The northernmost continent of the world known by many names of legend, but is most commonly reffered to as Athora, has, for eons, served as the land of exiles.

Human criminals, dark elves, grayskinned orcs and dwarves that preffer mining with machinery over the traditional pickaxe alike, have come to call this half-frozen hellhole their home.

It is a land of great strife, calamity and crisis, where one legendary tale ends only to begin the next, heroes fall down and villains find themselves thrown into lava.

Around seventy years ago, a legendary figure appeared out of seemingly nowhere and conquered three human nations, forming a kingdom worthy enough of being called a small empire.

However, at the eve of his heirs ascension, the legend breathed his last, leaving this same bloated, chaotic realm without the pillar that kept it together.

Already, the carrion nobility, still spiteful for being denied their "rightful" place below the sun, rise up and gather at the court, each eager to consolidate their own power in these troubled times.

Tempers flare, power is exercised without restraint and no one expects the hedonistic prince to succeed at keeping the realm together.

Alas, as is often the case with such tales, not everything seems to be as it might at first appear and the vain lords of the realm may yet come to regret their carrion will.

--- The Content Warnings are there for a good reason. ---

This story is reuploaded here as a side note. You can find the full experience on Royalroadl.net, as I will not be posting flavour chapters here unless the future decides otherwise~.

Genre

ComedyDramaFantasyHorrorMatureMysteryPsychologicalRomanceSupernatural

Tags

European Ambience Evil Gods Evil Organizations Evil Protagonist Evil Religions Exorcism Family Conflict Farming Fearless Protagonist Genius Protagonist Kingdom Building Kingdoms Medieval Villainess Noble Girls

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enkiros

Status: 21. cherry of the light

Sep 10, 2020

Well, I'm not even sure about how I feel about this novel, but I definitely would recommend it. Its main attractions are the eloquent and often cryptic writing style, its crude and dark tone, and the seemingly vast world we're presented with.

Some readers might just find it too confusing for a webnovel, something I agree to a certain extent, nevertheless, the plot gradually unfolds itself, in such a way that it's not really a problem by the end of the chapter.

Narratively speaking, it gives the impression of being a mix between the crude western-style fantasy novels (e.g., Song of Ice and Fire), and the usual Japanese isekai webnovels. Certainly, the plot is not focused on a single, large objective, like it is to melt the ring of Sauron or to conquer the seven kingdoms. It's closer to Asian storytelling, in which the emphasis is on exploring the characters and the world.

I really like the world the author is trying to build here, though the short nature of the chapters doesn't help a lot in that regard. It's nonetheless an interesting subversion of, again, the Japanese isekai fantasy formula.

There are a lot of explicit descriptions of murder, torture, and many gag-inducing scenes for shock value. The MC, and most of the accompanying cast, is a deranged psychopath, yet somehow his pragmatical and cold way of thinking that's often characteristic of them make him the best ruler the nation has ever had. He still shows moments of weakness and doubt, and it even seems he cares in his own way about the very small circle of the recurrent cast, which makes him relatable and not that much of a madman, I guess. In that sense, he's not an evil genius like the protagonists of most cultivation novels.

The parts that make me doubtful of whether I really like this novel or not are also related to these few characters for the most part. It almost, almost feels like the author is planning to make the MC into a JP isekai protagonist. Just find it a bit odd how every female character blushes and wants to have s*x with the MC not because he's the king, but because he is the protagonist, in a novel with an extremely gruesome and unsettling tone. In addition, some of the “funny” or “not-whatcha-thought-huh” moments that end a specific scene or a specific chapter, don't really resonate with me, like, they disarm the tension in a weird way, especially when you expect some horrifying event to happen. It's a minor complaint, though. Not a deal-breaker.

Anyhow, it's still too early to definitely judge this fiction. All in all, I like what the author is promising with this one, and I will keep reading what they put out there.

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