“I will build a resting place to honor those who died while serving the subjugation force, on the battlefield, or doing something for the nation. From now on, everyone who served the nation of Hyun will be enshrined there.”
Twenty-six soldiers.
Six knights.
This was Hyunsoo’s message before the bereaved families.
Amid grief and pain,
the guild members who had only recently migrated to the nation of Hyun watched Hyunsoo meet with and comfort the bereaved families, and they thought the same thing.
Isn’t this what politicians do?
I’ve seen this scene a few times before.
Whenever something happened in a country, there were people who came running at once.
They focused only on the spotlight and taking pictures, speaking as if they were truly grieving and would solve everything.
And by the time the matter quieted down, they vanished.
In truth, what they had done after appearing at the place meant to comfort people
was nothing but taking pictures and receiving the spotlight.
The guild members looked at Hyunsoo and thought he was no different.
It was a promise that would not be kept anyway.
And, as expected.
Nell seemed to move as if following a prepared script.
“Your Majesty, I believe honoring the soldiers, knights, and those who sacrificed themselves for the nation is a very noble thing. However, the annual maintenance costs, as well as the money needed to pay the consolation funds Your Majesty mentioned, will cost more than several billion won every year. If that happens, the national treasury will be shaken.”
The development was that the king wished to share his sincerity and pain, but could not because of circumstances.
It was not merely familiar. It was trite.
Hyun’s Forge was always crowded with new guild members, and among them, the rankers admired the well-rehearsed script.
They’re in perfect sync.
Now will Hyun tear up and say, “I’m sorry...... Please forgive this powerless king”?
They’re total scammers, aren’t they?
It was a clever method.
After all, wanting to do something but being unable to was a different matter.
And that was probably how one won the hearts of the people.
Is that why he became the first king? Because he’s no different from politicians like that?
Well, the first king wouldn’t be made for nothing. Even now, dozens of calculators must be clacking away in his head.
Of course.
A large number of them were rankers who had only joined because the nation of Hyun’s growth was impressive enough that they expected crumbs to fall their way if they got in early.
And after his performance in the World Championship, they had joined because they had expectations for the nation of Hyun.
But he was truly a terrifying king.
Then.
“Proceed anyway. No matter how much it costs. This is a Royal Command, Nell.”
“???”
“......?”
Their expectations were completely wrong.
Even Chancellor Nell, who had just said it could not be done, accepted it.
“I receive your Royal Command. We will proceed by liquidating the swords the people of the Sword King family left behind this time.”
The guild members were bewildered.
[Construction of a memorial hall to enshrine those who died for the nation of Hyun has begun.]
[The money required to construct the memorial hall is 1,100,000 gold.]
[The annual cost to maintain the memorial hall will be 1,000,000 gold.]
[A consolation payment of 100,000 gold will be paid to the bereaved families.]
Of course, they did not hear all those notifications.
They could only hear the notification that the memorial hall had begun construction, and they made their predictions.
“If you combine the construction and maintenance costs alone, it could break past nearly 10 billion won......”
“He’s just doing it like this?”
“......He’s actually doing this? Is he insane?”
The guild members could not understand as they watched Hyunsoo look around at the bereaved families, and Chancellor Nell pointed out the most important matter.
“What shall we name the memorial hall?”
The bereaved families.
The guild members and Nell as well focused on him.
Hyunsoo was not good at naming things.
That was a fact known by all the people.
The guild members worried he might say something strange again.
However, Hyunsoo’s skewed naming sense differed depending on the situation.
Hyunsoo knew how to understand and grasp what the weeping bereaved families wanted better than anyone.
“Heroes’ Resting Place.”
[You have named the memorial hall Heroes’ Resting Place.]
[You may select the grade of the gravestones, landscaping, urns, and other items used in Heroes’ Resting Place.]
“Highest-grade.”
[The cost used for Heroes’ Resting Place increases by 35%.]
Behind that stomach-turning notification, another notification spread.
[Heroes’ Resting Place will be built in the nation of Hyun, and it will mainly consist of the finest trees and gravestones, along with other items of highest-grade quality.]
[Hundreds of thousands of flowers and tens of thousands of landscaped trees will form a magnificent view to honor them, and it will be greater than any memorial hall possessed by any kingdom or empire.]
[Those enshrined in Heroes’ Resting Place will sleep there a little more peacefully.]
The guild members were amazed.
We thought about him the wrong way.......
This is what a real king looks like.
Hyun.......
It was something they would not have done.
And the bereaved families also knew how soldiers and knights in ordinary countries were treated after dying in battle.
There were plenty whose corpses were never found, and in severe cases, they were not even given graves. It was common for them to be cremated and scattered, or for their bodies to be thrown by a riverbank.
But the treatment Hyunsoo was giving them now.
It was noble-class.
No, he had truly named them “heroes” and built their resting place.
“Thank you, Your Majesty......!”
“We will never forget this grace!”
“Our Ark will remember Your Majesty even in death.”
[The king comforts his people.]
[A portion of their grief is eased, if only a little.]
That little bit.
For the sake of easing that little bit, Hyunsoo acted decisively.
The guild members, who had merely joined because they predicted the nation of Hyun would grow greatly in the future.
Those who were nothing more than users stood to one side, watching him, and thought.
If he is that kind of king, I want to serve him too.
So there was a reason so many people were loyal to Hyun.
What if I had been a soldier and died in battle? I would have closed my eyes in peace, knowing I had served such a good king.
Before they knew it, they decided to become loyal members of the nation of Hyun.
Under the name of users, they made an invisible vow to stay with Hyun for the rest of their lives.
[Faith in you increases.]
[Those who believe in you will believe anything you say.]
What is this......?
Hyunsoo looked puzzled.
I only did what I should as king.
Was it not natural to honor those who died fighting for the nation?
He could not understand why he was hearing such a notification.
However, the kings of reality, and the kings of Ares, had always been that way until now.
They had treated the deaths of soldiers and knights as insignificant as those of livestock, and instead of grief, they had only felt the loss of troops, thinking, Ah, a few more died?
Hyunsoo, who considered this natural, did not know.
[Small stories are accumulating.]
He did not know that such notifications were accumulating.
Also, originally, Nell would have strongly opposed something like this.
But now, she had changed.
A king swayed by emotion is the worst kind.
Nell, who had once argued that, now knew that belief was wrong.
Because she was chancellor, there was a separate list only a chancellor could see.
[The monthly donations received have surpassed 2,000,000 gold.]
[This is an immense amount relative to the kingdom’s scale, more than eight times higher than other kingdoms.]
When calculated yearly, it exceeded twenty million gold.
It was far more donation money than the Great Parion Empire received.
And there was also something else that came from what Hyunsoo had done simply because he considered it natural.
Time passed and flowed, and one day in the future.
An outsider man arrived in the nation of Hyun.
Kanma, the younger brother of Knight Kanden.
He roamed the continent as an exceptional mercenary, and after hearing of his older brother’s death and that the memorial hall for him had been completed, he came running at once.
He was grieving.
To die so pointlessly, so simply, just for a country. Why.......
He knew better than anyone how empty that was.
In this world, there was no death more worthless than dying in battle while carrying out a mission for a country.
Because Kanma knew that fact better than anyone, he had become a mercenary and refused to pledge loyalty to any nation.
And his heart ached for his brother, who had left so absurdly.
How bitter would he feel in a cold charnel house, and how cold would he be?
This is the memorial hall?
But soon, Kanma was astonished as he stepped into the memorial hall.
Famous saplings from all over the world stood throughout the memorial hall.
Hundreds of birds had settled in the beautiful place, as if he had entered a forest.
And one huge hackberry tree stood there.
It rose so high it seemed to pierce the sky, and it looked at least five hundred years old, majestic to behold.
The moment Kanma saw it, he felt his heart grow warm and peaceful.
And his brother’s gravestone.
It was a gravestone made from the finest marble, and with flowers, butterflies, and insects filling the area around it, it did not look lonely or cold.
After setting down a single flower and turning away again, Kanma looked back at the towering tree.
Because Kanma had reached quite a high level, he could feel it.
That tree has a mysterious power.
It was beautiful and great as well.
Why is a tree like this here?
Then.
The memorial hall’s caretaker.
Pan, White Tiger’s father, who had been given a new occupation, approached.
“You must be the bereaved family of someone who passed away during the Elvenheim subjugation.”
Kanma only nodded, and Pan, seeing that his gaze had lingered on the tree, said,
“This hackberry tree is a tree from legend.”
“A tree from legend?”
“Yes. It is called the Hackberry Tree of Life. When you are near it, your vitality, stamina, strength, and more increase, and it raises healing power as well.”
“Why is something so incredible here?”
It was not an item that belonged in a mere memorial hall.
Should it not be in the central plaza of the nation,
or inside the castle?
“There is a story behind this hackberry tree.”
“A story?”
Pan looked at the tree with a pleased smile.
“A few days after the subjugation force returned, leaving the dead behind, His Majesty Hyunsoo headed alone to the place where they had fought. His Majesty searched along the path they had opened, reached the point closest to the place where the new race was, and there he fought other guardians and powerful monsters. They say that after he won against them, he obtained this tree.”
“After His Majesty returned with it, he ordered that this tree be placed at the center of the memorial hall. Because he is a blacksmith, this tree was more precious than any other tree and would have made an excellent material, so everyone was puzzled by that order.”
“At that time, His Majesty Hyunsoo looked at the tree and said, ‘This is proof.’”
“.......”
Kanma looked at the tree with astonished eyes.
“Every month, the tree bears extremely precious fruit, and the value of that fruit is exceptional. He ordered that the fruit be sold and the proceeds paid to the bereaved families for the rest of their lives.”
“A child who lost a father who was a soldier. A woman who lost her husband. An elderly couple who lost their son. Through the fruit borne by the tree His Majesty brought back, they were guaranteed support for the rest of their lives.”
“.......”
“You are Sir Kanden’s younger brother, aren’t you? I know because you resemble Sir Kanden, and because you stared at Sir Kanden’s gravestone for a long time.”
There is no death more doglike than dying for a country.
Kanma, who had thought that way, now realized why this memorial hall was so beautiful, and he looked around.
Why there were so many flowers, and why insects, butterflies, and birds chirped here.
Why, even though his brother Kanden had been buried in a cold place, he seemed so peaceful.
As he realized those things, Pan handed him a pouch.
“This is your share.”
It was the consolation payment that would be paid for life from the sale of the fruit.
“There was something His Majesty asked me to pass on.”
Pan’s words as he turned away struck Kanma’s heart.
“It was not a meaningless death.”
“.......”
Holding that pouch to his chest, Kanma was comforted as he looked up at the majestic tree.
After Pan disappeared, Kanma was finally able to see the name of this memorial hall.
[Heroes’ Resting Place.]
The death of his brother, which he had believed would be so lonely and desolate, had not been meaningless.
Kanma stood before the gravestone.
His true identity was Mercenary Captain Kanma, who led thousands of mercenaries.
“......I understand, brother.”
Kanma felt as if he could hear his brother’s voice from within the gravestone.
His brother was telling him what he needed to do.
And this was not only true for Kanma.
A child who grew up supported by the fruit borne by the legendary hackberry tree.
Or the bereaved family of someone sleeping in Heroes’ Resting Place.
Even those who had been childhood friends with the fallen entered the memorial hall and realized what they needed to do from then on.
Several years later.
A knight commander was walking toward the memorial hall.
Behind his back, a white cloak bearing a crossed anvil-and-hammer emblem fluttered, and behind him, roughly twenty knights walked with him.
After entering the memorial hall, he stopped before one gravestone.
[My brother, Kanden, sleeps here.]
The knight standing at the front spoke powerfully.
“Everyone, attention.”
Clack—!
All of them took the salute posture, and the knight at the very front shouted first.
“For the hero, salute.”
Clack—!
The knights saluted at the same time.
“Loyalty!!”
The knight lowered his hand and smiled gently.
The thing I must do is protect the king and nation my brother wanted to protect. I’ll do it in his place.
That knight.
He had once been a mercenary, but now he had become Kanma, commander of the 7th Knight Order of the nation of Hyun.
Does Hyun know?
The things he did because he thought them natural.
They were endlessly creating small but beautiful stories.
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