:

"Hahaha!! These people are just... hahaha!!" The King’s booming laughter echoed throughout the throne room.

Seated comfortably upon the golden throne, he repeatedly smacked the armrest with enough force to crack the enchanted wood beneath his palm, unable to stop himself as he reread the letter from the Magistrate Council. Every sentence seemed more ridiculous than the last.

"’Assaulting a prince.’ ’Establishing an unregistered military compound.’ ’Kidnapping the heirs of House Dracontis.’ ’Forcefully bedding said heirs.’ ’Concealing high-tier summons from the kingdom.’ ’Attempting to undermine noble authority.’" The King paused before bursting into another fit of laughter.

"Hahaha! Who writes this nonsense?" His shoulders trembled as he leaned back against the throne.

"These old fossils truly have too much free time." To anyone unfamiliar with the capital, the letter might have looked terrifying, but to him, it was little more than another day’s entertainment.

Of course, hidden among the absurd accusations were a handful of legitimate ones, which only made the fabricated charges even funnier.

After several more moments, the King’s laughter gradually died down. "Hehe... What a hoot." He casually tossed the letter onto a nearby table before looking toward Ethan.

"I have to admit... I’m relieved." Ethan blinked, asking, "...Relieved?" The King nodded with complete seriousness, replying, "I finally found someone suffering beneath bureaucracy just as much as I am."

A helpless sigh escaped Ethan. Unlike the King, he couldn’t laugh because this wasn’t amusing.

These accusations weren’t merely words on paper; every one of them represented weeks of investigations, political meetings, and endless hearings that threatened to drag him away from rebuilding the Algar Clan.

The nobles might enjoy such games, but he certainly didn’t. He rubbed his forehead, groaning, "I’d rather fight another celestial dragon." The King laughed again, saying, "I believe you, but unfortunately, some of these are actually usable."

He picked the document back up as his expression gradually became more thoughtful. "Let’s see... ’The unauthorized construction.’ I can help you with one so it’s no problem ." He nodded before adding,

"The assault on Tywin, that one’s difficult to deny as well, but he’s my son after all, I’ll just say you had my consent to smack some sense into him"

The King smiled approvingly and said, "hmmmm..." His finger tapped another paragraph as he read, "’Forcefully bedding the heirs of House Dracontis.’"

His smile slowly disappeared. "If my guess is correct, the old witch from House Dracontis has already contacted one of her ancestors residing in the Bastion." He sighed deeply before continuing, "That part... is actually troublesome."

The King’s fingers lightly tapped against the summons before he sighed once more

. "’Failure to register high-tier summons.’ Honestly... these people." Only four individuals inside the throne room truly understood what that accusation actually implied: the King, Mister Mysteries, Arian, and Ethan.

To ordinary nobles, powerful summons were military assets, but to those standing at the peak of the world, repeatedly summoning S-Rank heroes represented something entirely different.

It meant potential—potential capable of shaking kingdoms, attracting gods, and potential that countless ancient factions would rather control than oppose.

The Magistrate Council wasn’t afraid of Ethan today; they were afraid of what he might become tomorrow.

After a lengthy silence, the King finally stood up. His robes settled around him as he slowly descended the steps leading from the throne.

"Follow me." He offered no explanation, simply clasping both hands behind his back as he calmly left the throne room while the others exchanged glances before quietly following.

The group passed through several palace corridors where the deeper they walked, the fewer guards remained.

Eventually even the servants disappeared until only silence accompanied them. Several minutes later, the King stopped before an enormous wooden door that towered nearly twenty feet high.

Its surface appeared strangely ordinary despite the countless ancient runes flowing beneath the wood like living streams.

The King rested one hand upon it before glancing sideways toward Mister Mysteries. "Mysteries, there’s no going back after this. Are you absolutely certain you won’t change your mind?"

A faint smile appeared across Mister Mysteries’ face as he replied, "You think I’m afraid of that withered old tree?" He snorted, adding,

"Or his little saplings?" The King’s expression twitched; for a brief moment, he genuinely considered throwing the old man back outside.

Instead, he quietly swallowed whatever complaint threatened to leave his mouth. "You really do have a death wish." Without another word, he pushed open the enormous door.

Boom.

Blinding white light erupted outward as the palace corridor vanished beneath an endless ocean of radiance. Ethan instinctively narrowed his eyes while the light seemed to consume everything:

the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and even sound itself.

Then it ended. When Ethan opened his eyes once more, the palace was gone.

One side of the doorway still connected to an ordinary palace kitchen where several cooks stood frozen in place, seemingly unaware that another world existed only a single step away, while the opposite side still showed an empty corridor.

Neither contained them anymore, for the moment they crossed the threshold, they had entered somewhere entirely different.

"You absolute idiot, Martin!" A loud voice echoed overhead, shouting, "You actually brought that trickster into Paradise?"

Another voice groaned, "Ugh... So annoying. Oi! Someone pass me some biscuits!" A third replied,

"You already ate them!" to which the first yelled, "What? Since when?"

A chorus of laughter immediately followed.

Ethan instinctively looked upward to see a flock of brilliantly colored birds circling above the garden, each perched upon glowing branches while openly mocking the newcomers.

Some laughed, some argued, and one seemed completely obsessed with biscuits.

The King sighed, saying, "Ignore them. They’re just pests." "We heard that!" One particularly round bird puffed out its chest and squawked,

"And we’re offended!" Another chimed in, "No you’re not," while a third added, "True, but it still sounded rude."

The King completely ignored them and continued walking, but Ethan found himself observing the surrounding world with growing curiosity.

The endless garden stretched farther than he could see, filled with blooming flowers beneath silver trees and crystal streams quietly flowing through fields of glowing grass.

Even the sky looked wrong with no visible sun, yet golden daylight illuminated everything perfectly.

His summoner instincts quietly stirred as he realized this place resembled the atmosphere inside the Black Flame Dungeon, yet the similarities ended there. That dungeon felt unstable, artificial, and temporary, whereas this place felt complete. Every blade of grass carried genuine life, every breeze possessed its own rhythm, and every breath Ethan took seemed to nourish his soul.

"This..." he murmured, "...isn’t a dungeon." Mister Mysteries smiled and replied,

"No, it’s much older. A Divine Realm—a world that no longer depends upon another." Ethan slowly nodded, for the first time since arriving understanding what true divinity looked like.

"We’re here," the King’s voice interrupted his thoughts. Stepping through a row of flowering bushes, the group entered a peaceful clearing where, beneath an enormous ancient tree,

several elderly men sat around a small wooden table. One quietly drank tea, another lazily played cards, one appeared asleep, and another calmly read a newspaper.

The atmosphere looked less like the gathering of legendary beings and more like retired grandfathers enjoying their afternoon. The instant they noticed the King, one old man looked up and laughed, "Ah... Martin. You couldn’t wait to come back? Is sitting on that throne really that painful?"

Another old man snorted, saying, "I told you he’d come crying again before the month ended," while several others quietly chuckled. The King pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering,

"...Old bastards." He sighed before turning toward Ethan with a suddenly serious tone:

"Ethan, these are the ancestors of Bark. The rulers, the founders, and the protectors of this kingdom stretching back over six hundred years."

Ethan felt his heartbeat quicken as the King added one final sentence:

"They’re also angels." Silence fell as every smile around the table disappeared and the old men slowly raised their eyes. For a single fleeting moment, their gazes landed upon Ethan.

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