Chapter 195: A New Landscape (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 195: A New Landscape (5)
It was a time of great upheaval.
While the Cairo Kingdom underwent rapid and violent changes, Count Gregory—a staunch follower of the Kronos Empire—languished in prison. When the soldiers had first dragged him away, he had kept his chin held high. He had screamed at the top of his lungs, demanding to know if they truly believed the Empire would stand idly by while he was touched. But as the days bled together, he realized this situation was far from ordinary.
"...Is that true?"
"Yes, my Lord. It is absolute chaos outside. They say Roman Dmitry led his forces to Castle Benedict and crushed the rebel army in a single blow. Although the Kronos Empire joined hands with the Noble Faction to attack the Western Front, the rebels collapsed so quickly that even the Empire was powerless to intervene."
Inside the dim prison cell, one of Gregory's men had secretly delivered the news.
This is bad.
Gregory's heart sank.
Having competed with Marquis Benedict for years, Gregory knew exactly how meticulously the man had prepared for this rebellion. Castle Benedict, in particular, was an impregnable fortress. Hearing that such a stronghold had fallen in an instant, instinct told him his own life was in grave danger.
His last hope was the Kronos Empire.
If they could just win and seize the Western Front, he would have the leverage to negotiate a compromise with the Cairo royal family.
However...
"...I just received an urgent update. I can hardly believe it myself, but the forces on the Western Front didn't just repel the Kronos Empire. They opened the gates, pursued them, and killed their commander, Count Fabio, along with Knight Commander Gustavo of the 10th Knights Division. What do we do now? Roman Dmitry has eliminated every single threat to the kingdom."
Gregory’s head spun.
Sinking to the cold stone floor, he pictured Roman Dmitry's face.
That monster.
He had known Roman was no ordinary man. The youth possessed a presence so immense it threatened to overflow the small pond of Cairo, but Gregory had never imagined he would actually draw his sword against the Kronos Empire. What Gregory had once considered an overestimation was, in truth, a massive underestimation. With the Kronos Empire retreating, the nobles of the Imperial Faction and the rebels could no longer guarantee their own survival.
From that moment on, Count Gregory spent his days in agonizing anxiety.
Terrified of when his death sentence might be handed down, he paced restlessly in his cell, his face growing gaunt.
Then came the day the heavy prison door finally swung open.
As he summoned him in the name of the King, a guard leaned in and whispered, "Count Gregory. The Kronos Empire has refused to admit any wrongdoing. Instead, they are demanding Roman Dmitry's arm as retribution for the deaths of Count Fabio and Knight Commander Gustavo."
Count Gregory's face lit up.
There was always a way out.
As long as the Kronos Empire refused to back down, a path to survival still existed.
* * *
Count Gregory was dragged before the King.
Forced to his knees by rough hands, he looked up at Daniel Cairo, forcing a calm expression onto his face.
"Count Gregory. You conspired with the Kronos Empire and jeopardized the security of this nation. Do you admit to this?"
It was the question he had anticipated.
The moment he admitted his guilt, he would be stripped of his power, and his head would likely roll.
But...
"I admit it."
He did not lose his composure.
Looking Daniel Cairo straight in the eye, Count Gregory raised his voice.
"It is an open secret that I follow the Kronos Empire. But is that a crime? Marquis Benedict staged a rebellion, and so he paid the price. I did not. I executed no such plot, so on what grounds do you treat me like this?"
"How utterly shameless," Daniel retorted. "The very fact you just admitted to is more than enough reason to treat you as a traitor."
"Your Majesty is the one who is gravely mistaken. Marquis Benedict was a man of Cairo, so executing him as a traitor poses no issue. But I am a man who has sworn allegiance to Kronos. Even if I hold a noble title in Cairo, my situation is entirely different. If you kill me here and now, do you truly believe the Kronos Empire will stand by? They are predators. They are the kind of monsters who shamelessly turn the tables and rage even when their commanders are slain in fair battle. How do you think they will react to my death?"
He had shifted his strategy.
Groveling would not save his life. Since he had the backing of the Kronos Empire, he needed to weaponize it.
"His Imperial Majesty of Kronos has already promised a bloody vengeance. If you execute me, there will be a corresponding price to pay. So, why not simply deport me to the Empire instead? If you cannot bear the consequences of getting your hands dirty, then at least rid Cairo of this hazard. That would be the best outcome for both of us."
He held his head high, his eyes flaring.
Though he knelt as a sinner, his gaze made it perfectly clear that he believed himself superior to Daniel Cairo.
The threat hit its mark.
Daniel Cairo's face contorted.
...He is not entirely wrong.
Count Fabius had returned, and Daniel had learned the steep price of peace.
Daniel Cairo was deeply concerned for Roman Dmitry, but he had no way to resolve the issue. Protecting him with the Royal Knights? Utterly useless. Their opponent was the Kronos Empire—a monstrous entity capable of deploying assassins far stronger than Count Nicholas.
Because of this, the King was consumed by guilt.
Though he was certain he had made the right choice for the kingdom, it was a grave injustice for Roman Dmitry to bear the consequences alone. From start to finish, this war had been won entirely by Roman. If Roman had not crushed the Noble Faction and the Kronos Empire, Cairo would have been ruined. Yet, instead of throwing him a celebratory banquet, they were forcing him to face the Empire's assassins.
There was no way out.
Count Gregory had struck a raw nerve, piercing the agonizing guilt Daniel Cairo had nursed day after day.
The Imperial Faction.
He wanted to purge them immediately.
But the thought that doing so might only intensify the Empire's wrath toward Roman Dmitry made him swallow his words. He was, without a doubt, a weak king. In a moment that demanded decisive action, his mind was tangled in a chaotic web of doubts.
Just then, Daniel Cairo's eyes met Roman Dmitry's.
* * *
It was a silent signal.
Roman stepped forward and looked at the King.
"May I speak, Your Majesty?"
"Speak."
"The Emperor of Kronos is not a man to go back on his word. Since he has declared he will extract a price in blood, he will undoubtedly send assassins after me. But that is already a foregone conclusion. Regardless of the challenges I must face from now on, why should I fear a mere threat of assassination from our enemies? Count Fabio and Knight Commander Gustavo were figures of immense weight, utterly incomparable to the likes of Count Gregory. Therefore, Your Majesty, make your decision and lighten Cairo's burden."
Count Gregory panicked.
But before the Count could interject, Roman cut him off, his voice ringing out.
"The moment we executed the traitors, Cairo's peace was already over. Your Majesty, make the choice that is right for Cairo. Even if your people must die because of it, no one will resent your decision if it is the correct one. There is no war where no one dies. If you hesitate by weighing the value of individual lives and lose sight of what truly matters, you will never be able to undo the consequences."
Silence fell over the Cairo Royal Palace.
The high-ranking officials gathered there were struck speechless.
How on earth...?
Was Roman Dmitry truly devoid of fear?
Even though the Kronos Empire had openly declared its intent to assassinate him, there was not a single shred of dread in his voice.
Daniel Cairo swallowed hard.
The weak king wavered constantly, but he strove to face reality to the very end.
"Cairo owes a great debt to the Dmitry family. Even if this choice makes me a target for assassination as well, the royal house of Cairo will never forget Dmitry's devotion."
He shifted his gaze to Count Gregory.
Staring down at the panicked noble, the King spoke with resolute authority.
"Count Gregory. Not only did you conspire with the Kronos Empire, but you also dared to boast of it before me, defiling the honor of Cairo. Cairo's chaos stemmed from a single act of turning a blind eye. From the moment we turned a blind eye to those who sought only their own gain regardless of the nation's safety—men like Marquis Benedict, Count Gregory, and Count Denver—Cairo was plunged into absolute chaos."
"Your Majesty! There has been a misunderstanding—!"
"Silence!"
Daniel's face flushed red.
The young, timid king was no longer there.
Tempered by continuous trials and inspired by Roman Dmitry, something solid and unyielding had been forged within Daniel Cairo's heart.
A king's resolve.
He cast a cold, unforgiving gaze upon the kneeling man.
"Count Gregory. For the crime of treason and endangering the nation, I sentence you to death."
* * *
Life was both simple and complex.
Cairo had groaned in agony for a long time under a fractured power structure, yet with a single decision from Daniel Cairo, the execution was set in motion.
Two men were to ascend the gallows. Faced with the impending executions of Count Gregory and Count Denver, their followers were struck with terror, not daring to raise a single objection.
Kairos Square was packed with crowds of people.
Before being dragged to the square, Count Denver looked at Roman Dmitry with hollow eyes.
"...How foolish I was. If I had recognized you not as someone to win over, but as a threat to the Empire from the very beginning, I would have disposed of you before things came to this. Roman Dmitry. If not for you, the Cairo Kingdom would have been torn to shreds and walked the path of ruin."
Count Gregory, on the other hand, was speechless.
But unlike Gregory, who stared blankly at the ground in utter despair, Count Denver had not yet abandoned his lingering attachment to life.
"Even now, you can swear allegiance to the Empire," Denver urged, his voice carrying a desperate force. "Right now, you might be under the illusion that you have achieved something grand, but compared to the Empire, you are nothing. Knight Commander Gustavo? In Cairo, he might be a powerhouse capable of surpassing Count Nicholas. But on the continental scale, he is ranked a mere 78th. There are countless experts in the Empire who are stronger than him—monsters you cannot even dare to look up to. Do you truly believe you can handle such beasts? If they come to slaughter you and your family, are you certain you can stop them?"
The King had already handed down his sentence.
Yet, Denver was certain that if he could just make Roman Dmitry change his mind, he could still walk away alive.
"Roman Dmitry. You are no fool. In life, a single choice decides everything. If you remain a man of Cairo, every path you walk from now on will be paved with hardship. But the Empire can give you wings. Think wisely. Even if you have crossed the point of no return with Kronos, there is still a chance with Valhalla. But if my head rolls, your relationship with Valhalla dies with me."
It was his final attempt to sway him.
But...
No answer came.
Count Denver gritted his teeth, his face twisting with venom.
"A day will surely come when you regret this choice! Vengeance does not belong to the Kronos Empire alone. The Valhalla Empire, too, will make you pay for my life! You utter fool. With a single decision, you have turned both of the continent's giants into your enemies!"
Roman stopped in his tracks.
He stood perfectly still.
This situation... it was all too familiar to Roman Dmitry.
The words of the defeated were always the same, whether in his past life or his present one. They would struggle and rage, and only when their final stronghold crumbled would they look upon the world with eyes devoid of hope—just like Count Gregory, who had already given up on everything. Looking at Count Denver, who still foolishly believed he held a winning hand, Roman smiled.
"I look forward to it."
That was it.
Nothing more, nothing less.
His final words for the defeated.
With trembling eyes, Count Denver was dragged away.
And then...
Thud.
Clack.
Just like that, he met his end before the eyes of the crowd.