Chapter 76
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 76
While subjugating monsters was the primary purpose of a subjugation squad, eliminating threats to the Empire was also part of their mission.
"We must prepare for Swallow, who could reappear at any moment."
Ar finished speaking and surveyed the silent round table. It was an invitation for questions.
Yet, no one dared to speak.
Naturally, there were plenty of points to contest. Ar's argument was far from perfect. One could, for instance, cite historical precedents of Swallow's activities to argue that he was highly unlikely to pose a threat to the Empire for the foreseeable future.
But everyone knew the truth.
Ar hadn't seized control with logic.
He had seized the initiative of the meeting.
Lacking the confidence to counter the inevitable rebuttals Ar would unleash, no one could bring themselves to challenge him. The grand conference room had become his solo stage. In this battlefield of words, their swords and magic were useless.
Above all, even if they somehow managed to win a debate against Ar, there was absolutely nothing to be gained.
"How do you plan to stop him?"
While everyone else remained silent, a question came from the opposite side of the table. It was the voice of Roldos, a duke from one of the prestigious Nine Imperial Families and the captain of the Rustable White Whale Subjugation Squad, which dominated dungeon subjugations in the south.
"This time, Swallow launched his attack from within Riaze. I don't doubt the strength of the multi-layered walls and defense systems built to protect the city, but it has been proven that they are meaningless against him."
"You are entirely correct, Duke Roldos. That is why I wish to emphasize the necessity of the 36 Masterpieces."
The treasures commonly known to the public as the 36 Masterpieces.
Hearing the name, Roldos stroked his beard with interest.
"We, too, are searching for the 36 Masterpieces. But as you know, they are not so easily found. I even heard that 'Guillotine's Tooth,' which was recently put up for auction, vanished along with the Black Disaster."
"That is true."
Ar smiled.
It's because you do nothing that you cannot find them, he thought.
He swept his gaze across the room.
How many humans in this crowd could actually hold their ground against Swallow?
How many of them could make me feel that thrill again, or stand against that terror to plunge a sword into his black skin?
First, his eyes fell upon Kart, the captain of the Nixir Red Dragon Subjugation Squad. A man who upheld justice, pursued the righteous path, and possessed martial arts profound enough to have slain a dragon.
Yet, he could never reach Swallow.
Disqualified.
Ar’s mind rejected Kart’s very existence. His brain distorted the image his eyes perceived, erasing Kart from his vision entirely.
He looked to the side. The captain next to him was strong enough to hold his head high anywhere, but against Swallow, he was nothing but an insect.
Disqualified.
The one next to him, disqualified as well.
Disqualified, disqualified, disqualified.
This time, he turned to scan the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights. His own knights were no different. Gamot was disqualified all the same.
Disqualified.
Every single one of them was useless. One by one, they were erased from Ar’s mind until, in his vision, the grand conference room was empty.
The only one remaining was Uin Historia.
Though the finest warriors of the Empire had gathered here, not a single soul besides Uin could stand a chance against Swallow.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, his vision returned to normal.
Wearing a hypocritical smile once more, Ar continued.
"I am currently accelerating the investigation into that matter. Should any of the 36 Masterpieces be discovered, we plan to form a joint subjugation squad deemed most suitable to retrieve them. For now, I ask that everyone simply steel their resolve. I apologize for not being able to bring you immediate results."
"In that case, how will ownership of the Masterpieces be decided?"
"Once a Masterpiece is retrieved, it would be most appropriate for it to go to the subjugation squad that successfully recovered it, through proper legal procedures."
"Does that mean you will not claim partial ownership as compensation for providing the information?"
"My focus is on strengthening the military power of the Empire, not prioritizing the enhancement of our own knights."
Murmurs broke out across the room. To quiet the commotion, Ar immediately spoke up.
"I know you all have important matters to attend to. Let us move on to the second threat. This one is perhaps even more dangerous."
He added, "It is also derived from the first issue," and all the noise died down.
This time, as if they had an inkling of what he meant, several subjugation squad captains and vice-captains frowned. If their suspicions were correct, it was an extremely sensitive matter to bring up in a public setting.
"I trust in the wisdom of everyone present, so I will speak plainly."
As if their worries were of no concern at all, Ar spoke in a calm voice.
"As everyone knows, Riaze is the safest fortress in the world. The comfortable lives of the Empire's citizens and their absolute trust in the Empire stemmed from this 'guaranteed safety.'"
And it had crumbled.
Shattered by a single entity.
"Currently, seeds of doubt and anxiety are sprouting among the citizens. That alone would be manageable, but the true problem is that Swallow's invasion is being framed as a 'divine punishment' or 'the result of provoking divine wrath.'"
The Empire was a nation where the Emperor stood above all creation, and it had to remain so. Not even a god could be tolerated if they were idolized above the Emperor.
"And as you all know..."
"Wait. Deputy, I believe you need to be careful with your words from this point on."
"The Empire heavily persecutes religion, does it not?"
If the atmosphere had a sound, it would have been a sharp crack.
At Ar's final words, everything snapped. The ambient noise, the tension in the room, their very patience—it all broke.
A female subjugation squad captain sitting near Ar kicked back her chair and shot to her feet.
"Edelbreas... are you out of your mind? Do you even realize what you just said?"
Ar, who had expected Kart to be the one to stand, chuckled.
"I merely stated a fact. Did I not say I would speak plainly?"
"You're... you're truly insane. Do you know that what you just said could be considered treason?"
The female captain grabbed Ar by the collar. The difference in their physical strength was so overwhelming that Ar's toes dangled in the air.
"On the contrary, I have a question for you. Aren't you a bit too confident in your own strength?"
Yet, Ar was still smiling.
Unlike before, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly higher. He was sneering.
At that moment, a cold sensation touched the back of the captain's neck.
She didn't need to turn her head to know. It was the unmistakable feeling of a blade's tip. An officer of the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights had drawn his sword at some point and was now pointing it right at her.
That wasn't all. Multiple waves of killing intent erupted from behind, weighing down on the grand conference room. From across the room, the green-haired knight guarding Ar had drawn his bow and was aiming at her. Gamot had also completed her spellcasting with a single wave of her arm.
"If a subjugation squad captain returns from a meeting crippled, wouldn't it ruin their members' morale?"
This was not a threat directed at just one person. Every member of the Edelbreas was an elite among elites. It was why the Imperial Family had granted them the status of a knight order.
The powerhouses gathered in this room were numerous, but so were the knights.
Even if a fight broke out, the chances of the unprepared captains winning were slim.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, a flash of sky-blue caught the corner of her eye. Remembering Uin's presence, the captain immediately corrected her assessment.
It's not that the chances of winning are slim.
There are none. We can't win.
The woman let go of Ar's collar. At the same time, the cold steel pressing against her neck vanished.
With a tiny bead of blood forming on her skin and her entire body drenched in a cold sweat, the woman returned to her seat.
As if nothing had happened, Ar calmly continued.
"I am not telling you to harbor different ideologies. Nor am I suggesting we defy the Emperor's will. I only spoke so boldly because I thought beating around the bush would lead to misunderstandings."
He adjusted his collar. She must have grabbed him with considerable force, as the skin below his collarbone was red.
"What I want to say is this: The papal faction, already chafing under persecution, has made a cunning move. They are pulling strings in the shadows, and public sentiment is shifting. Whether people believe in a god or not is of little concern. We simply must prevent the Empire from being split in two because of it."
"...Are you concerned about the situation spreading?" the young leader of the Magic Tower, who had been watching silently, asked.
Ar replied, "Yes. We must at least prevent a civil war from breaking out, must we not?"
*
The candle flame flickered.
Alone in his office late at night, Ar swept the documents aside with a push of his arm. Resting his elbows on the desk, he brought his clasped hands to his lips.
It was not enough.
Still far from enough.
He had successfully planted the seeds of suspicion in the minds of the subjugation squads. However, the papal faction lacked any real firepower. After being persecuted for so long, they were nothing but cowards; they probably weren't even thinking of starting a civil war. At most, they would only try to expand their rights.
Ah.
"That won't do," Ar muttered.
Had he not just confirmed it? Among the living, no one except Uin could handle Swallow. With a human's frail body, a lifetime of training wouldn't be enough to leave a single scratch on him.
Something was needed to bridge that overwhelming gap.
The 36 Masterpieces.
And three of those 36 Masterpieces were kept by the papal faction under the guise of 'holy relics.'
A civil war was necessary.
A war had to be started.
A little...
"...Just a little more."
Just a little more. He had to create a massive rift.
Phase. 2
"I'm telling you this for the umpteenth time, Patrick. You won't die a peaceful death."
"After hurling such a half-hearted curse for over a hundred years, shouldn't you be tired of it by now?"
"I hope you get osteoporosis."
"My, what a terrible thing to say."
—But that last one is actually a bit scary.
Patrick felt a jolt at Swallow's sincere curse. If any other creature had said it, he would have laughed it off, but when a monster of terror darker than the abyss said it, it occasionally sent a shiver down his spine.
Chuckling awkwardly, Patrick stood up. Feeling a strange lightness in his body, he momentarily wondered if his bones really did have holes in them. Only after patting himself down did he joke around.
"Don't take it so badly, Boss. Think of this trip as a vacation, not work."
In the end, Swallow simply couldn't bring himself to send Rene alone.
After racking his rarely used brain to calculate dozens of scenarios, the probability of Rene returning safely without incident had dropped into the single digits. Furthermore, the fact that Patrick couldn't leave the dungeon was a truth, not an excuse, which meant there had been no other choice from the start.
If the odds had been around fifty-fifty, Swallow would have dug his heels in and refused, but he couldn't gamble his future comfort on a single-digit chance.
"You're probably the only gatekeeper on the continent who kicks out his own boss."
"There's truly no other gatekeeper like me," Patrick replied in a bright, proud voice.
His mental energy already depleted, Swallow had climbed onto a stalagmite in protest, sprawling over it without moving a muscle.
In response to Patrick's advice to prepare for the long journey ahead, Swallow, still half-heartedly maintaining his polymorph, declared himself ready.
Even for a boss, you really live an easy life.
As Patrick watched Swallow with that thought, he suddenly remembered something. Reaching into his shirt, he tossed an object over. Swallow casually reached out to catch it.
His hand missed, swiping through empty air as the object struck him squarely on the forehead.
It was a love-hate object he could now recognize simply by the sensation of it hitting his head.
"I tell you this every time, but you must wear it at all times."
"Patrick, tell me honestly. Just how many Demeuras are you carrying around?"
"I still have plenty left. About thirty?"
Huh?
"Did you dump all of our dungeon operating funds into those?"
"Pardon? Did I not mention that these are incredibly cheap?"
"But last time, you said it was extremely rare..."
"That was a white lie to make sure you used it carefully," Patrick added. "After all, humans usually look for magic accessories that amplify mana, not ones that suppress it."
A brief silence followed.