Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Battlefield of Justice
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An urn arrived at the Eschric royal family.
It was an exquisitely crafted jar made with utmost care by the duchy's artisans, appearing luxurious at first glance.
Other gifts arrived alongside the urn, but none stood out quite like it.
"What wind is blowing through the duke?"
"Your Majesty, if I may, I believe the duchy desires stability in the regime more than war."
People crave peace when their backs are warm and their bellies full.
Rather than risking dangerous adventures through needless war, most power holders shared the common wish to live peacefully.
The Minister of Military Affairs presumed even Rex was no exception. And that presumption was correct.
But King Eschric merely scoffed in response.
"They take my daughter as a hostage and now speak of peace? The duke has some nerve. And you— are you a vassal of the kingdom or a spy for the duchy?"
Just for mentioning peace, the king's killing intent turned toward the minister.
The minister flinched under the sudden pressure.
Fortunately, the blade of purge did not hang over the minister's neck.
"Your Majesty! A letter has arrived from the duchy with news of the princess!"
The news of his beloved princess took precedence over purging a subordinate.
The king, maintaining at least some dignity, leaned back on his throne and nodded toward the Minister of the Interior.
Receiving the signal, the minister read the letter aloud.
"[To the King of Eschric. I hope the elixir I'm sending suits your taste— Duke Awik]···?"
Finishing the short message written in elegant script, the minister tilted his head.
Duke? Not the duke?
Why the second-in-command?
Gifts between national leaders were typically sent in the name of the representative.
Thus, Duke sending the gift left ample room for interpretation.
It could be an act of placing the king beneath him,
or an attempt to curry favor by shifting from Rex toward the king's side,
or a subtle hint that he was now the true power in the duchy.
Normally, one would infer by combining it with intelligence from the duchy.
But since they had replaced their skilled spies during the previous factory raid, the kingdom had zero information on the duchy.
Thus, it was impossible to discern Duke's true intent from this letter alone.
Those who had thought that far naturally turned their gazes to the pile of gifts.
Especially to the beautiful urn that stood out prominently among them.
"We must check the elixir inside."
The king gestured for his subordinates to bring the urn before him.
The urn was neither large nor small.
With the urn now in front of him, the king propped his chin boredly and ordered his subordinates again.
"Open it."
It was mere vanity; opening it himself would tarnish his dignity.
At the king's command, the subordinates opened the beautiful lid atop the urn.
As the lid lifted, a fragrant aroma wafted out first.
All present could tell experientially that the scent came from the elixir.
"Heh."
Even King Eschric let out a sigh.
As one who had drunk elixirs like water, he had reached the realm where he could judge their quality by scent alone.
And this elixir was undoubtedly top-grade.
The king's face lit with joy as he peered into the urn.
This level of sincerity makes discussing peace not such a bad idea, he thought in a corner of his mind.
But the moment he looked inside, King Eschric's face was dyed in despair.
Crash.
The urn slipped from the king's hand and shattered, spilling its contents.
The subordinates' reactions varied upon seeing them.
Some paled, some froze in place, others collapsed vomiting.
The one common thread in their reactions was the terror visible in their eyes.
"Ahh···"
Amid the red gruel, white hair, a familiar black eyeball, and floral ornaments peeked out.
From between the king's grinding teeth, fury boiled from the depths of his dantian.
"Du···ke···!"
The king repeated the knight's name through bloodshot tears.
"I won't forgive you···! I'll tear you apart with my own hands···!"
Crushing the throne's armrests, the king rose with heavy resolve.
"Relay to the lords: prepare for war. Kill any who resist."
Duke's declaration of war spread like wildfire through the duchy and kingdom.
They had heard of every punishment under the sun, but pickling a person in elixir over three months was an eccentricity that even the empire's torturers shook their heads at.
Rumors grew legs, claiming the princess had been alive until it reached the king's face.
Of course, Duke didn't particularly deny the rumors.
'She was alive, after all.'
During his empire days, he had encountered all sorts of beast cubs.
He met a master who tried to pickle his disciple in elixir,
dragons who hosted cannibal feasts,
and worms who celebrated festivals with virgin blood.
This elixir pickling technique was learned from their know-how.
Cannibalism racks up heavy karma, but transforming once with elixir reduces it, or so they said.
Absurd, but in a world where karma couldn't be quantified like Rex's, such superstitions thrived unchecked.
One certain thing: all who did such acts died, so Duke concluded karma piled up just fine.
In any case, pickling a person in elixir and sending them to their parents was an extreme act even in the empire days.
Citizens were aghast, and even Rex eyed Duke warily, checking his state.
"Duke? No, I'm not interrogating you··· Never mind, forget it. If Ari went through that, I'd declare war too. Put the sword down. ···You're not planning to commit seppuku, right?"
"Duke? Um···are you okay?···? Want me to touch your ears?···?"
Even Jane, the elf who usually bantered freely with Duke, asked after him with polite speech.
But contrary to their concerns, Duke was hardly in a dangerous state.
'The king is a victim too···'
By the time he pickled the true culprit Isabella, Duke had regained his reason.
···He reflected that pickling her himself was a bit much.
In any case, leaving it be might harm his knightly character, so Duke issued a follow-up report.
All he had to do was reveal the truth.
The princess was the infamous villainess Isabella, who deceived the king and now tried to deceive Duke too.
Of course, the duchy's citizens believed the rumor, while the kingdom's denied it.
But that was enough.
'The truth will come out when war breaks anyway.'
Blood is thicker than water, after all.
Same with fists.
In the original story, the king duels Ari, recognizes her as his true daughter.
Her hero skill [Tiger King's Qualities] resembles the king's ultimate technique.
The king's ultimate is powerful single strikes at high mana cost, activated manually,
while Ari's activates passively without mana but takes time to ramp up.
Yet essentially similar magic.
After prolonged battle with Ari, the king realizes he's been deceived for half his life and falls into qi deviation.
Defeating such a king and rightfully inheriting Eschric is the original plot.
'When Ari legitimately claims the throne, my image will clean itself up.'
Until then, maintaining the terrifying knight image was mere amusement for Duke.
While Duke indulged in idle thoughts, the air of war drew near.
Having declared war, both sides had already dispatched armies to the border.
They merely stalemated, as their representatives—the key generals—hadn't arrived.
A week into the standoff, the kingdom's representative appeared.
"Duuuuuke!!! I've come for your head! Don't hide like a coward—come out atop the walls!"
The king's rage-filled voice echoed across the battlefield.
Leading from the front in a war where lords might betray him wasn't wise, but the king lacked the reason to calculate.
His mind was consumed with pickling that hated knight into salted fish.
Ironically, the king's initiative coaxed the lords' cooperation.
They calculated to reap benefits once the king, duke, and Duke tired.
Regardless, they planned to fight sincerely for kingdom victory.
For if Providence Duke—called the Purge Duke—won due to their restraint, he wouldn't spare them.
United under impure motives, they tensely awaited the duke's army response.
But the border fortress remained silent.
Grind.
King Eschric gritted his teeth, shedding his cloak and shirt.
Revealing his scarred, feral upper body, he strode toward the gates.
"Hiding in your shell doesn't make you safe. I'll chew you shell and all."
"Fire!"
As the king approached, fortress soldiers rained arrows and stones.
And the king precisely parried them.
Kiiing!
With sharp metallic rings, attacks veered from his hands.
Blue energy cloaking his hands timed perfect deflections, reaching the gates.
Soon, blue aura gathered in his fist.
Woooah!
The kingdom army, watching from behind, cheered in assured victory.
King Eschric was famed continent-wide as a siege weapon.
Sacrificing finesse, range, utility of other Rank 8s, he poured everything into close combat.
Master of all martial arts, he was one of few superhumans capable of frontal fortress breaches like the 12 Warlords.
Such a king reached the gates unscathed.
No wonder the kingdom army was confident.
Gathering all qi, the king unleashed a punch laden with his regal might.
That was when it happened.
A white shadow landed before him, a clear chime rang out, and his energy dispersed.
His attack blocked by the sudden intruder, the flustered king glared.
"You are···"
"Arabella White. Head maid of the Providence ducal household."
She placed her right hand horizontally before her, left on her waist, concluding her introduction.
"Do you remember Knight Kinbel White?"
Kiiing! Ting!
Sharp rings and clear chimes resounded across the battlefield.
White and blue energies perfectly repelled each other in fierce exchange.
At the center, a small girl and massive man traded breathless blows.
The mythic battle held both armies' soldiers transfixed.
Even the recording envoy paused, awestruck by the high-level clash.
The girl confronted the king with [Mountain Lord's Pride] taught by her father.
Her parry-nullifying defense ability enabled the fight.
While the father-daughter duo battled unaware of each other's identities,
one kingdom lord raised a question.
"But where's this Duke fellow?"
His murmur tensed the kingdom army.
The knight was a monster of unbelievable antics; his absence surely meant something.
But they couldn't just stay wary forever.
The kingdom army advanced slowly, preparing siege.
The moment half entered the plains, Duke dropped from the sky.
Thud!
With a heavy landing, the knight emerged from the dust.
Planting his greatsword in the ground like a line the kingdom mustn't cross.
The king, locked in battle with Ari, had no attention for Duke.
Naturally, Duke faced the kingdom army.
Handsomely appearing, Duke bowed with sword planted, like prayer.
Tense silence lasted tens of minutes.
Unable to bear it, a commander ordered cavalry charge.
"Prove your loyalty with your lives!"
Not expecting cavalry to fell Duke, but to draw his action for tactics.
Hoofbeats thundered as cavalry leveled lances.
Duke remained silent until then.
At twenty paces, Duke finally drew his sword.
"Loyalty to the dark army is blind loyalty."
Aiming his blade at the army, body slightly tilted, he shouted.
"To the battlefield of justice!"
Immediately, the army's view warped.
The fortress vanished, as did Ari and the king.
Plains grass kaleidoscoped, shrinking and expanding wildly.
Clouds spread and contracted, horizon approached.
As if earth and sky folded.
Horizon ends reassembled like cubes, heavens and earth flipped to walls.
3D motion sickness hell.
Kingdom army plunged into chaos.
"What magic is this?!"
As officers panicked, a drafted high-rank adventurer sweated, muttering.
"It's a dungeon···!"
"What? What do you mean?"
"Experienced it as a kid. Dungeons form like this."
Maze: twisted dimensional magic space.
Main reason commoners without connections become adventurers for superhuman encounters.
Dungeon origins still mysterious.
Not that anyone cared much.
Thus, few knew the process.
This adventurer was a rare case.
"Lost family there, so I remember. If I'm right, that knight caused it. And when it ends, a dungeon···"
But the landscape kept folding endlessly; no dungeon formed.
As the adventurer puzzled over the mismatch, Duke prayed inwardly amid the warping vista.
'Please don't notice, don't notice···'
Duke learned dungeon creation for obvious reasons.
But as one avoiding complex attribute or precise magic, favoring intuitive telekinesis and transformation, he couldn't master it properly.
Result: this.
Game analogy: endless loading spinner.
Map load failed.
Normally, world's laws restore warped space to reality.
But the battlefield kept distorting.
Obviously due to one knight.
'This is on purpose. Yeah. That's it.'
Couldn't admit failure after shouting "Battlefield of justice!" so dramatically.
Thus, Duke strained mana to maintain the loading vista.
Clearing his throat, he pointed his sword at the kingdom army.
"Isolated, are you, my foes."
Anyway, I trapped you.
Duke rationalized alone.