Chapter 100 - Alfheim#10 The King's Decision

MORPHEUS' POV:-

After checking a few blacksmith shops, I still can't find any blacksmith that can make something even at my minimum threshold. I might check the other side tomorrow. For now, let's just head back to the castle. Geralt might have already sent someone to escort me. 

-Time stop-

I then walk into the market as I observe the people stopped around me. I walk slowly observing everything I see, hoping to find my family or something by a streak of luck or something. These days I am missing them a bit more than normal, I hope everything is alright.

'Elain. Aisha. I miss you both. I wonder…how long will it take?' I then shake my head as I look around a bit more before moving towards the castle. After moving a bit forward, I find someone moving around looking at everyone stopped. He is looking around freely as he observes the market with a smile on his face.

His eyes then fell on me. He looks at me with a curious face before smiling a bit and then vanishing from my sight.

"[Mana Eyes]" I chant to see a few magicules of Fire and Earth disturbed all around the place, which move in a direction where he was previously moving. 

'I wonder if I should check up on him? Well, since he did not disturb me, it would be wrong of me to indulge in his privacy. If we are meant to meet, then we will meet…' thinking that I start to move towards the castle. 

Reaching closer to the Castle, I see King Geralt taking a walk outside the castle. He looks at me, then smiles as he moves closer to me.

"How did you like Alfheim?" He asks me with a sense of pride in it. His eyes are glistening as if he is talking about his children's success. I observe him for a few moments,

'[Mana Circuit: Speech articulation]' I channel mana into my throat to make it feasible to talk at this speed without destroying my vocal chords. Since sound won't work, I also added mana speech. It is something I created in order for my voice to send vibrations to other people at this speed so that they can hear my voice.

"It's beautiful and relaxing. Do you have a place where I can take a bath freely? I would like it to be a lake or a pond, also I want it to be free of people," I ask him. Taking a long open bath at times, my mental fatigue subsides, is something I always did back in my old world. I can simply ask Dark to change my emotions, but honestly, I just don't feel like doing so, especially right now.

Geralt ponders over it for a few moments before speaking. "There is a lake a few hundred metres away from here. As for privacy, you can ask Istan to manage that." He speaks as he looks at me, as if wondering what I am planning to do.

"Haha…I am not planning anything. I just am a man missing my family and just want to take a break from the tiredness before starting another long work shift," I speak with a small smile as I look at Geralt.

Geralt's face turns a bit sorrowful as he looks at me before putting his hand on my shoulder,"your journey is going to be harder at every level. Honestly, I even wanted to kill you to avoid the trouble that you could put Alfheim in. But…I want you to reach the end of your journey, too. I wish you good luck Aether, and please free this world from the Gods, if you can, while you are at it. We Kings are too weak in front of them. We could have done things better if we had made better choices, but alas we didn't and here we are caught in their play. It's just an old man's plea. You can even ignore it if you want to." 

He turns silent as a small smile forms on his face.

I…wonder what kind of face I am making right now. It must be the same face I always made in my previous life. The face that says, 'Trust me, as long as I am here. It will be all fine.' 

'I wonder, though, if I can really live up to that face.' I think as I close my eyes before sighing and start walking towards the Castle. I wave my hand a bit, saying goodbye to the King, who is probably bowing to me like everyone in my previous life did. I turn around to see him slightly bowing his head with a smile on his face. His eyes then match mine and he speaks. "I pray by the Tree of Yggdrasil. May you find your family and reach a conclusion that you will be satisfied with. I hope it will be a conclusion that everyone will be satisfied with."

"Aren't you trusting me too much? You don't even know me." I can't help but ask this, just why trust a stranger so much as to leave the whole fate on him? Even if it's my special aura that lowers the guards of other people, it's still too much to trust someone this much.

"Because…Aether…my mother's name is Leyla…" The King speaks something major as a tear falls off his eyes. My eyes turn wide open as I look at him with a stupefied expression. 

"I am afraid. That's all I can tell you. I am bound by them," he says, leaving me at a loss before I recall every word he spoke before. 

'Now…it makes sense. After all, she knows about 'that' too. This…is a bit too much to handle. I am afraid it must have been hard for him to handle too. After all Leyla…is my first best friend from my old world. Who went missing at the age of 10 on a field trip.'

"It's not just her, Aether. There are many others who know you, many who will even die at your command without having second thoughts. I have heard a lot about you, how you lived, how you saved that world. Your sacrifices and everything you have done. In fact, I know too much about you. It's just that I didn't believe it until I really met you. I hope you don't mind it too much," He speaks as he turns silent for a few moments before looking at me with the same admiration that those people show to me. 

"I…want complete freedom to the Heaven's Library, in return…I will see what I can do," I speak with a slightly serious, slightly tired face. 

'This came out of nowhere…'

"You already have the freedom to do it and…I am sorry, sir Aether. There is something I want from you. Can you promise me that?" He says as he bows on his knees and then puts his head on the ground.

Looking at him, I felt goosebumps all over my body. My eyes turned wide open and I immediately ran towards him and helped him stand back up, but he kept bowing as he spoke.

"Help Istan become a great leader and Lia a strong Queen before you leave from here. It's all I can ask of you, I beg you….please…listen to this dying man's wishes," he says something incomprehensible again. My eyes turn shocked again as I begin to analyse his body immediately, only to see that his innards were missing completely. Analysing carefully, they were eroding, and based on the speed of erosion, he does not have much to live…at most…a couple of years.

I looked at him furiously before asking him,"Geralt!! Who did this to you? Answer me!!!" 

He looks at me with a slight smile before nodding his head signifying he can't tell that.

I look at him with a serious expression before sighing and changing the topic as a smile forms on my face, 

"You are a King, Geralt. You should act like one, even if it is me, you should never bow to anyone."

Geralt looks at me with a smile on his face before speaking, "I can't tell you much about it but if I were to give the reason for my desperation then maybe this sentence can explain more of it, 'It's not just me who is dying' "

I look at him for a few moments before realising something important as my sight turns in a certain direction. I blink dumbfoundedly as the only thing I could utter was,

"Holy F*ck"