Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 39

39.

After finishing my wind breathing technique training in the morning, I spread out my notes in the office.

I reviewed the events that would happen in the future based on the current timeline and then took out another notebook.

The writing feel wasn’t as good as the notebooks made in modern times, and it was uncomfortable, but it was sufficient for taking notes.

Holding a fountain pen, I wrote the name ‘David the Dull Blade’ on the new notebook.

“Dull Blade, huh…”

Dull Blade was a character who remained vividly in my memory.

Dull Blade David appeared frequently in the notes I had written so far.

He was one of the companions who assisted the protagonist, Karen, along with Ken.

As a supporting character with considerable importance, he was moved by the righteousness of the protagonist Karen and joined her.

“A mercenary who hasn’t killed a single person.”

The reason David was captivated by protagonist Karen’s righteousness was simple. David was an upright person with an abundance of compassion.

He also possessed the boldness to endure even war for the sake of the suffering Imperial citizens, following Karen’s cause.

In many ways, having David under my command would be a great advantage, so it was important to contact him by any means and bring him to my side like Ken.

While writing the plot, I didn’t write down the details about David separately.

I only wrote down the characteristics of protagonist Karen’s companions to not forget them in the future.

Now that he was in the capital and I had the opportunity to contact him, I needed to squeeze out information about David from my head.

“He doesn’t have a decisive factor like Ken.”

Thanks to his younger sister Susan, Ken was relatively easy to bring into my ranks. To Ken, Susan was a life’s task and a reason to live.

I had been giving Ken great help and showing him my sincerity and various abilities to elicit genuine loyalty.

I still didn’t know much about the emotion of loyalty itself, and trust wasn’t built in a short amount of time.

Of course, I trusted Ken, but Ken completely trusting me was another matter.

‘Anyway, it’s important to bring David in. What I clearly remember is that the time when David joins protagonist Karen is much later than now.’

I was lost in thought.

Why did David come to the Imperial capital at this time?

I could easily think it was to participate in the Spring Evaluation Tournament, but I shook my head.

David hated the Empire.

I jumped up.

“That’s right! Atran!”

Something hidden deep in my memory suddenly popped to the surface.

The reason David hadn’t killed as a mercenary wasn’t just his personality, but also because he had already decided on his first target.

It was Duke Beregon de Atran, the head of the Atran family!

The Calpheon Empire was an empire built on a pool of blood.

Among countless wars, the war that secured the most territory was called the First Conquest War.

David was from a ruined royal family, a small country that was almost embarrassing to call a nation.

It was only about the size of a local lord’s territory, but David’s family declared themselves royalty and created a kingdom.

And that kingdom was destroyed by the Imperial Conquest First Army led by Beregon during the First Conquest War.

David barely survived and wandered the continent as a mercenary, burning with revenge against the Atran family, the Empire, and my father, setting Beregon as his first target for murder.

“Wait… if his resentment towards the Empire and his father is so deep, it’ll be too difficult to bring him under my command, won’t it?”

In Ken’s case, he didn’t like the Empire, but unlike David or Karen, his family wasn’t directly killed.

But David could be said to be a direct victim.

“This… I need to meet him first.”

The guess that David didn’t come to the capital for the Spring Evaluation Tournament was close to certain.

He probably had another reason, and I wanted to meet him directly first.

The David in reality would be different from the one I had set up in the novel.

Everyone I had met so far was a three-dimensional person in a living world, unlike the characters in the novel.

“Is anyone outside?”

A servant knocked and carefully opened the door.

“Did you call, Your Highness?”

“Go and call Soris and Ken.”

“Yes.”

The servant bowed and left.

I was getting quite used to dealing with servants now.

It wasn’t easy for me, who had lived in modern times, to get used to a class society, but as time passed, it became natural.

Soon, Ken and Soris entered the office.

“Your Highness.”

I turned my gaze to Soris.

“Is the preparation complete?”

“Yes. All the personnel to guard Your Highness are ready.”

Ken didn’t object any further, feeling that my will was firm, and said.

“I’ll check David’s location first. It’s certain that he entered the capital, but I need to find out his exact location.”

“Once the location is confirmed, we’ll depart then.”

Ken and Soris left the office to prepare, and I also got up.

‘I can’t rule out the possibility of assassination, so I need to prepare myself mentally too.’

* * *

“He went out of the palace?”

“Yes. He left through the South Gate a little while ago.”

Ron didn’t show any expression, but his mind was complicated.

“He’s leaving the palace again at this time… how is the investigation going?”

The man who received Ron’s question answered mechanically.

“It seems they are focusing on linking the servants, maids, former vice-chiefs, and the Atran family.”

“Did you send Ted’s knights to Ted?”

“Yes.”

The splendid and spacious office was warmly lit by candles and magic stones, but a chill flowed around Ron and the man.

This was because the man with a stiff voice, no less than Ron’s cold feeling, also had no expression.

Ron took his eyes off the documents for a moment and leaned back in his chair.

“Have you received reports from the Western lords?”

“Yes. They didn’t feel any signs.”

Ron closed his eyes at the man’s words.

‘The King of the Orcs…’

It was almost laughable, but Ron didn’t reveal his emotions.

Just a while ago, the fact that Arun had miraculously survived at the entrance of the Dark Forest came to mind.

His son, who couldn’t even handle one Orc, suddenly changed as if he was a different person.

Ron didn’t believe at all the words of some nobles that Arun had been playing the fool to put his competitors off guard.

Ron believed that he could see through the essence of a person.

A person’s essence, their disposition, doesn’t change, and Arun’s disposition was weakness.

He had no talent to the point where he couldn’t believe he was a son who inherited the blood of Iriel and himself.

But for the first time, his insight was wrong.

He thought that summoning the highest-grade spirit might be possible. Inherent talent might pop out anytime, anywhere.

But imprisoning Ted’s two knights and using them to humiliate Ted was something hard to imagine with Arun’s disposition.

And that’s not all.

The fact that he demanded the right to investigate so clearly during the competition, and that Arun personally killed a considerable number of the attackers, was completely different from the Arun that Ron had thought of.

‘Am I wrong?’

The corners of Ron’s lips went up.

A strange light flashed in the eyes of the man standing in front of him.

It was the first time he had seen the Emperor make something similar to a smile.

“Your Majesty.”

“Tell the Western lords to put Gale on the wanted list immediately.”

“Yes. I will take action immediately.”

He didn’t completely trust Arun.

But because he had deviated from his insight for the first time, he decided to listen to Arun’s words at least once.

The reason Arun had been in the position of Crown Prince until now was thanks to Iriel.

Ron honestly acknowledged his feelings.

‘Compassion for her… longing has turned into leniency for that child. But now that child has also come onto the stage. I will operate this empire for decades to come, but the power and illusion that the position of Crown Prince itself gives is enough to paralyze everyone.’

Perhaps a fierce power struggle would take place.

Ron had no intention of stopping it.

‘It’s not a bad thing for the nobles to exhaust their power due to infighting.’

Ron got up.

“If anything happens to Gale, mobilize all the capabilities of the West to rescue him.”

“Yes.”

Ron added to the man who was moving to leave the office.

“Put someone on Arun too.”

“Understood.”

The man didn’t ask Ron for the reason for the order, nor Ron’s thoughts.

He would just thoroughly carry out Ron’s orders.

“It will be fun to see how much he deviates from my expectations.”

* * *

The captain of the Capital Defense Force came to the main gate in person.

“Your Highness!”

The captain of the Capital Defense Force didn’t look good when I went out of the palace again.

“What’s going on?”

The captain of the Capital Defense Force bowed his head and answered my question.

“I heard you were going outside the palace.”

“Is that related to you?”

“It’s not, but…”

I smiled and teased the captain of the Capital Defense Force.

“If you’re doing your job well, the capital will be a safer place than any other city. I don’t think there will be anything like last time. Ah, of course, that’s assuming you’re doing your job well.”

The captain of the Capital Defense Force trembled with a stiff expression.

I said to Ken and Soris.

“Let’s go. I heard we’re on a tight schedule.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

David’s location was identified faster than expected.

I couldn’t say anything and just asked Ken, leaving behind the captain of the Capital Defense Force who was just seeing us off.

“He’s in the slums?”

“I heard he’s taking care of the children there. He’s already had conflicts with some thief guilds.”

I turned my gaze to Soris.

“What about the Shadow Walk Guild?”

“The Shadow Walk Guild is a thief guild, but it’s not a guild that would take in children from the slums as members. Most of the guilds that take in children from the slums are small guilds or…”

I continued the words that Soris couldn’t bring himself to say.

“Or they’re the ones who crossed the line. The thief guild itself is already a guild that the Empire has outlawed. Well, anyway… David is taking care of the children.”

A laugh naturally escaped.

He was doing something truly David-like.

‘He didn’t come to the capital to serve in the slums. He came up with another purpose, but he couldn’t bear to turn a blind eye to the children in the slums.’

Of course, I didn’t say this out loud.

Ken probably thought I had only heard of the name David by rumor.

“Then we should head to the southern slums.”

“Yes.”

Ken came closer and continued.

“Perhaps others will think it’s an investigation into the last attack. Coincidentally, the place where David is is near there.”

I also nodded.

“It’s easy to misunderstand. Then it would be good to stop by the smithy that we couldn’t go to last time. Since we’re out anyway.”

“Yes.”

This time too, I walked directly without a carriage or horse.

‘It’s quite uncomfortable. I should learn to ride first.’

I decided to learn to ride when I returned to the palace and imagined what spirit magic on horseback would look like.