Royal Capital, Royal Meeting Hall.
There were never any sweets in the Green Mist King's private office.
Although both of the Dual Kings had loved desserts in their childhood, the royal chefs knew that only the Azure Sky King liked to keep them on hand, whereas the Green Mist King had long since grown tired of such food.
This room, nestled deep within the Royal Capital's Administrative Hall, was forever thick with the scent of paper, ink, and sealing wax.
Behind the long table, the Green Mist King was quietly reviewing the thick master ledger for mineral taxes.
At his elbow sat a cup of tea that had long since gone cold, a map of the borderlands spread open, and several contract cylinders tightly sealed with blood wax.
“Bang!”
The heavy oak door was violently pushed open. The guards outside tried to reach out and stop the intruder, but their movements were stiff and hesitant.
The intruder was also a king. In Solitude, no one dared to truly draw a sword against the Azure Sky King.
Of course, considering that the Azure Sky King was himself an Archmage, the guards couldn't have defeated him anyway.
The Azure Sky King's boots thudded heavily against the carpet of the office. He had just rushed back from Silvervein City, looking travel-worn, his heavy cloak still carrying the scent of the silver mines.
He walked straight toward the long table and slammed a stack of documents clenched in his hand right in front of the Green Mist King.
“You need to give me an explanation,” the Azure Sky King said, his voice low but his fury unmistakable. The papers scattered, revealing the crimson Royal Mining Seal stamped upon them.
The Green Mist King did not look up. His quill glided smoothly across the master ledger to make the final stroke. Only then did he set down his pen and cast a calm glance at the documents on the table.
“The first one.” The Azure Sky King pointed to the stamped parchment on top. “《Temporary Relocation Permit for the Border Blockade Zone Population》. On the surface, it is to prevent the anomaly in Black Gallows from spreading further inland, allowing the Royal Patrol to seal off towns, relocate the citizens, and place them in centralized settlements.”
He stared at his elder brother, his eyes filled with disbelief. “But look at what its rider says! Any missing persons within the blockade zone who do not return within seven days are to be directly filed under ‘moonlight accidents, mine plague, or lost during relocation’ and will no longer be investigated on a household basis. Is this a permit? What happened there? A mine blast or a cave-in? Why are you covering up the incident there?”
The Green Mist King's face remained entirely expressionless.
He reached out, pulled the crumpled document toward himself, and casually smoothed out its edges.
“The second one.” The Azure Sky King did not stop, flipping to another page. “《Night-Redemption Carriage Requisition Order》. Requisitioning carriages to transport the injured and refugees? Its actual executive clause allows an unidentified third party to use royal-registered carriages to enter and exit the borderlands! What on earth are you letting ride in Solitude's carriages?”
“The third one!” The Azure Sky King tapped his finger heavily on the final document. “《Hero Assistance Route Promotion》. Requiring all temples, patrols, and adventurer guilds to prioritize sending messages of civilian distress calls, missing children, Night Companion incidents, and mining town survivors to the Hero the moment her whereabouts are discovered. Are we ordering the Hero around? The Hero is an adventurer, not a subordinate of the Administrative Hall!”
“In Solitude, we do things according to Solitude's rules,” the Green Mist King finally spoke.
He stacked the three documents neatly.
“The border blockade is to prevent the calamity of Black Gallows from spreading inward; this is the most basic form of damage control,” the Green Mist King explained calmly. “The population filing is because Solitude already has a large number of people dying from night accidents, mining disasters, and disappearance during relocation every year. The kingdom cannot afford to halt its steps for every single corpse. The requisition of the Night-Redemption Carriages is to allow our collaborators to move efficiently during the moonlit nights. As for promoting the Hero's route...”
The Green Mist King raised his eyes, which held neither guilt nor madness.
“The Hero is supposed to save people, is she not? The kingdom is merely delivering the places that need her most to her in the fastest possible manner.”
“What collaborators?”
“The collaborators who are helping me carry out my plan.”
The Azure Sky King leaned forward, placing both hands on the table, staring intently into the eyes so similar to his own.
“What are you trying to do?” he asked, pacing his words.
“Lift the curse,” the Green Mist King stated directly, without the slightest hesitation.
The Azure Sky King's gaze turned blank at first.
He failed to comprehend the meaning of those words.
Lift the curse? Who among the Seven Kingdoms didn't want to lift the curse?
But what did that have to do with the mines and the Hero?
He had heard of the deeds of the Hero, that legendary adventurer. Although he knew she hunted Witches, he had never heard of a curse in any of the Seven Kingdoms actually being laid to rest.
Furthermore, shouldn't they be providing the Hero with plenty of magical equipment and sending an elite squad to accompany her instead?
What did any of that have to do with what the Green Mist King was doing?
And what was even more critical...
“Lift the curse?” The Azure Sky King's voice was filled with confusion. “Elder Brother, if not for her, we might never have become Archmages. We likely would have died in some palace coup! Without her occasional guidance, the Dual Kings of Solitude would never have become who we are today!”
Unlike the curses of other countries...
The two of them had actually seen the source of Solitude's curse.
“Even if the Hero wants to vanquish her, we should be stopping the Hero, not helping her. Elder Brother, she was also the one who dragged us out of the disaster back then.”
A long, deathly silence fell over the office.
“A young tree needs a support to keep from being snapped by the wind,” the Green Mist King sighed, staring at the borderlands on the map. “But once the tree has grown, if the support remains tied to it, it will bite into the bark, cut off the sap, and force the tree to grow into a deformed shape, forever bound to its past.”
Rate on N.U.
