Chapter 367
Chapter 367
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.77 – After He Left (1)
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...The knight had left.
However, no newspaper reported on it, so no one paid much attention to the departure of that one man.
Or more accurately, no one knew.
Of course, the nobles had surely controlled information about the knight, but they probably didn't attach much significance to the exit of a single individual either.
Just one 'person.'
All that had happened was that this person had vanished from the kingdom.
Sure, that person had saved the kingdom multiple times and even committed the unprecedented act of assaulting the king at a banquet hall...
Unfortunately, human memory is volatile, and above all, most people were unaware of the knight's 'feats.'
The instances where he saved the kingdom had never properly garnered attention in the first place, and even the few known achievements were often dismissed as exaggerations or rumors.
He did get some spotlight from the 'Edmund King Assault Incident,' but all the real attention had gone to Crown Princess Isis, so the knight himself hadn't drawn much notice.
...On top of that, pressure from the Noble Council had kept newspapers from properly covering it, leaving even the common folk largely ignorant of who the knight really was.
As a result, only those in the know were aware of the exile order, and even those who heard rumors in some form tended to forget them quickly.
And moreover...
"To the guillotine with King Edmund!!"
"Send the traitors to the guillotine!!"
"Those filthy bastards...!"
The kingdom's chaos had accelerated that volatility, further eroding public interest.
Boom!!
"It's the soldiers!"
"Run...!"
Resentment toward the royal family continued to pour out, and radical protests showed no signs of stopping.
Ten days after the knight's departure, the kingdom's demonstrations had become as routine as daily life for the people.
At some point, folks went about their business even when protesters appeared—selling goods, heading to their jobs at merchant caravans or workshops.
In a way, it was a normalization of everyday life; in another, a slightly altered routine.
Humans, those adaptable creatures, were adjusting to the chaos itself amid the turmoil.
...Ironically.
Bang!
"How long do you intend to let these protesters run wild?"
"Calm down."
"Do I look like I'm in the mood to calm down? Those lowly scum dare to..."
"Ahem..."
The kingdom's grand conference, now convening for the second time this year already.
A gathering of key institutions: the Noble Council, Merchant Alliance, Guild Association, Mercenary Union, and the Temple.
These were people with no time to spare for meetings—something usually held just once every two years was already on its second round.
Naturally, the topic was the unrest plaguing the kingdom.
The commoners might have grown accustomed to protests and fiery speeches from intellectuals, treating them like background noise, but the kingdom's vested interests could never accept it as normal.
Of course not.
Those actions were, in truth, direct challenges to their authority.
Well...
"'Lowly scum'... Does that include 'us' in the races you're referring to?"
"!?"
"Hm, yes, that's exactly what it means."
"P-Please, calm down! He was just excited—he didn't mean it toward you all!"
"We'll see about that once we crack open his skull."
"......"
Gulp...
The Noble Council members glared murderously at the one who'd let that remark slip.
His words had visibly chilled the gazes from the Guild Association, Merchant Alliance, Mercenary Union, and Temple.
"I-I misspoke! That's not what I meant..."
He scrambled to take it back, but
Creak.
"I'll take my leave then. No point staying—nothing productive's coming out of this."
"!!!"
The Guild Association stood up first and stormed out.
"Ah, it's not really about the councilor's words. Just... no substance here. I figured there'd be something worth hearing since you called this conference, but... Haa, whatever."
It wasn't just the nobles' loose tongues.
The conference was utterly pointless.
Proof? Not a single great noble had bothered to attend, nor had the Crown Princess shown up.
This wasn't a grand conference.
It was a waste of time, nothing more.
The Guild Association departed with that firm conviction.
"W-Wait! Hold on!"
"What are we supposed to do now?!"
They tried to stop the Guild Association, but they ignored them.
True to form for those who hated wasting time most of all.
And then...
Creak.
"W-Well then, we'll be going too."
The Merchant Alliance.
Every bit as time-conscious as the guilds—perhaps more so, with their creed that time is money—they rose next.
"The Temple has unstable times ahead, so..."
Followed by the Temple.
"Don't call us for more of these pointless meetings next time. Unless you've got some satisfying gold on offer."
The Mercenary Union brought up the rear, ending the conference.
...Just like that, anticlimactically.
"What the hell..."
"Now what?!"
"Why blame me?"
"Because you ran your mouth with that nonsense!"
"No, I just..."
"Save your excuses. Think before you speak. You think shouting loudest in conference wins points...?"
"What'd you say? You think you can just sit there and—"
The councilors grabbed each other's collars and started brawling.
"...What a headache."
But no one stepped in to stop them.
After all, 90% of what Noble Council members did was squabble among themselves.
Debates often escalated to fists, so everyone just shrugged it off.
Besides, with the current impasse, even intervening felt exhausting.
"Hoo... This is maddening."
Though the council was a den of corruption, it wasn't entirely devoid of talent.
Some could think critically and read the state of affairs.
Baron Raysen.
The young political noble leading a respectable house despite his baronial rank clutched his aching head.
'The situation grows stifling by the day, yet we can't align our wills...'
Raysen could see it clearly.
The kingdom's state was deteriorating rapidly.
Where exactly?
'It'd be easier to find what's not going wrong.'
King Edmund's betrayal.
Whether from its ripple effects or festering old wounds turning gangrenous, the southern continent was undergoing drastic shifts.
Prime examples...
'Briton's remnants showing suspicious movements. Lord-class monsters emerging among the beasts, forming forces. Local beastkin factions making covert contacts. Factions from the Noble Council on down starting to amass private armies... Hah, what a spectacle.'
Earth-shaking news, every bit of it.
Briton's remnants.
Those persistent nuisances were crawling back like undead, eyeing the kingdom's chaos as opportunity.
A multitude of lord-class monsters.
Implying births like goblin champions, troll emperors, ogre lords, wyvern warriors—if they rose together, it'd drain most of the kingdom's strength to quell.
Beastkin factions meeting in the provinces.
A harbinger of warlords emerging.
Potentially birthing empire-like hegemony seekers...
And finally, private armies.
Signaling each-fends-for-themselves survivalism. But they were arming precisely because of the threats above.
In crises like those, raw military power would reign supreme.
Drip...
'Why? Why is everything piling up at once?'
Raysen broke into cold sweat at the dam-burst sequence of events, vision blurring with despair.
From the utterly sudden chain of crises...
"—Not sudden at all. Those idiots."
Simon clicked his tongue in disgust.
As if the mere sight provoked fury.
But was that icy demeanor unfamiliar?
His beastkin twin siblings—his escorts—tilted their heads, eyes wide.
"Uncle."
"What's up?"
"...Sorry. Just seeing those morons ticks me off."
"What's moronic?"
"Why?"
"You think you'd get it if I explained?"
"...Huh, explain it."
"Nicely."
"...You leaving it to me?"
Simon tsked at the brazen beastkin twins.
Maybe because he'd seen so many fools today?
He vented his frustration, spelling out why the others were idiots.
"You sense the mood too, right? Chaos inside and out, incidents everywhere."
"Yeah, we know."
"Roan bro's face is always stiff lately."
"Good you know. But do you get why all these incidents are hitting simultaneously?"
"Nope."
"We're still kids—too young for hard stuff."
"Nah, it's not hard at all. People overcomplicate it. The cause is simple."
"Cause?"
"Simple?"
"Yeah, simple."
They're confused only because it all hit at once.
Simply put.
—This kingdom was always riddled with crises everywhere. It just had a 'fixer' to handle them... but now...
There was simply no one left to fix them.