Chapter 9
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 9 - The Moment Trust is Betrayed
That night, all the Southern nobles were gathered in the secret banquet hall of the Livia Citadel.
The air had sunk heavily, and Count Wilhelm, seated at the head of the table, detailed the private meeting he had experienced with Edric Noel.
"That gaze... was not that of an ordinary ambitious man. He harbors a massive greed, enough to consider the bribes his father has received as mere snacks. He is trying to swallow all of us whole."
The nobles stirred.
At that moment, one noble carefully opened his mouth.
"Count, then how about giving money to both sides instead? To the father, Count Palatine Albert, and to his son as well."
The banquet hall buzzed at that noble's words.
A noble next to him glared at him as if he were pathetic.
"Do you have money rotting and overflowing?"
"No... I mean we should go the safe route."
Count Wilhelm looked at that noble pathetically.
To have to lead bastards like this and work...
He sighed and spoke.
"If both sides find out about such actions, we will be torn to death by two beasts at the same time. And we do not have time. Edric will surely take his next action soon to pressure us."
"N... next action, you say?"
As soon as those words ended, the office door opened.
A messenger rushed in through the open door and spoke.
"R-reporting! Chancellor Sir Edric Noel has issued an order. He commands the commoner leadership, the noble leadership, and even the family knight orders to all assemble in the plaza tomorrow at noon!"
As Wilhelm's prediction turned out to be correct, the banquet hall began to murmur.
Wilhelm smiled coldly as he looked at those nobles.
"Look, it is a signal telling us to definitely make a choice. There is no half-hearted neutrality anymore."
"C... Count Wilhelm, which side do you think it is better to attach ourselves to?"
The nobles asked for Wilhelm's decision.
He answered firmly.
"I saw the eyes of that burning wolf. An obsession incomparable to what his father has received lingered there... In this world, it is not the strong who win, but the ruthless who win."
"W... was it to that extent!? That Edric brat, no, Sir Edric..."
Wilhelm merely nodded without a word.
The nobles who heard his words checked each other's reactions before they began to speak.
"I think it would be better to attach ourselves to Sir Edric."
"I also think that would be best!"
As the opinions began to consolidate according to Count Wilhelm's will, he smiled in satisfaction.
As the head of the Southern nobles, he concluded the matter.
"Then I will consider it decided! We will now decide on Edric, not Albert, as our new partner!"
"Yes!"
"Sir Rikain!"
"Yes, Count."
"Prepare the 'gift' to give to Edric. Combine it with the gift meant for Albert next month and prepare it very lavishly."
"Understood!"
When the situation was sorted out, the Count could finally take a breather.
He had panicked a little at the unexpected appearance of the wolf, but it was fine.
His plan was still cruising smoothly.
The day that dream comes true was not far away.
Yes... it was definitely not far away.
The next day at noon, Livia Plaza.
The plaza was filled with a heterogeneous tension.
On one side stood the commoners in shabby clothes, and on the other side stood the nobles' knight orders wearing splendid armor.
Saintess Azelia looked at the podium with anxious eyes from among the commoner leadership.
The situation where even knights had gathered fully armed felt like the eve of a massacre surrounding the commoners.
"Saintess... the situation is strange."
"It seems they intend to kill us."
Fearful voices erupted from the commoner leadership.
The stigmata carved on the back of Azelia's hand blinked uneasily.
"Please do not worry. Everyone... it will definitely be resolved well."
Azelia recalled Edric taking the evidence from her.
And she clenched her hands, trusting him once more.
"Look at that!"
"It's Lord Edric!!"
Just then, Edric revealed himself on the podium.
Edric slowly walked toward the center of the podium.
Count Wilhelm approached him with a servile smile and spoke.
"Sir Edric, for the stability of the South, we have prepared a small gift and placed it in Sir Edric's carriage. Please accept it."
It was a blatant bribe.
Edric replied coldly with an expressionless face.
"I will check it later."
It was an indifferent attitude, but at Edric's words that didn't refuse, Wilhelm cheered inwardly.
'It's done! This guy is indeed on our side!'
On the other hand, Azelia's heart, watching that scene, froze.
'It couldn't be... right?... Even so, could it be...'
Anxiety gradually washed over her, wondering if her choice to trust him even to the point of handing over the crystal sphere last night was wrong.
And Edric stood at the center of the podium and turned on the sound-amplifying magic tool.
"Following the command of His Highness the Prince, I have completed the investigation of the South."
Edric's voice began to ring out clearly.
That voice was low and heavy.
"As a result, the nobles' unjust tax exploitation and usury have been confirmed."
At Edric's words, cheers began to flow out from among the commoners.
Is justice finally being realized!
Just as the commoners' expectations were about to grow, the corners of Edric's mouth began to tear upward.
It was exactly like an evil snake toying with the hearts of pitiful people.
"However... the nobles have already admitted their faults themselves and expressed their intention to reflect by punishing themselves. Therefore, in accordance with the Imperial Law, I intend to take their confessions into consideration and conclude this matter with a fine and a three-month probation."
The plaza was instantly engulfed in silence.
Despair and terror spread among the commoners, and Azelia almost collapsed as her legs lost their strength.
How could this be... I trusted him... I trusted him...
Wilhelm and the other nobles wore smiles of victory and signaled to their knights.
The commoners would naturally be unable to accept this ruling.
They would start to resist, and the nobles simply had to suppress it legally.
However...
Bang — !
"However!!!!"
Edric's shout tore the plaza apart.
All eyes were pinned on him once again.
"An absolutely unforgivable crime has been discovered."
Edric pulled out the crystal sphere Azelia had given him from his embrace.
And without hesitation, he threw it onto the floor of the podium and shattered it.
Crash—!
The shock of destroying the precious evidence was brief; the blue magic power erupting from the crystal sphere created a massive illusion in the sky above the plaza.
The scene shown by that illusion was the site of a gruesome massacre.
The noble's wife, a baby, and numerous servants were being massacred by unidentified bandits.
But looking at their attire and faces, some people realized whose memory this was.
"Th... that is..."
"It's Lord Riere! That is Lord Riere's crest!!"
Viscount Riere, who was the most respected in the South.
His final memories before dying were revealed to everyone in the plaza.
The illusion was truly terrible.
The deaths of all the innocent people were vividly conveyed, and not long after, everyone in the Riere household died.
And from among the attacking bandits, Count Wilhelm quietly walked out.
Riere, the owner of the memory, spat blood with difficulty and spoke.
"Wilhelm... Not only did you exploit the people, but to conspire with the Carlos Kingdom, have you truly gone mad!"
At Riere's cry in the illusion, Wilhelm's complexion turned ashen.
But soon, wearing a fishy smile, he spoke.
"To have found out that much... It is a pity, my friend. See, if you had just stood on my side earlier, this kind of thing wouldn't have happened."
At Wilhelm's words, Riere's laughter could be heard.
His face couldn't be seen, but everyone felt what kind of expression Riere was making.
He was laughing in sheer disbelief at the absurd words.
"Even if I die and become fertilizer for the empire... I have no intention of becoming a traitor."
"My friend... that is why you are a fool. Who in the world decided the kings and emperors? They were merely there because they were lucky."
Wilhelm drew his sword.
And he plunged the sword into Riere's chest.
Stab—!
"Keugh!!!"
"Watch from the afterlife, as I become the King of the South..."
With those final words, Wilhelm's sword was pulled out.
Riere's body collapsed powerlessly.
And gradually, Riere's vision darkened... and the image ended.
"..............."
"............"
The image ended, but the plaza was engulfed in a dreadful silence.
Both the commoners and the nobles had expressions of shock at the news that defied imagination, and all their gazes gathered on Count Wilhelm.
Step—! Step—! Step—!
In that silence, Edric walked in front of Count Wilhelm together with Liesel and the Zeruel Knight Order.
Looking down coldly at Wilhelm, who could not say a word from the massive shock, Edric declared.
"Count Wilhelm, you are under arrest on charges of treason."
As soon as Edric's words fell, Liesel and the Zeruel Knight Order thrust their blades at Wilhelm's neck.
It was the moment the King of the South fell.