[TTIABAD] Chapter 126: Kingdom's Come

[Second post of the day so don't forget to read the other chapter] 

The Mauv Kingdom was not the biggest kingdom around. It did, however, have a very rich history, going back all the way to, supposedly, before the Dark Era. Possibly, according to some rumours that were more likely nationalistic propaganda, before the calamity age.

It was very, very old.

An old kingdoms survive for a reason. Whether that be magical power, an unusually high amount of citizenship potential, some personal artifiact that was linked to their location, whoring itself out to every single other power around it, or making it annoyingly difficult to mess with.

The Mauv Kingdom had nothing on the surface. It was merely small, boasting only a around fifty million total citizens at a high point. By seemingly all rights, especially as you looked further back, the kingdom had hardly stepped on anyone’s toes, let alone caused a war or any other catastrophe. It was known they hoped to raise two S-Rank potentials into eventually true S-Ranks and join the Empire, but that wasn’t unusual. Hundreds of Kingdom’s hoped for that same thing.

The inquisitor kept all of this in mind as he questioned King, seeking guilt.

“And you say you found this Tyler, by pure chance?” He asked.

“Yes.” The Mauv King, Donald Reggikis, replied. “It is well known he appeared inside the castle in a teleporting incident.”

“And the Fire Mage, Riary Exholt, had her village destroyed by demons through a rare summoning, being one of the only survivors?”

At this, the King grimaced.

“Yes. My royal mage’s and knights responded within less than fifteen minutes, the village crystal network being notified immediately, but still… we were too late.”

“And Konohora. Realizing the potential but youth of these two members, you brought her along as both healer and mentor, to encourage bonds. Why not a royal A-Rank? Why her specifically?”

“She had a good track record with being pragmatic, a healer, never telling a lie, and a record of participating in the backlines of the war during her formative years and also dealing with children. She was selected from a host of candidates for these traits. The hope was that she could connect and help Riary with her relation and experience with demons, be both a friend and mentor, and that she herself could make it along the path to an eventual A-ranking.”

The King, without showing a hint of anger, annoyance, or fear, answered the questions perfectly. The inquisitor squinted at him. Old kingdoms were always troublesome. Hidden secrets, hidden depths. It was time for a little bit of prodding.

“Then tell me, Donald Reggikis, why exactly has your kingdom been found guilty of consorting with demons?”

The atmosphere which had been casual before, seemed to drop to the negatives in a moment. An aura showed through from the inquisitor, enough that the royal guards that weren’t even in the room shifted, preparing for battle. They would die, but they would do their duty.

The King, however, didn’t let a hint of emotion through. Instead, he chose his words purposefully, carefully, but without hesitation in and of itself.

“We have not been.”

“Incorrect.” The inquisitor said immediately.

“We have not been. The Kingdom’s guilt is yours to decide, imperial inquisitor, but all kingdoms are guilty before proven innocent when it comes to consorting with demons. In that way, we have not been found guilty, we are guilty by default.”

The inquisitor narrowed his eyes. The King was correct. It made his unbreakable calm even more agitating.

“What do you know of the demon, known as Derek, that has joined your hero team?”

“I received word approximately nine weeks ago, from our spymaster, that a demon had been seen with my hero team in the Elven Kingdom of Eldraith, the town of Nous. He registered for the guild as a D-Rank adventurer as a fist fighter. Further information gathering at the time had shown they had disappeared without a trace while searching for Cultists in the town. Roughly a week later, they left the town heading to Prinsk, arriving there a month later by a caravan mission. Since then, they have not left the town, training and heading down into the dungeon.’

“I know, from reports from the guild, that despite provocation from one of the guild members, he did not attack them. He is a lithe Pride Demon. He carries a black greatsword on his back, reportedly used to great effect during an ambush by bandits. Following the trail backwards with our speediest knights, we know that he was first met by my team in one of the outpost towns. According to reports from the villagers, the demon was their savior from a corrupt baron, confirmed via truth tellers as far as they are aware. He was summoned specifically to kill the baron of my kingdom, and did just that. The summoner’s location has not been found, having fled shortly after the arrival of the heroes.’

“From there my team first ran into him, a fight followed, and then shortly after they came to amends and left together according to one Celena. She was the only eye witness besides the summoner of this. They ran into another town, where a town was suffering from lost villagers. My team rid them of an ogre, a goblin infestation, and finally a vampire that had been attacking them. They killed them and burned down their mansion, freeing her captives. From reports, the vampire was known as one Vanessa Vilconoff, and as per treaty rules, her estate and next of kin have been notified.’

“The following events I had previously mentioned at the start then took place, bringing us up to now. I also have a full description of their physical characteristics, an image made of their likeness by our scouts for identification purposes, and a rough assessment of their abilities and last known level of strengths, which I can provide.”

The King finally fell silent, and the inquisitor simply stared. The room was silent. It was only the two of them, the royal guards having been ordered to stay away. The Empire, to be blunt and short about it, did not fuck around. They took threats of demons very seriously. They were mortal enemies, in every single way. The highest crime imaginable was to summon one. To the point that it was a point against the King, that he hadn’t put the whole summoner’s village to death, since they could not find the summoner. Reminders needed to be put out.

Because they were still at War. Humans as a race had a terribly short memory. It was a part of them only living for so long. It meant that grudges could last thousands of years, because you forget the reason besides you hate that person or type of person, but wars would be blessedly short. That was a massive detriment when it came to the immortal or long lived races. A thousand years without war, for some, could only be the prelude to an attack. A temporary armistice. For humans, the grand children of grand children wouldn’t even be left around.

For the demons? The very same ones from today might be the ones to attack them in a thousand years.

“Are you consorting, working with, or supporting the demons in any way?” The inquisitor finally asked.

“No.”

“Are you…”

And so the myriad of questions began. It was not a one day affair. Nor did it just concern demons. Because what the Mauv Kingdom was currently going through was a simple name, a simple term, yet it terrified the entirety of the world, even those races unaffected.

An Audit.

Every noble, every royal, every relative, every dirty secret, every embezzlement, every connection. Defensive positions, attack positions, ancient family cooking recipes, every kinky and fetish, no stone was left unturned. All would be known.

Because the inquisitor, like the namesake of his patron Goddess, would discover the Truth.

*****

A brutal, absolutely brutal, week followed. More than a few corrupt nobles were found, including at least three that had to be put to death for actions involving the slave trade. Their end was instant, merciless, and without explanation. Two tried to flee, one foolishly answered. Still, the inquisitor was shocked.

The Kingdom was practically clean. Oh sure, there was dirt a plenty, innocents imprisoned, torture here and there, rivals politically and finally ruined, assassinations, private armies, mass theft and abuse of the populace, the normal things all nobles partook in at least a little. The inquisitor had audited a kingdom before. Half the nobles had needed to be killed and that number was surprisingly worse for the businessmen of the kingdom.

And nothing. No signs of any secret enclaves, nothing about demons, not even anything that would make the Kingdom anything special.

The inquisitor didn’t trust it. More and more, as the days went on, he realized a sad truth. He had missed something. Something, something massive, something important. There was more than just asking questions as part of the inquisition, he tore his way through libraries a plenty, historical records, and more. Finally, he spotted something… unusual.

“Tyler Smith.” the inquisitor said one day, looking directly at the king. It was not their first meeting, but if his hunch proved true, it would most certainly be their last.

“Yes?” The King said, still calm, still polite, but haggard. More than just his personal life had been torn into at this point. The inquisitor half expected to be attacked when he had started questioning his children and wife.

“You say he appeared by teleportation? Roughly a year ago? And how strong exactly, was he, when he appeared?”

The King’s brows furrowed, thinking.

“I am unsure. I expect D rank?”

“And yet, you instantly saw potential in him? Why was he so quickly shown to be an S-Rank potential candidate? I could not find an answer to that question, no matter how hard I looked.”

“That…” For the first time, the King went silent, trying to think of what to say.

The inquisitor stared into his eyes, his own emotions a mess. If… if what he thought was true… he’d be condemning fifty million people to death. Perhaps more. This ling of questioning was pointless, he was stalling.

“Is Tyler Smith a True Hero?” He asked, the inquisitor voice’s… heavy. So, so, so heavy.

The King’s eyes widened and for the first time, the inquisitor unleashed his full aura, forcing the royal guards to rush in. Their instincts demanded it. Still, the inquisitor did not attack, but his eyes were open wide, staring, waiting. Even the slightest sign of fleeing, and that would be proof enough. He would attack and call in the order. It was his duty. He. Must.

Nothing was said for a long, long moment, and sweat began to pour off a very shocked King. He gulped, opened his mouth in that aching silence, and-

“No.”

That was not the end of things. An inquisitor was thorough.

“Do you know of anyone that summoned a True Hero? Have you summoned any? Are you in any way related to any summoning? Are you keeping any secrets that I must know? Do you have any methods by which you are obscuring your words or truth? Are there any mind mages in your country that you are aware of? Are you…”

And so on and so forth. Normally, the inquisitor would be slow, ask one question at a time, but in truth, he was panicked.

50,000,000 people. Fifty million. That was now on his head. He saw all the signs, he saw the old, old circle carved in the thrown room, he heard about the teleportation, he knew of the strength of the current man, it all matched up, including what the other nobles and knights and attendants had said when Tyler had first appeared.

Finally, all questions were asked. And the resounding, beautiful, answer was-

“No.” The King said, now looking like a knife was to his child’s neck. He was pale and scared.

The inquisitor took a deep, deep breath. Truth. He took another, preparing himself.

“Donald Regikiss, I have audited the Mauv Kingdom, and found it without any signs of demon tampering or corruption. I proclaim you and your kingdom innocent and free of demonic influence. You have broken no imperial or human decree’s.”

A collective breath of fresh air went out of everyone. The inquisitor wasn’t done talking, however.

“Your hero team, however, has been found easily, clearly, and undeniably guilty of joining forces with a demon. This is not strictly against imperial or human law, but as a measure of generosity, I will tell you now. There are going to be ramifications.”

“The Empire will not let this go.”

*****

The Mauv King, Donald Regikiss, was known as a boring King. He had a wife, beautiful but otherwise plain compared to others, who liked to attend tea parties and gossip. She was a normal and as a bland a noble woman could get, except for the fact that she genuinely loved her husband and children and expressed it. A rarity among nobility.

His children were similarly boring. A daughter and a son, too young to have any real personality.

And then, of course, there was the king. A forty year old man, looking closer to fifty. Blond hair, average physique with a full figure. He had blue eyes and wore a crown. When he walked into a room, the ground did not shake. Eyes did not turn to him with fear. The world did not acknowledge his presence. He was just a man.

And as for that man? He was regarded as plain even by his nobles. He focused most of his efforts on keeping things stable, keeping the status quo, keeping things smooth and efficient. He did no big projects, made no big moves, he merely kept things moving along down the line. The biggest move from him was to nurture their hero team to potentially join the empire, a move now considered dead and moot since said hero team was found consorting with demons. Most of the nobility already expected assassins to be sent by both them and the empire to take care of the problem. Most of them even wanted it, desperately, after being forced to get audited because of them.

But inside that plain, boring man, hid a greatly intelligent mind. He had just, more or less, never had to make use of it. The reason the Mauv Kingdom had survived so long was simple, they were boring. They were plain. They did no wrong, got out of the way, and gave up if there was trouble, and when trouble came knocking anyway, there would ‘suddenly’ be a reason for that kingdom to not do so.

Donald knew there were things he didn’t know, things lurking in his mind. And wisely, he chose not to poke them. Because as of this moment, only Five people knew that Tyler Smith was from another world, and the King was not one of them.

Riary, Derek, Tyler himself, Konohora…

And the Mauv Kingdom’s mind mage.

Fortunately for everyone, it was very easy to hide a single person. With unfettered access, it was also very easy for that person to manipulate others. The King trusted him with his life, even if he didn’t know about him. After all, they were twins. He simply was removed from the books.

When Tyler showed up, their options were limited. There had been people, others, who had seen. They either all had to die, which would be suspicious in itself… or they had to forget. They all had to forget. One by one, memories were plucked out, removed, turned over, and smoothed out. Till only it was the king and his brother.

And then he was made to forget. His brother, the mind mage. Tyler, the True Hero. It had to be done.

“I’ll watch over you all.” A man said, sitting on a hill overlooking the castle. “I’ll make sure you stay safe.”

He had a picnic, with bitterness in his heart towards a certain hero.