I woke up a day and a half later. That may sound like a long time, but given the amount of stress that I had been under before I had collapsed, it was shorter than expected. Later stories had exaggerated this so that I woke up less than an hour after the battle, or that I had never collapsed at all, but these are all fabrications. I had been in many infirmaries before, but this one was different than all of them. It was…richer. The floor was some sort of tiling, as opposed to just regular mud, the sheets were all a pristine white, seeming like it was the first time that they had been used. There were other indicators as well, such as the fact that none of the surgeons or nurses seemed overworked, like they had the right to refuse people that they didn't feel like treating. Once I realized this, I wondered why they hadn't turned away me, since I still thought of myself as some rank-and-file soldier. I looked down at the foot of my bed and saw the magic knight's armour and sword waiting for me. My armour and sword, now. Then I began to realize that I was no mere soldier any more. I was a legend.
Part of me was excited at that thought, if I am to be honest with myself. The boyish part of me that had listened to many sagas and ballads loved the idea that I would be among them. Even now, after everything that has happened, everything that I have gone through because of my legend…That part of me is still happy. I am not sure whether to be proud of the fact that I can still be happy, or be ashamed of myself for not having grown up. Within every blessing a curse, and every curse a blessing.
I rolled out of the surprisingly comfortable bed that I was in, and tried standing up. I was a little wobbly, but I managed to hold myself upright. I started to walk around a little, getting the blood flowing to my legs. Not long after, I felt perfectly fine. I kept pacing around, for lack of anything else to do, for a little while, until I noticed that someone was staring at me. I looked up, and saw one of the nurses looking at me with an expression of absolute shock. We stared at each other in silence, before she sped off. I had just enough time to wonder what was going on before she had returned with a thin man in baggy robes, both gasping as if they had run at full speed.
"Mi-Milord," the older man gasped, "th-the king wants to see you. Urgently."
Now it was my turn to feel short of breath. I suspected that killing the magic knight made me more than a peasant, but I was not ready to meet the king. I suddenly had the urge to crawl back under the sheets of the bed and pretend that I had never gotten up in the first place. It was a momentary urge, and I would never do that. I am not a man who would pretend to be someone that I am not. I didn't have the chance to do it anyways, as I was pulled away by the older man and the nurse into another room. They quickly pulled off my clothing and replaced it with a tunic of deep purple with filigreed gold around the cuff and neck, with a deep green vest with pale blue embroidery overtop. The even switched out my breeches, without me having the chance to resist. I was fitted with worryingly tight black silk breeches, with a brown belt and silver buckle. It was all very rich clothing, and thus it was unfamiliar and uncomfortable. I was marched out into the hallway, where I saw a hastily assembled honour guard waiting for me.
They were looking at me, and whispering to each other, some in tones of awe, and others with fear. I heard the name "Karikhan" muttered multiple times. I stepped into the middle of the honour guard, as I have seen various VIPs do in the past. Instead of marching, they all turned to stare at me. I loudly cleared my throat. Some of them jumped, and they all faced forward. I would have marched without them, and lead them by example, but I don't know where I am going, and I wouldn't want to lead them in the wrong direction.
I followed their lead, and frantically tried to think of what to do and say when I met with the king. As a peasant, I would normally prostrate myself, on all fours. However, doing that would be a dishonour to my status as a soldier. As a soldier I should go down on one knee, and place my hand at the hilt of my blade. That was how I was told to act when I was summoned by generals. But this was a king, no mere general. Placing a hand on my sword may be construed as a threat, and result in my immediate execution by his guard. Wait… I have just realized that I am not wearing a sword. I can place my hand at my hip then, as if I were placing my hand at my sword, and there would be no perceived threat. In this way, I could honour my past, while not threatening my immediate future. It may feel strange to hold a sword that isn't present, but I think the meaning behind the gesture counts for something.
Just as I was congratulating myself for coming to this conclusion, we had stopped before a set of massive, ornate doors. I prepared myself once more, as the doors opened, and a crier called out, "The Son of Karikhan to see His Majesty!"
… The son of what?
I was so shocked that I barely remembered my plan. I stumbled into a kneeling position, with one hand hovering where a sword would be, my head facing the ground. I stayed in that position for some time. It may have been only seconds, but it felt like hours.
"Rise," a voice called to me. I smoothly stood up, and bowed deeply towards the throne. I stayed standing, but I kept my head still facing downwards, being careful not to show anything that might be mistaken for arrogance. I may be more than a normal soldier, but I am still less than a king.
"Son of Karikhan," called the voice, "raise your head." I did as was commanded, and saw that it was the King himself addressing me. He was not using a herald, but rather speaking to me directly. This was something important. "We recognize the valour and heroism that you displayed on the battlefield. We are honoured that you chose to display your divinity in the defense of our daughter," continued the King. Divinity? I had shown no divinity, only skill and luck in that battle. I was about to question this, when I saw a woman standing beside the king. Her eyes seemed to be begging me to play along.
"Your Majesty, I believe that it is a man's duty to protect a woman," I said in response. That was uncomfortably close to a lie. While what I said was true, it also made it sound like I was accepting that I was 'divine', both a lie and a heresy. In order to clear up any deception, I continued, "But, Your Majesty, I must confess that I do not understand what you mean when you refer to my "divinity". At most, I displayed luck and skill."
The King chuckled, and said, "I believe that I now understand what manner of man you are, Kharilo. You are honest, humble, and loyal, three qualities that are severely lacking in my court, and perhaps in the world at large. Unfortunately, these qualities, admirable though they may be, are not what is needed right now." This was a test? For what purpose? What does he mean honesty, humility and loyalty are not needed? They are perhaps the most sacred traits that man can aspire to! While I understand that not all people, not even all that many people, are followers of Kholikhar, I have yet to meet a single person who doesn't find honesty, humility and loyalty to be laudable traits. Not a single person, until I met the King. The King flicked his wrist, and all the courtiers filed out of the room.
I stayed, for the moment unsure of what was needed of me. The King beckoned me closer to the throne. I hesitated, and the woman standing next to the throne impatiently stalked towards me, and dragged me up to the throne. The King brought his head closer to me, and whispered conspiratorially, "You see, young Kharilo, you have changed the world in killing that magic knight, in ways that you might not expect. Our land, Kours, is just a small, relatively insignificant kingdom in our region." I began to make all the polite protests against this, talking about how we may be small, but we are proud etc. etc. The King waved away those comments and continued, "We are a small kingdom so we do not have any magic knights. Until now, this has not been a problem. We have been able to solve our problems diplomatically, and our resources are not so plentiful that any strong nation feels the need to go out of their way to conquer us. But this has changed. You have changed this. Now, we have something that nations are very willing to fight a war over. We have you, and the armour and sword that you won. You have out us in a difficult situation. If we try to give away the armour and sword, we lose all diplomatic sway that we once had. Other kingdoms will assume that we are weak and easily biddable. They will attempt to force us in whatever way they see fit, and if we try to resist, it will likely come to war. If we do not give them away, more powerful nations will try to take them from us, by force.
"The only way that we can prevent them from starting a war with us, is by making them think that they will lose. How can a small kingdom, with only a single magic knight, be a powerful enough force to fight the great realms that surround us, realms with many magic knights each? Well, this will only be possible if the magic knight we have is far, far more skilled than any of the magic knights that they have, if we have a magic knight that is capable of fighting all of their magic knights at once. Obviously, no human is capable of fighting multiple opponents at once, especially if those opponents are strong and skilled knights. No human is capable of this, but a demigod would be easily capable of such a feat. As a soldier, you have heard the stories of the Sons of Karikhan, yes? There were many differences between these warriors, but what they all had in common was that they had all defeated magic knights as regular soldiers. No regular soldiers other than the Sons of Karikhan have ever defeated a magic knight. No regular soldier apart from the Sons of Karikhan… and you. If we are able to make our neighbouring realms believe that you are the fourth Son of Karikhan we will be able to preserve our peace."
I shifted awkwardly in place for a few seconds, and the King notice my obvious discomfort, and indicated for me to speak.
"I am not a Son of Karikhan, Your Majesty, nor any sort of demigod for that matter. I know both of my parents. It is obvious that I know who my mother is, as I was born of her, and I look much like my father's father. Both of my parents are human, I am not a demigod," I said, "Furthermore, I am a worshipper of Kholikhar, my faith forbids that I lie for any form of personal gain. I shall not say that I am that which I am not."
The King looked at me and sighed, "Consider this, young soldier. If we do not convince the other realms of your war potential, they will bring war to us. This war will cost the lives of thousands of our citizens, and it may even cost our kingdom its very existence. In this instance, you are not lying for your own personal gain, but rather the safety of the entire country. Or, are you truly going to value your own conscience over the lives of every man, woman, and child in this kingdom?"
I was silent for a moment before saying, "Is this the kind of decision that you have to make every day, Your Majesty? To value the country over your own conscience?" The King was silent, but that seemed to be an answer in itself. I sighed, "I will do this. For the sake of everyone in the country." The King relaxed, leaning back in his throne.
"Good," he announced, "Currently we have one of our most trusted scribes falsifying our census records, making it seem like we never knew who your father was. This should support our narrative about you being a demigod. Will you come into contact with your parents and have them support this narrative?"
"My parents are both dead of natural causes Your Majesty," I said, "It would be impossible for them to object to this… narrative. I do not think the other people in my home village will object either. They will probably see it as none of their business, as another family's matter that they need not interfere with."
"This is good, it would be difficult to deal with a unified force of many dissenting voices," said the king. I did not like how that sounded for some reason. Perhaps it was how he treated the people not as people, but as problems that he may have to deal with in the future. A King should respect his people, a King should serve his people. I struggled to keep the displeasure from my face.
"Will that be all, your Majesty?" I asked. The king nodded. I bowed and exited through the hall, through doors that seemed to be less magnificent than before.