The Weight of the Crown

"As expected!" Lucia thought.

This vast army had set out from Leyndell during the war of unification, swept north to pacify the giant dynasty, then turned south to conquer Stormveil, and finally marched east to overrun Caelid. It was the very predecessor of the countless Tarnished of later generations, and only an invincible host whose blades had swept across the age could have given rise to so many heroes among the Tarnished, blazing across the sky like meteors.

Elder Merrell's account, the historical records he had read on his own during this period, and the many textual investigations he had done in his previous life all came together, allowing him to glimpse a few traces of the truth buried in history—the exile that had taken place in Caelid had happened with extreme suddenness, yet whether it was Queen Eternal and the War King themselves, or the many continental powers watching from the sidelines, all of them had reacted to the matter with remarkable calm.

Afterward, Marika remained the one true god of The Lands Between, supreme, benevolent, and virtuous, while the exiled Godfrey and the warriors under his command were still engraved in the dynasty's histories as the greatest heroes of the war of unification.

Looking at it all together, it seemed as if it had not been a betrayal of discarding the bow once the birds were gone, boiling the hound once the hare was dead, but rather that the god had bestowed a new mission upon her king, and the king had chosen to bear everything in silence, casting aside the newly risen dynasty and its glorious hegemony in their entirety as he continued onward with his battle-axe and his warriors.

Lucia let out a soft breath and gathered his shaken thoughts back together. His earlier questions about the Ofnir Family's background had naturally not been without purpose. Now, he could basically confirm that the troublesome Sir Gideon Ofnir was not currently in The Lands Between, while the Ofnir behind Hectorv was a thoroughgoing member of the new faction, making it clear that they would not give him any pleasant looks during his coming life as a hostage. In that case, what he should do went without saying.

"Ekzykes, Guerel." He named two of his guard captains. "The two of you set out tonight. Guerel, keep a close eye on Clareville. Ekzykes, go watch that Demi-human and Misbegotten coalition."

"Tomorrow morning, we will set out for Dectus on schedule. Publicly, I will use a hunting excursion as the reason to temporarily leave the main force with Elder Merrell and several guards, and go to a place near Sunset Pass. When the time comes, you only need to do two things—first, make sure Hectorv and his guards all die at the hands of those Demi-humans. Second, after those two traitors turn on Clareville, kill the entire coalition, then bring Clareville to see me."

"Kill the entire coalition?" Guerel's face turned faintly pale. "Is that really necessary? As long as we take out Soleto and Turak, and at most kill a few of the leading chieftains, they'll naturally..."

"We have no other choice," Lucia said flatly. "I do not deny that they are a group of pitiful people, but at this moment, they are an unstable factor who know Clareville's identity as an inside man, a pack of beasts whose minds have been overwhelmed by the desire to kill and plunder. Any one of them may expose Clareville's betrayal to the Golden Dynasty in the future, or after we rout them, they may scatter all the way along the road, rush into defenseless farms outside the city with woodcutting knives in hand, and kill every living thing they see—I imagine that is a scene none of us would be willing to see, yes?"

In truth, everyone inside this royal tent knew clearly that from the moment that aged Misbegotten priest had spent his entire life's effort gathering this coalition, all their fates had already been sealed.

Kruger had vastly overestimated his control over the coalition, and underestimated the madness these Demi-humans and Misbegotten would display when faced with Kallen City. Perhaps he had wanted to bring a bright future to dozens of tribes in South Gelmir, but the only concept his people could understand was smashing the city before them to pieces, killing as they pleased, looting as they pleased, eating as they pleased...

And after tonight, the coalition that had lost Kruger would completely degenerate into a pack of unrestrained beasts. Every negotiation Clareville had ever conducted with them would lose the basis for taking effect. Even if Lucia were willing to mobilize his troops regardless of the cost and drive them all the way into the vast wastelands of South Gelmir, it would not change this fact at all.

"I understand..." After lowering her head and remaining silent for a long while, Guerel replied dully. Then she gave a military salute, turned, and left to carry out the order.

Ekzykes, on the other hand, had remained extremely calm the entire time. At this moment, he also saluted Lucia, then followed closely behind her out of the royal tent.

After the two guard captains left, Lucia discussed and finalized with the two elders and the knight captains the various arrangements for the envoy's departure tomorrow, and also settled the list of personnel who would accompany him on the "hunt" toward Sunset Pass. After all, the Godskin Noble's assassination attempt had only happened yesterday, so no one could afford to be careless.

It was not until an hour later that the royal tent finally emptied. Lucia sat quietly for a moment, then extinguished the lamp and lay down on the bed. With a thought, he entered the Memory Battlefield.

This time, however, he did not hurry off to tangle fiercely with his old opponent Samuel. Instead, he used his mental power to construct an armchair, sat in it, and looked up at the cold and deathly silent starry sky overhead.

With the support of the Memory Battlefield, his mental power had already reached an inconceivable level of strength. As long as he was not in the recollection combat mode that simulated everything in a real state, the speed at which his thoughts worked could also be increased to an enormous degree. He examined the decision he had just made again and again. Although it had already been the result of careful deliberation, he still questioned himself over and over, asking whether there truly was a better solution.

There was not—this was the only answer he obtained after countless rounds of thought.

Saving Clareville was only an insignificant link in his plan. He needed to use the Demi-humans' hands to eliminate the new-faction forces in Kallen City led by Hectorv, then use his status as an Ancient Dragon demigod who happened to be passing through to quell the chaos of war. After that, he would submit a memorial to Queen Marika and support Clareville in becoming Kallen's next ruler.

Clareville came from the court perfumers, and by position, he was naturally close to the old faction. Considering the foundation and reputation he had accumulated in Kallen over the past five years, along with Lucia's assistance, the queen had no reason to refuse.

After this matter, the old faction would be able to replace the new faction in controlling the strategic stronghold of Kallen, while Lucia would be able to control Clareville from behind the scenes, planting the first nail belonging to Sky City into a vital point of the Golden Dynasty. As for Kallen's twenty thousand civilians, they too would escape the calamity of the city falling and its people dying...

The plan linked together ring by ring. Every detail had been carefully weighed by him, and everything seemed so reasonable. Yet it was precisely within this plan that could ensure the maximization of interests that he had so casually decided the life and death of everyone in Sunset Pass.

Lucia gazed at the stars that looked like pieces of wreckage, and for some reason, he suddenly thought of the wilderness where stars had fallen like rain after he had defeated General Radahn in his previous life. Beneath those blood-red sands were buried the bones of countless sacrificed warriors. They too had once lived with incomparable vividness, yet in that cataclysmic war, they had been crushed to nothing by the age.

Whether in his previous life or this one, looking across the past, present, and future of The Lands Between, the march of the age seemed always to be led by a small handful of gods, kings, or some other similar existences. And along the paths the kings advanced, the passing of mortal lives seemed to be nothing more than a few scant annotations in the history books, embellishing their hegemony, with no one asking after them and no one caring.

Perhaps in some corner of some time and space, there had also been someone like him, moved by such thoughts, even pressed until they could hardly breathe beneath that mountain-and-sea-heavy pressure. But in the end, all of them would have no choice all the same.

He was only the dragon race's crown prince, and could only be responsible to the dragon race.

At this moment, he had not yet put on the crown that belonged to Farum Azula, yet he had already felt the blood-soaked weight upon that crown.