The Coup (10): The Purge
The room featured a wide, comfortable, and plush bed. If not for the solid iron bars and the shackles clamped around his wrists and ankles, no one would have guessed this place was a prison.
“How’s prison life treating you?”
“Alpha! You bastard…! So you’re the one who planted those filthy ideas in my daughter’s head!”
I had come to this luxurious cell for one reason only: to mock Wellington.
“I mean, really. What made you think betraying us was a good idea~?”
“This son of a—!”
Even an Alpha Male like me is still only human. After enduring Wellington’s constant nitpicking every single day, I simply couldn’t resist the urge to teabag the fallen noble as he thrashed inside his cage. Every time I watched him throw another tantrum, it felt like ten years of accumulated stress were being scrubbed clean from my soul.
“Erika. Seems the prison suits him.”
“Ugh! E-Erika! I am the lord you swore your knightly oath to—!! Ugh!”
Thud! Thud!
The moment I finished speaking, Erika stormed into the cell and began beating Wellington with a club. He screamed about the knight’s sacred vow, but it didn’t faze her in the slightest.
“You worthless trash! This is exactly what happens when you obstruct Lord Alpha at every turn!”
“Lord Alpha? A knight like you is calling that breeding-stock commoner worse than a peasant by that title?! Where is your pride?! Aaaargh!!”
“Shut your mouth! Scum like you could never understand Lord Alpha’s greatness. And when exactly did Lady Ertia acknowledge him as a commoner?!”
For running his mouth, Wellington earned himself another blow from Erika’s club.
“When he first created the Pregnancy Test, you insulted him!”
Thud!
“And you even sent your own son to duel him? After you cowardly mobilized soldiers, lost anyway, and still forced him to swing his sword!”
Thud!
Erika’s fury seemed even greater than my own as she rained down blows for every grievance I had suffered at Wellington’s hands. It was genuinely terrifying to watch.
“Ugh… uuuugh…”
I smiled in satisfaction as the grown man was beaten without mercy until he finally broke down sobbing.
“Lord Alpha. The knights and soldiers sent for training have returned.”
“Good. You’ve secured them all?”
“Yes.”
“Erika. That’s enough. Let’s go.”
“Understood.”
Thud!
“Khuk… kuhuuuugh… T-this cannot be! This cannot be happening!”
Leaving Wellington wailing and weeping behind us, I strode out of the prison while openly squeezing both Leona’s and Erika’s firm asses in plain view.
“Hngh…”
“Ungh…”
The two females looked positively delighted just from having their rear ends grabbed. Their toned, springy buttocks pleased me greatly, but I couldn’t spend all day fondling them.
“Lady Ertia.”
The instant other people came into view, I withdrew my hands from their asses and bowed respectfully to Ertia. It was a perfectly rehearsed performance. There was no humiliation in faithfully playing my assigned role. Therefore, I lowered my head to the female without the slightest resentment.
In this little drama, I was merely a man who had only just been elevated from commoner status for assisting Ertia’s coup. Bowing before others was only natural.
“Ahem. Now that the knights and soldiers have returned from training, how should we handle them?”
Ertia had begun using stiff, archaic speech now that she was lord. She wasn’t officially the territorial lord yet, but she clearly relished the position.
“They are the limbs of the traitors who tried to sell the territory. They must be executed, of course.”
“Hold on! Department Head! No matter what he intended, Wellington is a noble! How dare you casually label him a traitor!”
“Silence! Finance Minister Alon! Are you defending a traitor now?”
At my words, Finance Minister Alon Perso stepped forward in protest. Though he was merely a non-hereditary viscount, a noble was still a noble. He clearly disliked hearing me speak of Wellington so freely, yet one sharp rebuke from Ertia forced him to clamp his mouth shut.
With the limbs of the traitor Wellington—who had tried to sell the territory—currently being executed one after another, Alon needed to watch his own neck. He must have realized it by now. After seeing Ertia defend me so openly, he would have understood there was a special relationship between us.
“Ahem, ahem. N-no. I was simply fulfilling my duty as a member of the nobility. Since Department Head Alpha’s suggestion is entirely reasonable, let us proceed with the knights’ disposition as proposed.”
This was the first meeting since we had imprisoned Wellington. The finance minister, having sensed that real power now rested with me rather than Ertia, immediately voiced agreement and made a clear gesture that he had no intention of opposing me.
“…”
So that’s a clone.
Melania’s clone remained completely unresponsive. The faint dragon magic I could sense was so subtle that—since Melania had never properly wielded her power before—I had mistaken the clone for the real thing. Being deceived by a female was infuriating, but I chose to understand. Melania was the closest thing to an Alpha Male I had ever encountered among females. Even I would have been fooled if I let my guard down.
“Then may we execute the knights?”
“Yes.”
The clone only ever spoke one word: “Yes.” It seemed even a dragon couldn’t create a perfect duplicate capable of independent thought and judgment. Still, even though we knew it was a clone, we had to act as if we didn’t. We had learned the truth from one of Wellington’s letters, but for now we were supposed to be ignorant. Therefore, this was as good as receiving Melania’s permission.
“Hmm…”
With even Melania’s approval granted, the other department heads who had been managing the territory let out uneasy groans. From their perspective, the knights’ fate didn’t feel like someone else’s problem. After all, many of them had been directly appointed by Wellington; in a sense, they were targets for purging as well.
“We mages cannot accept this!”
Just as the punishment for the knights who had faithfully followed Wellington was proceeding without a hitch, an elderly mage rose from his seat.
“Even if Baron Wellington attempted to sell the territory, punishing his confidants without a proper trial is unacceptable!”
The relationship between mages and knights had always been this bad—they practically wished for each other to fail. But the old mage’s glare toward me suggested he was even more displeased that things were unfolding according to my wishes.
These were the same mages who had clashed with me over the Osu Treatment Plant before. I never expected them to obediently follow my lead.
“I’m sorry, but the decision is already made. Let’s end this here.”
“Lady Ertia, please reconsider! If you proceed this way, all of us mages will leave the territory—!”
The mages were taking a very hard line. To me, however, it was welcome news. Parasites who contributed nothing while sucking the territory’s lifeblood—good riddance if they left.
I gave Ertia a small nod.
“Then leave.”
“Wh-what?! Lord Ertia! To treat mages this way…! Do you truly believe the territory will survive without us?!”
Now that he was no longer bound to the territory, the old mage abandoned all politeness and roared at the top of his lungs. For someone who had lived that long and only reached two circles, screaming about the mistreatment of mages was downright comical.
“I will report this to the Magic Tower! No mage will ever set foot in this territory again!”
“Finance Minister. Provide them with generous retirement pay and send them on their way.”
“Understood.”
Ertia was even ordering retirement pay for the mages who were cursing her as they left. While the expense was regrettable, we couldn’t afford to completely burn bridges with the Magic Tower. Basic courtesy had to be maintained.
“Then this concludes today’s meeting.”
“Yes.”
As the meeting ended, the attendees quickly filed out of the conference room. Each face wore an expression of deep worry about how to navigate the rapidly changing currents within the territory.
“Let’s go.”
I headed to the magic classroom accompanied by Ertia, Erika, and Leona.
“Magic begins with sensing mana. Every single thing in this world contains mana within it. Close your eyes and try to feel it. Anyone who succeeds may come to me.”
Ertia was now the lord, and Elisa had temporarily left with her mother. As a result, Helen was currently the one teaching the students.
“M-Mast… Ah, Alpha!”
Helen had nearly called me “Master” upon seeing me but quickly corrected herself. I led her to a spot where no one else could see us and asked.
“How are the results?”
“Yes. Miss Selin has already completed her first circle. The others with talent are right on the verge of reaching it as well.”
“Is that so?”
There was a reason I wasn’t worried even if all the mages left. We had a solid backup plan! The magic classroom we had maintained by offering free dinners had not been a waste of time. It was on the verge of producing several genuine mages—even if they were only first-circle for now.
“However, teaching everything by myself… progress has been rather slow. I have to teach them writing as well as magic.”
“For now, have Selin teach the others how to read and write. Elisa should return soon. Bear with it until then.”
If I offered Selin a salary comparable to a regular teacher, she would surely accept. If she refused… I would simply persuade her with my cock. In any case, it was time to reward Helen for her hard work.
Squeeze—!
When I firmly gripped her ass, Helen pressed her breasts against me as if to express her gratitude for the reward. I squeezed her breasts tightly in return and bestowed upon her the greatest reward she could possibly receive.