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How many people had spilled blood for the seat of an emperor? This recent feud between the princes wasn’t the only time. Over the Avalon Empire’s many centuries, countless battles had been fought to claim the throne. Of course, the members of the Britten Family always rose victorious in those battles… but Avalon’s long history was coming to a turning point.
A forest of swords was unsheathed.
“Duke Tremblin… Why…?”
Despite the dozens of swords pointed at him, Tremblin was nonchalant. He asked, “Shall I deal with this?”
“Why are you asking me?” Joshua replied.
“Didn’t you say you wanted the throne?” Tremblin reminded him.
“…If anyone heard you, they might get the wrong idea,” Joshua remarked. “They’ll think that you became my subordinate.”
Tremblin smiled faintly. “I have no reason to not become one.”
Even the Imperial Knights surrounding Tremblin and Joshua were petrified now. The Duke ‘Sword Emperor’ Tremblin was a living legend and considered to be one of the strongest men in the Avalon Empire, alongside the Dark God. One of the great Nine Stars was voluntarily saying that he would become someone’s subordinate.
“For a long time, I wondered if my decision was truly right. Although I didn’t tell you this, I collected some information on my way back to the empire regarding His Majesty’s disappearance, which I’d devoted myself to solving for the past three years, as well as your life story, and the Agnus family tree.
Joshua chuckled. “You’re very confident for a man who did a background check on me.”
“It was necessary,” Tremblin said with a shrug.
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“I’m young, so I believe it’s a bit of an exaggeration to call it my life story… Anyhow, did you get what you were looking for?”
“A few hours of a hero’s life is enough to write a book about them. To answer your question, this is the conclusion I reached.” Tremblin slowly drew his sword from his waist with an ominous rasp of metal.
Aside from the imperial family members and knights, all nobles were supposed to hand in their weapons when they entered the palace, but Duke Agnus and the Sword Emperor were exceptions. Although it was out of trust and respect for the two pillars of the empire, there was also no point in applying the rules to them in the first place because they didn’t need a weapon to start something bad in the palace.
“Duke Tremblin! Are you really going to commit treason?!” the Second Prince Kaizen roared, red-faced.
Duke Tremblin didn't even flinch.
“To be honest, I’m baffled,” Joshua admitted. “I thought you would always stay as Emperor Marcus’s man…”
“I’m loyal to Avalon, not His Majesty. Stagnant water is bound to rot—after going through the civil war, I finally realized that the country I’d dedicated my life to could crumble instantly if it is led by the wrong leader.”
“That’s the typical logic of a rebel! Imperial Knights! What are you all doing?!” Kaizen furiously shouted again, but the Imperial Knights couldn’t do anything.
The other nobles were in the same state. They’d heard about Joshua’s performance again and again. After passing from mouth to mouth, Joshua’s story had basically turned into a myth. Who would dare try going up against him? Besides, they didn’t really have a justifiable cause to fight him since they now all knew that Joshua had imperial blood.
“Arghhhh!!!”
At that moment, a scream abruptly came bouncing down the hallway. Kiser unfroze and turned to look at Joshua, his hands trembling.
“Did you have to go that far?!” Kiser shouted.
Joshua shook his head. “It’s not me.”
“…What?”
“Pay more attention,” Joshua instructed. Kiser readily obeyed.
Shortly after, Kiser could hear both a scream and a loud shout from the outside of the palace.
“Ahhhhhh!!! Incompetent Prince Kiser and Prince Kaizen should stay away from the throne!”
“Don’t make people’s lives any harder!”
“Bring the Empire’s lost glory back! Put Prince Joshua on the throne!”
Kiser’s eyes slowly widened. It was a riot started by none other than the people of Avalon—not treason. The people swarmed the palace after they heard the news of Joshua’s return. Although Kiser considered it a riot, it may be recorded as a revolution in history; this was the moment of Joshua’s every effort coming to fruition.
“Stop them using any means necessary,” an Imperial Knight commanded.
In contrast to the noise outside, the inside of the chamber was deafeningly silent. Even the Imperial Knights were glancing distractedly at the entrance, gripping their swords nervously.
“The time of judgment has come,” Joshua solemnly uttered. “Of course, the citizens outside will do the judging, not me.”
“You son of a bitch…” Kaizen growled. “Was your long detour through all those villages all for this moment?”
Joshua shook his head. “You’re still full of it.”
“What?” Kaizen’s eyes narrowed.
“No younger brother is better than their older brother, but I thought you would at least know how to read the room…”
“How long are you going to keep mocking me?!” Kaizen roared.
The air around Joshua clenched, and Joshua’s eyes turned cold. “Do you want to die? No, actually, I want to ask you: how long are you going to delude yourself?”
“Yo-you…!” Kaizen stuttered, at a loss for words.
Joshua ignored Kaizen and looked around the chamber. “The same goes for all of you.”
“Wh-what…?”
“New liquor should be put in a new barrel. If a leader of a country changes, it’s only right to rebuild the country from the ground up.”
“Urgh…” The Imperial Knights were forced to kneel as Joshua released more and more energy, overwhelming them.
Joshua looked at the knights and then at the nobles standing behind them. “Choose now: go down with the setting sun or devote yourselves to this country once again.”
When things came to this, the nobles were visibly torn. Once the riot intensified, the nobles themselves were going to be the citizens’ main target, so they had to choose wisely if they didn’t want to get beaten to death.
“Enough with your nonsense!” a noble with a mouse-like head and eyes finally shouted. It was Marquess Crombell. He turned to the other nobles. “Why are you even listening to him? We came this far, so what choice do we have?!”
“H-he’s right! He didn’t say anything about what he was going to do with us! In the worst case, he might execute all of us after things quiet down!”
After finally coming to a realization, some nobles revealed their hostility. The more they had, the more they could lose. Most of the nobles in the chamber were the heads of the Twelve Family, the nobles holding the highest social classes.
“The knights from each family must have noticed something is wrong, so they’ll come soon! Let’s suppress the riot right away and protect the Empire with our own powers!”
“Right!”
“Kill the rebels!”
Kaizen smiled contentedly as he saw things begin to turn his way.
“Even you can’t slaughter every single one of them,” he chided Joshua. “You say you’re doing this for the country’s sake, so you can’t wipe out the nobles. They’re the pillars of the Empire.”
The noble families were scattered all over the continent, so if Joshua killed the heads here, the nobles would start another riot—maybe causing a second civil war. However, Crombell didn’t seem to be on the same page as Kaizen.
“I want you to promise that our lives and assets will be protected,” the Marquess demanded. “I would prefer you make a pledge with your blood—then you’ll have our full cooperation.”
“Marquess Crombell!” Kaizen shouted, shocked. He couldn’t understand why Crombell was suddenly saying such a thing. It was tantamount to stating that the nobles were going to abandon the princes.
“What are you going to do?” Crombell asked, undeterred by Kaizen’s angry voice. “If you aren’t planning to rebuild this country on your own, I’m sure that taking my offer is for the best.”
Joshua eyed Crombell quietly for a moment, then chuckled amusedly.
“Then die.”
“Wh-what?” Crombell stuttered. He did not, however, have time to respond further.
Tremblin vanished, soon followed by the horrific sound of a blade cleaving through human flesh.
The nobles stared, petrified, as Cromwell’s headless corpse belatedly fountained blood onto their faces, driving the shock home with every drop.
“You all must be forgetting something…” Joshua nonchalantly continued; he seemed to have expected this. “....but the citizens of Arcadia aren’t the only people who started an uprising. Just like you said, Prince Kaizen, why would I have bothered to walk all the way here?”
At some point, the outside of the palace had become as quiet as the inside.
“It’s quiet outside,” Tremblin mumbled as he shook the blood from his sword.
“I’ve taken measures,” Joshua said.
Tremblin examined him. “I don’t know what measures you took to calm the citizens’ fury, so… I’m quite curious.”
Joshua shrugged and then turned back around. “A week from today, in the grand plaza of Arcadia, I will make a public statement declaring that the citizens will choose their own leader. Your answer is?”
Kaizen trembled with humiliation, but he couldn’t even think about fighting back because he had already seen what had happened to Crombell with his own eyes.
‘Do I have no other choice…?’ Kaizen wondered.
In the end, even Kiser, who was standing beside Kaizen, lowered his head. His skills, the ability to control the nobles… Joshua was truly a remarkable man, regardless of whether or not he was Kaizen’s enemy. Now, Kaizen was starting to regret that he hadn’t made Joshua his subordinate using any means necessary…
All the nobles looked in the same direction as, after a long silence, Kiser ben Britten, Emperor Marcus’ first son and the first in line for the throne, voluntarily stood up from his throne and walked down the stairs.
“…Indeed, no younger brother is better than their older brother.” Joshua watched Kiser for a moment without saying anything, then roared, “Everyone, kneel! If you surrender now, I’ll at least spare your pathetic lives.”