Chapter 130
One was lost, but one remained (3)
I had originally considered staying for a few days at the border fortress and relaxing, but decided that I didn’t have time for it. I explained the situation to the commander and instructed him on how to prepare for an imperial provocation. We then borrowed some horses and rode straight for the capital.
“Hja, Hja!” I rode on day and night. I had to meet Doris and his knights, who were waiting for me in the city. After riding without a halt, I finally reached the royal capital.
“Well, Your Highness?”
It seemed that we had ridden faster than the messenger sent from the fortress, so the people of the capital seemed stunned to discover that the delegation and I were still alive.
Regardless, I headed straight to the palace.
As I passed through the gates of the royal palace, I hurried in to find the king.
“Your Highness, His Majesty is waiting.”
It seemed that the news had come from the gate, for the palace knight standing guard immediately greeted me and went to open the door.
“Your Highness!”
“Brother!”
The Marquis of Bielefeld and Maximilian laughed in joy when they saw me. The king sat on his throne and also graced me with a rare smile.
However, there was no time to share the joy of reunion.
I stepped toward the descendant of the Sky Blade, who had also come to the hall.
“Doris.”
“I have paid all my debts-“
“It’s a war, Doris.”
“What?” he stiffened as he heard my words.
“The empire is gathering troops on their border with Dotrin,” I said to a face that held the purest of smiles.
Doris could no longer smile so innocently.
* * *
Even though we were reuniting after a year and a few months, the atmosphere in the hall was heavily subdued. Doris and his knights looked hurried as if they already wanted to be flying toward their country on their wyverns.
“Wait, I’ve sent someone out just now, so we’ll know the details soon.”
I held the men of Dotrin back. Once the messenger I sent to Montpellier came back, we would be able to know more about the situation.
Erhim soon appeared, for it was him I had sent to the marquis. Montpellier had come with him.
“Well, Your Highness-“
“Inform us of the internal situation of the empire.”
The Marquis of Montpellier was silent, looking like a cow that had been led to the slaughterhouse.
“We already know that there will be war.”
The marquis’ face hardened after he had looked at me, and he immediately began to speak up.
“The imperial family intends to completely erase the Dotrin kingdom from the map.”
As Jin Katrin heard this, he stared at me with resentment. Jin had become entangled in something that did not concern him because of me and now held me in blame that his country has come into the crossfire.
Jin’s reaction was a misunderstanding.
“The imperial family had been keeping an eye on specific families and kingdoms on the continent for a long time. They’ve been paying enough attention to have them classified into different sections and have distinguished the many differences between families and factions.”
Montpellier told us all the story of the imperial family’s special list concerning foreign officials. It was the first time I heard of it, and I inadvertently frowned.
I glanced at Doris, and his expression mirrored mine.
I think we were both thinking along similar lines as well.
“Tell me of the kingdoms and families on that list,” I ordered Montpellier.
The marquis hesitated and then began listing the names one by one.
they had forgotten their roots.
The Dotrin royal family, built by the descendants of the Sky Blade.
The Leonberger royal family, who were the successors of the Dragon Slayer.
From Montpellier’s mouth flowed the names of families that I knew very well.
All of them had more than four centuries of history, and all of them were families that had achieved great feats.
I had a gut feeling why the emperor’s list contained so many families of a [mythic] class.
“Are you aiming for the relics?” Doris asked.
“Or are you aiming for the traditions themselves?” I added.
I had already learned that several attempts had been made by Montpellier to seize my true body.
To gain a monopoly on relics or to learn of their traditions: The empire’s purpose was unknown.
I could only guess the emperor wasn’t interested in the collection of old traditions out of idle curiosity, and whatever his plans were, they would never benefit the kingdom.
“The power rating for the Leonberger royal family has been steadily downgraded in recent decades. However, the ratings for the Dotrin family have continued to rise,” Montpellier said. “The conquest of Dotrin had long since been planned, and the only problem remaining was one of timing. If the empire spends enormous sums on arming and deploying the troops, it wants some tangible gains.”
Montpellier spilled the beans over the purpose of the war.
“His Imperial Majesty figures that it would be beneficial if the war with Dotrin can eliminate internal political threats in the empire.”
The true purpose of the war was that the nobles supporting the principes would rather turn their gaze toward an outside foe before warring with each other and so undermine the national power of the empire.
This was the true casus belli for the war with Dotrin.
“Soon, an official imperial decree will be delivered to each kingdom, blaming Dotrin for the assassinations of imperial nobles and calling them to account.”
It didn’t even matter whether the empire had determined the true circumstances for why the Sky Knights had been part of the murders: It was the ideal reason for them to wage war against Dotrin.
The Dotrin Kingdom has just run out of luck.
Hence, instead of the emperor having to conduct domestic crackdowns, he could use the war to stabilize internal politics by having the troublesome nobles tie down their troops. The fact that a small kingdom that had moved against the empire would be quashed was just a bonus.
“The emperor would rather turn the entire continent into a barren plain of bones before having a civil war in the empire.”
Jin Katrin glared at Montpellier, and the marquis withered under that hostile gaze.
Jin’s reaction was justified; there was no one here who held any love for Montpellier.
The Sky Knights looked as if they wanted to kill the marquis right there and then, while those of Leonberg showed their burning enmity clearly as if they were recalling old memories.
Montpellier looked at me with an earnest gaze, as if begging me for help. On my part, I wanted to crush him like the worm he was.
“Aahnah!” Montpellier screamed as he grabbed his nose after being unexpectedly punched in the face.
“Why the hell!?” he cried, and I punched him a few more times before giving him my reply.
“While I was gone, you fell back into your old, wicked habits, didn’t you!?”
Montpellier was dumbstruck as he heard my words.
“And,” I shouted as I punched him again with a ‘Pak!’, “you never told me about that list!”
‘Pak!’
“Why did you hide it from me?”
‘Plak!’
“Are you thick? Are you an onion!? Come on, tell me!”
‘Pak! Puk!’
I continued to beat the marquis. I had known that I would be able to control his hellish nature while I stepped on him, but I now knew that he would not be able to forswear his despicable nature, no matter how much he got stepped on. Yet, he still had his uses.
Then I reached a conclusion: My worries were useless. I was not the one being punched in the face.
‘Kreuk!’
It seemed that I had failed to inhibit my strength, for the sound of something breaking echoed through the hall. The Marquis of Montpellier clenched his jaw and then fainted.
“Well.”
The hall was silent.
The Marquis of Bielefeld had always been wondering how I had gained Montpellier’s support, and he nodded as he realized my methods. Still, Bielefeld did not look relieved after the question was resolved; rather, I could see him wondering just how far I would go to achieve my ends.
The king was expressionless, yet for some reason, it seemed as if he was relieved. I had guessed right: Montpellier had stirred up trouble while I was away.
“Brother,” I said to Maximilian as I saw him looking at me with a respectful face, “don’t follow my example.”
It was weird enough that he respected me, so I didn’t want him to wade into strange waters. It was more than enough that there was one prince running wild like a lunatic.
Maximilian shouldn’t become like me. As a prince, he had been born with the traits of the founding king, Gruhorn. His seed was pure, and he had to walk a different path than a maniac like me.
“Violence is a last resort and should be avoided if possible,” I instructed the innocent second prince. People looked at me with ridiculous expressions for a moment as I said this, but it didn’t matter.
“What are you going to do?” asked Doris.
“We have to fight back. What about you?”
Doris’s face was surprisingly calm. He did look a bit stern, but that was all: Doris showed no fear about the coming war that his people would have to face. Rather, he showed great confidence.
“I bet we can make it,” he said.
“If the empire regards the apparent power of Dotrin as a lesser concern, they will lose much in this war,” Jin Katrin declared, his voice not wavering. “The emperor has misjudged things. If one of the principes die on the field of battle, then the feared civil war is sure to occur.”
I was impressed by Jin’s summation of things, as well as his fighting spirit, so I added, “If that proves to be the case, I will continue to act gently toward the third princeps.”
That way, the disaster-prone guy might grow into a serious contender for the throne.
Of course, the war in Dotrin wouldn’t be a quick thing, and the empire’s inner turmoil wouldn’t immediately disappear with its commencement. The Dotrin family would not be broken, and they would never surrender before the empire.
However, there was no need to point out that fact, for now, was the time to work hard.
“Surely,” the king said, frowning as he saw my expression, “the kingdom is not ready yet.”
The king was concerned that I would go to aid Dotrin, and he knew that Leonberg was not in a state to face the empire in an all-out war. I was worried as well, but when would the kingdom ever be ready to face the empire?
“I will go to Dotrin with my knights.”
I decided that I would go as an individual, not on behalf of Leonberg.
“It’s ridiculous! How can this country’s successor to the throne be so frivolous!” Naturally, the king jumped from his throne as he heard me say it.
“The greater the empire is damaged in their war with Dotrin, the more Leonberg will benefit,” I said, hoping to persuade the king. It is known that Dotrin can never easily be destroyed, and only if Dotrin stands firm and torments the empire can Leonberg, which has become like an imperial province, have a greater chance at regaining full sovereignty.
“You think that the situation will alter if you add a few more knights to the fray? That’s arrogance and overconfidence speaking!”
“A single knight moving against the enemy is only a part of the whole, but sometimes that part can dominate the whole.”
“So you think you are that part that will influence the whole?”
“If I leave, there is Your Majesty and Maximilian who can watch over the kingdom.”
“You are here right now!” the king shouted.
“Your Majesty and Your Highness, how about having this conversation at a later date? It seems that the matter is too great to decide at once,” the Marquis of Bielefeld said in mediation.
“We have bickered before you. Please don’t place us at fault if we first take some time to figure out the situation,” the king, still struggling with his emotions, said to Doris.
“Your Highness, how can you be so tactlessly stupid?” the Marquis of Bielefeld condemned me after the king had left the hall. “It was only a short while ago that Your Highness has returned from being missing for so long. If only Your Highness had known how hard His Majesty was taking things, then such an argument would not have broken out.”
“Yes. Father wasn’t the only one who was concerned by your absence, brother. Your timing was bad,” Maximilian said, backing up Bielefeld.
It was unfair.
This was an opportunity to weaken the empire to a great extent, and personally, an opportunity for me to gain great power by accumulating karma. I couldn’t understand it.
“Sometimes, I feel that you are quite clumsy despite your skillful swordsmanship, brother.”
“It’s probably because they are still so young. They don’t want to be loved, so they wander from home,” I could hear Bielefeld mutter quietly to himself.
“Brother, you have traveled long and far, so get some rest. After your hot air has cooled, I will have some time to spare for you,” Maximilian said and grabbed my arm. “So, don’t you want to take the thing you left with me?”
I couldn’t stand it anymore and chose to leave the hall. Just before I left, I said goodbye to Doris. Since the situation was urgent, he would not be able to stay longer, and he and he would fly to the mainland immediately.
“I’ll leave someone behind just in case, so if you want to contact me, talk with them.”
“I’ll do so,” I said and waved my hand. “I didn’t want to part with you so soon. I’ll see you again in no time, at least.”
After parting with Doris, I headed to the Second Palace.
I retrieved the item I had left with Maximilian: Dragon Slayer.
My body was still inert, showing no reaction to my presence.
* * *
Three days have passed. Doris and his Sky Knights had left for their home country, while Jin Katrin remained in Leonberg. He was very eager to find out more about the size and organization of the empire’s troops by putting the squeeze on the Marquis of Montpellier.
I meanwhile tried to persuade the king, and I did. I was finally given permission.
“Keep in mind. The true battlefield upon which you fight is not in Dotrin.”
He urged me over and over not to overdo it by battling too hard in foreign countries. Of course, holding back in a battle was just not my way, so the king’s words were just a cliched way for him to say: “Take care of yourself.”
I told him that I knew it. I had a lot of things to prepare and wanted to get up early, but the king suddenly mentioned my uncle.
“I plan to elect Count Bale Balahard as a Paladin of the Kingdom.”
I was dazed as I heard this.
All of the countries upon the continent referred to their quad-chain knights as ‘paladins’, and it was only Leonberg which has replaced it with the term ‘champion.’
When the Royal Knights died four-hundred years ago on Mount Seori, they were posthumously elected as Paladins. It is said that the tradition was then formed to never give others the title so as to honor the noble sacrifice of those knights.
As far as I know, no one received the title of Paladin for all these four centuries except for those Royal knights, with the three Ekyon brothers among their ranks.
However, now the king has named my uncle as a Paladin.
Something welled up in my chest, and I managed not to express it outwardly.
“Vincent will love it,” was all I could say in a dull tone. I then stood up.
The king called after me, “I hope the term Paladin no longer refers only to the dead.”
I gave a bloody chuckle.
“I will see you again. And come and say goodbye before you leave.”
After that, I left the king’s palace. There was a lot to do.
I had to select the knights who were to go with me, and I had to make sure they were prepared. I also had to find a doppelganger to play my part while I was away.
Externally, it should not seem as if the Leonberg Kingdom is intervening in the empire’s war on Dotrin. It should also seem as if I haven’t left the kingdom.
External action was our last resort at this point; for now, things had to be done covertly.
Even though I was busy, I didn’t forget about the other important work I also had to do.
It was not three years since I have been engaged to the Elder High Elf Sigrun, and the promised day of our betrothal was fast approaching.
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