I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-433

**Chapter 433 – The Secret of Birth**

—

The Kingdom of Cernil.

A traditional kingdom with a long and venerable history in its own right.

It was connected by no fewer than fifty-eight territories, and in terms of sheer size, it ranked third in all of Pangaenia.

The Kingdom of Cernil also possessed deep knowledge of the sword.

This was likely due to the influence of the Guardian Holy Sword, but many of its people revered swords themselves.

In nearly every household, at least one sword was hung on display, and it was believed that the finer the blade, the more it would sever misfortune and bring good fortune.

‘An ideal environment for an uprising.’

Every household possessed a weapon.

Yet, contrary to expectations, the Kingdom of Cernil was peaceful.

Because of the Guardian Holy Sword.

That great existence stood above even the king; unless one was chosen by the Holy Sword, one could not become king no matter how qualified.

And kings chosen by the Guardian Holy Sword generally enjoyed good reputations.

In other words, it selected those capable of ruling the kingdom well.

Thanks to that, an era of peace had lasted for quite some time.

And then—

‘The Guardian Holy Sword must be stolen.’

That was where the hidden quest began.

Stealing the Guardian Holy Sword.

Naturally, it was an impossible condition from the very start.

Strict surveillance and countless soldiers guarded it.

If even a warning horn were sounded, every knight in the kingdom would mobilize.

Why else would it be called a hidden quest?

I myself had challenged it countless times and lost just as many characters in the attempt.

‘I could take it openly, I suppose.’

With my current strength, even if I took it brazenly, no one could stop me.

I could wreak havoc and disappear at leisure.

The problem was that doing so might collapse the very foundation of the Kingdom of Cernil. A king who failed to protect the Holy Sword could very well lose his legitimacy altogether.

And the king had only recently been replaced.

Because of me, the entire kingdom could fall into misfortune. It could even be reduced to a sea of flames.

‘All I need is to borrow it for one day.’

Just one day.

That was all that was required to proceed with the hidden quest.

Once the sealed dungeon’s gate was opened using the Holy Sword, that was the end of it.

The Guardian Holy Sword itself served as the key to opening the dungeon.

‘They say the king called himself Phantom.’

Walking along a gravel-strewn road, I rubbed my chin.

Phantom was me.

And the name Phantom was currently the hottest topic in all of Pangaenia.

For someone to deliberately call himself “Phantom” meant there was surely a reason.

It might have been for attention, or groundwork to inherit the throne—but that didn’t feel like the whole story.

‘First, I should look into this newly crowned king.’

I came to a conclusion.

After learning about the king, I would approach him.

Using force was a last resort.

If it could be resolved peacefully, there was no reason to provoke a clash.

—I desire peace.

Just as I had told Pride.

I wanted Pangaenia to be at peace.

Because now was not the time for us to be fighting among ourselves.

This was the time to grow stronger.

The combat power of all Pangaenians—including the Awakened—needed to increase.

The Hundred Divine Hall was reviving.

If the world could return to that glorious era before Destruction appeared, Pangaenia would not be destroyed even without me.

Unlike before, everyone would join forces.

‘That should have been enough of a warning to the demons.’

I had recognized Pride.

And Pride seemed to have recognized me as well.

‘To think King Friedrich of the Iron Kingdom was actually a demon.’

What’s more, he was impersonating a king and enjoying absolute authority.

He felt completely different from the Demon of Envy, Sansha, whom I had killed at the Tower of the War God.

Imitating a human meant conversation was possible.

I had warned him sufficiently; he would act with discretion.

And since he had already been exposed, he couldn’t escape anyway.

—The Demon of Pride has returned to the Iron Kingdom.

A voice echoed in my ears.

Hypnos.

‘He has no idea he’s being tracked in real time by Hypnos.’

He probably hadn’t even imagined it.

The God of Dreams, Hypnos, was tracking Pride in real time.

No matter where he went or what he did, Pride could no longer escape my grasp.

If he ignored the warning and acted foolishly, I could punish him then.

More than anything—

‘Demons are meant to bow to me.’

According to the records, demons stood on the side of Destruction.

Pride must have realized that I was the “other Destruction,” the Lord of the End.

He likely sensed that I was the one who killed Annihilation in the Labyrinth and was startled by it.

That meant I could potentially bring the demons under my command.

Wouldn’t it be better to make them submit of their own accord rather than hunting them down one by one?

‘Or wipe them out all at once when they gather in one place.’

In many ways, letting Pride live was the right choice.

How I dealt with the demons would depend entirely on them.

I shrugged and vaulted over the kingdom’s wall.

*

*

 

All the way back to the kingdom, Pride agonized over it.

Greed, who wielded the End.

How should he interpret that proposal?

‘Could it simply mean he wants to live quietly?’

If Greed had recently gone to war with Annihilation, perhaps he wanted a period of rest.

Judging by how he had calmly swung a hammer in the Mirage Workshop, he didn’t seem especially eager for battle.

Pride asked one of his close knights.

“Are there any soldiers left around Mirage Village?”

“None, Your Majesty. As ordered, every last one has been withdrawn.”

“Check again, just in case. Remove every last ant that may have crawled in from our Iron Kingdom.”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll make sure not even a single ant remains.”

The knight left the palace to carry out the order.

Yet even the knights were puzzled.

Why was the mighty King Friedrich being this cautious?

Just who had been inside that workshop?

But they couldn’t ask. Doing so would cost them their heads.

Pride soon reached a decision.

“From this moment onward, the Iron Kingdom will cease all ongoing acts of war.”

“…?!”

“Y-Your Majesty?!”

Even his closest aides were horrified.

The Conqueror King himself had ordered a halt to all wars.

At that very moment, the kingdom was engaged in wars with more than five cities and nations.

And he meant to stop all of them at once?

King Friedrich continued.

“Send peace delegations. However, make it clear—if they refuse my terms, they will be annihilated.”

“Y-You’re certain this is all right?”

“…Yes. It’s about time I stopped expanding and focused on consolidating what we have.”

It was a convenient excuse.

And for his aides, it was welcome news.

At last, the blood-soaked wars would end.

How long they had waited for this moment!

Until now, the Iron Kingdom’s wars had shown no sign of stopping.

The king’s will had simply been too strong.

No one had dared to suggest ending the wars.

‘Ah…!’

‘It’s a miracle. A miracle has happened!’

‘His Majesty has finally come to his senses!’

‘Long live the king!’

Though no one said it aloud, everyone gathered in the palace cheered inwardly.

How many young people of the kingdom had died?

The king’s will—something no one could stop—had suddenly eased.

The reason didn’t matter.

They only prayed that the king’s resolve would not waver again.

Regardless of what the people thought or said, Pride considered something else.

‘This isn’t something I can decide alone. I need to convene a demon council.’

He would gather the remaining demons—excluding Greed—and discuss this upheaval.

Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust.

Five demons, including himself.

The Demon of Envy was confirmed dead, leaving only those five.

Pride recalled the whereabouts of the demons.

‘Sloth is hiding at the edge of the Abyss, Gluttony is playing god in the south, Lust is still indulging himself with a harem. The problem is the Demon of Wrath, Lucifer.’

The Demon of Wrath, Lucifer.

It was confirmed that he was on Earth.

But it was unclear whether his memories as the Demon of Wrath were intact.

‘I’ll send the invitations first.’

If he could read an invitation written in demonic script, it would mean his memories were whole.

For the first time since the appearance of Destruction, Pride resolved to convene a demon council.

*

*

Immediately after vaulting the wall,

I concealed my mana and presence and moved through the royal palace of the Kingdom of Cernil.

“Did you hear? They say the newly chosen candidate will undergo re-verification in a year.”

“So he really is the previous king’s illegitimate son?”

“Well, that means there’s at least some royal blood in him.”

“Even so, he has no base of support in the palace. Who would follow him?”

“True…”

The maids chattered.

The entire palace buzzed with gossip about the newly crowned boy king.

Of course, there was little of substance.

It was all negative talk.

‘His reputation is awful. That makes him easier to deal with.’

Only the king could handle the Guardian Holy Sword.

With no foundation and nothing to his name, he would be easier to negotiate with.

As I moved through the palace toward its center, the guards grew fewer than expected.

I had anticipated heavy security, but there were only ten soldiers.

‘Anyone could storm this place and no one would notice.’

Aside from the bare minimum, all guards had been pulled away.

It was an indirect reflection of the current king’s standing.

To them, the boy king was worse than a parachuted appointee.

For me, that was convenient.

Thud!

Before they could even register it, the soldiers collapsed.

After subduing all the guards in an instant—

Creeeak!

I opened the door to the chamber where the king resided.

“I told you not to let anyone in…”

Perhaps he thought a guard had entered.

A boy stared at me with a wary expression.

And at the same time—

‘…Hah.’

I couldn’t help but be surprised myself.

The boy king who had newly ascended to the pinnacle of the Kingdom of Cernil.

I finally understood why he had called himself Phantom.

‘He’s my avatar.’

I knew the moment I saw him.

No—I couldn’t not know.

《You have discovered ‘Phantom’s Avatar’.》

《He possesses the ‘Ruler (SS+)’ talent.》

《This is an extremely rare talent.》

《Grant him faith and register the talent in the ‘Absolute Asura Realm’.》

So that was it.

I had wondered how he could approach the Guardian Holy Sword while soldiers and knights watched—and now it made sense.

He had been my avatar.

The avatars gathered in the Labyrinth.

They weren’t all of them.

For various reasons, quite a few avatars hadn’t been able to gather.

Among the three hardest avatars to keep alive, only one had appeared.

And I remembered exactly who this avatar was.

‘To think I’d meet him here…’

The three hardest to keep alive.

This boy was the son of one of them.

What’s more, I had alternated between keeping two of them alive, so he was especially memorable.

It had been the first time I’d run survival quests for both a parent and a child.

But then why was this boy suddenly ruling as king here?

‘This is strange. He shouldn’t have inherited the blood of the former king of Cernil.’

No—honestly, even the claim that he had inherited the previous king’s blood made no sense.

Because this boy’s mother—the one among the three hardest to keep alive—had absolutely no connection to the Kingdom of Cernil.

There was no way they could be related.

And if, by some one-in-ten-million chance, it were true…

This wasn’t just a secret of birth.

‘His mother is the Pirate Queen, and his father is the famously stern former king of Cernil? That’s impossible.’

It was shock and horror, plain and simple.