After talking to Vivian for a good hour more, I left her alone in my room with the incredulous amount of paperwork that's gathered in these past few days.

Then again, these were my father's quarters just a couple days ago, so perhaps he simply never did any work. It's not like I remember him as someone particularly diligent. In fact, what little of him that I do remember shows the picture of a war-loving conqueror and not exactly a steward of state.

It may simply be that my heroic father was just a man with too much power on his hands and not someone worthy of being king.

Shrugging as I walked down the hallways of the castle and suddenly hearing my own sigh echo, I realized that I am quite eerily alone.

... Really?

An assassination event? This early into my career?

I looked around, staring at the stones, the carpets and the unmoving plates of decorative armour standing tall at the sides. Nothing was out of place, but I guess I shouldn't walk near the armour for someone might be inside of it.

As I took a couple steps back, I found myself staring through a window and realising that there was only a pale blue mist covering everything that should be in sight, the mountains and fields surrounding the castle only appearing once I struggled to remember what they looked like.

Hmm... An illusion spell? One powerful enough to feed itself from my own memory.

Eh, too bad for the caster that I barely remember myself!

With a breath, I focused my arcana inwards, feeling out my own body as best I can, eventually stumbling upon an influx of alien mana, which I quickly pushed out.

The sound of shattering glass erupted from all around as I opened my eyes to find myself staring at a small, male dark elf in pure white robes, still standing in front of my own room, with my guards being put under some form of magic sleep.

"Hmmm... One point seven seconds. Now that is an impressive recovery time for one afflicted with an illusion spell, though you do have the advantage of having lost most of your memories, your majesty." The small, brownish skinned elf leaped back with a smile on his face, a cadre of guards in holy plate instantly shielding him from danger as a familiar priest rose his holy staff and pointed at me.

"Your holiness! So was I right?! He is a demon, yes?" Rex, the priest that made me drink moonsh- I mean, holy water, yelled at the top of his lungs, his staff already glowing golden as he charged a holy spell.

The elf just laughed at his antics and waved his hand. "Not at all. He is, in fact, a human being..." Then he trailed off before turning to look at me with eyes full of pity.

"Alas, he is also one whom has gazed into the abyss and learned knowledge that should never be sought by mere mortals. Wisdom of the sort that not even I, whom is one of Rhothmir's blessed, could comprehend." The child sighed and shrugged.

"So he is a madman! Ha! I knew it!" Rex laughed maniacally and finished casting his spell. "Holy chains!" 

A multitude of divine chains formed out of the ground and tied me, causing me to be unable to move as I quirked an eyebrow at Rex. "Paladins! Apprehend this ingrate!"

Two men in heavy plate moved towards me, pointing their blessed, burning halberds in my direction. Thinking quickly, I moved my arcana deep within the one on the left and, realizing that I can still use magic even when I can't move, broke the man's leg, shattering it to bits from the inside.

He screamed loudly, waking my guards from their magical sleep, not that these useless idiots did anything. The other paladin, seeing his fellow fall down, charged towards me with zeal and fury.

Focusing on his chest, I stopped his heart from beating for a moment, basically sending him into an arrest as he fell to the ground while clutching his heart. In the end, both of the paladins were alive. "D-d-" Rex began, then shook his head. "Monster!"

"Oh will you quit it with the slander already?!" Unable to stop myself, I felt my mana rise uncontroably as my anger grew, breaking through the magic that binded me by pushing it away till the runes holding it together shattered.

Healing both of the unfortunate paladins on my way to Rex, I channeled this raw anger into a fist, forming the wish for greater strength as I sent a fist straight towards his disgusting face. "Aaaiiiee! Don't hurt me!"

*Crack*

... Only to be suddenly teleported in front of a wall, which my mana-infused muscles easily shattered, causing me to look at my fist in surprise.

I learned the theory behind self-enchantment from Vivian a couple minutes ago, but this worked a lot better than I hoped. "Hmm.. unrestrained magic? Or untrained." The dark elf brat from before snorted as he waved his hand, having suddenly appeared in front of the crying Rex.

No, wait. I'm sorrounded by the paladins! Bastard must've switched our positions.

Shit, this is pretty bad. "Calm yourself, King of the Humans." He laughed and walked over to me with his permanently happy expression.

"You've passed all of our tests, both spiritual and physical." I looked at him in confusion, my eyes darting between the two groaning paladins and the shivering coward that tried to get me in chains.

"You do realise that I could have killed those two due to you testing me?.." The brat looked at the two paladins with a smile. 

"Ah, but you chose to only disable them instead. Plus, they didn't use any of their true, holy powers on you. If either of them got serious, you would have been cut down within a moment." He continued smiling as I grimaced.

And then I gave out an audible sigh. "Whatever. I assume you're the highest authority under heaven, then?"

With a laugh, the dark elf replied. "I am but one of four avatars of Rhothmir's will upon Terravest, but yes, it is as you think; I have come here to complete your coronation."

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Blinking at the boy, who I now realize is probably several times my age, even combined, I lamely rubbed the back of my head. "Uhh.. about that... You'll have to forgive me, your holiness. These last few days have been hectic so I've failed to properly prepare for the ceremony."

He nodded wisely. "Understandable, your majesty. It's also a good thing, considering I frankly have no idea what you've envisioned me to do during the coronation."

Appearing sheepish as he laughed a bit lamely, the elf seemed to indicate that an explanation was in order.

Then, it suddenly dawned on me. "Oh my god... Have any other kings been coronated by the chruch before?"

He smiled brightly. "Nope! Perhaps, such a tradition existed in your other life, but not here. All of Terravests regents impose their right to rule through either their might or their bloodlines."

I let out a massive sigh. "Just.. bless my crown and put it on my head saying how my right to rule is accepted by the heavens or something. It does not have to be anything specific. Just the ceremony of it is fine."

"Bless your crown? With what spell?" I laughed at his tilted head as I shrugged. "That, I'll leave up to you, your holiness. Far as I care, you can just make it glow white or something."

His expression turned into back into a joyful one. "Oho! So you're willing to trust me to put a spell of your head."

Quirking an eyebrow at him, I offered the man an inquisitive glance. "Are you saying that I should be suspicious of the Chruch? I thought you guys were supposed to be the champions of virtue?"

My honesty seemed to send the people in front of me into a spiral of flabbergasted disbelief. "Uh- no, haha, that was just a j-joke! Of course, you can trust us! In fact, I swear it upon the holy concept of Truth for which I am named!"

Judging from the shocked expressions of his guards, I'd say those words aren't something spoken lightly.

Oh well, best to play the fool in this case, I think. "So your name is Truth?"

The elf blinked and then nodded. "Yes. I am Rhothmir's avatar of Truth. I have no name, having cast it off once I ascended to my position, but you may call me Truth in place of a name."

"Well then Truth, let us hope that we can accommodate you and your retinue well enough for your stature." Truth waved his hand in front of me with dismissal.

"You need not worry yourself about that! We will be fine with just servants lodgings." I quirked an eyebrow at them all, allowing surprise to etch itself on my expression as the Knights seemingly agreed with their masters statement.

"... Even if that is true, it would still reflect poorly on me as your host if I let you sleep in a servants room. At least, allow me to house you within the guest rooms meant for nobility."

Truth and the others smiled at me for saying that, eliciting a confused eyebrow from me. "To think that one with such dark powers could be so humble and kind... Have I become blind?!" 

Rex, having seemingly recovered from his rampant fear, exclaimed in shock with a dramatic tone. 

I waved my hand with a sheepish expression. "Ah, no. Your zeal is commendable, if anything. You didn't do anything wrong, Rex. Besides, it's not like I understand how tentacles might look to others."

The poor guy just looked even more ashamed of himself. "Your majesty even remembered my name..." He stood up, newfound resolve etched into his frame, giving off the impression of radiating light as he offered me a curt bow. "Your majesty! I apologize for my reprehensible actions and vow to do better in the future!"

"Uhm.. your apology is accepted but I'm not the one you should be apologizing to.." He blinked in confusion.

"But.. It was you that I slighted, your majesty?" His tone indicated that he had no idea what I was on about, causing me to sigh and point towards the sky. "Rhothmir. It is your lord that you have failed, not me. My forgiveness can be bought easily. Just get me some more of that plum moonsh- see, I mean holy water."

Truth blinked and then quirked an eyebrow at me. "It is as you say. Bishop Rex shall perform penance for five days without sustenance... But, wait, what you just said right now; does that mean it's true that you drank it straight from the bottle?!"

I blinked and laughed. "Yeah. I actually drink some before every meal. It's a really good alcoholic appetizer!"

"He drinks it before every meal..." The group of paladins muttered in disbelief as they stared at my large frame, obviously imagining me as an alcoholic fool. I harrumphed at them before I could stop myself.

"I'll have you know that it's the only alcohol that I drink! It's quite healthy to drink moonshine, you know? Especially before a meal!" 

Truth promptly burst out laughing. "Indeed! Healthy, he says!" He turned around towards his paladins.

"Please, someone, drink a bit. Show him what's supposed to happen when one of the faithful consumes the holy water." One of the paladins up front did as asked, causing the man to suddenly sport a pure, holy white aura.

Even someone as uneducated as me, for this subject at least, could see that he had grown several levels of power stronger. "So it's like a buff? But then, why does it not happen to me?"

Truth chuckled and nodded. "Because you do not believe in Rhothmir, your majesty. Only the faithful can draw upon the power of a divine."

I blinked at him in confusion. "Eh? Believe? But I do believe in him... Alas, I'm not exactly particularly faithful so perhaps that is why."

The holy collective nodded in unison. "So your belief is strong enough for the liquid to affect you physically but not grant you any strength... I don't believe I've ever seen a case such as yours."

"Actually, I do feel purer, cleaner somehow when I drink it, perhaps even a little happier than usual..." Turning my head towards the glowing paladin, I let out an awkward laugh. "Certainly not to the level of what's happening to our friend over there, though."

Truth nodded with a pleased expression. "Then perhaps your majesty has the potential to be a priest! A healer, to be exact."

A healer, eh? "That's not a surprise, Truth. My arcana is meant to heal, not harm, after all."

Now this caused them all to turn silent. "What do you mean? How can a mana so dark and evil heal anyone?"

Shrugging, I pointed towards the paladins that attacked me before. "Well, I healed them, didn't I?"

Truth turned towards the paladins with an inquisitive glance. "Does he speak the truth?"

They nodded in unison."Twas no holy magic nor was it attuned to nature, but yes, his majesty did indeed heal the damage he caused as he was passing by us."

I shrugged at them. "Hey, if I didn't do it, you would have died and you would have a shattered leg with permanent nerve damage."

The one whose heart I stopped momentarily clutched his chest with fear. "I .. would have died? So that was not just a wordless inflict pain spell?"

Shaking my head in negative, I answered with a cheery tone. "Nope. I caused your heart to stop beating for a moment."

"W-what black magic?!.." He trailed off as Truth approached me with a grimace.

"I had thought that you were being so honest with us because of your humility... In truth, you see no reason to lie to us, do you? You don't even see any of us here as a threat!"

Don't see them as a threat? What? Why would I do that? "But aren't you here to become my allies?" 

I tilted my head as the group clearly grew uncomfortable. And to think, we were getting along so well~.

"Answer me this, King Exuperius... If you were an enemy that wished to kill us all, would you be able to do it and how long would it take you?" Truth asked me with a focused glare.

I just let out a sigh. "Provided that you don't cast an illusion on me or prevent me from casting somehow... Hmm, there's six of you in total, so about two and a half seconds, I guess?"

Maybe less if I felt my life was in danger, but they don't need to know that. 

Not that it stopped the holy cadre from appearing horrified. "Klaus, in your previous life, what were you that required the acquisition of such abhorrent powers?"

"A doctor. ... Hmm, a healer that fought, no wait, that guided and/or forced his patients body to fight against disease or other ailments, even when they naturally would not be able to do so." That's a very bad and arrogant way to describe my profession but hey, they wouldn't get it, anyways.

"And how good were you at this... Doctor profession?" He asked with a glimmer of understanding.

To that, I could only sigh. "Honestly? I thought I was amazing for the most part... Right up to the point when one of the diseases I was fighting consumed me and I died."

Their expressions softened as Truth nodded. "And with the arcana you have gained when you arrived in this world, would the disease that consumed you be able to defeat you again?"

I grit my teeth and clenched my fist, crimson mana radiating from my entire body as sudden rage spiraled from deep within me. Steeling myself and looking at Truth dead in the eye, I finally replied after managing to calm myself down somewhat. "I would love to see it fucking try!"