The Fallen Hero Reincarnates as the Demon King's Son
Chapter 70 - 69 - Dead

Chapter 70: Chapter 69 - Dead

Thorin moved his hand closer to Caliste’s face, caressing it.

Caliste wasn’t sure how to respond to the old Thorin; he seemed pretty messed up. He could no longer think straight, his thoughts getting all jumbled. In fact, that was especially clear when he had tried to talk earlier.

"I’m sorry, but I’m not the one you think I am," Caliste said. "I’m not the traitor from the past."

"Traitor?" Thorin shook his head. "Since when were you ever a traitor? He was the one who tried to save everyone... we’re the ones who became traitors."

Caliste’s eyes widened as the words came out of Thorin’s mouth. He realized that this was a great opportunity to get some information about the past and everything that had happened afterward. Caliste knew that Thorin was old and his memory wasn’t the best, but this was the best source of information he had for the moment.

The way Thorin spoke, as if he truly believed that it was Caliste before him, was troubling, to say the least. After all, except for his name, there was no resemblance to his old self.

"Who’s we? Who betrayed Caliste back then?"

Thorin rubbed his forehead as he looked down, unable to meet Caliste’s eyes. He closed his eyes and sighed. "We all did in a way. We all betrayed you back then."

"Why? Why did you betray me?"

Caliste wanted answers as Thorin began spouting out everything that he had on his mind, and since he had said everyone had betrayed him, it meant that it also included Liana. What had she done to betray him?

Caliste knew that he couldn’t trust everything coming out of Thorin’s mouth because of his condition, but he didn’t know why; he wanted to believe this old dwarf who had once called him friend.

"Why?" Thorin murmured under his breath. "Greed... jealousy? All I know is that we made a mistake listening to Luther back then. We shouldn’t have betrayed you. You were the one who held all of us together. You were the one who gave everyone hope."

"What happened to Liana? Where did she disappear to?"

Thorin furrowed his brows, trying to think. "Liana? It’s been a while since I’ve seen her. The last time I saw her was over twenty years ago. She came here and said she had something to do. She didn’t tell me anything about it; all I know is that after that day, I never saw her again."

"Twenty years ago? Are you sure?"

The dates seemed to line up with when he was reborn into this body.

"Around that... I couldn’t tell you the exact year. But she definitely came around that period of time."

There was a chance that she had come here right before he was reborn. But why? Why did she come here to do?

Caliste tried to think, but nothing came to mind. However, one thing was sure: he had made the right decision to come here. There was definitely something to find. Liana might even be hidden inside this place, concealed from the rest of the world.

Or maybe she’s stuck somewhere waiting for help?

"I see. Thank you," Caliste said with a grin. "Can I ask you one last question?"

"Sure..." Thorin slowly nodded, his eyes starting to close on their own.

"How did you know?"

Thorin smiled as tears began to flow from the corners of his eyes, falling down both cheeks and wetting his own clothes.

"I knew with a glance. If I didn’t, how could I ever have been your friend?" he said as he began laughing through tears. "Promise me one thing, Caliste."

Thorin continued to cry as he looked into Caliste’s eyes. His body was starting to fail him as he continued to talk, moving in a way he hadn’t done in a very long time.

"Sure, anything."

Looking at his old friend, Caliste realized that Thorin deeply regretted what he had done to him, and seeing him right now, crying, Caliste could not hate this man. He had clearly repented for his actions.

"Take your revenge and finish what we started over one hundred years ago. The world might seem at peace right now, but that could change in the blink of an eye."

Thorin’s eyes began to close as he finished that sentence, blinking repeatedly as Caliste felt his body slowly putting more and more weight onto him.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn’t the world stay at peace?"

Thorin grinned one last time, using his last reserves of energy. "Because of what we did one hundred years ago."

"What did you do?"

"We signed..."

Caliste started feeling Thorin’s body slowly weakening, slightly leaning forward, losing consciousness, slowly dying in his arms.

"TELL ME!"

"THORIN! WHAT DID YOU SIGN!"

Caliste screamed his lungs out as he felt the now cold body of his friend in his arms.

"No, no, no. I-It can’t be."

Caliste tried to help Thorin up, supporting his body. But there was no longer any response from the king of the dwarves. His body was no longer moving, slowly losing its temperature.

Caliste was now the one crying with the dead body of his friend in his arms, holding him up. Never had he believed that he would be crying over the death of one of those who had betrayed him. But after the conversation he had with Thorin, he didn’t want him to die.

The door to the castle started opening as they heard Caliste screaming his lungs out, his voice echoing all the way outside.

As soon as people began to enter, Caliste did his best to hide his tears. He rubbed them off as he returned his face to one without any expression. However, the king’s advisor, who saw the body of the king lying in his arms, couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

"W-What happened?! D-Did you kill the king?" The advisor started running toward the throne, followed by the guards behind him, as they believed an assassination had taken place.

However, as they reached the throne and noticed Caliste’s red eyes and powerlessness, their assumptions slowly began to fade. They didn’t believe that he killed the king, especially because of the expression on his face.

He had a fading grin, and both sides of his cheeks were wet from the tears that had run down.

"What happened? How did he die?"

"Old age. It seemed that I managed to talk with him in his very last moments."

The advisor felt shivers run down his back. Because while he had never liked how the king behaved, he cared about him more than anyone else. He was the only one who really knew what was happening to the king and why he was always sleeping.

Age was catching up to him, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it; it seemed that it had finally caught up.

The advisor and the guards all stayed silent for a moment.

"Call one of the doctors. Let’s confirm his death and the reason for it."

While the advisor believed Caliste, he also couldn’t completely rule him out of the equation.

A few minutes passed, and they inspected the body, coming to the same conclusion that Caliste had stated a few minutes ago. Thorin had died of old age.

"Who’s the one who will succeed him?" Caliste asked.

The advisor shook his head. "His son..."

"Where is he?"

The advisor began sighing already. "Who knows? Probably in his room with some women."

Thorin’s son had always been able to do everything he wanted. Thorin had never tried to discipline him, and now that he had died, it was time for him to take over the throne. While Thorin didn’t do anything and let most of the work fall to his advisor.

The situation was much different with his son, who had a peculiar personality.

They went upstairs with the advisor and started knocking at the door of Thorin’s son. As they got close to it, sounds from the inside could already be heard.

"ANNNH~! YES! JUST LIKE THAT!"

Moans from multiple girls could be heard.

It seemed that Thorin’s son was having some ’action’ inside there. However, the advisor didn’t care as he continued to knock.

"FUCK OFF!"

He shouted from within the room.

"LEAVE ME ALONE! CAN’T YOU HEAR THAT I’M BUSY!"

The advisor didn’t care as he continued to knock repeatedly in silence, waiting for the door to be opened.

Shortly, footsteps could be heard coming to the door as a dwarf opened it with a frown on his face, already starting to curse.

"What the fuck do you want?"

He was half-naked as he looked around, seeing more than ten people standing in front of his door. Only then did he realize that the situation was serious.

The advisor took a deep breath and said, "Your father is dead. Please come downstairs; we will explain what will be happening next."

Thorin’s son frowned as he went back inside to put on some clothes, realizing how serious the situation was.