The king looked a bit middle-aged. There was a sparse sign of crow's feet near his eyes. A grey strand here and there.
His eyes looked a bit sharp and aged with some experience.
All four of us bowed as soon as we saw him.
He acknowledged our presence by standing up and walking towards us slowly. Walking one step down at a time. The leisurely pace and the way he walked with his chest out, chin up, as if he was looking down on us by his nose.
His steps looked a bit lazy, but firm at the same time.
"Are these the three kids that tracked down Ash?"
"Yes, your majesty." Parvir replied with a neutral tone. There was a hint of respect in his tone, but there was no sign of utter devotion and brownnosing that you usually see in other court officials while talking to the king.
Its almost like Parvir's respect is not exactly to the person himself, rather to the throne and the crown that person occupied.
However, the king didn't mind. He looked at the three of us and chuckled.
"Really? A Sixth circle mage was involved in tracking that kid?"
I almost thought I heard it wrongly. I ground my teeth in anger for a second trying my best to not show it on my face.
That anger was not about me being the sixth circle mage or him assuming that I was not part of the tracking process. That was a logical assumption in my opinion. What pissed me off was Ash being addressed as a kid.
A fucking kid.
Usually Kids mostly hurt some ants at most. But this 'kid' burned a duchy and then killed a whole city full of people with the worst possible way one could imagine. For him to be called as nothing short of devil is an insult to every living being.
"He was the one who actually tracked Ash within a day. Within twenty four hours after he joined the investigation, he narrowed down his location." Parvir explained with a side-eyed glance.
King bent down a bit to make his eyes meet mine and said.
"Really? This little guy?"
I was by no means little. I was at least six foot. But the King was just a bit taller than me. By just a bit, I mean around five to six inches.
"Yes, your majesty. This little guy." I replied.
Both Dhana and Dharma froze for a second. I could sense their muscles tighten. Even the King's grin froze for a second.
"The little guy is angry. I wonder why?"
The king asked.
I stayed silent. Closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I realized my mistake. I had no right to be irked at the King's words. Getting irked was the privilege of the powerful, it was the right of the authoritative figures.
I spoke out of my place.
Parvir might have realized my plight, so he interjected.
"Just the blues from being locked up your Majesty. As you might remember, they were locked up on your orders for the past few days. He didn't have time to recover mentally from all that he experienced."
The king stood straight and looked at Parvir.
"Is that so?" He muttered and turned to me again.
"Why do I feel like there is definitely something more than that?"
"He…" Parvir was about to speak, but the King raised his hand to stop him from speaking. He locked his eyes on me and just spoke directly.
"Subject Tej, I command you as your king. Say what you have in mind. Say what made you so angry at this King?"
His voice resounded through the empty courtroom.
A surge of mana generated in my core. My mouth acted as if it had a mind of its own. I felt a weird compulsion to speak. I could feel my true thoughts coming out of my mouth. But I had to stop… I knew I had to stop.
There was a great chance that my words could get me killed. Executed as a traitor in front of the whole world.
I looked at the King as I gritted my teeth to stop myself from speaking. My veins bulged. It was like hot tar was circulating in my veins. Even the sweat that came out of my pours felt like hot water. I felt more pain with every passing second.
The King raised an eyebrow.
"You are quite the man, little man. It is hard to resist my compulsion like that. But I don't want you to resist. SPEAK."
I swear that at that moment I saw the word speak manifest in golden color in front my eyes. That word seemed to have merged into my mind and I couldn't resist any longer.
"I am angry. I am angry because I wasn't given a chance at learning the truth behind this incident when I can clearly see that the Dukes and the King might know more that what you are letting us in on. I am angry because even though that I as the sixth circle mage managed to track that man down, even though because of my tracking we knew what he was about to do, two Dukes weren't able to stop him.
I am angry because I had to witness the sight of people eating themselves, consuming themselves just because of the Kingdom's incompetence.
I am angry because even after all that was done, even after all the people that died, even after all the suffering that man put the kingdom through, the truth wasn't revealed to the people of this kingdom.
Particularly, when you dismiss the culprit behind all of this as a Kid? When that Kid called our dear Duke Parvir as Uncle?
And when that kid is still out there and only god knows what kind of destruction he is about to cause. It is my responsibility to let the truth out to the people. That is my job. I am angry because I was locked up to make sure that I won't do my job.
I am more angry about the possibility that the kingdom might just want to cover it up as a political move."
I covered my mouth with both of my hands. My eyes wide open. I was soaked in sweat. I took deep breaths and the next moment, I collapsed on my knees.
'I am fucking dead'
That is all I could think of at that moment.
The king looked at me with cold eyes. Those ice blue eyes locked on to me and it felt like I could feel the temperature of that color. My body started shivering, I could almost see myself drowning in the pale blue waters of the glacier as the king stared at me.
"Enough."
All of a sudden, I heard Parvir's voice. It felt like someone dragged me out of that glacier and even set up a campfire along with some warm clothes.
Parvir stood in between me and the King.
"Your Majesty. You compelled him to say the truth. I believe that it is a given that you accept the truth as it is. You cannot entrap a kid like this. It will be a stain on your honor."
"Huh, Parvir. Don't look down on your king. I was just having some fun. I am sure that kid believed that I wanted to kill him, I just wanted to play along for a while. I am not going to kill him of course."
The king walked back and sat on his throne while Parvir made me stand up. He adjusted my collar and looked me in the eyes.
"Tej, I respect your resolve. I really do. But the truth is not a right. It is a privilege. It is a privilege for the powerful and only they can decide whether the powerless can have access to it or not.
If you are powerless to find the actual truth and share that privilege with the rest, you have to accept whatever the powerful people say as the truth and swallow it like the rest."
He gave me this advice in such a soothing voice that it made me calm down.
The king looked at us three for a short moment and said.
"Whatever you have learned during the investigation, say everything to Parvir and forget it ever happened. From now on, Parvir and some retired generals will take over the investigation. If they really need your help, they will contact you, until then new duties have been assigned to all three of you.
Dharma Paras and Dhana Paras. I heard a lot about your combat and investigative prowess. So, you will be sent to the Anta frontlines. We are valiantly fighting the Sea Demons. They have occupied quite a lot of shore villages and spread further into our lands.
We need your help in investigating the situation and assassinating the high priority targets. Dhana will lead a team with Dharma as her deputy to carry out these operations.
As for you…"