MTLNOVEL Chapter 10 - This Country Is Bound to Fall
“Ah…!! Isabel! My only daughter! How scared she must be right now! A child who has never experienced hardship…!!”
The esteemed king was pacing back and forth in the same spot, distracted.
Until now, he had left all difficult and challenging tasks to his subordinates, only dealing with the aftermath himself, but this time he had no choice but to take action personally.
“No one! Is there really no one who will bring Faust! In this vast country! Where have all the courtiers gone!!”
The king’s work table was filled with petitions from courtiers suddenly requesting vacations.
There were various reasons: someone who was perfectly fine suddenly falling ill, claiming a relative had died, or even pretending to be mentally ill, saying they were seeing hallucinations and couldn’t perform normal duties.
The conclusion was a desperate cry from the courtiers wanting to avoid this task.
Why on earth…
“That’s because they don’t want to be marked by someone who might become the hero. Don’t you know even that? You’re so incompetent, no wonder you failed in educating your daughter too. Kekeke…”
“Ugh!! Watch your mouth! I am the king! The king of this country, I say!!”
“Kekeke… A man who should be worried about his life, let alone his throne, is talking big. If you’re so great, why did you call this old hag?”
An old woman with skin so wrinkled it looked like it was rotting and cracking like an old tree, appeared between the pillars, wearing a cloak much larger than her emaciated body and leaning on a staff.
The name of this old woman was Bonita de Aurelia.
She was estimated to be the oldest living person and was also a royal who had lived in the palace in the distant past. Now she lives alone in a secluded hut in the suburbs, having been practically driven out, but is occasionally summoned as an advisor when wisdom is needed.
Today too, she was personally invited by the king and made her way to the reception room.
“What? My life is in danger? What nonsense is that. You must have finally gone senile.”
“Kekeke. How many kings were replaced during the 70-year period when the hero’s position was vacant? They say people didn’t even bother to memorize the king’s name because a new king would ascend the throne every time they woke up? Because there would be a different king tomorrow anyway.”
“…What. Now is different from then. I have already ruled the country for 20 years, and the people are full of loyalty.”
“There’s no such thing as loyalty. There’s only the art of aligning with power. Kekeke.”
“What an unpleasant old hag…”
This is why he didn’t want to call this woman. He had hoped she would never come out of her hut if possible… but now it’s an emergency, and he needed the so-called wisdom of experience. The older she is, the more experience she should have.
“Isabel has been kidnapped by a dragon. What should I do? There must be a way to deal with such a situation. You’ve lived for a thousand years… Is it true that you were a member of the first hero’s party?”
“Kekeke… Of course it’s true. I was so cute back then. I was the youngest, monopolizing the party’s love.”
Yeah, right.
Coming from her current ghoulish appearance, it only sounds like a nasty joke.
“What to do when kidnapped by a dragon, you ask? It’s simple. Light some incense and hold a funeral. We need to send Isabel’s soul to the afterlife. Kekeke. Oh, and let’s hold a second funeral for the Aurelia royal family, which has fallen due to the bloodline being cut off.”
“Stop talking nonsense!!! Aren’t you also a member of the royal family!! How can you say such ominous things! Are you even human?!”
“Kekeke… The one who drove the old woman out of the palace because he didn’t like the sight of her is talking big.”
“……..”
“I heard you treated Faust just as coldly as me? If you brought him as a spare in the first place, you should have treated Faust well too, considering the possibility that Lucy von whatever might die.”
“No, that’s… the hero disliked Faust so much, and declared that anyone who took Faust’s side would be his enemy…”
“Whatever the case, from Faust’s perspective, his feelings have been hurt beyond repair, and now you’re trying to butter him up after the friend who bullied him has died. How could that look good to him?”
“…But if we can’t persuade him, the princess will die. Then, as you said, the royal lineage will be cut off. Come up with a solution somehow. That’s why I called you.”
“Well, there is a way, if you want one.”
“Really? What is it?”
When Bonita pretended to hesitate as if it was difficult to say, the excited king urged her to answer quickly. Bonita spoke, adding that he should keep in mind that this was the only way.
“You should prostrate yourself before Faust and sincerely apologize. Tell him you don’t need Aurelia or the throne, just please forgive you. Can you do that?”
“Are you crazy!! I’m the king!!!”
“…Tsk tsk. This country is at its end now. Because of the stupid father and daughter…”
Having come all this way with her old body, it turned out to be useless. As Bonita was painfully retracing her steps with her staff, she discovered Serena crouching with the holy sword.
She couldn’t take a sick leave like other courtiers because her family’s lives were at stake.
“Aren’t you that bold magician who led the way in ostracizing Faust?”
“Ah! Th-That’s! I, I was just following the hero’s orders!”
“You’re lying. I know you were overdoing it to score points with the hero. Your life must be in danger now too.”
“Ah, I… I’ll somehow get Faust’s forgiveness. Definitely…”
“I wonder if that’s possible… Sigh. Maybe we buttoned it wrong from the start. If we had appointed Faust as the hero from the beginning…”
Bonita closed her eyes and recalled that fateful day.
On the day Lucy von Letlerea and Faust were first summoned, the difference in capability was evident from their appearances – Lucy, who prostrated himself like a docile dog before power, and the dignified Faust.
While Lucy was short with a round face, a pug nose, and slanted eyes, giving an impression of greed and laziness, Faust was a tall and handsome young man.
“Hey, you bastard! Did you call me a phone seller?! Did you have to say that here?”
“When you asked to meet after a long time and I went out, you threw my phone on the ground pretending it was an accident and then shoved a contract at me to buy a new phone. What else should I call a bastard like you if not a phone seller?”
“Th-That! I told you it was really an accident, you bastard!”
Bonita, who was present as an elder, momentarily lost herself in thought, wondering if it was a dream when she saw Faust’s face. His face was identical to that of the first hero, the only person she had loved in her thousand years of life.
Bonita advised the king to definitely put forward Faust as the hero. She said that Faust was the only one who could bring out the true power of the holy sword.
But the king chose Kwak Dong-su. The reason was that he seemed more likely to obey.
Perhaps from that moment, the fate of the kingdom began to decline.
In her thousand years of life, Bonita had experienced the rise and fall of countless kingdoms.
There is no one who doesn’t die, and no country that doesn’t fall.
She had experienced this truth of the world to the point of boredom… but still, when her native country faced the crisis of destruction, even the old woman’s heart beat painfully.
Isn’t it too pitiful for the people who have been living in this country to fall because of such a foolish king?
There might be a need to persuade him one more time.
“Listen, King. If there’s no hero, you won’t live long either. Do you think the dragon’s goal is simply the princess? It’s to undermine your authority starting with the princess, and eventually aim for you. When your power weakens, naturally, those aiming for your position will emerge too. That’s how history has been.”
“Are you telling me to really go and apologize to Faust?”
“If you want to live, you should. If you want to save your daughter, you should. As a father and as a king, that’s what you should do.”
“No, but… still…!!”
Seeing the king hesitate even in this situation because of mere pride, Bonita couldn’t help but sigh at how pathetic it was. How did such an idiot become king… It seems the country’s fortune is coming to an end.
After several earnest persuasions, Bonita somehow managed to bring the king to Faust’s house.
She knocks on the door with her staff, but there’s no response.
She gestures to the king to try to open Faust’s heart.
With an expression that shows it’s utterly against his will, the king clears his throat.
“Ahem. Faust, listen. I, the King of Aurelia, offer you my sincere apologies. As the princess has been kidnapped by a dragon and the peace of the kingdom is now in danger, your cooperation is desperately needed. Please open the door and accept my request.”
The door did open.
However, what came out was the elf girl with pointed ears, Misha.
“Master went to the academy?”
“…? What did you say? He went to the academy when the whole country is in a state of emergency?”
“Master said… ‘What does it have to do with me?’ He’s going to ask the Great Sage at the academy about how to return home.”
“What… What is this nonsense! Return home?! Do you know how much money I spent to summon him! Ungrateful crazy bastard!!”
“Master said if anyone comes to the house and insults him, to tell them this: ‘If you’re upset, why don’t you be the hero?'”
“You, you!! How dare a lowly elf insult me like thiiiis!!!”
“Like father, like daughter.”
As the enraged king rushed at her, Misha lightly pushed him away with her palm. The king flew all the way back to the palace as if caught in a typhoon.
Spinal fracture and traumatic myelitis. Plus three broken ribs.
That was the list of injuries the king sustained. Losing consciousness and fainting was just the cherry on top.
“Kekeke… He got a good one. Who would have thought Misha Greenwood would come out of Faust’s house.”
“Who are you, old lady? Do you know Misha? It’s natural for Misha to live in Master’s house since Misha is Master’s slave.”
“Don’t you recognize me? Well, I’ve aged too. I’m Bonita.”
“What…? Bonita?”
Misha’s expression changed to one completely different from when she was with Faust, turning cold. Her round, large eyes narrowed to thin slits like cat’s eye gems.
“Normally, injuring the king’s body would be punishable by death, but the current Aurelia doesn’t have the military power to kill Misha Greenwood. Kekeke…”
“Your laughter sounds disgusting.”
“Oh… That icy voice reminds me of your past self. It was hard to hear that voice full of aegyo calling ‘Master~ Master~’.”
“I’m warning you, if you say unnecessary things to Master, I’ll really kill you.”
“I know you’re not joking. It’s not like we’re going to war with elves again now… If elves had won the war a thousand years ago, I might have become your slave instead. Right? Queen of the Elves… Guardian of the World Tree, Misha Greenwood.”
“Hmph… That’s all in the past. Now I’m sincerely working for Master. I don’t want to be held back by the past.”
“I heard elves change completely when they fall in love with someone, and it seems you’re no exception. If you had fallen in love with the first hero, history might have changed.”
“Whatever the case, elves lost to humans and we fell to being slaves, and thanks to that, I’ve come to know even better than before how trashy and disgusting humans are over the past thousand years. Fortunately, Master also deeply dislikes you all, so isn’t that great?”
Misha Greenwood, looking more like a seductress than a slave, mockingly laughed at Bonita and then returned to the house.
“Whether the princess gets kidnapped or the king gets fractured or the country falls, it’s none of our business. Me and Master will torment you all very cruelly, so look forward to that.”
“…………”
Bonita walked down the street with complicated feelings, pondering, and then returned to her hut.
There was nothing more she could do against Misha Greenwood, and the king was too petty to strive for great things. She heard that he had gathered what few soldiers were left and attacked Faust’s house, only to have the remaining forces all hung on the devil’s tree.
“If Faust went to the academy… the only hope left is to rely on Minerva.”
Great Sage Minerva von Oldbook. Deciding to leave everything to her, said to be the wisest in the Pangea continent, Bonita went back into seclusion.
Meanwhile, the king was left alone, with all the courtiers who could help with politics having left, and all the soldiers who could maintain public order having turned into tree fruits. In that vast palace, holding his broken ribs alone, the king was experiencing the worst time since his ascension to the throne.