Black Haired King Chapter 1

This brings us New Novel #2 for the end of year event. More chapters coming to you throughout the week.

「Black King Banzai! Ludius-sama Banzai!」

「Black King Banzai!」

「 Arnold Kingdom Banzai! 」

Location: A newly-built royal castle’s terrace.

There, a newly constructed town was bustling—it's citizens cheers.

「 I’ve finally made it. 」I muttered as I watched that view.

Before coming here, I’ve had various encounters. Agonizing experiences, Painful times. Times where I thought I’d die, and Sorrowful things. Some were Joyful, Fun Times… adventures.
And now I’ve finally made it.

「 But, in another way, this could be said to be the beginning 」

Right, this isn’t the end.
I don’t plan to stop at simply establishing a country.
Staring at my fists, I clench them.
From this point on, it’s the real beginning.

In the world of Grinotia, the concept of magic existed.
There were 6 elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Darkness. Before long, most living things on the planet were endowed with some form of elemental affinity, and that elemental affinity was known at the moment of birth—displayed by one's hair color.

A person with brown hair was known to possess 1 to 2 Elements. A Blonde or Golden haired person had 2 to 3. Those with 4 could be expressed through various hair colors, such as red or blue, and those of 5 elements had purple hair. But to possess all the Elements…that was Silver hair.

The vast majority of humans in the world were either brown haired or golden haired.
Among the n.o.bility, there have been cases where a child had a hair color other than those 2, but the majority of them were still brown or golden haired.

Even if someone were to have an elemental affinity, in most cases it was just at the level of an ember. The more elements one has, the higher their mana capacity would inevitably be. People with 4-5 elements would be able to join their respective countries’ Magic division, regardless of their status.

Although, there have been cases where a Person with 1 element was able to defeat a person with 4 Elements, therefore, it was not always true that multiple elements were stronger.

Since the natural advantage of having 1 or 4 elements were completely different, the effort put forth could change the end result.

But with that said, the type of people that showed up in fairy tales were generally those with silver hair.

There were very few people born with all 6 elements, only appearing once every hundred years or so.

Thinking about it now, it’s precisely because an all element holder appears that an era would change.

That was just how much power those with that held all elements were endowed with.

Apart from those silver haired individuals, all of whom are remembered throughout history, there are also people that are treated as taboo.

And those people were….

「Kuha！」 (groan)

「Oi, Useless people shouldn’t walk in the middle of the hallway! It’s repulsive！」

Said a boy, his golden hair jostling. This was Balt Glemond, Baron Glemond of the Glemond Household’s eldest son.

He was 9 years old, and compared to others of his generation, he was fat and always sweating.
His elemental affinities were Fire and Earth, and at every opportunity, he fires his magic at me.

My name is Redius, and Balt Gelmond beats me. It's an everyday affair, so I’m used to it, but it doesn't make it any less painful.

I will be 7 this year, but before I even noticed, the daily beatings had already started.

Behind Balt was his tutor, Grukkas.

Grukkas, instead of telling Balt to stop, only looked at me with cold eyes.
It's the same eyes the other attendants look at me with.

There were two reasons, the first lying with my hair color.

I learned a bit from my older sister, but apparently in this world, being endowed with an element changes the color of your hair.

Of those, my black hair is not one of them.
The color black indicated that its owner didn’t possess an Element. An Elementless would then be labeled incompetent and taboo.

Just like me right now.

The second reason was my mother—mistress of Gelman Glemond, the head of the Baron household.

When my mother started working as a maid in his house, Gelman laid his hands on her, and I was born as the result.

For that reason, the eldest sister and Balt's mother, Madam Kerī, mistreated my mother and me, the taboo.

In this household, the only ones not mistreating me were only my mother and her maid, as well as my elder sister.

「That’s right, Let’s use this guy as a target to practice my magic. I’m sure I’ll improve even more!」

「Ooh! That’s an excellent Idea Balt-sama. Oi kid, Get up now and go to the courtyard. No matter how much Balt-sama attacks you with his magic, don’t move.」

With a sinister smile on his face, Grukkas grabbed my hair. Through the twisting pain, I glared at him.

「What are you glaring at me for you sh**ty brat！」he yelled and so kicked me in my stomach.

「Guh! Ach! 」

「Tch！This brat vomitted, that’s feaking nasty！」

After that, over and over again, I continued to get stepped on..d.a.m.n…
If only I had a little bit of strength; if only I had just a bit of strength, I wouldn’t be looked down upon like this.

My thoughts raced as I endured the onslaught.

「What are you all doing！」

A bell like, beautiful, yet obviously angry voice was heard.
I couldn’t get up due to the pain, but I could at least move a bit. So I tried to face my body towards the direction I heard the voice from.

「Balt！What were you doing?！Doing such cruel things！」

「Elder sister…T-this is…ummm…I guess you could call it disciplining」

「Don’t joke with me！Such a cruel thing, who exactly are you disciplining! Grukkas！Why are you also doing the same thing！By all rights, you should have been the one to stop this!」

「I-I’m deeply sorry, Elicia ojou-sama」

She’s my Ane-ue and my 'protector', Elicia Glemond.
She turns 11 this year, and the only one in this household that has such fiery-red hair.

Her elements are Fire, Water, Wind, and Light. And in the future, she is to be appointed to join the Magic Division. Elicia Glemond is very hard working—her true abilities being fairly high as a result. She’ll likely receive marriage proposals from a higher ranked n.o.ble family. Her status was to the point where no one in the household could talk back to her.

「Are you ok, Redius!」as she spoke, she touched me.
Ah! Being touched hurts if anything. When she noticed the agony strewn on my face, she let off.

「Cure the Body – Heal」and with that, casted magic.
Slowly, but surely, I was able to move again.

「Thank you very much, Ane-ue. The pain is fading away so I’m fine now」

「Ahh……」

The moment I was able to move my body again, I immediately put some distance between myself and my sister. It was because Madam Kerī previously told me not to talk to my sister too much. If she saw that we were on good terms, she’d likely torment my mother again.

It was likely she didn't want me to get close to my sister, someone who has the most influential voice in the household.

A sad expression appeared on Elicia's face as I get away from her, but even that becomes a reason for torment. That’s why I honestly don’t want to get involved with her. I don’t want my mother to get bullied because of me.

「I’ll excuse myself」And with that, I quickly left.

I realize Balt and Grukkas were glaring at me as I did, but, I ignored it.

……Pathetic

To think I can’t even protect myself with my own strength…My teeth were clenched in vexation as I grew further away.