The Meaning of Cheers
“I could feel your cuteness through that trembling aura.”
- KWAANG!
The thunderous blast and the aftershock rolled outward, striking everyone’s ears at once. The force of the shockwave, beyond mere sound, sent those who could not control aura stumbling and swaying on their feet.
“What’s wrong with everyone? We’ve only been standing here a short while. Why are you all losing your balance and wobbling so?”
The queen tilted her head in genuine confusion.
Of course, Daisy knew she was no ordinary human but a superhuman, so she had brought her hammer down with restrained concern. The problem was that her idea of restrained was only restrained by her own standards.
Warning! If you do not concentrate, you will be afflicted with the status ailment [Stun].
The nearest one, Ho-yeong, felt his mind go blank.
“Joren Tamer, stand up.”
His sense of balance went haywire, and he lurched as if he could no longer hold his center.
“What is the matter? Are you exhausted from the fierce battle?”
The queen had asked out of sincere concern, but to Ho-yeong it sounded like a dressing-down for not standing properly.
“N-no, Your Majesty!”
Instead of blurting out, It’s because of you!, Ho-yeong desperately straightened up at attention.
“Really? To my eyes, you look quite tired. Do you require rest?”
“I am quite all right! I am not tired at all, so please continue your questions.”
Daisy frowned at Ho-yeong’s trembling hands.
“You are lying.”
“Eh? Ah!”
Following the queen’s gaze, Ho-yeong looked at the Ring of Truth and recoiled. The transparent gem had already turned white.
“A remarkably convenient artifact. It would be perfect for interrogation. One can tell at once whether someone is lying, and even how malicious the intent is, made plain in its color. With this ring alone, there would be no need for the Archbishop’s iron cross or the Chief Judge’s memory extraction.”
The archbishop Gabriel and Duke Navni flinched at the queen’s words.
They lowered their heads, taking it to mean that their king would handle matters herself, so they had better keep their mouths shut.
“Joren Tamer. I, Daisyares Marie Kain, as the monarch of the Kain Kingdom and the presiding judge of the High Court, command you to remember that you stand here now. You, the accused, must answer my questions truthfully from this moment on. If you tell lies during this hearing, you will face severe punishment. Lies shall not be tolerated for any reason. Whether they are born of humility or spoken to flatter me, it makes no difference. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
More serious and formidable than he had expected, Daisy’s attitude frightened Ho-yeong.
“However, I understand that you have been entrusted with the task of rescuing our brave soldiers and innocent children from the fiendish horde. I cannot make sense of why you came to the palace knowing that a major operation awaited you and that you would be subjected to this hearing, but it must be that you had your reasons, so I will leave it to your discretion. I would not want to steal time from a general burdened with such grave responsibility. Do you understand?”
“…I do not, Your Majesty.”
“What?”
At the unexpected reply, the ministers showed their confusion with looks that buzzed among them like murmuring voices.
“I am ashamed to say it, but... I am a fool, so Your Majesty’s noble words are difficult for me to grasp quickly.”
The queen’s language was laced with difficult rhetoric, and he could not quite follow it.
“…Hah. Joren Tamer. How... no, never mind. Still, I thank you for answering honestly. That is all you need do from now on.”
Looking at Ho-yeong with a complicated expression, the queen decided to speak more plainly. That would be easier for her as well. Although she was the one entrusted with the grave affairs of the hearing and paid attention to the dignity of her speech, that sort of thing was not Daisy’s preference.
“I will say it again. If you answer my questions plainly, without needlessly turning your head around them, this hearing will not take long. Do you understand now?”
“I understand!”
For now, Ho-yeong felt relieved. The queen did not seem intent on tearing him apart.
“How much longer until the ring’s light returns?”
“A-about ten seconds remain.”
Seeing the gem regain its transparency, Daisy widened her eyes in wonder. The expression lasted only a moment, but Ho-yeong found himself laughing before he knew it.
“…Why are you laughing?”
“Huh?”
“You laughed just now, did you not?”
“Uh... that is, because of Your Majesty’s expression.”
“What? Are you mocking me in the middle of this solemn hearing?”
“No, absolutely not! I did laugh after seeing Your Majesty’s face, but not because it was funny.”
Under the pressure, Ho-yeong’s words tangled themselves up.
“You insolent...!”
For a brief instant, Daisy felt the urge to take her scepter and bring it down on the border count’s head.
Should I just execute him?
“I thought the expression Your Majesty just made was cute! That is why I laughed without meaning to.”
“What?”
The Ring of Truth remained perfectly transparent.
Flustered, Daisy fell silent for a moment and then blushed.
“Cute?”
She could no longer even remember when she had last heard that word.
Perhaps when she was very small, from her mother and father. Or from the elders of the royal house.
But after becoming crown princess at such an early age, she had never heard it again.
“I command you. Do not laugh from now on! For any reason! If you laugh in my presence again without permission, I shall charge you with royal insult.”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty!”
It was the first time anything like this had happened, so Daisy had ended up sounding like she was threatening him.
“…Then let us begin the interrogation. Are you truly Joren Tamer?”
For Daisy, it was merely a formal question. For Ho-yeong, it was enough to freeze him in place.
Uh... what am I supposed to say?
He was inhabiting Joren Tamer’s body, yes, but the consciousness in control was Bang Ho-yeong, a Korean man.
Ah. I’m already screwed from the first question.
Ho-yeong had practiced questions and answers in preparation for the hearing, but this one had never entered his calculations.
I can’t say I’m not Joren Tamer. No way.
There was too much to explain about the circumstances of the possession, and he had no idea what would happen if he tried.
But I can’t exactly say I am Joren Tamer either... this ring will expose me instantly. Damn it.
He wanted to smash the Ring of Truth.
Calm down. That’s a terrible move. If the queen gets suspicious and calls in a priest, everything falls apart.
In fact, Daisy was already eyeing him suspiciously.
...No, there’s no answer. I don’t know how this will go, but I’m going to have to face it head-on.
With the bitter resignation of a man abandoning all hope, Ho-yeong was about to say, “No, I am not.”
“That is correct.”
He was startled by the words that came out of his own mouth.
He quickly checked the ring, but the color was transparency itself.
“Let me ask once more. Are you truly and unquestionably Joren Tamer?”
“Yes.”
It felt as though the Joren Tamer he had believed to be sleeping deep within this body had answered in his stead.
“Hmm... I see.”
He still could not tell exactly what was happening, but Ho-yeong breathed out in relief inside.
“Then I will ask directly. Did Sir Demis speak only what was true and nothing false?”
“Yes... no!”
Daisy stared, dumbfounded at the sudden drift in his answer.
“Are you saying yes, or are you saying no?”
“B-both. Sir Demis’s words were mostly correct, but... there is one thing I do not believe to be true.”
Ho-yeong felt like crying. From earlier on, he had had the distinct impression that he kept saying things that did not need to be said.
“One thing he got wrong, you say. What is it?”
“Before that, please promise you will not be angered by my words.”
“What?”
“It may sound disloyal, but I have sworn not to speak falsely, so I cannot...”
Daisy’s golden brows shot up and then lowered again and again.
“…Speak.”
“B-before that, if you would only promise not to punish me...”
“Do you see this scepter? Speak now before I flatten your head with it.”
Ho-yeong began to suspect that Joren Tamer’s soul was trolling him as it tried to reclaim the body.
Joren Tamer was a model knight with a steadfast character, but that also meant he lacked flexibility. He was even worse at lying than Ho-yeong.
“Sir Demis said earlier that the reason he was able to defeat the giant troll was thanks to Your Majesty’s generosity. Of course, he said it sincerely, because that is what he truly believes. But I do not think so.”
Ho-yeong blurted out the truth, or rather, his true feelings, with tears practically in his voice.
The ministers listening were aghast. From the high officials all the way down to the lowest clerks, every one of them had their mouths hanging open in shock.
“Oh? Then what do you think it was thanks to? Your own brilliant command?”
“No. Of course, the foundation for defeating the mutant trolls was that Your Majesty sent reinforcements. That much is certain. But the giant troll was a little different.”
He could no longer stop once he had begun. Ho-yeong drew in a deep breath and kept going.
“The reason that monster could be killed was not because of Your Majesty’s generosity, nor because of my shallow skill. It was because everyone joined forces, from the residents and soldiers to the nobles and knights.”
Daisy gave a snort of laughter at that.
“You are a strange one. You are saying only what is perfectly right, so why would it be disloyal?”
At the queen’s smile, which he had never seen before, Ho-yeong silently wiped away his inner panic.
“Joren Tamer. Since we have mentioned disloyalty, I am curious. Could you raise a cheer for me again?”
“A cheer...?”
“Yes. As you did when you first looked at me.”
Ho-yeong blinked, puzzled.
Is this abuse? Like making a soldier repeat a salute until he gets it right?
If it were abuse, he could at least report it to a superior or the chain of command. Now there was nowhere to report it at all. Under heaven, there was no one higher than the king.
“Eternal glory to Daisyares Marie Kain, the hero who guards the Western Continent and the supreme sovereign who most firmly carries out the most unyielding will! Long live the queen!”
He shouted the cheer with aura packed into his throat.
Daisy slowly looked over the gathered civil and military officials before speaking.
“Do you know the original meaning of such a cheer?”
“Huh? Y-yes. I believe it means to wish someone a long life, literally ten thousand years.”
“That is correct. Yet no being in this world lives for ten thousand years. Even the founding king, Your Majesty, who has lived the longest of all monarchs, ruled the nation for only a little over three hundred years. Including the years before the founding era, he still would not have reached four hundred.”
The queen’s gaze came to rest briefly on the court mage.
“Even the longest-lived elf lives only a little over twelve hundred years. As for a dragon, I wonder whether it could even live ten thousand years.”
She looked back at Ho-yeong.
“And what of me? Of course, life span is in the heavens’ hands, so I cannot know for certain, but at best I may live two hundred years, or perhaps not even one hundred and fifty.”
Listening in silence, Ho-yeong wanted to ask back, At best?
“What I mean is that it is truly a fact known by both you and me that I will not live for ten thousand years. A cheer may be nothing more than a vain cry for an empty wish. Or perhaps, for some, it is not even a wish. There are surely those who do not want me to live long. There may even be some who do not want me to live at all, let alone live long.”
This is why I dislike being cheered.
Daisy swallowed the last sentence and stepped right up in front of Ho-yeong.
Whoa. She’s really tall.
Her height, not far from his own despite his being tall, made Ho-yeong hesitate.
“Joren Tamer. I want you to look me in the eye and answer.”
“Yes, y-yes!”
It was uncomfortable, but Ho-yeong met her gaze as ordered. Daisy’s golden eyes were bright, but not clear.
A memory surfaced of the time he had gone to watch the sunrise. The sea had been lit gold, with a thin mist drifting over it.
For some reason, Ho-yeong felt like parting that mist for her.