Chapter 314: Conquered A Kingdom By Mistake
Aegon didn’t consider himself some saint or any righteous person. The world was far more nuanced than that, and he didn’t fully understand it. He didn’t even know how he would have acted in the Coral King’s place, but he was damn sure he wouldn’t have chosen this path.
Perhaps he would have been a bad king, but he wouldn’t have been this cruel and pathetic. That was another reason why he didn’t want the responsibilities of a leader.
Responsibilities and power often drove people mad. He had both of them, but he didn’t want to let them affect him too much.
Looking at the pathetic state of the King shouting at his own ministers, he sighed. In no time, the ministers also began to accuse the King and shift the blame.
No one felt sorry for their actions. No, they just wanted to be the victim to justify their cruelty. That was how wars were often fought, after all. Victimhood often helped people justify the worst things, things that shouldn’t even be counted as humanity.
"Silence!"
Instantly, pin-drop silence reigned throughout the Royal Court as everyone once again dropped to the floor, too afraid to make a sound.
Aegon rested his chin on his palm and asked, "Tell me about your relationship with the Elves."
"Elves?" The King frowned. "My Lord, I’ve never even met them. Her Highness is the first Elf I’ve seen in my entire life."
Aegon raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Elara. Both of them could tell that the King was telling the truth. Still, he didn’t let it go and asked, "Are you playing with words? You’ve never met them, but you did business with them, right?"
That earned a slight flinch from the Old Mage, while the King still shook his head, his voice trembling. "My Lord, I’ve done everything for my people. If I’m punished for that, I’m willing to bear the consequences. But I’m telling the truth. I’ve never met an elf before."
’He truly believes his own words,’ Aegon thought. ’People like him are very dangerous. They’re convinced they’re doing things for the good of the people, yet they don’t see what it does to those same people.’
His gaze shifted towards the Old Mage as he said, "I won’t ask again. Tell the truth, otherwise I have a hungry dragon waiting outside."
The Old Mage’s face paled as he hurriedly stepped forward. "It was me, My Lord. I colluded with the elves."
’It worked pretty fast.’ Aegon stared at the old man and had a sudden realization. ’Ah, he must be very religious.’
There were multiple religions in this world, and many of them spoke about the afterlife or reincarnation, which Aegon actually believed in considering his own situation. But dragons were the bane of that.
A Dragon’s Breath attacked the Soul, which meant that if someone died from Soul damage, they wouldn’t reincarnate or see an afterlife. That was why the Old Mage confessed so quickly after the threat.
"Explain everything to me," Elara spoke for the first time here. "I want every detail."
The Old Mage clasped his hands together and blurted out the truth.
"It happened not long ago, but I can’t remember the exact time, My Lady. They were the first ones to approach us, and they gave me the..."
Aegon carefully listened to his words while Elara whispered to him that the memory loss must also be related to the Sylvanna Forests.
In the end, the Old Mage’s explanation wasn’t much different from what Aegon had expected. The Elves had been very careful and erased the important parts from the old man’s memories, and no one other than him had met the Elves.
The Old Mage only knew that they were helping him for some unknown reason, and considering the man hated the Vayrins, he didn’t hesitate to agree. The Old Mage had survived many things, but his way of thinking was still tied to decades-old beliefs.
"What do you think?" Aegon asked, turning towards Elara. "Can we get something from them? Maybe Kai can help invade his mind or something. Naturally, he won’t agree, but I have my ways."
"No. I can already guess what was used to erase their memories," Elara shook her head and replied. "It’s completely erased, not just suppressed, so it’ll be nigh impossible to recover them. But there’s no need for that."
Her eyes and voice turned cold, killing intent surging within her otherwise calm emerald eyes. "I already know who did this, and she will pay dearly for it. This has crossed all limits."
Aegon grasped her hand, rubbing it lightly without saying anything. That small gesture was enough to convey everything he wanted to say anyway.
Then he turned towards the King and the Old Mage, all warmth vanishing from his face. "Now then, what am I supposed to do with you all?"
Before they could plead, their own shadows rose and covered their mouths.
Aegon thought for a moment before taking out his communication stone. A few seconds passed before the other side picked up, and he immediately asked, "You busy?"
[If I was busy, would I have picked up the call?]
He smiled upon hearing the familiar voice. "Nah, I know my Grandpa Sam would pick up the call even if he’s super busy."
[So much butter. What did you do, brat?]
Aegon chuckled, seeing how quickly Grandpa Sam caught on to his intentions. He responded, "Just a small matter, old man. Nothing much."
[Out with it.]
"I sort of conquered a small kingdom, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now," Aegon scratched his chin and admitted.
[....What?]
He could hear the disbelief and shock behind that single word.
"Yeah, but I’m going to skip the details for now. Just know that I did it. Basically, I have to decide what to do with this kingdom, and I’m sure I’ll fuck it up."
[Language.]
Aegon rolled his eyes.
[And you won’t mess up anything. You exist to rule, so you can’t run away.]
"But I am going to do just that."
[Sigh! I would have handled it myself, but I’m a bit occupied with something. Ask Arthur. I’m sure he’ll be willing to help you and will also have great ideas for these things. Your family always handled this side for me, anyway.]
"So you’re just useless." Aegon clicked his tongue.
[Fuck off!]
"Language, old man."