I Didn't Want to Become the Emperor of This World

Chapter 100

There are habits and secrets of monsters that most people do not know.

Monsters usually live in their respective settlements, tribes, or groups. Similar to humans.

However, when the birth or resurrection of a ‘powerful monster’ approaches, the monsters instinctively sense it and gather in a specific area.

The reason why minor monsters gather in the Monster Mountains ahead of the birth or resurrection of a powerful monster has not yet been revealed. It is only speculated that the weaker monsters do so to curry favor with the powerful monster.

Just like when the officials prepared a banquet when Leonardo returned to the royal capital from Misty Port.

***

King Philip looked at his son, Leonardo, who was dozing off, leaning against a tree.

Leonardo was hugging his short sword.

‘If Leonardo was trying to conquer that dungeon to prevent the Minotaur’s resurrection……. Leonardo must have had a heavy heart.’

The Minotaur was a mythical monster. A monster that could plunge a single kingdom, no, the entire continent, into chaos and despair.

That terrifying monster was so feared that it was called ‘God’s punishment,’ appearing commonly in the scriptures of various religions. Even in the scriptures of religions that mutually exclude each other.

‘To know about the resurrection of such a creature and not show it at all……. Is he bearing all that worry alone?’

One of the most important virtues of a king is to maintain composure in a crisis so as not to make those around him anxious.

Leonardo seemed to have already perfected that virtue.

‘After conquering the Minotaur’s dungeon, I was going to become a sacrifice and seal the Minotaur for 1,000 years. Because I thought that was the only gift I could give to Leonardo. But… if the Minotaur is going to be resurrected, I’ll have to be more serious.’

King Philip, who had been thinking for a moment, stroked the very thin book in his bosom.

That book was the King’s very thin <Future Diary>, with not much left.

Rustle—.

The King got up from his seat and spoke. Orıginal content can be found at novel·fıre·net

“I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Where are you going? We’re in the middle of this important conversation.”

When Jereuth frowned, the King gave a reason that Jereuth could not refuse.

“I’m going to take a shit. It’s urgent.”

“……Alright.”

Since it was a pressing physiological phenomenon, Jereuth could not hold the King back.

“Take your sword just in case. There are no monsters around, but there might be wild animals.”

“Mhm.”

The King nodded and went into the bushes. It was a place where the moonlight shone particularly well.

Looking at the King’s back, Jereuth muttered as if he were pathetic, yet recalling a fond memory.

“The habit of taking a shit whenever we have an important conversation is still the same. He was like that when we adventured together when we were young.”

***

About 10 minutes later.

The King reappeared from the bushes. Jereuth asked such a King.

“Did you take a good shit?”

“……”

The King did not answer. Not paying much attention, Jereuth continued what he had to say.

“So, what do you think. If, as I fear, the monsters are gathering in the Monster Mountains because of the birth of a powerful monster, it’s no small matter.”

“……”

“Philip, I’m asking you. What do you think? Why have you been silent all this time?”

Jereuth asked again, but the King did not give any particular answer. Frustrated, Jereuth was about to ask again when the King slowly opened his mouth.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes. I don’t know anything.”

The King, who had been speaking in a drifting voice, changed his tone, adding strength to his voice.

“But I do know one thing. Leonardo will overcome any crisis.”

“……Are you saying that His Highness Leonardo will take care of it? What kind of irresponsible thing is that to say. You are still the king.’

“It’s not irresponsible. It’s trusting my son. If you say that’s irresponsible, then I have nothing to say, but I think differently. Don’t you trust Leonardo?”

At the sudden question, Jereuth nodded.

“Of course I do. His Highness Leonardo is as great as you were when you were young—no, much greater.”

“Then believe. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but if the monsters are gathering in the Monster Mountains and preparing for war as we fear, Leonardo will stop it.”

“……”

“Perhaps, just as I met Victoria, Barut, Grombrindal, and you to stop the ‘Triple Head Ogre’ 30 years ago… Leonardo will meet comrades who will help him. Because history repeats itself.”

The King spoke as if possessed by something and then smiled for an unknown reason.

“All I have to do is teach Leonardo all of my swordsmanship, and all I can do is seal the Minotaur. I don’t want to create a variable for Leonardo by trying to change what is already set.”

Jereuth could vaguely understand the King’s words, but he couldn’t understand everything.

But Jereuth couldn’t ask the King any more questions. Because the King’s voice and gaze were filled with conviction.

A conviction that no matter what ordeal or crisis came, Leonardo would overcome it and become something beyond a king.

***

The next morning.

Snort—!

I woke up to the sound of a horse snorting nearby. I could feel the sunlight gently caressing my face.

“Mmm……”

I opened my eyes, stretching my somewhat stiff body. Then I saw a very bewildering… no, rather than bewildering, it was a mysterious scene.

‘……What are those animals?’

On the trees, birds and squirrel-like rodents were looking down at me, holding small nuts.

In the bushes, animals like rabbits, wild cats, and marmots…? were peeking at me.

Even a fairly large animal like a wild boar was watching me from a distance.

Kartum was standing majestically right next to me. The surrounding animals seemed to be wary of Kartum. I felt that way for some reason.

“You’re awake.”

The King spoke as I was blankly looking around.

“Is it strange to see animals around?”

Of course it was strange.

“Uh… yes.”

“It’s because of the elf’s ability flowing in your blood, which I told you about yesterday. The ability to be loved by animals.”

“Ah.”

When I only heard it in words, I didn’t quite understand what it meant, but seeing it in person, I understood.

“But when we were camping on our way to Misty Port before, the animals didn’t gather.”

“That’s because there were many knights and soldiers then. No matter how much the animals wanted to come to you, they wouldn’t foolishly approach when it was clear they would be caught and eaten if they were seen by other people.”

I eat meat too.

“That’s why they don’t come very close. No matter how much elf blood flows in you, you are still half human. But as long as you reign, the animals of that land will live happily and grow fat. The people will like that.”

I thought they weren’t approaching because they were scared of Kartum, but that wasn’t the case.

As I was thinking, the King asked.

“How is your body.”

I got up from the ground and stretched my body. My back and hips, which had been uncomfortable from riding a horse for a long time yesterday, were fine.

Not just my back and hips, but my arms and legs were also in good shape.

‘Is it thanks to the health necklace the King gave me?’

I answered, glancing at the necklace I could feel on my neck.

“I’m fine. I think I rested better than when I slept in a comfortable bed.”

“Then let’s start the morning training. Jereuth said we’ll be departing in two hours, so until then.”

“Yes.”

If my body had been in pain, I would have been reluctant to do the morning training. But since my body was in perfect condition, I immediately drew my sword from its scabbard.

Shing—.

The sword came out of its scabbard without any friction. It was indeed a famous sword.

As I awkwardly held the sword and took a stance, the King spoke.

“We’ll do the same training as yesterday. You attack once, and I’ll attack once. But make sure your attacks and defenses are better than yesterday’s. And try to feel my movements with your senses, not with your eyes. I’ll say it again, you have to feel the flow.”

“I understand.”

As I answered, the King picked up a thick twig that had fallen nearby.

“Let’s begin. Attack.”

“Yes.”

I immediately swung the sword.

I didn’t know if it was just a feeling, but my body felt lighter and more energetic than yesterday. It felt like energy was spreading throughout my body from my chest where the necklace touched.

***

It had already been 4 weeks since we left the royal capital for the Wasteland of Ruin.

During that time, the same routine repeated every day. In the morning, we had morning training, in the afternoon, we rode horses and then had lunch training, and then we rode horses again and had evening training.

But just because the same routine repeated didn’t mean there were no changes.

Thanks to learning the sword from the King for the past 4 weeks, about a month, I had become quite accustomed to the sword.

Also, I had gained a surprising amount of muscle in the past 4 weeks. Of course, it wasn’t bulging muscles like Jereuth’s. How much could a twelve-year-old boy’s body change with a little muscle.

Still, it was to the extent that I could physically feel my body getting stronger.

‘It must be thanks to the ‘health necklace’ the King gave me. Otherwise, there’s no way my body would be fine after such a forced march.’

As I was thinking while holding the sword in my right hand and stroking the necklace with my left.

Flick- thud.

The King threw the twig he was holding far away and spoke.

“Leonardo, you seem to have gotten used to the sword to some extent. You’ve worked hard.”

“Ah… thank you. It’s thanks to you, Father.”

“I’ve said it over and over, but you must not try to follow the opponent’s attack with your eyes. You have to feel and understand the opponent’s intentions and respond in the most effective way. This is not just in swordsmanship. It’s the same in your relationships with your vassals, and even in your diplomatic relations with other kingdoms and empires. There are times when what you cannot see with your eyes speaks more than what you can.”

“Yes.”

As I answered with a nod, the King stepped back and spoke.

“Then… I’ll go and take care of some business. If Jereuth comes back from hunting and asks where I went, just tell him I said I’d be back soon.”

Taking care of business must mean going to take a shit.

Since it was a natural physiological phenomenon, I didn’t think much of it.

That being said.

‘It’s really been a long time since I’ve been alone.’

It had been 4 weeks since we left the royal capital for the Wasteland of Ruin, but during that time, I was always with either the King or Jereuth. When Jereuth went hunting or to get water, I trained with the King, and when the King left like just now, Jereuth stood guard near me.

……Even when I was taking care of my own physiological needs.

Anyway, since I was alone for the first time in a long time, there was something I wanted to do.

‘Let’s check the <Future Diary>. Quickly.’

For the past few weeks, I hadn’t been able to read the <Future Diary> because I was busy with training and had no privacy.

Nevertheless, I remembered the content I had seen in the <Future Diary> before I left the royal capital.

‘It was written like that in the diary. “About a month after leaving the royal capital, I met Grondar on top of a high mountain. But then I heard the sound of a snake’s tongue from somewhere, and with it, the shadow of a giant snake passed over my head.”’

Flip—!

I immediately opened the diary. I had to check it as quickly as possible because I didn’t know when Jereuth would come.

‘Let’s check the future closest to the present first. That’s what’s important right now.’

With the expectation that new content would have been written, I looked at the <Future Diary>.

But… the future closest to the present was unchanged.

…….

Grondar’s eyes sparkled as he slowly approached us.

“I like humans’ mysterious objects. If you have any, could I have a look—!”

The moment he spoke.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss—!

I heard the unpleasant sound of a snake flicking its tongue.

Along with it, a huge shadow, obscuring the setting sun, passed over my head.

The content of the <Future Diary> where I met a Giant named ‘Grondar’ near a mountaintop, and at about the same time, the shadow of a giant snake passed over my head.

It was the same as when I had seen it before. There had been no change even after 4 weeks.

‘……Why is there no change?’

I was honestly disappointed that there was no change in the <Future Diary>, because I had thought that some kind of change would have occurred.

‘Hmm… maybe it’s because I haven’t created any variables in the past 4 weeks. In other words, I lived exactly as the <Future Diary> had foretold.’

It goes without saying, but to change the future, you have to change the present. In other words, you have to create a variable.

But on my way from the royal capital to here, I had only ‘moved and trained’ as written in the <Future Diary>. In other words, I had lived no differently from my future self.

Living no differently from my future self was both a bad and a good thing. Because it would mean that I had ‘trained in swordsmanship with all my might’ just like my future self.

In any case.

‘So to change this future, I have to come up with some kind of countermeasure for the mysterious ‘giant snake.’ It doesn’t say whether the snake attacks me, but it’s unlikely that a giant snake passing over my head is a positive thing.’

Thinking, I put the <Future Diary> deep into my backpack again. I had to hide it well before Jereuth or the King came.

Just as I put the diary in my backpack, I heard a rustling sound from the bushes behind me.

When I turned to the sound, I saw Jereuth with a wild boar-like animal slung over his shoulder.

It seemed tonight’s dinner would be roasted wild boar.

“Your Highness. Where did Philip- no, the King go?”

Jereuth spoke casually to the King, but he used honorifics with me.

“He said he was going to take care of some business and would be back.”

“……To leave Your Highness alone. He could have just held in that shit.”

Jereuth sighed and shook his head. For some reason, I found it funny that the word ‘shit’ came out of Jereuth’s mouth.

‘By the way, I think it would be good to tell Jereuth about the giant snake……. Should I bring it up subtly? If Jereuth knows about a giant snake that lives around here, he might come up with some kind of countermeasure.’

I wondered if I could naturally bring up the topic of the ‘giant snake.’ I couldn’t just ask, “Do you know about a giant snake, Commander?”

While I was thinking, Jereuth was skillfully butchering the wild boar. He skinned it and removed the entrails.

At first, it was disgusting to watch Jereuth butcher his prey, and honestly, it was hard to watch, but now I was quite used to it.

‘Hmm, it’s probably better to just stick to my usual repertoire. The repertoire of having seen it in some book.’

After watching Jereuth for a while, I subtly brought up the topic.

“Commander. I think I vaguely read about it in a book in the library once, but does a giant snake live around here?”

“A giant snake that lives around here… ah, are you talking about the ‘Anakros’?”

Anakros?

I didn’t know what that was. But since Jereuth specified ‘Anakros’ as soon as he heard my words, it seemed likely that the giant snake in the <Future Diary> was an Anakros.

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember the name exactly.”

“It’s probably correct. The only giant snake monster that lives in our Plank Kingdom is the Anakros.”

I see.

“Isn’t it dangerous? That giant snake called ‘Anakros.’”

“The Anakros is a very tricky monster to deal with, but you don’t have to worry. It is known that the Anakros never leaves the nest it was born in.”

“……It never leaves the nest it was born in?”

“Yes. And since the Anakros’s nest is in a cave or deep underground, you won’t encounter an Anakros unless you deliberately seek it out.”

Jereuth answered in a voice that was not tired at all, even while butchering the wild boar.

That was amazing, but I was concerned about something else.

‘The Anakros only stays in its cave or underground nest? Then why did its shadow pass over my head?’

“Commander, does that monster really not roam outside? No matter what?”

“Hmm.”

Jereuth thought for a moment, then looked at me and spoke in a cautious voice.

“I have seen an Anakros on the ground in the Monster Mountains 30 years ago.”

“30 years ago?”

“Yes. 30 years ago, there was an incident where monsters from all over the kingdom gathered in the Monster Mountains. It was an incident where monsters not only from the Plank Kingdom but also from near the Wasteland of Ruin gathered in one place ahead of the birth of a powerful monster called the ‘Triple Head Ogre.’ I had entered the Monster Mountains to hunt the mother of that ogre before it was born. That’s when I saw an Anakros. An Anakros about 4 or 5 meters in size.”

“…….”

“As you can see, it would take something like the birth of a Triple Head Ogre to make an Anakros voluntarily come out of its nest. But the birth of such a powerful monster is very rare. So you don’t have to worry about the Anakros.”

“Is… that so?”

“Yes. But if you do happen to see an Anakros on the ground…”

Jereuth trailed off and then spoke in a voice that seemed to be bothered by something.

“……That would mean the birth of a powerful monster is imminent. And all the monsters in the Plank Kingdom, including the Anakros, would be gathering in the Monster Mountains.”

When I heard Jereuth’s words, a cold sweat ran down my spine.

Because it was written in the <Future Diary> that I would meet a giant snake—probably an Anakros.

There were more than a few things that bothered me.

‘Let’s summarize the information I’ve gathered from the <Future Diary> and Jereuth’s story so far. It’s highly likely that the ‘birth of a powerful monster’ Jereuth mentioned is the resurrection of the Minotaur.’

And.

‘The monsters, including the Anakros, gathering in the Monster Mountains must be them gathering in advance of the Minotaur’s resurrection.’

In this situation.

‘What happens if I conquer the Minotaur’s dungeon and prevent its resurrection? Do the monsters that gathered in the Monster Mountains just all go back to where they lived?’

“Commander.”

I immediately called Jereuth and asked.

“Did you stop the birth of the ‘Triple Head Ogre’ 30 years ago?”

“Yes. Fortunately, I hunted its mother before that thing was born.”

“Then what happened after that? I’m curious about what the other monsters that had gathered in the Monster Mountains did.”

“Hmm……. At that time, I quickly left the mountains after hunting the mother of the Triple Head Ogre, so I don’t know for sure. But as I recall, the monsters that had gathered scattered and went back to their respective homes.”

Scattered and went back to their respective homes.

Those words meant that things had ended peacefully.

‘Then… if I just conquer the Minotaur’s dungeon and prevent the Minotaur’s resurrection, the war with the monster army won’t happen?’

Just as I had that reassuring thought.

Wooooooooo—!

The backpack behind me vibrated.

It must have been the <Future Diary> inside it that vibrated.

That ‘vibration’ was like a warning sound.

A warning sound that, unlike 30 years ago, the monsters would not scatter peacefully this time.

Fortunately, Jereuth was quite far from me, so he didn’t hear the vibration.

I don’t think that’s something to be relieved about in this situation, though.

‘……No, let’s not have any unlucky thoughts. I haven’t even checked what’s written in the diary yet. Maybe something good is written—.’

Just as I was trying to think positively.

Wooooooooo—!

The <Future Diary> vibrated again.

As if telling me not to have any foolish thoughts and to check it even a second faster.

I had a feeling that some big crisis was coming.

An uneasy feeling.

……Damn it.