Chapter 86: Receiving the Crown Prince’s Remains
Chapter 86: Receiving the Crown Prince’s Remains
The royal family stood lined up under the covered entrance of the palace. The honor guard and soldiers stood in formation on both sides of the main path leading to the palace entrance, exposed to the rain. Behind them were the knights and the families of the deceased. Naturally, only nobles were allowed here; commoners were not permitted inside the palace grounds.They stood completely still despite being soaked by the rain. A presence could be felt approaching from afar — something massive wrapped in negative emotions. It was surely the collective aura emanating from the crown prince’s corpse, the bodies of the soldiers who died with him, and the knights who had carried them back. Perhaps the souls of the dead were traveling along with them.
As this mass drew closer, the air around the palace seemed to grow heavier. If rain could have a color, it would be black or a deep shade of gray. The expression "the sky is weeping" fit perfectly. Some of the people waiting began to feel ill and quietly slipped out of formation, retreating to the back.
A shadow emerged from the misty rain. All sound seemed to vanish as it advanced in solemn silence. At the front rode a knight in full plate armor on horseback. If that were a Dullahan, it would be terrifying, I thought with a somewhat disrespectful notion. The dread radiating from the leading knight sent a chill down my spine.
Behind the knight came a magnificent jet-black carriage, followed by a line of simple covered wagons stretching endlessly back through the palace gates. The crown prince’s body was likely in the first carriage, with Stevie’s brothers in the ones behind it.
The mounted knight in plate armor came to a stop in front of the palace’s main stairs. In perfect unison, the entire procession halted. The knight dismounted, climbed the stairs, and approached the king standing at the center. He removed his helmet, dropped to one knee, and placed the sword he carried at his waist on the ground beside him. Beneath the helmet was an aged face with wrinkles, framed by a mix of silver and white hair and a beard — the very image of a man who had endured many hardships.
It was the first time I had seen the king. So this man is my father? The thought made me instinctively use Appraisal.
『Philip Marie — King of the Marie Kingdom, 51 years old』
That was all that appeared. I wasn’t sure whether the information was being hidden or if this was his true status. What impressed me was that he had fathered me when he was 41. In this world, the average lifespan was probably around fifty, so a forty-year-old would already be considered quite elderly or close to it. Yet somehow he had still managed to produce a child. There are no ED drugs in this world, but perhaps there’s some kind of magic for treating erectile dysfunction?
I recalled an old story from a senior at my previous job. A man in his late sixties had said that when Viagra first came out from Pfizer, he thought it was a miracle drug. He had tried maca and all kinds of tonics with no success, but one single Viagra pill worked wonders. His wife and he had already "graduated" from that part of their relationship, so he took it to be with someone else — and it worked spectacularly. Back when Viagra first launched, getting a prescription was really difficult, he had said. I wondered if that senior was still going strong. As for me, I’m doing fine in another world without any medication.
My emotions right now were strangely cold. It felt like I was watching everything from a detached, bird’s-eye view. Standing at the edge of the royal family’s line, I occasionally felt the cold rain hitting me.
The king spoke words of appreciation and condolence to the knight. When I appraised him:
『Bernard Shaw — Knight Commander, 39 years old. Swordsmanship 7, Combat 5, Archery 3, Spear 2...』