“Are you okay? I don’t swing that way just so you know.”

No response. The king was sitting on the sofa and staring at me blankly, was he falling in love or something? How could the king of the nation get surprised so easily?

“S..sorry for my rudeness, sir… No! The great one! A..are you a deity? Or maybe a god?”

The king started to speak while slowly getting down from the sofa and kneeling on the floor. Maybe I should include ‘I’m not a god or deity.’ in the signboard, otherwise I might get this question every time. But this reaction was really funny, I tried really hard to keep my mask on.

“Relax, I’m not a deity and I’m not a god either. I might work for one but I’m just a normal human just like you. Don’t have to be so formal, your highness. I’m just a humble commoner.”

I winked at him for the joke I made but it looked like it didn’t get through because his face looked paler than before and he lowered his face down while trembling. I should bring his senses back to normal otherwise this wouldn’t go anywhere.

“You’re A king, right?! So act like one and stop cowering like a coward! Now, get up and talk!”

Alright, that worked. Malvis stood up with a calm and dignified look on his face like he used to when he woke up. So, my words still worked. Good to know.

"Sorry, sir. That's really unbecoming of me, please forgive me for showing you such a pitiable sight."

Good, he started to relax and acted with nobility now. What kind of story would he give to me? I was curious.

"No worry. Drop the formality and take a seat. I want you to think about what kind of story you would tell me, please take your time. I've prepared some snacks for you to take while thinking and feel free to ask me anything. I'll answer everything because you will forget about them anyway."

When I said I prepared the snacks, it was actually Room who did this. A plate of butter cookies and a cup of coffee appeared on the table in front of Malvis. While surprised, he tried them out and talked in delight.

"As expected of you, sir. This was my favorite snack as a kid and the coffee was nicely brewed with chocolate notes which I prefer but sadly couldn't get from the beans in my nation."

Sorry, I didn't understand anything you said since I prefered cola instead of coffee and tea. But I was glad that Room was capable of such a task, and he was actually happy from the king's compliments.

"I'm glad it suits your taste. While eating, would you mind if I ask some questions? I was locked inside this place, so I'm really curious about the outside world."

The king tilted his head a bit, it looked like he was thinking about something before finally he spoke.

"How about we take turns asking and answering? Even though I'm going to forget about all these conversations, that isn't really my problem. The future me might be missing out a bit, but he'll get the reward anyway. So everything works out!"

That was an interesting point, the current king wouldn't exist after he went back, so he already separated himself from his former self. Haha, I was more interested to see what would happen to you after getting the power now.

"Deal, let me start then. What're those lights that are everywhere in your country?"

"You mean the beacon? Its official name was Warm Beacon, it's a magic tool that utilizes the mana stones which is an abundant resource in our country to help improve the livelihood of our people. The area within the beacon range won't be affected by cold air and snowstorm. There are different sizes of beacon and the mana stones required for each one are different."

After the explanation, the king took a sip of his coffee and went silent for a bit then spoke.

"For my question, can you tell me about yourself? An apostle of a god?"

"First, I'm not an apostle. I might work for them but I'm on an equal term contract, so I'm not some kind of god underlings. Second, because of that contract I can't tell you much about myself and the one I work with. But I could tell you that I was brought here to talk to people who get into this room and record their story while giving them a reward in return. And rewards are provided by them, not me."

The king just listened and nodded along. I don't know if my answer was satisfying or not, but it was my turn again. So…

"What's your current goal or thing you want to achieve right now?"

His expression turned grim. Did I step on a landmine? Nice! Was he a tyrant who wanted to conquer the continent? Or to become the strongest country? But after a little bit of silence, he answered.

"Revenge… It might sound trivial but revenge for my queen is my top priority. Nothing to do with politics or foreign affairs, all I want is to make everyone involved in the death of my beloved regret their actions."

"Do you have any ideas about the culprits and masterminds? What if they're from another country?"

"Hey, you skipped my turn. That's not fair, but I'll let that go because I want to talk about this more if you don't mind. I have a lead but I don't have any trustworthy subordinates to investigate this and it doesn't matter where they're from. This might sound bad but as a main supplier of mana stones, I have a lot of power to negotiate with other countries."

I couldn't comprehend how much love would put people to this extent, but if there was one thing I was confident in. His revenge would be successful because he was bringed here, and his actions would change the fate of this continent. How interesting!

"It's your turn now, Malvis. And this will be the last question before we start the real deal. What do you want to know?"