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In a waiting hall outside the Imperial Palace, a man was pacing back and forth with a concerned expression painted on his face. The golden mane embroidered on the man’s chest indicated he belonged to Duke Agnus.
The man’s eyes widened when he noticed the door open.
“My Lord!”
“Were you waiting long?”
“It wasn’t that long.” Armstrong shook his head in response to Duke Agnus’s question. “How was your visit? Did you get the results you wanted?”
“Well…” Duke Agnus looked around for a moment before dropping his voice into a whisper. “There are too many ears here.”
“Ah—!” Armstrong recognized his error and quickly spread his aura.
Whooong!
A translucent membrane appeared with a soft hum to shelter the two of them. Duke Agnus saw it and gave a little grin of approval.
“I can only assume your curiosity got the best of you,” the Duke said.
“Is it not an emergency?”
“It is…”
“Will it… cause an issue to the plan?”
“....” Duke Agnus said nothing, only stared at Armstrong. Armstrong's anxiety grew as the silence continued.
“The plan…” Armstrong ventured with a gulp.
“There’s no change.”
“...!” Armstrong’s pupils dilated in shock. “You mean…”
“I have received the Emperor’s order. He has given us our marching orders.”
His master finally spoke the words Armstrong had been expecting to hear.
“Shouldn't we wait a little longer?” Armstrong asked, his tone naturally acquiring a note of excitement.
“The timing is a bit off, but isn’t this what we’ve expected all along?”
“But—” Armstrong gnawed nervously at his lower lip.
Even if they had expected it, the plan was progressing a bit too fast. Furthermore, the entire family had been caught up in the wake of Joshua’s decision. There was no denying that the Agnus blood was pumping through Joshua’s veins.
“Because of that, the Emperor probably thought now was the right time,” Duke Agnus continued.
“Then—”
“I also think the same. There’s no use in further discussing this.” Duke Agnus's eyes gleamed. “The Emperor's will is my guide, and I shall act accordingly. But my blade will not be aimed towards Reinhardt and the Kraden Plains…”
The sound of a knock on the door stopped them in the middle of their conversation. They locked eyes.
Duke Agnus nodded, prompting Armstrong to immediately unveil the room. He then rushed towards the door and opened it.
A lady waited for them behind the door.
“Pri-Princess?”
Armstrong stared in shock at the appearance of someone completely unexpected. She
was dressed in a beautiful royal gown, with golden eyes and pristine white skin.
“Princess?”
“Duke Agnus, how are you?” The lady gave a slight curtsy towards Duke Agnus.
Until recently, she had been blind and only a breath away from death.
“Princess Serciarin… What can I do for you?”
Upon hearing Duke Agnus's inquiry, Serciarin quickly responded.
“His Majesty sent me because there was something he did not tell you earlier.”
“His Majesty… sent you?” Duke Agnus cocked his head in surprise. “Was there something else he needed to say?”
“He will give you two hundred thousand soldiers to help you carry out his order.”
“Two hundred thousand!?” Armstrong shouted, shocked.
Two hundred thousand was around two-thirds of the capital's total military presence, and the Duke had a hundred thousand men under his personal command. Combined, that was three hundred thousand men.
Even if the Emperor was thinking about going to war, it didn’t make sense that he was entrusting an army of that size to someone who was no different than his enemy.
“....”
While Armstrong stood in shock, Duke Agnus looked calm as ever. His usual poker face remained without a single change in expression.
There was only one reason for that—the Princess’s gaze had been fixed upon him the entire time.
Her eyes twinkled with a curious light.
“I have a question, however…” she said. “Are you thinking of Rigveda’s rebellion?”
“...!”
Even Duke Agnus couldn’t hide his shock this time. He quickly regained his composure and answered right away, but Armstrong stood still with his mouth agape.
“Princess, that was a revolution.”
“Do you think it would be called a revolution if it had failed?”
“But it was a success.”
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".
“I know. History is written by the victors, and that is why it’s called a revolution today.”
“The Princess’s distant ancestor, Rigveda ben Britten did what needed to be done. The dynasty he served under was so corrupt that everyone in the continent was aware of it. That is why even the common folk regard Rigveda’s work as the greatest revolution.”
“So if the reverse were true, he could have been the worst rebel leader ever,” Serciarin stubbornly persisted.
Duke Agnus’s visage stiffened even further.
“It has already happened and is history. There is no use in wondering what may have been, Princess.”
“Nothing happens by chance, and you can always learn from the past to better prepare for the future.”
Duke Agnus met Serciarin’s gaze head-on.
“Are you testing me, Your Highness?”
“How could I possibly dare to test you? I would never dare to do so. I apologize if I came off too strong, Duke Agnus.” Serciarin curtsied again in apology.
It didn’t matter that he was the Dark God of Avalon, the one curtseying to him was a princess. It would be shocking to people if they were to see this.
“It has been a while since I’ve last seen you… You’ve changed a lot, Your Highness.”
Serciarin straightened.
“For some reason, I find that you’ve changed more,” she murmured. “To the point that I wonder if you really are the same person from my memories.”
“...You must be mistaken, Your Highness.”
“Perhaps it’s because this is the first time I’m seeing you with these eyes.”
Duke Agnus went still for a moment at Serciarin’s odd response. Then he spoke calmly, “Are you planning on informing this to His Majesty?”
Armstrong was the first to react to Duke Agnus’s unexpected words.
“My Lord…?”
“What makes you think I would do that? Serciarin replied.
“Because I know you saw the truth…”
“...!” Armstrong quickly turned to look at Serciarin.
Serciarin ignored his reaction as she pressed on.
“The Eyes of Truth are not all-knowing, especially on an Absolute like yourself.”
“But with this, you should know enough?”
A peculiar light shone in Duke Agnus’s eyes, breaking through his emotionless veneer. The tension between the Princess and the Duke burned like a volcano as they stared at each other.
“What makes you think…”
“Because I wasn't hiding it,” Duke Agnus replied.
“...!”
His response was met with suffocating silence.
Armstrong’s hand instinctively dropped to his waist, but then he froze. He had disarmed before entering the Imperial Palace.
‘What am I thinking—?’
He had disarmed before entering the Imperial Palace, but it had still been instinctive to reach for his sword. After all, if the Princess knew it all along, then the logical action was to kill her.
But it had been the Emperor who sent the Princess; it wouldn’t have solved anything except to give him an excuse to kill everyone.
Armstrong’s predicament doesn’t mean anything to Serciarin; she continued the talk.
“I don’t know whether you would believe me, but my answer is ‘no.’”
“...Is that your answer to the first question or the second, Your Highness.”
“The first, because there’s no need to do so.”
Serciarin’s words suggested might have had a firm grasp on Duke Agnus’s motivation already.
Armstrong was taken aback by her rather surprising response, but Duke Agnus seemed to have anticipated it.
“And your reason is…”
“I believe if you indulge my curiosity, you will come to understand…”
“...?”
Serciarin asked a shocking question. “How is my aunt Asiru? Oh, I believe right now, she’s called Lucia?”
“Damn it,” Armstrong spat and made a beeline for the exit. There was only one possible meaning behind her words.
In spite of that, Serciarin kept talking.
“I’m not as heartless as the Emperor; I understand the Duke’s sentiments.” Serciarin’s eyes welled up with a sadness that the Duke couldn't quite put his finger on, making her stumble over the final few words of her sentence. “According to my orders… Aunt Asiru’s child, Joshua—I can’t harm him… I can’t even help him.”
“....”
“As such, I'd like you to continue to act as a buffer for him for a little longer. In addition, I presumptuously would like to give you advice on that matter.”
Serciarin whispered her final words under Duke Agnus’s deep stare.
“So… I’m not sure about Reinhardt, but the Kraden Plains… Don’t go there.”
***
“Memory rune?” Theta stared blankly at the object by Joshua's feet.
“Me… Memory Rune?” Iceline parroted.
“This… is very ancient.”
“Yes? Really?!” Iceline walked over, her curiosity piqued by the word “ancient.”
The memory rune was an actual item that could be used to keep track of someone’s unique memory. In a society where information was the primary form of exchange, antiques took on an even greater significance.
The problem was that because it was a one-time-use item, it was impossible to know what kind of data or memories it contained until after it was used. For this reason, there were some wealthy people who only bought old memory runes in the hopes of becoming even richer overnight.
“This pattern…” Joshua blinked and examined the memory rune intently.
The center of the rune was engraved with a beautiful design, like two long strands intertwined.
- How… is this possible?
A voice suddenly echoed in Joshua's mind.
- The Demon Realm. Why is the Icon of Evil Sin even here in middle earth?
“The… Icon of Evil Sin?” he repeated.
Kyuu!
As if summoned, the pink creature cried in response.
At that moment…
Boooooom!
“Kyaaaaagh!” Iceline shrieked at the deafening boom that ripped at her eardrums.
The ceiling showered them in a constant rain of stone dust.
Ash broke his silence.
“The Tower… is collapsing?” he said in a trance.
The others gaped at his words.
“How is that possible…?” Theta looked up with a puzzled expression.
The question was answered soon enough by the scream of a creature outside the Tower.
- KRAAAAAAAAA!
“...!”
The sound definitely came from a wild beast. Theta and Iceline went rigid as the roar hit them; Ash’s entire frame swayed as if he were about to pass out.
“That’s…” Joshua muttered, calm as ever, “Dragon Fear.”