Chapter 435: Questioning

In the capital Pith, things finally died down. Following the second recent assassination of Bosque royalty, the palace was in total disorder. Fortunately, with the help of Samuel, they were able to nicely wrap things up.

All the assassins and the Marquis' army were either killed or forced back. But they didn't leave it at that, the current king Miller Bosque ordered the pursuit of the remaining enemies. The Royal Army was able to even capture their territory.

Per his agreement with the previous king Brennan, all the land of the harvest march would belong to Brennan.Brennan would have the exact same rights of a king within that territory, which was… it was alright… Certainly a start, but it wasn't necessarily a good start. It opened up a slew of issues that could bite the Bosque kingdom in the back come even just 30 years later.

"That supposed brother of mine lacks foresight…" Brennan muttered within his bed chamber. His actions were begging for a civil war and showed that Miller did not have the longevity of the country in mind.

"Such recklessness…" Brennan was not fond of this person and that was obvious. W, however, had no emotions attached to the whole situation. This allowed him to notice that things were developing in an odd direction.

'Why was he so accepting?' Miller accepted the proposal of giving Brennan most of the rights of a king without thinking twice. Clearly, he didn't actually care about ruling this country!

Next was his action of splitting the country in half. For the time being, the kingdom was one. But the formation of north Bosque and South Bosque was inevitable. The curious thing was, they were still in a war against the Volcan empire!

'They shouldn't have time for internal strife, but giving in so easily…' It made no sense!

The only explanation was that W was missing some key information. Miller Bosque and his backers knew something he didn't and that something that made their actions seem logical.

'But… No, I can't imagine what might-' There was actually one thing that would warrant Miller's actions with certainty.

'There is either not enough time, or there is something he wants in his area of Bosque' Both of these things could be the reason on their own, but when put together they would explain everything.

With power in the area, he could either act under the cover of law or put many resources into getting what he wanted to find. If he had enough time, losing as little of that power as possible would be ideal, but in this situation where it didn't even matter... why bother? The more country there was, the more hassles there were to deal with.

The only issue now was finding out what exactly Miller wanted. Fortunately, Brennan was currently waiting to be summoned to the throne room. The situation with him surviving the assassins was under suspicion.

"Your majesty" An aged voice said with a knock.

"You may enter" Brennan responded. The door opened and an old maid appeared.

She bowed respectfully before kindly informing him that there were knights waiting to escort him.

"Huh? Oh, I'll go right away" Brennan didn't expect an old maid to come to get him, so it took him a moment to respond.

Upon leaving his room, Brennan was met by 2 peak B-class knights. They demonstrated their loyalty with solemn bows before directing him away. The former king followed them faithfully.

Soon enough, Brennan was in a small room face to face with Miller. This was like a meeting room, but the size was not up to par with royal extravagance.

"Sorry, it is better to talk in a tightly guarded room" Miller told Brennan who mocked him inwardly. After W took out the assassins, he was no longer scared of them. Miller's actions were reasonable, and Brennan did understand this. He just wasn't able to accept it.

"What do you want to talk about that requires this secrecy?" Brennan asked.

"Your account a couple of days ago… It's more than a bit suspicious. This is on top of you still being alive" Miller spoke, raising the tension in the room.

Brennan's timing could be said to be unfortunate. Indeed, the fact that he was alive was suspicious enough on its own. Adding the assassins dying for seemingly no reason… There were grounds for doubts.

'Remember, this room is tightly guarded' W commented. As Miller and Brennan participated in a stare match. It sounded like a pointless reminder but, it was from it. Brennan now understood that every second in that room was a risk.

"What do you suggest?" Brennan asked in response. There had to be a reason he wasn't arrested as a potential traitor.

"I'm not suggesting anything. I just want to ask questions" Miller responded.

Brennan didn't say anything, he just shot Miller a glance that said go ahead.

"What did you find in the dungeon?" Miller asked straightforwardly. Once more, the atmosphere became tense. The only difference was that this time, even W was shaken up by the question.

Would Brennan tell on him? Was there a chance that Miller would be understanding in that situation? There were many question W could ask himself at that moment, his disarrayed mind decided to ask them all at once.

'Get a grip!' W told himself. Bloody noticed the disturbance and became curious. What was up with the mean guy?

As for Brennan, his eyes shook slightly, but he reigned in his surprise. As king, he came to master the act of the poker face.

"I'll admit, I did bring something out, but what does it have to do with you?" Brennan decided to be honest, but he also didn't expose himself. The odds of obtaining a powerful magic device was higher than the chances of being inhabited by a monster.

Miller was visibly shocked. He wasn't shocked about the admission, since it was a given fact. He was just shocked by Brennan's strong attitude. The former king was not an easy figure to deceive or take advantage of.

At this point, Miller's inexpertise reared its head. He was unsure what else he could say when given such a straightforward refusal.

Suddenly, the footsteps of one person could be heard approaching the room's doors.

"Duke Lansworth, entering" A knight informed before politely opening the door to the meeting room. This was one of the few people Miller had given permission to enter.

Lansworth wore a small smile as he entered the room. He was sitting down on a wheelchair following the injuries he acquired in the battlefield.

"Do you believe in gods?" He asked musingly even in his unfortunate state. The one dragging the wheelchair was Samuel who found the words rather familiar.

Brennan was stumped by the question. Did he believe in gods? What were gods exactly? Just really strong monsters? Would a dragon, for example, as an arguably divine creature, count as a god?

Brennan thought that dragons had to be the closest thing to a god he did believe to exist. So was the existence of something greater that farfetched a thought?

Regardless of his thoughts, Brennan was in for a story.

***

Dragons were not gods. They were not all powerful, nor were they all knowing. Arguably key characteristics of celestial beings. At the very least, a god should not ever be threatened by mere mortals and what their weak and pitiful abilities could muster.

These conditions put together made one thing clear.

Lernaean was not a god. The hydra was not divine. It was a beast like any other, that happened to have power above many others.

Of course, this hydra lacked intelligence. Any dragon would be unlikely to claim it as one of their own, but the point remained. This hydra, was not a god.

"ROOOOAR!!!!" A sky-high roar burst the ear drums of many lizardmen. Eon was isolated from the sound with the power of the void seeker.

"HAHAHAH!!!" While the hydra was roaring furiously, Eon was enjoying the occasion. It was as if he was reliving the times of his youth when he used to recklessly assault bosses with his large mana pool.

The heads of Lernaean were being split, cut, crushed, and many other things, but no matter how hard Eon tried, the hydra would regenerate. The only place lagging behind was its body, which continued to accumulate injuries.

It wasn't solely because of Eon, however, it was also because of the lizardmen. They were crawling and climbing all over the back of the hydra and stabbing their spears recklessly past its scales.

Occasionally, boats would crash into its large body irritating the hydra's wounds. From these boats new small assailants would emerge. Ignoring them became impossible but retaliating left openings for the human. The hydra was starting to see the pits of disappear.

It used to be a king feared by all, but now it was facing retribution. It was facing retribution at the hands of the inferior lizard pests and the hands of a human. A human!

Lernaean was a monster that originated in the Mrines Archipelago. It used to terrorize the island people until one day the humans got together to assault and finally murder it. The memory which it had slowly come to forget was resurfacing and the hydra and its many heads all reacted differently.

One felt regret, another felt angered, one in the middle was accepting, and at the leftmost there was one overcome by sadness. The hydra's blood had tainted the water a deep red.

It was over, Lernaean forgot his history and was doomed to repeat it.

Eon lifted his staff into the air with glee. The hydra's morale was down! It still had lots of fight left in it, but the hydra had lost the mental and emotional battle. The first spatial rend must have been very effective to destroy the hydra's confidence so thoroughly.

Even the lizardmen took notice. Seeing that the hydra was putting up less of a fight, Kurgher was hoping to finally have the flagship enter the fray.

"Huh!?!" A loud explosion caught the attention of Kurgher and the other lizardmen ready to launch themselves at the hydra.

Wait… it wasn't just one explosion! Rounds of cannon fire shot out and while some were not exploding, the shots that came barreling out of the fog devastated the decks of some ships and sunk others on impact.

"En- Enemy attack!!!!" Kurgher had to drop the plan after being swiftly besieged by what he could only conclude was superior magic or technology.

The hydra, which had become disorganized due to the varying emotions of each head, also took notice of the anomaly. Could it still have believers?