Daneel waited for a few moments, but there was no answer from the door.
He wondered if his friend was sleeping, but it was only 9 pm in the night. After the envoys had left the throne room the day before, the whole day had been taken up by the discussions pertaining to the salient details of the system by which nobles would be punished.
Because of the now-deceased King's decision, almost all of the nobility had been summoned to the palace and ordered to stay inside during the days following up to the events which led Daneel to take the throne. This had indirectly helped out Daneel, because he had then only needed to use the formation to trap them all.
If that hadn't been the case, many would have escaped seeing Richard die at Daneel's hands. In fact, many merchants and influential figures in the Kingdom who had been in cahoots with the nobility had already started to leave the Kingdom.
Although many were intercepted and apprehended due to the quick orders from the commanders, some had still managed to get away. After all, it was impossible to lock the space around the capital, let alone the whole Kingdom. The only method was to use the teleportation-detection formation and deploy crack teams to stop those trying to get away. The ones who had managed to get away were those with high amounts of wealth who managed to plan beforehand and have multiple mages waiting in shifts to teleport them out. The assets of these individuals and the nobility had subsequently been seized, giving a considerable boost to the Kingdom's treasury.
After the court had been dismissed, Daneel had had to stay behind for a little bit in order to decide the exact amount of pension that would be given out. The Royal Court was only convened to decide on the general direction of the Kingdom-specific details like these always required more meetings with the concerned officials.
All in all, being King was no piece of cake. Yet, Daneel had finished everything fast and rushed here as soon as he could. Now that he thought about it, for some reason, he feared that he would be too late if he dallied even a little bit.
Hoping that this feeling wasn't correct, Daneel raised his hand to knock again but stopped when he heard the sound of the door unlocking.
Faxul, who opened the door with the same reserved expression, nodded at him and went back inside.
Although Daneel had been about to say a greeting, the words had stopped in his throat because he had seen something in his friend's eyes which frankly scared him a little.
In fact, Daneel couldn't even deduce exactly what that emotion was. What had scared him was the intensity, making him wonder how Faxul was even functioning normally without giving in to whatever the cause of the emotions was.
He walked inside silently, taking a seat on the single sofa in front of the bed on which Faxul was sitting.
His friend sat ramrod straight on the bed, looking into the distance while Daneel gazed at his expression, trying to figure out just what that emotion had been.
Giving up after a few moments, Daneel opened his mouth to ask just what was bothering Faxul.
Before he could say a word, Faxul threw a small object at him, prompting him to stop and catch.
It was a small black raven half the size of his fist, much like the one Bevis had gifted him earlier in the day. Even though it was that small, the details etched into it made him wonder just what kind of skill was required to be able to forge such a life-like object.
A drop of blood was already on the raven, making it glow with a red hue and heat up, making Daneel move it farther away from his face.
A panel that measured 20 inches diagonally appeared in front of him, startling him due to the unexpectedness of its appearance.
Panel trinkets usually had certain telling characteristics. They all needed an indentation of some sort which was the point from which the panel was cast into the air. For instance, the ones Daneel had painstakingly developed and forged in the three years before the struggle for the throne looked like grey cylinders with a hole on the top end. Not having the time to carefully forge each one into something that looked appealing, he had gone for quantity over quality.
This trinket had no such characteristics. In fact, if someone picked it up, they wouldn't even know that it was a trinket. Even he himself, as a mage, couldn't detect the regular elementary fluctuations that could be felt by anyone with a mageroot when they held a trinket in their hands. This was something really shocking, as he had never heard of a method to mask a trinket as a regular object. Marveling at the skill required to make such an object, Daneel focused on the image that had appeared.
A large man with a long mane of black hair looked at Daneel through the panel with an expression of panic on his face.
His features looked similar to those of Faxul's, with the same high wide forehead and narrow face.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
This was the first sound he heard before the man started speaking.
"Son, I don't have much time to explain. All you need to know is that the blood of the Black Raven flows through you. I was unable to stop my father from being murdered by the subsidiary family who wants to take over the Kingdom, but I can at least save the last true line of the Black Ravens. I am sorry, but I had no choice but to damage your body in order to lower your potential... Your caretakers will explain the rest, and it is your choice whether to forget your ancestry and live a normal life or to find a way to take back what is rightfully yours. If you choose the latter, remember this one line: 'Only the true line of the Black Raven can connect with the God Beast's direct descendants'. Know that your family loves you, and we will always support you even if we are no longer in this world no matter what you decide to do."
BOOOOOM!
"Goodbye, son"
The last thing the panel showed was the sorrowful smile on the man's face, before the image faded away into nothingness.
Daneel was dumbstruck hearing all the things the man had just said.
Although the message had been short, the impact of the words and the passion with which they had been uttered resounded in Daneel's mind.
For a few seconds, all he could do was sit with his jaw hanging, trying to make sense of what was happening.
If what he heard was true, then his friend was.... a scion of the direct line of the Black Raven Kingdom?!
Daneel was reminded of all the times Faxul had been reticent even when the occasion called for joy. He had always wondered about the reason behind this attitude, but never asked because it was something that could only be heard, not inquired about.
Now, he finally knew the reason for the silence of his closest friend throughout the journey they had made together.
"10 years ago, a young King ascended the throne of the Black Raven Kingdom after the former King was defeated and killed in the duel that took place between them. That King had a wife, a son and a grandson. According to reports, all of them were killed by 'assassins'. Bevis was one of those who supported the coup."
Faxul finally spoke, breaking the silence in the room. As always, his tone was neutral, as if he was simply reporting news about something unrelated to him.
Yet, Daneel could sense the self-control apparent in his friend, which let him cage all the emotions he felt deep in his mind.
Now, Daneel finally figured out just what he had seen when Faxul had opened the door.
It was frustration.
Frustration from being too weak to seek revenge for his family.
Frustration from only being able to stand and watch as the man who helped kill his family spoke in front of him.
Above all, it was the frustration and desperation from being, in his view, completely useless and worthless.