I am the Monarch

“Fu.”

Pierce Newman heaved out a deep breath as the tense nervousness attacked his lungs.

‘It’s the first time.’

The first time he entered the barracks; his first war; when he had first met Viscount Reil Baker; trained at Grain Mountain Range; when he met the maddened Simon Rinse and the when he stood before Roan Lancephil who was called the God of War… An immense pressure unlike any of those before could be felt.

Gulp.

With a gulp, Pierce glared at the red-haired beautiful young man standing at the end of his spear. With a bright smile, he had an extremely relaxed expression.

“Giving the blessing of Astrum…”

He still spewed out incomprehensible nonsense.

“You! Who the hell are you!”
“How dare you!”

Several deputy leaders each took out their weapons and surrounded the beautiful youth. Due to that, the soldiers of the Rinse Corps that had been in training all stopped their actions and stared towards Pierce and the deputy leaders.

“What?”
“Who’s that redhead?”
“Sir Leader and Sir Deputy Leaders took out their weapons?”
“E, enemy?”

Confused, rowdy voices escaped from all around, and seeing that, the centurions in the leading positions quickly made gestures.

Pabat!

The entirety of the Rinse Corps flowed softly like one body; the previously rectangular formation instantaneously changed to a circular surrounding formation.

“Oho. They’re trained well.”

Looking at the deputy leaders and soldiers surrounding him, the red-haired young man made a strange smile, as if he was facing a cute child. Pierce once again felt cold sweat flowing down his back.

‘We can’t move carelessly.’

It was an instinctive decision. However, the deputy leaders and soldiers under him did not have sharp judgment abilities like Pierce.

“Catch the intruder!”
“Catch him!”

From their eyes, the red-haired young man was an intruder that had entered their Kingdom’s training area without permission. In addition, the fact that they did not notice anything until he appeared right next to Leader Pierce made them feel guilt, bewilderment and rage.

Taat!

The deputy leaders ran towards the red-haired young man.

“Stop!”

Pierce immediately bellowed but it was already too late.

“Oho.”

With an intrigued expression, the red-haired young man looked at the deputy leaders before casually waving his right hand.

“Kneel.”

A calm voice, but at the same, an intense pressure was given off from his body.

“Huhup!”
“Kuk!”

Feeling the intense aura that had their breaths forcibly suppressed and their sights darken, the enlivened deputy leaders gulped. Their fierce legs and arms became solid like statues but their legs still trembled and the knees that couldn’t stand against the aura were bent.

“Uuk! Kuk!”
“N, no!”
“Damn!”

The deputy leaders relied on the Amaranth laws of mana to contend against the young man’s aura. However as time passed, his aura became stronger and stronger.

Kung.

In the end, they had to kneel both of their knees and lower their heads. The aura being emanated from the youth’s body suppressed their bodies and made it hard to even breathe.

“Ah…”
“Uhup.”

Even the soldiers of the Rinse Corps that had been faraway started to kneel due to the pressure given off.

“Uuuuu.”

Some of the soldiers tried to fight against it and clenched hard but it was pointless. In the end, all of them had to kneel before the beautiful youth, but there was one person guarding his spot standing.

He was Pierce.

“Oho.”

Making a strange smile, the red-haired young man stared at Pierce. He was trembling his body slightly and had his teeth clenched, but his two eyes shone brightly and fiercely, while the sharp spearhead was still pointing at the intruder.

He should be feeling pain as if all the bones within his body were being broken but he did not let out a single mutter.

“As expected of the owner of Astrum. Or rather…”

The smile hanging on his lips deepened.

“The one that had once been the owner huh… Kukuk.”

Smiling strangely, he soon waved his right hand and immediately, the intense aura that had been suppressing Pierce, the deputy leaders and the soldiers disappeared like the spring snow.

“Hu.”

Letting out a little breath, Pierce stared at the beautiful youth. Unlike the deputy leaders and soldiers that were feeling puzzlement and even fear, he was extremely calm and nonchalant.

“Introduce yourself.”

Pierce did not give in and was still bold.

“That’s unexpected. I thought you’d at least kneel if I showed this much power.”

With a faint smile, the youth tilted his head while on Pierce’s face, an undisguisable trace of pride surfaced.

“I only…”

Power was etched into his voice.

“Bow to His Majesty Roan Lancephil.”
“His majesty Roan Lancephil, huh…”

The man slowly nodded his head.

“By Roan Lancephil, you mean the one who founded the Amaranth Kingdom after taking down the Rinse Kingdom right? The only existence who a person at your level would kneel to… I must meet him once.”

In the first place, there were several reasons why he had to. And the most important reason from those was:

‘Roan Lancephil. It is highly likely that that guy was the one who had received the blessings of Astrum.’

The beautiful youth reached his hand out towards Pierce. By pure instincts, Pierce increased the distance with his spear still pointing forward.

“There’s no need to run away. Come with me.”
“Come with you? For what?”

Pierce gave a frown but the youth replied shortly with a smile.

“To save the world.”

It was an extremely carefree voice, expression and words, but oddly enough, Pierce could not give an immediate response.

‘To save the world…?’

His heart thumped. It wasn’t the good kind like when he was thinking of Katy Rinse and instead gave him an uncomfortable and unpleasant feeling.

In that instant,

“How dare you go anywhere!”
“We’ll catch you and judge your sins!”

As soon as the deputy leaders came to themselves, they started shouting. The youth stared directly at them with a bright smile.

“Sorry but thus far, no-one was able to stop me. Even Europas was not able to.”

His smiles deepened.

“No-one can stop me.”

Once again, the intense breathtaking pressure stormed in.

“No-one can stop me, this Kalian from doing whatever he wants.”

Kalian. The red-haired youth was the Red Dragon Kalian that had shown itself in the outside world, following the Gold Dragon Europas’ will. However, it had already been centuries since the dragons had hidden themselves, and even when hearing the name Kalian, there was no-one that seemed to realise that he was a dragon.

Due to that, Kalian was a little flustered.

“What? You don’t know me?”

He, who had made an enthusiastic self-introduction, made a slightly embarrassed expression.

“You just said; Kalian right?”

One of the deputy leaders replied indifferently.

“Tch. I must’ve been in the mountains for too long. To think that they had forgotten my name…”

When his words reached that point,

“Let’s go.”

Putting his spear away, Pierce spoke with a low voice. Those were very simple and certain words. Stopping the long complaints he was about to give, Kalian stared at Pierce whose eyes still shone brightly and fiercely.

‘Quite a good pair of eyes for a human.’

With a smile, Kalian reached out his right hand.

“Good. Hold my hand.”

After staring at Kalian for a bit, Pierce slowly matched it with his own right hand.

“Sir Leader!”
“You mustn’t! Sir Leader!”

Several deputy leaders shouted with surprised expressions but Pierce only turned his head back to stare at them.

“I’ll be back soon.”

After a little hesitation, he continued with a difficult voice.

“Please say everything carefully to Castellan Katy.”
“Ah…”

The deputy leaders let out low mutters while Pierce consciously gave them a smile as he grabbed onto Kalian’s.

“Your hand’s quite cold.”

Kalian talked about some pointless things and Pierce replied softly like a whisper.

“Instead, something else is warm.”

That was the end of their conversation. With a smile, Kalian tilted his head slightly and then

Paaat!

A white pillar of light enveloped Kalian and Pierce’s body as it reached into the sky.

Sphat!

The bright pillar of light soon hid itself and Kalian and Pierce who had been right before them until just then had disappeared along with it.

“T, teleport?”

A portion of the deputy leaders screamed with widened eyes. The teleport magic was something that could never be used without a magic circle and magic stones.

“Teleport?”
“Then he’s a magician?”
“Kalian, Kalian, Kalian… I’ve heard it somewhere…”

Lots of comments started coming out of the deputy leaders.

It was then,

“Now’s not the time for this! We must first report to Miss Castellan!”

One of the deputy leaders shouted with an urgent expression and only then did the other deputy leaders realise it. They quickly wrapped up the soldiers’ training and ran towards Castle Miller. Passing through the well-maintained roads rapidly, they reached Katy’s office.

“Miss Castellan!”
“Something big has happened!”
“There’s something to report!”

The urgent reports of the deputy leaders continued for a while.

Creak.

Hearing the report, Katy gripped hard onto the chair’s armrests without realising.

‘That person has left?’

Her chest felt tightened and her breath turned more frequent. She could already see Pierce’s form in front of her eyes.

“Shouldn’t we immediately send our troops?”
“Shouldn’t we send the report to the capital immediately?”
“This is pretty much an abduction!”

The urgent voices of the deputy leaders dug into her ears but Katy did not respond easily. She was calm – she had to be calm.

“Did you say the young man’s name was Kalian?”

A soft questioning voice.

“Yes. He had definitely said that.”

They quickly nodded their heads. Katy bit her lower lips. For her who had once been a part of the royal family, the name Kalian was something that couldn’t and shouldn’t be forgotten.

‘Red Dragon Kalian. That youth must’ve been a dragon.’

She could be certain. Red hair, eyebrows, irises and outrageous skills…

‘Then…’

Remembering the old memories, she heaved out a deep sigh. Then, Katy took out a paper and a pen.

“I’ll prepare the letter to send to the Capital. The deputy leaders, please focus on the training of the soldiers, as well as defending the Rinse Special District.

It was a command.

“But isn’t it better to first find out where Sir Leader has been taken to?”

One of the deputy leaders asked carefully but Katy smiled bitterly and shook her head.

“That’s impossible.”

It was too bold and certain that the deputy leaders frowned.

“That doesn’t mean we can just stand by and do nothing. If something was to happen to Sir Leader…”

Hearing that, Katy replied in a more clear-cut voice filled with certainty.

“That will never happen. Leader Pierce will definitely be safe.”

However, the deputy leaders that were directly under Pierce did not back off easily from her words.

“I think Miss Castellan is thinking too lightly of the situation.”
“That mysterious youth had an awe-inspiring level of skills. With one mistake, Sir Leader might…”

When his words continued till there,

“Stop!”

Katy stood up from her seat and screamed with a sharp voice.

“…”

The complaining deputy leaders all closed their mouths with surprise and their eyes were evidently filled with befuddlement.

“Hu.”

Katy heaved out a deep breath before looking directly at the deputy leaders and continuing.

“Leader Pierce… Will there be anything happening to that person, or won’t that person be in danger… the person who’s worried the most, is me.”

Her voice trembled lightly.

“Miss Castellan…”

Seeing Katy in disorder, the deputy leaders were finally able to relax. Katy laid her right hand on her chest.

“I don’t want to think of anything horrible happening to that person.”

And if the youth’s identity was indeed the Red Dragon Kalian, there was nothing to worry about.

“Trust me. If I say it’s alright, then it is. Because I…”

Her voice trembled a little more.

“Don’t lie when it comes to that person.”

With those words, she sat back down on the chair. Her slightly disheveled appearance was nowhere to be found and had returned to her everyday self. After looking into each others’ faces, the deputy leaders soon bent one knee and kneeled.

“We apologise! Please forgive our rudeness!”

They felt Katy’s heart, and her emotions that were worried about Pierce more than anyone.

‘If such a person is saying it’s fine, then it is.’

It was impossible not to believe and now, they really believed in Katy’s words without a single doubt. While writing the letter that was to be sent to the Capital, Katy gave a nod.

“I’m also sorry for raising my voice.”

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

“Let us wait without a single worry.”

A soft voice.

“Without a single worry, without a single worry, without a single worry…”

She unconsciously repeated the same phrase over and over. Her soft voice soon turned a little lonely.

***

“Damn it!”
“This monster!”

The dark elves Rakul and Arikan shouted with their knees on the ground.

‘Damn. Kneeling to mere humans!’

Rakul looked around the surroundings. Seventy dark elves that had been following himself and Arikan had all been suppressed. The Amaranth Taemusas that had appeared from everywhere had immense numbers and their own abilities were excellent as well. Due to that, the dark elves were unable to retaliate to the best of their abilities and were all captured within the blink of an eye.

“Damn, to think that God of War Roan Lancephil would appear in the middle of a mountain…”

Rakul clenched as it was extremely unexpected. The Amaranth Kingdom had just been founded, and thus, thinking that the king would leave their palace – their city and travel incognito was something that had never occurred to them.

‘Are you just strange, or…’

He was worried whether they caught wind of something.

It was then,

“Why is the king of the Amaranth Kingdom in these dark mountains?”

Being more straightforward and short-tempered than Rakul, Arikan showed his thoughts immediately. Roan smiled a little and stared directly into Rakul’s two eyes.

“You should know well.”

A flawless act. He was planning to see Arikan’s reaction and indeed, Arikan immediately screamed with a crumpled expression.

“Hmph! I knew it! But you’re already late! The ritual has ended already. And the altar will be des…”

Around that point,

“Arikan! Shut up!”

Rakul was startled and quickly screamed. He was different from Arikan and even if Roan had indeed known of everything, he wouldn’t blabber about anything.

“Ah…”

Arikan let out a low mutter as he had just realised his mistake. He stared directly at Roan. Being short-tempered and straightforward, Arikan was also an extremely prideful individual and the fact that he had been played by a mere human made him flush red.

Staring at Arikan, Roan asked in a low voice.

“What ritual are you talking about?”

Now he didn’t bother acting as he realised that the situation had changed due to Rakul.

“Kukukuku.”

Instead of a reply, Arikan let out a burst of strange laughter.

“Good. If you’re that curious, I’ll give you an answer.”
“Arikan!”

Rakul bellowed in surprise, but then.

Grit.

Arikan bit his molar and twisted it.

Cough!

Along with a heavy cough, black blood came out from his mouth. He had bitten the poison that was hidden inside the mouth.

“Kukukuku.”

Even whilst vomiting out black blood, he did not stop his strange laughter and staring directly at Rona, he spoke with a clear voice.

“If you want to hear, then find me in the afterlife.”

That was the end. Arikan soon lowered his head and died due to the intense poison. However, that was his finish but it was a start for others.

Grit.

The captured dark elves all twisted their molars and bit it.

“Kuuk!”
“Kuk!”

There was no sign of hesitation, and all of them soon bled out black before collapsing. It was too fast and secretive that Roan as well as the Taemusas could not stop anyone from doing so.

“Kukuku.”

Even Rakul had already bitten on it. Similar to Arikan, even while spewing out black blood, he did not stop the strange laughter. Staring at Rakul, Roan asked with a low voice.

“For what are you dying?”

He was asking whether it was a worthy death but Rakul’s reply was simple.

“Revenge.”

Roan frowned.

“What kind of revenge are you talking about?”

Instead of replying, Rakul started speaking of strange things.

“Now that it’s come to this, don’t die and live long.”

He couldn’t understand. Roan silently waited for the next words and using all his strength, Rakul continued with an extremely weak and soft voice.

“In the horrible world of darkness filled with pain…”

That was the end.

Rakul lowered his head and couldn’t continue his words, nor his breath. Staring at the dark elves that had committed suicides, Roan frowned.

‘Live in the horrible world of darkness filled with pain…’

Rakul’s last words lingered around his ears and his heartbeat quickened for some reason. It wasn’t the good kind of blood rush though and was extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant.

PR Note: DRAGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONS

<The Dark Elves (5)> End.