Chapter 377: Villain (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 377: Villain (4)
Sanchez's face turned deathly pale.
Corpses lay strewn in every direction.
The warriors of Valhalla, who had been boisterously clamoring to witness Roman Dmitry's honorable challenge, had perished without so much as scratching the monster before them. Aside from those who had fled in terror, there were no survivors. Those caught in the storm of his swordsmanship had been torn apart by an overwhelming force. Among the mangled remains scattered across the blood-soaked ground, it was hard to find a single intact corpse.
"...Ah."
His eyes trembled.
To Sanchez, the situation was utterly incomprehensible.
The moment the Emperor of Valhalla died, Sanchez had lost his mind. He couldn't clearly remember what he had done since then, but when he finally snapped back to his senses, this devastating sight lay before him. Fragmented memories flickered in his mind. The moment he realized that this massacre had broken out because of his command, Sanchez collapsed and retched, vomiting right then and there.
"Blegh."
It was sickening.
He desperately wanted to deny reality. But the brutal truth was laid bare before him.
The warriors of Valhalla had been slaughtered, and those who couldn't handle Roman Dmitry's might had abandoned Sanchez and chosen to retreat. Sanchez heaved a few more times. Looking up at Roman Dmitry with the bloodshot eyes of a madman, he spoke in a voice thick with despair.
"...Lord Roman Dmitry. Please, tell me the truth. Were the Emperor of Valhalla and Duke Vieto truly Kronos's dogs?"
"Yes."
"Haah..."
He squeezed his eyes shut.
It was devastating. To think that the person he had dedicated his entire life to after Morales's death was actually a lapdog serving the Kronos Empire.
He did not doubt the truth. If he thought about it for even a second, there was no reason for Roman Dmitry to risk so much just to spin a lie. Deep down, Sanchez and the other warriors of Valhalla had known this. But the shocking sight of their Emperor being executed right before their eyes had blinded them. Their pride simply refused to accept that the mighty Valhalla Empire was a mere hound of Kronos.
Ultimately, the responsibility lay with him. His command had lit the fuse, and the warriors of Valhalla, swept up in their furious emotions, had charged to their deaths.
"...Could you not have at least understood Valhalla's anger? If you hadn't killed the Emperor right away—if you had just made us understand and given us time to accept this harsh reality—the relationship between Valhalla and Dmitry wouldn't have been shattered! Why did you have to go this far? Why? Why?!"
He screamed in desperation.
He was shifting the blame. Driven to the brink of madness, Sanchez felt that if he didn't point the finger at someone else, he wouldn't even be able to breathe.
Roman Dmitry stared back with cold, indifferent eyes.
"You still do not understand what went wrong. The relationship between Valhalla and Dmitry was fractured from the very beginning. The moment it was revealed that Stern Valhalla and Duke Vieto—the two core pillars of Valhalla's power—were both hounds serving the Kronos Empire, a peaceful compromise became impossible. Why do you think Duke Vieto admitted the truth in front of everyone?"
"T-That is..."
"There is no need to overthink it. No matter what choice was made, the Kronos Empire would have driven both Valhalla and Dmitry to ruin. Duke Vieto was nothing more than bait from the start. Whether he lived to rule Valhalla or I killed him and became Valhalla's public enemy, Kronos would have escalated the situation either way. The truth does not matter. The very fact that Duke Vieto meekly accepted his death means we had already stepped onto a chessboard designed by our enemies."
Alexander.
He was a cunning existence. The moment Roman Dmitry reached the truth, Alexander had boldly discarded his bait, using his death to ignite a wildfire of fury within the Valhalla Empire.
Sanchez buried his face in his hands. With his features distorted in agony, he desperately pleaded.
"...Please. Please, can you not save Valhalla?"
At this rate, Valhalla was finished. After being used as a disposable pawn by the Kronos Empire, Valhalla's lineage would be completely severed, and the empire's prestige would plummet into the mud.
A faint smile played on Roman Dmitry's lips.
Sanchez was a warrior. And he was a fool.
The abandonment of Duke Vieto meant that the dogs of Kronos had already seized control of Valhalla's leadership. How would they act now? Regardless of the truth, they would condemn Roman Dmitry's actions and incite the public's wrath. The Valhalla Empire would pour all its strength into a war against Dmitry.
Therefore, Roman spoke the truth no longer. There was no reason to care how he would be remembered by a dead man.
"It is already too late."
Flash.
A streak of light flashed. His head was severed.
With blood spraying in all directions, Sanchez's headless body collapsed onto the ground.
* * *
It was exactly as he expected.
The leadership of Valhalla. Those who had newly seized power expressed intense fury upon receiving the report from the Southern Jungle.
Slam!
"This is a declaration of war against Valhalla!"
"Indeed! He dared to kill His Majesty the Emperor of Valhalla on our own soil. We are not ignorant of what Roman Dmitry has done for Valhalla in the past, but this incident is not something we can simply overlook. We must mobilize our forces immediately. We must punish Roman Dmitry through a total war with Dmitry!"
Anger boiled over.
In an atmosphere where total war could be declared at any second, a new face, Baron Airn, spoke in a cautious voice.
"Even so, shouldn't we verify the facts first? Roman Dmitry suspected collusion between His Majesty the Emperor and Kronos..."
Slam!
"What utter nonsense is that?!"
"Verify the facts? There is absolutely no need! The undeniable fact is that Roman Dmitry publicly executed His Majesty the Emperor in front of everyone. Whatever the underlying truth may be, that alone is more than enough reason to punish him. Baron Airn, if you have a brain, use it. You were lucky enough to secure a seat here during Valhalla's reorganization; you should focus on making the most of this opportunity instead of spewing such rubbish."
"Exactly. Never speak of such things again."
Baron Airn couldn't even finish his sentence. His argument was completely crushed by the overwhelming opposition.
The figure leading Valhalla's new leadership drew everyone's attention once more. His name was Count Snodin. He was the key figure who had led the rebellion to success by providing crucial military support at the very end when Duke Vieto was in crisis.
"From now on, our strategy is simple," Count Snodin declared. "First, we will publicly expose Roman Dmitry's atrocities. Once we reveal that his actions were undeniably treasonous, the Kingdom Alliance will lose any moral justification for helping Dmitry. Furthermore, we will open a path for Roman Dmitry's subordinates to leave Valhalla's territory through the Warp Gates. But not Roman Dmitry himself. We will shut down all Warp Gates in the south and block every path to isolate him. The Southern Jungle is vast. It will take a considerable amount of time to reach Marin from there, or to cross the border into another country. We will trap Roman Dmitry. And in the meantime..."
Tap.
He moved a piece on the map. The Valhalla army.
The piece representing it trampled over Hector.
"The Valhalla army will march north and lay waste to Dmitry."
* * *
That afternoon, the continent was thrown into an uproar.
The moment the Valhalla Empire publicly condemned Roman Dmitry, the Kingdom Alliance convened an emergency video conference.
The King of Frank spoke with a deeply troubled expression.
"...This issue is somewhat ambiguous. Naturally, it is only right to assist Lord Roman Dmitry, the leader of our Kingdom Alliance. However, if Valhalla's claims are true, he has killed none other than the Emperor of Valhalla. There is simply no moral justification for us to back him in this."
It was a reasonable argument. But the moment he finished speaking, protests erupted from three different screens.
[I believe in Lord Roman Dmitry. If he killed the Valhalla Emperor, there must have been a good reason for it.]
[We must send troops immediately. The Valhalla Empire is only publicly condemning Lord Roman Dmitry to secure a justification for war. They will mobilize their army and try to eliminate him within the Southern Jungle by any means necessary. We cannot just stand by and watch.]
[I agree. We must prepare for a total war with Valhalla.]
The three speakers were the King of Redford, Edwin Hector, and the King of Cairo, respectively.
The tide had turned. With the majority in agreement, the matter seemed practically decided, but the King of Frank was not the only one expressing concern.
[I oppose supporting Dmitry unconditionally. Kronos and Valhalla became deep-seated evils because they discarded justification. They routinely committed foul deeds, oppressing other nations for unjust reasons. We cannot walk down that same path.]
It was the King of Umberto.
He, too, was willing to do almost anything for Dmitry. However, Umberto had endured extremely dark times. Suffering under the oppression of the empires had made him deeply wary of those in absolute power. Roman Dmitry was building a force that rivaled the two great powers of the continent. If he was the type of man who pursued slaughter without any justification, they had to reconsider their current relationship.
The supporters and the opponents. The difference between the two factions lay entirely in their level of trust. Having experienced Roman Dmitry's miracles firsthand, his supporters were absolutely certain he had a valid reason.
Ultimately, all eyes turned to one man.
"What do you think, Count Fabius?"
Beyond the screen, the floor was yielded to the man who had been watching the debate with an utterly indifferent face.
* * *
Count Fabius spoke.
[Even if he killed the Valhalla Emperor simply because he was a threat, or even if everything the Valhalla Empire claims is true... so what?]
He leaned back, his posture crooked as he openly displayed his displeasure.
[Let's be brutally honest here. Who is sustaining the Kingdom Alliance right now? Do you think the empires leave us alone because our national power is so mighty? No. It is because of Lord Roman Dmitry. It is only because he exists that we can hold our heads high and voice our opinions like this. Do you understand what that means? The moment Lord Roman Dmitry dies, we won't even be able to guarantee our own survival.]
The rulers of various nations had gathered in this meeting. Yet, Count Fabius spoke like a charging bull, ready to ram through anyone and anything solely for the sake of the master he served.
[If you want to argue about moral justification, then go back to the old Kingdom Alliance! Go back to the days when we couldn't do a single thing against the empires, when their oppression was just accepted as a natural part of life. But if you have finally realized what is truly important, then prioritize our practical survival. Helping Lord Roman Dmitry is our top priority; we can worry about verifying the truth of the incident afterward. Do you understand what I am saying?]
It was a scathing, undeniable criticism.
Umberto and Frank. The two kings fell dead silent. They thought they were merely speaking from common sense, but looking back, those words only came because Roman Dmitry had afforded them the luxury of peace.
When they had been pushed to the edge of the cliff, they had been desperate. If it had been back then, they would have begged to be saved first, regardless of any moral high ground.
"We have certainly misjudged the situation," one of them admitted. "What should we do from here on?"
[...I understand. We will resolve this crisis first, and verify the truth of the incident afterward.]
Their opinions finally aligned.
The Valhalla Empire was currently gathering its forces. In this highly volatile situation, the Kingdom Alliance had to prepare for the worst-case scenario: total war.
It was then.
[Your Majesty, King of Umberto! We have an emergency!]
The screens of each nation suddenly erupted into chaos. The King of Umberto's intelligence network was merely the fastest; the exact same incident was occurring simultaneously across all their borders.
[The Kronos Empire has invaded our borders!]
The death of the Valhalla Emperor. The plan had changed.
The Kronos Empire, which had intended to bide its time, broke its long silence and stirred its massive, terrifying frame.
Total war!
This was the exact moment the Second Continental War began.
