, he received her as queen from one of the 13 city-states. She gave birth to a prince two years after receiving her as queen, but he has no love for her and is cold, and perhaps because of this, he and the prince do not get along very well.

　After receiving the queen, he continued to gather beautiful princesses to his palace. Several of them died of unknown causes after winning the king's favor. His love for his dead mother and hatred for the previous queen, who had continued to torment him, is said to have been the result of his distorted emotions, but he showed some talent in state affairs, so he continued to reign as king while remaining distant from the palace and the senate.

　Ironically, the collapse of the castle and the Chalk Tower is regarded as a turning point in the king's reign and a wake-up call to national politics.

　What is waiting for him ahead?

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