Chapter 156 - Promises

Zaos found Dalyor sitting with a few soldiers, Laiex and Drian, in the throne room. Apparently, they were studying some reports of the activities in the borders. Usually, no one would bother them for several hours. Still, Dalyor made an exception when he heard Zaos's voice talking with the guards in front of the room.

"Thank you for receiving me, Your Majesty," Zaos said after he bent the knee.

"It is fine, you can stand, Zaos," Dalyor said. "Thanks to you, Ameria has been behaving quite well lately. Do you need my permission with something? Speaking of which, how have been your research lately?"

"I got stuck much sooner than I expected," Zaos replied. "I realized that the spells aren't developed enough because the magic symbols probably are some sort of ancient language and to improve and learn new spells of the area I want, I will have to research this language."

"… You are pretty sharp, Zaos," Dalyor said with a not amused expression on his face. "You are indeed correct about that."

"Your Majesty…" Laiex said.

"Don't worry, Laiex," Dalyor said. "It is obvious that your son realized this on his own."

"… Is there a problem with that?" Zaos asked.

"Well, yes," Dalyor said. "First of all, you will have to give up on your search for Zaos. No one in this kingdom has the authorization of researching anything related to the lost language."

"What? Why?" Zaos asked.

"I can understand your disappointment, but it can't be helped," Dalyor said. "By studying the ancient language, there is a risk that someone might find a way to revive the demon god. Due to that, for thousands of years, the royal family have been working hard to make sure that everything related to the ancient language will be forgotten."

"I am sorry, but you will have to give up on researching that," Dalyor said.

Zaos furrowed his eyebrows… as if he would give up on that. As if he would give up on trying to fix the health of his mother. Twenty-five centuries have passed since the demon god was defeated, and still, they were that scared of him. That was disappointing in more ways than one…

"Zaos, promise His Majesty that you will forget this research," Laiex said.

Laiex used his authoritative voice this time. He was speaking like the head of the family who had been serving the kingdom for thousands of years, not as his father. Still, from Zaos's perspective, that was just a minor detail. He couldn't care less who might give him that kind of order. He would ignore it anyway.

"Zaos…" Laiex said with a severe expression on his face.

"It is okay," Dalyor said. "I will trust Zaos's judgement on this matter, he is a smart kid and he will eventually understand this. You can go now, if you don't have any business here, Zaos."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Zaos said, nodded, and then left.

All the people who stayed in the room, only Laiex, knew that Zaos was stubborn enough to go against that order. He knew his son that he was crazy enough even to disobey the king if he had the opportunity to make the life of his mother even a little bit better.

"I never heard of someone reaching that conclusion on their own," Drian said. "Your boy is really something else, Laiex."

"My apologies, Your Majesty," Laiex said. "He has been trying to find a way to fix his mother's health and it seems that he doesn't intend to stop anytime soon. Once I return home, I will put some sense into him."

"Don't worry about it," Dalyor said. "Besides, I have the feeling that if you try to stop him, he will become even more eager to do the research on his own. Not to mention, the chances of him finding any traces of the ancient language after all this time are pretty dim."

"Understood," Laiex said.

While Zaos was walking toward the garden, he couldn't help but wonder what he would have to do now to solve that issue. Suppose the royal family has been working for thousands of years to keep any information of the ancient language hidden and even were manipulating information in order to prevent anyone from even imagining that once existed an ancient magic language. In that case, he will have a hard time finding any clues about it.

"I bet that in the parts where the followers of the demon god live, I can find some clues about the ancient language," Zaos thought. "However, going to that region right now is definitely impossible…"

In the end, the royal family could only make sure that any information about the ancient language could be under control within the boundaries of the kingdom. There was also a chance that Zaos could find information in other countries… but will he have time to find clues, study, and then help his mother?

"Where did you go?" Ameria asked when Zaos finally returned.

"To the toilet," Zaos said. "Anyway, don't stop. You don't need me to keep watching you while you are meditating. Besides, my instructions are simple, so I was thinking of just coming to tell you what you should do and then leave afterwards. I have a lot of things to do."

"That is not fair! Your promised that you would teach us properly," Ameria said.

"All right, all right," Zaos said. "Stop screaming in my ear and resume your meditation."

Zaos's plan to escape didn't work, but that was fine. Just leaving now wouldn't make him achieve his goals faster. Instead of acting without thinking, he had to plan his actions in the best way possible in order to achieve the best possible outcome. 

After waiting for another hour, Zaos returned to his home. Although he didn't do much, he had time to think about certain things. First of all, while he doesn't make much progress with his research regarding the ancient language, he should try to understand the language behind the symbols. Perhaps with some luck, he will be able to imagine how he could use the ancient language in more ways than one.