Sarkota
"The sun is setting..." Sighing, I looked around. The city was alive, but things were slowly changing.
The difference wasn't that clear yet, but the movement was becoming calmer. Children were returning to their homes, and nightclubs were preparing to open.
Time was flowing...
"Honestly, I don't like to give credit to the enemy, but this is definitely a work of art." Magic was capable of many things, demonic magic that relied mainly on the power of imagination even more so.
"Even so... to be able to create an entire, functional world, even if it's fake." How difficult could that be? Being able to visualize an entire, functional world is not something a person should be able to do.
It's not simply imagination and focus.
"Is this still magic? Honestly, I still can't say with confidence that it's really fake. All of this could very well be real, maybe the real magic is making me believe it's fake..." I sighed, my mind was going crazy in this situation.
My head was already starting to burn, literally, of course.
Using Lightning magic to speed up my thoughts may not always be the best idea...
Especially since I don't get smarter, just faster.
Even though I'm still an idiot…
But…
at least one thing had become clear.
Up to this point, I had taken a passive stance, but now things had changed.
It was clear that help would not come.
I had been trapped in this illusion for hours.
After killing what I thought was the master of this world, nothing has really changed.
"Actually, one thing did change..." I was standing on top of a wall in the golden palace, my feet swaying with the rhythm of the wind like in the old times.
Looking back, below me, I could see some guards standing behind me, waiting patiently for orders.
"We are at your command, my king!" Feeling my gaze, they reacted promptly, eagerly awaiting new orders.
"Issue an order to all the city guards and the black flag mercenaries to put everyone, without any exception, on high alert and let them search for anyone who looks even remotely suspicious and bring them to me." The soldier's eyes widened in shock at the extent of the order.
Chaos would reign if all the guards suddenly left their posts. Especially since there was going to be a big party in the city today.
And what the hell was a remotely suspicious person on a day like this?Tons of these people will use weird masks and strange foreign clothes.
It would be easier to arrest everyone!
And, of course, I knew that.
"B-but my highness…"He was about to challenge my order, but before he could, I intervened.
"You don't dare say a word!" I strained my eyes and stared directly into his soul.
"I don't want to hear about your difficulties or potential problems, I am the king and my will is law. Disobedience and slowness will be punished with death! Anyone who resists my orders will suffer the same fate."
"I made myself clear?"Under my aura, he took a deep breath and swallowed hard before consent and leaving to carry out my orders.
He was just a human, after all.
I sighed.
Turning my eyes to the city around me.
The sun threatened to set on the horizon amid the waters of the ocean.
I have tried in every way to destroy this illusion, and yet even the stars in the sky are the same.
Even people who originally did not react to my actions now listen to me and recognize me as king.
My servants are the same as they were many years ago, even some minor and irrelevant details are the same.
There were only two things that could be said to be different, the date and the existence of that man.
According to the date, it is the exact day of the annual festival. But not only that, it was the exact day I met...
him…
"What a hard day to be alive…" I will need to prepare myself.
...
It's as if I had gone back in time to one of the best moments of my life.
Just like that, in the blink of an eye.
A simple illusion spell shouldn't be capable of that...
That being the case, I should consider entering other fields of magic…
Throwing myself off the wall, I fell into the crowd and quickly sprinted toward the city gates.
Lightning magic tensed my muscles, making them reach explosive power in an instant.
Crossing great distances would not be a challenge this way.
It's too perfect for an illusion, but is it if it's the real world? It should be possible to find evidence outside the city. Or, at least, find limitations in this magic.
Leaving the city and crossing the sparse but beautiful vegetation, I found myself walking in a desert, but I still continued to dash as far as possible.
After much adventuring, I still couldn't understand what was happening. Several neighboring cities existed as I remembered, and oases in the middle of the desert were the same.
Even occasional caravans filled the place.
Exploring the airspace also yielded no results.
If I could use teleportation magic, I would try other methods.
But I couldn't use that kind of magic...
Standing in the middle of the desert, things only became more meaningless and illogical.
"No matter how I look at it, the most likely possibility is that someone has messed with my mind, perhaps my memories are false and I have always been here in Rathora." Standing in the middle of the desert, I gripped my chin in deep thought.
"It would make perfect sense if it were some kind of torture magic, my memories were terrible and full of constant suffering. That way, the enemy would be trying to destabilize me and take advantage of this moment of weakness." Rathora had its share of enemies.
Recently, I had been causing some discomfort to some high-class demons. My business was slowly making their lives difficult. And it would make perfect sense for them to prepare an attack.
Of course, they were too lazy to come in person.
In other words, they would use smaller attacks without important troops. Doing so would make a simple and effective strategy, such as confusing me, even more important.
Even if it wasn't them, there are still a number of self-proclaimed kings and conquerors who, although not a challenge to me, are a challenge to my reign.
Many merchants are also involved in clandestine and terrorist activities.
"I knew it wouldn't be easy to be a king... I knew that everything could fall apart in a single moment, right from the start. Ordinary people had the right to make mistakes, but not me, not a king."
"Illusion or reality, in here I am still a king and I will deal with this as one." I prepared myself, my heart full of determination, to face whatever was necessary from now on.