The Holy King's Forgotten Legacy
"Why'd you call me?"
There was chaos in the city where we'd been staying. Red had vanished, but the mess she'd caused wasn't going away that easily. The people who'd been kidnapped and come to their senses screamed at the sight of the dead monster corpses.
"Count Huferion, what in the world happened?!"
The guards who arrived late started grilling us.
"It was a demon attack."
"Demons?"
"Demons showed up out of nowhere, and we fought them off. This place doesn't seem safe anymore, so we'll be heading out."
Ares used her authority to brush off the annoying guards and get us out of the city, avoiding any more hassle. We ended up returning to the family estate late at night.
"Count? Young master?"
"Who are those knights behind you?"
The servants looked puzzled since we'd brought the Death Knights along. In the spacious reception room inside the estate—a place used for hosting lots of guests—we'd all gathered: me, Ares, Hames, and the Death Knights too.
...If anyone else saw this scene right now, they'd ask what kind of insane stunt we were pulling. Bringing home not just any Death Knights, but a bunch of monsters including Sword Masters and Experts.
They'd said they'd explain the situation themselves, so I'd brought them to a safe place. There were two reasons I'd allowed this madness. First, they'd saved the hostages Red had captured and chased her off, helping me out. Second, they were incredibly obedient to me.
"Your name is Niobe, right?"
"Yes. Niobe Huferion, leader of the knight order and member of the royal family."
The Death Knights' leader, the silver-haired woman who'd introduced herself as Niobe Huferion, bowed politely to us.
"Please remember the name of one who will serve His Holiness the Holy King faithfully from now on."
She kept calling me Holy King and swearing loyalty, which left me baffled. There was no way I'd forgotten any setting related to Seres, but I'd never heard of a Holy King.
I tilted my head, and Hames next to me made a strange expression.
"Holy King... does that have something to do with the Holy Kingdom? The legendary nation where all the royals wielded holy power."
...What's that supposed to be? It wasn't mentioned in the original story, but apparently it was a pretty famous legend. Everyone seemed to understand.
"My god. The Holy Kingdom actually existed, and its royals were really the Huferions?!"
"I know it's hard to believe, but it's all true."
"But that doesn't add up. The Huferions have been an imperial count family ever since the first head fought alongside the founding emperor a thousand years ago."
"Where do you think that first head came from?"
Niobe countered Hames, who had pointed out the inconsistency. She glanced at me and Ares, her face turning pitying.
"It seems even the descendants have all forgotten. Your Holiness the Holy King, allow me to explain your roots from now on."
Niobe began. Long ago, there was a nation blessed by the heavenly god—that was the Holy Kingdom, named as such because its royals all wielded holy power.
"It was a small country, probably with fewer people than this territory. But it became famous because of the uniqueness of our Huferion royal family."
Huferion royal family. The family that received a divine artifact from the heavenly god, granting all its members the ability to use holy power. Niobe explained that even the first Huferion head had originally come from this family.
Wait a second.
"If the first Huferion was royalty, why did he become an imperial count?"
"Because the kingdom fell."
Niobe answered my question matter-of-factly. I was about to ask why it fell when a name suddenly came to mind.
"The Demon King, by any chance?"
A thousand years ago was when the Demon King who wielded Black Pain was still alive. She nodded at my guess.
"It was the Demon King, but ultimately a demon. A kingdom where every royal used holy power must have been a threat to him. One day, he launched a surprise invasion and destroyed our nation."
"So the first Huferion was a royal who escaped at that time?"
"Yes."
"But why didn't he rebuild the kingdom after the Demon King was defeated?"
If he was the last surviving royal, he'd automatically be king, yet he settled for being an imperial count. I pointed out the oddity, and Niobe explained.
"Not every royal could become king. Only those with special qualities became the Holy King."
"And those qualities... don't tell me it's Divine Power?"
"Exactly. You are the one born into the royal family across a thousand years, possessing the qualities of a king!"
Niobe spoke with passion, but I was underwhelmed. It was such a random setting. Still, if this was true, it explained one thing: why Seres of all people had Divine Power. The original story never specified why, but this backstory made sense. It wasn't a mere mutation—it was an ancestral ability manifesting!
Maybe it was some hidden lore that never made it into the final story? I was mulling over this revelation when a loud voice cut in from the side.
"Don't make me laugh!"
It was Ares, shouting in disbelief.
"Our Huferions are actually legendary royalty, and Seres has the qualities of their king? No way!"
"I get you're shocked. It's hard to believe a power awakening out of nowhere after all this time. Probably atavism or something."
"That's why I'm saying atavism is impossible!"
"What?"
Ares suddenly got really worked up, and Niobe eyed her strangely. It wasn't just Niobe—everyone around, including me, stared at Ares, wondering what was up. As the attention focused on her, she flinched hard.
"...I meant that after so much time, the bloodline's too diluted for atavism to happen to Seres."
She said it like an excuse.
"It's been ages since the family lost the ability to use holy power after the first head. I can't use holy power myself. There's no way a lineage that uses Divine Power would suddenly manifest now."
"...You're right."
Niobe replied bitterly.
"Originally, our royals married distant relatives to preserve the bloodline that could wield holy power. And those with the king's qualities were extremely rare, born only to those most strongly influenced by the divine artifact."
"...With only a tiny number of royals surviving and the artifact lost, the royal line couldn't continue. Is that why the first head settled for being an imperial count?"
"Exactly. We'd all given up too. We planned to live quietly in some corner until we faded away."
But then Niobe shifted from her wistful mood, kneeling before me.
"Then you appeared before us. This is nothing short of a miracle!"
She treated me like some messiah.
"When the Demon King invaded the Holy Kingdom, we died once too. But with our vow of vengeance, we used a special forbidden art to revive as undead."
Niobe continued. But the Demon King ended up killed by the founding emperor and the other royals who followed her, leaving them feeling empty.
"We couldn't even rebuild the royal family, let alone get revenge. Everything felt pointless, so we wandered until we fell into a long slumber in the Land of Death, waiting only for our dissipation. Then suddenly, our eyes opened."
"... "
"We didn't know why back then, but now I do. It was because we sensed you—our true king!"
As Niobe declared firmly, the other knights behind her knelt and bowed to me in unison.
"Please become our new lord, for we have lost all purpose!"
"We pledge our loyalty to His Holiness the Holy King!"
With the Death Knights swearing fealty, voices came from both sides of me too.
"Seres, I'm against this. They're just mistaken about something."
Ares kept objecting, while
"Seres, do whatever you want."
Hames, a priestess, didn't oppose taking undead as subordinates. In the midst of all this, I was thinking something else.
If going to the Land of Death makes the Death Knights sense Seres and become subordinates... then the original Seres could've done the exact same thing if he'd gone there like I did?
In the original story, he refused to go to the Land of Death. If he'd gone a bit later when he was framed as a witch, he'd have gained solid forces and avoided all that mess?
...Fuck, what kind of raw deal is this!
I yelled in absurd frustration at the ridiculous situation.
"Fine, I'll take you as my subordinates!"
"Seres!"
Ares scolded me as I accepted the Death Knights, but there was no helping it. The original Seres ended up framed as a witch and suffered endlessly without subordinates like these. Even if the circumstances were different, I couldn't let go of the power that had come knocking on my door. Figuring they'd be useful, I waved them off casually as they rejoiced.
A week after taking the Death Knights as subordinates.
"Seres, word from the Graviuss Duke family."
Ares approached me as I wandered the estate for some exercise and spoke up.
"From Arios?"
Who else from there would contact me? But her response surprised me.
"No, from Lady Arios's mother. Duchess Alois Graviuss has invited you to the ducal estate."