novelraw Chapter 206: A King's Caliber
Chapter 206: A King's Caliber
The sky had just reached the point of the first light of dawn, yet the Golden Palace in the city center of Saint-Nazareth was brightly lit. Golden patterns were decorated on the walls like profound brands, serving as a foil to this building symbolizing the dignity of the Naris royal family, the Godolins, making it noble and holy.
The Golden Palace was overall divided into two parts, front and back. Following the gaze backward along the corridors and courtyards of the back part, behind a pool at the rear of the Golden Palace, a separately built building rose from the ground. On the exterior of the building, a golden three-ringed Godolin crest quietly watched the empire outside.
This was the bedchamber of Godolin IX, a health-preserving place specially built after he fell ill.
Looking further inside this building, pure green light flickered on the magical veils hanging down from the ceiling layer upon layer. These were healing magics specially engraved for the aged Godolin IX by Naris Magicians hired at great expense.
Only by staying inside this bedchamber wrapped in magic could Godolin IX's increasingly aging body barely be maintained.
But even so, death was still inevitably drawing ever closer to him. His periods of wakefulness were becoming shorter and shorter, and now he fundamentally couldn't even leave his bed.
The rumors circulating in Saint-Nazareth that Godolin IX limit was approaching were not wind coming from a hollow cave; Godolin IX himself thoroughly knew this point as well.
At this very morning, the large door of this bedchamber was gently pushed open. A man wearing a white robe with a rather pale complexion walked into this bedchamber.
The man's physique was somewhat frail. In recent days, it looked even more like he hadn't rested well; there was a faint layer of dark circles under his eyes. His expression was dispirited, yet his gaze pierced straight through those layers of flickering veils, looking at the bed hidden behind the veils, or rather, the person on the bed.
That was the second prince of Godolin IX, Lensis.He had been imprisoned here by his elder brother for two days. Since returning, he hadn't closed his eyes once.
Behind the bed also hung a giant oil painting. Depicted in that oil painting was Godolin IX in his youth holding a golden scepter. Beside him also stood a gentle-looking lady; although her appearance was ordinary, her brows and eyes were completely full of radiant energy.
That was the birth mother of Dexter, Lensis, and Elizabeth, and also the first queen of Godolin IX, Nera.
Godolin IX favored her the most, yet she departed from the mortal world early, just a few years after giving birth to Lensis.
"Father... you called me?"
Behind the bed covered by those veils, an old man with completely white hair and a faint aura was wearing a set of thin white pajamas. His expression was extremely faint. Even though his breath of life was already as weak as it could be right now, the space between his brows and eyes still carried an irresistible majesty that could not be ignored.
Hearing Lensis's words, Godolin IX slowly turned his head to look at him, who had halted his footsteps at the door. After pondering for a second, he waved his hand toward him,
"Come here, Lensis..."
"Yes."
Lensis didn't walk around these veils carrying healing magic like other maids. Instead, he directly lifted them open, walking straight toward Godolin IX's bed.
It wasn't until he got close that Lensis abruptly realized that today, his father's complexion and spirit were both considerably better than before.
And on his bed at this moment sat a half-open sword box. From that half-open sword box, Lensis's gaze was suddenly pierced by a dazzling golden light. The instant he felt the stinging pain, he hastily withdrew his gaze, looking downwards at the floor.
"Father, what matter do you have to call me here for?"
Godolin IX looked straight at Prince Lensis, who had his head lowered before him. His aged palm nevertheless stretched out of the quilt, slowly pushing that sword box downwards. As that sword box opened wider and wider, an oddly shaped relic, seemingly forged from gold, was exposed to the air.
That was a longsword composed of two twisting, intertwined golden substances. The sword hilt and the sword body seemed like a single entity; both sides of the sword body were as thin as a cicada's wing and incomparably sharp.
It didn't have a corresponding scabbard; that fragile wooden sword box was the sole restraining method for this relic.
Yet the moment it appeared, Lensis, with his head lowered, felt a wave of heat rush straight at his face, as if eager to completely burn away his hair and skin. A bead of sweat, unknown whether produced out of fear or high temperature, silently dripped down his cheek until it fell to the ground.
"The Sword of Godolin, the relic passed down through the generations of our Godolin family. It is the symbol of being a king. Every reigning king has the duty to pass it completely into the hands of the next reigning king..."
Upon hearing his father's words, Lensis's throat surged for an instant. He originally thought his royal father was intending to pass this king's sword to him. As a trace of greedy color flashed through his eyes, he concurrently gently raised his head to look at that relic.
But in the next second, the golden light radiating from the sword body erupted anew. Just like looking directly at the sun, Lensis's vision suddenly went white, and subsequently, a wave of intense piercing pain assailed him.
"Ah!!"
Drop after drop of tears, carrying the agony of needle pricks, caused Lensis to painfully cover his eyes. He lowered his body and half-knelt on the ground, only feeling a fiery, burning pain around his eye sockets.
Meanwhile, Godolin IX sitting on the bed merely silently gripped that Sword of Godolin. Looking at Prince Lensis losing his composure before him, a trace of anticipated disappointment surfaced on his aged face.
After pausing for a second, he flipped the sword body, facing it towards himself, moving that light away from Lensis beside the bed.
"Fa... Father..."
Godolin IX gently let out a sigh. Reaching out to stroke that golden sword body that would not decay for a millennium, he subsequently opened his mouth and said,
"Your mother departed the world early. In my youth, my chest always harbored the ambition to revive Naris's glory, thus I neglected her. Only when she departed from the mortal world did I abruptly feel that half my world was missing. From this, I consistently tried to make up for my guilt toward her onto you, her youngest son, Lensis."
Godolin IX's gaze fell on the face of Lensis, who had raised his head. His eye sockets had turned bright red because of the golden light just now, and tears constantly fell from his eyes.
"Your eyes truly resemble hers very much, which is why my gaze always tended to linger on you... But even so, I can no longer act wantonly regarding the choice of the next reigning king. All the stumbling blocks you secretly placed in Dexter's path previously, I have seen it all. Your filial piety was used in the wrong direction; this is also the result of me indulging you long-term. I should apologize to everyone."
"When the Schwari delegation was attacked, people from the Occult Bureau and the Gryphon Party spoke to me about this matter. Your elder brother also noticed something amiss. Did you think that with Helson, Marix, and the others going to the border for national defense inspections, no one would know about those little tricks you and Black played? It's merely that all factions didn't want to get involved in the Godolin royal family's affairs... Or perhaps they wished for nothing more! Wished for nothing more than for you and your brother to fight endlessly!"
Marix was the director of the Occult Bureau, and Helson was the Grand Mage appointed by the royal family. Now that Schwari and Naris had reconciled, the previous border matters would also be renegotiated. Many powerful, prominent figures in Saint-Nazareth had rushed to the border to establish the new borders and defense affairs, which made Lensis perceive an opportunity he could exploit.
Godolin IX's aged and calm words were spat out sentence by sentence, while Lensis's head bowed lower and lower, his hands also gripping his robe deadly tight.
"You don't even have the courage to look straight at the king's sword, Lensis. How can you make me continue to favor you? You fundamentally do not possess the caliber of a king... While Dexter is sometimes prone to hesitation, his ability is suited for this position; even your elder sister Elizabeth, she is a woman, yet she has helped Naris garrison the frontiers for so many years, and even facilitated our reconciliation with Schwari..."
Godolin IX's words didn't finish, but the ultimate meaning was already extremely obvious.
Among the three children born to the queen, only Lensis was trash that accomplished nothing, who always liked to sneakily cause minor destruction...
However, inside Lensis's heart was actually as clear as a mirror. Although he wasn't overly smart, he still understood basic reasoning.
Back when he had Black attack the Schwari delegation, Godolin IX had evidently already known everything but didn't tell Dexter and the others. His discovery was completely investigated by Dexter. This showed that his royal father back then knew he was searching for a method of longevity for him...
He implicitly assented to his actions back then, harboring a sliver of hope in Black's eternal life. Yet now he was rebuking him like a father disappointed in his child. That expression made Lensis enraged to the extreme.
Gazing at the wordless Lensis before him, Godolin IX coughed a bit, shook his head as if sighing, and continued speaking,
"Let it be. Your elder brother is merciful; he will not do anything to you... After I'm gone, strictly be a noble, be the king's younger brother... just like your elder sister Elizabeth. As long as you and Elizabeth are safe and sound, it will be fine."
"...Yes."
With his head lowered, Lensis trembled slightly, expressing his agreement.
But Godolin IX failed to notice that his hands were clenching his clothing tighter and tighter.
"Cough cough, alright. Now that Black is willing to hand over his shares and leave Saint-Nazareth, once he gets that demi-human, this matter will be considered finished... Where are your elder brother and sister? Where did they go? Call them over, I have matters I wish to say to them."
Lowering his head, Lensis's voice was very soft and very respectful,
"This morning, Black burned down the Pink Pavilion and his mansion. He himself left the city district and headed toward Lake Naris. Elder brother transferred away the guards near Lake Naris, ignoring his affairs..."
"Yesterday, Fisher Benavides disregarded elder brother's suggestion and escaped with elder sister's help. The Son of the Sea is in his hands, so Black should have gone to find him. Now elder brother has gone to handle the aftermath of the Pink Pavilion. Elder sister hasn't returned to the Golden Palace from yesterday until this morning; she doesn't know where she went..."
"Nonsense! Fisher is a Naris orphan without father or mother. Elizabeth favoring him is enough for him to be deeply grateful! How could she drag things out with him for so long, and even dared to help him like this this time... Cough cough, quickly send people to call those two back!"
"Yes, I will go call them right now. However, royal father, I'm afraid you won't be able to hold on until you see elder brother..."
Lensis's words became lower and lower. By the time Godolin IX had coughed and finished saying his final sentence, Lensis's expression was gloomy. Looking at his father before him, it was just like looking at a dead person who was about to die.
"You..."
The instant a feeling of dread welled up in his heart, before Godolin IX could even utter the first word from his mouth, the man before him abruptly sprang up hideously. Both hands clamped deadly onto the aged man's neck before him, pinning him firmly to the bed.
Godolin IX was far too weak and aged. He couldn't even tightly grip the golden sword in his hand, causing it to powerlessly slip away, falling straight down beneath the bed and emitting a crisp metallic sound.
A rootless golden flame spread slightly along the floorboards, but quickly extinguished, because the owner of that relic, Godolin IX, was already situated in a condition of dying.
"What do you know! What do you know! Let me ask you, royal father!"
"Cough cough... Release..."
With blue veins bulging on both hands, Lensis glared at the old man on the bed whose eyeballs were almost popping out. He roared at him hysterically, as if he wanted to vent all the unwillingness accumulated over so many years.
"Do you think Dexter is some good person? Do you think he's the kind of guy who would consider brotherly affection? That hypocrite, just like you, his harmony and mercy are entirely a persona put on for outsiders to see! What he excels at most is disdain, disdaining my everything, denying my everything!"
"For these past twenty-plus years, I've been like trash that accomplished nothing! He puts on an act, performing in front of you and the populace. What a benevolent and righteous eldest prince! Yet in private, he has to hypocritically mock me, as if I'm just trash who hogged your favor yet achieves nothing!"
"Even Elizabeth, you could give her an army and let her go out to handle affairs. Why can't I?! I am unwilling! I am unwilling! I'm going to kill you! And then kill that hypocrite Dexter! I want all of you to go to hell!"
On the bed, Godolin IX's struggles grew weaker and weaker. The healing magics within the bedchamber all flickered with intense light, fully exerting their maximal efficacy. This caused the force in Lensis's hands to increase by several more points.
And behind the bed, that portrait depicting Godolin IX and Lensis's birth mother, the queen, quietly watched Lensis, who was currently committing violence on the bed. Under his mother's line of sight, Lensis was as furious as a wild beast.
The light of the golden sword beside the bed grew increasingly dim. In the very next moment, all the healing magics in the entire bedchamber abruptly extinguished. Lensis also panted and backed away several steps. Looking at Godolin IX on the bed, whose manner of death was utterly tragic, he was momentarily stunned and speechless.
He... killed his own father?
He panted, not much sorrow in his gaze, only madness hollowed out by unwillingness and anger. He suddenly turned toward that Sword of Godolin, which had regained its dimness and fallen to the ground. Stopping for a second or two, he slowly stretched out his hand toward that precious sword.
The instant his arm contacted that precious sword, that precious sword lit up with golden light anew.
"The Sword of the King..."
Lensis also began laughing crazily. Lifting that lightweight precious sword, he aimed it at Godolin IX, who had already stopped breathing on the bed,
"What king's caliber... As long as you're dead, it's mine! I also have to kill that bastard Dexter! Have him accompany you!"
"Lensis! What have you done?"
Not long after he raised the sword, a sudden rush of clashing armor sounded from outside the bedchamber. Lensis momentarily stared blankly, slowly turning his head to look outside the bedchamber, using the golden sword to completely slash apart the healing magics obstructing his line of sight.
Outside the door, Dexter, dressed in a brown suit with a sunken face, took the lead and violently barged in front of the bedchamber leading a group of knights. Through those knights acting like walls of steel, and Dexter, Lensis also saw Isabelle and his younger brothers standing behind, looking at him with pale faces full of disbelief.
The expression with which they looked at him was like a bloodthirsty beast...
"Lensis! You actually frantically murdered royal father?! You damned, ungrateful beast! Men, go capture him for me. I want to announce your monstrous crimes to all the Naris people!"
"Heh heh..."
Looking at Dexter standing at the front of the crowd, Lensis gave a mocking smile. Instead, he raised the golden sword in his hand and pointed it straight at him. Being pointed at by that Godolin relic flashing with golden light, even Dexter, who felt assured of victory, had his breath stagnate.
That thing possessed a natural counter relationship against Naris people; the prestige of Godolin I's sword was not exaggerated.
"Frantic? Beast? Right, I am... But do you think you're any good thing, Dexter?!"
Pointing his golden sword outside the bedchamber, he roared furiously at those knights and Isabelle and the others behind them,
"There have always been knights and maids guarding outside royal father's bedchamber. Except this time, when I came, there were none! Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? You took all those knights away, wasn't it to make it convenient for me to strike?! Now that I've killed him, are you satisfied? I'm telling you, not only am I going to kill him, but I'm also going to kill you and Elizabeth. All of you who look down on me deserve to die!"
Lensis had already completely descended into madness. His face was pale, yet his eyes were terrifyingly red.
Meanwhile, standing amidst the knights, Dexter's expression changed slightly. But looking at Lensis, who had already plunged into a desperate situation with no way out, that slightly shifting expression quickly reverted back to calmness. He gently waved to the knights beside him and shouted loudly,
"Stop spouting nonsense, hurry and subdue him!"
"Come on!"
Lensis grasped the Sword of Godolin with both hands. The golden light of the sword body grew increasingly intense, concurrently bursting forth with wave after wave of incredibly terrifying high temperatures. The patterns of that light climbed along Lensis's arm, quickly leaving a faint pattern upon it.
In the next second, he fiercely raised the sword blade in his hands high and slashed it toward the knights in front. From the golden sword, a massive amount of rootless golden flames inexplicably rose in the air.
Those terrifying golden flames acted like the tangible extensions of that golden sword, instantaneously transforming into a terrifying wave of qi that spread ahead.
In an instant, the healing magics above the bedchamber were all scorched by that terrifying high temperature, subsequently erupting into golden, high-temperature flames.
"Crash!"
The leading Dexter's face changed slightly. Raising his hand toward the knights beside him, he said,
"Protection!"
After speaking this sentence, he turned his head again to look at Isabelle and the younger brothers standing at a loss behind. He hesitated for a second, but still had the maid beside them take them back.
"Take them back to their rooms!"
"I... I won't leave, let go of me!"
Isabelle was dragged away from the scene by the maid. After that, the knights standing at the entrance to the bedchamber successfully raised the knightly swords in their hands, which were covered in magical patterns. Under their will, one of the complex patterns was illuminated, subsequently converging slowly along that pattern into a dark blue protective magic.
"Die! Die! Die!"
Holding that relic radiating terrifying light with both hands, Lensis stood before Godolin IX's corpse and confronted Dexter and his group. But those flames had already rapidly ignited the entire bedchamber.
Seeing his father's corpse about to be scorched by the flames, Dexter ultimately gently pinched the ring in his hand.
In places Lensis couldn't see, behind the bedchamber slowly stood up humanoid shadows. Those shadows only had a simple human form, yet they were exceptionally strong, and a long dagger was even equipped in their hands.
That was the relic, the guards created by the [Shadow Guard Artifact].
The combat strength of this kind of shadow was actually extremely strong. They were generally responsible for protecting the members of the Godolin royal family, while the main body of the relic was kept with Dexter.
Elizabeth herself had already come of age, and moreover was the commander-in-chief of the army, so she didn't need this thing's protection.
Whereas Lensis, although he had no skills, his temper was big!
Unwilling to be sheltered by Dexter, he had driven these things away early on. So when Dexter arrested him at the Healing House back then, besides a few attendants, there was nothing around him.
Those shadow guards raised the daggers in their hands toward Lensis. Following that, one by one, all the shadows transformed into a substantial viscous substance extending in his direction. A shadow entangled his footsteps, a shadow entangled his arm, and an even larger shadow giant mouth abruptly emerged behind his back desiring to swallow him whole.
"Roll away!"
Lensis roared, wielding his sword again toward the surrounding shadows. A massive golden flame sprayed toward the surroundings like an ocean wave. The irresistible high temperature caused the shadows to be dispelled. But those shadows couldn't be killed completely without killing Dexter.
"Roll away! Roll away! Roll away!"
Dexter looked at Lensis constantly struggling and resisting on the field, his expression slightly cold. Unhurriedly, he softly opened his mouth to the knights beside him,
"...Kill him then."
"Yes!"
That knight raised the grand sword in his hand, and a ring among the complex patterns engraved on it was illuminated once again. Following that, he aggressively pointed at Lensis, and an illusory blue longsword flew over accordingly, piercing straight into Lensis's shoulder, ferociously striking a bloody hole in his body.
"Dexter! I will kill you!"
With his body injured, Lensis's face became even paler. Clenching his teeth, he no longer paid attention to the shadows behind him. Instead, he held the sword in his hands and charged toward Dexter recklessly.
Along with his blood and anger, the golden sword in his hand instantly burst forth with light akin to the sun. Amidst Dexter's shocked gaze, those flames instantaneously incinerated the entire roof of the bedchamber to ashes.
"Protect His Highness Dexter!"
Countless knights raised their shields and blocked in front of Dexter. Bearing a crazy smile, Lensis charged recklessly forward. But barely a step or two out, Lensis abruptly uncontrollably collapsed onto the floor.
He turned his head in surprise to look at his hands holding the sword, only to see that Godolin's golden sword had inexplicably completely incinerated his own hands at some point. That piercing golden light had entirely penetrated into his body, cleanly burning away the blood and five viscera and six bowels inside him.
Being able to hold the sword and fight for so long just now was already considered lucky for him. Taking these one or two steps charging at Dexter now was precisely the final straw that crushed his body.
At this moment, Lensis's legs had already turned into flying ash like dry wood. With only his upper body left, Lensis distractedly watched that golden light continuously spreading into his body, while he remained powerless to stop it...
It, is going to kill me?
Lensis sharply felt it. This relic was rejecting him, rejecting the person Lensis Godolin.
"Retreat! Don't go near him!"
Watching the terrifying golden flames constantly burning upon Lensis's body, Dexter yelled out like this to the knights beside him.
The entirety of Godolin IX's bedchamber had begun to burn, along with Godolin IX's corpse, and would soon disappear from this world.
With his body constantly being burned, Lensis was already powerless to resist. Right before dying, he could only painfully roll over on the ground. Amidst a sea of golden fire, after finishing this action, Lensis's four limbs completely turned into dry wood, losing sensation.
A drop of unwilling tear fell straight down his cheek, but Lensis felt nothing at all, still staring fixedly at that oil painting burning amidst a sea of fire.
The golden flames had already completely burned away the portion with the young Godolin IX in the painting, yet Queen Nera beside him still quietly watched Lensis.
Before he could remember things, his own mother had already departed from the mortal world. And now within his own mind, only a tiny bit of blurry impression remained of her...
"The caliber of a king, is it..."
"Mother ah..."
This soft murmur whose meaning was unknown could be heard by no one else besides himself.
Because in the next second, the enormous golden flames had already swallowed the entire bedchamber. Dexter covered his mouth and retreated into the courtyard. But looking at the mess before him, looking at Lensis and his royal father slowly vanishing into the flames, his eyes still revealed a hint of sorrow.
In theoretical planning, one could obviously casually cross out the names of the younger brother and father who obstructed one's advance. But when family members truly perished before your eyes, you would still feel a sort of inexplicable sense of loss.
He let out a gentle sigh and sat down on the grass absent-mindedly.
The flames of the golden sword burned faster than any other fire. Very quickly, that vast bedchamber was left with only a skeleton and pitch-black ashes.
The corpses of Lensis and Godolin IX had vanished without a trace. Only that golden sword, still flashing with golden light, stood in place, quietly looking at Dexter in front of it.
"Boom!"
Right as Dexter just wanted to take action, a loud blast that resounded through the world suddenly erupted from the direction of Lake Naris in the distance, causing Dexter to look toward that direction in disbelief.
"What's going on?"