Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: 28. Nobility, Princes, Kings, and the Empire (1)
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Ching!
The Silver Foxes drew their swords in fury.
"Who the hell does he think he is?!"
Glinting blue blades were aimed at the man's throat, ready to sever it. But the man didn't so much as blink, even as blood trickled from where the edge grazed his skin.
He simply stared at me, rooted to the spot.
"Stand down."
At my words, the Silver Foxes' faces twisted in outrage as they opened their mouths to protest. But I cut them off first.
"I'm not pissed about the booze, so quit making a scene."
What loyalty did these mere mercenaries have to step up for me, anyway?
It was all guilt from their own crimes pricking at them.
"We only gave them enough liquor to warm up against the cold."
"That's right."
The Silver Foxes mumbled awkward excuses before sheathing their swords.
I waved them off irritably. They glanced at me nervously and scurried away like they were fleeing.
I turned back to the men. They glared right back at me without yielding an inch.
But their fury and resentment didn't last long.
The blazing hatred in their eyes cooled in moments, leaving only twenty-one pairs of glazed, booze-soaked pupils.
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue without thinking.
Vengeful spirits burning with hate were preferable to these listless defeated soldiers.
"What a waste of time."
I spat the words after staring at them silently for a moment.
The men's eyebrows twitched violently, like they were having fits.
So they had no drive left, but their pride was still intact?
How utterly pathetic—and fragile.
"I won't call you again, so go home."
Even then, they didn't budge.
"What, need travel money? I'll give you plenty."
Their faces contorted as if I'd hurled an insult at them.
"Ah, or are you waiting for an apology? Give it up. I have zero intention of saying sorry."
I waved them off again as their entire bodies began to tremble.
"Then why the hell..."
The man at the front finally spoke up. It was the same one who'd griped that he couldn't face me without downing some booze first.
"...did you call us here?"
His voice was a slurred mess of shame and liquor.
"What the hell did you want from us by dragging us all together?!"
His tone filled with rage.
"What were you hoping to see?! What the hell were you thinking?!"
But even this outburst didn't last.
"Why did you call us..."
He looked utterly drained, like he didn't even have fuel left to burn.
"Why the hell di..."
"That's all you have to say?"
No need to hear more.
"Done talking? Then get lost."
I waved dismissively. But they stood frozen in place like statues. So I started walking away.
"What the hell did you want from us?!"
A furious shout rang out behind me.
I stopped and turned.
"Let me turn that around on you."
I locked eyes with each of them one by one—their gazes filled with despair, rage, or emptiness.
"What glory did you expect to find, coming all the way here?"
One of them opened his mouth. But before he could spit out pointless resentment, I spoke first.
"Expecting an apology? Fine. Here: sorry. Sorry I sold you out to the Empire. Sorry I turned you into gutter trash. Truly sorry."
I even bowed my head. The men gaped at me in stunned silence.
"Or were you hoping for cash compensation? Alright. Like I said, plenty. Enough to live worry-free forever."
I hurled venomous words at their dumbfounded faces.
"You've got your apology and your payout. Anything else? Speak now. I'll grant whatever I can."
"We just..."
"Just what?"
"Simply..."
"Simply what?!"
I yelled in frustration.
"If you'd at least hidden a dagger for revenge! Come to stab the trash who sold out the kingdom's future in the back!"
Then I wouldn't have been this disappointed.
"You took even that strength from us!"
A shift in their eyes.
"You're the sinner who sold the kingdom's future! The one who crushed 323 knights! You!"p>
Killing intent flickered in their sharply gleaming eyes.
"You're trash who should never be king!"
"What right do you have to judge us?!"
"You committed the sin! Why are we treated like criminals?!"
Unlike before, this fire was burning hot and true.
"Without you, we'd have stood at the forefront when the kingdom rose again!"
The flames didn't die down—they only grew fiercer with time.
"Bullshit!"
I denied even that.
"Is that all you know how to say? 'If not for you!' 'Because of you!'"
Hostile eyes bored into me.
But I pressed on relentlessly.
"Lose one lousy ring and you can't do a damn thing? No mana means you're not knights anymore?!"
"We've trained our whole lives..."
"Shut up! Listen to me first!"
I grabbed the collar of the man yelling in fury and bellowed.
"Are non-knights all trash? No mana means no fight left?!"
The Rangers of Winter Castle had thrown their lives away like straw against hordes several times their number—without mana. They'd crawled when legs were severed, bit daggers in their teeth when arms were lost. Not a single one tumbling from the walls at the end failed to drag orcs down with them in a death grip.
The value of their shed blood and tears didn't fade just because no mana soaked into it.
"Three hundred knights! How many times more was the Empire? Tenfold? More? Sure, mana runs dry in prolonged battle. But when it does, you'll just back off whining you have no mana left?!"
My released aura bore down on them naturally.
"Sophistry!"
Their legs shook, but they held their ground to the end.
"Knights have their role, soldiers theirs! I never said one was worth more! And before that—!"
The man pressed me in a crushed voice.
"You have no right to say such things!"
Even if the whole world pointed fingers, you shouldn't, he screamed in rage.
Damn wastrel's original sin.
As long as I lived as Idrian Leonberger, just like they said, I had no right to rebuke their listlessness.
"You're right. I have no qualification."
Even so, I kept blabbering on.
"So I'll ask again. What the hell did you come here expecting? An apology at this point?"
"We didn't want to come. Didn't want to see your face. But the men you sent wouldn't take no for an answer."
Didn't you force us here? they demanded.
"Fine. Here's your chance for revenge."
I clapped my hands.
The door flew open as if they'd been waiting. Rangers and Vincent stepped in from beyond—they'd sensed the commotion and waited outside.
"Your Highness..."
Vincent eyed me questioningly: you alright?
I nodded and addressed them.
"Give them your swords."
"Your Highness!"
"Won't say it twice."
At my command, the Rangers and knights unbelted their swords and set them on the floor.
"Go. And stay out until I call."
Vincent glanced between me and the men, then bowed and withdrew.
"Pick up the swords."
The men hesitated before each grabbing one from the floor.
"The sinner who broke your rings and sold the kingdom's future stands before you. If you let him live, he might become the next king. Horrifying, isn't it?"
Murderous glints filled their eyes.
"Any reason to hesitate?"
The men with swords exchanged looks, then surrounded me.
One gritted his teeth and charged.
A crude thrust from booze-ravaged flesh—I mercilessly drove my fist into his waist.
"Gurk!"
He tumbled across the floor, side smashed.
"I said I was giving you a chance. Not handing it over for free."
At my words, they regripped their swords.
"Raaagh!"
Roars like beasts erupted. They all rushed me at once.
And I beat them all senseless.
The men rose again and again, charging me. Each time, I knocked them flat repeatedly.
"Urgh."
A bloodied man struggled desperately to rise. I watched impassively before kicking his ribs without mercy.
"Gah!"
He curled up, groaning.
Tsk. Pity.
I sneered at them.
"If only we had our rings... our mana!"
A man sprawled starfish on the floor sobbed in indignation.
Seemed he couldn't bear being mocked and thrashed by his nemesis.
"Yeah?"
I asked them.
"Think you could get revenge if you had mana?"
They didn't answer.
"Then I'll wait."
They just glared with resentment.
"Until you can infuse mana into your swords again."
"You're vicious. How far will you humiliate us?"
Someone muttered.
I understood their bitterness fully. I'd heard a broken ring could never be reformed.
"Is ring mana the only mana that counts?"
I drew my sword. Infused it with mana and showed them the blade aglow before their eyes.
"I'm no ring knight either."
Even lowly mercenary techniques would be enough for revenge on just me, they'd think.
"Grit your teeth and gather it."
Gather even that mana.
"If you don't want to see trash who sold the kingdom become king."
For the first time, manly fire lit their eyes.
Not friendly toward me, but a vast improvement.
"One condition, though."
"If it's fight for you, forget it!"
They spoke in unison before I could even finish.
"Not expecting that."
How could grudge-filled men fight for me? Never counted on it.
"Fight for the kingdom. Not me."
"Sophistry to the end..."
"The enemy you forged your rings to battle."
I told the man snarling loudly.
"The Empire is your foe."
The men, spewing curses, fell abruptly silent.
"Gain revenge power, fight the Empire, settle scores with me."
I told them.
"Isn't that killing three birds with one stone?"
The men were carried out by the Rangers who'd come at my call again.
Vincent sighed, eyeing the blood-splattered room.
"Did it have to be this way? If you'd waited, there might've been better options."
Vincent's distrust of the kingdom had deepened after the last war. Even hearing my past, he hadn't wavered. He'd only fretted over why choose the hard path.
"Some wastrel destroys your ring, leaves you worse than a commoner. Vincent, you'd forgive that?"
Vincent sighed and shook his head.
"Too far gone now for a clean resolution."
No words, no flimsy fame from the North—nothing could erase their grudge.
Besides, it wasn't even my sin. But living in this body meant bearing the karma.
An irreconcilable contradiction. I agonized, then decided.
I'd shoulder the karma—but I wouldn't bow and fake an apology for errors I didn't commit.
An apology for unowned sins was nothing but hypocrisy woven from lies.
I'd set everything right.
If that meant bearing someone's resentment and hatred along the way, I'd take it gladly. The grudge and resentment harbored by the royal knights was just one piece.
They didn't need to fight for me.
Those who'd pledged unwavering loyalty to the royal family until the moment their rings shattered would find their own place to stand.
Even if fueled by hatred toward me. Even if the sword grown on that festering emotion turned on me once it was over.
Until then, that sword would point at me and their enemy: the Empire.
"Still too risky, no? What if they grit their teeth, build mana, and charge Your Highness... Aren't you worried about royal-selected prodigies wielding swords?"
Vincent had a point.
Appraisal had revealed why the royals pinned hopes on them. All B-grade talent or higher—surely none lost fewer than three rings back then.
Such men building mana in their hearts. Powered solely by grudge against me.
"Three hundred knights would be formidable force."
I could clearly picture it: three hundred knights charging me, sword auras gushing, eyes brimming with vengeful spirits' hatred.
But strangely, it wasn't fear—it was anticipation.
Vincent shook his head at my expression.
"Watching you, Your Highness isn't exactly normal either."
I just chuckled.
The Silver Foxes who'd left for the North were trickling back. And with each return, another blade poised at my back.
Total: 306.
All the royal family's secret knights had gathered at Winter Castle, save seventeen with unknown whereabouts.
Not one lacked grudge toward me.
Didn't matter.
The path I walked wasn't that of the wise and benevolent ruler—but the tyrant.
Innumerable rivers of blood would flow until the rotten kingdom was reborn.
And equal measures of resentment and hatred would pile on my shoulders.
What did 306 more swords matter?
I unhesitatingly passed on the supreme-grade Mana Heart to them.
The very Mana Heart held by the Royal Knights who'd guarded the Leonberger bloodline up close 400 years ago.
Swords once used to protect the Leonberger line now aimed to slay it—truly laughable.
But their zeal and talent were no joke.
Shortly after learning the theory and breathing method, every one succeeded in forming a Mana Heart within.
"Damn their talent."
I couldn't help the bitter pang of envy.
And as I steadily built strength in the North, word came from Marquis Montpellier.
『All preparations complete.』
My heart began to race.
『Come and claim what Your Highness rightfully deserves.』
The capital I'd fled like a dog—it was time to return.