Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Harvest Festival (4)
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A feat.
Literally meaning a great achievement. At the same time, it was a word that summed up all of Cain's deeds in one go.
Boldly put, Cain's exploits over the past year were more than worthy of being called a feat—no question about it.
When the emperor first welcomed Cain, the nobles were dead certain that the favor wouldn't last.
Lenheim. Lord of that hellhole of a territory? He wouldn't hold out long, no doubt.
No wonder its moniker was Purgatory. But a backwater kingdom hick as lord? How long could that possibly last?
Yet the absurd stream of victory reports that followed left the nobles in a panic instead.
"They subjugated the wyverns? How in the world?"
"Aren't the wyverns one of the Magic Realm's four great powers?"
"Does that even sound plausible...?"
But that was far from the end of it. Subjugating the wyverns for the empire was achievement enough to etch into the history books.
Greedy as he was, Cain notched yet another feat.
The Conquest of the Seven Beast Kings.
A victory dispatch arrived at the palace: he'd slain the master-level Water King and secured the surrender of the other Seven Beast Kings' tribes.
"Kuhahat! Splendid! The Second Prince's discernment and wisdom pierce the heavens and survey all the earth!"
Seated on his roughly carved stone throne, Leonis bellowed a hearty laugh as he lavishly praised Second Imperial Prince Oran.
Oran had once been lambasted—even accused of tarnishing the imperial family's dignity—but now opinions had flipped entirely.
The foresight to unearth and claim a dragon lurking in the mud. The humility to bow his head for the empire's sake.
No one in the empire had soared in prestige like the Second Prince.
"How could that be my doing, Your Majesty? It was only thanks to Your Majesty's gracious ear bent toward a loyal vassal."
"True enough. Had I ignored the prince's counsel... Perish the thought."
"I am deeply humbled, Your Majesty."
Despite Cain's monumental feats, Oran kept his humility, bowing low before the emperor.
Meanwhile, most nobles were reduced to a stunned silence, mouths sealed shut with honey.
Cain had muzzled their sneers and slanders with nothing but raw prowess.
But the emperor had no plans to gloss over it.
"What say you all? Still think Lord Blackguard should be tossed out?"
"F-Forgive us, Your Majesty!"
"We fools have at last glimpsed Your Majesty's foresight!"
When Leonis jabbed the wound, the nobles flung themselves flat on the floor in unison.
Any show of pride here risked falling from imperial grace.
Leonis smirked in satisfaction at his haughty retainers eating crow.
"Your Majesty... I cannot help but marvel at Your Majesty's foresight, yet I believe certainty eludes us still."
But a grave, resonant voice spared the nobles further torment.
Lustrous golden blond locks and eyes aglow with crimson. A radiant visage that stole the gaze of all.
Crown Prince Siegfried von Adelnö Ragna. He had finally stepped forth.
To the nobles, his arrival was salvation from on high.
"What do you mean?"
"Your Majesty, I dare not question Your Majesty's wisdom or the Second Prince's foresight... yet these recent dispatches strain belief, truth be told."
"Hm."
"Th-The Crown Prince speaks true!"
"Exactly! We must verify it all properly, no?"
The crown prince's words shifted the mood. The nobles pounced, advocating caution.
It wasn't unfounded. Half the Magic Realm's four powers subjugated in a single year?
Worst case, merits inflated. Leonis personally doubted it, but...
"Thus, might Your Majesty grace Lenheim in person?"
"Pardon?"
"Crown Prince, what are you...?"
"Well said. And with Lenheim's harvest festival upon us, it suits Us to attend personally."
Leonis snapped up Siegfried's suggestion. Imperial visits were rare.
To perilous Lenheim? Expect fierce opposition from ministers.
Hence the need for pretext—and the crown prince supplied a fine one.
'Fortuitous. Cain Blackguard... I've longed to meet him face-to-face.'
Truth be told, the crown prince saw Cain Blackguard as prime talent worth meeting.
Two of the Magic Realm's powers in one year? Martial might aside, a genius commander.
Those powers couldn't be crushed by force alone.
With emperor and crown prince announcing their Lenheim trip, no noble breathed opposition.
"We'd best forge ties in Lenheim posthaste."
"Victory horns blaring nonstop? Bound to be lucrative."
"...Lenheim. Could I make my mark there?"
The emperor and crown prince visiting Lenheim? Crowds turned their eyes there.
Some for profit.
Some for acclaim.
For myriad motives, throngs set course for Lenheim.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Cain Blackguard.
Before his appointment, Lenheim's folk scraped by on borrowed time.
No—far grimmer.
Lives eked out by others' whim till the reaper called. Lives fed to wyverns or necromancers.
But Cain's lordship transformed it all.
Hope dawned for the first time. Futures sharpened into view.
The hundred thousand who followed Cain to Lenheim. The fifty thousand who'd endured there before. Their shared hope.
It bloomed now as the Harvest Festival, late but fervent.
"Do we need such fanfare? Plenty on our plate this year—keep it simple."
"A festival honoring Your Lordship's triumph, held modestly? Unthinkable."
"This victory will trumpet Your Lordship's name empire-wide. Talents will swarm here."
"What do you mean?"
"Lenheim's a land of opportunity now—no exaggeration."
Lenheim had been hell incarnate, dubbed Purgatory.
Cain changed that. From inferno to proving ground.
The empire scarce offered upward paths. Post-Duke's Revolt, scarcer still.
"Nobles and throne alike frown on new blood rising. Merit in battle's the sole path."
"So the empire's talents flock here...?"
"Precisely."
Cain nodded at Morgana's crisp recap. Point was: talents inbound, so stage a grand festival to flaunt lordly gravitas. Morgana's pitch.
Cain's war with the beastmen drilled one truth home: talent shortage.
'No one but me or the princess to lead armies. Stings.'
Viscount Harban existed, sure. But... middling.
Three Kingdoms game terms: like Kan Son-mi. Princess Anna? Green for command.
Admin humming along, barely... but commanders, knights? Urgent.
"Sir Grandel guards Her Highness—unavailable. Must train more leaders."
"Spot on. Here's hoping top talents flock to Lenheim."
In sum, Cain heeding Morgana proved a godsend.
Diligently prepping the festival, word dropped of an unimaginable VIP.
Emperor Leonis, descending on Lenheim in person.
Cain's mind blanked at the bolt from nowhere.
"Uh... Your Lordship."
"Yes?"
"My brother... er, the Crown Prince comes too this time..."
"......"
I want to pass out for a week.
No—poof from existence.
For real.