Chapter 199: An Ill-Fated Relationship (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 199: An Ill-Fated Relationship (5)
“We must raise the army at once and bring divine retribution upon those vile bats! Your Majesty, Your Holiness, what are you hesitating for?!”
A long, round table.
A middle-aged man in black full plate armor shouted, his voice laced with urgency. His attire might have made him look like a knight, but he was no ordinary one.
He was Leonar Ekin.
Head of the Leonar family, one of the Five Ducal Families that served as the five pillars supporting the Empire.
Fabre Loki, the head of another ducal family, tried to quell his furious outburst.
“I understand how you feel. You must be eager to lead an army, march on them, and reclaim your lost territory. But the purpose of this meeting is not simply to defeat them, but to uproot them completely. So please, calm yourself.”
“I had to flee a surprise attack, leaving my young son behind. And you claim to understand how I feel? What a joke! Fine, if you’re so eager to understand, then I pray your territory is the next target for those damned bats.”
“...I admit my words were careless. But your remarks go far beyond mere carelessness.”
The tension between the two dukes sent a chill through the conference hall. The only ones who remained unfazed by the atmosphere were the other ducal heads, the Emperor, and the Pope.
Everyone else—the marquesses, the counts, and those of lower rank—trembled, hoping not to get caught in the crossfire.
The Emperor sighed as he watched their pathetic display.
“Sir Ekin, Sir Loki, both of you, calm down.”
“But, Your Majesty!”
“Sir Ekin. Do you intend to defy an imperial command?”
“...”
At the words ‘imperial command,’ Ekin bit his lip hard. Though clearly displeased, he had no choice but to fall silent. The only way to reclaim his territory from the vampires was to mobilize the armies of the Emperor and the other dukes, along with the Holy Knights.
In such a situation, provoking the Emperor’s displeasure was the worst possible move.
Once Ekin closed his mouth, the conference hall finally quieted down.
The Emperor looked around at the assembled nobles and spoke.
“I have sent a messenger to the Hero.”
“By the Hero, do you mean Cloud?”
“Indeed.”
As the Emperor nodded, the mood in the hall brightened, if only slightly.
“That’s right. There is still one Hero left on the continent.”
“If it’s the Hero who defeated even the Four Heavenly Kings, dealing with a bunch of bats should be easy.”
“I was puzzled when he wasn’t included in the expeditionary force, but Your Majesty’s foresight saw even this future. I am in awe.”
As the tension eased, their true natures emerged, and the nobles began to flatter the Emperor.
Amidst this, Duke Jenkinson spoke up.
“What will you do if the Hero refuses to obey the imperial command?”
A sudden silence fell over the hall.
The nobles wanted to give him a sharp piece of their mind for dampening the mood, but his status as a duke made that impossible.
They could only sit quietly and hope the Emperor would reprimand him for his insolence.
And just as they hoped, the Emperor’s brow furrowed in slight displeasure.
“Refuses to obey an imperial command... What do you mean by that, Sir Jenkinson? You would do well to choose your words carefully.”
Jenkinson remained unfazed by the Emperor’s low, sunken-down voice. Unlike Ekin, his own territory was secure, which afforded him a certain degree of composure.
“I mean it literally. What if he defies the imperial command and refuses to join the vampire subjugation? Or what if, conversely, he sides with them?”
Another noble interjected.
“I’ve heard that Gis is Cloud’s mortal enemy. Why would he ever side with the vampires, who have Gis among them?”
“Who knows... Aren’t we all familiar with suppressing our emotions for the sake of future glory?”
The nobles fell silent. Every noble here was the head of a family. They knew better than anyone that personal feelings had to be set aside when making decisions for their houses.
But the Emperor shook his head.
“Anyone else, perhaps, but not him. If he coveted power, he would have used the young queen he himself installed to swallow the Prona Kingdom long ago.”
“So he has no lust for power? That’s a relief. But one question remains. Will he truly obey the imperial command meekly? And please, don’t mention the Mark of Oath you placed on him before. Your Majesty knows as well as I do that such a mark has little effect on someone of the Hero’s caliber.”
“That may be true. But he will come.”
“Why are you so certain?”
“He is human, after all. He wouldn’t want to live in a world ruled by vampires.”
“That reasoning is a bit weak.”
“In truth, I have more solid grounds for my belief.”
“And what is that?”
“The Hero, Cloud, is said to be engaged to the daughter of the Ferdiac family, Frillite de Ferdiac.”
At those words, every noble’s eyes widened as they turned to stare at the head of the Ferdiac ducal family.
The man, who had remained silent since the meeting began, gave a slow nod in confirmation.
The nobles were stunned.
Every one of them had a painful memory of trying to arrange a marriage between their own child and Frillite to curry favor with the Ferdiac family, only to get burned badly.
Getting no reply, as in Lorian's case, was getting off easy.
“How on earth...?”
What tricks had Cloud used to secure an engagement with Frillite?
In response to the unspoken question, the head of the Ferdiac family simply stated that he had granted his daughter’s wish.
When the unsatisfied nobles tried to press further, he glared at them with killing intent.
That alone ended the matter.
Jenkinson let out a dry laugh and nodded.
“...In any case, that is certainly a solid reason. As long as he loves her, he won’t act against the Empire.”
The Emperor replied, “If the Hero distinguishes himself in this matter, I intend not only to pardon his past crimes but also to grant him an honorary title. A man marrying the daughter of an Imperial ducal family deserves at least that much.”
Just as the other nobles voiced their agreement and prepared to shower the Emperor with more flattery, the doors to the conference hall burst open. A knight in red armor rushed inside.
No one chided the knight for his rudeness.
This was practically a time of war. They were only desperate to know why the knight had committed such a breach of etiquette to burst into their meeting.
“We’re under attack!”
“What? It’s daytime. The vampires would have to be insane to attack now.”
“Did they hire mercenaries?”
“This is the Imperial Capital. You think mere mercenaries would dare attack this place? Did every mercenary group on the continent form an alliance?”
“To take vampire money and betray their fellow humans... This is why those filthy lowlifes are hopeless. Your Majesty, once this is over, let us purge their filthy kind!”
The nobles, assuming the attack was a betrayal by mercenaries, erupted in outrage.
“It’s not mercenaries!” the knight shouted, correcting their misunderstanding. The nobles stared at him, confused.
“Not mercenaries? Then who? Don’t tell me another kingdom—”
“It’s vampires!”
“Vampires are attacking with the sun high in the sky? Make sense!”
“Th-the sun is strange. It’s not like usual, it’s black, a black thing...”
“Speak clearly! What about the sun?”
“That’s enough, Sir Ekin.”
The Emperor stopped Ekin from haranguing the knight. He looked around at the other nobles and said, “It seems something strange has occurred, something difficult to describe with words. It would be better to see it for ourselves. Besides, are not the Empire’s elite forces all gathered here at this very moment? There is no need to fear vampires under the sun.”
No one objected to the Emperor’s words. As he said, the Five Dukes and the other nobles had all brought their elite knights and soldiers with them.
They saw this situation as an opportunity to break the vampires’ momentum.
That is, until they stepped outside the Imperial Palace.
“By Iries. What am I seeing?” a cleric muttered in a daze. His reaction was among the more composed. Others, casting aside all the decorum they usually prized, either cursed loudly or collapsed to the ground.
Their reactions were not strange.
The scene unfolding before their eyes was that surreal.
Centered on a black sun, the once-blue sky was dyed a crimson red.
Floating in that sky were pale-faced vampires, flapping enormous bat-like wings.
There were so many that if they had gathered together instead of being spread out, they could have blotted out a small patch of the sky.
At the heart of the four divided groups of vampires were individuals exuding an extraordinary aura.
They had to be the Lords, the leaders of the vampire hordes.
“...The knight’s report was accurate.”
Jenkinson let out a hollow laugh and drew his sword.
“I shouldn’t have brought my family.”
He had thought that with all the Empire’s nobles gathered, this would be the safest place on the continent. It seemed he was mistaken.
It looked like today would be the last day for him and his family...
And perhaps, the last day of the Empire.
*
—One week before the sun over the Imperial Capital turned black.
“An order from His Majesty the Emperor?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Well, I guess I have to go. No choice. I’ll leave as soon as I’ve packed my things. Go on ahead and tell them that.”
“Understood. Um, but... may I ask just one thing?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“Th-that thing you’re sitting on, Sir Hero... it’s a dragon, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“Setting aside how you managed to kill such a mighty dragon, why did you remove its heart?”
“I need it to make something.”
“To make something...?”
“Didn’t you say just one question? Stop prying and get going.”
“Ah, yes. My apologies. Well then...”
The Emperor’s messenger bowed his head and departed. As befitting a messenger, he ran with incredible speed. Only after the man’s figure had vanished from sight did Cloud begin preparing the poison.
A poison made using a Dragon Heart.
It had to be condensed dozens of times to produce just one or two drops of Dragon’s Blood Toxin, the most lethal of all poisons, capable of killing even an Ancient Dragon.
And that was precisely what Cloud intended to create.