Chapter 254
Chapter 254
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: The Method of Distinguishing Good and Evil (2)
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If asked to name the most infamous figure in the northern Empire right now, one would have to point to the "family traitor" Robert. In just a few short months, he had become the Empire's nobility's top troublemaker.
As the Emperor's second son and a shrewd administrative noble who had quietly built a reputation, the moment he seized control of Guire's military authority, he began pressuring the pro-emperor electors from all directions, inciting war.
The rumors about him went like this.
Family traitor, warmonger, privateer pirate, godless man, disgrace of the Tremulle courtly marquises....
"Do you know what those spreading such talk have in common?"
Robert set down the report and removed his glasses.
He picked up a coffee cup with steam gently rising from it and took a sip.
"What is it?"
"They're all people who've been attacked by me at least once. In other words, it's what the pro-emperor electors are saying right now."
Rene laughed along as Robert chuckled and said it.
The two were currently sailing on the maritime fleet, known as the "Tremulle privateers."
Gazing down at the sea chart, Robert counted the cities marked in red. Five already. If they had any brains, they would have figured it out by now.
Robert's fleet was indiscriminately plundering pro-emperor maritime cities, especially those identified as corrupted by vampires.
Officially, the Tremulle privateer fleet's contract with the house had ended, turning them into unaffiliated pirates. House Tremulle had issued a statement: "Those pirates are not our responsibility, but we find it deeply regrettable."
The stance of the plundered houses was as follows.
"Bullshit."
"Then why is Robert Tremulle leading the privateers?"
House Tremulle's response to this noble society's opinion was simple and utterly unyielding.
"We will not respond to fabricated falsehoods and political schemes. Lord Robert Venatie Tremulle is currently under house arrest due to illness."
Indeed. The claim was that Robert, who had fallen ill during his envoy journey to Liby, had returned to Guire and was focusing on recovery.
And whenever nobles—especially pro-emperor faction nobles—doubted that claim, the Tremulle privateer fleet inevitably appeared at their territories and began pillaging.
As the saying goes, laws and rumors start from afar, but a pirate's spear and sword are right in front of you.
"Tell me more about that. I still can't believe it. The story about Duke Sephor falling."
"Ah, it's the hottest topic right now."
Robert crossed his legs casually as he spoke to Rene's question. She chuckled at the sight. He suited a pirate more than a noble.
"You've heard the story of Duke Sephor's legion being defeated by bandits and disbanded, right?"
"Everyone knows that story. Even my adjutant was making a fuss about it. Is it true?"
The rumor from the western provinces had rocked the entire Empire for over a month now. The sensational tale of how one of the mighty elector houses, Duke Sephor's domain, had fallen to mere bandits.
No subject in the Empire, regardless of status, was unaware of it. The great elector house of Sephor had instantly become a laughingstock.
An army of 40,000 had been disbanded by a surprise attack from a few hundred bandits, and Duke Antoine de Sephor had met a pathetic end while fleeing.
And one of the few who knew the truth behind that rumor was the man before her eyes.
Robert, the head of Ironside, the Empire's premier intelligence network.
"Not all rumors are false."
"...So it's true that a regular army of 40,000 fell to bandits?"
"The story of a few hundred soldiers defeating a legion of 40,000 is true."
"Soldiers?"
"They weren't bandits, Lady Carbellier. They were elite troops. The 'Heartseekers,' following Great Chieftain Kirhas Hearttaker. There aren't many knight orders on this continent better than them."
Rene's eyes widened at Robert's words.
Duke Sephor had been hostile to House Carbellier, so it was expected that Kirhas would move, and she was indeed holding Vurran City now.... It could happen.
But Kirhas's main force was in the west. It meant they couldn't commit their main army directly to a skirmish in the Empire's heartland....
"You mean the beastkin legions infiltrated deep into the Empire in secret?"
"If the 40,000 had fought a proper battle, the rumors wouldn't have spread like that. It wasn't a battle, milady. It was a pure ambush. According to my agents, it was a wildfire in the mountains."
Robert pointed to a rugged area near the capital.
It was a ridgeline at the far western edge of Paltenoia.
"They say the fire was so massive it burned every forest in the vicinity. Visible from every nearby village. And in that forest...."
"Duke Sephor was there."
"Exactly. A wildfire attack. One of the few truths in the rumors is that a cavalry of about 300 routed 40,000 men. Can you guess who led them?"
"No way...."
"Right. Sir Cerned."
Robert burst into laughter as he said it.
Naturally, no matter how much an ally, if someone displays such overwhelming ability in command, caution is inevitable.
But when achievements go beyond measure—like routing 40,000 with 300 cavalry—it becomes absurd, an impossibility made real.
From that point, it's no longer an object of caution.
It's an object of awe.
A wildfire seems simple, but it's an extremely tricky tactic in practice. Flames don't distinguish friend from foe, and especially in mountains, they don't always favor the attacker.
Fire is also more visible at night. Lighting a blaze near a camp of 40,000 means risking detection before it spreads.
From that moment, suppression begins.
No matter how skilled, you can't hide in the mountains forever against a determined search by 40,000. It's over.
You'd face the full army head-on with just 300.
But look at what this man did.
He ignited a blaze so massive it couldn't be extinguished, invisible to 40,000 eyes at night, annihilating them overnight and taking the duke's head.
Is that even possible? Robert shook his head.
Impossible without magic. Even with magic, impossible—the duke's army was riddled with high-level combat mages.
Even if Fernandez's 300 were all combat mages, succeeding while leading cavalry makes it monstrous.
A monster. That's how Robert judged him. An incomprehensible, unpredictable monster.
At least on the battlefield, making him an enemy is unwise.
Judging from the western campaign's results, he was a man not to be touched.
"Anyway, thanks to that, the west is sorted."
"The Emperor's finally surrounded."
"He'll think it's a civil war."
The east was war with King Vicente's forces, the west fully in Grand Duke Carbellier's hands, and the northern coast was as good as Tremulle territory.
The Emperor and his pro-emperor electors were surrounded on all sides. A perfect multi-front war.
But on the surface, these events seemed entirely independent.
Carbellier in the west flew the banner of imperial protection, Vicente's unrest in the east was mere disturbance, and the north was just sporadic raids by uncontrollable pirates.
But the fact that they were all coordinating from the shadows wouldn't reach the Emperor's ears. Not with Ironside in Robert's hands. Never.
"So where are we heading now? Back to Guire to prepare for all-out war?"
"Not yet. There's a place we need to hit before Guire."
Rene tilted her head as Robert pointed to a spot on the map. Trnel, a northern port city. Comte de Montpoa's domain.
"You're going to raid this port? House Montpoa are vassals to Marquis Grimmoire."
"And Marquis Grimmoire is anti-emperor?"
"The quintessential anti-emperor figure. Wasn't he the most vehement opponent of House Tremulle at the last electors' council?"
"Right. And he's been consistent since."
"Has Montpoa betrayed Marquis Grimmoire?"
"Very likely."
Robert leaned back deeply in his chair and sipped his coffee. Gazing toward the horizon, he thought of the distant port.
"A vampire incident was reported."
Most vampire incidents came from the Emperor's faction. But some small-scale vampire "incidents" were cropping up in anti-emperor territories.
Strange. Even if the Emperor was using vampirism to expand influence.
Right now, he should be focused on controlling his own forces, not political tricks amid this chaos.
His map was dotted with marks for vampire-suspected minor incidents, scattered across the Empire.
* * *
At that moment, Fernandez was reviewing the same map, handed to him secretly by an Ironside agent.
Along with a summary report of vampire incidents across the Empire.
-Familiar.
Feizashi stroked his chin and looked down at the map.
Irregular dots spread like stains. Just like the map in the Inquisition monastery's abbot's office. The incidents seemed utterly unconnected.
But it was familiar. Two years ago, he had seen a map like this.
The Bronze Scales' demon-summoning array across the entire Fairn Kingdom.
Using individual demon incidents as circuits for a nationwide magic array....
But he had anticipated the Bronze Scales' array thanks to past-life memories. Knowing what they did before allowed him to stay ahead.
But not now. Imperial corruption, civil strife, vampire interference—these were variables absent in his past life.
Now, all doubts had to be resolved through conjecture and inference.
So Fernandez sat before the map for the first time in ages, tackling it like a stubborn logic puzzle.
The concept of national-scale magic arrays was still far from public knowledge. So his guesses were likely overreaching.
Connecting dots into an array was like making constellations from stars—pure fancy.
Ambiguous shapes born of omissions and guesses.
The same dots could form entirely different shapes depending on lines drawn. Deducing a possibly nonexistent array from this scant info was near impossible.
Unless it was one he already knew.
-No. That's impossible.
'But look. Treat this as the core clause, insert a logic converter here, then from here to here. That forms the first key clause.'
-Then better draw straight from here. Less circuit leakage. Insert a repeating clause here and convert the whole region to a circulator.
'Isn't that too advanced for this era? We need to dumb it down.'
-Make the enemy as strong as possible, allies as weak. Basics of strategy.
'What a grand strategist we have. Feizashi.'
Fernandez and Feizashi debated over the map. His table was now piled high with scribbled notes like a tower.
From receiving the map at dawn, they had stayed up all night, drawing and discarding countless arrays. All seemed possible, all fanciful.
-Just admit it. Overreaction.
Feizashi sighed as he discarded the 162nd array. Sharing experiences and thoughts made consensus hard.
Sharing meant no complementing weaknesses or ignorance. So one refuted the other to check logic gaps.
But at equal levels, even gaps aligned.
Pointless repetition all night.
'We missed something in our guesses.'
-What.
'The "why."'
-What?
'Why, exactly why do this sloppy work.'
Too basic to consider.
'If this is truly the imperial ploy for some magic array, why do it this way.'
Arrays implement magic, so drawing one means using magic, which needs purpose.
Before guessing the array, consider what they aim for with this scale at this time.
Why? Why bother when their situation is dire, the Empire unstable, wasting influence and action.
-So like I said, rational to see these as uncontrolled vampires acting independently, not an array.
'Not about rationality. Assume one thing. This is the prelude to an array. View it that way.'
-And?
'What array do they need, enough to plan nationwide? What do they need now.'
The imperial house was rapidly losing religious and political ground. If the Emperor sought eternal reign, this was his nightmare.
If he schemed a secret array, forsaking overt influence, it meant a way to turn the tide....
-Well, summoning a god maybe?
'Feizashi.'
-What. Don't get serious over a joke.
'No. Feizashi.'
Fernandez suddenly grabbed his pen. He drew lines on the map calmly, stroke by stroke, precisely. Delicately, like crafting a real array.
-....
Feizashi's irritated muttering ceased. He now stared intently, serious.
Imagining an array from mere dots is near impossible. Analyzing requires knowing the purpose and needing extra conditions.
But with just minimal components, if imaginable....
It had to be a known array.
-Oh my god.
Feizashi groaned shortly as the array took shape under Fernandez's hand.
The 163rd array design....
'Not a god, Feizashi.'
Urkasia. Vermin Lord. Plague God. Sovereign of the Rotting. The Formless. Master of Maggot Nests.
Archdemon. Bearer of divinity.
Vampirism is a disease. One born from curses piled over ages from gods.
And if vampires needed a "god's" power....
'The Emperor's trying to summon Urkasia.'
-Damn it. This is....
'The palace is the gate site. Centered on Paltenoia....'
Fernandez jumped up, ignoring the toppling chair. He hastily armed himself and buckled his sword.
No time. As always. The Emperor's array lacked components, needed more time to complete. Even near completion, signs of archdemon summoning would show.
But priority first. Summoning a godlike being to the material world requires commensurate sacrifice.
In his past life, to summon Beitasser's four angels, pantheon churches offered divine relics as sacrifice. Tier-1 artifacts like the Keyblade.
What would the Emperor offer for an archdemon? What had he offered? What madness? Civilian souls wouldn't suffice.
The Emperor had a daughter.
One absent in his past life.
Archangel.
'Damn you, Beitasser!!'
Save my four daughters. That phrase implied many things.
Like knowing his daughters were in danger.
'This isn't just "danger"!!'