Water Magician

Vol 4. Chapter 712: Unchanging Peace

712. Unchanging Peace

The world was at peace.

In particular, the King of the Knightley Kingdom’s office was at peace.

As always, Abel signed documents.

As always, Ryo sprawled limply across the sofa, reading a book on alchemy.

Nothing had changed.

“Abel, you have changed.”

“Huh?”

“You cannot deceive the eyes of the one who is always here monitoring you!”

Ryo sat up from the sofa as he said that, then struck a pose as if pushing up his glasses.

In his mind, he was a prosecutor cornering a suspect.

Apparently, prosecutors wore glasses in Ryo’s imagination....

“That’s less monitoring and more just lying around reading books.”

“The foundation of monitoring is to make sure the subject under observation doesn’t notice.”

“You just told me yourself that you were monitoring me....”

Abel’s point was ignored by Ryo.

“Compared to before we were sent to the Eastern Countries, Abel, your workload has decreased.”

“My workload?”

“That!”

Ryo said it and thrust out his index finger.

Its target was the mountain of documents piled on Abel’s desk.

“Before, there was a lot more.”

“Ah....”

“It’s already been a month since we came back. Right after returning, I could understand fewer tasks coming around because it had been so long. But after a month, it should have gone back to normal. And yet there are fewer documents.”

“Don’t ask me.”

Abel himself knew the reason.

“And you’re swinging your sword in the morning too, aren’t you? Before, you didn’t have time for that.”

“You know surprisingly well that I swing my sword before noon, even though you’re sparring with Sera then.”

“Of course. That kind of information reaches me.... Wait. Before noon? Do you mean not just in the morning, but all the way until noon?”

“Yes, that’s right. Sometimes I spar with the knight orders as well.”

Abel shrugged.

“I have confirmed that Abel is racing headlong down the path of a battle maniac day by day. Before long, you will surely be called the Battle King, or the Gladiator King.”

“What is that supposed to mean...?”

After being sent to the Eastern Countries together with Ryo, Abel had remembered.

The feeling of wanting to become stronger.

He had once had it, back when he was the second prince....

And by the time he had formed the Red Sword, he had lost it....

The one who had reminded him of that feeling was the water-attribute magician pointing it out from his usual sofa before Abel’s eyes.

“I remembered that I want to become stronger. That is all.”

“Pursuing strength alone only leaves you empty.”

“I don’t know why, but hearing that from you doesn’t sit right with me.”

Words that would be praised if a sage spoke them apparently could not be accepted by Abel when Ryo was the one saying them.

Perhaps that meant words were not about their content, but about who said them.

“Well, I was away from the country for a year. It’s only natural that the system changed so decisions and other matters could proceed without me.”

“I see.”

Apparently, all sorts of things that had once required King Abel’s approval had been changed so that they no longer needed his approval.

“But even then, someone still has to approve things, right? Is Chancellor Heinlein doing it?”

“Marquis Heinlein is doing some, of course... but apparently a fairly large portion has been distributed to the ministers.”

“People like the lord of finance, then.”

Ryo answered with a nod.

Ryo remembered.

A person who had once existed, called “Lord of Finance Fuka.”

A person whose name resembled “Lord of Finance Fouquet” from Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece The d’Artagnan Romances.

The lord of finance was, in modern Japanese terms, the finance minister—the person who oversaw the Ministry of Finance.

But some matters naturally required approval across multiple ministries.

Of course, Alexis, Marquis Heinlein, the chancellor who headed the chancellor’s office, would approve those, but there ought to be quite a few things that required royal approval....

“There is {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} someone who approves them on my behalf.”

“On the king’s behalf...?”

“Under the Kingdom’s laws, the previous king can do it.”

“His former Majesty? Abel’s father? He recovered?”

“Yes. I see. You still didn’t know.”

Former King Stafford the Fourth.

He was Abel’s father, but for a long time he had been drugged by the Empire’s scheme. Even after the Knightley Kingdom Liberation War ended, he had remained under treatment at the Central Temple.

When Ryo had set out for the Western Countries, Stafford should still have been unable even to sit up....

“I’ll introduce you to him eventually.”

“Eh.... You really don’t need to introduce someone like me....”

“I can hardly not introduce the Premier Duke.”

Abel shrugged.

It was an entirely sound argument.

“I-I’m bad with adults....”

“You’re an adult too.”

In the Knightley Kingdom, people came of age at eighteen, becoming legal “adults.”

“I would like my heart to remain forever that of a boy.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

“Long ago, a great man said, ‘Boys, be ambitious.’”

“Adults are allowed to have ambitions too, aren’t they?”

“Th-that is true, but....”

Abel said it with his head tilted, and Ryo, struck by one sound argument after another, suddenly found himself on the back foot.

At times like this, changing the subject was the only option.

“Abel, do you have any great ambition?”

“To become stronger.”

“Ah, something besides that.”

“Let’s see.... If I had the choice, I’d like to travel all over the world and see it.”

Abel said it with his eyes a little distant.

For a former adventurer, perhaps that was only natural.

At the same time, it might also be an impossible wish for someone who had taken the position of king.

Because he could not leave his country for a long period.

No....

In reality, Abel had been away from the Kingdom for about a year.

“In my homeland, royal diplomacy was quite common....”

Ryo murmured the words.

Of course, that was probably due in large part to constitutional monarchy and the development of airplanes.

In a political system close to absolute monarchy, like the Knightley Kingdom—in other words, a system in which much power was concentrated in the king—it was easy for anyone to understand why it would be difficult for the king to leave the country for a long period.

“This may be your last chance to travel around the world.”

“Hm?”

“If Abel’s father... if His former Majesty has recovered.”

“Ah, that’s what you mean. Well, in the Empire too, former Emperor Rupert is handling affairs as acting emperor.”

“The previous eldest son... Helmut, was it? He was struck down by the King of the Riders. After that, no one new has taken the imperial throne, then. Even while we were gone, all this time....”

“That’s right. Under normal circumstances, the emperor’s younger brother, Lord Konrad, would likely have been next... but he remains a duke.”

Perhaps the world moved more slowly than Ryo had thought.

“If Abel, the current king, appeared at the imperial castle in Debuhi, even His Majesty Rupert would be surprised.”

“He certainly would be surprised, but....”

“In the end, diplomacy is between people. Of course conflicts of interest between nations exist. But when the person who represents one nation makes a promise, the head of the other nation believes it.... That sort of thing does happen. Of course, that comes with the condition that, at the foundation, those two people trust each other as people.”

“Yes, that is true.”

Abel thought of Rupert of the Empire, whom he had met on the battlefield, and Lord Aubrey of the Federation.

Neither was someone he could afford to let his guard down around, of course.

Moreover, for the sake of their own countries’ interests, they would deceive another country without hesitation—or rather, they likely would not hesitate to set schemes in motion.

Even so, there were parts of them he could trust.

Neither of them would sacrifice their own people without a second thought....

He could believe that much.

They were not vulgar men.

That was what Abel thought.

“If Abel personally moving brings benefit to the Kingdom, I will not stop you.”

“I see. Thank you.”

When Ryo said that, Abel nodded several times.

“In fact, I have been consulting various people about that area.”

“Consulting?”

“Rihya, Father, and Marquis Heinlein, for example.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, once it’s decided, I’ll tell you too.”

“I’ll wait with anticipation.”

Ryo nodded at Abel’s words.

But Abel’s words did not end there....

“Hm. This is just the right time.”

Abel looked at the clock and murmured.

Naturally, Ryo had no idea what he meant... but sensing danger, he stood and started toward the door.

“Hey, Ryo!”

“Eh....”

Naturally, Abel stopped him.

“We’re going to Father’s office now.”

“What? You just said you would introduce me eventually. That doesn’t mean today.”

“It seems best to introduce you today, right now. Before you run away.”

“How did that happen...?”

“Father’s office is in the detached building. Come on.”

“Ehh....”

Abel seized Ryo firmly by the scruff of the neck.

Ryo was dragged away.

To the people of the royal castle, the sight was heartwarming and nostalgic....

“Excuse me, Father.”

Saying that, Abel entered the former king’s office in the detached building.

“Excuse me.”

Ryo followed him in.

At least he was no longer being dragged by Abel.

In fact, there was not even a trace left of the weak aura he had given off while he was being dragged.

Of course, he was not acting arrogant, nor was he stiffening his shoulders and elbows.

He was natural.

He was not trying too hard.

Because he understood that trying to make himself look bigger would be pointless before this person.

If that was the case, showing himself as he was would be better.

Ryo was Ryo.

Seeing the two of them enter, former King Stafford the Fourth rose from his chair.

It seemed true that he had recovered completely.

There was not the slightest hint of frailty from someone who had supposedly been bedridden all that time.

He was a king in every sense.

Ryo thought Abel had come to wear the face of a king.

He thought Abel had also acquired a king’s dignity.

He did not deny that.

But the former king who rose to greet the two of them....

As expected of Abel’s father.

Ryo felt that honestly.

Ryo had seen Stafford only once.

It had been on the night they retook the royal capital, when Abel had shown his face to Stafford, who was in the Central Temple for treatment.

Ryo had watched the two meet from the corner of that room.

At that time, Stafford had not been able to utter a single word.

He had barely managed to nod in response to Abel’s words.

The difference between then and now was staggering.

“Father, please allow me to introduce Duke Rondo.”

The moment Abel said that, Ryo dropped to one knee and bowed to Stafford.

“No, Duke Rondo, please stand.”

“Eh?”

Stafford took Ryo’s hand and helped him rise.

“I have heard that to Abel, Duke Rondo is not a vassal, but a friend. That Carmelo asked this of you, and that you have remained so.”

“Carmelo?”

“The previous Margrave of Rune.”

Abel added the explanation for Ryo, who had tilted his head.

Indeed, the Margrave of Rune at the time had asked Ryo to “be King Abel’s friend.”

Even now, Ryo still did not know whether he had been doing that well.

“I too was once king... so I know that those who are kings cannot make friends.”

Stafford said it with a sorrowful expression.

“No. There were once men I might have called friends. Ilarion, Arthur.... They must have noticed that something was wrong with me. But we had not built the environment, nor the relationship, where they could speak frankly. I used to think that was simply what it meant to be king... but after hearing of the relationship between Duke Rondo and Abel, I now wonder whether another possibility may have existed.”

As Stafford spoke, his eyes softened as he looked at Ryo.

Of course, Ryo listened in silence. Even Ryo understood that this was not a moment where he should interrupt.

“Duke Rondo, from now on as well, I ask that you remain King Abel’s good friend.”

“Leave it to me, Your Majesty.”