Chapter 14
The reigning king of Rudek is known as King Zeulacia.
To a mere civil official like me, he was literally a person from the heavens. I had seen his face only a few times, and even then only from a distance at ceremonies.
The king I saw up close had a gentler face than I had expected. It was hard to imagine that this man would later be called a foolish king.
Of course. He would not come to be called that until after this country fell. Until then, he was known, if anything, as a good king who cared for his people.
"Is there something on my face?"
When the king asked me that, I hurriedly bowed my head.
"I-I'm sorry. It was my first time seeing Your Majesty's face up close, so I couldn't help myself."
"Ha-ha," he said with a light laugh at my answer, then ordered his attendant, "Now, bring the dagger."
The attendant stepped smoothly forward. They held an ornamented dagger wrapped in red-dyed silk in both hands.
"Roa, I am pleased to welcome you into the Tenth Knight Order, which serves directly under me. Work hard. This dagger is your induction gift from me."
"Your gracious words honor me. It is more than I deserve, and I humbly accept it," I said, reverently receiving it. The ceremony ended for the moment. I had officially become a member of the Tenth Knight Order.
However, even for a knight order under the king's direct command, treating a single new recruit this way was extraordinary—mass investiture ceremonies were one thing.
Originally, my posting was supposed to be confirmed by a document alone. What changed things was the bottling project. Although it was still experimental, word of it had reached King Zeulacia from Rays-sama.
I did not know what they had discussed, but the bottling project seemed to have been deemed an important plan to be carried out in utmost secrecy. As a result, the king became interested in me and decided he wanted to meet me.
However, as long as the bottling project remained secret, summoning a mere civil official would make people wonder what was going on. So the solution was for the king himself to reward me for my accomplishments at Ellen Village.
"Rays, join me for tea afterward. You too, Glantz and Rapilia. Oh, and Roa, you can come too."
The attendant looked as though they wanted to say something for just a moment when the king casually invited me to tea, but they said nothing.
In place of the attendant, someone else spoke up. "Your Majesty, you seem to have taken quite a liking to this man."
A general in gleaming white armor stood there, as though to match Rays-sama's black robes. Rays-sama had handsome features as well, but his sharp gaze kept others at bay, whereas this man's gentle eyes gave him an air that drew people in.
One of Rays-sama's sobriquets, "the Two Heads of the Kingdom of Rudek," referred not to him alone. It was the name for Rays-sama and Lucifar Belas, the commander of the First Knight Order in that white armor, when the two were spoken of together.
And then—
I did my best not to let Lucifar enter my line of sight, because I wasn't confident I could keep my composure.
I took care not to let my expression change at Lucifar's words, all the while clenching my teeth.
General Lucifar, deeply trusted by the king and immensely popular with the people.
Two years later, this man would betray us.
He sold our country—sold everyone's lives.
To the Reflare Holy Nation.
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Two years from now, on that night, Lucifar and the First Knight Order let Reflare's soldiers into the royal palace. Caught by the unexpected attack, almost everyone died without being able to put up any real resistance.
I happened to survive because I had been reading books for pleasure until late that night. When the night grew late and my eyes and shoulders began to ache, I went for a nighttime walk to clear my head and rest.
Then, fighting suddenly broke out. Not knowing what was happening, I simply ran.
After desperately fleeing the royal palace, I looked back and saw flames rising from it. As I stood there, dumbfounded, this country quietly came to an end before my eyes.
As time passed, rumors presented as "the truth of what happened" began reaching me during my wanderings.
According to them, King Zeulacia was a hopelessly foolish king, and Rudek had only barely been held together by the efforts of the Two Heads of the Kingdom of Rudek.
Yet eventually, even the Two Heads of the Kingdom of Rudek could no longer rein in the king's rampage. Fearing that the people's lives would be endangered if things continued, Lucifar and the First Knight Order sought help from the allied Reflare Holy Nation, despite knowing that doing so was treason.
A lie.
No matter how many people I asked, all I got in response were vague statements like, "King Zeulacia was insane." No concrete account of what he had actually done ever surfaced.
Even though I had worked inside the royal palace, I had never heard of any atrocities committed by King Zeulacia, nor had I ever heard that the Two Heads of the Kingdom of Rudek had admonished the king.
Who had spread those convenient rumors, Lucifar or the Reflare Holy Nation?
Now, I have no way of knowing. In any case, the future of Lucifar and the First Knight Order, who had betrayed their homeland, would not be a bright one.
Initially, Lucifar and the First Knight Order were welcomed into the Reflare Holy Nation as heroes, and Lucifar was given an important post. But Lucifar died of illness only two years later.
Not long after Lucifar's death, the First Knight Order, which had become his private army, was disbanded. I heard that Reflare used them however it pleased and ground them down.
A traitor who had sold his homeland stood before me.
I listened to the conversation between King Zeulacia and Lucifar while suppressing the anger that threatened to make me shout at Lucifar if I let my guard down.
Lucifar seemed suspicious that some ulterior motive lay behind the attention being shown to a civil official like me.
Even so, he must have decided it was not worth pressing the issue. When the king asked, "Then, will you join us?" he gently declined. "No, I have official duties."
When the meeting ended, Lucifar, at the king's urging, left first.
I kept my eyes on his back until it disappeared from view.