—King Creivis' POV—

A historic large country, one of the five major powers, Rembrandt Kingdom.

In the time of my father, Rembrandt Kingdom enters it golden days. We invaded Immenstadt  Empire when a civil war occurred and broke the long stalemate.

Father at that time had continued to perform excellent battle with irresistible force. There was a time that we were able to advance to the middle part of the territory of the empire.

However, the momentum has weakened sharply ever since father developed an illness.

My father's disease was thought to be a rhetorical disease at first but he's getting weaker everyday. He died without being able to return to the capital.

By that time, the empire's counterattack has increased and due to domestic confusion, the front liners retreated.

I manage to stop the empire's counterattack by taking in command in a defensive war using an imperial fortress city.

However, that was a mistake.

It has become a tougher stalemate than before.

The distance of that place to from the base in the kingdom is too far.

There is no extra burden because father who has a violent temper which he takes out on the prisoners is no longer here.

However, the feelings of the inhabitants of this fortress city which was built by the empire was not good.

It was not possible to return to the capital under such circ.u.mstances. Father's funeral was taken care of by Yuta, the prime minister and I, who was the eldest son, became the king in an informal inauguration ceremony.

To be honest, the position of the king is too much for me.

I’ve been told so badly by my father that I should thoroughly look at the battlefield.

a.s.sume that you're in a distant place, that you're standing at the capital of the neighboring country. I was often told to think about things from that point of view.

How can I understand the point of view of such a distant place?

Because I have a father, I only have to take the baton on the battlefield where I am good at.

If I do so, maybe one of my younger brothers will succeed as king.

That’s what I thought.

Surely, I never imagined that my healthy father will die because of an illness.

After that, I became a king I didn’t want to be and I was desperately defending my father’s outstretched territory.

In such a case, I was informed of the suspicious movement of the Galland Empire from the capital so hurriedly rushed back to the capital.

On the way, a report with different content flit. I doubted that this movement was a plan of the empire.

The report is roughly divided into three.

There is the movement of Galland Empire.

Earl Villiers' territory independence.

And the third one is the founding of a nation by the dragon knight.

Is this true? Or a diversion?

Whatever it was, I felt strong anger.

There was an incident a couple of years ago but someone who a.s.sumed to be a dragon knight appeared again.

I cannot allow someone using the name of the dragon knight-sama as a diversionary tactic.

I admire dragon knight-sama.

I had been training with the hope of being able to serve as a brave under dragon knight-sama until I was 20 years old.

However, I was deceived by a man who had a dragon scale necklace on his chest before I realized it.

After all, dragon knight-sama is no longer in this world.

It is impossible to live for 2,000 years even if he's an apostle of G.o.d.

I freeze out of despair.

A fraudster who swindles as dragon knight-sama appeared again.

Unable to withstand my feeling, I went to the border territory.

Yuta said that the adventurer's party Silver Wind might be cooperating with it but I will not allow it even if they are S-rank adventurers.

Perhaps it is a delusion that Villiers exhaled to put momentum on his declaration of independence. If that is the case, I will declare war on Villiers.

I looked at Villiers face with such thought.

And the line that was said by Villiers who's facing me is…

「Dragon Knight-sama is in his castle. I think that you will be able to see him with your own eyes within a few days.」

Dearu.

I was stopped by Yuta for trying to declare war with rage.

That’s it. There is an impostor who swindles as the dragon knight.

First of all I must kill him.

When I judged it calmly, I saw the townscape of Ramblas which I visited for the first time in several years.

Although it is not as crowded as the capital, it is a calm and nice city.

It is said that this city will no longer be part of Rembrandt Kingdom.

I looked at the people going in and going out while feeling an indescribable emptiness.

At such time, that fellow Villiers came and said to us…

「It seems that Dragon Knight-sama will come by the evening.」

He said this evening which is far away from what he said earlier which is a few days.

When did Villiers inform them? And when did the reply come?

Whatever happened, given the time, it's impossible.

In other words, the con artist who swindles as Dragon Knight-sama was in this town from the beginning.

OK, let’s kill it.

I held back my gus.h.i.+ng up bloodl.u.s.t and pasted a smile while going to the designated place outside the city of Ramblas.

Yuta suggested that possibility of a trap but I don't care.

Even if I die, I have a brother who turned 20.

Killing the dragon knight-sama impostor is more important than being king.

I ordered my soldier to line up while waiting for the fake dragon knight.

And the noise spreads out among the soldiers lined up behind me.

Did he come?

I thought so but I can't find anyone when I looked around.

Where are you?

I looked back at the soldiers and saw one knight, the captain, looking up at the sky.

I was lured and looked up at the sky. There was a black dragon flapping there.

「Dra-dragon…」

Someone muttered so.

「Dragon Knight-sama… It's really Dragon Knight-sama…」

Someone else murmured so.

I continued to watch the scene as hard as I could with a painfully throbbing heart on my chest.

It is not a lie.

The black dragon comes down before my eyes.

Looking at it, there is a beautiful, strong looking young man, an embodiment of beauty which is surely someone molded by G.o.d.

Behind him are two incredibly beautiful girls.

「Oh, Ren-sama! You have arrived early!」

When the dragon landed on the ground, Villiers greeted him.

It is an incredibly casual greeting.

The other party is an apostle of G.o.d, a dragon knight-sama.

Dragon Knight-sama descended from the dragon and opened his mouth while looking at Villiers. I became uneasy that Dragon Knight-sama might have been angry.

「Oh, I received a report from my subordinates this morning. Thank you for your correct action, Minister Villiers.」

「It is the Minister of the Right. I guess there is not yet someone lined up with me?」

「Fuh, should I call you the central minister?」

「Don't.」

Dragon Knight-sama was interacting with Villiers in a peaceful atmosphere.

That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Villiers looks dazzling while talking with Dragon Knight-sama.

When I was trying to kill Villiers with flames of jealousy, Dragon Knight-sama took off his eyes from Villiers and looked at me.

I knelt down on the spot instinctively and lowered my head.

This is unpalatable.

This is the worst action a king can do.

My subordinates can see it too.

「King of Rembrandt Kingdom?」

But hearing Dragon Knight-sama's words, I lower my head deeper.

It can't be helped.

There is no other choice.

Because Dragon Knight-sama has looked at me and has called out to me.

「Ha! I am the king of Rembrandt Kingdom, Creivis Dean Frahat El Rembrandt!」

I suppressed my voice that is trembling due to tension and managed to say only that.

Then, Dragon Knight sama seemed to gave out a wry smile and said to me…

「Then, shall I call you King Creivis? You can call me King Ren.」

「Ha, ha! I'll call you His Majesty King Ren!」

As I panickily say so, this time, Ren-sama laughed.

「His Majesty is probably unpalatable. You have come to this place as a king like me. By the way, I have a proposal for you, my country Einherjar and Rembrandt Kingdom…I was wondering if we can form a bilateral alliance.」

「A-alliance…? No…Please make us your subordinate!」

「Wa?」Read only at SHMTranslations.com

Ren-sama gave out a voice of bewilderment to the line I instinctively blurted out.