Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 41 – Affront to the throne

[Eternum Calendar 1972]

With the high noon sun hanging brilliantly upon the clear blue skies and gracing the lands below with productivity, two elegantly dressed men walk through shadowed archways. Though clearly out of their usual elements, their pacing and stride commanded admiration, respect and awe by anyone that passed them by. In truth they were not simple decorated nobles, but the highest ranking nobles that ruled the entire western territory of a supercontinent known as [Ariadyne].

The center continent, also a supercontinent known as Ariadyne was ruled by four kings known as [Tetrarchs]. For a long time the four territories of Ariadyne, North, East, South and West, have co-existed in an fleeting illusion of ‘peace’ and ‘non-aggression’, however recent events have shaken this fragile balance of power.

“Father, isn’t it about you told me about this… ‘Errick Rommel’ person? From what I’ve heard he’s just a low ranking country baron, so then why is it that we have to come all the way out here to meet him specifically? It should be the other way around!”

The younger of the two men asked the other. He was [Leon Crow Xix Ariadyne], the first prince and first in line to succeed the throne of the West Tetrarchy. Still at the tender age of 18, he had a lot to learn about the nation of which he would one day succeed. Yet, if normal circumstances had applied, then in this case his question would be quite valid. There was no reason for a national leader to specifically go over to meet a low ranking countryside representative; all that would have been needed was a royal summons.

For a brief moment the older man, [Aidus Crow Xix Ariadyne], the current West Tetrarch, had paused. In his neatly combed long burgundy hair were streaks of white mixed in, suggesting either his aged status or stressful lifestyle.

“Sometimes official positions do not reflect the true leadership of a country. Even in this country, there are many powerful people that, if gathered, could potentially have the ability of overthrow the throne.”

However hearing this only served to anger the first prince and fuel his ignorance. To him the throne was supposed to be a symbol of absolute power and everyone else had to obey. Of course at the same time it was a symbol of responsibility to the nation’s people. In essence it was a give and take relationship where the people would trust and follow the throne, and in return the throne would ensure the safety, security and the prosperity of its subjects. Yet to see his own father, the one who sat upon that aureate throne, undermining its power was not something he wanted to witness.

“What do you mean by that, father?! Are we not the rulers of this nation?”

Aidus cleared his throat as he adjusted his collar. Thinking that his son was still a little green about how the cogs truly turned the great machine that was their country brought him a little uneasiness for the future.

“We are in name, and though we don’t lack any in a political sense either, there is more to government than just projecting that power.”

Yet even as his father explained, to Leon it was impossible to understand; he knew the words but the concept was not something he could easily fathom. That being said, Aidus could not help but to think that some of the blame rested on him who raised his son in such a manner. ‘Respect the throne, respect the people and always do what you believe is right,’ that was the motto that the Crow Xix Ariadyne family had lived by.

For a period after that the two men ceased their conversation and continued walking in utter silence. With the occasional servants of the house that they intruded upon bowing to them as they passed, they reached the door to their destination without event.

“Leon, you would do well to remember not to anger or disrespect in any way the master of this house. He is a person that has faithfully served our family for a long time and someday may even become a person you would come to rely.”

The first prince frowned, but did not answer his father directly. He averted his dissatisfaction gaze scoffing at the idea, ‘rely on some low ranking baron?’ Seeing his son’s attitude, Aidus only sighed as he knocked on the door. This was also a point that soured Leon’s mood more, as it should have been the master of the house that would open the door and show his hospitality. It was a matter of etiquette.

“Please, come in.”

The voice of the master that came from behind the rich wooden doors sounded strange. It didn’t sound natural, like it wasn’t something that a living being should be able to actually produce.

‘Please come in?’ Leon thought, not only did this low ranking baron show disrespect by not showing the representatives of the throne hospitality but he didn’t even bother to greet them properly. He actually was beginning to doubt if the master was truly even a genuine noble with such appalling social etiquette. This was almost at a level of spitting on the throne and would be a worthy excuse for execution, though the West Tetrarch usually didn’t emphasize on such practices.

Without hesitation his father opened the door and even bowed as he met with the master of the house. Leon gasped, almost recoiling, but stood firm to see just what kind of character this ‘Baron Rommel’ was to command such admiration from his own father, the West Tetrarch.

‘Strange…’ was not a word that even came close to what Leon was looking for to describe such a man. Dressed in a clean white suit decorated with several odd looking medals decorated upon his left chest, with golden silk shoulder pads he stood as though we here some divine figure. Even the bright sunlight leaking into the room emphasized him as some kind of divinity. However the awe-inspiring impression ended there upon gazing at his face, or rather towards what was on his face. A helmet, with a cross slit revealing a single menacing red light from behind.

“What is that?!”

Leon asked, shrieking back meeting the sight of the ominous being. He was no ‘divine’ entity; even the demon lord wouldn’t be a match for such an evil looking gaze.

“Leon, you’re being disrespectful, I have warned you to keep your wits about you on this regard. Ahem, my apologies Lord Rommel, my son is still not used to his official position, please do forgive his ignorance.”

Once more his father, the leader of the West Tetrarchy, lowered his head in order to gain forgiveness from a low ranking baron. Such an absurd situation, Leon wanted to shout out in protest but couldn’t because of the shock.

“Hahaha~ it is of no concern, I can understand fully the reason for his dissatisfaction and behavior.”

With a quick laugh Errick Rommel had easily defused the situation by raising his hand to signify that everything was forgiven. Seeing this relieved Aidus, he finally lifted his head but not before glaring harshly towards his son’s rudeness.

“F- father… just what is this?”

“First Prince Leon, your confusion and anger is understandable. Certainly from your point of view, my actions and the actions of your father may have seemed rather unnatural and even contradictory, but there is a reason for all of this.”

“Reason? Just what kind of reason could justify this level of disrespect?”

“Leon-”

As Aidus was once again trying to reprimand his son, Errick Rommel had intervened.

“Tetrarch, do not blame your son, he is merely confused. I think it is best if we explained from the beginning our arrangement and situation.”

Aidus sighed and nodded that it was indeed best to explain the situation to his son who would one day be taking over.

“I understand. Then listen well Leon, this person is only a baron by choice; if the situation had differed even slightly he would have been the one sitting upon the throne and not us. Lord Rommel is someone who could even be considered one of the ‘founding fathers’ of our entire country.”

“Founding fathers? How is that even possible? That was centuries ago!”

“It is entirely possible specifically because he isn’t quite ‘living’ in the traditional sense. He is an entity that has existed since long before even the conception of our country; an ancient being known as a [Ghost Armor]. In essence he is a spirit who exists by possessing a piece of armor. Hence the reason he wears that mask, it is not an affront but his genuine appearance and also the reason I cannot simply invite him to the main castle as it would cause problems.”

Leon’s eyes widened, a single thought came to him as he heard this absurd revelation.

“Huh? A ‘Ghost Armor’? Then… then doesn’t that mean he’s just a monster?”

“Leon!”

Angered by the sheer stubbornness of his son, Aidus had thought his only recourse was to disgracefully dismiss his son from this meeting. However Errick Rommel had interrupted before the situation could escalate to that level.

“Hahaha! Yes, I suppose that is one way to see it; a ‘monster’. However I would much rather prefer it if you used the term ‘Cyborg’ instead. It really means the same thing if you get down to the essence of it after all.”

“Cy- cy… borg?”

Leon repeated with a hint of confusion in his voice. It was not a term he was familiar with and his only thoughts were, ‘is that a type of monster?’

“Indeed, indeed~! Then, allow me to official introduce myself and make acquaintance to the First Prince of the West Tetrarchy. I am known as Errick Rommel, previously I have served as the Grand Admiral to a nation known as the [Union States of the Sovereign Confederacy], ‘USSC’ or simply just ‘the Confederacy’ for short. However that nation no longer exists and now I serve as a baron and secret advisor to the West Tetrarchy.”

Instantly, several questions went through Leon’s head as he heard Errick’s introduction, none of them having any real answers to them or even coming close to making sense. He had never heard of a nation called the USSC, not even in old archives kept in the library of the main castle. In the first place, the opponent was supposed to be a ‘ghost armor’, meaning a monster so, it was obvious to Leon that his words should be subject to scrutiny.

“That is not a country that I’ve ever heard of, besides what’s to say that you’re not still part of that country? Or that you’re not some spy for another?”

“Leon…!”

“No father, if I’m to someday succeed as this country’s Tetrarch then I need to be absolutely sure of the people I will be dealing with. So far the only thing I’ve witnessed from this man is his affront to the throne, therefore, I cannot in honest intentions accept this man. Be it a monster, ghost armor, demon, ‘cyborg’ or anything else, I don’t care, but he does not acknowledge the leadership and chain of command on which our country operates. I can only see this as a failure on his part to grasp the direction in which our country should be headed.”

It was an odd feeling that Aidus felt as he heard his son talk, a part of him was a little proud to hear such devotion to his country, but it had mostly been washed away by a seething fury. Even after issuing his son several warnings about his behavior, his failure to rectify his attitude only left disgrace towards the very crown he was so proud of.

“Hahaha… I have understood your intentions well, first prince. If you truly do not feel that I am worth your acknowledgement then you are free to leave. I will not fault you, if you believe that this is the direction that the West Tetrarchy needs to move then so be it. It is you who will be succeeding as the next head of the Crow Xix family, not I.”

“Lord Rommel!”

Aidus tried to object but Errick raised his hands to silence the Tetrarch. Errick was not mad, it was unsure if he even carried the capacity to express such emotions, but all he felt was respect for the boy. To be able to speak out to that extent and express his undying loyalty to his nation, it was a scene that Errick had seen many times during his service to the USSC. Putting it simply, it was ‘nostalgia’.

Unable to find any points to refute in his opponents reply all Leon could do was clench his fists begrudgingly. He could not strike back at him physically, that would truly bring disgrace to the throne, even if it didn’t it felt futile trying to hit a metal helmet with bare hands. He was no longer a child and he no longer had to walk under his father’s shadow fearing every repercussion for his decisions, what he needed to do was stand and affirm his own beliefs through his own experiences. Thus what he truly felt he needed to do right now was leave.

“I shall bid you fair well. Perhaps next time we meet you will do me the proper courtesy instead of disparaging the throne.”

With those words Leon stormed out of the room as his clothes fluttered elegantly behind him. As the door shut harshly behind him the final image of his father was of him bowing to apologize once again to the low ranking baron.

…

“You have quite the child; he has a lot of spirit, an admirable quality for the young Lord.”

Errick Rommel spoke with a light tone as none of the previous incident’s tension fazed him, but also thanks to that Aidus was also able to look past the situation. There was a specific reason that he had come for Errick Rommel’s guidance in the first place and more so than his son’s aberrant behavior, this matter took precedence.

“I’m thankful that you are such an understanding person. Since we have lost quite a bit of time already, I’d appreciate it if we could move onto the true reason why I’ve come here today.”

Errick Rommel sat quietly for a few moments before answering, this time with a much more serious tone that his synthetic sounding voice could produce.

“Could it be about the movement of the Southern Tetrarchy? No… perhaps I should call them the ‘nation of the red knights’: [Heaven State] or so they’ve begun to call themselves.”

In response to Errick Rommel’s reply Aidus let out a small chuckle covered by his hand.

“As expected, you’re already aware of the situation. Indeed, that is the reason I’ve come to you; for your counsel regarding this matter. In the past several months they’ve been harassing our borders and have become a general nuisance. We’ve tried to deal with them as best we can but all negotiations have failed and it truly seems like they intend to escalate this into a full scale war. How do you think we should proceed, Lord Rommel?”

Hearing the question of the West Tetrarch, Errick stood up and moved over to his large wooden desk. Upon it was several unfinished paperwork regarding the state of affairs on his estate and land and the governance of the small town under his lordship. Seeing this only highlighted some truth to the first prince’s words about how different the position between the small time baron ‘Errick Rommel’ and the West Tetrarch ‘Aidus Crow Xix Ariadyne’.

“Perhaps… there was some truth to your son’s anger. He seems to think that your reliance on me, a low ranking baron, is a disgrace to the throne and a sign of weakness. What are your thoughts on this regard, Tetrarch Aidus Crow Xix Ariadyne?”

Aidus sighed as he went along.

“I don’t think anything of it. Even if he is right, I will not do anything to change my actions as this is what I believe is the correct path. Even if I’m weak or a disgrace, as long as it can save and guide the people under my governance then I will do what I must.”

It wasn’t quite clear, but for a brief second Aidus thought he saw Errick Rommel smile beneath that mask, if that was even possible. As he spoke the single red glow behind his mask grew brighter and more exhilarated.

“I see, in some ways you’re quite a lot like ‘him’. Very well, Tetrarch, I shall stake my name as the Grand Admiral of the USSC to do everything in my power to lend you my aide in this regard. Let us ‘deal’ accordingly with those who would dare intrude upon our domain.”