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“Draxia bel Grace,” Joshua quietly murmured.
Draxia was among the four men and one woman who had killed Joshua in his past life. However, everything changed in this life: Gallahad was going to become the next Commander of the Imperial Knights, but he had died, causing Evangeline, his lover, to go insane due to the shock. The Imperial Chief Mage Evergrant con Aswald had become an undead and Joshua’s subordinate forever. The Dark Priest Lich Berber had gotten destroyed down to his very soul, so he couldn’t even go to hell anymore. Aside from Kaiser, Joshua had taken out all the people who had betrayed him.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?” Joshua asked.
“What…?” Draxia panted, his whole body weeping blood.
Anna called him father, but she had run away long ago. Even the person whom he considered his daughter valued him only that much.
“Did you want the throne that bad too?”Joshua continued.
Draxia flinched.
“A member of the imperial family who lost his throne to his country’s hero. Come to think of it, your fate is as tragic as mine.” Joshua shrugged.
“Shut… up…!” Draxia growled.
“Without borrowing the power of people from outside your country, you can't even claim your rightful throne. Well,” Joshua said, nodding thoughtfully, “the Grand Duke Lucifer that I met was definitely not a person that is easy to deal with.”
Even though he was dying, Draxia clenched his teeth.
“Stop showing off… Joshua Sanders…! You… can’t even begin to fathom… his identity, but… you’ll… never be able to beat him…!”
“You’re talking about Heimdall,” Joshua assumed.
Draxia froze completely.
“Your face, wait… No way….?”
“Why do you think I can’t figure out his identity? I already have a rough idea of everything, so what I need right now is… yes, a small conviction.”
Draxia’s eyes turned blank, his lower lip trembling. He couldn’t survive anyway because every organ in his body had been shredded by the rain of aura attacks he had suffered.
“…You’ve committed two sins. You’re going to pay for the sin you committed in your past life with your life, so for trying to harm my mother…” Joshua trailed off.
Joshua concentrated his power into his leg and slammed it into Draxia’s head, flinging the fragments of Draxia’s brain in all directions with an explosive Crack!
“Born as the noblest imperial family member and die in a faraway country. And be forgotten by people like you’re going to right now.”
* * *
Along the main street of Arcadia, Cazes leaped high into the air out of the narrow alley between the buildings as if he was flying. Ranger, the man with a veritable mane of hair, came up to Cazes. Viper, the two-meter-tall man, followed the two too.
“Are you sure?” Ranger asked Cazes.
“I’m sure.” Cazes nodded.
“Then that is actually a problem…” Ranger muttered.
While he continued to leap from building to building, Cazes’s expression turned noticeably dark. He quickly turned his head to Ranger.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well…”
“Haven’t we waited for our commander for three agonizing years? You should be happy.” Cazes narrowed his eyes. “What is the problem?”
“Let me finish talking, you inflexible bastard!” Ranger shook his head in disbelief. He turned his voice down to a whisper. “Let’s say you really detected our commander’s energy—you haven’t forgotten about his current situation, have you? ”
Cazes flinched slightly.
“He is our commander forever, but the Empire—no, the Imperial Family doesn’t think that way because, in their eyes, Joshua Sanders is a chicken who ran after losing the war,” Ranger said.
“…Those shameless bastards!” Cazes growled. “He stopped the entire empire alliance in the Great Plain of Kraden on his own…!”
Ranger shrugged. “No one asked him to stop the alliance. The important part is that our commander is an eyesore to the princes, especially the First Prince.”
Cazes gave Ranger a death glare.
“Woah, woah, don’t scowl at me like that. Do you think I make a habit of sarcasm? I’m just telling you to face the reality, the reality,” he said to his silently seething comrade. “The Hero King is famous even in other countries, but in his own country, he is a criminal wanted for high treason—that means multiple death sentences. That’s who our commander is in this country. Since he had lost his noble title long ago, I shouldn’t need to explain further. So do you really think our commander would really exude his energy intentionally? That’s begging to be captured. The Hero King doesn’t hesitate, but isn’t that too far-fetched?
“Although he may seem reckless from time to time, he always had a plan,” Cazes confidently stated. “I think he has a plan this time too.”
“…You’re one fine cult believer.” Ranger shook his head in disbelief again.
He tried to continue, but someone just behind them shouted, “It’s from the Ducal Family of Agnus’ private mansion!”
Cazes and the others’ eyes widened.
“Did other Imperial Knights come too?” Cazes muttered to himself.
“Any mishaps within Arcadia are in the Imperial Knights’ jurisdiction. Although capital guards will take care of most matters…”
Cazes quietly gritted his teeth. “If I’ve felt the energy, there is no way they wouldn’t feel it.”
“In times like this, it’s fortunate that we’re in charge of the outskirts of the capital since we can arrive at our destination first. Although,” Ranger said with a shrug, “the main reason why we took charge is that we’re hated by higher-ups.”
Cazes nodded.
“Let’s hurry.”
After the three finished talking, they sprang toward the direction of the Agnus mansion.
* * *
“What in the world…”
Upon reaching his destination, Cazes could only gape blankly. He had achieved one of his goals by arriving at the Agnus mansion faster than anyone else in Arcadia, but the sight that unfolded before him was too shocking.
“Move the wounded!”
“Gather corpses in one place!”
“Contact the main mansion! Move, quick! What are you doing?”
People were busily moving around the inside and outside of the mansion.
Ranger stopped to take in the sight for a moment.
“It definitely looks like they got attacked,” he slowly said.
“Who could have possibly done that?!” Cazes violently snapped.
“Gosh, you surprised me,” Ranger said, sticking a finger in his ear. “How should I know that, you bastard!?”
“In a time like this, at the center of the capital… someone attacked none other than the mansion of the Duke Agnus…” Cazes blankly murmured.
“…This is a big problem,” Viper said, in an unusual break from his normal silence. Ranger and Cazes’s heads swiveled toward him at the same time; it had been a while since they’d heard Viper’s voice.
“From what I know… our commander’s mother lives here.” Viper narrowed his eyes as he looked at the mansion.
The other two’s eyes slowly widened as they came to a realization. A suffocating silence descended on the knights.
“If something bad has happened to her…” Viper grimly continued.
Someone ominously chuckled.
“You would be horribly ashamed as his subordinates and could not bring yourselves to meet him again, wouldn’t you? Hahaha.”
Cazes, Ranger, and Viper all froze stiff from fear. Cazes felt his back drip with sweat. He slowly turned around to see who the person was.
“Yo-you’re…“
Over the past three years, they had made a remarkable process, constantly driven by the guilt of being unable to help their commander. However, they hadn’t even noticed when this new man had moved to stand beside them. It wasn’t that they were weak, the man was too strong.
‘Monster…’ Cazes thought as he examined the man.
He was a middle-aged man with snake-like features; he had gray hair and razor-thin eyes which made it look like he was always closing his eyes.
“Lord Arie…?” Cazes mumbled.
“Should I say I’ve expected this…?” Arie wasn’t even looking at Cazes and the others, clearly ignoring the three. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the headless corpse.
‘Fuck…’ Cazes cursed in his thoughts.
Viper recovered from shock the fastest.
“…For now…” he said, “let’s find Lady Lucia’s whereabouts first and report this to the people in the Imperial Palace as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence in matters like this, isn’t it? We have to form a blockade and tighten it before the perpetrator flees any further.”
“There is no need since I’m here, hehehe.” Arie took a step forward and quietly closed his eyes. After some time, Arie’s eyes slowly opened, but it was hard to notice without looking closely.
“…I see you’re there,” he mumbled. Sensing something, Arie disappeared in a flash.
“…Let’s get going too.” Viper immediately tried to follow Arie.
“…Wait, it’s not there,” Cazes quietly muttered. He closed his eyes as if he was imitating Arie. Then he could detect the familiar energy that he had felt in the palace.
‘There is no way for Marquis Arie to not feel the energy that I felt, but the energy has become so faint that it’s impossible to detect the energy if I don’t focus. It’s like…’ Cazes continued to think, then slowly opened his eyes. ‘...the person is calling out to me.’
Cazes came to a decision.
To read the uncut version, go to pawread dot com.
“Follow me, now,” he said, and immediately took off.
Viper and Ranger locked eyes with each other and nodded. They hastened after Cazes, who had already acquired a considerable lead.
* * *
Meanwhile, three men were already sitting at the top seats in the imperial council chamber of the Avalon Empire’s palace. All the nobles standing in the chamber were looking in their direction.
The First Prince Kiser, one of the three men, wore a grim expression.
“Has everyone arrived?” he asked. “I don’t know how long it has been since all the imperial nobles have gathered in one place, regardless of their factions.”
“I beg your forgiveness, Your Highness,” the nobles immediately answered.
To be exact, half of the nobles that had gathered replied to Kiser right away; and of course, most of them were nobles who supported the First Prince. Thrill flickered in their eyes, but their reactions were understandable… as the Sword Emperor, who had disappeared three years ago, was there right now; he quietly stood beside the three men, but he caught everyone’s attention.
Tremblin paid no attention to what they were thinking; he was busy thinking about something else.
‘He definitely said it was “Heimdall”...’
“Phew…” Tremblin heaved a long sigh and focused on the present.
“I’ll begin by explaining the main reason why we’ve gathered up today. Kaizen,” Kiser prompted, turning to his younger brother.
“We’re going to decide who is going to be the next emperor,” the Second Prince reluctantly said. “It has already been three years since His Majesty went missing, and our national power is close to zero. Due to our fight, the lives of the innocent citizens of the Empire continue to be devastated. Although we’ve been trying to ignore that fact, we can’t sit on our hands any longer.”
“Therefore… we’ll put an end to our long feud today,” Kiser continued with sparkling eyes.
“Before we do that,” someone else quietly interrupted, making the nobles in the chamber faintly tremble.
Although everybody tried to look past the last of the three men, Fourth Prince Kaiser wouldn’t be ignored.
“The matter of who between the two of you will inherit the throne hasn’t been decided,” he pointed out with an enigmatic smile. “So shouldn’t we decide that first?”
Silence fell upon the chamber. Everyone had been tiptoeing around the issue, although it was pretty clear that they were there exactly for that reason.
“However, I want to make it clear that I haven’t brought it up to make a last-minute bid at claiming the throne, given that the heir to the throne will be decided by Duke Tremblin’s choice.” Kaiser shrugged.
“…What do you want to say, Kaiser?” Kiser snapped with cold eyes.
“Have you heard the news?” Kaiser asked.
“What news?”
Kaiser’s smile deepened. “The Agnus family was attacked.”
Kiser’s eyes widened. “Wh-what…?”
Someone began shouting from outside the chamber as if they were waiting for that moment.
“I-I have an urgent report to deliver!”
The nobles in the chamber, unable to believe what was going on, finally paid attention to Kaiser.
“It’s not just the Duke’s mansion in the capital,” Kaiser continued. “The family’s main mansion, which is not so far away from here, has been razed too. ”
Kaizen sprang up from his seat and glared at Kiser, but Kaizen was actually doubting Kiser for the obvious reason that the Duke of Agnus was on Kaizen’s side.
“Due to the ambush, the family’s four corps have been almost annihilated, and Duke Babel von Agnus’s condition is critical…”
“What in the world are you talking about?!” Kiser roared, his face flushed with anger from Kaiser’s absurdity. He surely didn’t want this imperial council to take place, but even if he had received help from somebody else, he was about to finally end this war of succession. However, how could Kaiser tell him that kind of story at a time like that?
“Well, what’s the difference?” Kaiser shrugged.
“What…?” Kiser asked, dumbfounded
“It has already been three years since the civil war began. Dozens of families fell and disappeared in a month, but we were momentarily baffled because it’s the Ducal Family of Agnus that has fallen this time,” Kaiser continued. He quietly stood up from his seat and looked down at Kiser. “You must have also expected it to some level, didn’t you?”
Kiser gritted his teeth, infuriated by Kaiser’s sly words.
“You ba—”
“Besides, the Agnus family has been crumbling for a while,” Kaiser said with a shrug.
“Yo-Your Highness!” The messenger hurried into the chamber confused because no one responded even after he had said that he had an urgent report to deliver.
“…We’ve already heard your report. You may leave.” Kiser waved the messenger away.
“Pardon?” The messenger gave him a wide-eyed look. “Bu-But…”
“Did you not hear me?” Kiser growled.
The messenger broke into a cold sweat. “Th-then how do you wish to handle the matter…?”
“What am I supposed to do with a family that is almost ruined….?!” Kiser shouted in fury.
“N-no, that’s not the only report I need to deliver…!” the baffled messenger stuttered. “T-the traitor Cain de Harry has appeared at the e-entrance of the Palace, and a man who is presumed to be the Hero King has shown up in Arcadia!”
The sound of someone dropping their belongings echoed throughout the chamber like thunder. It was like the people in the chamber had been hit by a storm. No matter if they were on the side of the First Prince or Second Prince, every noble’s jaw dropped. Even Kaiser, who had been smiling relaxedly, was shaken up as if he had been hit with a bolt of lightning.