KB2 - Chapter I: The father and the king

Chapter I: The father and the king – Book 2: Dancing with the dragon


The dawn had finally come.

In the hall of Meredith, the most important and most awkward reunion in the whole kingdom was taking place between the father and the son.

Thales looked with consternation at the vigorous nobleman, his father.

He turned to Gilbert and Joel in horror, but both still lowered their heads silently.

He looked at the guards around the corridor, but the well-equipped soldiers only concealed their eyes behind their covered helmets and stood still like the statue.

Until the thick and deep voice of Kaiser the Fifth was heard in his ear:

"He looks like a skinny monkey in mud."

Indeed, Thales’ current situation wasn’t really too good. His black short hair was roughly cut (Clint's workmanship) and covered with dust, his small face was full of mud prints and hand marks. Although the magus Echidna used a mysterious technique to stop the bleeding of his various large and small wounds, the bruises, scratches, and incisions left after the Ruin and the Red Lane Street were still sparsely visible. As dirty as his skin was the beggar's rough linen, which was also ragged and torn open a big hole on the chest, almost revealing his burn mark. Wearing that, even a cold wind could make him shiver before he entered the Hall of Meredith.

"I believe that you will not make any mistake." Kaiser's voice echoed in the corridor.

Thales lifted his head again to look at Kaiser, his king, his father.

But Kaiser had already turned away and stopped looking at him.

There was a faint disappointment in Thales's heart, but he immediately pressed down that feeling.

In his cognition, he is already an adult.

The thick and deep voice of Kaiser continued to reverberate:

"You all know how important this matter is. Now, there are only three of us who are aware of this. Of course, I will send Gina here, the child needs proper and qualified caring, so there will be four of us knowing – About Mullet, I will personally tell him after he comes back."

"From now on, the Hall of Meredith is completely sealed off, tell the public that we lost a confidential royal treasure and I am still very angry because of that."

"According to previous preparations, fifty Termination swordsmen, all of whom are private soldiers of house Brightstar, will stay here for a whole month. They are all capable of keeping this a secret. And Joel, for insurance, you will also remain here. My safety in this month will be handled by Ada and the Royal Guard."

Joel didn’t speak, his masked head only bow slightly.

"Gilbert." Kaiser, still didn’t look at Thales, stroked the gemstones on the scepter and contemplatively opened his mouth with a majestic tone.

“Did you think about the reason for visiting the Hall of Meredith this early in the morning?"

"Of course, your Majesty, the excuse is already there – because the criminal gangs of Undercity Districts and West Ring Districts battled to the death with countless casualties, I rushed all night to your majesty’s palace and reported this matter." Gilbert respectfully replied.

"Not enough, while I will go back to the Renaissance Palace from tomorrow, you still have to visit this place frequently for a month, there must be a better reason." King Kaiser shook his head.

"Then how about, the disappearance of that royal treasure is too mysterious, and you have ordered me to investigate this matter thoroughly?"

"A bit reluctant, but for a month time, it is enough." King Kaiser pondered for a while and nodded.

Then, the king of Stella Kingdom finally turned his eyes to the confusing Thales who still didn’t know what to do.

His eyes were sharp like he was stabbing Thales, making the latter unconsciously step back.

That feeling is nothing like a father looking at his son.

But the king didn’t seem to care about Thales one bit.

"One month, Gilbert, one month."

"Before his identity is formally legitimized, Gilbert, you are his private tutor and responsible for all his study procedure."

"Yes, your Majesty. I will do my best to fulfill you wish." Gilbert replied in a respectful manner.

Thales’ heart sank.

Kaiser tapped his scepter and pondered for a while.

"You must prepare him well. He can't appear in front of the whole kingdom and the Six Great Houses like this. And there are also the envoys from other countries.”

"From courtesy to temperament, from knowledge to manner, he must have an unobjectionable appearance. What we need is an heir that could represent this kingdom, not some dispirited street beggar."

Street beggar?

After listening to this, Thales slightly clenched his fists.

"The standard is the welcome banquet for the envoys of Exeter. I hope he would be there in time - it's not easy, but I believe you can do it well."

Thales’ heart trembled a little, but he still silently listened to the unquestionable orders of King Kaiser, the orders that were planning his future step by step.

But in Thales’ future, there seems to be no place for his own will.

How could it be?

There were still many questions in his mind, a lot of doubts, a lot of ideas.

But in front of him, King Kaiser seemed not to care about his thoughts at all, he just gave out his own orders, telling his own wishes, one sentence at a time.

"Nobody needs to know about his past, but after all, there needs to be an answer. Gilbert, you make up a story for his origins."

"As long as I can confirm his bloodline - I will discuss this with Elisa. The Gods are not entirely unable to make deal with - we shall not afraid of baseless gossip."

"Select a companion with the same age in the nobles list, as well as a team of educators and attendants for an heir - after he is legitimized, these will be the focus, we need to make early profiles for this. I expect to see a list before weekend."

"For insurance, Gilbert, you will have to reconfirm the succession law of the royal family in the "Divine Stella Constitution" and precedents like him in house Brightstar. If there is a controversy, we can still remedy it now. ”

Thales frowned and listened to them continuing to plan his own future, his own life.

Just like a puppet.

"As for his marriage contract, I have a different idea, we will discuss it again later, Exeter-"

At this time, Gilbert interrupted the king with a respectful expression.

"Your majesty, there is still time for all that," the gray-haired middle-aged nobleman seemed to sense that something was wrong, but he still tried his best to express his opinion: "If you want to stay with this child alone, we can --"

But Kaiser suddenly waved his hand and stopped Gilbert.

At that moment, Thales saw the king's deep eyes trembled, and he felt a strange emotion that was emerging from Kaiser's expression.

Thales wanted to say something, but when the word came to his mouth, he swallowed it back.

I - what should I say?

What can I say?

Should you be more compassionate about your son?

That sounds like a crybaby who hasn't eaten sweets.

Kaiser seemed to want to turn his head to Thales but abruptly turned back halfway, only to see him put his hands on his scepter and looked at the portraits of the three kings on the wall, remaining silent for a long time.

It seems that only at this moment, he became more like a real person.

After a long while, Kaiser turned around. He didn't look at anyone, but the one and only majestic voice of King Kaiser the Fifth emerged again.

"In short, the task on your shoulder is very heavy. The Stellar Kingdom has no heir for twelve years already. Just last week, in his letter, Gustad intentionally or unintentionally mentioned the elective monarchy system of Exeter Kingdom - you should know how the Six Great houses will react."

Thales silently lowered his head.

This is - his father, his king?

Gilbert seemed to want to say something else, but he only bowed and uttered a small sigh when the king didn’t notice.

But there was still a person who interrupted the king's words regardless of this atmosphere.

"Your Majesty."

Thales turned back in surprise, it was the quite Joel, he spoke again.

The secret bodyguard had an unknown expression behind the mask, but his hoarse voice was extremely firm:

"First, he is your own blood, your son! Then, he is your heir."

"You cannot turn a blind eye to that."

Thales looked up and saw that Kaiser the Fifth released a long breath.

Then closed his eyes.

"Yes, he is my son," the king, still closing his eyes and clutching his scepter, said heavily: "Because of that, I am here today."

"I gave him to you. Remember, one month."

In the end, Kaiser the Fifth still did not say much.

Joel also bowed and stopped talking.

An unspeakable disappointment spread in inside Thales’ heart.

The king nodded as he looked at the kneeling Gilbert and Joel. Using a pair of eyes filled with complicated and unrecognizable emotions, he looked at the dumbfounded Thales, then turned and left without hesitation.

Gilbert and Joel stood up slowly.

The vigorous back slowly stepped down the stairs.

His footsteps were heavy, yet majestic.

The majestic feel of a king.

This is -- over?

Thales looked incredulously at the "father" who left.

No, this is not right.

He is the father of this body, isn't he?

But why--

"WAIT!"

Thales couldn’t help himself, he shouted.

The vigorous figure paused and turned around.

Gilbert looked at Thales in surprise while Joel’s expression was still hidden behind the mask.

Looking at the king who slowly turned around, Thales was a little trembling.

But he still spoke out.

"You are my father, aren't you?"

The king held the stair’s handrails and looked at Thales with his indescribable eyes.

"But why don't you want to -- want to talk with me even for one word?"

Next to him, Gilbert reached out, seemingly wanted to say something, but in the end he chose to remain silence.

"Why don't you even ask my name?"

"Is it good enough as long as you have an heir? You don't even care what your son is called?"

Kaiser the Fifth held his scepter tightly, but he didn’t answer a single word while his eyebrows slowly picked up.

"You said, no one needs to know about my past."

Thales’ chest shivered, the burn on his chest began to hurt again.

"BUT ME? I need to know! I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MY PAST!"

Kaiser looked at Thales’ eyes.

It was no longer the look of investigating, inspecting and testing.

Seemed like this is the first time the king realized that Thales is also a real person.

And furthermore, his son.

"I want to know what happened!"

At this sentence, even Thales himself didn’t know what he was doing, he only simply shouted.

"I WANT TO KNOW WHO MY MOTHER IS."

"I WANT TO KNOW WHO I REALLY AM."

"I still have lots and lots of doubts, lots and lots of questions."

Thales gasped and said, the exhaustion of that night had already made his seven-years-old body a bit overwhelmed.

When the king finally looked at Thales, his pair of deep blue eyes, pure like the sea, was reflecting with light.

At this moment, Thales couldn’t read more from the eyes filled with complicated and unrecognizable emotions of Kaiser the Fifth.

"Very well, child, what is your name?"

Only to hear the sovereign of Stella Kingdom asked with his thick and deep voice.

Thales stared at Kaiser.

"Thales," he heard himself said, "My name is Thales."

"So, Thales, my son," Kaiser narrowed his eyes and said. "Gilbert will answer everything for you."

Then, Kaiser the Fifth, the 39th High King of Stella Kingdom, the Southern Archipelago and the Western Desert,

Just like that, he left the Hall of Meredith without turning back.

His cloak disappeared from the vision of the transmigrator.

At that moment, Thales could only feel the cold in his heart.

He lowered his head and stared tightly at the precious black tiles.

So this is, my father?

"My child, Thales.” Gilbert behind him couldn't help but quietly patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, also don't think too much about it. His majesty just has too many businesses, in fact he -"

Gilbert hadn’t finished when Joel suddenly came forward and kneel in front of Thales. The masked man brought out a dagger, Thales’ YS dagger, that no one knows when it was already in his hands, (Gilbert’s expression changed. He touched his waist and frowned) and gently put it into Thales’ hands, only to see the violet mask moved slightly and his hoarse voice slowly came:

"You are his son, you’re bound with each other by blood, by fate, and no person or anything could change it."

But Thales still remained silent.

He clenched his fists.

Looking at Joel who interrupted him, Gilbert uttered a sigh with dissatisfaction and kneeled in front of Thales, softly saying:

"Thales, my little gentleman, you have experienced enough for tonight."

"Now you need to rest, and maybe medical care."

"Thales, please come with me. Joel, I will come back to you later, we have to talk."

Thales was silent and didn’t answer, but when his hand was held by Gilbert, the transmigrator obediently followed him.

Only Joel, he raised his head up and looked at a vase in the distant corridor.

Under his sharp and terrifying observation, he discovered an almost invisible tiny crack on the vase.

Joel’s eyebrows behind the mask slightly frowned.

He knew, before Thales’ furious roars.

The vase was still intact.

Is it only coincidence?

End of chapter I – Next chapter: Abnormalities and a new life

Translator’s note:
Kaiser: I’m your father
Thales: NOOOOOOOOO
(Sorry, I can’t help it, such a classic joke)
Also I made a mistake from last chapter, Kaiser is the 39th High King of Stella Kingdom, not the 13th (and Joel is best boy)