Chương 212: As Expected

Valetiel Bestos Felinis–This is the name of the King of Heldinot. I did some light reading about him and the kingdom to make sure I was well-prepared for what was to come… Well, I sifted through a stack of newspapers for the part. Leou seems to keep those in a pile for some reason. The monarch of Heldinot was a bit of an odd character in my eyes. He was a similar kind of beastfolk to Leou in terms of beast-to-folk ratio, but his family tree was messed up, and not in the usual royal kind of messed up.

It genuinely didn't make sense to the point that it felt made-up. If the information that I got my hands on was to be trusted, then he was supposedly a cheetahfolk in appearance, but also had patches of fur hinting at an ancestry of other felines… Which was absurd, as far as I was aware, as similar as they might seem, all of those felines shouldn't be capable of reproducing together. I wouldn't pretend to have enormous knowledge of such things.

I only had a few classes on the subject, but I was fairly confident in my assessment… Any clues what's up with this guy, Nara? I would like to say that it has to do with the similar kind of oddness surrounding the King of Rootriska, but the Heldinotian royal bloodline is far older than him, and it seems like such things have always been taking place in this family… But you are right, some felines can crossbreed, but only a few, and certainly not across generations like this.

The end result wouldn't be pretty That's what I figured… This information was odd, but it didn't really matter to the subject at hand. What mattered was that Valetiel Bestos Felinis had a reputation as a rather laid-back ruler. He knew how to use the carrot and the stick, but overall, he was rather easy to work with–Leou seemed to be somewhat familiar with him and believed the same thing.

I wouldn't really consider 'being nice' to be a quality for a king, but this guy had been in power for a while and seemed to be doing just fine. Though he had apparently made fewer appearances since the Nightmare Plague… My bad, I guess. I seem to have really messed up quite a lot of things by propagating my nightmares all over the place. Not that I feel bad about it, I'll do it again on the first occasion. If anything, I felt incentivised to chuck another round of Nightmare Plague.

I was gone for more than a year, and the ripple effects of my actions could still be felt to this day. Certain sectors of production in some countries were still operating below their once normal levels due to the sheer number of people whose deaths I had caused. Apparently, one of the reasons why my nightmares had been so effective at gutting certain sectors was because my nightmare trials latched onto everyone and everything.

Meaning that the 'next generation' wasn't spared, and being lesser creatures, they were far more likely to fail the final trial and die. Of course, animals and similarly less intelligent creatures basically stood no chance at survival in the final trials as well. So farmers with cattle had decreased a fair bit… Frankly, I was surprised that things weren't worse when hearing all of the things I had ruined by just sprinkling some nightmares around.

Those damned crown wearers had brought out some hidden cards to counteract all of this and keep their people in check. I suppose I sort of underestimated them in my mind. Most of the current rulers had actually risen to the throne while I was busy rotting inside a backroom. I wasn't nearly as familiar with their game as I was with the previous old bastards–In my prime, I could nearly predict when and how the former Rootriskian king would mess up with my eyes closed.

It was no wonder that he had ended up getting replaced without anyone making a fuss about it. He was unpopular across the board, and the only question was whether it would be his descendants, the people, or the military that would take him out and take his spot. In any case… Leou, me, and two other members of her personal guard got onto a nice little structure attached to the back of a giant flying beast. The snow leopard really loved those things. They seemed to be her answer to all kinds of travel.

Flying in a straight line, even if at a reasonable speed to keep things steady, was a considerably fast way of travelling. Not to mention that Heldinot wasn't exactly enormous as a country. Our destination was fairly close by. The royal palace soon came into sight… It was a completely different style compared to the royal fortress of Beelmart. Let's just say… It's very vertical.

There are tall and worryingly thin towers stretching out of it, the entire thing set on an elevated hill, surrounding a huge meadow, and then by walls, and then by the royal city… And then even more walls. The entire thing is set in the middle of what is possibly the flattest plains I have ever seen. The main structure was the central tower, thicker than the rest, and flowing with absurdly large banners–I feel like this is a fire hazard, but what do I know?

The flying beast safely landed on a platform clearly meant specifically for this. Somehow, it was only then that I noticed that some of the towers had giant winged creatures hanging from the sides of them, or sitting on their roofs. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"Don't worry about those, they have some special camouflage that makes them undetectable unless you are close to them. There are way more than what we can currently see" Talk about security… They have what look like chameleon dragons guarding the place. They probably aren't actual dragons, but they definitely look the part. We waited on the platform until someone came to fetch us. A royal guard…

But instead of being a giant like Rarelian or Godgrod, I had to crank my neck down to look at a meter-tall white bunny in a full set of plate armour. … He doesn't look menacing, but I can tell that he can probably kill everyone present faster than I can comment on the fact that his ears are just hanging out and providing an obvious weak point in his helm.

The white rabbit escorted us through the castle all by himself, which was another sign that he was actually powerful in spite of lacking the predispositions to be a threat to anything other than grass.

"Miss Palf, you may enter the throne room with one of your followers" The other two guards were left to watch the throne room's entrance as Leou and I stepped into the room after the great doors were pushed open by the rabbit's small front paws. He was just a rabbit that stood on his hind legs. He didn't have hands to hold a weapon with. How does one even achieve such a level of strength with a body so unfit for it? I would have loved to ask, but now wasn't the right time.

I had to play my role of menacing bodyguard right now. At the moment, the throne was empty, but standing on the right side of the room, all by himself, was Lunovis Boorizar. He side-eyed me in particular and then greeted Leou like normal–Is this bastard really butthurt over me making him move back? I thought he was mad about Leou having a hand in slaughtering his nephew… But he only has an attitude toward the bodyguard? I swear… No actual words were exchanged, however.

Everyone simply waited until a figure cloaked in a wine-red cloak stepped into the room. The crown on the man's head made no doubt–This was Valetiel Bestos Felinis. A man who definitely had the head of a cheetah, but whose various bits of visible fur showed patterns and colours associated with other kinds of felines. He put on a charming smile while casually sitting upon his throne, keeping his hand up the entire time to inform everyone not to bother bowing or kneeling.

He was pretty tall, just five centimeters shorter than me, I would say. His body was similarly thin to that of the cat he most closely resembled. It was just a guess, but he was probably fast as hell.

"Sir Lunovis Boorizar. Miss Leou Palf. My apologies for the delay in the response. I had some important matters to attend to… But the matter at hand today is indeed important as well. I am not a big fan of quarrels between my people, and especially not the kind I have been told this one was" He was still raising his hand, silently telling everyone to stay quiet and still. Naturally, the king wasn't going to bother asking Leou or Lunovis about what had happened.

He had already collected all of the information he needed to make a decision. The king cleared his throat. His voice was youthful, and although it fell a bit, his smile remained firmly set on his face, showing off his sharp fangs.

"So… Mister Lunovis Boorizar. You went to Miss Leou Palf's tower and threatened her, correct?" Lunovis responded immediately, but judging by the resentment that was suddenly shot my way, he didn't like having to answer this.

"Yes""Apparently, you did so because you believe she has something to do with your nephew's death… Because you found out she looked up some information on him? I must admit, I am surprised by the way you reacted to such a little fact. Miss Leou Palf is a merchant and entrepreneur. She's constantly looking for information about all sorts of people. Whether it is to see if they could be clients, business partners, or whatever""I know you well, Sir Lunovis Boorizar. It is unlike you.

Do you have anything to add that might make things look better for you? Is there something you know that neither my investigative branch nor I am aware of?"

"No" Lunovis was quite good at maintaining a straight face and expressing himself like normal, but he was fuming, and probably only a small portion of it was directed at me.

"Well then, you can't really explain your action, can you? I understand that you are seeking justice for your nephew, but threatening someone as important as Miss Leou Palf is not the way to go at all. She's to thank for a lot of the regrowth following the Nightmare Plague, after all" Valetiel Bestos Felinis scratched his chin with one claw as he turned to Leou.

"I do hope you understand that he is acting unwise and irrational because of what happened to his nephew." With a slight motion of his head, he cracked his neck.

"Nonetheless, I will have to ask Sir Lunovis Boorizar not to get anywhere close to Miss Leou Palf for the foreseeable future, to stop sending his owls to keep watch of her, her businesses, or her place of residency… And of course not to do anything that could be interpreted as aggressive or otherwise preserving the sour ambience. I will be keeping an eye on the matter" …

As expected, there wasn't any real punishment for Lunovis, but it did seem like Valetiel Bestos Felinis wasn't amused in the slightest about this whole ordeal. His face had subtly, but progressively, gotten less and less smiling as he went on. Honestly, I had been expecting to have to pull out the voice recordings of Lunovis threatening Leou, but it seemed like the king already knew for a fact that it had happened. There was no room for the owl to deny anything.

He could only keep his poker face and answer truthfully, no matter how mad it made him. Still, I heavily doubted that he would actually stop trying to investigate Leou. He would just find sneakier means to do it… Though this would definitely put a wrench in his plans. The only question I had was whether or not he would eventually give up due to a lack of evidence. Personally, I felt like he had already reached a conclusion in his head and was only seeking whatever could confirm it. Regardless…

I'll definitely kill him eventually.