184
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 184
Mitchell had undertaken two tasks to lure Yan away from Margrave Friedrich.
One was winning Yan's heart.
The other was breaking the knighthood contract between Yan and Margrave Friedrich.
The first task was unexpectedly easy.
Mitchell's younger sister Rose had planted a dream in Yan.
It was a dream of stepping into the larger world of the Empire, beyond the confined lands of Friedrich.
However, a dream alone was never enough to leave Friedrich's territory.
Yan and Elijah had a lord-vassal relationship.
Originally, breaking a contract between lord and knight was only possible if the lord forcibly terminated it,
Or if the contract period expired,
Or if there were special provisions.
Moreover, the Friedrich Border was a war zone constantly battling against demon kind.
The moment Yan unilaterally broke the contract, he could face court-martial and, in the worst case, receive a death sentence.
Therefore, either Margrave Friedrich had to forcibly dismiss Yan or invalidate the contract based on special provisions.
Mitchell's chosen method was to make Elijah forcibly dismiss Yan.
"I hereby refuse to become a member of House Friedrich."
At the time, Yan was halfway announced to become the Margrave's adopted son, but he reversed this decision.
Moreover, he announced it at a party directly hosted by Elijah, making it impossible to take back the words.
Normally, other lords would have dismissed such a knight for insolence and challenged them to a duel to the death, but Elijah did not.
"I respect your decision."
Despite suffering public humiliation, Elijah did not dismiss Yan.
He merely asked Yan to remain dutiful to his mission, saying he was an indispensable knight for protecting the border.
Later, when Yan's honor was tarnished and he became isolated among his fellow knights, he struggled.
However, what's started cannot be undone.
Mitchell used the power of House Redfield to move the Emperor.
A letter arrived for the Margrave demanding Yan be handed over as the Emperor desired him.
"Yan is an irreplaceable talent for Friedrich. Please withdraw this excessive request."
But Elijah refused again.
At this point, Mitchell couldn't give up on Yan either.
Yan was the strongest knight Mitchell had ever seen and also someone easily swayed like a sword.
Mitchell and the Empire needed to make Yan a hero, turning him into both a hero of the demon war and a symbol of victory to gain support from nobles and commoners.
For this, they needed to get Yan away from Elijah's grasp without any blemish.
Mitchell's final method was to tarnish Elijah.
Initially, Mitchell began investigating Elijah's every move by sending people to learn about his weaknesses.
However, the more they learned about Elijah, the more they only discovered how remarkable he was.
Elijah was truly sincere about protecting the Border and didn't even have common women troubles.
But that didn't mean there were no options.
"Elijah sends knights and soldiers out of the Steel Fortress as fodder for demons."
"The reason Elijah never leaves the Steel Fortress is because he's actually a vampire."
"House Friedrich has only been able to bear one son per generation because their bloodline was cursed by the goddesses."
Mitchell continuously spread rumors to damage Elijah's image.
People within the Border began believing these rumors Mitchell created, and Elijah eventually had to explain himself before them.
Elijah finally secretly called someone from House Redfield and said:
"I will hand over Yan."
"But properly resolve this matter."
Finally, Elijah succumbed to Mitchell's schemes.
He dismissed Yan and drove him out.
Mitchell kept his promise to Elijah by beheading those who spread the rumors and presenting their heads to him.
However, Elijah's image wasn't completely restored.
After the rumors spread, Elijah struggled to recruit knights and soldiers, and ultimately couldn't achieve many merits during the demon war.
'Is this revenge for that incident?'
Mitchell had always been wary of Elijah because of this issue.
That's why he tried to remove Elijah from the Allied Commander position as quickly as possible and had his every move observed and reported.
But somehow Elijah managed to break through Mitchell's vigilance to plan and execute this large-scale rebellion.
Mitchell feared Elijah's secretiveness in executing such a massive plan while evading his eyes more than his swordsmanship.
Mitchell deflected Elijah's greatsword that came at an unavoidable angle and swung his sword.
Dozens of sword energy pieces extended from Mitchell's Kingfisher, closing in on Elijah.
It was the Redfield family's traditional swordsmanship and martial arts, the 9th form of the Redfield swordsmanship, 'Forked Wings'.
However, Elijah only blocked the sword energy aimed at his face, not bothering with those targeting his limbs or torso.
He felt no need to.
Mitchell's sword energy showered down on Elijah's armor like rain, but only scratched it without dealing direct damage.
'...Damn, he's covered himself in For Honor.'
Mitchell's swordsmanship is strong enough to cut through steel in one strike.
Yet Mitchell couldn't pierce Elijah's armor because it was made of 'For Honor', the world's strongest alloy.
To pierce For Honor, one would need to use sword energy like Yan.
After easily blocking Mitchell's attack, Elijah swung his greatsword at Mitchell.
"This is getting boring. Let's end this."
Mitchell tried to dodge but his feet were bound.
When light shone from the sapphire necklace around Elijah's neck, Mitchell's legs froze.
An artifact.
Mitchell saw the heavy greatsword coming down.
To Mitchell, that greatsword felt like a guillotine coming to take his head.
Is this death?
Is this how death comes so emptily?
Mitchell had no confidence in blocking this approaching death.
Grr!
Mitchell gritted his teeth and swung his sword at Elijah rather than the greatsword that would surely cut him.
Even if he died, he would resist until the end.
He would not meekly accept his fate.
That was how Mitchell had lived and how he had dominated the Redfield family.
A thick sword energy extended from Mitchell's Kingfisher toward Elijah.
Clang!
However, Elijah's sapphire necklace sparkled again and created a blue barrier.
"...!"
Mitchell couldn't believe even his death-defying attack was blocked so futilely.
Meanwhile, death drew closer.
Mitchell didn't close his eyes even as death approached.
He just glared into Elijah's eyes.
Even if he died, he would become an evil spirit and tear out that bastard's throat.
Mitchell thought this, and at the moment death approached, sparks flew in the air.
A black blade that flew from behind Mitchell deflected Elijah's greatsword.
The blade that seemed forged from shadows had blue sword energy overlaid on it.
Only one knight had such a unique sword, the hero Yan.
"What are you doing right now? Your Lordship!"
***
Arang tended to the recovering beast people.
"So Caesar saved you all?"
The wolf beast people missing an arm couldn't hide his gloomy expression.
"...Yes. And to save us, he lured Geotech and the Black Horn tribe to the Red Mountains. If it weren't for that doppelganger, we would all be dead."
Arang looked at the Red Mountains with an uneasy heart.
When first meeting Caesar, Arang had doubted him.
Given what the beast people, including Arang, had done to doppelgangers, they didn't think he would readily help.
But that guy showed mercy through his actions.
Arang had no idea how to repay this debt to Caesar.
"That Pegasus hasn't been eating well since separating from that doppelganger."
Arang looked at the Pegasus that came with them.
That Pegasus was Whitey, the one Caesar always kept with him.
"Why is it with you?"
"He said he couldn't afford to take care of a Pegasus while luring them away, so he left it with us."
"Hmm..."
Arang picked up a turnip left for Whitey and approached him.
Whitey glanced at the turnip then turned away.
He seemed to have no appetite.
"Don't you need to build up your strength if you want to meet and carry your master?"
Still, Whitey just stared blankly at the Red Mountains.
He must miss Caesar.
"We will definitely find Caesar for you."
Only then did Whitey look at the beast people.
His eyes seemed to ask if they really would find him.
"We'll find him. So please eat something."
Whitey nodded and put the turnip in his mouth.
Then...
-Whiteeeey!
Arang and Whitey's ears perked up toward the direction of the voice.
"Huh?"
-Whiteeeeeey!
-Where are youuuuu!
Arang looked toward the Red Mountains.
A red dot could be seen crossing the stars that looked ready to pour down.
If one hadn't looked carefully, it might have seemed like a new red star had been born in the universe.
-Whiteeeeeey!
Neigh!
Whitey immediately took flight toward the voice.
Far away, a red-haired figure could be seen.
It was Caesar.
"Hey! I told you not to eat before flying!"
Neigh!
Whitey felt wronged.
He was so worried about Caesar that he couldn't eat, and he had just eaten one turnip...
But why would that matter now?
Whitey adjusted his direction to glide and descended below Caesar.
Whitey smiled automatically at the familiar weight.
"Let's hurry! We have no time to rest!"
Neigh-!
Whitey flapped his wings powerfully.
Raven cast a wind resistance spell for Whitey and said:
"We're almost there!"
"How much further?"
"At this speed, about an hour?"
Caesar spoke into Whitey's ear.
"Whitey, let's try to make it in 30 minutes. Then I'll let you eat as many turnips as you want."
Neeeeeigh!
Whitey's joyful cry crossed the sky.
***
Yan swung his sword at Elijah.
Elijah stepped back and faced off against him.
Mitchell forcefully broke his two legs that were frozen by magic.
Surge!
Mitchell's blood and organ fragments began flowing from his mouth, starting from his slashed internal organs.
"Michell, are you okay?!"
Without answering, Mitchell took out a small necklace from his neck.
The necklace contained barely half a sip of potion.
Mitchell opened the cap and poured the potion into his mouth.
Once his disrupted organs were somewhat stabilized, Mitchell could finally speak.
"...Not okay."
"What on earth is going on?"
"Elijah betrayed the Allied Forces."
"What?"
Elijah snorted.
"Is that how you're going to play it, doppelganger?"
Mitchell was furious at that vile tongue that kept persisting.
"I'm not a damn doppelganger!"
Elijah pointed at Mitchell's head rolling on the ground.
"Then whose head is that?"
"...!"
Yan's eyes wavered.
It was because that head looked so similar to Mitchell's.
As Yan began to waver, Mitchell spoke urgently.
"That's a doppelganger! The one I cut down!"
"Where's the proof that's the real doppelganger and you're the real one?"
"My swordsmanship proves it! Do you think a mere doppelganger could perfectly copy my swordsmanship?!"
Yan came to his senses.
Mitchell was right.
Even a doppelganger cannot perfectly replace someone.
In fact, it was common for doppelgangers transformed into knights or mages to fail at replicating the knight's swordsmanship or mage's magic.
There was no way they could copy Mitchell's high-level swordsmanship.
"Lord Elijah! This seems like a huge misunderstanding! Please order everyone to stop!"
"Yan, stop. It's already too late to stop."
Mitchell looked around.
The surroundings were already filled with corpses of enemy knights and Steel Lion knights.
Stopping here was impossible for both Elijah and Mitchell.
And Elijah's eyes said it all.
Elijah had no intention of stopping here.
"Elijah planned this from the start. He aimed to destroy the Allied Forces and kill me."
"For what reason?!"
"Because you and I trampled on Elijah's honor. This is all revenge for that."
Yan looked at Elijah with disbelief.
"...My lord. Is that true?"
Elijah rested his greatsword on his shoulder.
"How could that be? Did I seem like such a petty person to you?"
Mitchell was dumbfounded.
Just moments ago he admitted to orchestrating this for revenge against Mitchell, yet now he was lying so shamelessly.
Mitchell felt he finally understood Elijah.
Elijah was too vile to be called a knight, closer to a schemer than a lord.
"Hero. Point your sword properly. If he wasn't a doppelganger, what reason would there be to hide that head?"
"That's...!"
"Through the long demon realm war, we learned how to deal with doppelgangers. When a doppelganger appears, we isolate them separately to distinguish the real one by asking questions only the real one can answer. But Sir Mitchell didn't do that. Why would that be?"
Yan began to waver again.
Mitchell was about to go crazy at those gullible ears.
"It was all because of you! I knew you wouldn't step down from the Allied Forces Commander position willingly, so I couldn't bind my own feet. And sure enough, hasn't this disaster occurred?"
Yan was confused, unable to tell whose words were true.
He felt lost.
"Yan! Get a grip! All of this was Elijah's doing!"
"Hero, can you really believe Mitchell's words? Can you really be certain he's not a doppelganger?"
BOOM!!!
While Yan hesitated, cannon fire was heard from far southwest.
Mitchell and Yan's gazes naturally turned southwest.
"That place... Is Loran Plains."
The Loran Plains region is currently where the 5th Division Commander Baker is stationed.