Chapter Three

Punishment

Today was not a good day.

The forest was getting more and more dangerous every day now.

There were reports of creatures popping up in it all the time; there were even some reports and evidence of injury and death happening as well.

Along with that, there was the execution that I had to have carried out today.

I'm finally getting fed up with how much crime was happening in my own city.

Heck, for some it was to pass the time when there wasn't anything interesting happening.

I hope that executing that white-haired fellow will make those rotten crooked bastards think more than once before they commit to their 'hobby'.

But now.

I have to focus on my mercenaries.

There are many of them, most not even aware of the others, but all were useful in some way or another.

Assassinations, for instance, were much easier to have performed when your assassins are mostly motivated by nothing but cold metal coins.

However, the downside was that they might not be the brightest lights in the bunch for the job.

For example, the assassins I sent to kill the Emperor failed in their task by killing the wrong person.

However, they were quite close to killing the right one.

So close, in fact, that they probably thought at the moment that they had killed the right one.

Said mercenaries had apparently arrived back in the city yesterday.

They also had apparently had not heard of how dangerous the forest had become, because they happened to come right from the forest to the city.

I have to admit that I can't call them stupid for doing so.

One reason I can't call them stupid for doing so is that most, if not all of those coming from the empire go down that particular route.

The other reason is that, since they were returning from The Empire very recently, they simply wouldn't know that the forest had gotten so horribly unsafe while they had been gone on their mission.

Alas, I simply couldn't put them to death, because despite the fact that they failed, said failure was revealed in the end to be unavoidable.

"My King!"

It was Glynda, the Captain of the City Guard, one of the most competent and skilled swordswoman in the entire city, nothing short of magic could kill this woman.

"Yes, Captain?"

"The assassins are waiting at the major balcony my liege." She replied.

Ah, the balcony.

It overlooks the center of the city, which consequently means that it overlooks the execution guillotine.

"Very well, I shall go to them now."

"May I ask something, my King?!"

"Go ahead, Captain."

"Do you think that executing that poor fellow was a good idea, my liege?"

Dammit.

I wished this question wouldn't have been forced upon me at this point in time!

It's starting to make me have regrets...

I hope Watts doesn't try this.

"It was necessary, Captain."

"Yes, my liege."

"Resume your daily duties, Captain."

"Yes, my King."

She got up and walked away, dutifully, without a single hint of hesitation.

I wish that I even was halfway to being as dedicated to something in life like her.

Though I don't think dedication works well when you are the ruler of a whole kingdom, who would you dedicate yourself to?

Everyone?

No, impossible.

Too many different ideas.

Too many knives in selected backs.

Too many things that will lead to destruction.

Too many people going against the status quo.

Too many stupid decisions made.

Too much death.

Wait.

Stop.

Ozpin, focus.

Focus on what you were doing.

What were you doing?

Going to talk to your assassins!

Yes, that was what you were doing!

"Oh dear."

I need to stop rambling in my head so much.

I walk down one of the many long hallways that are within the castle.

I don't know why the builders made them so long.

Perhaps it was to make the castle look very large when compared to all the other buildings that surrounded the castle.

Though it wasn't much of a challenge to accomplish such a task as most buildings in the city were only one to two floors in height, with that in mind it is safe to say that the builders overdid it by a large margin.

I'm rambling in my head again.

I really need to stop doing that, it could get me killed one of these days.

Hehe.

After several minutes or so of walking, I reach the door that leads to the balcony.

Time to talk.

I open the door.

The three mercenaries were talking among each other.

If I remember them correctly, two of them were probably arguing while the third member of the group, the one with rabbit ears, was trying to calm them down.

I sigh.

I walk up to them casually.

The rabbit-eared one notices me, she immediately slaps both her companion's backs, her metal gauntlets causing them to yelp in pain.

The other two had finally noticed me then.

All three turned towards me and kneeled down, showing their respect to their king and main benefactor of coin.

"My King." Said Weiss, who was wearing a red wizard robe.

"Stay kneeled." I responded

"Yes, my King."

"So, did you kill the Emperor?"

"Yes!"

"Hmm, well, I guess him sending a message to me to watch my back against Atlesian assassins was fake then."

"Wait, what?" Asked Yang, clearly confused.

"You didn't kill the Emperor."

"We did!" Shouted Weiss.

"Yeah, I put my blade through the bloke's back myself!"

"That wasn't the right 'bloke' Yang."

"What?" Replied Yang.

"Then who was it?" Velvet said, speaking her first words ever since the conversation had started.

"The man you killed was, in fact, a body double." I told them.

"A what?" Asked Yang, clearly having no knowledge of what a body double was.

"It's when a leader gets someone else to look like them so the leader doesn't have to worry as much about things like attempts on their life." Velvet explained to her..

Couldn't have said that better myself.

"Now."

All three suddenly stopped speaking and looked at me with eyes of fear.

They obviously thought that I was going to have something horrible done to them.

Those possible horrible things include torture, permanent imprisonment in the dungeons, or just simple and quick public execution.

"I have an idea for what to do with you three."

They very clearly were close to having their undergarments being very wet and dirty, if not already, at the words I just said to them.

"Please no." Muttered Weiss to herself.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to have you be executed or imprisoned or tortured." I told them.

All three looked up with sighs of relief, thankful for my mercy to them.

"Instead, for your punishment, you will travel to the village of Durrintan."

"The Dwarf village?" Asked Velvet.

"The very same."

"Why there?" Asked Weiss this time.

"We haven't had contact with them for over a week now, I need you to go there and find out why."

"Yes, my King!"

"Good, now go." I said.

"We won't fail you!" Shouted Yang as she along with the others made their way through the door and soon to the exit out of the castle.

"We promise!" Shouted Weiss as she ran along with them.

"I hope you don't." I say to myself.

"Or else I'll have no choice but to send you to the dungeons for the rest of your lives."

Wait.

Why am I talking to no one?

I think I might be reaching the age where things like this happen, which just so happens to be the age of forty-five years.

Quite old, when compared to most people who usually die at least five years earlier.

My father died at age thirty-six.

The reason for dying then is that his wife, my mother, the Queen at the time, killed him so she could have control of the Kingdom Of Valour all to herself.

My brother, Oscar, discovered that she was the reason for father's death when he read her diary to me as a joke, but found the horrible truth within those pages.

He got several others along with me in the scheme to avenge our father's death.

In order to do so, we had to kill the Queen.

Unfortunately, our mother expected this.

Therefore, she had my brother assassinated.

It was sad, I was at the funeral; the atmosphere was somber, until the Queen laughed at his corpse, that is.

Thing is, in this World of Fantastical and brutal things we live in, there is a thing that is so powerful and vicious that it was feared by most others.

That thing was known by the name of Karma.

The whole Kingdom revolted against the Queen due to the horrible display that she showed at Brane's funeral, calling her the Mad Queen.

Within a few weeks, said Mad Queen was dead.

She died screaming as revolutionaries came and killed her in the throne room.

They put her head on a spike as well.

The revolutionaries then came to me, as I feared for my life.

They did not kill me like I thought they would.

Instead, they said that I was the new king!

I was surprised, but happy they did not kill me.

I became The King of Vale, and I have ruled The Kingdom of Vale ever since.

I still don't know why no one has tried to kill me yet, though.

I'm rambling again.

I really need to stop doing that.