L.G.D.K! Special – History of the Ox King (part 2)

Author’s Note: Hello peeps. We finally have the thrilling conclusion of the first part of the History of the Ox King! Anyway, please read and enjoy?

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The History of the Ox King – Part Two

Have you ever wondered why we’re here? That friends is the greatest question of all time. Like right now, I am in the Devil King’s Castle. This journey has been a long one, I cannot believe that it is finally time to end it. It has had it’s ups and it has had it’s downs. Like how I was able to get closer to other races, one thing that I never thought would ever happen. The priest in the party is Charlotte, the nun whom showed no fear as she walked straight into my camp. There’s Xavier, an archer from the elven country of Olko. Jedediah may be a dwarf, but he’s the best martial artist that I have ever met. As for our mage… she’s a halfling whose name I keep forgetting for some strange reason.

Anyway, we had fought long and hard to get this far. From vampires to Xar’s Legion, we have fought it all. This includes some strange armored warriors in the Valley of No Return, but I doubt that they hold any allegiance with the Demon Realm. All I know is that I never want to fight them again, those strange magic weapons of theirs turned trees to cinders. Just thinking about what would had happened if I were hit gives me the shivers.

Still, this is the final part of the journey. We are now in front of the doors to the throne room. But this fight…

“Everyone, we have finally made it this far. Beyond these doors is the Devil King.”

“It’s time to end this war in the name of the Deity!” (Charlotte)

That petite blond… she’s always into it when it’s for the Deity. Still wearing those white vestments that she wore when we first met. She was the first human that I had ever befriended.

“I still have arrows, so let’s do this!” (Xavier)

That Elf… he’s still a hot head. Like all the forest elves of Olko, he has his long flowing blond hair in a braid. His attire is mainly furs and leathers from beasts he’s hunted. Except for his cloak, it’s from a fabric that can only be found in his homeland. Green and flowing with a reeds-based pattern stitched in with a gold thread, like most of the archers in Olko. I still do not understand his bias against the Night Elves though, they seemed to be nice people.

“Remember Xavier, a steady mind and a steady heart are what leads to victory.” (Jedediah)

That Dwarf… he’s always saying things like some kind of mystic. Like me, he keeps his chest bare. However… he’s hairier than any half-man that I had ever met there. All he ever wears are a dark purple pair of pants, he doesn’t even wear shoes. To him, his body is a weapon. I cannot describe his facial hair… his face isn’t covered in it like most dwarfs. A long stylized goatee with mustache and his alburn hair in a pony tail. He’s always trying to criticize Xavier, though I think that Dwarfs and Forest Elves are natural rivals.

“Let us just get this over with?” (Mage)

And that Halfling is more “straight to the point” than I am. She more or less considers herself a realist, but I think pessimist suits her. She’s wearing scarlet robes with a matching hat. All I really know about her is that unlike male Halflings, females do not grow hair on their feet. But she still walks barefoot anyway as no Halfling likes to wear any kind of footwear. Unlike the other members of our party, she’s the only one with raven-dark hair. Unlike Charlotte, she prefers to have it short. But like Charlotte she has blue eyes, just a lighter shade. But… she’s also on the small side in another department that I am not going to mention.

“Anyways… this is where we must part ways.”

““What!?!?”” (the party)

“I am serious here, this is the final fight. There is no telling if any one of us are going to make it back alive. I came here prepared to die, but what about the rest of you?”

“No one is ever prepared for death, we all have regrets no matter what anyone says. You are no different from the rest of us.” (Xavier)

That elf…

“My people are no longer being enslaved. Not to mention our lands have been recognized as our own. And I got to live long enough to see it. So I no longer have any regrets in this life.”

“Despite all the blood you had shed and half-men who have died, it was not your work alone that allowed it.” (Jedediah)

Does that dwarf always think he’s some sort of sage or something?

“I know, it was the Deity who forced the humans to accept us. I was there after all.”

“And despite the Deity deciding not to appear because of the sins of enslaving the half-man race, it was a marvel to witness the Deity first hand.” (Charlotte)

Despite the fact she claimed that my people being enslaved was a sin, it seemed a little condescending.

“So are we letting you fight alone or not?” (Mage)

And she is just being straight to the point and rude.

“Just stay out here. If I do not come back outside of these doors in a few hours, just leave.”

I did not even turn back as I opened the doors and walked into the throne room. By my superior hearing, I did not hear them follow me. The room looked very menacing, though it could be due to everything being red. From the carpet to the curtains, even the pillars reminded me of all the blood I had spilled back when I waged war on the humans. But what I saw sitting on the crimson throne, I couldn’t believe. It was a half-man woman with silver hair wearing a white robe with some sort of pattern on it.

For some strange reason… my heart skipped a beat. Just… what could this be? No… it couldn’t!? I remembered back during the journey here at a camp fire. Xavier talked about a woman back home he was going to propose to when he returned. I for one didn’t understand love, so I scoffed at what he said. That damned elf told me that someday I might fall for a woman and then he would laugh at me. I scoffed again because I didn’t believe him. All of my life I was fighting, I had never taken any interest in a woman before. There were some women of the other half-man tribes that tried to gain my attention, but I ignored it. But now… I am before the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen.

It was as if instinct kicked in, I found myself running towards her. She seemed calm, but I surprised her when I slid down on one knee and stopped right in front of her.

“Will you marry me?”

“What!?” (female half-man)

And she’s flustered…

“I have never felt the way that I do now about any woman that I have ever seen. So will you please marry me?”

I could see her start to turn as red as the throne she sat on.

“But… we just met?” (female half-man)

“Then we do not have to get married right away. We can take some time to get to know each other first. Let us start with introductions, I am referred to as the Ox King. And you are…?”

“My name is Inarihime.” (Inarihime)

“That is a name that I have never heard before, but it is much easier to remember than the name of that halfling mage.”

Good, we are making progress.

“Well Ox King… I am honored that you want to make me your bride. But it cannot be.” (Inarihime)

Wait… what is with that depressed tone of voice along with that look on her face?

“Why not? Is it the Devil King? Is he holding you prisoner!?”

“I am a prisoner, but not of the Devil King.” (Inarihime)

“What?”

“I am the Devil King. And I am the prisoner of the Demon Realm.” (Inarihime)

I backed away out of instinct.

“But… you’re a half-man?”

“No, I am not. I am not even from this world.”

“What!?”

What does she mean by not from this world?

“It is true, I had come here from another world. I was once a servant of a god there. However, I had caused the death of a human. So as punishment, I was given to your Deity to be the Devil King. This castle is my prison, and you are to be my executioner.” (Inarihime)

That last line was a little depressing as I did not want to be her executioner. However…

“What do you mean by being given to the Deity to be the Devil King?”

“It is as I have said. My master had given me to the Deity, the one who rules this world.” (Inarihime)

“But… the Deity is who the ones at war with the Demon Realm worship. Just how could the Deity decide that you are the Devil King?”

“There is more than meets the eye at hand, Ox King. Believe it or not, the people of the Demon Realm worship the Deity as well. It is the Deity who decides the Hero for your realm and the Devil King for this one.” (Inarihime)

What she is saying is just… strange. It’s the church who gives the teachings of the Deity, and they are the ones who say that the demons are the enemies of the Deity. Just what is going on here?

“To be honest, I used to be a non-believer. It was not until the Deity spared my life and forced the humans to stop enslaving my people that I even cared if the Deity was real or not. However… I think I have a way for us to both be happy.”

“What?” (Inarihime)

“If what you said is true, then the half-man race is not the only thing that the humans were not supposed to be against. I have met many different races here in the Demon realm, and not too many of them even seem to be demons. Even the demon-folk did not feel like actual demons.”

“And your point?” (Inarihime)

“That I do not think that it is in the Deity’s will that I slay you. I think that the Deity is against this war.”

It’s true, I do think that. The Deity itself is an omnipotent being. So if the Deity really hated either side, they would had been blown to smithereens. And from my experience with humans so far… let’s just say that they are a little pigheaded.

“Then what is your plan for us to both be happy?” (Inarihime)

“Simple, let’s run away together?”

“What?”

“Think about it, no one knows what you look like. Well… on my side of the badlands. I can just grab the head from any random corpse here and tell the church that it was the Devil King. And even if you say that you are not a half-man, the humans do not know that. Only my people know that there is no such thing as a fox half-man. So we can just pass you off as a prisoner of the Demon Realm. That part is technically, right?”

“But… it will not be that simple.” (Inarihime)

“How come?”

“Simple, your plan is actually more complex than you think. I know that your party is outside of those doors. And there is no one in this throne room other than the two of us, so you will not have a head to show. However… I have an idea.” (Inarihime)

Since she pointed out the biggest flaw in my plan, I had no choice.

“Do tell?”

“We need to start destroying the throne room. This way it looks like there was a fight. Not to mention break one of the stained glass windows. This way we can say that the actual Devil King fled.” (Inarihime)

All right, now it was my turn to point out the flaw in her plan.

“But that will only make it so I have to chase down a non-existing Devil King to the ends of the world, so the quest will not be over. If only we had a way to convince my party that there was a corpse here in the first place?”

“Leave that part to me if that is what you are worried about.” (Inarihime)

“What?”

She then put a menacing mantle on a suit of armor and laid it down.

“I am well-versed in illusion magic, watch.” (Inarihime)

The next moment, it looked like there was a corpse inside of the armor. I could not believe what I had seen.

“You did not even need an incantation…”

“Try touching it.” (Inarihime)

I did as she had asked. The ‘corpse’ started to fade to dust and then fully disappeared, leaving only the armor.

“No way…”

“If we damage the armor while destroying the throne room and then I use my illusion magic, we can make it so your party believes that you defeated the Devil King. With their testimonies, our little lie will have substance. Thus allowing us to go through with your plan.” (Inarihime)

She had a point. Even I could not believe what we could pull off here.

“Before we do anything, allow me to ask you one more time. Will you marry me?”

Again she looked flustered.

“Do you have a one track mind?” (Inarihime)

“I am a one track mind and a one track heart.”

“As you are willing to even lie to your friends for me, I cannot refuse. I accept your proposal.” (Inarihime)

“In that case, we got work to do.”

And with that, we started trashing the throne room. I even knocked down a few of the pillars with one swipe of my ax. This impressed Inarihime, but she was busy with using some unfamiliar fire magic to scorch up the place. And for the finishing touches after making a few good dents in the armor, she used her illusion magic. Other than there looking like a fried corpse was in the armor, she even made it look bloody as well as made it look like there was blood in the room.

“Do not worry, the blood will disappear after an hour.” (Inarihime)

“You really are one foxy lady.”

“In more ways than one.” (Inarihime)

We both did a quick chuckle before going to the doors to let my party know that the fight was over. Thanks to wrecking the throne room, I was somewhat exhausted. When they looked around, my party couldn’t believe it.

“In the name of the Deity… this had to have been a fierce battle?” (Charlotte)

“Damn… I was hoping that you would have left some of the Devil King for the rest of us.” (Xavier)

“But in defeating the Devil King by himself, the Ox King saved us a lot of trouble.” (Jedediah)

“So is it finally over then?” (Mage)

“Yes, it is finally over. At least until a new Devil King rises. But I doubt it will be in our lifetime.”

I waited so long for the day that I could finally say those words. However, I had also waited for someone to ask about Inarihime.

“Ox King, who is this half-man woman?” (Charlotte)

“Greetings, I am Inarihime. I was held prisoner by the Devil King. The Ox King had saved me from his clutches.” (Inarihime)

She didn’t even need to rehearse, it was too simple of a little white lie. But her acting was too convincing.

“Not only has he defeated the Devil King, but he also got a girl!?” (Xavier)

“Is there a problem with that?”

“No…” (Xavier)

I thought so.

“In that case my friends, it is time we departed from the Demon Realm.” (Jedediah)

Why do I want to punch that dwarf more than I do the elf? I just hope the next half-man to be chosen as the Hero doesn’t have to deal with weirdos from both races at the same time. Because I would be feeling very sorry for them if they have to.

Anyway, the corpse dissipated the moment Xavier tried to move it. And with that, we started our trek back to the other side of the badlands. Inarihime mainly wore a hooded cloak to keep the possibilities of being recognized as the Devil King low. And when we at least made it to Olko, it was time to part ways.

“All right, I have an announcement to make. I am not going back to Stinwin.”

““What!?” (the party)

Damn these guys say it perfectly in unison.

“I am serious, I am not going back to Stinwin.”

“But… his holiness is expecting your return?” (Charlotte)

“I know, but I want to go home.”

“Neglecting responsibilities is a sign of being slothful.” (Jedediah)

“Dammit Jed, I am tired of your ‘sage’ talk. Look, my homeland is north of here. And there was nothing said about having to report the Devil King’s defeat in person.”

“But there is going to be a huge feast on our return! Are you telling me that the guest of honor is not going to attend?” (Xavier)

“Do you honestly think that people will be celebrating a half-man defeating the Devil King?”

By the look of Xavier’s face, he knew I had a point.

“If I may?” (Mage)

“Yes.”

“The humans will take the Hero refusing to return as an insult. Not to mention tip the scales of the already fragile opinions of the half-man race towards going back to the way things were before. The Deity itself said that it would never return until things in this world are right. So I do not think that the Deity will stop things again. Therefore, it would be in the interest of the half-man race for you to return to report the Devil King’s defeat in person.” (Mage)

With the exception of Inarihime, everyone’s jaws dropped at the same time. My own included. Normally that halfling will not do anything that she considers troublesome.

“Fine… I will go to Stinwin.”

Everyone was happy that I changed my mind. I was not, but the Mage had a point. If I did not return, it could mean that the war with the humans would continue where it left off. I may be the Hero, but even I cannot fight all the armies allied with the human race.

So we traveled all the way to Stinwin. Pope Alexandre actually hugged me upon my return, which made me feel uncomfortable. That night, a full festival started for my defeat of the Devil King. I did not expect to be in Stinwin for a week. But Inarihime was enjoying it, despite the fact that it was for her own defeat. On the final night, Alexandre made an announcement.

“People of the realm, I am very honored that we all could experience history! By the Deity’s grace, a half-man and my friend the Ox King defeated the Devil King! However, the Deity itself has left us due to our sins. So in order to restore the Deity’s faith in humanity, the church has issued the anti-slavery doctrine!” (Alexandre)

The whole crowd was divided. Half of it was for the anti-slavery doctrine as apparently the Deity wanted us all to love each other. The other half on the other hand did not like it as slavery was basically a part of everyday life. This was not going to happen overnight, that much was certain.

“Also, the church has decided on something else! After negotiations with Stinwin’s king, we have acquired the lands where the Deity last appeared. The same lands that the Ox King was to be executed before being saved by the Deity’s divine intervention. For the longest time, the church has been without an official home. Of course we have chapels all over the realm, but we have had no place to set our roots. So it has been decided that a city will be built on those lands. My friends and fellow members of the church, we have finally found a home. One not belonging to a single country, but to the world!” (Alexandre)

The whole crowd cheered this time. From my understanding, the church was originally a nomadic group that would spread the word of the Deity. Even though they constructed chapels, they didn’t have a home of their own. Despite my tribe being all but destroyed, I grew up knowing that the half-man race was basically a bunch of nomadic tribes that roam around the same lands. Actually having a land to settle down on, that’s basically a dream come true.

After the announcements, Alexandre married me and Inarihime for the world to see. It was his idea since he knew we were going to get married anyway. So it was basically the main event of the festival. The next morning, Inarihime and I left for my homeland. It was still a long journey, but it was fun just with the two of us traveling alone. She told me stories of her world as well as it’s culture. I will admit, these ‘Japanese’ people were pretty ingenuitive. And talking to here made me realize one thing. It was time that the half-man race evolved. All the races were pretty much hunter-gatherers, not many of us even tried farming because we were always on the move. Besides, the church finally decided it was time to settle down on a land of their own. It is time that the half-man tribes have done the same.

When we returned to the camp where Charlotte first arrived to meet me, I was welcomed with cheers as far as the eye could see. The first person to greet me was the Canine Chieftain.

“Welcome back, young ox. Or should I be calling you the Ox King like everyone else?” (Chieftain)

“Chieftain, you know that I am no king.”

“It is true, but you might as well be.” (Chieftain)

“What do you mean?”

“After you were taken prisoner by the humans, we all were at our wits end for months. The other chieftains could not agree on anything. There were those who wanted to invade their lands in retaliation, those who wanted to wait patiently, and those who did not even care if you were dead or alive. Not to mention those who tried to take your place, but that matter was always settled before anyone could do anything that we might regret. But then some humans came with carts. Instead of trying to enslave us however, they were letting a lot of our lost brethren out of those carts. One of the humans explained what happened. You were chosen by their god to fight the Devil King. That news had all of us surprised. Hell, almost everyone wanted to cross the badlands and fight the demons.” (Chieftain)

All right… that was both surprising and disturbing.

“From what I can tell, you did not do it.”

“Of course we did not, most of the chieftains believe in one-on-one fights. So we would had gotten in the way. But we decided on something else.” (Chieftain)

Why do I not like where this is going?

“And that was…?”

“To give you a title of our own. Young ox, from this day forward you are the Chieftain of Chieftains!” (Chieftain)

And with that, even more cheers happened. I was afraid that this would happen.

“But why me?”

“Young ox, you united all of the tribes of the half-man race under one banner. If it were not for you, all of the half-man race would have been enslaved. Not to mention you went on to fight the strongest of the Demon Realm, the Devil King, and came back the victor. When the messenger who arrived ahead of you gave us that news, your fate was set in stone. There is no one better to rule over all of the tribes, young ox.” (Chieftain)

I was speechless. I did not think of going to the Demon Realm as anything more than an errand. Yet this would also work towards my advantage if I wanted to change the way of the half-man race.

Not long after, I was asked about Inarihime. Everyone was surprised that she was from another world, let alone my wife. It was agreed that this would be the secret of the half-man race, the one that was not allowed to be known to the other races. The only thing that we failed to tell them was that she was the Devil King, we just used the same story that we told everyone else. I felt bad lying to my own kin, but it was necessary.

“So the young ox finally has a bride? I did not think I would live to see this day.” (Chieftain)

“Chieftain…”

“Hey, you even refused to marry the bunny half-man daughter of the Rodent Chieftain, and just about any half-man would want her for a bride.” (Chieftain)

“True. However, now is not the time to talk about that. Chieftain, it is time for the half-man race in a whole to change.”

“Change? Why?” (Chieftain)

“During my journey, I experienced a lot of things. The forest elves to the south, the dwarfs to the west, and even the halflings have something we do not.”

“And what would that be, young ox?” (Chieftain)

“Cultures of their own.”

“But what is wrong with our way of life?” (Chieftain)

“That most of the other races have stopped with the hunter-gatherer lifestyle a long time ago. We need more than finally being united to fend for ourselves in the coming age. We finally have the lands we have roamed for generations recognized as our own, we finally have proven that we are more than just beasts, and we have finally been united. But if we want to survive, we need a culture all our own. Hell, the humans have many different ones.”

“But… how do we make our own culture?” (Chieftain)

“Who says we have to make it from scratch?”

“I do not follow?” (Chieftain)

“Do not forget, my wife here comes from another world. Why not just copy hers?”

“Wait… do you mean to tell me that you expect me to teach your whole race the Japanese culture?” (Inarihime)

“Please!?”

I then did this thing called a ‘dogeza’ that she told me about, a method of begging from her culture. She then smiled.

“I guess I have no choice? I mean, I have no way of returning to my own world. So living with some form of familiarity would at least be good, yes?” (Inarihime)

“Thank you, Inarihime.”

“No need to mention it. Now, this is going to be a lot of work. First off, I am going to have to come up with family names for each tribe. You there, Canine Chieftain.” (Inarihime)

“Yes?” (Chieftain)

“From now on your tribe is now the Inuharu Clan. ‘Inu’ taken from the character for ‘dog’ as you are canines and ‘haru’ taken from the character for ‘spring’ as it is the first season of the year. The reason why I picked the first season is because your tribe is the first one being converted into a clan.” (Inarihime)

“It will take some time, but I am sure that my tribe… I mean my clan will get used to it.” (Chieftain)

I could see the awkwardness on his face.

“I will help with the other names later. But for now, I am going to teach your whole race many things. From architecture, to written words, to forging weapons, to even how to use chopsticks.” (Inarihime)

“Chopsticks?”

“Trust me, you have a lot to learn.” (Inarihime)

She said it with a grin on her face.

Within months, the ways of the half-man had drastically changed. Each tribe had been given it’s own land from a map that was given to me by the church so we would know our boundaries. Some lands had even started farming, and with methods taught by Inarihime. With a farming system, we finally secured constant sources of food. Whether it be from the vegetables and rice grown from the ground to the animals we domesticated. Not to mention we had finally had a written language and it was different from what the other races used. We even started forging our own unique swords, so no more using ones that were originally taken from outsiders. And these swords were stronger than ones that were forged by the dwarfs that had given us the equipment to forge them with in the first place.

No more did we have to sleep in tents to avoid the weather, we started making houses with sliding doors that had paper made from the rice we grew. We had finally taken roots of our own. Well… even if we copied a people from another world. But no outsiders knew that part.

Not too many years after we started living in this culture, my old friend Alexandre arrived.

“So Ox King, this is the culture that the half-man race made for itself?” (Alexandre)

“Yes it is, friend.”

He originally couldn’t recognize me due to my change in appearance. I grew out my hair for starters. I was now wearing clothing of Inarihime’s design instead of only wearing pants, boots, and arm bands like I had for so long. I am now wearing a white robe, a crimson hakama and matching sleeveless Haori, black sash and tabi socks, and straw sandals. However, I still carried my ax on my back. Even with the introduction of the swords known as katana, I could never abandon the weapon that served me well over the years.

“I will admit that it is strange to see you with your chest covered. However, have you found a name for this nation you now rule?” (Alexandre)

“That is the one thing we have yet to do.”

“Well… the church was hoping that you have since only calling this place the country of the half-man race is a mouthful.” (Alexandre)

“Old friend, do not tell me that you have something better?”

“The church has come up with one. ‘Ritme’, if you believe it or not.” (Alexandre)

“In that case, let us just stick to that? It is less work than trying to find one for ourselves.”

“To believe, you can come up with such a unique culture and not even come up with a name for it?” (Alexandre)

“A lot of things are hard to believe, old friend.”

“That is true. Anyway, we need to talk about that wall to keep those who refuse to acknowledge the anti-slavery doctrine from entering this county.” (Alexandre)

“What is the rush? We have been fending off the attackers.”

“True, but there are many humans who are accusing the half-man race of using invasion as an excuse to attack.” (Alexandre)

“Lies.”

“I could not agree more. However… I might not have much time left.” (Alexandre)

And with that, he started to have a coughing fit. I could not believe my eyes when I saw some blood.”

“Alexandre, you are ill?”

“I was diagnosed with this… a week ago. That is the thing about disease… no cleric or healer can fully get rid of it. The medicine man assigned to me has only given me four more years to live… and that is if I keep using potions.” (Alexandre)

“By the Deity…”

“It is all right, old friend. I swear that I will live long enough to protect your people with as little bloodshed as possible.” (Alexandre)

“I have always wanted to know, why have you put so much effort into helping the half-man race?”

“When I was but a child, we had slaves. My family were Stinwin nobility. When I was only ten years of age, I was given a half-man slave who was also ten years old. They ended up being my best friend. But my family did not like how I treated them, they were furious on how I treated them as an equal. I was forced to watch as they was beaten to death by my older brother to teach me a lesson, that humans were superior. My friend taught me that half-men and humans were not that different. And I could not believe that it was in the Deity’s will that humanity try to oppress the other races. So went on to become a monk, and then a priest, and somehow by the Deity’s grace became the pope. And when the Deity saved you from certain death and declared that it loved all of us equally, I could not have been any happier as I was right all this time.” (Alexandre)

This explained a lot. Like why he treated me as an equal instead of an inferior being like his guards did when we had first met.

“So you are many doing this for a friend?”

“My biggest regret was that I could not save her. That is one sin that I can never forgive myself for.” (Alexandre)

“I am sure that, wait… ‘her’? That friend was a girl!?”

“For four years we were together. To be honest, she was my first love. I was hoping to free her after leaving home when we were of age and making her my bride. But my family wanted me to marry another noble to extend their influence.” (Alexandre)

“Just… I cannot even explain how much of a surprise all of this is.”

“I was sure you would say that. Anyway, that is all in the past now.” (Alexandre)

“But as I was trying to say earlier, I am sure that she has forgiven you.”

“Even if she and the Deity have forgiven me for it, I cannot. So accept my fate. When I was told that I had four more years to live, I laughed at the irony. But I will admit that the four years I had spent with Tholmia were the best of my life.” (Alexandre)

“Wait a moment… is the name decided for the church’s city not Tholman?”

“Let us make this coincidence our little secret, old friend?” (Alexandre)

With that, we both shared a chuckle.

“So why Ritme anyway? It seems familiar.”

“That was because we tracked down your mother, Ox King. She was sold to a noble in Portnew and given the name ‘Rita’. However… she was confirmed to be already dead.” (Alexandre)

“What?”

We both shared a moment of silence for my mother. I had given up all hope of ever seeing her again a long time ago. But at least now I got to know her fate.

“I am sorry for deciding on naming your new country after your mother’s slave name, old friend.” (Alexandre)

“It is all right, not even the few bovine half-men that were rescued even knew her name. But at least I now have a name to go with her face, right? So naming this country after her is the least I can do.”

“If that is how you see it, then I cannot argue with it.” (Alexandre)

“True. Anyway, we need to finish talking about this wall. Believe it or not, masonry is not really something we half-men are too experienced with. It was not that many years ago that we had a sense of carpentry outside of furniture.”

“The church can provide masons to assist with building the wall and teaching it to the half-man race, so do not worry too much about that.” (Alexandre)

“Well, at least we have knowledge on stone cutting to assist?”

“True. But do not forget, you need to decide policies on who all enters and leaves Ritme.” (Alexandre)

“I’ll discuss it with the clans later.”

And with that, we finished the discussion. We went on to remissness about old times for the rest of that visit. Before Alexandre’s death, the wall was started and was finished after Charlotte became Pope Francesca the first. I will admit, I was proud that she became the first female pope as well as Alexandre’s successor. But that wasn’t as important as the threat looming over the rest of the world, one that involved both realms. However… that is a story for another time.

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After Note: And that was the second part of the History of the Ox King. I will admit, it was kinda lazy of them to just fake a fight. However, it’s just how things happened. And feel free to reread the current arc to see if those certain four words were what he said. Because it’s how I remember it. I need to edit the first part soon because I misspelled “bovine”. Also, both the Ox King and Alexandre were both younger than the age of 25 when they were talking near the end.

Also, tonight’s live stream was canceled. Sorry about that, but I don’t have any cigarettes or tobacco to make more. I barely got enough to fill that corncob pipe of mine. The last thing I want is for anyone to hear me as I go through a nicotine fit, I tend to get a little… cranky. Anyways, sorry about it again.

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