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IWRYWYM Ch. 120 — The Citizens of the Empire
The 2nd Consort gave him goosebumps. If he thought she could do that with her pure power alone, he had learned something more clearly through this subjugation. What was really great about her was not that power but that she had an eye for the best use of it. That she had the brains to make it happen. That she had the courage to make a decision and the power to act. Nobody even knew where or how far they should be admiring. If she kept going that way, nobody had any idea what would be at the end of it. So he hoped she would either die or become a moron when the castle collapsed. If not, he thought again and again that he had to create an opportunity to make it happen.
That must be done, he vowed, each time the debris was removed one by one and nothing came out of them.
As Count Dyke’s eyes changed color every moment, Decal did not hesitate any longer and fell to his knees. As a commoner, he should not dare to reject or protest. They came here and did what they had to do with their heads up, knowing they shouldn’t. They worked only within the line they had drawn. One of the two sides would be crushed terribly to get out of this situation, and that would, of course, be them. Decal was determined, but not everyone here would be. Besides, there was someone who needed to be protected behind him.
“Please give us time to pray for the 2nd Consort. Don’t you know that we all worked non-stop to find her? Just as we were about to approach, the spirit shook her head as she was watching us. I’m sure it takes time. So in the meantime, please protect the 2nd Consort and pray for her.” Decal rubbed his forehead on the ground and begged. In the meantime, the imperial knights on the other side also gathered. Decal informed that the 2nd Consort, whom he had seen in advance, had been discovered only after all those who were favorable to her had arrived, and repeated what he had just said.
“Of course you should. The spirit of the 2nd Consort said so, after all.” Viscount Cain’s knight and a few talked among themselves, then turned to Count Dyke.
Count Dyke was annoyed by them, but he opened his mouth without indicating that they had bothered him. “We’ll have to wait and see.” Having said that, if not now, when else would he have an opportunity like this…? His fingertips trembled in agony.
Du-du-du! The sound of galloping horses was deafening.
“Huh? Someone’s coming!”
Following the knight’s words, Viscount Gerard turned his head. Others were approaching them, raising a cloud of dust behind them. It wasn’t a lot of people. Only two. But they looked menacingly full, though only two horses galloped down the wide road, to the extent that those who wanted to approach first hesitated and naturally thought that they should get out of the way.
“I thought we were the only ones going this way. Maybe the rebels?”
“They don’t have any hostility to see it that way. There are only two people.”
As the noise grew, Viscount Gerard spoke quickly. “I heard that the duke’s castle portal was broken and that Marquis Blemir and Sir Rohan would go to the duchy via the portal of the surrendered territory nearby.”
One of those two names was enough to resonate throughout the empire, let alone two at once. The aftermath of the news was enormous.
“Hiiy!”
“Why are they coming here?”
Viscount Gerard recalled the communication he had exchanged with Barossa in his mind. There were many very complicated things, but in the end, there was only one answer.
“They came to see the 2nd Consort. She was the one who made the biggest contribution to subjugating the Western rebellion this time.”
In fact, survivors in the West wouldn’t phrase it like that. She hadn’t simply contributed; she had done everything by herself.
Many people died, but without that, dozens or hundreds of lives would have been caught in the rebellion they were forced to participate in and rolled over in bloody water.
“The two of them can get out of the narrow gap on their own, but out of etiquette, it would be better to open the way.” Viscount Gerard pulled the party together and gathered them to one side because if they suddenly split left and right to create a space in the middle, the formation may be disturbed, and an accident may occur.
But even that was a mistake. Perhaps the surprise of the two people who suddenly appeared hadn’t disappeared, so the person did not properly check his surroundings.
Thud!
The horse collided with the cart ahead and cried. What was in the cart spilled out and scattered over the road. The horse that was moving behind stepped on the wrong foot, staggered greatly, and fell.
“Huh!”
As the knight jumped off his horse in surprise, the 10-meter distance near the middle of the lined party quickly became a mess.
Viscount Gerard quickly drove his horse to the rear. He stopped at a suitable spot to appeal to the two oncoming men to slow down and wanted to clear the road sooner or later.
No matter how good one’s riding skills are, they wouldn’t be able to pass through that messy place, so Viscount Gerard was naturally thinking of the words of apology that should follow next.
But…?
“Huh? Huh?”
Tadadak! Tadadak!
The horses’s hooves did not stop. He checked the face of the person who was passing right before him. Long, finger-length red hair fluttered in the wind and tousled.
With a stiff expression, the man urged his horse without glancing at anyone.
Takk!
The running speed increased, and the horse leaped in front of Viscount Gerard and flew over his head. As his gaze followed that figure above him, a black shadow fell over his face. It flew right down on him, landed on the ground, and moved away with the dust.
Gerard, who was gasping for breath, suddenly remembered it as he tried to close his gaping mouth. Wasn’t there one more?!
When Gerard lowered his gaze to the front, sure enough, a man with auburn hair brushing his shoulder was staring at him. He gave Gerard a small bow and pulled his reins aside.
His horse twisted lightly to miss where Gerard was standing, and he disappeared after the first shadow.
When Gerard looked back, he saw the two people running without slowing down, one side breaking ranks and the other dodging them, as if the strewn obstacles were nothing. He could feel how urgent their hearts were from the nervous look on their backs.
It was the 2nd Consort’s Palace without its master, who had welcomed Blemir back after finishing his mission in Mergin territory, which he had been more concerned about because of her worries. And the news that came next made him move now.
She would be seriously injured if I took my eyes off her even for a moment, Blemir thought. People joked that there would be trouble wherever the 2nd Consort went and that, following the Miyon Desert, she would turn the West into a mess this time. But Blemir thought all of her achievements were like flowers that grew from her cut flesh.
The flowers produced by chewing flesh and sucking blood were exquisitely beautiful and colorful but poisonous. They would hurt those who tried to break them and had no mercy for those who burned them. They would eat her, grow up on their own, and eventually consume her.
Even when he reached the central city of the duchy and arrived in front of the ruined castle, he was angry the whole time. However, the moment he saw her lying alone in the ruins of the duke’s castle after getting off his horse, his anger disappeared. He was more than angry.
“Why did you keep her there on that cold, hard floor?”
Count Dyke stopped walking as he approached the voice that made him feel bloodthirst.
“The spirit doesn’t allow anyone to approach, so stop.” When Decal answered instead, clear brown eyes turned to him, so ferocious that even Decal, who had said everything he had to say to Count Dyke, turned speechless.
“Marquis, first of all, shouldn’t we check the condition of the 2nd Consort?” When Rohan, who arrived later, spoke in a calm voice, Blemir turned his gaze away from Decal and looked straight ahead. As he walked, the people around him who had been kneeling to pray for two full days made way for him.
Undine, who was touching Elisha’s heart, found the two. Undine looked at the two in turn and pointed at one.
Blemir’s eyes widened, but he didn’t hesitate. Blemir went straight to Elisha. As he knelt in front of her, Undine looked up at him.
As Blemir stretched out his hands, the stream of water that circulated around Elisha, making it look as if she was lying in a transparent coffin, slowly receded. Blemir propped her up with one arm on her back, the other resting on the inside of her lap and carefully lifting her up.
“Is there a place in the central city where the 2nd Consort can rest for a while?” he glanced at Decal and asked as if he had known that Decal represented the common people here.
“We’ve prepared it just in case.” Decal guided him.
Blemir stopped in front of Rohan. “In the first place, one was supposed to escort this person, and the other was to clean up this place, so Sir Rohan should be in charge of the latter.” Without waiting for an answer, Blemir turned away from Rohan, who was staring at the 2nd Consort in his arms. He didn’t want to see him at all.
“Marquis, if you want to move the 2nd Consort, shouldn’t you talk to us too?”
“To you?”
Count Dyke’s breath was suffocated by the questioning, glaring gaze staring at him. The 2nd Consort would’ve known to keep her thoughts in mind without saying anything, and Prince Raymond wouldn’t have cared at first and only worried belatedly when he rethought those things.
But Marquis Blemir really didn’t care at all, like there was no reason to be.
“Since we have carried out missions with the 2nd Consort and have protected her all this time, aren’t we qualified for that?”
“I think it’s shameless to discuss qualifications when all you did was get helped one-sidedly. Besides, in a situation where you must first pay attention to the consort’s condition, you try to quarrel. I don’t know where I should point, but among them is, how dare you block the path of a swordmaster?”
Even Count Dyke didn’t think he could do anything about the 2nd Consort now. However, regardless of whether she was alive or dead, the meaning of their being here was complete only with the 2nd Consort.
He didn’t want to share the credit with those who showed up late, but of course those people couldn’t compete with Count Dyke, the powerful man in the East…
Sir Rohan, who quickly turned away just by looking at Prince Raymond, would be the emperor’s eyes. But as the corpse discovered by accident shortly after looking for the 2nd Consort was William, the owner of the Western Tower, there was no threat from him.
[T/N: I think Rohan turns away from Raymond here because… do you remember that Raymond’s armor is the flashy , ceremonial kind?]
“Then let’s go together…”
“The 2nd Consort doesn’t like the hustle and bustle, so it’s better if you just stay. I’ll tell you if I need anything. Everyone, help Sir Rohan over there and focus on stabilizing the duchy.” Blemir, pointing at Decal with his chin, left the others behind and went down the road alone. Decal quickly followed with a quick stride.
“We need to get a lot of jewels. Do you know of any good places?” When Blemir quietly asked Decal, Decal was taken aback, then quickly worked his mind.