Chapter 214: Missed the Timing
「Pardon me for the intrusion. 」
I braced myself, opened the door a tiny bit and called out.
「It’s well that you have come, oh man with a will of steel! 」
Ah, no. If you ask me, I’m more of a guy who has a weak mentality, soft as tofu.
A burly, middle-aged guy stood inside the hall. Dark tanned skin, white teeth — he’s sitting on the stone throne-like seat that had a mantle laid over it. His legs were spread wide open as he leaned on the hilt of his huge broad sword with both hands. His posture, his aura, everything screamed ‘fierce’. And that way of sitting, that’s the pet peeve of many a train passenger irked by that.
「…We do wish you’d enter here. 」
The spirit who guided me here called out to me as I peek between the doors.
What to do now? The spirits I met in the fire temple, in the submerged forest and others up until now were easy to deal with, but these two seemed troublesome.
「Oy, are you really sure this guy’s okay? 」
「He has the strength to cross this desert and slay monsters with only one stick and spirits flock around him — he appeared here just when the heroes had been summoned, so there’s merit in testing him.
I can hear you, I can totally hear you!!
「Ahh, wait! Why are you shutting that? Listen to us first! 」
「Alright, I’ll just listen, okay? And that guy, is he a monster? 」
I opened the door again just a teeny tiny bit.
「You guessed it right. I see, so that’s why you’re distancing yourself, huh. I won’t grab and eat you, so come in! We can’t talk like this. 」
Ahh, so he really is a monster. But I have a different reason for keeping my distance, you know.
A monster that had become dyed in black but managed to regain its color should be powerful and highly ranked. Not sure if it’s a trace, but he had a bruise-looking diamond-shaped mark underneath his eye.
They didn’t seem like they’d attack me, so I opened the door and entered the hall.
「Isn’t his malice on the low side? For a monster, that is. 」
「I am the King of this land. I detest humans to my core, but with the land that I govern being in this state, I can’t afford to let that loose. 」
He gripped his hilt tightly as he barked those words at me.
「The King might have been possessed by a spirit that had fallen into darkness, but he’s forcing it down with sheer will. 」
Guide Spirit explained.
「Whoa, that’s amazing. 」
Horse, Snow Leopard’s friend, couldn’t even do that. Ah, but that sounded terrible when put into words, huh?
I wonder if this guy hates humans himself, or if it’s because of the spirit that’s possessing him. As you can see, I’m not experienced enough in life to find out which of the two was it.
「Beneath here lies the 『King’s Bough』 and a treasure. Destroy the 『King’s Bough』 and I’ll bestow the treasure to you. 」
「Why do you wanna destroy it? 」
I thought the Bough is precious because it attracts spirits?
「The Spirit that possesses me is actually the Spirit of 『King’s Bough』that had fallen into darkness. The 『King’s Bough』 had turned into a crazed thing and he made this place into this harsh, uninhabitable land. It’s hard for me as the King to allow that. The country that used treacherous schemes to drive the spirit mad was destroyed long ago. However, I, who have become one with the 『King’s Bough』couldn’t even destroy myself, so this land ended up in this state. 」
Spirits that have their own body either vanish or lose their power once their original body is destroyed, but some of them also throw that body away and become completely free.
I already knew about spirits vanishing completely. That would happen if the contract was violated by either the person who obtained the『King’s Bough』or their successor. The spirit would lose its consciousness or physical body, or else its mental state would collapse. But now I wonder, would the spirit disappear too if its actual body — which is the bough — was damaged?
Oh, come to think of it, it was said that『King’s Bough』are usually kept in special rooms within the treasury and guarded with the highest level of security.
「Eh? Didn’t the kingdom fall into ruins a long time ago? Why didn’t the 『King’s Bough』 disappear with it? 」
「That’s because I can’t quit being the king. The founder vowed to the spirit of the tree that the king will love this land. 」
「That’s quite a simple oath. 」
「It’ll be a problem if the 『King’s Bough 』vanished, so he pledged the bare minimum requirement for a king. 」
It’s said that if the person vowed various concrete and tangible terms, the necessary spirits that easily understood what was required would come to that person’s aid and help him or her according to what was pledged. However, if the oath wasn’t kept, the 『King’s Bough』would disappear. It’s actually hard to think not only of oneself but the posterity that would follow when considering what terms to impose.
「Other than the spirits, only the monarch or a person qualified to reign can enter the underground palace where the Bough is kept. You must obtain the 『King’s Bough』 and return here. You can also take someone else who already got the 『King’s Bough』here instead. If you do so, I will bestow the vast fortune of this kingdom, which was once hailed as the Center of Prosperity among the land during the era of the Fire God. 」
The man said as he stood up.
Era of the Fire God — I remember the king who reigned during that time from what I read in the library. Ahh, but I did read that the Fire God’s reign was long and the range of its power reached far and wide. It’s easy to imagine how the other kingdoms’ civilization revolved here.
Although there were volcanic eruptions, the lava was the type to flow slowly and was nutrient dense just like in Hawaii. There were records of bountiful harvests after an eruption. The slash-and-burn agricultural practice was also rampant here, apparently.
Moreover, there were far more varieties and species of plants that sprouted after wildfires and such compared to what we have now. But with the Wind God’s era blending in, there’s no need for the land to turn into desert given the wind erosion that occurred.
It wasn’t a phenomenon that happened overnight, so there’s plenty of chances for different things to happen when the new deity’s kin mingled with the former deity’s kin. If more light spirits were born at that time, the state of the land would become even harsher.
「That vast fortune — I can also guarantee it. It’s the wealth that the great nation accumulated within a hundred years. Please, ease the suffering of this land. 」
「My name is Khan Tirdonai. The underground palace has become the lair of monsters, but I’ll pledge to eradicate them all. Be it ten years, twenty years, it doesn’t matter even if the one who comes here will be your grandchild. Now go! 」
With a swish of his cloak, the man turned his back at me and disappeared into the corridor behind his throne, Guide Spirit at his heels.
And I followed them, of course.
「Hey, wait. 」
「How can you enter here? You’re not a spirit, are you? 」
The two of them stopped in their tracks and turned to stare at me.
「That’s because I have the『King’s Bough』, naturally. 」
「Ou! I’m Clang Clang Stick EX! Nickname is X-Stick! 」
When I raised X-Stick, he woke up and introduced himself.
「Naturally!? Is that the kind of era we’re living in now!? 」Khan.
「Wait, isn’t that the bough you’re using to poke the monsters? 」
「Yup. 」
「What ‘yup’!? What the heck are you doing!? And why is that a stick and not a Bough!? 」
「Why, why doesn’t it invoke any discomfort in me considering I’m a monster? 」
That’s because I didn’t request X-Stick to become a monster repellent.
In Butler’s words, it’s「quite a strange」Bough, apparently.
Notes
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T/N: Khan Tirdonai aka Mr. Monster King 🙂
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