The King's Proof

The underground he was smoothly sucked into was dark enough not to see an inch ahead.

[Ah! It was here!]

Bamont suddenly popped out and pointed somewhere.

When Pernok groped and touched with his hand, sounds of stones interlocking echoed, and the surroundings brightened instantly.

And an old passage extending long with red bricks appeared.

[Hehe, it’s still the same!]

Murals were carved here and there.

It was scenes of one wearing a crown and riding a horse defeating monsters with horns sprouting.

Though some parts were cut off in the middle, this was certainly old history symbolizing Bamont.

[This is the path of the noble conqueror!]

From the moment he entered this place, hazy light gathered to Bamont.

The history preserved in the murals seemed to overlay memories onto the lingering thought.

It’s the characteristic of lingering thoughts where torn memories gradually stick and restore when entering places related to oneself.

[Now, let’s go!]

Pernok took his first step on the path Bamont excitedly pointed to.

That moment, Pernok heard metallic sounds.

“Did you install traps?”

[Uh… did I?]

The lingering thought seemed unable to restore all memories of this place yet.

[But it won’t activate for the same blood as me!]

Regarding the baseless words dubiously, Pernok walked the passage.

Wind sounds came from various places, but traps didn’t pop out.

Instead, Bamont’s boasting intensified.

[I was extraordinary since childhood! At five years old, I defeated the royal knight order and was acknowledged by His Majesty!]

“That degree of nonsense is an illness.”

[It’s true! Everyone pissed themselves in fear whenever they saw me!]

Pernok shook his head at the absurd words.

But he didn’t bring up impossibility.

It’s the process of part of Bamont’s torn memories restoring.

If he pointlessly rebuked or pressed and made him gloomy, this fortune might disappear instantly.

Thinking he might obtain something related to the first king, Pernok responded appropriately.

“You showed prominence from five years old yet didn’t die and became king?”

[I killed the petty guys who envied outstanding talent! I trampled, cut down, and beheaded to become the only royal! That’s a king! You must be able to subjugate all irrationality with overwhelming power!]

Pernok swept through the murals.

From Bamont’s childhood, a series of scenes vividly depicted him wearing the crown, drawing the sword, and bravely defeating enemies.

“You must’ve really liked to chatter.”

[Ahem. A hero’s majesty and achievements must be widely transmitted to posterity! You remember too! Always exaggerate and display what you can boast about, and record everything including subordinates’ achievements without remainder. Only when you make your conquests feel appreciated can it be called true conquest. Definitely keep it in mind when conquering the coast!]

As Bamont’s chattering intensified, the passage’s end appeared.

Pernok entered that place glittering faintly like moonlight.

It was a small circular space plain without a single mural.

At the center was a stone rising tall like an altar.

The stone was carved deeply inward and contained special water brimming with refreshing energy.

“What’s this?”

When he asked just in case, Bamont whose light brightened more answered immediately.

[Holy water!]

“Holy water?”

[Hehe, the treasure contained inside is made of special pieces called sacred spirit stone! If left abandoned without holy water, it might’ve broken as is!]

“Sacred spirit stone… isn’t that certainly a mineral the Holy Kingdom also treats preciously?”

[Was it?]

At the questioning words, Pernok shook his head and approached before the stone.

“Just what’s inside….”

It was certainly special water and even transparent.

Though he looked inside plainly, only the bottom was visible.

[Hehe, only royals can open this! Now! Quickly flow your blood inside!]

Pernok lightly bit his thumb and dropped the blood as is into the water.

As soon as a few drops fell, the transparent liquid instantly dyed bright red.

“…?”

It was in the blink of an eye.

The blood-colored water was all sucked into the stone.

And the moment the stone turned bright red as if bleeding, a forearm-sized hole opened in the center of the dried stone.

“This is….”

He’d expected the legacy Bamont hid to be something related to conquest.

But the object that surged from inside the stone blocked even Pernok’s words.

[Right! It was this!]

The moment he saw the seal’s form, brilliant light burst from Bamont’s body.

[It’s the imperial seal Uncle passed to me!]

The moment the long years contained in the imperial seal flowed into Bamont’s body, unfamiliar memories seeped in together to Pernok’s spiritual power connected to him.

* * *

Bamont devoted his lifetime to expanding Illumina’s territory.

Eventually, when his chronic illness flared up and he couldn’t even mount horses anymore, Bamont came to think of the next throne.

Just as the first king did, he tried to pass the throne to the child possessing the finest king’s qualities.

And the worst choice was selected.

It was his fourth son.

[Why don’t you hand over the imperial seal to me?]

He gave several tests to discern the king’s qualities.

The fourth massacred all his siblings and became the last one person.

Though the weak can’t become king, he didn’t want siblings cruelly killed.

The fourth had ominousness different from conquest dwelling in him.

[There’s no one but me now, isn’t there?]

He should’ve blocked it, but Bamont’s illness worsened uncontrollably until even raising his hand became impossible.

[Hold the competition, but… each has abilities… so lead together… should have… been like that….]

[Hahahaha! Father. Your Majesty! Conqueror King! Why should I keep alive siblings who have what I don’t possess!]

His son was wearing a terribly chilling smile.

[Aren’t they rivals who might covet my position? Didn’t you repeatedly teach me to kill enemies, Father?]

It was Bamont’s only failure, who dedicated everything for the nation.

His son chose intrigue, not conquest.

[What for do you try to advance to the sea? We already overflow with what we have here, so why do you keep insisting on conquest? The world has changed. We must also adapt to it.]

That son had already secretly joined hands with other nations.

Since he killed siblings and rose to that position in exchange for handing over territory, Bamont absolutely couldn’t give the imperial seal.

Therefore, he hid the imperial seal in the place his son hated most.

Anyone but him was fine.

Who would extract Illumina from the gap between many nations?

He considered whoever descendants appeared who’d continue the grand ideal to conquer even the sea would be the true king.

But.

[There’s an imitation of the imperial seal from before. Since it’s identical to Father’s, I won’t be obsessed anymore. The imperial seal I made will be passed down through generations and become this nation’s real one.]

The clever son refused the trouble.

He began deceiving that the fake made by imitating the real was the true imperial seal.

But no one knows this.

[As you did, Father, history belongs to survivors.]

Erased.

Everything related to the imperial seal and sacred spirit stone….

And.

* * *

The memories full of Bamont’s attachment contained in the imperial seal cut off.

[Uh…?]

Round light flowed from Bamont’s eyes.

[…What is this?]

It was a kind of tears the soul sheds, unknowingly trying to shake off memories it wants to forget contained in spiritual power.

[Syria… Syria… my son….]

Bamont tilted his head while shedding tears.

[…But why didn’t he search for my imperial seal?]

It seemed like it would break at the slightest touch, so Pernok waited a moment until Bamont’s tears stopped.

‘Syria Al Illumina, the 3rd King who found the first king’s tomb and directly inherited the throne from Bamont.’

He’s known to have devoted efforts to royal authority strengthening while abandoning territorial expansion and been together since the time Rakis was a kingdom.

“The competition’s victor….”

[No!]

Suddenly Bamont shouted as if struggling desperately.

[That’s not a competition. It was a petty scheme to kill siblings! Finding Uncle’s tomb didn’t mean such a thing!]

“What?”

The moment he tilted his head at the puzzled sound, all remaining lingering thoughts in the imperial seal seeped into Bamont.

[The succession law that whoever finds Uncle’s tomb becomes king was made by Syria!]

“…!?”

[Originally, a king must receive acknowledgment from the previous king and inherit the imperial seal. Just as Uncle passed the throne to me, I should’ve succeeded the same way to succession candidates. But Syria killed all royals and became the last one person himself.]

Bamont had no choice.

However, even the opportunity to choose wasn’t given.

[Syria was a clever child. He killed all siblings while I lay on the sickbed. And when I didn’t give the imperial seal, as if expected, he brought a fake imperial seal. He’d been sneaking into the royal palace treasury every time I went on campaign to imitate the real one.]

“Then the imperial seal Phillena has now is….”

[Fake. Everything Syria made and passed down are all! Even the words that whoever finds Uncle’s tomb becomes king are merely fakes Syria fabricated!]

Then, Pernok recalled other succession candidates who’d been obsessed with the 4th King’s clues.

The first beneficiary of the succession law made after Syria became king was precisely his son, the 4th King.

That the 4th King has many clues might be a natural result.

And since Bamont formally inherited the imperial seal and throne, he naturally didn’t leave clues leading to the tomb.

Because that wasn’t the correct way to become king.

Therefore, Bamont only contained the danger within that tomb in the scale and transmitted it to posterity.

It was the reason other royals had no choice but to avoid the 2nd King’s clues, but they absolutely don’t know this absurd situation.

The dead don’t speak.

The victor is history itself.

Come to think of it, the nation that truly faithfully kept these words was Illumina.

[The tomb is to visit after becoming king. Go there, and descendants should inherit the tradition of what predecessors sealed and what they guarded against. The crown’s light shining was proof of that. But… why… how…?]

Bamont’s tears stopped.

[Why did Syria fabricate words that don’t even exist, saying you can only become king by finding the tomb?]

But his expression was distorted.

[Why does he reject both Uncle’s and my will?]

The lingering thought writhes in anguish.

[The imperial seal is here, so why?]

Bamont tilted his head, unable to remember beyond that.

[Pernok, I don’t know. Did I do something wrong?]

Bamont stood on the imperial seal and looked at Pernok.

[Why does my son hate me?]

That moment, Pernok recalled an old past he couldn’t forget even in dreams.

[Forgive this father who must entrust such a nation to you.]

His father His Majesty’s appearance apologizing with tears.

If only Bamont had been his father, there wouldn’t have been manifesting in the lower world again….

“You did wrong.”

…No matter how many nights spent in tears regretting countless times, it’s useless.

Even pondering and hesitating, the past doesn’t return.

“You should’ve ruled more strictly! You should’ve decisively cut the neck of one making lies habitual! Even if it was your son! Your…!”

Even if family.

Swallowing the surging words, Pernok grasped the scattering lingering thought and lifted it before his eyes.

“Hesitation becomes poison and leads nations to ruin! Illumina has now entered that procedure! So raise your head! Don’t regret the past!”

At Bamont’s wavering eyes, Pernok shouted resolutely.

“If an opportunity to correct wrongs arose, bite down tenaciously!”

They have now.

“An opportunity to face the past again was given!”

History belongs to survivors.

But wrong history will be corrected by the dead.

“Right now in this place, the living and dead are together.”

What is there to fear, what to regret?

“Right here, we are alive!”

The fake will be driven out and the real will stand in this place.

“We are the victors, Bamont!”

Bamont’s lingering thought gathered again and maintained its form.

“The past went wrong? Then keep recalling! Down to trivial things that fell on Illumina! To break all fakes and obtain the real, accept even anguish! Because that’s the only path to correct the wrongs you committed.”

[My… wrongs….]

“It’s the only atonement you who failed to properly pass the throne to a proper guy can do.”

[…But the long years already flowed, and how do we reverse this history where fakes masqueraded as real?]

Bamont no longer trembled.

He was revealing the king’s eyes who sacrificed his life for the nation, like when they first met.

“If it’s an imperial seal made of sacred spirit stone, we must prove that transmission.”

[Syria would’ve erased it all.]

“Records don’t exist only in Illumina.”

Sacred spirit stone is a mineral the Holy Kingdom also treats preciously.

If the first king received it and made it into an imperial seal, records will surely remain in the Holy Kingdom too.

[But the Holy Kingdom….]

Bamont continued speaking carefully while watching.

[…I beat them like dogs….]

“It’s not only the imperial seal that was forgotten as years flowed. The relationship between Illumina and the Holy Kingdom will also change centered on me.”

There’s a debt to receive from the Holy Kingdom.

‘The difference between fake and real is only whether it’s made of sacred spirit stone. Meaning, the seal’s efficacy is identical.’

This imperial seal can shake the nation.

‘One year. I thought that degree was enough to shake the royals, but if this exists, there’s no need to waste time.’

The shortest route to cut the necks of Vans, Yuliana, and Porla was drawn in his head.

Pernok grasped the imperial seal and smiled wickedly.