The king’s palace was completely silent. It was as if he had completed his work and had gone to bed. Nothing could be heard in the palace except for Davey’s footsteps and the pitter-patter of Rinne’s bare feet touching the ground.

Rinne’s feet were durable, but it was quite weird for her to avoid shoes. Aside from protection, shoes would also keep her feet from getting dirty. However, Rinne didn’t seem to care. Davey did make her wear black tights under her skirt as Illyna had begged him to, but her white feet were still exposed since the tights only came down to her ankles.

“Hup! Y—Your Highness!”

Davey familiarly entered the palace. As he headed toward the king’s bedroom, he quietly spoke to the servant and lady-in-waiting guarding the door. “Open the door.”

“B—But, Your Highness! Without any message beforehand at this time…”

“Open.” Davey instantly frowned as his voice got colder. “The door.”

The servant and lady-in-waiting turned pale from Davey’s flowing killing aura, since they were not used to his powers yet. It wasn’t their fault in the first place, but it was difficult for Davey to control his killing aura right now. It was like his soul was used to it, but his body wasn’t. Unlike the time he first woke up and slowly familiarized himself with his powers over the course of a few months, it was faster this time.

As Davey was about to sigh while the servant and lady-in-waiting looked at each other in a complete panic… An old man’s voice rang out from inside the bedroom; it was King Krianes. He was still awake although it was quite late.

“That’s alright. Let him in.”

The door hinges quietly moved as the doors opened, and Davey walked into an antique-style room.

“Davey, it’s been a while.”

“May infinite blessing be upon the Sun of the kingdom. Please forgive my insolence.”

“That’s alright. I do not want to receive such a formal greeting from you here. And it’s also not rude for a son to come visit his father.”

“Your Majesty, for your subordinate to show respect…”

“That is not needed between a father and son.”

‘Are you still being stubborn?’

King Krianes, who smiled at the kneeling Davey and held his hand tightly, looked more worn out than when they first reunited. He said, “Yes, I heard you went to the Lyndis Empire.”

“Yes, I was invited to the coming-of-age celebration of Princess Aeria El Lyndis, the empire’s youngest princess.”

“You probably met Carlus.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“Tsk tsk… It would be nice if he came to his senses and grew up.”

Strangely, there was almost no hint of care or love in King Krianes’ voice. The closest comparison that Davey could make would be love and hate. Noticing that, Davey then said, “Your Majesty, you do know why I came to see you this late in the night.”

King Krianes’ eyes deepened as Davey spoke. Then, he said, “Can you give it up, Davey?”

“I am sorry, Your Majesty.”

“I am not going to live much longer. Can you think of it as your father’s last request?”

‘Last request? Granted by who?’

Davey couldn’t help but scoff. “Your Majesty, may I tell you something?”

“Speak.”

“Your Majesty, you have yet to pay for your sins.” As King Krianes remained silent, Davey then added, “Do not try to die without my permission. I will revive you even if you die.”

“Davey.”

“Your Majesty, you made this kingdom into this mess, made Mother die, abandoned me, and allowed the nobility to run wild. You did that, and you are just going to run away?”

‘You cannot die until you take care of all of that. I will revive you if I have to. And when you have done everything, you will have to leave the crown to Baris. Only then can you die in my hands or live a long life or do whatever you want.’

“I heard about the Lyndis Empire. You grew up so well even when a neglectful father like me couldn’t protect you. You also have outstanding judgment and the bold decisiveness a leader should have.” King Krianes stood up and slowly approached Davey. He went on while holding Davey’s hand, like he was appealing to him. “Not only that, but your stigmata has been recognized by the Holy Empire, and you have used your exceptional medical knowledge to cure the Lyndis Empire’s youngest princess; you have achievements great enough for the empire’s acknowledgment and you have made your own ally.”

King Krianes sighed. “If you want the crown, it is yours. However, as a king, anyone who takes the path of force cannot decide on every little thing. It was like that for me as well.”

“That is an excuse.”

“A king…” King Krianes went on with a painful expression. “Has too many people to protect. Davey, do you know how many people there are in this kingdom? There are five million. Not one, not a dozen, but five million. Do you know what that means? It means that five million people can live or die depending on a king’s decision.”

‘That is why a king cannot decide everything, and there are things he has to ignore even while knowing it.’

Davey erased the cold smile from his face and stared at King Krianes, who went on to say, “Alright… Just let out all of your resentment toward me. I can happily die by your sword with a smile on my face if you can become a successful king.”

“Your Majesty, I have told you from the beginning…”

“Davey.”

“Please grant me the title of ‘Investigator’. I will take care of the nobility.”

King Krianes widened his eyes in surprise. He exclaimed, “Davey!!”

“It seems like you don’t know, but…the Bariatta family has joined forces with vampires and has been offering this kingdom’s subjects to them as a sacrifice for a long time. Did you know that?”

King Krianes widened his eyes even more. “That is…”

“At first, it was Her Majesty the Queen. Her Majesty didn’t know the truth, but it is true that she was their support. And…” Davey emphasized every word that he said. “That damn Carlus is doing it even while knowing what is going on. But you just let them be? Is that the path of a king? Does being a king meant ignoring the deaths of hundreds and thousands of people to save five million?”

King Krianes couldn’t say a word as Davey bombarded him with criticism. Davey went on. “I cannot let such senseless people run wild in the kingdom that Baris, my brother, will inherit. Please send word if you decide on it. Your Majesty, you do not have to interfere in this anymore. No matter what they do, I will crush them.”

Davey’s language became rougher as he became more emotional.

“Are you thinking of something else? Are you thinking of trying to use the allied Lyndis Empire to crush the nobility and force an end to this situation?”

‘If that happens, they will lay low and hide while looking for another opportunity.’

“…”

“Do you think I would stand by and let that happen? If you want, I will cause a rebellion.”

“Davey!”

“Do you think I won’t? I will do it. That is the kind of guy I, Davey O’Rowane, Your Majesty’s son, am.”

The enemies’ last hit wouldn’t be King Krianes or Marquis Peiltris who had been handicapping the nobility’s power; it would be Davey, which was why he had rushed to regain his power.

* * *

Perhaps King Krianes thought that he couldn’t subdue his son’s stubbornness, because he did give the title of ‘General Investigator’ to Davey. No matter what the past relationship between Davey’s mother, King Krianes, and Queen Lynesse, was, King Krianes probably had no choice since he had become aware of the fact that the nobility had crossed a line and that Davey may do something extreme.

However, if what Davey had told him was true, this was a heavy crime that the nobility couldn’t glaze over with any kind of excuse. Of course, there was pushback about giving Davey the title of ‘Investigator’, but there weren’t any problems in the end. The nobility didn’t possess the amount of power they had before, and King Krianes, who was furious, had pushed this through.

The very first thing Davey did after receiving the royal order that formally named him as General Investigator was to use his newly given right to gather the palace knights. Although they were just Experts, they would be enough helping hands. The second thing he did as the General Investigator was spread a rumor and command the fifty knights who had been selected to serve him.

“We will start to break down the house of a harmful insect. Don’t worry. Even if the insect is dangerous, you have me. All you have to do is break the house down.”

“Your wish is my command!”

“Remember, you are valuable knights of the Rowane Kingdom. I won’t let you die.”

A flame flared up from Davey’s hand, then disappeared. His mana reacted with his emotions and showed up as a hot flame, since he wasn’t used to it yet; it was worse than he thought. Although…

‘Fire is the best at getting rid of insects.’

* * *

“It’s Davey O’Rowane.”

“Hup! I… I greet His Highness the Prince!”

Davey glanced at the empty storage space behind the man who was lowering his head nervously. He asked, “Is this an abandoned storage?”

“Oh… Yes, it is. It was originally a storage space to store supplies for the duke’s family… But the supplies were cut off for some reason, so…”

‘A spider has set up its web, but it’s totally empty.’

The five knights who followed Davey here looked confused. The facility did just look like an abandoned storage space from the outside.

“Really? Is that so?”

“Yes… Of course… But what brings you to this small territory…?” Asking that question, the man slightly raised his head from the floor.

Davey chuckled. “Why do you think I’m here?”

Hup. Davey took a short breath and wielded Blue Ribbon. He could use his hands to undo the barrier, but why bother when…

Crack… Crack!

“Sh… Shriek?!”

The barrier would break with a slash from Blue Ribbon?

As the space distorted and the barrier broke, the storage’s interior completely changed. The empty ground sunk down to reveal a path.

“It seems like you gave the barrier some thought, but you should’ve remembered who you’re up against.” As he spoke, Davey nonchalantly released his holy power.

[Holy Coating]

[Defensive Armor]

[Divine Shield]

It was an adequate level of holy magic that should be effective.

The knights, who looked down in surprise at the instantly engraved holy magic, soon remembered that Davey had a stigmata and began to quickly charge into the abandoned storage space’s basement. Soon, they widened their eyes in shock.

“What should we do with you?” Davey asked the man who was managing the storage calmly, and the man turned pale.

‘He would’ve kept it secret even though he knew what was going on.’

“P—Please kill me!”

“Let’s do that then.”

“Pardon?”

Splatter!

‘You asked me to kill you, so what else can I do?’

If the man kept quiet despite knowing such atrocities were happening, not even a decapitation would be enough for his crimes.

The man collapsed onto the ground without a single scream. His eyes remained wide open. Davey walked over the man’s corpse, and slowly walked into the basement as he coated Red Ribbon with holy power.