Valeron

**Valeron Griffon** was the founder and First King of the Griffon Kingdom, Tyris' husband, and one of the few beings known to possess a white mana core.

## Appearance

The First King had black hair, deep-set eyes, a high forehead, and a perpetual frown. Valeron looked more like the guy next door than a swimsuit model, but he exuded a nobility and power that made him the father, lover, and friend people crave their whole life.

## Personality

Valeron hated both war and political power. He didn't fight because he enjoyed it, only to protect his house and the life he cherished. Valeron preferred being a Healer than a leader, to bring smiles rather than constantly opposing the greed of his neighbors. He only took up the position of village chief simply because he needed to protect his village.

## Background

### Farmer

Valeron was born with a yellow mana core. He met Tyris when he was only 14 and had learned to fight just to protect his village. It was a time when magical talents were scarce because most mages died before realizing their powers or simply never met a master their whole life. Fake magic was also terrible and barely worth the trouble learning it.

Tyris chose to Awaken him because he was weak, poor, and had nothing to live for, hoping that his hardships would ensure he wouldn't get drunk on his own power. Valeron mistook Tyris for a goddess, and after he finally understood she was a woman he repeatedly confessed only to be rejected. Her lessons in magic and combat made him the god of the battlefield.

With each victory he achieved, his village grew in size and power. With each enemy they defeated, slaves and war prisoners would be considered a standard commodity. Valeron felt guilty for it, but as a warrior and a healer, he couldn't change things. After his best efforts to abolish slavery only got him several attempts murders and poisoning, Valeron finally accepted the role of Mayor.

The nearby cities felt threatened hearing that the fabled general had become a true leader, mostly because their citizens left their corrupt domains to look for a better life under Valeron's banner. At that point, war was inevitable. More people meant the need for more farmlands to feed them and no one believed that Valeron's ever-expanding city wouldn't one day become a threat for its neighbors.

Valeron never attacked first, but each victory brought him more troubles and responsibilities. He cried every night he didn't spend searching for a proper way to organize what was more than a city but less than a Kingdom. He was an uncultured man and had no idea how to create a system of laws that couldn't be exploited to ruin his years of hard work, yet he never gave up. He asked other Awakened for help, sought Emperor Beasts for their wisdom, and Fae to teach him how to take care of his lands. He never hesitated to admit his faults and recognize his limits. Whenever he knew to not be up to the task, Valeron sought someone better than himself. He made a lot of mistakes, trusted the wrong people, and soon his country was on the verge of the civil war.

As Valeron expanded his territory, he and his companion Oghrom Gernoff-Myrok nearly came to blows every time they annexed a new region to the Kingdom. Valeron was content replacing the old monarchs with their heirs after having them bend the knee. Oghrom, instead, wanted to kill the entire bloodline to keep them from seeking vengeance and to prevent the old nobles from rallying under their flag. Oghrom wanted to avoid potential traitors stabbing them in the back, while Valeron was afraid of turning the Kingdom into a tyranny through this method. However, it succeeded in keeping the invaded territories too busy with infighting to pose a threat to Valeron's advancing army.

### First King

In the War of the Blades, King Valeron with the Sword of Saefel fought against King Elm and his White Sword, each one leading their respective army to the Red Flag Plains. There Valeron stopped his advance and set the original borders of his Kingdom. He had decided to stop there not because going further would stretch his forces too thin, but that conquering exactly Tyris' turf, he felt like he could meet her as an equal. They would both control and care for the same lands, each one of them taking care of their people in a different way. On top of that, it had been Valeron's way to say that he wouldn't work along with any Guardian but her.

The Griffon Kingdom didn't rise from a power-hungry man who believed to know what was best for everyone, but from a farm boy who only wanted his conscience to let him sleep peacefully at night. When he proposed to Tyris for the 128th time she accepted. She fell in love not with his power or handsome face, but his willingness to sacrifice so much to build a better place for everyone. His determination to never surrender, even when he was forced to beg or crawl in horseshit. Tyris helped him to get rid of bad counselors, corrupt officers, and to write laws that made sense.

After marrying Valeron gave Tyris the name "Saefel" that he would call her when they were alone, as he couldn't stand having to share her with Mogar since she was known as Tyris by the Awakened and the Great Mother by the people. When Tyris had children, he was such a good father that they wanted to be like him rather than like Tyris. They were hybrids who could have become almighty Griffons, yet they chose to become humans to better be able to understand the needs and the hardships of their subjects. However, he couldn't stand staying young while seeing his children and grandchildren become old, so after a century he begged Tyris to Awaken them. Her refusal broke his heart and almost their relationship.

The Kingdom had grown by leaps and bounds under Valeron's rule and it had become a utopian country compared to before its unification. Fair laws, no slavery, and a justice system that held even nobles accountable for their actions. However, "fair" was a relative term and that, over time, nobles had found countless ways to bend the new rules. Even though Valeron recognized most of those issues, he hesitated to enact the necessary changes because his attachment to the past kept him from worrying about the present. Some of those laws had been written with the help of his best friends. To him, changing them meant to destroy their legacy, to admit to himself that the people he had trusted the most had been wrong.

He found it difficult to punish nobles as well because they were all descendants of the men and women he had handpicked to rule the Kingdom beside him as its pillars. Killing them or stripping them of their titles would erase the bloodlines of those who had shed their tears and blood with him on the battlefield for years. As the Kingdom thrived and its people grew in number, Valeron recognized fewer and fewer faces, making him feel like a relic of a forgotten era. His memories and Tyris were the last things he had left from his human life. After successfully creating and ruling over the Griffon Kingdom for over a century he noticed how things started to change. Mages wanted more power while the commoners wanted freedom, and nobles wanted things to stay the same. The moment Valeron realized that he was against the change as well, he abdicated and faked his death after ruling for over a century because he firmly believed that his long life and Tyris' help had made him unfit to understand the needs of his people.

His direct descendants were still alive, but unlike him, they became older and died if an accident befell them. Valeron lacked the strength to alter his own legacy so he made one of his children the ruler and helped them from the sidelines. His heart bled with every new law and every time the borders moved, because the Kingdom changed faster than he could accept it, yet Valeron still rejoiced in seeing his people happy.

The discovery of Valeron's great-grandson Arthan Griffon's crimes destroyed Valeron's confidence in judging people, as up until that point it had been him that selected the new rulers. He felt responsible for putting Arthan on the throne and for forcing his love to publicly execute Arthan. He gave up the task of selecting rulers to Tyris even while he was still alive due to the guilt he felt at having picked the wrong person for the throne.

After Arthan's death Valeron stopped using the **Mother Earth** breathing technique Tyris taught him, unable to recognize the Kingdom he had built; all his direct descendants were dead and he lost the will to live for failing to stop Arthan before thousands of innocent lives were sacrificed. Without the breathing technique, his white core stopped burning through world energy and started burning through his life force, leading him to an early death after a few decades.

Valeron's shadow is summoned from the Spell Hoarding Cube during Manohar's battle against Dawn. The specter of the First King decimates the Horseman's undead army with his Blade spell and asks Manohar to pass his last words on to Tyris.

## Quotes

* *"Tell Saefel that I will always love her and that letting me go was the best gift she could ever give to me."* (Valeron's specter to Manohar, Chapter 1398)

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 1068: The Burden of Power (Part 2)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 1144: Burden of the Past (Part 2)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 1398: Blade Tier Spells (Part 2)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Chapter 1068: The Burden of Power (Part 2)
5. ↑ Chapter 117: Interludium (4)
6. ↑ Chapter 1615: Parents and Children (Part 1)
7. ↑ Chapter 1328: Royal Summon (Part 4)
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Chapter 1145: White Cores and Crystals (Part 1)
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 750: Hard Truth (Part 2)