Even though so many events have happened recently, humans are beings who always forget things fast.
On this day, or rather this night, the festival that had been temporarily halted because of the previous events had resumed at full tempo. Wherever you looked, you could see people dancing, laughing, and playing around.
One of the causes was that the civilian casualties or property damage had been pretty low. In fact, if not for Nihil’s grand entrance, a great part of the civilians would not even have known that something had happened before the next morning.
The second reason was that they knew that the prince would enter the Astral realm today.
For humans, this day marked something very important.
Since the day of the second King, Pluto the peaceful King, there was something that had been made clear. Every time the crown prince or princess came back from the Astral dimension, it would be with an incredible surge of power.
In this world where Might made Right, what the commoners needed wasn’t a kind and benevolent ruler, but someone who could give them the protection they sought.
A weak ruler meant a weak country and a weak country meant that you would be bullied by everyone, while your population would be hunted and treated as slaves.
This was the harsh reality of this world.
Of course, if the King was both strong and kind, then he would be seen as the perfect ruler in the eyes of commoners.
[Church of Castitas]
Sitting in a secret room of the church, Sol absentmindedly observed the people below.
Currently, the church was almost full as children of age were being tested openly. After the test, some would go away with dejected eyes while others with large smiles plastered on their face. The hall they were using reminded Sol of one belonging to a catholic cathedral, only, much wider.
Today was an annual event for everyone in Lustburg. A national event that was being held in all the big territories of the kingdom where the church had its branches.
It was the greatest occasion for commoner children to separate themselves from the masses and get a chance to be sponsored by rich merchants or nobles.
If they had a high enough Capacity[1] to form a contract with a B rank or at least a C rank magical being, then it wasn’t impossible for their destiny to change completely.
Sadly, the reality was cruel.
The chances to awaken with at least 10 Capacity points were no more than 10%. As for the chance of getting a Capacity high enough to contract with an S rank being, which was 100 CP, the chance of it happening was 0.0001%.
Even the worst RNG would not give such a despair-inducing low rate.
What made capacity so important was because the innate difference between a Tier 3 creature and a Tier 2 or Tier 1 was insane.
Tier 3 went from rank E to C and were able to use mana from their birth thanks to having their mana veins open. But that was all. In a way, aside from being able to use mana as soon as they were born, the sole difference between Tier 3 magical beings and Humans were their physical abilities.
But Tier 2 magical beings, which went from B to A could awaken their horns and had a higher chance to awaken a special type of magic.
Sol could distinctly remember his fight against Setsuna. The moment she used her horns, it was like he was facing a completely different being.
Furthermore, she had access to three natural elements. Though it seemed that her control over water and wind was quite lacking as of yet.
What really made tier 2 magical beings important was the fact that they had high chances of entering the Duke realm and this, more than anything, was attractive.
Because he had been surrounded by a bunch of powerful beings for as long as he could remember, Sol had grown somewhat used to it, but in reality, reaching the Duke realm was already enough to become renowned in the world as a powerhouse.
Since obtaining a tier 2 being meant high chances of obtaining a Duke title, the nobles, the crown, or the church would do anything to snatch such a prize.
Though generally, such talented people were already scions of powerful noble families, like Athena.
As for S rank magical being, or Tier 1. They were at a completely different level and were assured to reach the level of Duke at their maturity, with a high chance of becoming a King.
While he did not know the capacity of his predecessors, he knew that they had never had less than two or more companions of at least A or B class. Which would mean that all the previous Kings or Queens had at least more than 100 Capacity points.
His father, Mars, had a ridiculous capacity of 350, while in his own case, he had broken that record and reached an unprecedented 500.
Once again, there was only 0.0001% to reach 100 capacity points. Every time Sol thought about how low the chances of ‘simply’ reaching 100 capacity points were, he couldn’t even begin to phantom how low the chances were to reach beyond it and could only laugh at how much rigged the game was for the royal family.
Sol was the ninth King. This means that an almost impossible odd repeated itself nine times.
If this wasn’t a rigged game, then what was it?
'Once is happenstance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is enemy action–though in this case, it's the goddesses' action.'
He chuckled inwardly.
Of course, he wasn’t sanctimonious enough to cry injustice and ask for equal rights. This rigged game favored him, so why should he complain?
Not only was he an S class, but he could also form a contract with many beings that had a high chance of becoming Kings or Dukes.
What’s more, since he was a dimensional mage, then, as long as he did not die, he was assured of becoming a Demi-god.
He was a future king, a future powerhouse, and was surrounded by a plethora of beautiful and powerful women who were crazy for him.
‘Man, my life is beautiful.’
This was why, in the deepest part of his heart—Sol felt afraid.
Since he had everything from the start, it meant that he had only things to lose. He did not wish for his life to become a tragedy.
“-ness...Your highness.”
“Humm?”
He was brought out from his brooding by a voice he did not recognize at first, but then, it came back to him.
Focusing on the armored man kneeling in front of him, he asked,
“What is the matter — White Knight?”
The man standing in front of him, or rather the young man, for Sol knew that he was not that much older than him was the white knight he should have fought before fighting Setsuna back then in the coliseum.
The elite forces of the church were the paladin. Their mission was to protect the different priestesses when they went out of the capital to accomplish miracles and the like.
The title of White Knight was given to the most talented of them all and his mission was to protect the Holy Daughter of Castitas and if necessary, serve as a meat shield for the Supreme Daughter.
Of course, in this generation, the situation of this knight was quite awkward. After all, there was no Holy Daughter for him to protect and as for serving as a shield for the Supreme Daughter. He would not even last 3 seconds against a King as he was now.
When they had first met this evening, Sol had been ready for some hostility. After all, he remembered that the knight had somewhat of a crush on Camelia since she was the one who saved him when he was a kid.
But none of this happened.
This could only mean that either this man was able to hide all his negative feelings, or he was genuinely sorry. Another possibility was that Camelia used her power to brainwash him, but she had assured him that she only activated her control on people who showed signs of betrayal.
Even though Sol did not quite believe Camelia as much as he did in the past, he did not wish to reach the level where he doubted all her words. As such, he chose to believe her in this.
The white knight on the other hand was looking at the young prince, and future king of Lustburg, and he had to admit that he was quite surprised.
‘How did he grow so much in such little time?’
Even though Camelia had bound and gagged him back then[2], he had still been present in the coliseum and had observed his fight with the wolf girl standing in silence behind the prince.
From what he had observed, he was sure that if he fought with his partner, he would win without much problem.
But right now,
*Gulp*
‘We would lose now if we fought him now.’
He did not know why, but he could feel a certain ‘weight’ that the prince had been lacking in the past. A regal aura of authority or power or a mix of both. At the same time, he felt as if he was standing in front of a dangerous beast rather than a human being.
This wasn’t all, after the prince formed his own contract, the difference in power would become even wider.
A bitter taste spread in his mouth at the realization that his years of training were nothing in front of such monstrous talent. But at the same time, he felt joy.
Joy at the fact of having a powerful ruler, and joy at the fact that the woman he respected more than anything in the world was not wrong in her choice.
Even though he had a crush on Camelia in the past, he knew that he could never walk alongside her. But the prince could.
Sol could protect her while he could not.
Sol could make her face lit up in joy at the mere mention of his name, while he couldn’t.
Finally and honestly the most important point, Camelia loved Sol, not him.
This was more than enough for the white knight to give up.
All he wished for was her happiness.
Everything he had was thanks to her, and he would never forget her grace.
Bowing his head deeper, he answered the question,
“Her grace told me to inform you that your turn would soon come. After all, the nobles of age get tested, it would be your turn to show your capacity to the world.”
“...Is that so?”
Being a King was no different from being a star in a way. If you did not show yourself, if you did not appear grand like a star shining high in the sky, people would not give you the respect they ought to.
Even though Sol already knew his Capacity, he needed to show it to the world. To show to both the commoner, noble, and foreigner alike that the prince was different from the masses, that his talents knew no bounds.
For royalty, being humble meant being weak. Nothing more, nothing less.
Standing up, he moved the black cape behind him and began to walk away.
“Well then, the show shall go on. As they say.”
All the feelings of fear and stress and worries vanished from his face.
A ruler should never show his weak face if it wasn’t necessary to gain the affection of the populace.
In the assembly hall, after the noble’s children were tested, some with surprisingly good results as three with CP between 30 and 50 had been discovered this year, the mood was at an all-time high.
The nobles were already noting the name of the three lucky guys, even though they knew that those three would most likely join the paladins or the black knights.
Standing on the podium, the priestess that had been doing the testing, took a step back and let a golden-haired woman take their places.
She wore a long white robe and her face was hidden behind a veil.
But no one could confuse her for anyone else.
The moment she entered, even with an announcement, all the people present, be it commoners or high nobles felt as if their heart was being cleansed. It was as if they were standing in front of something that was simply too beautiful to look at.
But before they could even compose themselves, a second announcement caused their hearts to drum.
“His highness, the legitimate crown prince of Lusturg, Sol Dragona Luxuria! May his light shine on the Kingdom!”
The large doors opened while all noises vanished.
Then, the silence was replaced by the sound of slow and steady steps.
Finally, once Sol appeared in front of their high, clad in gold and white, Camelia’s voice resonated,
“Kneel in front of the crown prince and salute his arrival.”
Then, like a wave in the sea, all the people present, no matter what was their standings, kneeled chanted in unison,
“Welcome, Your highness!”
[1]:
-----3rd tier
E=10 CP
D=20
C=30
------2nd tier
B=50
A=70
------ 1st tier
S=100
[2]
(AN: The tiers were first explained by Medea in CH 25. For the chances of awakening Capacity, it was in CH 12. Setsuna and Sol used their horns in CH 54. Hahaha. Man what an epic scene. Though I feel like I went a little overboard. Man, topping this scene for his true coronation, when he will finally go from His highness to His Majesty will be difficult. But I believe I can do it. Anyway, while some might complain because of all the information in this chapter. I believe it's necessary. After all, some of my readers have been with me for more or less 13 months ago now. Things tend to get blurry after so long.)
