Jobless Reincarnation: The King with a Mental Problem

"This city of Lunda is really not good. The bathhouses are not good, the adventurers are not good, the food in the restaurants is not good, and now even the tailors are not good—it's impossible to find someone to make a few cloaks."

Exhausted from driving around the city all day, Wang slumped over the table, grumbling as he watched the sparse pedestrians on the street.

The snow has stopped, but the rooftops and roads are still covered in a layer of white.

"That's a dragon's wing membrane." Loki sat on a chair by the window, holding a cup of hot tea, the steam blurring her face. "Dragon materials are always rare and hard to come by. Craftsmen with experience in processing them are usually only found in big cities. It's really hard to find people with this kind of skill in small towns."

"I intended to make it into a gift and give it away."

"The dragon skin cloak would be suitable for Mr. Paul—but it's too extravagant to give it as a birthday present to a five-year-old."

"I didn't intend to give it to Rudy."

The witch tilted her head, the teacup pausing at her lips: "Not giving it to Rudy? Then why give it to Sylphie?"

"Sylphie is already the Elf King, so it's reasonable to give her a suitable cloak." I counted on my fingers, "Gilead, Father, Mother, Sylphie—"

"Even I'm included?" Luo Qixi put down her teacup, raised an eyebrow, "When you were counting just now, it seems you included me."

Wang paused for a moment, then looked away from the window, his gaze falling on her face before quickly shifting back.

"……Um."

"..." Luo Qixi didn't press further. She lowered her head, blew on the steam rising from the tea, and a small smile curved her lips. "I'll pretend I didn't see it."

"Anyway," Wang cleared his throat, "that kid Rudy didn't."

"But he's the only one without it. Rudy's going to be angry, won't he?"

"How can you say 'only he doesn't have it'? I don't have it either." I said confidently. "I'm still growing, so even if I made it, I wouldn't be able to wear it for long. Let's wait until I'm a little older."

"So what are you planning to give Rudy as a birthday present?"

"Of course, it's 'The Legend of Shadow Heroes,' written personally by the Lord of Shadow!"

The proud king crossed his arms and raised his voice several decibels.

"It contains the wisdom of my shadow; I'm sure my knights will be so excited they won't be able to sleep when they receive this gift!"

The witch gazed at the king.

That look—not a complaint, not helplessness, but something softer, something indescribable.

"...Rudy is so lucky to have a brother like you."

The word "happiness" was put in quotation marks.

I pretended not to hear it.

"Alas—the king must naturally shoulder more responsibility." He sighed, turned to face the window, and said, "I will now begin my seclusion to research new magic. As for the other gifts, I'll leave them to the witch."

"Do you have any ideas yet?"

"The previous battles did indeed reveal my shortcomings." His voice lowered, no longer as energetic as before. "I need to find a way to make up for these weaknesses. Moreover, I'm quite bad at writing, and I'll have to make up some stories to pad the word count. 'Shadow Heroes' will take a lot of my effort."

"Emily's affair is a secret now, but isn't slaying dragons something pretty cool?" Loki asked. "Why make it up?"

"That story has been deleted by me."

"Why? Just because you lost a duel? But you still have to give me the dragon skin cloak!"

"..."

There was no immediate answer. Wang tapped his fingers on the table twice, the rhythm somewhat unsteady.

"This is also part of my education."

Wang finally spoke, his voice a little slower than before.

"This huge flaw was deliberately left by me. Stories cannot be entirely trusted; narrators can arrive at completely different conclusions due to their different perspectives, and people can also write down things against their conscience. If a liar puts his words on paper, it becomes a book."

"Is that really the reason?"

Luo Qixi's voice was very soft. It wasn't a question, nor a doubt—it sounded more like a confirmation.

Wang remained silent for a while.

"..." Her fingers stopped tapping. "Exactly."

He spoke with great confidence, but the king dared not look the witch in the eye.

The witch didn't press the matter further.

A clump of snow loosened on the eaves outside the window, silently sliding down and hitting the awning below with a muffled thud.

"Never mind." Changing the subject, "Do you know what interesting thing I discovered while researching history?"

"Changing the subject again?" There was no reproach in Luo Qixi's tone.

Are you listening or not?

"……you say."

He turned around again, leaned against the window frame, and crossed his arms. Wang's expression changed from hesitation to a more serious and focused look.

"Historical stories do indeed contain too many fabricated tales, and writers may conceal or be biased due to their own perspectives."

Therefore, we should ignore the process and analyze only the result.

Legend has it that the origin of magic—the old man in the mountains who taught humans skills—appeared around ten thousand years ago. He taught magic to humans and then went into seclusion again. After an unknown period of time, he reappeared.

"So?" Luo Qixi tilted her head, tapping her fingers lightly on her knees to keep a rhythm.

"I can understand his thinking, because studying magic alone is very inefficient, so you need the collision of ideas." The king lowered his voice, as if he were talking about some secret, "He taught magic to humans, and then learned from humans."

"To become each other's teacher and student?" Luo Qixi nodded. "That's a brilliant idea."

"But his story disappeared after the Second War between humans and demons."

"You believe he died in the Second Human-Demon War?" Loki asked.

"That's right. But I don't believe that someone with a long lifespan and who has accumulated countless magical knowledge would die so easily."

"So, judging from the results, either he's dead or he's hiding." Luo Qixi followed my line of thought and continued.

"Another work that seems to feature him is 'The Tale of Ars'."

Luo Qixi frowned, recalling.

"You mean... the five sages who helped the hero Ars?"

"That's right. No matter how far-fetched the various versions of the story may be, the fact that Ars suddenly received help and defeated the Demon King is true."

No matter how the story is adapted—the sage with such immense power has always remained hidden behind the scenes, accumulating strength to defeat something.

Wang paused.

"Whatever their purpose, it is a fact that they helped humanity defeat the demons."

There's also Aldebaran, the Golden Knight from the Second War between Humans and Demons. He received similar assistance.

Judging from the outcome of the final battle—the Lingus Sea—it's even possible that the Golden Knight was the Sage himself.

But after that, the story ends.

The sage speculated that he died in World War II.

Because in the most recent conflict—the Third War between humans and demons waged by the demon Laplace—it was the Seven Heroes, whose story is more clearly defined, who defeated Laplace.

Luo Qixi listened quietly. Her teacup had gone cold, but she didn't drink it.

Loki's voice rang out in the quiet room, not loud, but clear: "The sage is dead. Then—what about his enemies?"

silence.

Loki put down her teacup and placed her hands, folded, on her knees. She looked at Trevor, her gaze never leaving him.

"I see," she said. "So what you fear is the sage's enemy?"

Wang did not answer immediately, but looked out the window.

"In fact, I don't need a reason." Wang's voice was low, as if he were saying to himself, "I already knew that this enemy lurking in the shadows existed."

Studying historical stories is merely a way to increase their authenticity.

Luo Qixi didn't say, "How did you know?" She didn't say, "What nonsense are you talking about?" She just looked at me quietly.

"Really? A power similar to that of a divine child?" she asked.

Although it is a question, it does not have a questioning tone; it is asking the king for confirmation.

"...It should be about right, but please keep it a secret."

She lowered her head, picked up the now-cold tea again, and took a sip. The tea was bitter, but she didn't frown.

"……good."

Just one word.

Wang turned his gaze from the window to the witch. She didn't look at him, but instead held her teacup, staring at a small patch of snow on the windowsill.

The room fell silent.

Only the firewood in the fireplace crackled once.

I originally planned to keep everything to myself and work hard in secret.

Just as Luo Qixi said, if I don't tell people, it would be hard for ordinary people to understand why I'm so eager to become stronger.

She must have sensed something, but she trusted me so much, so naturally I couldn't hide anything from someone who cared about me.

This is the most information I can share right now.

If other people heard me say this, they would either think I'm crazy or that I'm talking nonsense, but this is how I express trust.

There were no questions or follow-up inquiries. She simply nodded, took the secret I handed her, and carefully put it away.

Looking at her profile—the firelight from the fireplace dancing in her pupils, turning her light blue eyes a warm orange—I suddenly thought: she's truly captivating.