Chapter – 88
“So… you’re saying you’re really a dragon?”
“Have you just been living deceived?”
“Mhm.”
“I told you. The reason I was in that mage’s experimental site was because I couldn’t hatch.”
“Why couldn’t you hatch?”
“That’s a personal matter I can’t tell you.”
The young dragon said curtly.
“You have to tell me for me to believe you or not.”
“Can you, the butler, tell me all your secrets? Even the secrets you’ve never been able to tell anyone?”
“Well… no.”
“Then the conversation is over. Don’t ask any more about the secrets of my birth. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“So it’s certain that the Royal Family never had precognitive abilities from the start?”
“Yeah.”
The young dragon replied in a slightly annoyed tone.
“Precognition is actually highly refined wisdom and insight. It’s about subconsciously processing the information you see, hear, and feel to derive a result. It’s impossible to control that with human intelligence. Those called prophets are of that sort.”
“So it’s not that they don’t exist at all?”
“I told you. It happens subconsciously. At best, they see fragments through dreams or visions. Even those are often wrong, and most are frauds or lunatics. A prophet who can see, hear, and feel everything doesn’t exist in this world. Even claiming it’s passed down through generations? There’s nothing funnier than that.”
“Mhm.”
“For that to happen, real prophets would have to marry and have offspring to develop the ability through bloodlines, but is that even possible? A real prophet appears maybe once in a hundred years. And if they repeatedly practiced inbreeding… you know what would happen, right?”
At the young dragon’s words, Carlisle turned to look at Maranello.
“Has the Royal Family ever maintained their bloodline through inbreeding?”
“As far as this old man knows… no.”
“Then what he says is persuasive, isn’t it?”
“But it’s too dangerous, Young Master.”
Maranello’s expression became quite fearful.
“This is an issue that could shake not only you, Young Master, but the family, and furthermore, the North and even the entire United Kingdom. If we make a single misstep, the entire kingdom could fall into chaos, and the system maintained for the past hundreds of years could crumble.”
He was right.
The reason the United Kingdom had been able to endure until now was thanks to the Royal Family’s precognitive ability, and because everyone feared it.
Wasn’t the United Kingdom until now a place where the 12 families pledged loyalty to the Royal Family, and the Royal Family maintained it by appropriately utilizing that?
“That’s a revolution.”
“Pardon…?”
“Smashing the existing system and opening a new world. Isn’t that the definition of revolution?”
“That is correct, but isn’t it too dangerous? In an uncertain state…”
“That’s why I’m saying we should test it. Whether the Royal Family has precognitive abilities or not.”
“Why can’t you understand that even that could be within the Royal Family’s calculations?”
“…This is getting us nowhere.”
Carlisle closed his eyes tightly as if tired.
This was the reality.
‘Is this why brainwashing is so scary?’
Continental people learn from a young age that the Royal Family has precognitive abilities and that they see through everything.
Even if an event occurs that warrants suspicion, they consider it part of the grand picture the Royal Family is painting and fear it even more.
How else could even the legendary knight Maranello, called the God of Death of the North, not break free from that thought?
How could he make Maranello change his mind, even just a little…
‘I have no choice but to use that method.’
Carlisle suddenly thought of a way to persuade Maranello and opened his mouth.
“Maranello.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Shall I show you something interesting?”
“What kind of…?”
“Here, look.”
Carlisle drew Grimungand from his waist.
A rusty longsword.
A sword so worn, with teeth missing here and there, that it was questionable if it could even cut a person.
The succession sword known to people as [The Wanderer], made by Lumpen van Sigmund.
But its true identity was…
“O sleeper within the Heart of Chaos. By the blood pact, reveal your true form.”
*Swoosh…*
The blade of Grimungand gradually turned black, then soon revealed its true form.
A jet-black blade.
The demonic sword, imbued with the will of the Chaos King, gleamed with a deadly sharpness in Carlisle’s grasp.
“Th-that is…!”
A startled exclamation flowed from Maranello’s mouth.
“Grimungand… the sword of the Chaos King, Cain…!”
“Correct.”
Carlisle nodded.
“I was chosen by Grimungand in the Cradle of Swords and inherited the will of the Chaos King. You don’t think it’s strange for me, of all people, to speak of revolution, do you, Sir Maranello?”
“Your servant, Maranello… greets the true descendant of the Chaos King.”
Maranello knelt on one knee towards Carlisle, his voice trembling.
* * *
Maranello finally understood everything about Carlisle’s change.
‘He matured mentally after dying and coming back to life, and became completely different by inheriting the will of the Chaos King.’
Although that deduction was far from the truth, from Maranello’s perspective, thinking that way was the most reasonable judgment.
“I received a revelation.”
“What kind of revelation…?”
“When I first grasped this sword, I had a chance to speak with the Chaos King through Grimungand.”
“What did the Chaos King say?”
“He said the Royal Family has lost its precognitive abilities and told me to complete his legacy.”
“…!”
Of course, that was a blatant lie.
It was true that he met the Chaos King, but even he hadn’t predicted that the Royal Family’s precognitive ability had disappeared.
“I already knew. That the Royal Family has no precognitive power.”
“Th-that can’t be!”
“Do you still not believe me? Shall we find another dragon and ask?”
“No.”
Maranello shook his head.
“Young Master, you were chosen by Grimungand and inherited the Chaos King’s legacy. How could this old man dare to doubt you?”
“Of course, having believed it all your life, it must be hard to change your mind in a short time. You’ll probably continue to feel anxious and doubtful.”
“Yes, that is likely.”
“Don’t worry. It’s true that the Royal Family has no precognitive power.”
“If that is the truth… what happens now? Do you truly intend to uphold the Chaos King’s will and complete his legacy?”
“I’m not the one completing the legacy. I will only help quietly from behind. I absolutely hate being in the forefront. The independence of the North. Complete liberation from subordination to the Royal Family. Achieving that will be up to Father, or perhaps Noona or Frey.”
Maranello felt his blood boil at Carlisle’s words.
The independence of the North.
And complete liberation from subordination to the Royal Family.
It was no exaggeration to say that there was no dream more thrilling to a Northerner’s heart than that.
“Then, what can this old man do to assist? If we can complete the Chaos King’s legacy, would I spare this single body?”
“First, we must break that belief. The belief that everyone has firmly held for hundreds of years.”
“Umm.”
“As he said,” Carlisle gestured to the dragon, “let’s create an incident as a pretext and strike their weak point. Then we’ll find out. Whether the Royal Family has precognitive abilities or not.”
“Just imagining it is frightening… but since I have seen you become the master of Grimungand, I will gladly participate.”
Maranello, though still uneasy, decided to actively cooperate with Carlisle.
The Royal Family’s precognitive ability was truly fearsome, but this might be the most important turning point in the history of Dekaron…
“I don’t have a specific plan in mind right now, so let’s think about it.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Then the young dragon spoke.
“How about trying this?”
“What?”
“Well…”
The young dragon explained his idea.
“Oh? Not bad.”
“With that method, it seems worth attempting.”
Both Carlisle and Maranello thought the young dragon’s opinion was quite excellent.
“Hoho. It seems the saying that dragons are wise beings exists for a reason.”
“Indeed.”
Carlisle nodded in agreement, looking at the young dragon who was puffing out its chest proudly.
“I thought you were just a picky bug-eater, but you’re quite useful. Smart.”
“Are you done talking, butler? Haaahk!”
The young dragon growled at Carlisle.
“Ah, sorry. How about I give you something tasty? Cake? Cookies?”
“Cake. The one made with yogurt whipped cream. It’d be good if it has fruit in it too. What about the cookies?”
“Chocolate, of course.”
“You heard him?”
Carlisle looked at Maranello.
“Yes, Young Master. I will prepare it personally and bring it.”
Maranello hurried his steps to get the young dragon’s snack.
* * *
Thanks to Carlisle having irritated the Crown Prince, Grand Duke Guntram’s worries only deepened.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, please forgive my foolish son’s discourtesy.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I brought it upon myself; how could I blame the Grand Duke or your second son?”
Although the Crown Prince said that, his displeasure was clearly evident.
And that expression on the Crown Prince’s face was a significant source of discomfort for Grand Duke Guntram.
Why?
Because the Royal Family was never generous.
“Of course, separate from the matter with your son, for this autumn only, we plan to raise the tax rate by an additional 5 percent.”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, that is…”
“Please understand, Grand Duke. We plan to lower the tax rate again starting next year.”
“I will obey your command.”
Ultimately, the Crown Prince’s displeasure returned as retaliation in the form of a tax increase.
‘Why couldn’t he just endure that?’
Grand Duke Guntram found Carlisle utterly detestable, but he couldn’t really blame him.
It was the Crown Prince who requested the meeting with Carlisle, and hadn’t Carlisle treated him with proper etiquette?
‘Should I send that child to the Royal Family, even by force? No, that’s not it. We must be loyal to the Royal Family, but I cannot give them everything. There will be a cost, but I have no choice but to bear it.’
Thinking that, Grand Duke Guntram looked over the document containing Carlisle’s proposal.
Carlisle’s opinion was to replace the magic stones used as fuel with magic stone coal to reduce the tax burden, and even sell off the magic stones they had to profit from price differences.
‘I have no choice. I have no option but to trust his words.’
Grand Duke Guntram reluctantly decided to accept Carlisle’s opinion.
Now that the Crown Prince had immediately raised the tax rate by 5 percent on the spot, Grand Duke Guntram had little choice.
If he continued to force the magic stone mining operations, he couldn’t even imagine how many more casualties his forces would suffer, so for now, he had no choice but to replace fuel magic stones with magic stone coal.
‘Is even this within your grasp, Crown Prince?’
Grand Duke Guntram gritted his teeth, picturing the Crown Prince’s face.
No matter how he thought about it, he felt he was being played in the palm of the Royal Family’s hand, and historically, that was the truth.
No matter what was done, no matter what happened, it always turned out that the Royal Family was behind it.
‘When will the North ever be free from the Royal Family’s clutches? Is the complete independence and liberation of the North nothing but a dream?’
Frustrated, Grand Duke Guntram stroked his own succession sword.
He felt like rising up immediately, sword in hand, to crush the Royal Family.
But if he did that, not only the Sigmund family but the entire North would be trampled by the Royal Family and the other families, and the lives of the Northerners would become even more miserable.
‘When that day comes… if such a day comes while I still live and breathe… I will never forgive. I will make them pay the price for oppressing and persecuting the North and the Sigmunds for the past hundreds of years.’
*Crunch.* Grand Duke Guntram’s grip tightly clenched the hilt of his succession sword.
