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In the imperial palace of the Avalon Empire, the Second Prince Kaizen was pacing back and forth, cursing, “In three days… In only three days, this Empire’s fate is going to be decided…? Ah, fuck!”
“Calm down,” the First Prince Kiser said.
There were only the two of them inside the room.
“Ha! You’re always too calm, brother. How can you still say that?”
“What am I supposed to do? Do you have any other solution?” Kiser asked back.
Kaizen gritted his teeth. “We have no other way. Our opponent is too strong! The tide has already turned! Stop talking like a loser and let’s start talking about something new and constructive! Are you not angry? For three years, you and I have been fighting like dogs. Many of our subordinates were sacrificed and we used up a lot of money during the fight! Even a mere kingdom and those vermin citizens insulted us, and we still put up with it. But we’re letting someone else benefit from all our efforts now?!”
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
Still unable to calm down, Kaizen huffed and puffed in anger for a long time. “In addition to that, the person taking everything from us is the descendant of King Kunir and a part of the Ducal Family of Agnus… Shit, I’ll have to avoid meeting Father even in the afterworld.”
“If that’s our fate, then we should accept it,” Kiser said.
“What?”
“Besides, it’s not over yet. Joshua said he’d comply with the citizens’ decision, not take the throne by force.”
Kaizen’s face was so red now that it looked like he was going to burst any minute. “There is no way those vermin would choose us! You may not know this because you’ve cooped yourself up in the palace, but Joshua Sanders is already a celebrity around the entire continent! A hero of the century that ended the Continental War on his own!”
“I’m well aware of it.”
“You know it and… Urgh!” Kaizen covered his face with his hands, too furious and frustrated to continue.
“Let it go. There is nothing we can do now.”
“You’re going to sit still and hand over the Empire on a silver platter?” Kaizen growled.
“If that’s what the citizens want.”
“Haven’t you heard what the nobles said? There is no precedent for this in the entire continent. Becoming an emperor is definitely not the same as becoming the president of the academy!” Kaizen shouted.
“We should consider ourselves lucky that he’s not taking the throne by force.”
“Then what about Lady Charles?” Kaizen asked. Kiser instantly turned silent, drawing a crooked smile from Kaizen. “You can give up a country, but you can’t let him have one girl?”
“…Watch it, Kaizen.”
“If I could do as I please, I’d make her mine and force her to sleep with me in front of you to fix your entire mindset…”
Kiser glared at Kaizen, openly baring his murderous intent.
“I won’t since it won’t do me any good to make more enemies,” Kaizen continued.
“…Don’t do anything stupid. Just like you said, it won’t do you any good to get on the wrong side of Joshua Sanders.”
“Hmph, are you worried about him killing me? Well, it’ll be better than living with those vermin and losing the throne.”
“Kaizen, you…!”
“I’ll get going,” Kaizen said. He turned away as if his business there was done.
“What are you going to do?”
“Unlike someone, I at least won’t hide like a coward.”
After saying that, Kaizen slammed the door shut with a loud thud.
The Imperial Knights that had been assigned to Kiser’s palace were standing outside the door as guards.
“What are you looking at?” Kaizen growled.
“…We apologize, Your Highness.” The knights bowed politely.
Kaizen scowled at them angrily for a moment, but then walked away.
* * *
“Fuck, a solution… I have to find a way,” Kaizen mumbled.
Kaizen’s footsteps echoed down the long, otherwise silent hallway of the palace. Although the palace was very vast, no one was nearby except Kaizen, not even the servants that usually roamed around the palace; they were worried that the Second Prince would blindly take out his anger on them.
“It’s obvious how the rest of my life is going to be if I get kicked out of the palace like this, but there is no realistic way to fight against Joshua.”
At that moment, Kaizen recalled Joshua’s surreal combat skills and goosebumps ran down his arms.
“Hold his family hostage…? No, it wouldn’t work. After everything that happened, he’ll definitely be keeping his people safe and secure, so I should think of a good plan that no one would expect.”
Kaizen thought for a very long time, but he ended up pulling out his hair in frustration.
“Urgh… I can’t think of anything no matter how hard I think. How should I…!”
Kaizen was furious about how helpless he was and the fact that he was going to lose everything because of one person. Although he had talked big, there was no other way, just like Kiser had said.
“Fuck! If at least Evergrant was alive…!”
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.” A man appeared in front of Kaizen without making any sound.
Kaizen’s eyes popped wide open in surprise. “Wh-who are you?”
“Shhh,” the man hissed. “Don’t yell.”
“Yo-you aren’t from around here. How…?”
“Well, it’s a piece of cake for me when I use my ability.”
“W-what?” Kaizen couldn’t believe his ears. The place he was standing in right now was the imperial palace of the great Avalon Empire. The Empire might not be as great as it had been before, but the palace was still a formidable fortress that was protected by hundreds of Imperial Knights and all sorts of magic circles.
“Err…” Kaizen grunted quietly for a moment and then quickly took a look around, preparing himself to shout for help if anything happened.
However… the man said, “I’m here to make a proposal, Your Highness.”
Kaizen had to reconsider his choice. “A p-proposal?”
“Shall we move to someplace else? Just a heads-up, it won’t be difficult for you since you’ve already done this.”
“Then identify yourself first!” Kaizen yelled.
“…Pardon?”
“I’m the prince of this country! How am I supposed to trust and follow a stranger?!”
“…Indeed…” The man pondered for a moment and smiled. “I’m Marco, Heimdall’s third apostle.”
“Heimdall…?”
“You don’t have to know more.”
“That’s not—”
Marco shook his head. “Let’s stop wasting time. I think you already know that I would have harmed you already if I wanted to; the important part is that I have the power to make your goal come true.”
“You know… what I want?”
“You wish to eliminate Joshua Sanders and take the throne, don’t you? Come, I’ll tell you the plan,” Marco nonchalantly replied and put his hand on the palace wall. Something surprising happened: on the ordinary wall, a black hole was suddenly created. Marco walked through the hole without hesitation.
“Ho-how…?” Kaizen mumbled blankly when he was left alone in the hallway. He lived in this palace, but he had never seen that secret passage. If Marco wanted, he could have assassinated anyone in the palace. It was giving Kaizen goosebumps.
However, that was it.
‘Besides… it can’t get any worse.’
Kaizen came to a decision and took a step forward.
The black hole swallowed Kaizen and closed with a small mechanical sound, and then the hallway was silent.
* * *
Numerous people were gathered in a small mansion located far away from the center of Arcadia. It was also where Lucia had been kidnapped before. The key personnel of the Auxiliary Battalion, Charles, Iceline… everyone was looking in the same direction.
“Lady Charles, I think everyone has arrived now… Can you tell us what happened in the palace and how many nobles support His Highness Joshua?”
Charles nodded. “First of all, and actually the most important part: Duke Tremblin promised to support Joshua.”
“Ohhhh!”
“Oh my god, the Sword Emperor!”
The knights of the Auxiliary Battalion that hadn’t known about it rejoiced, but Charles’ face was still grim.
Iceline noticed it quickly.
“But there is a problem,” the mage noted.
“…Yes, you’re right.”
“What kind of a problem…?” Iceline cautiously asked.
“Half,” Charles said.
“Half…?”
“Aside from Duke Tremblin, exactly half of the remaining nobles support Joshua.”
The knights’ faces brightened up even more; they couldn’t see how things could get any better. In contrast, Iceline’s expression crumpled.
“That’s really good!” Ranger raised his hands high in the air. “Basically, the majority of the nobles are supporting His Highness, right?”
“No, it’s not good at all,” Cazes bitterly replied.
“Huh? What do you mean, Cazes?” Ranger tilted his head in confusion.
“It doesn’t matter now since His Highness said that he’ll follow the citizens’ decision, not the nobles’.”
“Bu-but the fact that half of those stubborn nobles are on our side is…”
“No, at least eighty percent of the nobles should have supported His Highness since he has the public’s favor. It’s already safe to assume that His Highness is going to be the next emperor.”
Ranger shook his head. “I’m an idiot, so I don’t get what in the world the problem is.”
“Can’t you tell that even if His Highness ascends the throne, the other half of those nobles are going to oppose him right away?”
“Aha, well, can’t we just kill them all if they resist until the end?” Ranger said, offering a very ignorant opinion.
Cazes scowled. “The citizens haven’t recovered from the civil war that just took place yet, but you want to start another one?”
Ranger's eyes widened as he finally came to a realization.
“It’s not good for His Highness either. The citizens might think that he’s a tyrant like Emperor Marcus.”
“St-still! How can they compare His Highness to that lunatic emperor?”
“I’m just saying that things can get really bad,” Cazes said.
“Mmmm…”
A silence fell upon the gathering.
Charles sighed quietly. “That isn’t the only problem. I did say half, but none of the high-ranking nobles like the Twelve Families support Joshua.”
“If they oppose and resist at the cost of their lives… it’s going to be horrible.” Cazes shook his head. He didn’t even want to imagine what was going to happen.
“So I brought someone,” Charles said.
“…Pardon?”
“I really couldn’t think of a way.”
“So you mean that someone else is going to come too?” Cazes asked.
Charles nodded. “You won’t be disappointed. She’s the most genius strategist I know.”
“Genius strategist…? Wait…”
Right on cue, the entrance creaked open.
They turned to look at the door and their eyes immediately became as wide as moons.
“Huh, everyone is here already? Are we too late?”
“We ran nonstop, but we’re still… I’m sorry. We had so much work to do…”
Two people entered the room. One was a woman who was as beautiful as Charles and Iceline, and another one was an ordinary-looking man—it would be very easy to find someone who resembled him in the streets.
When Charles looked at the two people, she beamed. “All of the most elite people on the continent that will make Joshua the emperor have finally arrived now.”