Chapter 411: The Hero Climaxes in Defeat Again Today[R-18] (14)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 411: The Hero Climaxes in Defeat Again Today[R-18] (14)
Elegant music flowed through the banquet hall. Nobles from every region held gold-rimmed glasses, arms wrapped around each other as they laughed, chattered, and exchanged sly glances.
As I sat on the dais, looking down upon them from the seat of honor, Bi-yeon’s voice whispered in my mind.
‘How long are you going to just sit there? I’m bored to death.’
‘We have to give them a moment of happiness. This is their last, after all.’
‘Let’s just get this over with and go back to reality for some chicken. Oh! Or what about that chicken recipe? Should we bring it here and try to develop it?’
‘…Don’t you ever get tired of that damn chicken?’
‘What? Are you kidding me? How could anyone get tired of chicken? It’s the greatest food ever created by mankind!’
I ignored Bi-yeon’s sermon on chicken and scanned the hall.
I saw Viscount Olise Oliver. With golden epaulets on his uniform, he was handing a small note to a servant. The servant then discreetly approached Belzac from behind and passed it to him.
‘Looks like he’s still plotting something even now.’
‘Hey, forget that. Should I really bring the chicken recipe? We could completely change the palate of this world.’
As Bi-yeon continued to drone on about chicken, I sighed.
‘Why are you so obsessed with it?’
‘Huh? Because it’s delicious, obviously. The crispy skin, the juicy meat, the sweet and spicy sauce… Ah, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.’
‘…I’d rather not imagine a sword drooling.’
Just then, Eira cautiously approached the dais. She spoke in a low voice so that others couldn't hear.
“Vice Commander Evan… has sent word that all preparations are complete.”
I gave a slight nod.
Eira quietly retreated. At that moment, a noble stood up, raising his glass.
“Come, on this auspicious day! Shouldn’t we hear a word from the guardian of our southern lands, the great Marquis Alcladion!”
Laughter erupted from another table, and someone else chimed in.
“That’s right! We can’t miss the chance to hear the voice of one who has reached the ranks of a Sword Master on a day like this!”
In an instant, all eyes were fixed on the dais.
I slowly rose to my feet and lifted my wine glass. As the hall fell silent, I looked down at them calmly and, imbuing my voice with power, began to speak.
“Very well.”
It was just one short phrase, but it pressed down on the air in the hall. No one could easily predict what would come next, and they listened intently in the silence.
“Seeing all of you gathered here today… brings back memories.”
I held my glass and looked at each person seated in the hall. Belzac. Olise. And the nobles who followed them.
“Those who have worked for the Alcladion family, and…”
My gaze shifted from Belzac to Olise, and the corner of my mouth lifted slightly.
“Those who have not.”
A subtle tension began to ripple through the nobles.
“Becoming a Sword Master is not a personal glory. It is for the sake of protecting this southern land and the name of Alcladion.”
I tilted the glass in my hand. Red wine spilled onto the white marble floor, painting a blood-red stain.
“Today… is not a day for celebration.”
As I spoke, the doors at the back of the hall were quietly shut.
“Tonight is a night of purification, to be washed with the blood of traitors.”
I picked up a new glass. In the brief moment of silence, the eyes of the nobles began to tremble.
“So I ask you. How loyal have you truly been to me?”
The hall was enveloped in a silence so thick it was hard to breathe.
“…Now, for the dawn of a new order.”
I raised my glass high.
“A toast.”
Simultaneously, Eric’s personal knights, who had been hiding throughout the hall, drew their swords. A terrified baron shot up from his seat and cried out.
“M-My… My Lord Marquis…? What is the meaning of this…!”
I slowly turned my head.
“Your name?”
“…H-Hagenz.”
“Right. I remember now, Baron Hagenz. Do you have anything to say to me?”
Baron Hagenz’s face instantly turned deathly pale. His lips trembled as he tried to back away, but the knights were already blocking the exits.
“M-Marquis… I… I know nothing. I don’t know what’s happening, I just—”
“You don’t know?”
I slowly descended from the dais. The nobles parted to my left and right to avoid me.
“Kairosen.”
The moment I uttered that single word, his face turned ashen.
“That’s… all a misunderstanding! I…”
I shook my head as if I didn’t need to hear any more. With a single gesture, Eric’s sword flashed.
Hagenz’s head rolled onto the floor.
A spray of blood mixed with the wine stain on the white marble.
A deathly silence fell over the banquet hall. The nobles trembled as they stared at the head rolling on the floor, and a few struggled to hold back vomit.
I leisurely returned to the dais and leaned back in my chair. Then I raised my glass and took another sip.
“Why is everyone so tense?”
My gaze swept across the hall. I scanned the trembling eyes of the nobles as if piercing each one, and a quiet smile formed on my lips.
“Isn’t this a joyous banquet? Everyone… enjoy yourselves to the fullest.”
As soon as I finished speaking, another noble cried out in a quavering voice.
“M-Marquis! Please… I truly know nothing…!”
I turned to look at him and asked.
“You, what’s your name?”
“…Baren Hallow…”
“Baren Hallow. You live today.”
I took a sip from my glass, then pointed a finger below the dais.
“Do you see the maid on the left?”
“Yes… Yes, I see her…”
“Go over there and stand quietly.”
“…Thank you. Thank you so much…!”
Baren bowed his head deeply and scrambled over to the maid.
I slowly lifted my head and surveyed the hall.
In a silence where even breathing was suppressed, the nobles were frozen like herbivores before a predator.
“Music.”
At my single word, the waiting musicians flinched and picked up their instruments.
An elegant, yet somehow dissonant and trembling melody filled the hall. Though it was a beautiful tune, it sounded as grotesque and cold as a requiem for those about to die.
“Now the atmosphere is coming alive.”
I slowly raised the corners of my mouth and called the next name.
“Leonid Belzac.”
At my words, Viscount Belzac’s shoulders trembled violently. Like a prisoner who had just heard his death sentence, he stepped forward, drenched in sweat.
“M-Marquis…”
“You’ve worked hard for ten years. Did you enjoy your correspondence with Kairosen?”
Belzac’s face went pale.
“That… I…”
“Are you trying to make an excuse?”
I gestured. Ivril walked over silently and threw a bundle of documents in front of Belzac.
Belzac looked down at them, and his legs gave out, causing him to collapse.
“Do you have anything to say now?”
“…Marquis… Please… Just one more chance…”
“Do you want to live?”
“…I-I want to live…”
I set down my glass and looked down at him coldly.
“Then, I’ll give you a chance.”
At those words, Belzac’s eyes widened, grasping at a spark of hope. I pointed a hand below the dais.
“Crawl to me on all fours.”
“……!”
He hesitated for a moment, then placed his hands and knees on the floor and began to crawl.
Finally, Belzac crawled to my feet.
I lowered my head to look down at him. Then, spreading a thin veil of aura, I spoke.
“…The wife and daughter you brought with you are quite lovely.”
He swallowed hard.
“I’ll make good use of them as sex slaves.”
“……What…?”
His eyes shattered as if broken.
“You’ve worked hard, Viscount Belzac.”
The moment I finished speaking, I waved my hand lightly.
An imperceptible, compressed current of air exploded.
Belzac’s head was blown to pieces, scattering across the floor.
“Now that’s a relief.”
Just then, a voice broke the silence.
“Marquis, isn’t this… going too far?”
It was Viscount Olise Oliver. He walked forward slowly, forcing himself to appear calm, but his eyes were trembling with anxiety.
“You’re quite bold for a traitor.”
“My family… received its title of Viscount directly from His Majesty the King. The Marquis has no right to judge me. My status is protected by the royal family. You have no authority to execute me here—”
I raised a hand, cutting him off before he could finish.
“Protected by the royal family?”
A smirk escaped my lips.
“Olise, do you have any idea what you’re saying right now?”
“Of course I do. I am a servant of His Majesty the King, and—”
“A traitor is?”
My voice rang out, cold as ice.
“A man who has been colluding with Kairosen for ten years, selling the kingdom’s secrets, is protected by the royal family?”
Olise’s expression was confident.
“Do you have proof?”
“Proof?”
As if I had hit a nerve, the corner of his lip curled up ever so slightly. It was true that the merchant named Marco had only contacted Belzac and a few other nobles. Olise himself had always moved in the shadows. He hadn't left any direct traces of collusion.
‘But, if I need proof, I just have to make it.’
It was at that very moment. Ivril quietly emerged from the shadows. Dropping her stealth, she stood beside me and silently took out a bundle of papers.
“My lord. I found this in Marco’s quarters.”
She tossed the documents in front of Olise. There were sealed letters, official papers, and a few reports mixed in.
Olise gritted his teeth and picked up one of the documents. The moment he read a few lines, the color drained from his face.
“…This is a forgery! I never sent such a letter!”
“A forgery?”
I asked back, amused.
“Then, this handwriting. Are you saying it’s not yours?”
Olise looked at the document again with a flustered expression. Every stroke, every character, was a perfect match for his own handwriting.
“How…”
His hand trembled.
“And here. Your personal seal is stamped on it. You sealed it with such care, too.”
“That’s… impossible! My seal is always on my hip—”
Olise frantically fumbled at his waist. In that instant, his hand froze in mid-air.
The seal was gone.
His face turned deathly white. The composure he had maintained shattered like cracked glass.
“Perhaps… you were looking for this?”
I quietly raised my hand. A silver seal rested neatly in my palm.
Olise’s eyes widened.
“……”
“Are you still going to claim you’ve been wronged?”
I asked quietly. It happened in that instant.
CRACK—!
“Die!”
A gleaming dagger shot out from his hand. It was a weapon sheathed in mana. It flew in a straight line, aimed at my neck.
But.
His arm stopped in mid-air.
“……?”
Olise, not yet realizing his wrist had been severed, wore a look of confusion. A moment later, the dagger he was holding clattered to the floor.
“……Ah…?”
“The moment you drew a dagger on me, you were finished.”
I slowly rose from my seat. Bi-yeon was already in my hand.
Olise screamed as he looked at his severed wrist.
“Aaaargh!”
Blood gushed out like a fountain, but I left him as he was.
“Pathetic.”
Olise clutched his wound with his remaining hand and gritted his teeth.
“Marquis… you too… will one day…”
“One day what?”
I stood before him, looking down.
“Face retribution? From whom?”
When Olise couldn’t answer, I scoffed.
“Kairosen? Or the other traitors you dragged into this?”
“...”
“Unfortunately for you, they are all scheduled to be dealt with tonight.”
I brought Bi-yeon to Olise’s neck.
“Do you have any last words?”
Olise spoke in a trembling voice.
“My… my family… please spare them…”
“Family?”
I pretended to think for a moment, then shook my head.
“There’s no reason to show mercy to a traitor’s family.”
“No! They know nothing!”
“They carry your blood. They might dream of revenge one day, wouldn’t they? Therefore, dangerous seeds must be removed before they sprout.”
Tears of despair streamed from Olise’s eyes.
“Please… please…”
“Enough.”
I had no intention of listening any further.
With a light swing of Bi-yeon, Olise’s head was cleanly severed.
The third corpse fell to the floor.
I flicked the blood from Bi-yeon and surveyed the hall.
“Now… I assume you all understand the situation?”
My voice was low and soft, but the power within it seemed to crush the entire hall.
“From this moment on, for those who confess their sins of their own accord… there may be a sliver of mercy.”
As soon as the words left my lips, several nobles lifted their heads and came forward as if a dam had burst.