Hildas shot Ambrose a glare. This lich had cornered him, leaving him no way out.
Facing Arthur Lyon's puzzled expression, Hildas let out a long, weary sigh.
He stepped into the room, sat before Arthur Lyon, and spoke in a voice heavy with sorrow. "I never intended to tell you. This has nothing to do with you anymore. You've already given too much to this world, and your spirit shouldn't have to bear these painful memories. Nor would it change anything for the future.
"But since this lich has already deduced the truth to this extent, I will tell you what really happened. It all traces back to the Dragon Tyrant."
Ambrose cut in immediately. "The dragonblood curse?"
Hildas glanced at him. "You know far more history than I expected."
"Of course," Ambrose replied smugly. "I'm exceptionally well-read."
Hildas pursed his lips. The lich had no concept of humility.
Not wanting to indulge him further, the old elven king cut to the chase.
"Arthur, you are the most upright and selfless man I have ever known. The nation you founded should have been the brightest in the world. But unfortunately, during your final battle with the Dragon Tyrant, you were afflicted by the dragonblood curse. The dragon's blood fused with your body, and even fragments of its soul hid within your own."
James Watson gasped. "That's impossible! How could His Majesty be corrupted? He never showed any sign of tyranny!"
"That," Hildas said quietly, "is precisely why I admire him. The dragon's blood and soul fragments lay hidden deep within Arthur, so deeply that even he did not notice. By the time Lyon was founded and the Cult of Dragonkind purged, Arthur was already in his sixties. He refused to use life-extending potions, wanting to set an example for future generations. As a result of doing so, and the wounds he had sustained earlier in life, he was growing frailer.
"That was when the curse began to manifest. The dragon's blood started devouring his body. The fragments of its soul began to influence his mind. By the time he came to me for help, he was already at his limit. He had resisted the curse alone for far too long."
Ambrose interrupted again. "Didn't the Lord of Dawn intervene?"
This time, Arthur Lyon himself answered, "Knowing me, I wouldn't have sought the Lord of Dawn's help."
Ambrose blinked. "Why not?"
"I followed the Lord of Dawn not to beg for miracles, but because his teachings aligned with my own path. If a god could intervene to defeat the Dragon Tyrant, then another god could just as easily aid the tyrant in return. The dragons have more than one deity: the advantage would be theirs.
"That's why no god interfered in that war. And because of that, we were able to deceive the Dragon Tyrant and steal his divine weapon."
Ambrose understood immediately. It was a tacit agreement among gods that none would interfere, leaving the outcome to mortals. Otherwise, divine escalation could have destroyed the entire continent.
"So even after your victory, the Lord of Dawn still couldn't intervene?" Ambrose asked.
Hildas shook his head. "The war wasn't truly over. If the Dragon Tyrant successfully took control of Arthur, then the dragons would have won. He could have destroyed Lyon and every other kingdom in countless ways."
Now Ambrose saw the full picture. The possibility of a hidden reversal was insidious beyond measure.
"So," he continued, "Arthur Lyon disappeared at eighty because he could no longer suppress the dragon's will. To prevent it from succeeding, he abdicated and vanished."
Hildas narrowed his eyes. "How do you know that?"
"I study history."
James Watson could no longer hold back. "You say His Majesty was controlled by the dragon. Then why did he return? The records say he traveled the continent and came back at a hundred, spending his final years in peace."
Hildas's face twisted in pain. "He returned... because Arthur lost. The one who came back was not Arthur, but rather the Dragon Tyrant, already in control of his body."
Ambrose immediately objected. "That makes no sense! If the Dragon Tyrant had taken over, why would he die? He could have extended his life with Potions of Youth!"
"He intended to," Hildas replied. "But before leaving, Arthur told me that, if all went well, he would die somewhere unknown, rotting away with the dragon. If he ever returned to Lyon... then he must have lost. And I... was his final contingency."
By now, tears were streaming down Hildas's face.
"You killed Arthur Lyon. No—you killed the dragon controlling Arthur Lyon," Ambrose deduced.
James Watson shot to his feet, furious. "Is that true?! Did you kill His Majesty?!"
"Yes!" Hildas roared, his face flushed. "That was my dearest friend's final request! I had no choice! But I didn't know—I couldn't be sure whether it was Arthur or the dragon! I had no other option... I had to kill him!"
At the end, Arthur, aged and powerless, could not resist. Even in that final moment, the dragon mimicked him perfectly, begging Hildas for mercy.
For a thousand years, Hildas had questioned himself. What if he had been wrong? What if Arthur had truly won and simply returned? Had he murdered his own friend?
The shackles of doubt aged him far beyond his years. Other elves at his age might look middle-aged, but Hildas was wrinkled and frail, as if death were already upon him.
Others believed it was the burden of rulership. None knew the truth he carried.
Arthur Lyon's spirit stepped forward, placing a hand on Hildas's shoulder. "Hildas, don't blame yourself. You did the right thing. I've never broken a promise in my life. The one who returned could never have been me."
At those words, the old elf broke down completely, weeping like a child. For a thousand years, he had borne the guilt of killing his closest friend. Now, at last, he was being absolved of his sins.
Ambrose found himself agreeing. This spirit had guarded its divine vessel for over a millennium without faltering. The man himself would have been no different.
Arthur Lyon truly deserved the title of hero.
At first, Ambrose had only thought him formidable. Now, he felt genuine admiration not just for his strength, but for his will, his sacrifice, and his unyielding principles.
Once Hildas finally calmed down, Ambrose spoke again. "I have three questions. First, why did Arthur hide instead of coming to you for help at the Court of the Silver Moon?"
Arthur Lyon answered before Hildas could. "I think I know why. I feared that Hildas would not be able to see through my transformation, and that prolonged contact might allow the dragon to study Hildas and perfect its imitation of me. In time, no one would be able to tell the difference.
"So we had to devise an unbreakable rule that, if broken, would absolutely expose Arthur Lyon as a fake."
Ambrose nodded in admiration. Ruthless, but effective.
"Second," he continued, "why wasn't this secret revealed after Arthur's death?"
Hildas answered hoarsely, "Because it would have plunged the world into chaos. Too few knew of the dragonblood curse. And I killed Arthur based on a secret only we shared."
"The people of Lyon might not have believed it. Suspicion alone could have ignited a continental war. And more importantly, if the truth were accepted, Arthur's bloodline would have been eradicated. No one would risk letting the Dragon Tyrant's blood survive. His descendants would all have been slaughtered."
Ambrose frowned. "And you weren't afraid that the dragon's blood might persist?"
"Blood is one matter; the soul is another," Hildas replied. "Many beings carry dragon blood. How many have become tyrants? We could not condemn a hero's lineage over such a slim possibility."
Ambrose chuckled. "Looks like you were wrong. That bloodline is corrupting Lyon's royal family even now, turning them into new tyrants."
Hildas fell silent. He had no rebuttal to that.
Ambrose went on, excitement creeping into his voice, "So that's it. I always wondered why the Lord of Dawn allowed Lyon to decay like this. Even a single divine message could have corrected things. Now I see. The war never ended. For over a thousand years, the Dragon Tyrant has continued the struggle for control of Lyon through his bloodline.
"And since the conflict is ongoing, the Lord of Dawn still cannot intervene directly. He can only influence events indirectly. That explains everything. Lyon hasn't collapsed only because its paladins and clergy remain righteous. The corruption is limited to the royal family.
"The Lord of Dawn must be preserving stability from the sidelines."
At last, Ambrose had solved the greatest mystery of all. The divine wager remained unresolved even after a thousand years.
Might the coming upheaval also be related to this wager?
A turning point... or perhaps a conclusion?
Ambrose's revelation stunned everyone. Had the war against the Dragon Tyrant persisted for a millennium without none of them ever knowing it?
Hildas even said, with a hint of hope, "If that's the case, the Lord of Dawn's methods have been effective."
Ambrose shook his head. "Effective? Barely. The Dragon Tyrant is winning. His influence has twisted Lyon into extremism. It's on the brink of collapse."
Hildas could not deny it. Indeed, Lyon might collapse at any moment.
"You said you had three questions," Hildas replied instead. "What is the third?"
"Oh, I've already figured it out," Ambrose said. "That tale about demons fighting over the holy king's corpse has two meanings, doesn't it? First, the dragon's blood struggling to seize Arthur's body. Second, the Dragon Tyrant's remains, forged into the Draconic Armaments."
Hildas nodded. "Correct. For the Dragon Tyrant to fully return, he would need the Draconic Armaments. Before he left, Arthur wished to have its components separated and stored across different kingdoms to prevent its resurrection. But his son didn't know the truth. He believed it was Lyon's greatest divine artifact, and refused to do so."
Ambrose's eyes lit up. "So that's what the dispute at the funeral was about. No wonder relations between Lyon and the other kingdoms deteriorated so rapidly afterward. The second emperor must have believed the other nations were trying to seize his father's relic. Combined with the influence of the dragon blood, he grew increasingly hostile toward other races."
With all the secrets laid bare, Ambrose turned to James Watson and said calmly, "Do you still have a problem with exchanging Arthur Lyon's spirit for the Draconic Armaments?"