Tristan's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. He was shocked and confused.
The System said that he successfully completed the third task temporarily.
He received neither a reward nor a penalty.
No, no. The System didn't promise to give Tristan a reward. On the contrary, he would die if he failed.
Tristan didn't know if he should be grateful that he wasn't dead?
"Why did it happen?" Tristan muttered. He turned his eyes towards the garden, the gardeners were still planting flowers and repairing the damaged grass.
Tristan stroked his chin and then scratched his head. He was very dizzy.
He asked the system to explain in detail the meaning of the third task, but he did not receive an answer. The system appeared to purposely let Tristan solve the problem using his own head.
"I beg you to forgive me, Your Majesty. I swear I will fight to find a cure for your father." Jane struggled with the two knights, who gripped her arms tightly. She wanted to bow down, and if necessary, she would kiss king Tristan's feet to get a reprieve.
"Please give me one month to prove my abilities, and you will find out that I never had any bad intentions towards you and your father." Jane didn't want to give up while she could still talk.
The woman could have used her powers to break free from the two knights' clutches, but she chose not to do so because she didn't want to violate her oath not to hurt humans with her magic.
"The king has sentenced you. How dare you ask him for forgiveness!" The prime minister snapped at the witch woman.
Tristan, who was daydreaming, was shocked to hear the prime minister's anger at Jane. He turned to the crying Jane, and her purple eyes looked at him pleadingly.
"Why don't you all take her to the Arafuro Kingdom?" Tristan shouted angrily at the two generals and the ten palace soldiers who came with the prime minister.
"Forgive us, Your Majesty." The twelve men bowed in apology to their king before they took control of Jane from the clutches of the two knights in charge of escorting their king.
"You don't need to ask a witch for help, Your Majesty," the prime minister said to Tristan. "They are great, but they cannot be trusted. There is a lot of evidence of the crimes they have committed."
"I'm not like other witches!" Jane shouted loudly, refuting the prime minister's words.
"Well, she admits that witches are evil." The prime minister smiled crookedly.
Jane clenched her fists, and her jaw tightened, along with a sharp gaze fixed on the prime minister. She refrained from turning the prime minister into a wild boar.
Two generals and ten palace soldiers took Jane away from the king's palace. They rushed to take the witch to the Arafuro Kingdom, which was very far from the Madigan Kingdom. The journey took two days to get there.
Tristan couldn't breathe a sigh of relief after Jane disappeared from his sight because the third task was similar to the second task in that it had a long period of time, and the penalty he would get was death.
Tristan widened his eyes as an idea crossed his mind. It looked like he had to kill Jane so he could be free from the third task. He believed that was what the system wanted.
However, Tristan cannot impose the death penalty on someone who has not committed a crime against others.
The criminal acts that Jane had committed were relatively minor; she only lied to him and all the soldiers in his palace about her true identity. The problem was that Jane's presence could result in Tristan being executed by the system.
"I can't kill her." Tristan muttered and dropped his gaze to the white marble floor.
"You can kill her, Your Majesty," said the prime minister. It turned out he heard his king's muttering.
"No one will forbid you from putting the witch to death. Everyone will have no problem with your decision." The prime minister shook his head.
Tristan turned to the 50-year-old man. The prime minister was an annoying old man, he liked to boss his subordinates around. If Tristan wasn't a king, the prime minister would definitely think of him as a child who doesn't need to know anything about the country.
"I can't give her the death penalty." Tristan shook his head. "The punishment I gave her was appropriate to the crime she committed."
Tristan resolved not to change his mind. All he had to do from now on was ensure that Jane didn't escape from prison. Witches are intended to live for thousands of years, thus 50 years is a very short time.
***
"Welcome, Your Majesty."
Everyone standing along the road greeted Tristan with joy. They didn't waste the opportunity to see their king up close.
They threw petals from various flowers at Tristan, who was sitting on the back of a light brown horse.
Tristan looked cool and even more handsome in the king's attire he wore. The golden crown on his head glistened. Some of the flower petals dispersed by the people clung to the horse's hair.
"So handsome," exclaimed the girls, admiring their king's face.
"Our king is dashing."
Tristan couldn't be proud because this face and body weren't actually his.
He shouldn't have said that, he would forever be in Tristan Madigan's body.
So it doesn't matter if Tristan brags about his handsome face and muscular body.
"We pin our hopes on you, Your Majesty." When Tristan, his two knights, and scores of palace soldiers approached, a group of farmers on the right side of the road bowed. "Please uphold justice for us, Your Majesty."
Right in front of the group of farmers, Tristan stopped his light brown horse. He looked at them straight. "What kind of justice do you want?"
The group of farmers looked at each other with confused faces. Then one of them bravely answered their king's question.
"We have actually sent the problem we are facing to you, Your Majesty."
Tristan dug into his memory. He never read the scrolls of paper from the farmers. "When did you send me your complaint?"
"Three days ago, Your Majesty."
When Tristan was about to question the two knights—who were not only in charge of escorting him, but also of sorting out the scrolls of paper that his people had given him to read before giving them over to him—the system's voice silenced his mouth.
[A special task has come.]
[You should ignore those farmers.]
[A special reward awaits you.]