Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Repaying with Interest
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The knight commanders instantly turned pale, their bodies trembling. Their eyes, filled with shock, were fixed on me.
This reaction was well within what I had anticipated. The fact that they didn’t immediately lunge at me, screaming that I’d lost my mind for lying to the empress, was already more than enough.
“Rookie, you... really...”
“Ah, don’t get the wrong idea, Iris. It’s not like I harbor any ill intentions toward Her Majesty the Empress. It was just the only way to deal with that bastard without any backlash.”
Iris still hadn’t fully recovered from the shock and remained silent. But her eyes sent a wordless signal that she was willing to hear the explanation for now, so I continued.
“As you all know, that guy is from the imperial family. Sure, he’s the type who wouldn’t even glance toward the throne, but even from a distance, the mere fact that imperial blood flows in his veins gives him more influence than most nobles. To take out someone like that without any repercussions, ordinary methods wouldn’t cut it, right? So I used an extraordinary one.”
“......”
They would know better than anyone that the former lord was never going to die peacefully. He had thrashed about even during his exile, which was why the palace knight orders had been dragged all the way to this remote territory with him.
They must have guessed that dealing with him cleanly would require extreme measures. It was just that the method I used was far more extreme than they’d imagined.
I made him draw the attention of the demons, stripped him of all his rights, and let the empress handle it personally. Who could have even dreamed of such a thing?
“It wasn’t even a dangerous lie. Approaching the lord to discuss a method from a book I happened to find—that’s the only part that wasn’t true, out of everything Aurora explained.”
“The severity of the lie doesn’t matter. What matters is that you lied to His Majesty. And what if the truth comes out? What if it’s revealed that you brought in demons from the start with the intent to harm imperial blood? Why would you risk something like this?”
“No. Even if it’s discovered, it won’t be a problem.”
Aurora, who had been watching the situation, suddenly interjected. Iris shot her a look that said, You think that’s not an issue?
“The current empress—my aunt—doesn’t particularly like that pig either. She’s only left him alone because the more he rampages, the more secure her own position becomes. Dealing with him cleanly like this, plus giving her a pretext to pressure his noble faction allies—it’s likely she’ll let it slide.”
‘So that’s the backstory?’
I’d assumed she’d just wrapped things up on her own terms because digging deeper into that incompetent fool wouldn’t yield anything worthwhile, and she didn’t want to complicate matters.
I hadn’t expected the empress to dislike him too.
Of course, this territory’s lord had a far more depraved personality than in the game, so it was uncertain if Bren 4’s main story had her thinking the same. There, he at least had some semblance of common sense.
“So, knight commanders, there’s no need to worry. We’ve exterminated a vermin that was gnawing away at society, cleaned up the trash he left behind, and restored things twisted by his whims back to how they should have been. We just used a tiny bit of underhanded methods in the process.”
With someone who could call the empress “aunt” vouching that there was no cause for concern, a bit of color returned to the knight commanders’ faces.
I stayed calm the whole time, knowing how the story was supposed to unfold from the start.
“But still... lying to His Majesty...”
“You knight commanders don’t need to say a word yourselves. That’s a job for Aurora here and the rookie knight sitting over there. You all just need to play the role of rushing in after an urgent support request and holding back the demon so it couldn’t rise.”
“......Holding back the demon so it couldn’t rise?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a way to deal with the demon ourselves.”
As Aurora said this, she glanced sideways at me. I met her gaze squarely. For a very brief moment, a look of disbelief flashed in her eyes.
“Don’t overthink it. This is definitely to your benefit too.”
I sprang up from the sofa. It was time to move.
“You have to repay everything you’ve received so far—with interest.”
I led the knight commanders and Aurora down to the basement where the lord, reduced to a half-demon and writhing on the brink of death, lay. The moment the four of them spotted him, their hands instinctively went to their weapons.
“......He really looks hideous.”
Lize muttered under her breath.
“It’s disgusting enough just watching him twitch on the floor. If a half-demon in this near-death state is like this, I can’t even imagine the power a true demon would wield.”
Near-death state. Well, not wrong. I’d deliberately brought a blessed dagger and whittled down the lord’s health to the edge of death. Of course, there was a reason for it.
Even in this state where he couldn’t properly recover his strength, his demonic essence meant that leaving the half-demon lord alone would gradually corrupt the surrounding terrain.
To prevent that, we had to keep beating him until the empress arrived to purify it. Focus on recovering health instead of polluting the area with whatever power he had left.
‘Perfect job for the knight commanders. They’ve suffered under him all this time, so let them get some revenge.’
But since I didn’t know how long it would take for them to arrive and for us to finish explaining, I’d taken measures to stop him from corrupting the area in the meantime.
That was why I’d brought the blessed dagger.
“......So you want us to stop this thing from recovering its strength?”
Claudia slung her greatsword, as long as she was tall, over her shoulder. The faint smile on her face suggested she’d already guessed what I was going to ask.
“I told you, right? You have to repay everything you’ve received so far—with interest. Just beat him to your heart’s content. Of course, control your strength so you don’t collapse the basement.”
It wasn’t strictly necessary, really. I’d already shaved off all his health with the blessed dagger, so leaving him like that wouldn’t cause corruption.
But the knight commanders had endured years of torment from this lord. Naturally, they deserved to pay him back for it all.
Even if they killed him, they should get their revenge first.
“Alright? Then I won’t hold back.”
Claudia was the first to step forward at my words. Gripping her greatsword like a golf club, she unleashed a full sideways swing into the lord’s body.
With a crisp *thwack*, the scale-covered form flew into the air. He soared backward and crashed into the opposite wall, shaking the basement walls with a rumble.
Iris and Erica seemed startled by the sudden action. Lize, on the other hand, paused as if thinking something over, then drew a dagger from her waist, coated the blade in ice, and grinned widely.
“You’re saying if we don’t beat this pig, the demon might revive? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that never happens.”
Lize dashed toward the lord, leaving a trail of frost behind her with a quick “Thanks, rookie!” Claudia watched her back with a pleased expression.
“Don’t overthink it, Iris. Once that bastard dies, this chance won’t come again in your lifetime. Just let go and enjoy it till the end.”
“......You’re serious, Claudia?”
“Dead serious. And you’re thinking the same as me. If you were really against it, you’d have taken your hand off your weapon first.”
Claudia pointed at Iris’s hand. It had long been fidgeting with the sword at her waist.
It was the posture of someone who’d draw and charge in together at the first opportunity, as long as she could convince herself. Caught red-handed, Iris’s cheeks flushed red in an instant.
“If I’d heard the plan from the start, I would’ve opposed it. But the rookie’s already done it, and it’s irreversible—what can we do? We have to trust him. He’s already proven he keeps his word. So just go along with it, Iris. Come on, join in and beat him up.”
A chill wind swept in from the far side of the basement. Ice obscured the view, but it looked like Lize was going at it with real enthusiasm.
As the air rapidly cooled, Aurora shivered and sidled up to me, pressing her arm against mine. Wondering what she was doing, I turned my head. She returned my gaze with a brazen look asking if something was wrong.
“Erica, let’s go.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Who else is named Erica here? You’re a lot like Lize, so I can tell exactly what you’re thinking. Stop pretending to hesitate and just come on.”
Erica grumbled a bit at being compared to her sister but followed Claudia obediently anyway, since it wasn’t entirely off-base. Flames flickered faintly from the weapon in her hand.
Left alone beside us, Iris stared blankly at the other three now gleefully pummeling the lord from afar, then let out a deep sigh and turned to me.
“Rookie.”
“I’m listening.”
“Claudia’s right. If you’d asked for permission beforehand, I would’ve vehemently opposed it. Lying to Her Majesty the Empress? No sane person could approve that.”
But.
The atmosphere around Iris, which had started as a reprimand, shifted at that word. The corners of her mouth curved upward against gravity, and her eyes softened with a slight bend.
“I believe you have something planned this time too. When you went to subjugate that monster, I didn’t trust you until the moment you returned... but this time is different. Given everything you’ve shown so far, even the most outlandish plan deserves a chance of faith. I’m leaving this entirely to you.”
With that, Iris moved to join the others, wind swirling around her weapon, but paused midway and half-turned her head.
“And... thanks for setting this up.”
“No problem.”
On the far side of the basement, something akin to a storm was already raging. The room flashed with light. Aurora and I watched for a bit before heading outside.
The moon hanging in the sky was slowly sinking behind the mountains.
“You said you hadn’t been in the Silver Dawn Knights for long?”
“I don’t know the exact date, but it’s probably been about two weeks now.”
“And yet you’ve earned that much trust from them? Impressive maneuvering.”
I answered with a smile.
I’d just been following the story like in the game, but from their perspective, it came across as unbelievable feats. By my standards, this was normal.
Besides, the scale of enemies appearing from now on would only grow.
If I followed Bren 4’s story exactly, I’d have to solo every monster capable of lightly destroying a city.
The recommended level for the first playthrough ending was around 100, so on top of that, grinding thousands or tens of thousands of lesser ones was par for the course.
Tens of city-destroying monsters plus thousands or tens of thousands of regular ones—even the empress probably couldn’t match that.
All achievements of a single player character.
‘That’s how game protagonists are, right?’
That’s why they’re the protagonists.
We sat in one corner of the garden, chatting idly about this and that, waiting for the empress who’d arrive by morning at the latest. Aurora was surprisingly witty.
Time passed, the sun peeked over the horizon, and still no sign of the knight commanders. Considering all the pent-up emotions they carried, I could understand. They could go at it all day.
“So, later we’ll need to completely replace the servants—oh.”
We were in the middle of discussing how to purge the butlers, servants, and maids when a magic circle appeared right next to us in the garden. It scorched and crushed the grass as it formed, shooting a blue pillar of light into the sky.
Teleportation magic. Identical to what I’d seen in the game, so I recognized it immediately. We backed away to a safe distance to receive the empress.
Blue particles gathered within the light pillar, forming a human shape. Arms and legs, head and torso took form, clothed in garments.
The mass of light, now a perfect human figure, slowly stepped out of the pillar.
“......?”
It was a woman identical to Aurora.