Second World-Novel

"Your Majesty, you said the ghosts... Um, I mean, the spirits of the other Themisphere's kings are down here, didn't you? Can you call one of them out? There's something I want to ask," Jack said to Theridan.

"Which one?" Theridan asked.

"The fourth king, Thebalder," Jack answered.

"Hey! You heard him. Are you going to show yourself?" Theridan called out.

Seeing Jack's questioning expression, Theridan said, "I said before, right? I see and hear everything that happens in this palace. The others are the same. They have heard us talking all this time."

"Oh…," Hearing that brought Jack back to the time when he was standing before the fourth king's statue during his walk through the corridor.

When he saw the statue and read the name under the statue, he laughed himself off. When Peniel asked him why he laughed, he said, "See, Thebalder."

He was pointing at the statue's head, which showed the king with a bald head. He and Peniel laughed together then.

As he was pondering that episode, Thebalder appeared before him. His appearance was the same as his statue. His crown was sitting on his bald head. From the dead king's expression, it was clear that Thebalder was aware of that earlier incident.

"Ah… Greetings, Your Majesty. I'm just an inexperienced junior. Please, don't put any of my silly acts to heart," Jack uttered while bowing.

Theridan was aware of what incident Jack mentioned. He was silently chuckling.

"Hm, I'm not that petty. Such a childish act won't offend me," Thebalder said while folding his arms. "So, what does the new not-our-descendant king want to ask about?"

'You are clearly offended,' Jack said within. Without, he said, "I heard that before your unfortunate demise, you went on an adventure with the son of Verremor's grand chief who also brought along Verremor's then-national treasure, the Totem Banner."

"That's correct," Thebalder's expression turned solemn after hearing this. He could imagine where this conversation was heading.

"Then you know what happened at that time had become a source of enmity between our country and Verremor," Jack said. "Do you mind telling me the whole story?"

Thebalder was silent.

Theridan said to him, "Great grandson, this is your chance to set things straight. Before this, none of our descendants could hear us. Hence, you have never been able to convey the truth. This is your chance."

"Things have already been misunderstood for so long. I don't think it will be easy to change everyone's minds," Thebalder said.

"It is better late than never," Theridan countered.

"Please let me know the truth, Your Majesty," Jack pleaded. "I promise I will do everything in my power if there is a chance to repair this broken relationship between us and Verremor."

Thebalder closed his eyes. It was apparent that he was going through internal turmoil. Whatever had happened must not be an easy memory for him to recall.

"I and Verremor's grand chief's son… We were the best of friends," Thebalder finally spoke. "His name was Mojuto Raretooth."

"Raretooth?" Jack uttered.

"What is it?" Thebalder asked when he saw Jack's reaction.

"I went through quite a conflict with the Raretooth tribe. I also heard that it was the tribe that had aggressively pushed for the recent Verremor invasion. Now I understand… So, they still carry the grudge from the past."

"Which tribe holds the position of the grand chief of Verremor now?" Thebalder asked.

"It's the Proudtusk tribe. The current grand chief of Verremor is Kabaka Proudtusk," Jack answered. He learned this information from reviewing the Foreign Overview screen of the monarch system.

"It's not strange," Theridan said. "Verremor's central government is formed from the council of ten tribes. The head of the seat often changes places between those ten tribes."

Thebalder nodded. "How are the descendants of the Raretooth tribe?"

"Bitter and angry," Jack replied. "They spearheaded the invasion."

"I don't know if any of this can still be fixed… But okay, I will tell you everything. Whether you can use this to patch our relationship with Verremor, that is up to you," Thebalder said.

Jack nodded. He sincerely wanted that to be possible.

"As I said, I and the grand chief's son, Mojuto, are the best of friends," Thebalder said. "The fact is, he had taken his country's national treasure, the Totem Banner, at my behest."

Jack almost asked why he did that but stopped himself. He understood he was sometimes too impatience. So, he instead gave Thebalder an attentive expression, urging him to continue.

"The reason was that a team of adventurers have encountered something troubling. Something within the Themisphere's territory. The adventurers went to an ancient ruin and accidentally activated a device that opened a portal to the underworld.

"I and my trusted retainers immediately went to check it out. It was indeed true. Some lesser demonic creatures had even come out of the portal and caused trouble to the surrounding areas. I led an army and tried to contain the situation, but as long as the portal was opened, demonic creatures would keep on pouring out. Not to mention, the level and grade of the demons that came out of the portal increased as time passed.

"Not knowing what to do, I finally enlisted help from the Order of Magi. They studied the portal and told me that an artifact of extreme power was needed to close the portal. Themisphere had one such artifact at the time. It was our national treasure, the Boundless Cache."

"Boundless Cache?" Jack couldn't help but blurted out this time.

"It's a legendary-grade artifact," Peniel explained. "The country that possessed this artifact will have all its buildings' and units' upkeep reduced. Additionally, the artifact generates 100,000 gold coins, 20,000 mana, and 5 ruling point every week."

"You are very knowledgable, miss," Theridan praised.

"100,000 gold coins every week?" Jack uttered. "That means 400,000 gold coins a month. That's more than half our current monthly net income."

"Don't forget the 5 ruling point every week. That means you have free 20 ruling points a month," Peniel said.

"The heck! We used to have that kind of national treasure? What happened to it?!"