Meanwhile, in the Zircodina Kingdom, one of the soldiers gave their reports on the battlefield.
"Your Majesty, we failed to assassinate the current Demon Lord."
"Current Demon Lord? What are you thinking, you fool? If you managed to finish that demon, we can finish this war faster!"
"We... we thought he was just a normal demon's spy. So we only sent rank 5 to chase him."
"You... how can you make such a mistake? Guard! I don't want to see this person here!" The king said, frustrated.
After the soldier left the palace hall, the king turned to the side, "How is the hero?"
"He... he..." The minister didn't know what to say.
"Sigh... the hero becomes so useless for us now. Luckily, the old man was there to protect my daughter."
After he had been beaten by Alex, the hero became mentally unstable. When he woke up the first time and knew what had happened, he made a ruckus on the journey. He often beat the archmage and the sage, Sandra and Ayaka. The princess was also almost beaten by him but the old marshall, who was the princess' teacher, was there to stop his madness.
At first, the king got his daughter engaged to the hero to control him ever since he noticed the lustful personalities in this hero. He thought that he could easily manipulate the hero with this strategy. And of course, when the princess was summoned back, the old marshall who always accompanied her also followed her back.
When the princess came back to the castle, she became the target of the hero right away since she was way prettier than the archmage and the sage. Since the king knew about it, he arranged an engagement between them with a few conditions. First, the hero couldn't touch her before they got married. Second, the marriage would be held as soon as they won the war.
At first, The princess was disgusted with the hero. But seeing him became stronger at a fast speed, she reluctantly agreed to her kingdom. Luckily, her father already made an arrangement where he couldn't touch her at the moment. Or she couldn't imagine what would happen to her next.
The hero increased his power at a fast speed. All of it was because he got a big status at the start. His leveling up was the effort from the soldiers who helped him. The soldiers fought the monsters first before the hero would finish them, it gave the hero a massive amount of experience to level up.
The hero was trained by the captain of the royal guard. Except for his high status, the captain was disappointed, whether in his fighting skill, character, etc. Especially his lust and his obsession to boast around.
Well, the captain continued to train him as the order of the king, the hero seemed easy to manipulate. If he could reach rank 8 or even rank 9, it would be a very big boost to the kingdom, and whoever had control over him would gain the best reward.
But everything crumbled when Alexander beat him, the guy they thought was so useless back then. The king even personally agreed with the hero's suggestion to expel Alexander who became a burden for the rest and decided to banish him from the castle.
He thought that Alexander would be useless and died somewhere with his low status. So, when Alex asked for a few gold coins to survive, the king agreed to it easily. He thought that ALex wouldn't be able to do anything alone with such a low status and few gold coins.
The best possible outcome was for him to become a merchant. If he was somewhat useful, the king could control Alexander with the power of the kingdom.
It would be like killing two birds with one stone if that happened. He just gave Alexander a few gold coins, and he became a merchant with a big profit. If that happened and he controlled Alex with his power, then it would be the best for the king.
The king didn't know what kind of knowledge exists on Earth. He thought with Alex's calm personality he could become a good merchant since it was practically impossible to become a warrior with his current status points. A merchant needed a calm personality which Alex apparently had.
But he never thought that Alex chose something beyond the king's expectation. Not only Alex became someone even stronger than the hero, he also became one of the most important young generations in the Acacia Kingdom as the dean's student. The dean wouldn't accept him if Alex didn't have any potential or strength, so the king was sure that Alex was 'strong enough' before he became the dean's student.
He started to regret his decision to banish Alex away from his kingdom. The status card only gave you the current status points, not their personalities, not their skill, nor their potential.
He regretted that he accepted the hero's wishes to banish Alex. If Alex was controlled by the king, of course, Alex would have an attachment to this kingdom. The king could slowly manipulate Alex since it took time due to Alex's personality. However, all of the efforts would be worth it.
'If only,' the king thought to himself.
"How about that person?" He then asked the minister.
The king was referring to Alex this time. He asked for all the reports about Alex that the minister could get.
"Ha! This is the report of Alexander Sirius."
"Alexander Sirius was summoned here a year ago. He was banished from this kingdom the next day. He then registered as an adventurer in the adventurer guild in this city. He decided to go to Alisia Forest. The report said he was in the forest for two months. Then he went to the Acacia kingdom. He got inside the duke, Rizertia, house after he arrived at the kingdom and lived there.
According to the report, it was said that Alex met the Third Princess of Acacia Kingdom named Princess Alicia when she went back after she visited this kingdom. In the current situation, his relationship with Princess Alicia was very close. He also got closer to another female from the Earl House. He became the student of the Dean of Acacia Royal Academy as soon as he got there.
He was crowned as the strongest of the first-year students when he got there. Then, in the first academy event, he got first place of all of the first-year students, and number 9 of the whole academy. According to our spy, he killed a rank 5 monster in that event, how he did that was unclear."
"Unclear huh..." The king sighed, "Continue."
"Ha! During the second event of the academy that required their students to explore the dungeon, he placed at number one; he was also a Gold Rank hunter."
"Gold Rank!" The king unwittingly released his aura.
The minister's face became pale. Alex as a Gold Rank hunter meant so much after all. If Alex was a Gold Rank hunter, that meant Alex had killed a rank 5 monster in the dungeon. Whether he did it alone or in a group, he surely killed a rank 5 monster. Even if he killed it with a group of students, what could a group of first-year students do to a rank 5 monster? Additionally, Alex was the strongest of the first-year students, which meant even in a group, Alex was the one who contributed the most.
"Continue," the king said hoarsely.
"Ha! After that event, we didn't detect any big movement from him. The latest was when he bea... defeated our hero."
After the minister said that, the king's expression turned sour.
That day, after Alex defeated the hero, he became the center of attention. They could get away from humiliation if only they admitted that the hero was only trained for a year after all. But the foolish thing that happened back then was when the hero made a ruckus in the arena. Even the archmage and the sage followed his suit.
He blatantly showed his lust in front of many people. Many people were disgusted by this hero, and Zircodina who summoned and groom him also got their reputation tarnished since he also got his daughter engaged to him. But that was not the worst thing, still.
The worst thing was when they knew the relationship between Alex and the hero along with his companions. The hero was Alex's former best friend, and the worst thing was when they figured out Sandra was Alex's ex-lover(?). Everybody thought that was foolish of her since she chose the hero instead of Alex. After all, the difference was very huge, whether in personalities and power.
After Alex defeated them and even cut the hero's junior, the Zircodina Kingdom became a laughing stock. The hero reached rank 3 within a year but Alex reached rank 5 at the same time. And to add salt to the wound, the king was the one who banished Alex back then.
Now the hero was called by many names. Although no one in the kingdom dared to mention the name openly, the name was still circulating. The names were 'The Eunuch', 'Hero Saving a Eunuch', 'Saving Beauty in Distress? For What?' and many others. While the king himself was called 'Foolish King' because of this incident.
He wanted to personally head toward Acacia Kingdom with an army to ask Alex back. But he was preoccupied with the war, so he couldn't do it. He was stressed by this matter so much.
"Your Majesty... what should we do?"
The king put his finger in his forehead. He pondered for a moment, "We are preoccupied with this war. I thought of sending assassins but if the assassination failed and he along with the Acacia Kingdom know that we are the ones who send them, our relationship will get worse. If he becomes stronger in the future, then he might destroy this kingdom. After all this incident, I'm sure the Acacia Kingdom will protect him unless they are a fool.
Our relationship is still repairable. Hmm... are there any noble daughters who are currently studying at Acacia Royal Academy?"
"Yes, a few of them," the minister answered.
"Ask them to get closer to him. It will be best if one or two of them manage to seduce him."
"But... won't the Acacia Kingdom think of that too?"
"Just do it. We have nothing to lose if they fail. The Acacia Kingdom can't blame the girls. After all, Alexander is currently in the spotlight."
"Ha! I will notify all of them!"
The king nodded, but suddenly, a loud bang was heard.
'BANG!'
The hall's door was opened. A soldier came in a rush and he kneeled in front of the king right away.
"Your Majesty, there is some big news."
The king frowned, "Say it!"
"Ha! Our spy just sends back a piece of information. It seems like Alexander is gravely injured and his current situation is still unknown."
The king frowned, "Good work, you can return."
"What should we do now, Your Majesty?" The minister asked again.
"Even if we send our doctor there, they need a long time to reach the Acacia Kingdom. Even a rank 7 person needs more than a week to fly there. We will wait and see first. If the Acacia Kingdom can't handle the situation, they will surely ask for help. When that time comes, we can send our doctors. Then, our relationship will eventually be better. We can also send that 'priestess' to heal him."
"Understood."
The priestess that he was talking about was Maria Fergina, Sandra's childhood friend.