Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Chapter 5: Death's Beckoning Banquet (2)
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The words he spoke, accompanied by a clear smile and pitched just low enough for only the Azure Tower Lord to hear, were utterly shocking.
"The... the banquet hall is going to be attacked?"
The Azure Tower Lord, Risefield Dior, asked with a startled expression.
"Lower your voice a bit."
"My apologies."
He thought he'd spoken quietly enough, but it had still been a touch too loud. Raymond gave a light warning, and Risefield nodded with a stiff face.
"Shouldn't we inform the Royal Guard?"
"I'm a member of the imperial family, sure, but until recently, I was a notorious wastrel. Do you think the Royal Guard or the Imperial Guard would believe me?"
The sharp question silenced the Azure Tower Lord.
Objectively speaking, no one would easily trust the words of the Fifth Prince, once branded a wastrel, even if he had changed now.
This banquet was meant to demonstrate that the empire remained strong despite the recent assault on the palace.
Canceling it on the word of a former wastrel alone would inevitably cause issues.
"Even you old folks wouldn't buy it, right?"
He murmured just loud enough for the Azure Tower Lord to hear. His form of address had naturally shifted.
"Yes, honestly, I doubt they would."
Raymond nodded with a bitter expression at Risefield's candid response.
"So, you're saying we have about three hours left?"
"Roughly that much time, yeah? I don't know the exact hour."
He answered honestly.
[Midnight passed, and black shadows harboring killing intent hurled themselves toward the banquet hall.]
It was a snippet from the novel's description. The precise timing of the attack wasn't specified, but it was clear it would happen after midnight.
"Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"You wouldn't have believed me if I had."
"It's still hard to believe now."
Raymond shook his head with a short sigh at Risefield's words.
Not telling anyone was an option, but he wanted to give his subordinates at least some time to prepare minimally.
"We'll know when the time comes."
With that, he summoned Gestain. The knight, who had been keeping watch a short distance away, rushed over in an instant.
"You called for me?"
"The banquet hall might be attacked soon."
"I'll make preparations."
Unlike Risefield, Gestain—the loyal knight archetype—followed orders without question.
To him, the Fifth Prince Raymond was a savior who had restored the lost swordsmanship everyone said was impossible.
It hadn't reached blind faith yet, but deep trust shone in Gestain's gaze as he looked at the Fifth Prince.
"About two hours left now...?"
The banquet was dull.
Many nobles approached, but they only eyed each other warily—no one spoke first.
The riffraff didn't matter, but the high nobles' inaction was a slight disappointment.
Ah, it wasn't that no one had approached at all.
"Raymond. So, you've finally attended a banquet after five years."
The Third Prince approached with a sly grin.
Not someone he was glad to see, but with all the eyes on them, Raymond had no choice but to greet him with a smile.
"Brother, have you arrived?"
"Yes, have you been well?"
Mindful of the onlookers, the Third Prince smiled brightly and patted Raymond's shoulder encouragingly. But the gaze brushing his cheek felt chillingly laced with malice.
"Yes, thanks to your concern, Brother, I've been doing well."
He replied with a smile, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
The Third Prince's retainers drew near, positioning themselves to block the other nobles' views naturally. Like their master, their movements were insidious.
For a moment, Raymond thought the Third Prince might seem more proactive than the Second Prince, dubbed the king of assassins.
"Fifth Prince...!"
"Enough."
He stopped the Azure Tower Lord and Gestain from hastily intervening and turned to face the Third Prince.
Causing a scene here would play right into the Third Prince's hands. Besides, he was curious what he wanted to say.
"Raymond, my dear little brother."
The Third Prince whispered with a repulsive smile.
"Yes, speak, Brother Aloken."
"Have you forgotten all the advice I've given you?"
'Advice, not threats? Interesting.'
"I've kept it deeply in mind."
"Yet here you are at the banquet?"
A sharp blade glinted in his flat tone.
He felt the Third Prince Aloken's gaze piercing his cheek but kept his mouth shut in silence. He saw no need to respond.
After about five minutes of silence, perhaps feeling suffocated, Aloken opened his mouth again with a composed expression.
"Raymond, as I told you before, let me say it once more."
What was he building up to with this atmosphere?
"People don't change. The one exception is when death looms before them."
Raymond looked up to meet the Third Prince Aloken's eyes. He gazed back with an unpleasant smirk.
"You've changed far too much."
With those words, the Third Prince departed with his retainers.
Would that insidious Third Prince really end his threats here?
On a whim, he checked the time.
'Midnight.'
The moment had arrived.
"Wh-what is this?! I can't see a thing!"
"What are the mages doing?! Light it up now!"
The nobles panicked. Mages summoned magical lights, but the darkness didn't retreat.
It couldn't.
This wasn't mere lights going out—it was a darkness barrier cast by at least an archmage.
"Light!"
The Imperial Tower lord beside the Third Prince swung his staff, and the darkness receded.
"Royal Guard, protect His Majesty the Emperor!"
"The Shield of the Imperial Family shall not be breached!"
The Royal Guard sprang into action. Their top priority was, naturally, the Emperor.
"Imperial Guard! Protect the imperial family! Imperial Knights, to the banquet hall exits! We will uncover the culprits at once!"
The Emperor raised his voice. Aged and ailing, he had not lost his dignity, nor had imperial authority crumbled.
At his command, the Imperial Guard and Knights mobilized. Several Imperial Knights rushed to Raymond's position as well.
In that chaos, Raymond saw it clearly.
The Second Prince slipping into the shadows amid the confusion, evading watchful eyes. And in his place, someone else emerging in princely attire.
He saw it.
"My god! It really happened!"
Risefield clutched his head and drew the Sea Heart, while the senior mage Desia Heli prepared her spells. Gestain assembled the guards into a defensive formation.
From the center, the Fifth Prince spoke.
"What was destined to come has arrived."
The buildup to Volume 1's Bloody Funeral—where the most characters died—unfolded.
As planned, the Emperor would suffer a grave injury here today. And at the end of Volume 1, he would lose his life, igniting the Bloody Funeral.
But that wouldn't happen. The Emperor would emerge unscathed today.
"I'll stop it."
The darkness had receded, but shadows lingered. Sharp blades gleamed from within their cloaks.
"Knights, advance!"
The Imperial Knights drew their swords and charged the assassins. But the assassins were faster.
They swung at nearby nobles and servants.
"Kyaaah!"
"Gaaah!"
Red blood sprayed. Piercing screams rang out. People collapsed limply.
Nobles tried to flee with their few escorts, but assassins guarded every exit, window, and terrace.
'They know from the palace raid experience when reinforcements will arrive.'
They'd aim to finish before then. Desperately scanning the chaos to read the situation, he discerned one fact.
'The assassins are split into two groups.'
He wouldn't have noticed before. But now, faintly, their coordinated movements were visible.
The chaotic scene was protected by guards, allowing him to focus.
'One group blocks exits, kills nobles to sow more chaos. The rest... Hashashin?'
Even with mid-tier mage vision enhancement, the Hashashin left no afterimages.
But their target—the Emperor and imperial family—was clear.
'Just how massive is the Bloody Funeral...'
A sudden chill gripped him. In the settings, compared to the Volume 1 finale where the entire Philius imperial family perished in the Bloody Funeral, this banquet raid was mere "a drop in the ocean."
"A drop in the ocean? It's noisy enough..."
He frowned at the geysers of blood and falling bodies.
Nobles with escorts fared better, but servants had no choice but to bare their necks.
The assassins swung at everyone in sight to amplify the chaos.
If the banquet raid spilled this much blood, how much would flow in the Bloody Funeral!
"Fifth Prince!"
Gestain rushed over, his empty left sleeve flapping, and drew his sword.
A mana blade—the mark of a high knight—flared vividly on his sword.
He'd been so lost in thought he hadn't noticed the assassins encircling them.
"Two of them are Hashashin."
Gestain reported after gauging the enemies' auras.
Sending two Hashashin just to kill a mere wastrel Fifth Prince? Their assessment of his level had risen sharply.
'Use Spear of Sacrifice?'
The thought crossed his mind, but he shook his head.
In this situation, it'd knock him out cold—wasteful on mere Hashashin.
"I can take one."
"Then I'll handle the other."
Risefield stood beside Gestain, gripping the Sea Heart, the Azure Tower Lord's symbol. The stubborn old man felt reliably sturdy today.
"Mana blade? Didn't expect a high knight guarding a wastrel Fifth Prince."
"Heh, so what? With only one arm, can he even swing properly?"
"Right? Haha!"
The two Hashashin openly mocked Gestain.
Gestain regarded them calmly, while Raymond clicked his tongue lightly and spoke.
"Gestain, show them you haven't lost your swordsmanship."
"Gladly, Fifth Prince."
Resolve burned in Gestain's eyes. With battle-honed sharpness, he regulated his breathing and steadied his aura.
His first real combat since reclaiming his swordsmanship.
When betrayed and his left arm severed by the Mountain Duke, he'd thought his fighting days were over.
Yet here he was, sword in hand to protect his newly sworn liege.
How could he hide this joy of a knight alive and breathing?
A smile crept across his lips despite the formidable foes.
"Come, one-arm. I'll even yield the first move."
Raymond smiled silently at the beckoning Hashashin. He wanted to warn them of regret.
But Gestain moved faster.
Slash.
"G-gaaah!"
A flash erupted. By the time awareness returned, the Hashashin had lost his left arm, spraying blood as he retreated.
It happened too swiftly for the other Hashashin to see.
As the assassins recoiled in shock, only the Fifth Prince and guards wore expressions of expectation fulfilled.
One-Armed Sword Gestain.
In the original novel, a genius knight who meets the protagonist in Volume 2, learns one-armed swordsmanship, and becomes a Swordmaster.
Even accelerated, his talent hadn't faded.
"D-damn it!"
"Can't even see the old man?"
As another Hashashin lunged at Gestain, the Azure Tower Lord, Risefield, intervened.
Swinging the Sea Heart, dozens of sharp ice spears rained from the sky onto the Hashashin.
"G-guhk!"
He became a porcupine under the ice barrage.
Even as a Hashashin from Edriger Kingdom's elite, he couldn't match the Azure Tower Lord, a high mage deeply versed in magic.
"Kill them all!"
At the calm yet dignified command, the guards advanced, leaving only a minimal rear force.
Desia Heli's ice magic poured over the assassins first. Half died instantly; the guards finished the rest.
"The area is secured."
Gestain had dealt with his assigned Hashashin too.
"We'll escort you to safety, Fifth Prince."
"No. We're going to support His Majesty the Emperor."
"His Majesty has the Shield of the Imperial Family, does he not?"
Gestain asked cautiously. His unspoken addition—'Do we need to go with the Shield there?'—was plain to see.
Prioritizing the Fifth Prince's safety over the Emperor's loyalty explained his attitude. But Raymond stood firm.
"Look around, Gestain. Do you see my brothers?"
"No, I don't."
They'd all fled somewhere. The Second Prince vanished first.
The Third followed, and the First Prince stayed longest but fled injured under guard escort.
Only the Emperor differed. As his sons fled, he held the banquet hall to uphold imperial dignity, commanding the Imperial Knights.
'Going now will score points.'
The wastrel Fifth Prince, throwing himself to protect the lonely Emperor abandoned by all his sons.
'That paints a heroic picture.'