Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Lies of the Great Ones
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Sex! Sex! Sex!
As spring drew to a close, the sounds filling the space before Rex's mansion were not the chirps of spring birds, but the moans of people coupling.
Ironically, the protesters' chants had not borne much fruit.
"Your Excellency! Do you not hear our voices?!"
The Shadow Lord Rex, who never showed himself publicly, did not appear even in this situation.
Instead, to justly(?) suppress the protest, Rex dispatched troops to the demonstrators.
"This is the Lord's decree. Disperse the protesters immediately. Warnings will be given only three times!"
Rex's Honor Guard currently consisted of two types.
The Fenrir Honor Guard, serving as the spear flung into battlefields.
The Yormungand Knight Order, acting as the shield protecting the capital's citizens and Rex.
Since Peter, the leader of these protesters, commanded the Fenrir Honor Guard,
it was only natural that the Honor Guard facing the protesters was Duke's.
- "What? It's Duke's Honor Guard!"
- "Do we really have to disband?"
- "Who's the one crossing the line here?!"
The protesters fell into chaos at the Yormungand Knight Order's declaration.
Before the protest began, Peter had repeatedly urged the demonstrators.
The law guaranteed protests only insofar as they remained non-violent.
Thus, the protesters must not loot shops, harass passersby, or commit any other crimes.
Thanks to Peter's earnest pleas, the citizens had largely adhered to these rules.
However, with so many people gathered, it was inevitable that some would occasionally break them.
Whenever that happened, Peter or his aides, mixed among the crowd, swiftly handled it, so the protesters' self-policing was quite effective.
But even if it amounted to mere attempts, it was true that the protesters had nearly resorted to violence at times.
Rex would have been fully justified in ordering their dispersal out of frustration.
"Hah... In the end, have we sullied the history of the first protest...?"
Peter sighed as he watched the approaching knights.
Foolish individuals swept up in emotion had tarnished the glorious first chapter of the duchy.
This wouldn't lower Peter's reputation, but that mattered little to the old man.
What mattered to him was that the first button had been sewn wrong.
Peter humbly accepted the order and prepared to disband the protesters.
But then, a familiar voice reached the old man's ears.
Peter's shoulders twitched.
A firefly spirit granted by Rex to his vassals was relaying Duke's voice.
Peter pondered briefly.
The hesitation was short-lived.
Duke had informed him of the protest, and Duke was also the commander moving to suppress it.
There must be a reason for him to say this.
Peter calmed the agitated protesters and stood off against the approaching knights for suppression.
Trusting Duke's words, he clenched his eyes shut, ignored the three warnings, and continued the protest.
Soon, someone who appeared to be the Honor Guard squad leader shouted to the knights.
"Suppress the rioters!"
The citizens' faces turned pale.
The moment those knights handpicked and trained by Duke drew their swords, they would dye the ground before the mansion red without giving time to resist.
Some even felt betrayed toward Rex and grew angry.
"As expected, he's the same as—!"
But at the knights' next actions, people grew puzzled.
Instead of drawing swords, the knights began firing water cannons at the protesters.
"Huh?"
The protesters were taken aback.
This... was suppression?
The squad leader firing the water cannon wore an awkward smile, sharing similar sentiments.
"Urgh... The protesters' resistance is fierce! Increase the water pressure!"
As the squad leader shouted like he was reading from a textbook, Peter finally grasped Rex's intent.
'Ah! It means he'll overlook our mistakes!'
Though most protesters had demonstrated peacefully, some violent incidents had undermined the protest's legitimacy.
The problem was that, per the laws Rex had declared, this protest needed to be deemed a riot and suppressed.
Failing to do so could lead future protests to turn violent, making it untenable for a law-abiding duchy to forgo punishment.
But Rex understood how much the majority had strived and that the few incidents were unavoidable.
Thus, he had ordered a "nominal suppression."
- I definitely suppressed this riot, but the rioters were so strong it failed. As for how I'll handle future riots... who knows. Try it if you can.
It felt just like that.
This resolved everything.
The protest could continue, and justification remained to suppress any future ones that turned riotous.
Though this protest would be recorded as a riot, anyone who could read even a little wouldn't truly see it as one.
A peaceful protest in rioter's clothing, through and through.
'Such a perfect solution!'
Peter admired Rex's wisdom and reaffirmed his resolve once more.
'This wisdom must not end with this generation!'
The blind old man of the 7th hierarchy faced the water cannon head-on and shouted with a voice full of determination.
"Your Excellency! In the union of man and woman, what matters most is the man's seed, and that is determined by his diet! Please take care of your health!"
""Please take care of your health!!""
The citizens bowed while taking the water cannon blast.
Meanwhile, Rex in his office.
'No! Why are they taking the water cannons like it's a water park?!'
The truth differed from Peter's misconception.
Rex had sincerely ordered the protesters' suppression.
He had seized on the fact that a tiny fraction had incited violence to label this shameful protest a riot.
However, aware that even calling it a riot was embarrassing, he ordered suppression without fatalities.
- "Water cannons... Yeah. Just fire the water cannons."
Even in 2124, the year Rex had lived, protests occurred.
Demands to recognize AI as human, or to scrap the 48 gender systems and reduce to male and female.
The government would then use tear gas or water cannons.
If that failed, they'd turn protesters into electrocuted barbecue with taser rifles.
Drawing wisdom from that government's suppression tactics, Rex gathered knights versed in water magic to fire water cannons.
- 'Well, water cannons should more than suffice for suppression.'
Water pressure strong enough to blast a sturdy adult male 10 meters away.
Ending with minor injuries made it ideal for quelling protests.
But this was Rex's miscalculation.
His standards remained stuck in his previous life.
A fragile world where(?) mere fire hose pressure could knock grown men down.
In this world, Rex's water cannon suppression felt like a spanking with a foam bat.
Not everyone could withstand the water cannons, but half treated it like a shower.
Average hierarchy had risen under Rex's reign,
there were dwarves and beastkin inherently tough,
and above all, water cannons without killing intent from Peter and the knights were no more than WWE antics.
""Your Excellency! There's a book called the Kama Sutra, written by the Incubus King! Refer to it...""
"Aaaah!"
In the end, suppression failed.
Somehow misunderstood, the protesters praised Rex even more fervently amid their moans.
Unable to endure the stress, Rex slammed his head on the desk.
And while Rex suffered in real time, suppression leader Duke watched the protest from the office window.
'What a sight.'
Satisfied with the chaos he had wrought.
'Maybe I have a talent for backroom dealings?'
When Rex ordered water cannons for suppression, Duke had instructed the squad leader and knights.
Absolutely do not fire at ordinary citizens—only at knights, Peter, or sturdy beastkin.
Of course, to ensure this prank on Rex didn't end so anticlimactically.
Thus, the water cannon suppression devolved into a splash fest.
Seeing the historian's eyes sparkle as he recorded it from afar, it seemed interpreted positively.
A successful riot(?) in every way.
As Duke leisurely admired his handiwork, his shadow writhed.
One had entered Rex's service, assigned a special mission.
The secret intelligence agency, Hell.
Her shadow magic lacked firepower compared to others in combat, but in espionage, it was unparalleled.
Thanks to that, she and her vassals handled intelligence and liaison roles.
Duke sensed the emerging agent and straightened his back.
"What is it?"
"Urgent news, sir. Lord Klamvel is about to pass soon."
"..."
Duke's elated mood sank calmly.
Klamvel.
His former adjutant, the gnome elder who had accepted heaven's mandate.
'Refusing to raise his hierarchy to the end.'
The old man qualified for one more hierarchy ascent.
He had amassed enough insight to break walls, and elixirs to elevate his realm existed.
But the old man rejected it all.
- "Because of what is fated, I have lived boldly thus far."
The old man was a staunch philosopher.
As an ordinary old man, only he could establish philosophy from the perspective of ordinary folk.
Thus, he refused hierarchy elevation.
With his remaining lifespan, completing the philosophy for Rex's future subjects was his duty.
- "Thank you. You granted me this mission."
Those were the old man's words upon stepping down as adjutant.
Watching Duke train knights into superhumans during Rex's rule, he rediscovered education's importance.
Thus, he resolved to spend his remaining days establishing philosophy for ordinary folk.
To reject the empire's ghosts of exploiting and killing for realm elevation, and the heroes' selfishness,
for a world where noble knights like Duke became the norm.
Receiving this will, Duke grew solemn.
He merely role-played such a man for amusement and self-indulgence, but this old man harbored such noble ideals sincerely.
Before him, even discussing knightly virtue shamed Duke.
Time for this venerable old man was nearing its end.
"Let's go. Lead the way."
Duke took leave without hesitation and headed to the old man's home.
In this moment, consciously embodying the perfect knight the old man so longed to see—not as the Final Boss.
The old man's mansion was modest.
The only changes from ten years ago were the roof tiles and garden plants.
Nothing else had altered much.
Stepping into the mansion's entrance, Duke saw the old man's children.
Orphans the old man had taken in long before Providence territory began, when knight orders were freeing slaves.
Not a drop of blood connected them, but souls and ideals bound these children.
Some were duchy officials, some mayors in other cities, some wandering educators enlightening folk.
One certainty: not one had strayed, a bountiful harvest in child-rearing.
As Duke recalled each child, the elf second son approached with a solemn expression.
"Thank you for coming, Duke."
"No eldest son? In his room?"
"Brother can't make it today."
"I see."
The eldest wasn't unfilial.
A rabbit beastkin, he couldn't leave Rex's side even briefly.
Just as his father spread thought to posterity, he transmitted true history unerringly.
Klamvel had urged this when passing the historian role, so the eldest suppressed emotions to fulfill it diligently.
"Father awaits."
Duke silently followed the second son to the master bedroom.
Creak... creak.
His military boots on the floor elicited sounds from the aged wood.
- "Floors must creak to filter out mediocre assassins."
The old man had said so in the past, but none believed it.
One could turn to shadow and approach silently—what use was this?
The second son, knowing the old man had scrimped even on floor repairs for his children's education, grew gloomier with each step.
"Here, Duke."
Opening a door with hinges screeching as badly as the floor revealed the old man breathing evenly in bed.
103 years old.
For a 0th hierarchy old man with no training, it was beyond longevity—practically reversing heaven.
But his children's hearts differed.
'Only 10 years...'
A lifetime as slave, unrecognized thinker, test subject—endless hardships until meeting Rex.
Yet the happy 10 years after 90 of endurance felt too short to the children.
The second son ushered Duke in and left.
- *Sniff...*
- Brother, calm down. *Sob.* Not in front of the knight.
Voices of children echoed outside.
Duke pretended not to hear and called the old man.
"Adjutant."
"..."
"Late riser today."
"Ah, it's you... Duke."
The old man laboriously opened his mouth.
Duke conversed calmly with him.
"Why not call for Rex?"
"He'll come soon... soon..."
"Something to say to me?"
"Heh heh. This old man... in his final days... played a little trick."
Klamvel drew his left hand from under the blanket, pointing to a drawer.
"It's complete. Actually... a year ago."
"Then why not say so?"
"The dead's thought can't be refuted."
The old man smiled on his wrinkled face.
"My strength waned... I lacked confidence to best the company commanders verbally. Couldn't burden my children. So I tried this ruse."
Duke recalled the company commanders Klamvel meant.
1st: Hated democracy, worshipped philosopher-kings.
2nd: Valued personal growth through endless trials.
3rd: Cynic advocating ruthless, realistic politics.
'Hmm. Indeed.'
Colleagues aligned in purpose, they respected the gnome adjutant's thought but never endorsed it.
Those lunatics would hound the dying old man for refutation evidence.
Knowing their nature, he chose to pass without leaving proof.
"As a philosopher... shameful trickery."
Of course, the dead's thought isn't irrefutable.
But it holds far stronger appeal than the living's, with many advocates, gaining argumentative advantage.
Yet Duke had one question.
"Then why tell me?"
"Someone must discover the dead old man's book."
"Isn't Rex there?"
"I don't want to burden the boy whipped by fate... with a departing old man's lie."
"You knew."
"Heh heh. Eyes still clear enough. I realized recently too."
Most vassals and officials saw Rex as a perfect superhuman.
Company commanders viewed him as embodying their ideals,
Ari as shy but capable ruler,
Peter as unquestionable lord of talent.
But Klamvel differed.
He had pierced Rex's essence.
A boy growing amid luck and misconceptions.
(Appearance boyish, but nearing 50.)
"Lies are burdens. For one living eternities, no burden harsher. Knight... please bear a little."
Duke nodded without hesitation.
He locked the drawer with the book, role-playing the noble knight as always.
"I'll open that drawer after you've gone."
"Thank you, Duke."
Lies were familiar to him.
Familiar enough to uphold lifelong.
No one fitter than Duke, whose conscience triangle had circled, dusted over.
"Thank you... Knight..."
Klamvel murmured sleepily.
As if saving final words for his lord, he rested briefly.
Duke gave him time for shut-eye and left the room.
'Did he see through me too?'
Duke wondered momentarily while leaving but shook it off.
What did it matter?
No urge to silence the old man arose.
Either way, to him, Duke remained the noble knight.
"Though flesh fails, your spirit endures eternally."
Speaking to the old man who might hear, Duke left to await Rex.
Two hours later.
Rex arrived at the mansion for a long talk with the founding merit.
One hour later.
A black flag hung before the great sage's home.