Garbage Cleanup Time
The shout of “Hey!!!” made everyone freeze in place.
I immediately dashed down the stairs. Giselle was taking the entire elite knight order of the main castle with her? If the castle’s forces were left completely empty like this, there would be no way to stop Baron’s gang when they led their hidden private troops in a rebellion.
Even if I deploy the mercenaries I hired through Viola, we’d lack justification.
In the worst case, I’d be framed for trying to seize the Grand Duchess Castle by force. Acting like a spoiled brat and actually committing treason were two completely different things. Even as an imperial prince, this would be crossing the line.
And there was one more reason.
When I slaughtered the rebels, there needed to be at least one trustworthy vassal left inside the castle—someone who had witnessed everything and could give Giselle an objective testimony. The most suitable person for that was the old, rigid, but loyal-to-the-bone Knight Commander, Hexion.
“Haa, seriously. Even playing the villain requires some damn effort.”
I sprinted desperately across the snowfield and blocked Giselle’s path just as she was about to leave through the castle gates. Startled by my sudden intrusion, the silver-white warhorse she was riding reared up with a loud neigh.
“What the hell is this?”
Giselle looked down at me from atop her horse with eyes that seemed ready to kill. But I pretended to shiver and screamed in the most pathetic, terrified voice imaginable.
“Are you crazy?! You said a beast wave is coming! Yet you’re leaving the 8th Prince of the Empire behind in this castle and going off somewhere?!”
“……”
“What if—what if even one or two of those monster bastards break through the defensive line and get inside the castle?! If even a single scratch appears on my precious life, are you going to take responsibility?!”
My absurd tantrum left the knights who had been preparing to march with their mouths hanging open. Their eyes burned with fury, but I didn’t care. I flopped down onto the ground and continued shrieking.
“Let’s see… those pathetic private soldiers aren’t enough! Immediately leave a portion of the North’s elite knight order here to guard me! Especially that one-eyed old man!”
I pointed my finger straight at Hexion, the Knight Commander standing right behind Giselle.
“Make that geezer guard my door! If you don’t, I’m not moving a single step from here!”
“You… you son of a bitch! At a time like this!!”
Hexion’s face flushed red and purple with rage.
“While the people outside may be torn apart and dying under the claws of beasts, how could I possibly stand comfortably inside the castle guarding the likes of your door! Just kill me instead!”
Hexion gripped his sword hilt and raged wildly, but I lifted my chin arrogantly, using the authority of the imperial family as my shield.
The situation was urgent by the second. If I dragged this out any longer, the forward defensive line would collapse.
Giselle stared down at me blankly. She didn’t even seem angry. It was the look one might give to filth on the side of the road that was too bothersome to clean up.
“Haa……”
She let out a sigh. As if I wasn’t even worth dealing with. As if even arguing with trash like me was a waste of time, she turned her head away.
“Hexion. You will remain in the castle with the 2nd Company.”
“Y-Your Highness!! How could you listen to the words of such a person……!”
“There is no time. This is the lord’s command.”
At Giselle’s order, Hexion eventually bit his lip and bowed his head deeply.
Without even sparing me a glance, Giselle drew her sword and shouted toward the front lines.
“All troops except the 2nd Company, advance! Open the path!!”
Rumble—!
With Giselle at the lead, the North’s elite knight order charged through the blizzard and out the castle gates.
I remained seated on the dirt ground, watching her receding figure.
I’m sorry, old man. But……
I glanced at Hexion, who was glaring at me as if he wanted to kill me.
You have to stay behind if we’re going to protect this castle.
To wipe out all the traitors inside the castle in one go, the military strength known as Hexion was absolutely necessary.
“Ugh, it’s cold. Geezer, go stand guard properly in front of my annex! I’m going to sleep!”
I tossed a mocking order at Hexion, then clutched my outer coat and hurriedly fled back to the annex.
Scene complete. The trap had been set.
Grand Duchess Castle, Sector 2 — In front of a dimly lit armory.
“Kuhahaha! Heaven itself aids us!”
Baron burst into laughter as he looked over his fully armed private troops. He had just received a report that Giselle had led the main force out of the castle.
The troops remaining inside were less than half of the usual number. One of the corrupt nobles standing beside him cautiously spoke up.
“Lord Baron. Didn’t His Highness the 8th Prince say he would send word soon? Is it truly alright for us to proceed with the uprising on our own like this……”
“Tsk tsk. Have you still not grasped the situation?”
Baron puffed out his belly and snorted.
“That prince doesn’t have the brains for it. He was just throwing his weight around because he’s part of the imperial family. Once we seize the castle first and offer the Grand Duchess Castle at his feet, he’ll grin like an idiot and become our puppet. It’s obvious.”
“But I heard the prince threw a tantrum, blocking the Grand Duchess from departing and demanding that the Knight Commander Hexion and a small number of knights remain in the castle. Perhaps he has some scheme……”
“Scheme? What scheme!”
Baron cackled and waved his hand dismissively.
“He saw the signal flare announcing the beast wave and pissed himself in fear for his own life! That’s why he demanded the strongest one stand in front of his door. What kind of thoughts could that trash prince possibly have? Don’t worry about it!”
Baron drew his sword and pointed it toward the troops lined up in the darkness.
“Listen! The Grand Duchess’s main force is tied down fighting the beasts!”
His voice burned with the fervor of rebellion.
“We will immediately seize the armory and firmly lock the castle gates! Even if the Grand Duchess returns, she will become food for the beasts outside the tightly shut gates!”
“Waaaaah!!”
“Tonight, the ruler of the North will change! Let’s go!”
Baron’s faction began their advance toward the center of the Grand Duchess Castle under the cover of darkness.
Hexion stood rigidly in front of the annex door. Both of his fists were trembling violently.
Your Highness. And my comrades…… Please stay safe.
He ground his teeth while thinking of the knights who were out there bleeding and fighting. To be unable to go to the battlefield as a knight, forced instead to guard the door of this cowardly piece of trash while his comrades shed blood outside—it was unbearable.
Inside the room, that wastrel was surely shivering and gulping down alcohol. The urge to smash the door down and cut off that arrogant prince’s head surged within him, but Hexion suppressed it with bone-carving patience.
That was when it happened.
Creeeak.
The firmly closed door of the annex slowly opened.
“……”
He had expected the man to stagger out drunk, yelling for more firewood for the stove or whining about what was happening outside.
But the figure who emerged from the darkness completely shattered Hexion’s expectations.
Kael was not wearing a loose shirt or a flashy leather coat. He was dressed in black combat gear. And in one hand, he held a longsword with a razor-sharp blue edge.
“Y-Your Highness……?”
Hexion was momentarily confused, wondering if he was seeing things. Where had that pathetic figure who had been throwing a tantrum on the ground in the courtyard just moments ago gone?
Kael lightly swung the longsword once, then casually tapped the frozen Hexion’s shoulder with the back of his hand.
“Knight Commander. Draw your sword.”
“Pardon? What are you suddenly……”
“The beast bastards aren’t just outside the castle. They’re swarming inside it too.”
Only then did Hexion’s one good eye widen dramatically. As a seasoned knight commander, there was no way he could have missed the faint sound of armed soldiers’ footsteps carried by the wind or the ominous atmosphere now permeating the castle.
“Until Giselle returns, I will protect this castle. You will become my blade and tear out the throats of these rats.”
Hexion’s lips quivered. Just what was this prince? The man he had despised so thoroughly until a moment ago had transformed in an instant.
Shing!
Hexion drew his sword as if in a trance.
“……Your command. I shall obey.”
Kael smirked and stepped forward.
Now, it was time for garbage cleanup.
A vast sea of endless snow, just as the name suggested.
The pure white valley that would normally have been breathtakingly beautiful was now stained pitch black.
Kraaaaaaaaah—!!
From within the pitch-black darkness came the howls of beasts. Thousands of starving monsters, driven mad by hunger, poured down the mountain ridge like a black tidal wave.
“Maintain formation! Do not lower your shields!!”
Boom!!Kwaaaaang!
Beasts slammed into the knights’ shields. The sound of sharp claws scraping steel. Torn flesh. And the screams of soldiers all intertwined to create a scene straight from hell.
Slash!
A silver flash split the darkness. Giselle’s sword severed the neck of a wolf-type monster that had been the first to try leaping over the defensive line in a single strike. Dark red blood sprayed across the pure white snowfield, steaming hot.
“Haa… haa……”
Giselle panted heavily and roughly wiped the blood splattered on her cheek with her sleeve. The scale far exceeded expectations. Only a few days had passed since the first snowfall, yet the monsters were rushing in madly as if something were chasing them.
If…… that miraculous food support hadn’t arrived.
Giselle thought as she watched the soldiers pushing back the beasts with their shields locked together. Though the battlefield was cold and brutal, the soldiers who had filled their stomachs properly put real strength behind their spear tips.
The defensive line would have already collapsed and been annihilated under normal circumstances. But thanks to the unknown benefactor who had saved both the citizens and soldiers, the front line was barely holding.
Thank you. With the strength you left behind, the North will endure this day.
Giselle offered deep thanks in her heart and gripped her sword once more.
“Your Highness! The right flank is being pushed back!”
“I’m going!”
Giselle mounted her silver-white warhorse and charged without hesitation toward the right side where the largest concentration of monsters was gathered. The ruler of the North. The iron-blooded Grand Duchess who stood at the very front, drenched in blood. Everywhere she passed, mountains of monster corpses piled up.
How long had she been cutting them down?
Even Giselle’s stamina was slowly reaching its limit within the endless procession of monsters. The bone-chilling cold seeped through the gaps in her armor, numbing the sensation in her fingertips.
Clang!!
Giselle barely deflected the front paw of a giant monster and was hurled backward.
Just a little longer. We only need to hold until dawn.
She clenched her teeth tightly. Suddenly, the scene from when she had left the castle gates flashed through her mind.
The image of the 8th Prince, Kael, sitting pathetically on the ground and throwing a tantrum.
Giselle wore a bitter expression. Even at this very moment, while she and the northern knights were tearing their flesh and blood against the monsters’ claws, that man was surely lounging on a soft silk bed inside a warm room filled with the scent of a roaring hearth, sipping the finest wine.
With the most trusted Knight Commander, Hexion, stationed in front of his door.
Just don’t cause any accidents.
She hadn’t left the knights behind to protect his life. If even a single scratch appeared on that man’s body, the imperial army would surely use it as an excuse to trample the North.
Inside, parasites sucked the lifeblood of the North. Outside, hordes of beasts aimed for their lives. It was an incredibly isolated and lonely fight.
But Giselle did not waver.
“Your Highness! Behind you!!”
At her adjutant’s urgent cry, Giselle turned her head. From the darkness, a mutant Bearwolf three times larger than a normal monster was leaping toward her blind spot.
“……Kgh!”
It was too late to dodge. Giselle instantly twisted her sword’s trajectory to aim for the beast’s neck. It was a resolve to give flesh and take bone—a suicidal counterattack.
To survive in this hellish North, she too had to become a beast.
If it meant she could save the people behind her, she could endure any amount of this cold and pain.
“Come at me, you beast bastards!!”
Giselle swung her sword, her silver hair whipping through the air.
The longest and harshest night in the North was deepening, thick with the stench of blood.