The first time I met that boy, it was dark.
I still remember it. Under the beautiful moonlight, that boy appeared and saved my life.
But to him, I've committed several great sins.
In the end, the boy who didn't have anything finally lost everything because of me...
My name is Roland Azeroth, the fifth king of the Azeroth Kingdom.
We're in the middle of a war with the Gardat Kingdom back then.
On my way back to the royal capital, I got ambushed in the middle of the forest. They're assassins, but not a normal ones. Their speed, skills, and coordination with each other are superb.
I managed to flee at the cost of my dear friends; my loyal butler and royal guards.
I'm fine dying together with them, but for the future of the kingdom, I need to be alive.
Yes, I've gone used to sacrificing people for my life.
As pathetic as it may be, but a king needs to be able to sacrifice the ones below him and live to make sure the future of the kingdom he rules.
Covered in wounds, I flee towards the forest. Since the forest is inside my kingdom's territory, I'm sure that I would be able to take a shortcut towards the royal capital.
But it turns out I'm too naive.
Covered in wounds, I got surrounded by dozens of lions.
They are not ordinary lions, they are magic beasts.
If I'm not wounded this badly, it would be easy for me to face them. But with this body, it takes my all to just swing my sword once.
Gritting my teeth, I desperately call the heavens, hoping that miracle will come.
Hoping someone will help me.
And that time, my wish got granted.
*Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!*
Sound of slashes together with the sound of the lion's cry before death sounded in my ears. When I opened my eyes, I saw a pair of lazy black eyes staring at me.
His eyes are as black as the dark sky, I couldn't see the bottom of its depth, but somehow.
"It's warm..."
With his lazy eyes, he stared at me with a confused look.
"Uncle, you're full in wounds. Are you lost?"
It's kind of strange for a boy like him to ask me that, but when I saw the corpses of the lions, I couldn't help but widen my eyes in surprise.
"Did you killed all of them?"
"Hm? Uncle, are you fine? I'm clearly holding a spear and a sword, and there are only the two of us here, so isn't it obvious?" Asked him in confusion.
"Ah... You're not wrong..."
Impressive...
He killed dozens of this forest's lions in less than two minutes... And judging from the blood dripping from his sword and spear, it must be true...
His skills may be on par with my royal guards...
"I'm on my way to look for dinner, and I heard something so I came here. Come with me uncle, I'll dress your wounds so you won't die on your journey," said the black-haired boy indifferently as he started to walk.
"Y-Yes..."
Looking at the boy, I felt like the pain from my wounds suddenly disappeared. Maybe because I'm shocked by the sight of the lion corpses, but now that I think about it, maybe it's because of the warmth the boy is emitting.
I followed him, and we arrived at a small village- no, a slum.
The houses are near each other, and each of the houses is battered, and some of them are even completely destroyed.
"This is?"
"Ah... This is where I live. It's fine, there is only me here, after all..."
"Only you?"
"Yes. Come in, uncle," said the boy with a pair of lazy eyes as he invited me to enter a small wooden house.
When I entered, there is a sound of fire burning. The interior of the house is well-treated, there is a small fireplace, and there are lots of weapons at the corner of the room.
"Why are you here alone? Where are the others?" I asked as I'm curious as to why a boy like him living here alone.
"Ah. They all died. A year ago, when the knights of the other kingdom attacked our kingdom, they entered this village and pillaged it. Killing everyone here," Answered the boy indifferently.
"E-Everyone?"
"Yes. It took so much time for me to kill the rest of the knights, so I couldn't save anyone," said the boy as he stared at his hand with a complex look.
"Well, show me your wounds, uncle,"
"Y-Yes,"
I'm still processing the shocking words of the boy, while at the same time, I'm cursing myself as somewhere at the corner of my mind, I know that there must be a place where my citizens are suffering like this.
Just how many lives of my citizens are gone because of my incompetence?
Just how many lives of soldiers that have their families to feed, lost under my command?
"Ouch!"
"Ah. Bear it for a while, will you, uncle?"
The boy dressed my wound well. He must have learned this a quite...
No...
That's a wrong conclusion...
The real one is... He must have dressed his wounds alone, bearing the pain himself, and forced to learn how to dress his wounds in order to survive...
I grit my teeth as I look at the young boy who is dressing my wounds in frustration.
"I cooked a flame rabbit, you need to eat a little so that you'll have enough energy to continue your journey, uncle," said the boy as he gives me half of the cooked rabbit's meat.
"Um... Aren't you scared that I might be a bad guy that might do bad things to you?"
"Hm? Nope. I could see it from your eyes, after all,"
"Eh?"
"Uncle's eyes. It's brimming with light and kindness, just like the eyes of the people that used to live here," said the boy as he forms a sad smile on his lips.
Just by looking at his expression, I could imagine how much hardship he went through. Just by imagining it ached my chest, but the boy must be suffering far more than I do.
"Well, every life will die in the end. That's the thing called fate, isn't it?" said the boy as he stared at me with a pair of eyes that a kid shouldn't be having.
He must have gone through a lot.
He must have seen lots of things he didn't want to.
He must have been forced to do things he didn't want to do.
At that time, I swore to myself that I will save my kingdom.
And by saving the life of the boy before me as the proof of my hard steel resolve, I will make sure the citizens of my kingdom won't get hurt. And make sure that the children that lived inside this kingdom won't experience the same experience with the boy before me.
"Boy. Do you want to follow me to the castle?"
I invited the boy to follow me to the royal capital, but he stubbornly refused. It took me a while to convince him to just follow me, and maybe because it's our fate to enter the royal capital safely together, the boy finally accepted my offer.
"Your name is?"
"Reynald. Reynald Lance,"
When I arrived at the royal capital, the royal guards and my family worriedly welcome me back before questioning who is the boy before me.
I explained to them all of the things that happened, and decide to take the boy as a part of the kingdom.
I have three children.
The first one is Alexander, the second one is Aleia, and the third one is Victoria. Alexander and Aleia are twins, and as the last child, Victoria got pampered by the whole kingdom.
Since Reynald is at the same age as Alexander and Aleia, I hope that they will be able to get along together, so I decided to make Reynald the royal guard of both of them.
On the first day Reynald trained with the other royal guards of the castle, the royal guards got shocked by his strength and his skills in all weapons.
With his usual lazy pair of eyes, he indifferently replied to the royal guards' questions with: "I can't freely choose my weapons when beasts suddenly surrounded my house, so I need to be able to use all of them,"
Because of his presence that felt like a magical boy, the whole kingdom accepted his presence and is expecting great things from his skills.
Reynald possesses great skills in fighting, but he's also an open-minded boy. He's bright and is willing to learn everything he could learn. Even though his pair of lazy eyes didn't change, his presence livens up the atmosphere inside the castle without him himself knew it.
I believed that I thought of him as my own child.
I truly believed so back then.
But it turns out...
I'm not that different from those noble and royal scums that are blinded by their greed for power...