Chapter 201
Chapter 201
The nobles gathered here fell into two categories.
One group, like the Duke himself, had brought their private armies, harboring ambitions to secure a seat of power.And the other group—
“…The Duke issued a summons, and I came with the few knights and soldiers at my disposal. Never did I imagine the ones I’d be ordered to arrest would be you.”
—those who had been compelled by authority, with no choice but to join.
The man standing before me was clearly of the latter kind.
“Well, what a relief. To think you filled the encirclement so tightly with men. Had it not been for my family’s crest, I’d have been captured without a doubt.”
Feigning nonchalance, I jested, while the middle-aged man across from me wiped a hand down his weary face.
“What in the world have you done, Hans….”
It was my father, Baron Byron, who let out a deep sigh.
“It’s been a while, Father.”“Yes. I heard you had gone west as part of my dispatched studies, but… I never expected we’d meet again like this.”
There was a faint tremor at the end of his voice.Clearly, Baron Byron was struggling inwardly, torn between two choices.
Should he pretend not to see us and let us go?Or hand us over to the Duke right then and there?
“Father! What are you hesitating for?”
Beside him stood the one urging him to decide.
“It is Duke Roberc’s command. Even his breath would become a sandstorm upon us. There is no time to waver.”“…Max.”“Please, make the decision.”
In other words, we were to be captured and delivered directly to the Duke.
“You told me to trust you! And still nothing goes smoothly!”“…Mind your tongue, Saintess. That title doesn’t excuse calling him ‘Oppa’ so casually.”“What’s wrong with that? Is now the time to fuss over honorifics? Focus on getting ready to run!”
Rene’s complaints sparked everyone else to ready their weapons.
“Wait. The negotiations aren’t over yet.”
By Baron Byron’s side stood a young man with the same hair and eye color as mine.I spoke to him.
“Brother.”
Just one word, but the meaning was clear.
He turned his head away without responding, so I pressed again.
“Brother Max. You must have received my letter just a few days ago.”
Come on, don’t do me like this.I even sent you plenty of gifts back then.
“…Damn it! I know!”“Then it would wound me deeply if you acted otherwise.”
The Byron succession had already shifted firmly in favor of the eldest son.But that balance could still be overturned at any moment.
My achievements alone carried immense weight—hunting and subjugating high-ranking demons in the North,entering the Academy as second seat of the first-years,ascending to the position of Vice President of the Academy Student Council.
In the honor-bound society of nobles, such feats could not go unnoticed.
“If you had formally joined the succession contest, I would have stood no chance. You know that well.”“No. A house must rightfully pass to the eldest son. That is the way of order.”“…And yet you know how much pain was caused when that rule failed to hold.”
Baron Byron was, in charitable terms, a man of warm attachments.Less charitably, he was a man who allowed sentiment to cloud his judgment.
How much more so, when it came to his own children?When his younger son bared his fangs in the succession struggle, he had been unable to cut him down—his own failing.
And if I too sought the barony?
The outcome was obvious.Already worn down by rivalry with his younger brother, Max would have been pushed aside.
‘…Well, I never cared, since none of this had anything to do with helping Luciana.’
Different region, and only a baron?Why bother.
That’s why, in the letter I’d once sent the family, I had made things clear in one stroke.
[I, Hans Byron, swear never to return to the Byron household.]
That meant I was severing even the potential of future succession disputes.It was also the reason I hadn’t gone straight to our lands upon returning west.
“Please, Father. Even now, I hope you’ll remember the bonds of family.”“…Kuh.”
I had no interest in the house itself.But debts owed to me—I would collect without fail.
I had already removed one obstacle under the pretense of debt.Now, I fixed my gaze on the one with true authority.
“Hans, my proud son.”“Yes, Father.”“…Go, then.”“But Father!”
Max’s face betrayed both anxiety and fear.
“You will not escape Duke Roberc’s wrath….”“Then I shall shoulder that responsibility myself, as the commander on site.”
No father can win against his child.And for a kind man like him, that went doubly so.
“…Baron Byron.”“So you are the famed Lady Camilla Roberc.”“Indeed. Soon you will call me Duchess Roberc. …This debt, I shall repay someday.”
Camilla bowed deeply, and Baron Byron gave her a warm smile.
“There is no debt here. This is but a bargain—your life for mine. My old head in exchange for saving my youngest son, that is profit enough.”“Please don’t speak so. You are still hale. I myself have much to learn from your governance….”“Haha. Max, it seems I pass the barony to you sooner than expected.”
True father and son affection.Their embrace silenced all present.
“Hans.”“Ah, I’m fine.”“You’re cold-hearted. Is it for the sake of appearances?”
What nonsense was he speaking?No, that wasn’t it.
“I’ll see you again anyway. There’s no need for a farewell embrace.”“…Yes. That confidence has always been your greatest strength.”
With his hearty laugh, we broke free from the encirclement around the Bandit Guild’s camp.
“…So, what’s your plan now?”
But escaping the immediate crisis didn’t mean the West itself had changed.Shaking off the Duke’s pursuit would not be easy.
Elizabeth’s sharp words left us all brooding in silence.
“For now, we need to gather more manpower, don’t you think?”“Manpower?”“There are only five of us. We need allies.”
The first step was done.We’d left the Bandit Guild’s camp.Now we needed preparations for the power struggle.
“…Do you have anyone in mind?”
But practical-minded Elizabeth pressed the point.
“Willingly or not, the major families of the West have already sided with the Duke. Even criminals, when faced with that butcher, will bend. I even saw the crest of the Mage Tower among the besiegers.”
So, in reality, did we have any forces to bring to our side?But there was one group, even Elizabeth hadn’t considered.
“Cluck-cluck. You’re still confined entirely within noble society. With such thinking, how can you ever pioneer new trade routes?”“W-what?!”“…Granted, it is a risky gamble, even for me.”
The enemy of my enemy is not always my ally.And that applied to those I was about to seek out as well.
“Duke, they’ve escaped the prepared encirclement.”“…Tch. You’ve served me long enough to know better. That is not the answer I wanted.”
Iron-Blooded Duke, Duke Roberc, only wanted one of two reports.
Either Camilla’s party had been successfully captured.Or—
“The locals say their trail leads to Baron Byron’s encampment. It seems highly likely he deliberately let them go….”“Then arrest the commander responsible and deliver him to me.”
—how those who failed had been punished.
“On the eve of the Grand Design, no mistakes will be tolerated. Understood?”“…Yes, my lord.”
Clicking his tongue, he noted: a retainer who couldn’t even grasp his master’s will was of no use.He resolved to have the steward remove the man.
“…And the reports from the soldiers guarding the Sahel Region?”“They assure us not even a rat could escape. The borders are tightly sealed!”“Good. Then they can run, but only within the Sahel.”
The encirclement had simply widened for a moment.There was nowhere for them to flee.
The Sahel—a land swarming with monsters, criminals, and harsh nature, never allowing a moment’s rest.How long could they endure?
“…Tch, a shame.”
That one child, who had inherited much of his own wit and temperament, stood now on the side of opposition.
“Laila.”
His beloved of the past.The woman who had glimpsed his Grand Design, and in doing so, doomed their love.
“If only you had chosen to stand by me, none of this tragedy would have been necessary.”
He mused, imagining—If brilliant Laila had yearned to be Empress, what might have happened?Perhaps she might have become the first true Empress in Ilbedon Empire’s history.
“…Hah. The Grand Design’s completion nears, and I am distracted by idle thoughts.”
But the past was gone.Only remnants remained.
The daughter he once cherished was now nothing but an obstacle.
“Report!”
His reflections were broken by a soldier’s abrupt shout.
“…No knock, and you call this a report? Did your superior teach you so poorly?”“T-the thing is….”“Never mind. Speak.”
If it was trivial, he’d have the man thrown into the mana-stone mines.But what came next was exactly the news he longed for.
“The traitor, Camilla Roberc’s location has been identified!”“…Is that true?”“Yes! Reported by locals of the Sahel Region—it’s certain!”
In other words, by criminals.But he had worked with them long enough to trust they wouldn’t lie.
“Where?”“At the entrance to an underground dungeon, encamped with her allies! The map marks it here.”“…Hmm. Looks familiar.”
…Ah.The place with the mummy.
A ruin said to hold a sealed calamity of the past.An ancient hero, now forgotten, had supposedly bound it there.
He had once sent troops, curious whether anything could be gained.But only corpses had returned.So he had written it off—securing the rebellion’s foundation was more important.
“Any unusual signs?”“They say monsters from the dungeon are guarding them.”“Ha. So they won the admiration of some relic of the past? Clever trick.”
It didn’t matter.It only meant one more nuisance to be swept aside.
“Ready to march. I’ll go myself.”
So, they had gained nothing more than a dungeon with old stories.
“You’ve miscalculated, Camilla.”
No matter how strong an individual might be, numbers could grind them down.And this was no rabble—these were noble families’ elite soldiers and knights,skilled mages from the Mage Tower,and hardened criminals raised in secret.
“Laila, let me send the fruits of my design to your side.”
Mana swirled, condensing mana-stone dust into sharp awls.The same awls that had taken countless lives would now pierce his daughter’s throat.The Iron-Blooded Duke was certain of it.
Despite the dungeon’s aid, we had been forced back step by step, until we reached the final chamber—the resting place of the Nameless King.
“O-Oppa. This is….”“Duke Roberc came well-prepared. No wonder he dares reach for the throne.”
Could the Imperial Guard or the Knight Commander withstand such a force?
‘…Even before, the protagonist had to lend them his strength to defeat this army.’
But Rene, not yet at her full growth, and us alongside her—we could not hope to endure.
“This farce ends now.”
And there he was—the mightiest authority in the West.
[Boss][Iron-Blooded Duke][Geilok Roberc]
With a fierce visage, he advanced, flanked by spears of sand and steel.
“Camilla. You too will walk the same path as Laila.”“…Father.”
Standing before her true nemesis, Camilla bit her lip until it bled.
“Why did you order my mother’s death?! You loved her once!”“Love between nobles is not affection. It is built upon power.”
His reply was cold, as he raised his staff toward the Nameless King.
Insolent….“I am destined to be Emperor! Do you think I’ll be shackled by relics of the past?!”
Though the Nameless King was a grand mage of the highest rank,he could not match the Duke’s vast military might.
“What now? At this rate….”
We would all die.Elizabeth swallowed her words, and I swallowed hard too.
‘…This is as I foresaw. But what comes next….’
From here, there was no turning back.The coming crisis might even eclipse the Duke himself.
‘Damn it, there’s no time for hesitation!’
I had already declared I would gamble to save Camilla.
“O King!”
At my call, the skeletal figure in golden crown and wrappings turned to me.
“Now is the time!”
What mean you?“Unleash the calamity you sealed away!”
The Duke’s army was a wildfire, ready to consume us.The calamity would be a counter-blaze—one that could consume us as well.
…Your strength is insufficient.“But it is they who defile your resting place with their filthy feet! Should they not bear your duty in your stead?”
After a moment’s pause, the jawbone without a tongue began its incantation.
And then—
Grrrrhh…
The underground tomb filled with a creeping dark aura.
It spread toward the Duke and his army,toward us as well.It spared no one.
As though life itself was reaching its end.The suffocating black smoke slowly took shape.
[Boss][Calamity of Death]
[Warning][Relative to the dungeon’s level…][Without the Saintess, the Calamity’s difficulty will be even higher…]
The familiar warnings, and new ones as well.And so, one of the final bosses rose to its feet.