Chapter 369: Without the People, There Is No King
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 369: Without the People, There Is No King
How many more were coming? The situation was spiraling into utter chaos. The Owlbear’s gaze shifted toward the man who had just spoken.
"Encrid?"
The monster had spotted yet another familiar face and blurted out the name instinctively.
Encrid scanned his surroundings. He took in the newcomers and the man in the feathered hat before finally locking eyes with the beast.
Their gazes met. In that instant, Encrid’s mind rapidly organized the facts.
- The opponent knows him.
- The opponent is highly likely a noble.
- He is connected to the Black Sword.
- He is in a state of monster transformation.
- He knows how to utilize that power.
- His brown eyes resemble someone he knows.
A specific name came to mind. A well-trained body, a gamey stench, and a man who always obsessed over etiquette.
Someone whose face had been hard to find lately. Wasn't he a subordinate of Count Molsen?
If so, were Count Molsen and the Black Sword in league with one another?
Though new questions surfaced, Encrid felt certain he knew who his opponent was. He spoke the name aloud.
"Viscount Vantra?"
Identifying him at a single glance—it was the whisper of a highly developed sixth sense.
Only then did Vantra realize why their faces looked familiar. These were the bastards he had briefly brushed past when entering the royal palace.
The moment the realization hit, he kicked off the ground.
He intended to flee.
He knew exactly what they—the so-called Mad Company—were capable of.
But his escape was doomed from the start.
Whoosh!
The moment he leaped, a disc-like object whistled over his head.
His instincts screamed the instant he heard the sound: If I jump, I die!
It was a throwing axe, moving with ridiculous speed. Sensing a momentum that even his monstrous body couldn't withstand, he dodged.
Instead of leaping upward, the Owlbear ducked his head and curled his body. Aborting his flight, he froze in place.
"Right. I suppose I should be the one to cut you down."
The blonde swordsman spoke as he approached from behind.
He was the one who had been radiating an insanely ominous aura for some time now.
No sooner had he finished speaking than he closed the distance in a flash, his blade plunging vertically like a bolt of lightning.
Vantra, in his monster form, puffed up the feathers across his body and crossed his arms overhead to block.
Clang! Crunch, slash!
The blade seemed to be blocked, but it sliced halfway through his reinforced arms anyway.
"Aaaargh!"
A painful shriek erupted—a bizarre, harrowing mixture of a monster's roar and a human's voice.
"Hey, this is revenge for my companion."
Meanwhile, Aisia, who had arrived with Encrid, thrust her thin blade toward his heart.
She lunged forward with a strike delivered from the shadows; she had been standing silently behind Encrid as if she weren't even there.
Damn it!
The Owlbear tensed his chest muscles and leaped backward, barely preventing his heart from being skewered.
With a sickening squelch, the thin blade slid in and out, piercing through feathers, muscle, and flesh.
A stream of dark red blood followed the retreating steel.
His opponent was an Associate Knight of the Order.
No, that wasn't the real problem.
There were at least five others here, including Associate Knight Aisia, who possessed similar levels of skill.
Whether he transformed into an Owlbear or the progenitor of all Owlbears, it wouldn't make a difference.
This was a fight that had been decided the moment their paths crossed. Finding him had been the difficult part; killing him was trivial. In other words, once the moon rose, it was over.
Had the Associate Knights—the Order—not intervened, it might have been different. But since they had, this outcome was inevitable.
If there was anything unexpected, it was that Krang had sent his guard, and the guard captain had stepped up to the plate.
Then again, looking at it another way, it meant at least a few people cared about the city's safety and public order, which wasn't a bad thing.
Groooar!
Vantra cried out several more times.
"Fuck!"
He cursed, desperately holding his ground.
"Save me!"
And finally, he begged for his life.
Watching this unfold, the southern guard captain in the feathered hat briefly cursed his own lack of discernment for failing to recognize who these people were.
They're all monsters.
What else could you call people who toyed with an actual monster like an Owlbear?
Only then did he realize the rumors about the Border Guard were true.
In the capital, people still dismissed them as nonsense or wild exaggerations.
Bullshit.
The guard captain, who had just escaped death, felt a sudden urge to rip open the mouths of those who had spouted such crap.
After a desperate, futile struggle, the Owlbear had his thigh pierced, his skull cracked, and finally, his neck half-severed by an axe blade.
Spurt!
Thanks to Rem, who had been watching before finally stepping in, Vantra collapsed to the ground, dark red blood gushing from his wounds.
He fell face-first, his body heavy and limp.
As the monster's blood drained from his fatal injuries, the transformation broke. He reverted to his human form.
His feathers fell away, and his entire body shuddered. The torrent of gushing blood slowed to a thick trickle.
But returning to human form did not change the fact that his wounds were mortal.
"Cough."
As Vantra coughed up blood where he lay, Encrid walked over and squatted in front of him.
"Why are you the one showing up here?" he asked.
Naturally, Vantra had no intention of answering.
However, as he lay dying, a surge of regret and resentment welled up within him.
"It's not fair..."
His arrow of resentment was not aimed at Encrid.
It was directed at the entity that had made him this way.
Becoming drunk on desire and pleasure was merely a side effect; it wasn't what he had truly wanted. Though he had lost his identity as a human by becoming a monster, he regained a fraction of his humanity just before the end. That was why he felt the weight of the injustice.
"How did you undergo monster transformation?" Encrid asked.
"The... drug... the drug..." Vantra murmured.
The light in his eyes was gradually fading. He would be dead within moments.
Encrid couldn't ask any more questions. Vantra squeezed out the very last of his strength.
He couldn't close his eyes in death without saying this:
"I am... not the last."
* * *
Count Molsen nodded upon receiving the report.
"He was discovered and killed sooner than expected," his subordinate said, standing in the center of the study.
Leaning back in his chair, the Count replied indifferently, "It is fine. He was a disposable pawn anyway."
Was it those Encrid bastards again?
They certainly were a persistent thorn in his side.
Still, his claim that it was fine was genuine.
"The preparations?"
"Less than a fortnight remains."
"Good."
It was a night illuminated by a full moon. The Count, who had been drinking wine with the night as his side dish, set down his glass.
"We shall see in a fortnight, Your Majesty."
Whether it would be him or the Queen sitting on the throne would be decided then.
* * *
Standing before the corpse of the Owlbear—or rather, Viscount Vantra—the guard captain in the feathered hat offered Encrid a crisp military salute.
"Please forgive my previous rudeness."
"It wasn't really rudeness."
Guarding the gate was simply his job, after all.
"I offer you my thanks for your assistance," the captain said.
Encrid brushed it off. He believed it was a task someone had to do regardless.
Rather than the thanks, he was more concerned about what Viscount Vantra had said before crossing the river of death.
"By the way, was it alright for you to leave your post?" Encrid asked Matthew.
He didn't know exactly what was happening inside the royal palace, but he knew the situation was far from peaceful. Yet Krang's guard had come all the way here?
"Without the people, there is no kingdom. Without the people, there is no king," Matthew said.
Encrid understood. Those must have been Krang's words.
It meant that if he became king while turning a blind eye to his people being slaughtered by the Moonlight Beast, it would mean absolutely nothing to him.
That sentiment resonated deeply with Encrid.
Krang was the kind of man who naturally made others want to help him.
"At any rate, it seems we've cleaned things up nicely," Encrid said.
Rem complained that the excitement had fizzled out and suggested they spar, while Ragna wiped the blood and grease off his sword.
To one side, Dunchabel raised her scimitar and nodded.
"Good, this."
Having picked up a weapon from a dead assassin and handed it to her, she seemed thoroughly satisfied.
"But was there another one with that gamey stench?" Encrid asked.
Dunchabel shook her head. "I didn't smell anyone else like that."
Then where and what else was out there?
And if there were more, would they have stayed so quiet? Was there more than one Moonlight Beast?
No, the opponent had been drunk on monster blood. He had succumbed to instinct, seeking pleasure through slaughter. This was a deduction made from inquiries, even without the southern gate guard captain's words.
Encrid wondered if Vantra had merely babbled nonsense in his dying moments, but the man had been dead serious. Encrid wasn't so dull that he couldn't recognize sincerity.
Then where was it, and what was it? It wasn't in the capital.
Then what else was out there?
After a brief moment of contemplation, Encrid voiced his conclusion in a single sentence:
"Count Molsen has created chimeras."
"Hey, we need to report that to the royal palace immediately," Aisia said before departing. Late at night or not, this was an urgent matter.
"Um..."
Before leaving, Matthew approached. In the end, Encrid hadn't even gotten to see him use his whip. Only Rem, Ragna, Dunchabel, and Aisia had stepped forward to take down the Owlbear.
"Do you have something to say?"
Matthew hesitated, choosing his words carefully. Then, as if making up his mind, he clenched his jaw and spoke.
"Please help my lord."
"Sure."
"Just once, when danger strikes..."
"Yeah."
"...Huh?"
"I said I'll help."
Why did Matthew think Encrid was lingering here instead of going home in the first place? It was to watch what Krang would do and swing his sword by his side.
Because Krang would become a king for Naurilia.
Above all, by sending his whip guard here, Krang had backed his words with action. He had said he would stand for the country, the people, and his subjects. He had promised to be that kind of king.
At the same time, he had offered to be a friend.
For a man like that, even if Encrid didn't become his knight right away, he was more than worthy of Encrid's blade.
Because he had already made up his mind, the answer came instantly. That was why the response was fast enough to catch Matthew off guard.
"He is not a man who will stop by my side. So he won't even ask for help."
Those were Krang's own words.
He had said he would handle this matter with his own strength. He admitted it was a gamble, but added that if he didn't gamble, he couldn't win.
"Then..."
Matthew turned around as well.
When the night passed and morning dawned, a piece of news reached Andrew's mansion.
It wasn't about the events of the previous night. The news of Viscount Vantra's death was immediately buried; everyone kept quiet about it. The achievement and tales of slaying the Moonlight Beast were swept under the rug in no time.
The news that arrived was about the Grand Ducal Title Conferment Ceremony.
It was the signal Krang had fired.
Perhaps because of that, Aisia no longer showed her face. Having hung out with her every day for several days, her absence felt empty.
"What's up? Is that Associate Knight not coming?" Even Rem was looking for her.
"They said the title conferment ceremony is being held. She must be busy," Encrid replied, drenched in sweat. He felt the disappointment too.
If only we could have sparred a hundred, no, two hundred more times.
Then he might have broken through her Sword Tip Aiming.
Though, to actually overwhelm and defeat Aisia, he would have needed far more time. He regretted all of it. She was an opponent he wanted to clash with dozens, hundreds of times more.
"Since it's a shame, I'll just have to beat up the boss instead. Come on out."
Rem smacked his lips, scratching Encrid's itch. Encrid felt exactly the same way.
* * *
The internal affairs of the royal palace shifted day by day. Everything was proceeding according to Krang's intentions.
On top of that, Krang poured more fuel on the fire.
"Are we just going to watch? A Grand Duke?!"
"Is he digging his own grave?"
It was an event bound to make the entire nobility rise up.
In a royal court where the title of Marquis was the highest, the Queen had declared she would bestow the title of Grand Duke upon Krang.
"Where did Viscount Vantra go?" Viscount Mernes asked.
He was currently the man who had united all the factions within the royal palace. The reason the scattered factions had merged into one was also due to the existence of Krang on the opposing side.
Having won over Marcus Vaisar and several other nobles, Krang had immediately sought to receive the title of Grand Duke with the Queen's backing.
Everything he did was a threat to the nobility. From institutional reforms to strengthen royal authority, none of it was something they could simply stand by and watch.
It was clear he had to be eliminated. He was threatening the entire nobility.
Though the Queen seemed to be backing him from behind, it was always the rule to first remove the loudest voice that stepped forward.
Is he acting so arrogant just because he has the Queen's backing?
Viscount Mernes judged that Krang's actions were ultimately the Queen's will.
Why did you do this, Your Majesty?
This would eventually bring about catastrophe. It was only natural. The factions had gathered and united. If they didn't release their consolidated power outward, it would surely lead to trouble.
The Queen had dug her own grave.
The title conferment ceremony was in a week.
Viscount Mernes mobilized the Assassin Union. He also utilized the power that backed him.
The remaining military force of the Black Sword Bandits entered the royal palace. He utilized his allies among the Royal Guard. He also notified those within the Order of Knights who had turned to his side of the impending uprising.
This is true loyalty.
The tide had already turned. A civil war would only eat away at the country. If so, they simply had to put everything to rest before it even began.
If the Queen intended to use her brother, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, as a shield...
Then that brother shall die.
Then the Queen would no longer dare to pull such stunts. She would become a mere doll sitting on the throne. After that, they would let the true king enter.
My job ends there.
The Viscount murmured quietly.
Everything would end on the eve of the title conferment ceremony.