Chapter 61 – Chapter 9: Exception #3
If the first court gathering had caused waves, the second one was shocking.
The demon king had directly ordered a new mission at the court gathering.
This was unprecedented.
As soon as the demon king left the room, In-gong almost fled to the waiting room and covered his face with both hands. He sat down in a waiting room chair and breathed out a long sigh.
‘What is the demon king thinking?’
Demon King Mitra.
He was the strongest among the sura that was known as the best combat species.
He was paying attention to In-gong and it wasn’t just an accident.
He had noticed something about In-gong. The demon king had given In-gong a new mission… This wasn’t common for the court gatherings. The development from the first court gathering hadn’t exploded and leaked.
In-gong had once again realized the existence of the demon king from the first court gathering, something he hadn’t paid attention to when he played Knight Saga. Although the demon king had showed up at the court gatherings, he had simply watched without speaking and never gave out any missions or commands.
The existence of the demon king was the final boss on the Day of Massacre.
However, people called the demon king the ‘fake final boss’. The reason was that the condition of the demon king, Mitra, wasn’t normal.
The demon king was suffering from a disease.
He didn’t know exactly when, but it was likely that he had been ill the whole time in Knight Saga.
The demon king had hidden the disease, so hardly anyone in the Demon World had known about it. Even Zephyr, the main character of the Demon World, hadn’t known about the demon king’s disease until there was a direct confrontation.
If he had known about the demon king’s illness, the Day of Massacre would have occurred much earlier.
For Zephyr, the children of the demon king had simply been ‘enemies’. He had never once been afraid of Chris and the others who had strength.
However, the demon king had been different. Zephyr feared his power. He had aimed to surpass the demon king’s strength and once he judged that he had accomplished it, the Day of Massacre occurred.
From In-gong’s point of view, as someone who was trying to stop the Day of Massacre, it was good that Zephyr didn’t know about the demon king’s illness. Just like the secret of Caitlin’s birth, he was going to keep the secret of the demon king.
‘I don’t know what the demon king is thinking. Is it good that he has an eye on me? Does he want to raise me to become Zephyr’s rival?’
If he was the same as the demon king in Knight Saga, he wasn’t crazy like Zephyr, but he was the demon king for a reason. He respected the law of the strong in the Demon World and took for granted that the strongest of his children would become the next king.
Even at the moment when Zephyr stabbed his chest, the demon king was pleased that Zephyr was able to surpass him, despite being angry at the deaths of the queens and other royal children.
‘I don’t know. I can’t decide if this is good or bad.’
Looking back, it almost seemed like the demon king was trying to raise In-gong. The demon king might be giving support because he knew that In-gong had no background with the death of his mother.
He recalled the eyes of 4th Princess Anastasia when she looked at him. 3rd Prince Victor, who was standing beside her, had a shadowed gaze.
And Zephyr, when In-gong glanced to the side, his face had been blank.
His face had been very stiff. It had only been for a few seconds, but In-gong remembered it clearly.
He hadn’t been able to read any anger or wrath from Zephyr. Rather, it seemed like he felt somewhat pleased. It was just like the demon king at the first court gathering.
“Shutra, Shutra, Shutra.”
Felicia flopped down next to In-gong and cried out. She almost seemed like Caitlin.
However, Felicia had a pale face instead of Caitlin’s shining eyes.
She grabbed In-gong’s arm and asked,
“That… He… Is Abamama painting a target on you? Isn’t this going to cause you a lot of pain?”
In-gong opened his eyes. It could be interpreted in this way.
‘Come to think of it, doesn’t this seem right?’
Anastasia would almost certainly try to keep him in check now. In addition to Zephyr, the draconians were expected to make movements. The captains and other people in power would determine their attitude toward In-gong according to their factions.
It was likely that the demon king truly was making a target out of In-gong.
Maybe this was his method of nurturing In-gong.
In-gong cut off these thoughts for now. The information about the intentions of the demon king was too lacking. The situation was already like this, so he needed to face it.
“It seems like I won’t be able to rest properly under Prince.”
Carack complained. In fact, it wasn’t wrong to say that there had been no period of rest since the day that In-gong had first arrived.
Felicia leaned back in her chair. Like In-gong, she sighed deeply and said with folded arms,
“Anyway, it is really extraordinary. Not only did Abamama give a mission but the mission was given to Shutra.”
Her voice was quite serious. In-gong looked hastily at Felicia.
“What does that mean?”
Had there already been a person for the mission?
Felicia frowned slightly before saying,
“Didn’t you hear that a general had already failed the mission? The mission was almost certain to go to Zephyr orabeoni. (Orabeoni= more formal way to refer to an older brother.) The general that failed is a draconian. Zephyr, who is a draconian, should be the one to resolve it.”
So, that was it. The shock was bigger than the last court gathering when his name had been called.
No one had expected the 9th Prince to be in charge of the 2nd Prince’s task. It wasn’t like In-gong had suddenly taken over Zephyr’s task, but there was a precedence in this world. Felicia and everyone at the court gathering had thought that Zephyr would take on this mission.
In-gong remembered Zephyr’s gaze.
He had a white face like a statue and dark red hair.
Zephyr resembled the demon king, thoroughly hiding what he was thinking.
Carack, who was still listening, raised his hand and asked,
“If a general failed the mission, then isn’t it a very difficult task? What type of general is he?”
“General Kashubal is a intermediate level general below Vandal’s rank.”
Delia was the one who answered the question.
The independent structure of the Demon King’s Palace was quite simple.
The five captains existed at the apex.
There were 10 senior generals below him.
Underneath those were 20 intermediate ranked generals and 40 low ranked generals.
Vandal was one of the 10 senior generals.
Carack scowled after hearing Delia’s explanation. It was clear that it was a difficult mission if an intermediate general had failed.
In-gong’s expression wasn’t too different from Carack’s. Felicia sighed and said,
“Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll go with you.”
“Felicia noona?”
Unlike In-gong or Caitlin, Felicia could perform her own missions without any instructions.
Felicia snorted before turning her gaze to another place.
“It isn’t just because of you, Shutra. The Dwarf Kingdom is one of my areas of interest.”
In-gong laughed at Felicia’s answer. He spread his arms wide and hugged her.
“Thank you!”
Felicia was surprised by the sudden embrace but didn’t push In-gong away. She just smiled awkwardly.
Delia also smiled happily before Carack pulled everyone in the room back to reality.
“Then how did that general fail?”
Carack’s question touched on an important point.
Felicia pushed In-gong away gently and glanced at Delia.
“Delia?”
“I will look into it as soon as possible.”
Delia had arrived at the Demon King’s Palace yesterday, so it was natural that she didn’t know. However, her face was still full of remorse.
In-gong looked at Delia.
‘ I need information.’
Although Carack was capable, he had zero connections in the Demon King’s Palace. Just like Felicia had Delia and Caitlin had Seira, it was necessary for In-gong to have a subordinate who could collect information in the Demon King’s Palace.
‘There are candidates.’
Among the children of the concubines, there were some that he thought about. In order to become informed, a network was necessary. Therefore, they needed to be people who stayed at the Demon King’s Palace.
Felicia spoke to In-gong again,
“This time, there will be a few days to spare. Due to the nature of this mission, preparation is imperative.”
It wasn’t a scenario that required pushing enemies like the Red Lightning tribe and the casios. It wasn’t so relaxing that he could just leave straight away.
“I will be going to the Merits Department tomorrow. I need to know my merit level and the mission schedule.”
It was necessary to always visit the Merits Department at the beginning and end of a mission. Felicia nodded.
“Hrmm, then you can use the smithy and armoury. It is a good idea.”
Even in the case of a royal child, various facilities in the palace weren’t available if their merit level was too low.
He still couldn’t use the library and magic laboratory even if all his merits were combined, but he could take full advantage of the armoury and smithy.
‘Let’s arm myself properly.’
In-gong was thinking about going to the smithy. He had Earth Quaker and White Eagle but no other equipment.
In-gong needed to arm himself as well as Carack and Karma.
Felicia spoke again.
“You didn’t have time last time but it should be different now. There will be quite a few people who want to meet with Shutra.”
There would be invitations to parties, encouragements to participate in hunting competitions or even requests for a spar.
There were a great many nobles in the palace, each belonging to different factions. He could face an unexpected political crisis when meeting people.
“This might be excessive interference, but… you shouldn’t meet anybody this time. Go meet people when you have a little bit more time. Noona will introduce you to some decent people.”
It was obvious that he was in her favour. In-gong knew that Felicia would take care of him very well.
However, she was talking about introducing him to people close to 3rd Queen Silvia Doomblade.
‘Well, it is natural.’
In-gong’s current strongest allies were Chris, Caitlin and Felicia. It was natural to become friendly with people on the side of the 3rd and 4th Queens and they were probably thinking similar thoughts.
“I will do so since I will be busy preparing for the mission.”
Felicia nodded with satisfaction at In-gong’s answer.
“Okay, then we should go back. I am tired.”
Originally, the court gathering was a fun event for everyone to wear beautiful clothes. However, the mood had changed since last time.
In-gong stood up along with Felicia. Felicia was walking towards the waiting room door when she said to In-gong in a small voice,
“Although, I am a little bit envious.”
“Huh?”
“I would like to have Abamama call my name.”
In-gong blinked and Felicia raised her head. She spread her fan and covered her face.
“Let’s go.”
In-gong stepped out of the waiting room with Felicia.
&
“I would like to join you on this mission.”
