Chapter 35 – Episode 35 ― I Can Hear Your Voice (3)
Episode 35 ― I hear your voice (3)
Aranya, who knelt down behind the emperor, struggled to control the trembling of her body.
The emperor himself came to see the accident.
It doesn’t matter if some lightning strikes.
One or all, even the chancellor was like that.
Upon learning that the emperor, the chancellor, and the corrections officer were in the city hall, the officials of the city hall naturally panicked.
Minoreus, who had been briefed on the incident first and talked with the mayor, also came down with the mayor and knelt down on one side of the hall.
Heavenly officials are perplexed.
The shock of the common people was more intense.
Roan was focusing on the screaming troll. She was smaller than a normal troll, probably because she was female.
[… Roan. Let go of her hand.]
Fiora calmly called her name.
It seems that Roan was also feeling bewildered.
Only then did he realize that he had unconsciously held the handle of his sword.
It was an act that the prosecutor’s body instinctively did to find peace of mind.
[It will look like a threat. Tell me later.]
Roan alone nodded his head.
For the first time, he got to meet the people.
Roan took a deep breath before opening his mouth.
Spreading a subtle ‘overwhelm’.
Through ‘detection’, it was felt that everyone was breathing in vain.
“Corrections.”
“Yes. Your majesty.”
Shikvienna, who prostrated herself deeply, answered.
Her voice rang clear in front of the silent city hall.
Roan looked at the troll.
Her soldiers gagged her and forced her to her knees.
“The degree of damage to my possessions.”
“Your arm is crushed.”
Thank god.
I heard that the people around him scrambled to get him out of the human right before he died.
If it wasn’t for severed wounds, this world could be repaired with the medicine’s skill and magic.
It will be painful, but it can be undone.
“What about those who touch my possessions?”
Roan’s voice was low but clear.
The corrections officer replied coldly.
“The offender and his family are torn limb from limb.”
After Shykvienna’s answer, there was a moment of silence.
And Roan’s mouth opened again.
“Release the author’s gag.”
The soldiers were afraid that the troll would be rude again, and that useless sparks would fly at them.
However, you cannot disobey the emperor’s orders.
As soon as she found her freedom, the troll roared again.
“Your majesty! Humans killed my family!
How can I save you!
My son only had his head back and my husband was burned to death!”
The desperate denunciation created an atmosphere of sympathy among the crowd.
Those who lost their families to humans, those who sent their families to the battlefield, are numerous here as well.
Grünent and Lauca trembled.
They hid themselves behind Diobe, the correctional officer, and covered their heads with hoods.
It was the hood that Diobe hurriedly brought before arriving at City Hall.
They were relieved to have a piece of cloth to protect them from the wrath of the demons.
Without it, they would not have been able to hide their distorted expressions of embarrassment.
The Demon King asked in a subdued voice.
“Was he the one who harmed your family?”
The troll gaped her mouth in embarrassment.
“What does it matter! Humans are the enemies of the demons!”
“You mean you put your hand on mine even though I’m not your enemy?”
If it’s an enemy, will you forgive me even if I touch you?
The troll, having read a clue to understanding from the demon king’s words, exclaimed.
“Aren’t they all humans caught from Merde anyway! They’re the ones who can’t be bothered to kill us. Besides, it’s natural for the weak to be eaten. What’s wrong!”
Once again, those who sympathized with the troll’s cry began to look around.
“If you are weak, even our demons will be eaten, so why are you protecting humans?!”
Now the crowd fell on their faces and began to mumble.
The anger, doubt, and curiosity that everyone suppressed came out as a sound.
Grünent’s body now openly trembled like an aspen tree.
Lauca noticed her trembling and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
She was clenching her fist with her free hand. Capturing strong emotions that I don’t know what they are.
After ‘detecting’ such a commotion, Roan’s chilly low voice regained calm again.
“According to your logic, I can kill and eat the rest of your family or neighbors at any time. Are you still okay? None of these people here are stronger than Jim.”
The troll’s body trembled.
“I can kill all of you here. You have the right and the power to do so. But.”
Roan’s purple eyes shone strongly with ‘will’.
“Do you really want to live like that?”
Several mouths fell open.
It is the rule of the demons who have lived their lives thinking that it was natural and that it could not be helped.
The strong do anything to the weak.
However, the demon king at the top was trying to give me a choice.
“My people. How can I arbitrarily judge the sorrow of losing your family? That’s why it’s a pity. Your hatred and your sorrow are worthy of you.”
Roan gently comforted the woman.
The emperor’s unexpected consolation touched the troll’s heart. Suddenly, beads of tears started to drip from her eyes.
“But she is a woman. Don’t you know too It is not the man who hurt your family.”
Roan lowered her eyes and looked sad.
“He was captured because his country decided to wage war and his soldiers could not escape in time while fighting.
He longed for life even after coming to Evirzio. That is why he is a person who simply hopes to work in our world and earn the price.”
War breaks many lives.
“He, too, is like you in wanting to live despite being caught up in a war. He is just a man.”
The troll, unable to control her sobs once burst out, was weeping on her face in front of her demon lord.
Looking back at him, Roan swallowed bitterness.
“I remained in the castle without hearing your voice or that human voice.
But now I will listen.”
The troll stumbled and lifted her head, wiping her tears in surprise at the hem of her cloak that came right in front of her.
The demon king held out her handkerchief to her.
It was a ‘gentleman’s essential’, said Fiora, and she always carried it in her inner pocket.
I would write it like this
“My command to save humans, the weakest beings in this country, is my will to listen to your voices and save you, the most precious and weakest to me.”
The crowd was overcome with a strange sensation.
It was different from the pressure I felt when I first faced the demon king.
I could feel the power in his voice and felt his will closer.
The small meeting was thrilling.
The strange power felt in the master’s words made them fearful, but relieved.
It was the first power he felt from the emperor.
Roan said in a clear voice.
“I will change the world.
I won’t leave you weak anymore.
So, leave the weak who want to live alone.”
Everyone trembled and bowed their heads once again at the willpower contained in the words of the loser.
At that moment, a message appeared only in Roan’s eyes.
[Message: I found a new skill.]
[Message: Listen (傾聽)]
[Message: The skill ‘Listen’ and the skill ‘Will’ work together to create a derivative skill.]
[Message: I found a new skill.]
[Message: Appeal (呼訴) Lv1]
Roan opened his eyes.
But fortunately, no one in the audience could notice the change in his expression.
Roan was relieved and concluded his words.
“But woman.”
“… Your majesty.”
“Apart from my feelings for you, you broke the law.”
The troll lowered his head in determination.
The crowd held their breath.
Whips were heard everywhere. Those who sympathized with the troll’s wrath were shedding tears as they foresaw her death.
Lauca was also stroking the back of Grunent, who was quietly weeping.
“Your life is taken by me.”
Someone tightly closed their eyes at the declaration of the demon king’s power.
Roan did not draw his sword.
Instead, he called the knight commander’s name.
“Knight Commander.”
“Yes. Your majesty.”
“Take him into the castle.”
“All right.”
In the strange silence, the knight commander stood up alone.
The soldiers, who had been distracted by this situation for a while, regained their senses with their eyes wide open at the intimidating appearance of Minoreus.
Soon the soldiers followed his instructions and led the troll woman into the castle and disappeared.
Everyone who saw it trembled in fear, recalling the demon king’s dungeon.
A place you can’t return alive.
And Roan once again looked around in front of the city hall where the people lay face down before turning around and disappearing into the castle without a word.
The three women who were not demons and the nobles of the small meeting followed.
All the way back to the imperial castle along the long corridor, they were all silent.
It was Roan who broke the silence for a while.
“Princess.”
“Yes. Your majesty.”
“Who is responsible for the punishment?”
Now, it’s no surprise that the demon king asks about internal affairs. Aranya quietly responded to his mixed voice.
“I am the captain of the knights.”
“Knight Commander.”
“Yes. God, I await your command.”
“Secret the woman in the dungeon for a while, then hand it over to the correctional officer and teach her the job.”
“… Yes?”
The captain of the knights questioned me today as well.
But the Emperor is not angry with him.
If you are ready to listen, you can do anything to make you understand.
All you need is to listen properly.
“For the rest of her life, that woman cannot leave this castle.
That’s my punishment Let her take care of her humans.”
Roan’s unexpected decision raised questions from everyone who followed him.
Roan said softly.
“Aversion. Fear. Anger. Many of these feelings arise out of ignorance.”
Roan remembered the world he lived in.
No money, different gender, different place to live, going to prison, not being able to study.
They discriminated against each other, hated each other, and hated each other.
However, if you look inside, everyone is a world where people live.
He is just living hard, using evil to keep his place. Just like I did.
“I think we can start to understand each other only when we become someone we know, not ‘someone’ we don’t know.
I don’t know if it’s hate or like, but… At least that’s when you’ll know whether to seek forgiveness or be proud of your actions.”
The chancellor opened his mouth after a while.
“God marvels at Your Majesty’s knowledge. I will follow Your Majesty’s orders.”
The world Aranya has lived in is a world of power.
Understanding and forgiving someone is an act that comes from being able to afford it. It’s not common in the world of demons.
If I don’t like it, I run into it with force first.
Aristocrats who can afford it imitate actions of understanding or forgiveness, but it is a political action with the intention of gaining something. Something close to a deal.
But what her lord says is different.
‘This is a new perspective… Your Majesty truly… Are you trying to unite us and humans?’
The meeting was deep in thought for a while about the surprising topic raised by their emperor.
Roan and the three women who went back to the office were also silent in their own thoughts.
It was only then that Roan could directly see the fluctuating likability values of Lauca and Diobe.
Lauca’s favorability rating was changed to -60, and Diobe’s favorability rating was changed to +5.
Grünent’s eyes were swollen. It was because she shed her tears all the time, created by a complex mix of guilt, sadness, and realization.
“Are you okay? Grünent.”
At Roan’s worried words, Grunent said without hiding her sadness.
“Your majesty. Idiot… The anger and sorrow of His Majesty’s people… What we humans have created…
For what Merde has done, so many people are suffering…
In addition, when it is winter and food is scarce, conflicts between these people and humans may continue. Sophie is afraid of that.”
Although her words could not hide all of her intense emotions, they are based on rational reasoning above all else. It was also the reason Roan was looking into specific plans for next fall and beyond.
You can’t keep buying food. You need to be self-sufficient to be able to do a fundamental solution.
I know the hint, but I need to be sure.
It was then.
Knock, I heard a knock on the office window.
“… What are you talking about, this.”
What floor is this?
Even if you can’t do it, isn’t it 10 stories high?
Instantly recalling an old ghost story, Roan strangely realized that Grunent’s tear-stained face had brightened.
Roan looked back at the window she was looking at. A large bird was sitting by the window, peering into the office.
