|| TL: miyakriko ||
Chapter 1: Exile
Klondike Kingdom, Throne Room.
“So Adonis, you have turned sixteen and become an adult, yet you still cannot use any skills?”
The voice that uttered these words belonged to the middle-aged man wearing a crown – King Klondike. Among the three people kneeling before him, the youngest and only black-haired boy, Adonis, struggled to answer the king’s question without trembling.
“N-No, not yet… I’m sorry, Father.”
“Do you understand that in this country, no, on this continent, those who cannot use skills are considered failures or incompetent?”
“Yes, I do.”
“In other words, even though you are of the Klondike family, you are aware that you are incompetent.”
“Indeed, I still can’t master the Dragon King skill. But thanks to this skill, the sage said that it can suppress the emergence of monsters around the country…”
As Adonis spoke while looking at the sage standing next to the king, the king interrupted him with a loud bang on the armrest of his throne.
“Silence, you incompetent fool!! How dare you get lost in fairy tales about things like dragons! And Dragon King at that!? I am the only one who is a king! All other third-rate kingdoms’ kings are fakes! Since ancient times, the Klondike family has been the true lineage of kings who have ruled this land, and mixed breeds like you, who are my child, are a laughingstock to claim to be a king! The sage’s story is also just a made-up tale to comfort you!”
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way… It’s just that the name of the skill is…”
Adonis’s weak words only further angered the king.
“Your elder brother Verano can use the All Attribute skill freely, and even holds the title of Great Sorcerer at his age. Your second brother Kiel is known as the greatest swordsman on this continent, using the Flash Sword skill. And what about you…! You can’t do anything except think a little! I’m not such a generous king as to keep someone who can’t use a sword, magic or skills in my family forever!”
Hearing those words, the two blond young men next to Adonis snickered.
“Hehehe… it’s a relief that there is one incompetent person.”
“Kahaha… we don’t need two useless people who can’t even swing a sword.”
Seeing this, the king stood up from his throne.
I’ve decided based on your attitude. Adonis… I give you the mission to pioneer.”
“Huh…? Pioneering…?”
“There is a remote land far to the east that still rejects people from our country. You must pioneer there and engage in expanding our territory. Until it becomes land beneficial to our country, you will not be allowed to return.”
Upon hearing those words, the sage next to him hurriedly spoke up.
“Wait, your majesty! You cannot send him away from this country! The skill of the Dragon King that appears only in the bloodline of the Klondike royal family is the proof of a king’s dominance, as you know! When that skill appears, there will always be chaos. Prince Adonis is like a protective wall for Klondike during those turbulent times! Sending him to such a remote land is suicidal!”
The king’s anger was quietly released at the sage’s words.
“The proof of a king’s dominance? You jest… You are nothing more than a pitiful old man who has been fooled by history books full of lies. Listen carefully… I am the proof of a king’s dominance. Can a child of a mistress be the proof of a king’s dominance? A protective wall for the country? How absurd. Enough, you have already become senile. Do not speak any further.”
“Your majesty… please reconsider… Prince Adonis’s power will be displayed from now on. If he is sent to such a remote land… he will die before he awakens! If that happens, this country will be finished…”
In the middle of those words, the sage’s head was cut off.
“I said be quiet, didn’t I”
The king drew his sword at an invisible speed and wiped the blood off in front of Adonis.
Blood splattered onto Adonis’s face.
“Kuh, sage-sama… why…”
“Curse yourself for believing the delusions of a crazy old man, Adonis. Now, the mission has been given. You will go to the remote land, Dragleik’s wasteland, and start pioneering.”
“Ugh… why… why…”
Adonis hugged the head of the sage that had fallen in front of him while shedding tears.
Because he lost his mother when he was young, the only one who had been on his side in this palace was the sage. The sage was the only one who treated him kindly, and always tried to protect him from his heart being warped, scolding him harshly at times.
For Adonis, the sage was like a parent, more than the king himself.
“That’s all. Put your spirit into pioneering as much as possible.”
With the king’s words, Adonis Klondike, the third prince, was essentially exiled from the country.
☆☆☆
“Sage-sama…”
On the outskirts of the royal castle stood an apple tree, and Adonis liked to escape from the castle from time to time to sit under the tree and relax.
It was the Sage who had first taught him about this place.
Therefore, Adonis took the body of the sage, who had no relatives, and buried him here.
“Dear Sage, I am setting out on a journey to the far east from now on. I will never step on this soil of the royal castle again. But… I will do my best to live my life honestly, just as you taught me. In accordance with your wishes… I will treasure this staff as a memento. I am truly sorry for what I’ve done.”
Adonis choked back tears as he gripped the staff that the Sage had used in his lifetime.
But he didn’t cry.
He had already decided that he wouldn’t cry anymore.
“Sage-sama, thank you for everything… and goodbye.”
Adonis raised his head and spoke these words.
Beneath his slightly grown black hair was the dignified face of a young man who had lost his childhood innocence.
“Well then… I’m off.”
And thus, with his small retinue, Adonis set off for the remote frontier land of “Draglake’s Sand and Gravel” in the east.
Later, the history books would record this event as the first step taken by “Black Dragon King Adonis” toward becoming the conqueror of the continent.
|| Author’s Note ||
I have posted a high fantasy novel with a dragon as the protagonist for the Kakuyomucon!
“Ryuou-sama no Saikyou Kokka Senryaku ~Ryuhime wo Shitagaeta Moto Ouji wa Skill [Ryuou] no Chikara de Hanki wo”
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