In the hallway of the castle of Lustburg, a red-haired young girl wearing maid clothes was walking slowly, deep in thought.
Outside, the moon hung high in a cloudless sky, showing a scene worthy of the most beautiful painting.
But Kali had no time to enjoy.
Finally reaching her destination, she stopped in front of an office.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
“This is Kali, your highness, could I talk to you?”
Kali didn’t even notice how she was already used to calling Sol like that.
After she knocked, she could hear a flurry of sound from the other side. If it was in the past, she could have easily seen what was happening. But because of the seal, she was currently powerless.
‘At least, he doesn’t make me wear those clothes here.’
This was the sole consolation in this ordeal.
“You can enter.”
Finally receiving permission, she opened the door and was surprised to see a maid adjusting her ruffled clothes. It was a dark elf.
Kali might lack experience, but she didn’t lack knowledge. What’s more, the white stain on the corner of the maid’s mouth was worth hundreds of words.
“Well then, your highness. I will take my leave.”
“Have a good day.”
The maid bowed elegantly before walking toward the exit.
Though, when she went past her, Kali murmured,
“Your lips.”
The elf tilted her head for a second before understanding dawned in her eyes and she proceeded to wipe out the white stuff.
Kali had to admit, seeing a bronze-skinned woman flush in embarrassment was pretty beautiful.
Once the maid left, Kali turned toward Sol,
“Heh, I thought you were supposed to work, but I guess you had more interesting things to do. Sorry for disturbing you.”
She had expected Sol to be a little flustered or embarrassed, but all he did was smile.
“I am not ashamed of fulfilling my needs. I am quite promiscuous, you know?”
“I have heard that Medea is your first love. Shouldn’t you be loyal to her then?”
She was surprised. She couldn’t help but wonder,
‘Is he really from my world?’
From the history of Lustburg, it was easy to see that all Kings prior to him had something different. A drive about wanting to change the world in their views.
The same happened to her or rather it was much worse.
After all, she didn’t reincarnate in a peaceful era.
Because of this, it had taken a long time for her to adapt to the reality of this new world.
But she could feel no such drive in him. It was as if he was perfectly integrated with this world, taking it as his own and forgetting his past.
Still, there was one easy way to be sure,
“What is your favorite anime?”
“Code Geass for me. What about you?”
“Puella Magi Madoka Magika.”
Silence fell between them.
“So you are really...”
She didn’t finish and looked around her.
She knew that the tower was under the full surveillance of Medea. Even if she couldn’t see everything at the same time, focusing on one room wasn’t a problem and since Medea could do it, it means Ambrosia could do the same.
Sol of course understood her worry and shook his head,
“Medea, I don’t know if you are observing, but please, if you are doing so, withdraw. I promise to explain everything to you one day.”
Sol received no answer, but the two of them could feel it. As if an invisible gaze had moved away.
“You won’t ask mother?”
“No. She has no reason to listen to me and honestly...Do you really think she doesn’t know?”
“...”
“Well, so let’s cut to the chase, would you? When did you die?”
Kali understood the reason for this question, “2017. What about you?”
“2019.”
“...”
“...”
Kali could feel her heart pumping so wildly in her chest it felt like it was about to explode.
Kali raised her eyebrows in surprise, “You guessed it?”
Sol simply scoffed, “With how many hints the guy let on he was basically screaming about his identity.”
It wasn’t really hard to put the piece together once you knew that he seemingly came from death, from what Drei told the Fingers after beating them down.
“Drei means 3 in german. Zehn means 10. The ones we faced were 8, 9, 10, and a botched 3. Meanwhile, Nihil means 0. If they are classed by power, it would mean that they at least have 3 Kings and a Demi-god as well as 7 Duke. For all we know, perhaps all the members below number 8 are Kings.”
“No. The ten members of the wings are divided into Upper and lower. The first 5 are all Kings and the last five are all Dukes.”
Sol’s eyes couldn’t but twitch.
Five Kings, five Dukes.
This kind of lineup was enough to erase a kingdom from the face of the earth.
After all, most kingdoms only had 2 kings and about Four Dukes.
When you added the demigoddess Nihil....
“Do you have any other information?”
“No. They never really believed me when I said I would swear loyalty to the Crimson lady. As such the amount of information I gleaned on them is relatively small. You should simply wait for the vampire to wake up and interrogate her.”
Sol nodded.
He was bothered about the extent of their power.
If they were so strong why didn’t they simply bring the full team and erase everything?
This means that their goal was something that couldn’t be done in one time and they couldn’t afford to give a reason for the Kingdoms to band together.
As it was now, Sol was sure that the other Kingdoms should just be busy gloating about Lustburg's misfortune rather than thinking about some countermeasure.
“Well forget it. Coming back to Drei’s sister, I kind of see where you are going.”
““All the suspected Reincarnators are Human.””
The two of them said at the same time.
The more Sol thought about it, the weirder it seemed.
Only humans could form contracts.
All witches were formerly human.
All the goddesses had a human appearance.
All Reincarnators are supposedly humans.
Even the chances for human hybrids to be born were higher than hybrids of other races.
Humans. Humans, Humans.
There were too many coincidences.
Finally, there was this ‘game.’
Sol clenched his fist.
Once he became officially King, he could make one wish toward the goddess Luxuria, as long as he didn’t break the Rules.
He didn’t know yet what those rules were. But if possible...
‘Should I wish to know the truth of the world?’
----
Once he ended his discussion with Kali, he couldn’t help but feel a little closer to her.
At first, while he did not hate her, his impression of her was definitely negative.
Now though, while he still didn’t like her, it was closer to neutral.
After she left, Sol looked at the paperwork on his table and sighed.
Some were about taxes, some were about new policies. Food and shelter for refugees, immigration laws, problems with the farmers, some little skirmishes between provincial lords, etc.
The first time he saw all of this, he thought his head would explode.
‘I am not even the king yet.’
Like the passage in the gladiator arena, as per the tradition, the prince could only become King once he came back from the Astral realm.
That’s why officially Sol was still the crown prince.
Still, he could already feel the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
“Well, those papers won’t be signed by themselves.”
Procrastination would only lead to more work. So it was better to end it now.
It was when he was about to plunge once again in his work that,
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
Someone once again knocked on his door.
He was exasperated but could only say,
“Enter.”
‘For the love of the goddess I hope it’s something important.’
(AN: I always struggle to find the appropriate terms. What should I call the Isekai people in the story? Reincarnator? Reincarnate? Reincarnated? As for the wish thingy. It was mentioned during the arc of Saint Fall. So, who knocked this time? And will Sol finally be able to finish his paperwork? Let’s find it in the next episode of *Cough* I mean next chapter of SHK)