The Villain's Ending is Only Death Chapter 64
Why do all kinds of reinforcements only arrive after the emergency is over?
I quietly watched as the guards rushed in through the only entrance.
Among the silver-armored soldiers, there were a few people in golden robes. They were the palace mages.
They quickly confirmed and declared the death of the half-melted monster.
"Since it's vulnerable to magic attacks, it's rarely used in combat..."
Upon hearing the details, it seemed that they had brought a monster capable of infinite proliferation, specialized in physical force, taking advantage of the ban on mages participating in the hunting competition.
It was rare for a noble like me, who appeared at the elegantly dressed banquet hall with a weapon.
Moreover, after a thorough inspection, no one was found to be carrying a magical weapon.
After all, the pride of the nobles who participate in the annual hunting competition is to win by relying on their innate hunting instincts and skills without the help of magic.
Thus, my crossbow attack, enchanted with lightning magic, was the only one that worked.
Indeed, it seemed that the game with a story had a plausible development.
'But how did Berte participate?'
That question came to mind again, but there was no way to find out.
Perhaps because they focused all their efforts on controlling the monster, the resistance from the remnants of the Holy Kingdom was not as fierce as expected.
The trapped rats were quickly subdued.
"Let go of me! Let go of me! Aren't you afraid of the gods, you scoundrels!"
Curious about who these people were, I watched from a distance.
The crown prince roughly peeled off the cloths covering the faces of the struggling men.
"Is this the end, Calisto Regulus-!"
As expected, the leader was an old woman.
Then the faces of the other five were revealed.
Surprisingly, they were three emaciated women and two young boys around ten years old.
"The gods are watching your wickedness! We will tear you limb from limb and restore the fallen Holy Kingdom..."
The old woman continued to curse and struggle against the crown prince.
Calisto remained unperturbed by the terrifying words.
Instead, he waved his hand with a somewhat bored expression.
The old woman and the women were dragged away by the knights.
Only the two miserable-looking boys remained.
As the knights tried to take them away, the crown prince raised his hand to stop them.
"That... There was a powerful no-entry magic barrier around the banquet hall. We summoned the mages urgently to remove the spell, but the magic power was so strong..."
The captain of the guard could not continue, feeling apologetic.
The crown prince, not particularly bothered, nodded.
It seemed he had figured out the reason, and his terrifying red eyes turned to the remaining boys.
If they were normal children, they should have been terrified with their identities exposed.
However, the boys showed no signs of fear, even with the focused attention.
Their empty eyes, staring into space, were somewhat chilling.
Following Calisto's order, the knights roughly stripped the boys.
After a moment, one of the knights shouted.
"We found a magic amplifier!"
Attached to the boys' ears were small, black, square chips.
'A magic amplifier... a mage?'
The palace mages carefully removed the chips from the boys' bodies.
The two boys, who had shown no resistance until then, collapsed like puppets with their strings cut the moment the devices were removed.
I was startled by the sight and flinched.
However, the crown prince showed no mercy for the children.
"Take them to the dungeon."
The loyal knights roughly grabbed the boys by the collars.
Just as they were about to drag them away,
Someone quickly stepped out from among the knights.
The owner of the silver hair was none other than Berte.
"What is it, Viscount Berte?"
"Your Highness, please entrust these children to me."
Berte, who had hastily blocked the path of the boys, bowed and pleaded.
The crown prince tilted his head.
"These children have clearly been brainwashed through hypnosis for a long time and cannot think normally."
"I can remove the brainwashing. It would be more helpful to revive their memories and identify the remaining remnants, rather than just killing innocent victims, as in the previous kidnapping incident in the Haill estate."
Berte explained calmly why the children should be entrusted to him.
However, I could easily sense how desperately he was trying to help.
He was the one who had threatened the princess to protect the children rescued from the half-mage organization.
"Viscount, this is different from an incident in a mere viscount's estate."
But the crown prince cut Berte's proposal short.
"This is an attack on the palace banquet hall. Those involved will be executed on the spot, regardless of the reason."
"However, Your Highness, it is too harsh to treat them the same as the main culprits when they were not acting of their own will. Please show some mercy..."
"Enough. Take them away."
The crown prince cut him off, clearly not wanting to hear more.
Berte looked at the children being dragged away with a dazed expression.
'Why is he going to such lengths?'
But recalling the children with animal masks huddled together, I couldn't easily dismiss his efforts as overacting.
Just as the knights were about to drag the children through the crowd,
I stepped forward and blocked their path.
"I agree with Viscount Berte."
People's attention immediately turned to me.
Among them were the other male leads, including Berte and the crown prince.
The blue eyes that met mine felt particularly piercing.
Derrick, with his cold, rigid expression, and Renald, frowning deeply.
I felt the pressure to stay out of it.
But I ignored it and spoke.
"Please allow the children to be entrusted to the viscount to remove the brainwashing, Your Highness."
The crown prince's eyebrows twitched as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
I slowly spoke, glancing up at his slightly flickering golden hair.
"The signs of abuse are so clear; it seems too harsh to execute them."
I pointed to the children, whose collars were still in the knights' hands.
Their necks, exposed by their disheveled clothes, were covered in bruises and scars.
The crowd, noticing this, began to murmur in sympathy.
Pity for the children began to rise.
The crown prince, clearly displeased with my intervention, laughed coldly with a flash of his blood-red eyes.
"Since when do princesses get to comment on the affairs of the country?"
"Then, if I had killed them all, would I not even be allowed to speak this much?"
Servants were cleaning up the remains of the melted monsters scattered around the banquet hall.
Though it was embarrassing to say, the evidence of my incredible performance was clear.
The crown prince glared at me, clenching his jaw.
'Well, he has nothing to say, does he?'
His hair flickered precariously.
I quickly bowed and repeated my request, disguised as a plea.
"They are just children. Please show some mercy, Your Highness."
I wasn't particularly trying to help Berte.
I'm not that kind of incredibly kind person.
It was just that the miserable state of the children, who had been used and were about to be discarded like trash...
I couldn't just stand by and watch. That's why I did it. It wasn't like me.
I felt intense, burning gazes from all around. Finally,
"...Restrain them and put them in Viscount Berte's carriage."
The crown prince reluctantly agreed with a displeased tone.
I immediately checked his favorability. Fortunately, it hadn't changed from 9%.
Relieved, a white square window appeared before my eyes.
〈SYSTEM〉 Your reputation has increased by +10. (Total: 90)
Though not intended, my reputation had increased. Stunned, I looked at the system window.
"I didn't know the princess had such compassion."
The crown prince mocked me.
"I was going to give you a reward, but it seems unnecessary now."
'Tch, stingy bastard. I don't need your reward anyway.'
As I grumbled, watching the crown prince walk away, I felt a strange sensation.
The crown prince's favorability had increased by 1%.
'Well, at least this episode is over without any major issues.'
Despite the unexpected appearance of the monster, which nearly killed me, the outcome was not bad.
Not only did the crown prince's favorability unexpectedly increase, but the hunting competition was likely to be canceled due to today's incident.
'Please, just let it end here... and please don't show that main quest or whatever again.'
Even if it did, I wouldn't do it again.
Apart from the discomfort of my body moving involuntarily, it was really not something I should do.
As the tension eased with the crown prince's departure, my whole body ached.
'I need to lie down immediately. Otherwise, I'll die.'
Looking around, it seemed the situation was being brought under control.
There were injured people being carried away on stretchers, but fortunately, there were no fatalities.
'I need to get to Emily as soon as possible.'
I didn't know where the carriage was.
But I didn't want to wander around looking for the two brothers who had suddenly disappeared.
With the banquet hall strictly controlled by the guards and mages after the attack, I had to go outside to meet Emily.
Other nobles were also leaving the hall one