Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Grandson of Maria Sion
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"Huh? Uh...!?"
While the retainer was stammering in shock, the knight spotted Stelmann rushing past him like the wind and hurriedly drew his sword.
"Huh!?"
But in that instant, the knight's body froze under an unprecedented pressure that seemed to bind his entire body.
With no way of knowing it was the brief burst of killing intent from Sion, the knight's head was struck by Stelmann's mace as it fell toward him.
*Thud!!!*
The knight's helmet split open from the brutal downward strike, his eyes bulging halfway out as he collapsed rigidly backward without even a scream.
What followed was a violent spectacle filled with screams and curses.
The distance between the Zanstrick mercenaries lined up on horseback behind Sion and the Augurst territory soldiers waiting at the gate was just over ten meters.
It wasn't enough distance for the horses to reach full gallop, so it couldn't deliver the same impact as a standard cavalry charge.
But with over thirty units, each weighing more than 500 kilograms, charging in simultaneously—and the Augurst soldiers briefly paralyzed by Sion's burst of killing intent—they had no choice but to crumble.
"Urk!"
"Aaah!"
"S-Save me!"
Ignoring the remaining soldiers fleeing into the gate, Stelmann outpaced them, entering the gate with three or four mercenaries.
He swiftly subdued the soldiers scrambling to close the gate, and the residents nearby—who had gathered to watch the rare big event—screamed and fled.
"Bandits are attacking!"
"Uwaa! Run!"
Stelmann glanced around the chaotic area near the gate.
"Ugh! Uwaaa...."
Sion slowly rode in, using the retainer impaled on his spear tip by the clothes like a marionette, struggling helplessly.
The situation outside the gate was nearly sorted.
Over fifty Augurst territory soldiers had been annihilated without accomplishing anything.
"Stelmann, head to the lord's castle. Capture the lord and make him kneel. The lord's castle here always has its gates open, so you can charge right in. These guys here are their main force, so it shouldn't be too hard."
"Yes!"
Stelmann and over ten mercenaries quickly galloped toward the lord's castle.
"Cough! Ugh! L-Let me go! You mad bastards! Do you know what you're doing!?"
The retainer, skewered by his collar, thrashed and bellowed.
Sion flicked the hand holding the flagpole, releasing him.
The retainer collapsed face-first onto the ground and scrambled to his feet.
"Y-You... Hic!?"
His face flushed red from not being able to breathe properly, he froze just as he was about to shout again.
The sharp spear tip holding the flag was aimed right between his eyes.
"This flag."
Sion's icy voice drilled into the ear of the sweating, trembling retainer.
"It was used by the first Duke Sion while fighting on the battlefield with his five companions."
"......!!!"
As the retainer's eyes widened in disbelief, Sion withdrew the flagpole and spoke.
"Go tell the lord. The grandson of Maria Sion has come."
* * *
*Clop clop.*
Leading the Zanstrick mercenaries, Sion slowly entered the lord's castle.
The gates of the lord's castle stood wide open, with soldiers collapsed everywhere.
Their so-called armor—padded clothes—was torn in places, and their weapons were in deplorable condition, just as Sion had predicted.
Even a hundred such soldiers couldn't stand against ten veteran Zanstrick mercenaries.
And when ambushed while scattered like this, they scattered like a sandcastle in moments.
Dozens of soldiers, disarmed by mercenaries numbering less than a tenth of their own, knelt with terrified faces, proving the point.
Sion's gaze turned to the figures kneeling beside the bloodthirsty Stelmann, bound in ropes.
Among them, he recognized the obese man trembling beside the retainer from the gate as Anserman Augurst.
As Sion approached on horseback, Anserman's flabby body jiggled as he spat in rage.
"Y-You vermin! Untie me right now! Do you even know where you are! Do you know who I—"
"Anserman Augurst. Proxy lord governing this place in place of Baron Lyle Augurst, bedridden. Correct?"
"That's right! I am Anserman, proxy lord of Augurst. If you release me now and beg for mercy, I shall bestow my magnanimity and forgive you."
"......"
Sion silently looked down at Anserman for a moment before dismounting.
Thinking he would be freed, Anserman tried to harden his briefly relaxing expression into one of stern dignity.
"Good, you've thought wisely. Considering your quick repentance, I shall specially..."
*Smack!*
"Urk!"
With a sharp impact, Anserman's massive head snapped to the side.
As he turned back, his thick cheek swelling red, Sion's hand struck again.
*Crack!*
"Guh!"
The blow was so hard that a few teeth flew out with blood, and Anserman staggered.
"Uhe! Uhee...."
Sion grabbed Anserman's hair, who was drooling blood-mixed saliva and shedding tears and snot, and stared straight into his buttonhole eyes buried in fat.
"You dare speak of magnanimity and mercy before the crest of Sion? Has the piglet's brain gone rotten?"
"Hiiik!"
*Crunch!*
Sion gripped Anserman's hair even harder, glaring as if to devour him.
Even amid the shock and pain that terrified him, decades of ingrained nature didn't vanish—Anserman opened his mouth.
"Y-You... You think you'll get away with this? I-I'm to be the lord of Augurst. I carry the noble blood of Augurst and Si-Sion... Kk!"
"Bullshit."
Sion roughly yanked Anserman's head back.
"Kuuh... Huuuh...."
Looking at Anserman with his filthy mouth gaping, stained red with blood, Sion suppressed the killing intent leaking out unbidden and spoke.
"You're not even Roana's son. You dare put 'Sion' in that dirty mouth?"
*Crunch.*
"Ueeek! Aak!"
The pain of his hair being ripped out raw made Anserman writhe, but resisting Sion's iron grip was impossible from the start.
Realizing the more he struggled, the worse the pain, Anserman could only tremble and gaze at Sion with fear-filled eyes.
"It's amazing. Vermin like you never go extinct. Well, with so many scum lording over their holes like kings, it's weirder if they did vanish. They have to experience it to learn... No, most don't even learn after experiencing it."
Sion quietly spoke and finally released Anserman.
He brushed off his gauntleted hand as if shaking off filth, then looked at the bound Augurst territory nobles and said,
"I am Jang Oblas Sailun."
"Huh!?"
The nobles, already terrified and staring at Sion, widened their eyes.
Anyone not an idiot knew what the middle name 'Oblas' meant.
"But some of you might want to call it a lie, say no one would believe it."
"......!"
Anserman flinched, hit right on the mark, and Sion gestured to Fiot.
Sion nodded to Fiot, who quickly stood beside him, and spoke.
"This friend here is Fiot, son of Baron Kilburn. And Fiot's father, Baron Kilburn, is the son of the first Duke Sion's daughter, Lady Maria Sion Kilburn."
"......!!!"
Sion took the spear with the flag from Miska and declared, holding it aloft.
"The royal honor I possess and the crest of the first Duke Sion are the proof. Anyone who still doesn't believe, step forward. I'll show you that the royals brook no falsehoods."
"......"
After smashing even the next lord without mercy, no one would step up.
In the silence all around, only the triple-headed eagle crest fluttered proudly.
* * *
Sion and the Zanstrick mercenary band fully occupied the Augurst lord's castle.
Afterward, Sion sent the first retainer out with the mercenaries to explain the situation and reassure the residents.
Of course, not all residents went "Oh, is that so? Thank goodness!" and relaxed, but with the fierce Zanstrick mercenaries neither plundering nor causing trouble, there was anxiety but no riots.
"Sir Sailun. Some residents are trying to flee beyond the gate. Shouldn't we stop them?"
In fact, dozens had already slipped through the lax defenses and fled, so Fiot couldn't hide his concern.
"It's fine. No need."
"But......"
Fiot was worried.
Even if they held the justification, occupying an intact territory, beating the proxy lord, and killing the territory knights and soldiers was a grave incident.
If word spread outside, the matter would snowball.
"Sir Sailun, couldn't we have resolved this peacefully today? Why order an immediate attack?"
The Augurst barony was kin to the Sion ducal family.
Now one of Sion's own, Fiot felt regretful and anxious about what had happened.
"And regardless, I'm worried how the Sion ducal family will take it..."
"That's why I did it."
"Pardon?"
"Your father's maternal family is not normal right now."
"Pardon!?"
To the startled Fiot at the sudden topic, Sion calmly said,
"You know the previous duke—your father's cousin—died recently, right?"
"Yes... but."
"It wasn't illness. Very likely poisoning."
"......!!!"
What was this now?
Fiot was speechless at the shocking story he'd never heard even while traveling from his territory here.
"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. But I only learned recently after telling Allot to investigate the Sion ducal family and nearby territories."
"S-Such......"
"The important thing is the previous Duke Sion may have been poisoned, and there are several suspects linked to it. Augurst is a prime candidate for accomplice. Today's events were to uncover the truth."
"H-How so? No, is that really true? If it's not... And will the Sion ducal family just accept it?"
Crimes can't be judged on suspicion alone. Evidence is needed.
Moreover, the victim—who might also be the perpetrator—was none other than the Sion ducal family.
A prestigious house even the royals couldn't treat lightly—they'd never meekly comply.
Especially to a collateral not the king or crown prince?
It was absurd.
"That's why you're important."
"Me...? Ah......!"
Fiot's eyes widened as realization dawned, letting out a short exclamation, and Sion nodded.
"This is a grave crime, but ultimately an internal matter of the Sion ducal family. To be resolved internally."
"And I... am Sion too."
"Right. A grandson visiting his grandmother's house after decades. Holding the founding duke's flag and traveling with a royal. More than qualified to intervene. And uncovering the truth might be easier than you think."
"How so?"
Sion gazed at the sky turning gray and continued in a chilling voice.
"The first one to rush here will be the prime suspect."
(To be continued)