Throne Room,

Riven, Rosendun.

2:09 p.m. 20th Banem 1092

"LONG MAY HE REIGN!"

The powerful chant rocked the throne room as King Parissius let go of Kashi and rose to his feet, pulling the daeben up with him. "Thank you," he said once again as he patted the daeben's shoulder. "Let me handle it from here."

Kashi winked and then grinned as he whispered, "Give 'em hell."

King Parissius patted Kashi's shoulder and then stood next to the daeben. Facing his kneeling subjects, the king called out in a warm voice, "Please rise." The subjects chanted one last time, and then rose to their feet, eyes trained on the king.

"My ministers," King Parissius began as he looked to the ministers. "I trust the Hopeful Maggots have done enough to acquit themselves in your eyes." The ministers responded with a loud affirmation, leading the king to continue his address, "I am happy to hear that, but saddened by the reality that this was necessary." The king shook his head as he lamented, "The Hopeful Maggots have been nothing but friends to the Royal Family, and what have we repaid that with, but scorn and ridicule?"

"Alas, I am to share in some of the blame," lamented King Parissius with a sigh. He quickly raised his hand, quelling the ministers' dissenting cries. "No, it is true. I have been made privy to everything the Hopeful Maggots have done over the past months. Every project, and plan, Ms. Lightwood here has brought to my attention. However, for fear of leaks, it was decided that these details would be kept secret until a time when they could not be sabotaged by our enemies." The king shook his head as he said, "Perhaps I should have trusted Rosendun's ministers more, but..." The king's eyes turned red with rage as he glared at Zitch. "Ministers like Zitch here remind me of why I chose caution."

"My Lord!" Zitch cried out in shock, immediately falling to his knees and groveling before the king's feet. "Please! This subject only said what he did for the sake of Rosendun! For our people's land!"

"For our people?" King Parissius spat with disgust. "You dare claim to care for the people at this juncture?" Despite his rage, the king calmed himself as he questioned the old man, "Fine. Let it not be said that King Parissius is a tyrant who makes one-sided decisions. I will give you a chance, Zitch. Tell me, how did you come to learn all these sensitive information about the daeben? Among your intel is information even I am not yet privy to, so they could only have occurred within the past few days."

Zitch, trembling, quickly said, "My Lord! For the sake of Rosendun, I have trained a secret spy force. I was always suspicious of the Hopeful Maggots' intentions, so I sent the forces to follow their every move."

"Oh?" King Parissius muttered and then asked with a tight smile, "How long have you had this force? Your information is quite broad."

"For several months, Your Majesty," Zitch claimed with a loud shout. "I dedicated most of my revenue into creating this force for the country."

"Oh? So you have had this force for several months, but never thought to bring it up until now?" King Parissius questioned, gaze turning frosty. "Is there some reason behind this action?"

"U-um," Zitch stammered, realizing he had seriously messed up just then. "Th-th-that's not entirely the case, Your Majesty." Luckily, despite his panic, Zitch was intelligent enough to find a solution and once again throw shade at the Maggots. "I was afraid, Your Majesty. If the Maggots knew I was watching them, they might come after me! Everyone knows just how much influence Leila Lightwood holds in the capital! There are even some who call her the 'Queen without a Crown!'"

Leila's brows furrowed, but before she could speak, King Parissius signaled her with his right hand. Complying with his request, Leila relaxed and watched the proceedings. It was easy to forget because he usually deferred to her judgment, but King Parissius was definitely no fool. He was an extremely intelligent man, just a humble one (well, except his narcissistic tendencies).

King Parissius smiled as he focused on Zitch. "I understand. You were scared of the Maggots, and thus did not wish to expose your forces." The king walked over to the old man and crouched next to him. With a cold smile, he asked, "Why then did you choose this moment to speak? This moment, which coincidentally would destroy any chance of Rosendun's alliance with Merriheim and Serisis? Did you suddenly overcome your fear? Is that it?"

Each of King Parissius' questions stabbed right to the heart of the matter, opening the other minsters' eyes to the strangeness of the situation. Yes. Why did Zitch pick this exact moment to speak, and in public no less? If he had fears, he could have requested an audience with the king to lay out his complaints. However, he chose a public setting, which upon second thought seemed like it was designed to pressure King Parissius into making a decision on the Maggots.

Zitch went pale, taking a moment to choose his words carefully, and only then responded, "I... I was afraid the Maggots would become too powerful and untouchable after the negotiations went through. I decided risking my life to stop them was the least I could do."

King Parissius's eyes sparked. If nothing else, he had to praise Zitch's intelligence. If he did not know the Maggots as well as he did, he might have been believed the old man's act. The King knew that Kashi was not the type to stab him in the back. If Kashi ever got dissatisfied with Rosendun, he would let the King know before leaving. That's the kind of man the daeben was.

"How admirable," praised King Parissius. Unfortunately for Zitch, his King was far too intelligent to fall for his words. Furthermore, from the beginning, he had been playing into King Parissius's trap without even knowing it. "In that case, since you are prepared to lay down your life, tell me: How exactly did you keep an eye on the Maggots? This special force. What technique did they use?"

"T-technique?" Zitch choked, unable to speak any further. This was as far as his information with that man went. He had no clue as to how they collected information on the Maggots without getting noticed! "I-I-I..." stammerd Zitch, unable to formulate another lie. Realizing his impending doom, the politician immediately cried out, "Forgive me, Your Highness! I was threatened!"

King Parissius sneered at the groveling Zitch. "Only more lies. How am I to believe a word you say?"

"I swear, Your Highness!" Zitch begged as tears streamed down his cheeks. "I will not utter another lie!"

"And how am I to believe those words?" challenged the King. "After everything you have done?"

"Mercy! Your Highness, Mercy!" Zitch begged, drawing disgust from King Parissius.

"Hehe, do not fret, Your Majesty, I have the solution to our problem," Kashi laughed, his voice sounding like a death knell to Zitch. The politician turned to Kashi, wondering that the daeben had in mind. Kashi, sensing the old man's sever distress, chuckled and then looked at the King. "Give me five minutes. I will have him spill everything he knows."

King Parissius raised a brow, interest in his eyes. "You have a way?"

"Let's just say having a world of your own has its perks," Kashi replied, wisely choosing not to divulge the truth in this setting.

Luckily, King Parissius caught on to the daeben's intentions and thus nodded as he declared, "You were the one hurt most by his slander. It is only right we give you a chance to exonerate yourself."

"Thank you," Kashi said with a grateful bow, and then turned to Orez's citizens. "Return. We do not want to discomfort these nice folks any longer." The monsters roared and the centuars cheered as they retreated into the portals. At this time, Kashi who was already on his fourth mana elixir, said to Agamios as he pointed at Zitch, "Take him with you. We will find out the truth in a few minutes."

Agamios grunted his agreement. He bent over, and lifted the stunned politician by the scruff of his robe.

Zitch's face immediately went pale as he saw the centaur dragging him towards a portal. He recalled that man's warning. "Do NOT let yourself get pulled into Kashi's world, or your life is as good as forfeit." Zitch frantically shouted for help, even as he was pulled inside the portals, begging every god in the realm to save him, but alas there was no one came to his aid that day.

The old man's screams eventually faded out as he disappeared into the portal with the last of Orez's citizens and monsters. Kashi removed the empty mana elixir from his lips as the portals closed, and then turned to King Parissius. "Just a moment, Your Highness," he said, and then his gaze dulled as his soul withdrew into his world.

King Parissius waved his hand over the daeben's vacant gaze, surprised to see that there was no response. He asked as he observed Kashi, "What's happening?"

"He gets like this whenever he enters his world," Lunette explained. "He should return soon."

"Ah," King Parissius nodded in understanding. "I see. In that case, I suppose all we can do is wait."

What followed was a terse three and a half minutes as everyone wondered what would happen when Kashi regained his clarity. Would Zitch confess to his crimes or would he stand his ground and keep denying the truth? If he confessed, what exactly were the extent of his crimes? And more importantly, did he have any accomplices?

Tensions boiled in the throne room, getting increasingly heavier with each passing second. Luckily, Kashi soon blinked, revealing he had returned from his world. The daeben raised a brow, revealing a mocking smirk as he opened a portal and said, "That was much easier than I thought it would be."

Bam!

Zitch flew out of the portal and crashed to the floor, where he remained kneeling and trembling. The politician did not dare look up for fear of meeting Kashi's gaze. It seemed whatever Kashi had done to him in Orez had left him immensely terrified and unwilling to face the daeben.

Kashi glanced at the sniveling politician and then bowed to King Parissius. "You may ask him anything. He will not speak anymore lies." The daeben looked at Zitch and said with a harsh smile, "Isn't that right?"

"Y-yes!" Zitch shouted. "I will not dare utter another lie!"

King Parissius raised a brow as he looked at Kashi. "You and I will have to chat later." After which, he turned to Zitch and asked. "Let's start with something simple. What was your ultimate goal today?"

Zitch trembled, but spoke nonetheless, "I hoped to dissolve the alliance between the Hopeful Maggots and Rosendun. It was my hope that at the very least, the Hopeful Maggots would lose most of their influence in Rosendun's political sphere."

"Why is that?"

"The Maggots have gotten too powerful," Zitch replied with a shake of his head. "There are many guilds who wish to topple them, but their political power makes it impossible to do so. In order to get to the Maggots, they needed to first make them lose their power."

King Parissius frowned as he pressed, "Is that all? What was in it for you?"

"I was greedy fool, Your Highness!" Zitch cried out. "Not only did I accept bribes, but I hated Ms. Lightwood for proposing the high-income taxes. I wanted to punish her, and this seemed like a win-win situation."

The ministers gasped in shock as Zitch confessed to his crimes. To think a minister for the people would do something so harmful to Rosendun's future for the profits. How unthinkable!

King Parissius, however was not done with his interrogation. He glanced at Zitch and asked, "Who bribed you? For whom do you work?"

"Two people bribed me," Zitch admitted with a downcast gaze. "The first, is the leader of a Summoned Guild. They call him Janez. I don't know how he knew so much about the daeben. He only told me he had a reliable source." The politician paused, eyes shaking as he stammered, "Th-th-th-the second w-w-was an angel. In all my life I had never seen any being with such power. I only did what I did because I believed he would protect me if I failed. He called himself an A—ARGH!!!!"

Zitch suddenly collapsed, red veins cropping up all over his skin as he screamed, convulsed and begged for help all at the same time.

Kashi, realizing the danger immediately sprung into action. He opened a portal, sending Yggdrassil's healing energy pouring out in droves. The massive pure life energy stunned the ministers, but there was no time to process their shock as their attention was drawn to the convulsing minister.

"Don't you dare die on me!" Kashi roared in anger as he flooded Zitch with life energy. However, no matter how hard he tried, the poor minister only appeared to get worse. "Damn it!" Kashi cursed as he poured more energy into the minister to keep him alive for a second longer. "Who did this to you!? Tell me! Don't die protecting that piece of shit."

Zitch trembled as Kashi's desperate shout helped him regain a bit of clarity. The old man clutched Kashi's shoulders, eyes red as he said through tears, "A-Avenge me. Please!"

"Don't worry, I will," promised Kashi, eyes red with rage. "You're one of my people now. No one messes with one of mine and gets away with it!"

"G-Good," Zitch stammered. The old man gathered his breath, forcing his concentration as he shouted out, "Adjudicators! They called themselves Adjudica—" Blurskh!

Zitch's chest exploded, dousing Kashi with his blood. The old man's eyes drooped as the life left his body. Kashi's eyes narrowed as he stared at the corpse in his arms. Gritting his teeth, he cursed, "Adjudicators... You're still interfering in my life? I guess losing two was not enough."

A/N: I rarely do this, but I wanted to address a comment made by IanGhiro0909. He/She brought up a valid argument regarding Kashi's antics at the court. In their quote, they pointed out that Kashi's show of loyalty was not a proof of innocence, and thus should not mean much overall in the proceedings.

While this is a legitimate concern, the funny (and extremely sad) thing about politics, is that it is rarely about facts and far more about theatrics. People often gloss over facts, and truths in favor of how someone made them feel in the moment. I do not want to point any fingers, but even right now, there are many high-profile politicians who campaigned with crazy promises and pandering to certain crowds. However, upon closer inspection, not only did their policies make no sense, but when they finally got into office, they failed to accomplish anything. However, their failures are often glossed over because of their infectious personalities and ability to play the crowd.

In Kashi's case especially, it is important to note that he did not go straight to the theatrics. He first had Absalon and Miote not only clear the Hopeful Maggot of all accusations, but also throw some doubt toward Zitch's intentions. Immediately following this, without waiting for the ministers to ponder too deeply on the situation, he summoned a host of monsters into the hall, which not only destabilized the politicians but scared them into near submission as they thought that the daeben wanted to slaughter them in anger.

However, before they could even process that fear, Kashi and the monsters swore their loyalty to King Parissius in the most iconic method possible: Kneeling. Keep in mind that until now, I have not shown anyone kneeling toward King Parissius. This is because, in the East, the knees are seen as precious, and not to be easily bent to anyone. Modern-day cultures have washed off some of the significance of bending the knee, but L.N.E is set in Edo-period cultures where kneeling still had a massive significance.

As a result, the roller coaster of emotions Kashi put the ministers through forced them into his camp without them even realizing it. Now, even if some politicians have doubts, it would be very difficult to bring it up in the throne room without absolute proof. 

Kashi stole the narrative, and forced the politicians to play along with his story... That was the real battle here. A battle for narrative. If Zitch won, even without facts, the Maggots would have been actors in his narrative, forced to adopt a passive role, waiting to get punished. Fortunately, the Maggots won the narrative this time.

This is the longest Author's Note ever! But I hope it shed some light into the last chapter. I didn't want to bloat up the word count with these explanations.