“You two, please sit as well, no need to be restrained.”
The words of the Leprous King, muffled by the metal mask, still conveyed a sense of kindness and intimacy.
In his study, many heavy books were stacked on the bookshelves.
Numerous maps and paper rolls marked with numbers were spread out on the desk, and not far behind him was a painting covered by a deep blue cloth.
After Poro and Leike were seated, the King quickly tidied up his desk, and the door opened.
A simply dressed but elegant woman placed a teacup in front of each of the four, pouring light blue tea from a pot, its fragrance filling the air.
Then, she smiled at the Leprous King and walked out of the room.
“This tea is produced in our kingdom, Azure Star Tea, one of our specialties. In times of peace, many foreign nobles and merchants loved to come to our country to purchase it.”
At the Leprous King's suggestion, they each took a slight sip, experiencing a pure freshness with a hint of vigorous sweetness.
“But in the future, it will be difficult to drink it for a while.”
“Why is that?”
“Because just last week, I received news that the last tea field was burned down by the Srui Kingdom.”
The Leprous King's words were fluent, but they could still hear the undisguised anger and sorrow in his voice.
“Would you like to hear the story of my child, the Child of the Stars?”
The eyes behind the Leprous King's mask looked at them, appearing bright and piercing.
This was one of the purposes of their visit, so they did not refuse and nodded.
“You should be able to tell that I am a leper. At that time, my condition had made it impossible for me to have offspring.”
The Leprous King looked at the tea in front of him as he spoke, and although he was wearing a mask, his mental state seemed good.
“And my queen is a witch.”
“A witch?”
“Yes, she is called the Astrologer Witch. You just saw her, didn't you? Couldn't tell, could you?”
The Leprous King chuckled. Hearing his words, Leike and Poro remembered the woman who had poured the tea. Although she was simply dressed, her temperament and etiquette were not those of an ordinary person.
“She used an ancient magic, using our blood as a guide, to draw down starlight on a starry night. Thus, the Child of the Stars was born. He is our child, and also a child of the stars, so his title is indeed not a problem.”
“Magic can do this?”
Poro was stunned. Although he had learned a lot of magic, as a synonym for miracles, he knew that what he had learned was only a small part of what magic could do.
For example, creating a… child as strong as the Child of the Stars was indeed incredible.
“So, magic and stars can create new children?”
Leike also opened her eyes wide in surprise.
“But it's not that simple. All magic has some limitations. After all, we are not God. Our child's birth is already a rare miracle.”
The Leprous King smiled and continued, “In accordance with the prophecy, I still needed to put our child through some training to make him an excellent king, but…”
“The celestial phenomena have changed a long time ago. The invasion of the Srui Kingdom has left us with no time to train our child.”
Speaking of this, the Leprous King sighed and continued, “My army is simply unable to resist the Srui Kingdom, and my queen's magic cannot help in the battle.”
“So, I could only lift the seal on the Child of the Stars and let him become king.”
“Training? The training in the prophecy? What does that mean?”
“Without experiencing the lives of ordinary people, one will never think for them. Without experiencing hardship, one will not have an indomitable will. Only knowing how to use magic and power to solve everything will prevent one from improving one's own wisdom and becoming foolish and昏庸…”
The Leprous King sighed and looked out the window at the starry sky. “Having power and authority above mortals will make him arrogant, but he is not a god after all. Over time, his power will not be able to affect the entire country, and he will only become a cold, aloof tyrant.
But his soul and thoughts are still as fragile as ordinary people.”
“So, the training you mentioned means…”
“My queen and I originally wanted to seal his abilities and send him to the poorest village in the kingdom to grow up as a farmer's child, so that he could experience the hardships of the world.
Then arrange one difficulty after another to let him know how to use wisdom, let him know compassion, responsibility, and gratitude.
When he learns these, he will have the qualities he should have to ascend the throne.
As for the more strategies for governing the country, the wisdom brought to him by the stars will make him feel like a fish in water.”
But whether it was the lines or the style, there was a sense of dazzling chaos.
“It seems that from a certain day, this world has become different. Sometimes, I even suspect that I have come to another time and space. Everything should not be like this now—fate has become strange and difficult to find. We can no longer anticipate anything that will happen.
It should… be more ordinary, simpler, and better.”
Speaking of this, the Leprous King paused, covered the oil painting again, and smiled at the two, “Just take these as my ravings, don't take them to heart.
After all, humans are not gods, and it is impossible to try to see everything in the world clearly. It was just that my vision was too narrow before.”
“So, is the Child of the Stars' personality also formed because he was not trained?”
Hearing this, Leike and Poro did not discuss those mysterious things about the world and fate, but instead shifted the topic back to the Child of the Stars.
After all, the purpose of this visit was for the victory of this war.
And the main force in this war against the Srui King is only this Child of the Stars.
“Yes, powerful power and a brilliant birth have made him arrogant and complacent. He has become the king and no longer listens to any of my suggestions, even… no longer treats me as his father.”
The Leper King gave a wry smile. "He thinks all of this is his due, whether it's the position of king or the respect of the people—but that's not right."
Leake and Polo understood what the Leper King was saying. Prince Happy had also said that only a king who protects his people and makes their lives better is worthy of respect.
"However, right now, he has indeed protected the people of Falling Star City."
The Leper King's tone shifted, and he continued, "If he can truly defeat the Srui Kingdom and allow more people who are about to be harmed by war to live, then this respect, the position of king, are all his due.
After all, I really can't resist the Srui Kingdom's military might."
Seeing that the Leper King seemed a little lost, Leake said:
"It sounds like you are indeed a good king. As Oz said, the Srui Kingdom is indeed very strong—it's not your fault."
"But the minds of those Srui people are much deeper than my son's."
The Leper King took a deep breath and then said, "The last prophecy made by my queen was that the Srui King would be killed by starlight on the day my son comes of age.
The newest novels are first published on Liu Jiu Shu Ba!
But now the celestial phenomena make us all begin to question the truth of the prophecy."
As he spoke, the Leper King looked at the others, "I hope it's true. I also want my last city to survive the war.
So, I have made many preparations and collected a lot of information about the origin of the Srui Kingdom.
They keep it very secret. Most of it, I can only judge through speculation… Would you like to take a look?"
"Of course, we don't like waiting for fate to decide our fate."
Leake and the others exchanged glances and replied, "In fact, we came today to learn more information, whether it's about the Srui Kingdom or your child."
After that, the Leper King began to take out many documents and materials from the bookshelf behind him one by one, open them, push them towards Leake and the others, and point to some key places to start explaining.
"Earlier, you should have seen the Srui King and his attack methods, right?"
The Leper King opened a page of notes, and on the first page, there was an image of a sword, drawn with charcoal.
The Leper King's drawing skills were very good. Leake and Polo had also seen the sword at a very close distance—
Without a doubt, this was the sword hanging from the Srui King's waist.
"We've seen this sword…"
"Yes, the Srui King, he is very young, but he has the ability to destroy any army with one blow. Before attacking Falling Star City, no one was even able to witness how he did it."
The Leper King flipped through the notes. Polo noticed that before the sword, there were many pages in the notes, and each skipped page was filled with dense text and annotations.
And the content was all speculation about the Srui King's abilities.
"It's difficult to speculate on the truth of a magical phenomenon. At first, I thought it was a powerful magic he possessed, or a powerful invisible army…"
Unlike the real world where Polo was before, in this world, the existence of magic allows more incredible things to happen, and the reasoning about the truth of related events becomes more difficult.
In a world without magic, a murdered person might die from a sharp knife, a bottle, a rope, a baseball bat, or poison—these can be determined by an autopsy.
But in this world, they might die from having their hair picked up and cursed, or being turned into a toad and stepped on to death, and other bizarre but reasonable causes.
"But now, I'm sure his power probably comes from that sword."
The Leper King came to a conclusion.
He found some more materials and placed them in front of Leake and the others, a map with many broken lines and annotations, and some historical records.
"Some of my deduced guesses also include the 'holy water' used by the soldiers of the Srui Kingdom, and the bread that appears out of thin air, their military rations."
"They all come from the same place?"
"Yes, brought back from a place by this king or prince when he was a prince."
As the Leper King spoke, he pulled the map from below, and at the position of his finger, behind the vast territory of the Srui Kingdom, a square was marked.
"I don't know exactly where this is, but it must be in here!"
"How did you find out?"
"Through some rumors in the Srui Kingdom, it took a lot of time to confirm the truth. This prince once traveled far away for a period of time, and these things appeared after he returned to the Srui Palace."
The Leper King then showed a lot of information and thoughts. Finally, he still left the paper on the bizarrely shaped sword in the notes.
"He first showed his ability when the Srui Kingdom used troops against a small country. At that time, he was wearing this sword on his waist when he went on the expedition."
"There should be more than just these, right?"
"Of course, in many battles with him, I still have a lot… information exchanged with the lives of my country's soldiers."
The Leper King's narration was very organized, "Every time before he kills, his hand will rest on the hilt of the sword, and before destroying an army, he will make a gesture of waving the sword—of course, this is only the most superficial thing."
Speaking of this, the Leper King unfolded more scrolls below and laid them flat on the table.
Leake and Polo saw that there were many dense calculations and geometric drawings on them. On the other side, there were also many annotated strategic atlases.
"To win the war, we must defeat his sword… This is very difficult. This prince himself is by no means an ordinary person. It is no longer a secret to me that the Srui Kingdom is controlled by demons."
"These are… the preparations you made to crack his magic?"
After the Leper King took out those scrolls, Polo didn't stop thinking and reading.
Even so, with the help of [Spiral Beacon: Witch] and [Spiral Beacon: Sage], he only understood a small part of it.
But without a doubt, this was all the Leper King's unreserved thoughts and strategies extended from little by little detail.
"Yes, what I'm going to talk about next will be the most important part."
The eyes behind the Leper King's mask looked at the others, revealing solemnity and depth, "I must be prepared for my child's failure. At that time, facing the Srui King's sword, I cannot let my army and my people die without being able to fight back—
Even if we fail, we should bite off a piece of flesh from those Srui people!
There should be no unsolvable magic in the world."
