The Power Structure of the Empire
The power structure of the Lydorphia Duchy, led by Count Dunkest, is easy enough to explain. Naturally, the emperor sits at the very top. The emperor is the pinnacle of humanity, far beyond Lydorphia itself. While the rulers of other nations are called “kings,” only Lydorphia uses the title of emperor. That alone shows just how overwhelming their authority is.
Below the absolute sovereign is the one man who stands above all others. The chancellor, who assists the throne and oversees the affairs of state, balancing the yin and yang of governance, can be considered the second most powerful figure in the vast empire. In many ways, the chancellor wielded more practical power than the emperor, who was often tied down by ceremonial duties.
However, the current chancellor was a mere figurehead on the verge of retirement. He rarely appeared in public, so the Guardian Duke had taken over most of his authority. Originally, the chancellor handled politics while the Guardian Duke commanded the military. But since Duke Zero had assumed both roles, he had become an absolute powerhouse who controlled both the army and the government.
What’s more, Zero had already been a famous figure long before becoming the Guardian Duke. He was known as a grand mage. The story of how he faced the Demon King alone and returned alive had even been turned into a wildly successful play. It was now a legend that everyone knew.
The Guardian Duke was essentially the supreme military commander. Beneath him were various knight orders, and the Eagle Knight Order was one of the more prominent ones that had risen to fame recently. There were at least ten military organizations in Lydorphia on the same scale as the Eagle Knights. Every single one of them had to drop everything and rush to the Guardian Duke’s side the moment he called.
If the Guardian Duke so much as muttered, “I guess we don’t need that knight order anymore,” the entire group they had painstakingly raised would be disbanded on the spot.
In short, the relationship between the Guardian Duke and the Eagle Knight Order was one of perfect superior and subordinate.
That was why the eagle emblem on the pocket watch Count Dunkest held suddenly looked so pathetic.
“F-fake! That’s right! It has to be fake! Hahaha!! I almost fell for it!”
Dunkest pointed at the pocket watch I was holding and screamed like a madman.
“Of course! That thing’s a counterfeit! You bastard!! How dare a mere commoner steal the Guardian Duke’s pocket watch! Do you even know what a grave crime that is?! What are you all standing around for?! Hurry up and beat this crazy son of a bitch to death!”
“This is fake?”
“Obviously! You lunatic. Whew, I almost got fooled there. Do you even know how high-ranking the Guardian Duke is? Even a duke would have trouble getting an audience unless they made an appointment in advance! And here you are, some broke-looking commoner, throwing around the Guardian Duke’s name. Ha, I got all worked up for nothing.”
Dunkest stroked his chest with a stupid look on his face.
“Now that I think about it, there’s no way it could be real. You probably got scammed by some con artist and bought a cheap knockoff, thinking it was the real thing. But the world isn’t that easy, kid.”
“You really do talk a lot, don’t you?”
“What?!”
The soldiers who had received Dunkest’s orders slowly began to surround me. Even Alex, despite his creaking body, raised his spear and took a stance like he was going to stab me. His expression alone seemed to protest that he didn’t want to do this.
Meanwhile, the greasy face of Count Dunkest twisted into a smirk as he imagined me being skewered.
“Everyone, stop.”
“Huh…?”
At my single command, the soldiers froze with dazed expressions, as if released from some binding spell.
“What are you doing?! I told you to kill that crazy bastard!”
“You don’t need to listen to that guy anymore. I, Werther, acting with the authority of the Guardian Duke, command you. Dunkest is an enemy of humanity. Seize him.”
“What the… wait, is that really the Guardian Duke’s…”
Alex Bourbon was the first to move. He rushed forward and restrained Count Dunkest. In an instant, the plaza had turned into Dunkest’s execution ground.
Alex stood beside the count with a face far more reliable than any guillotine, sword in hand. The hundreds of nobles and citizens who had been pressured into surrendering to the Demon King’s army glared at the captured pig of a count with murderous intent and began hurling stones.
“Die, you piece of trash!!”
“You threatened me, a marquis, when you’re just a count?!”
“What the hell gives you the right to hand our territory over to the Demon King, you crazy fuck?!”
“I never liked your face from the start!”
The stones flying in from every direction tore Dunkest’s skin open, and blood poured down his body.
“Aigo, my lord! This humble one has committed a crime worthy of death! Please, just spare me this once!”
I’d heard that power was a sweet thing, but I hadn’t realized it was this potent. To think a count would be clinging to the pants leg of a commoner like me, begging for his life.
“I never dreamed in a million years that you were actually acquainted with the Guardian Duke, my lord! If I had known, would I have dared to act so rudely? Please, I beg you, just spare me this once! I’ll do anything! I’ll give you all my fortune…”
“I’ve got plenty of money already.”
“Aigo, my lord. As you can see, I am a count. With my wealth, you could live in luxury for the rest of your life and still have plenty left over?”
“How much are we talking?”
“A whopping one hundred thousand shillings.”
“Pfft. Not really tempting.”
“No… if I sell the real estate, it’s easily two hundred thousand shillings!!”
The desperate collapse of his confident expression, the one that had assumed two hundred thousand shillings wouldn’t be a bad offer even for me, made me laugh despite myself.
“I don’t need it. Just die already.”
“No, my lord! You must not understand how enormous two hundred thousand shillings is… L-look over there!”
At that moment, Count Dunkest’s eyes, desperately searching for any way to survive, landed on the former slave Vanessa. With the kind of ugly, vicious face that made it easy to imagine how he usually treated his subordinates, he roared at her.
“You bitch Vanessa! Your master is in danger of dying and you won’t even help?!”
“My master isn’t you, Count. Vanessa is going with Brother Werther to defeat the Demon King’s army. Someone like you, who would sell out humanity, deserves to die.”
“What?! After everything I’ve done for you! You ungrateful wretch! This is exactly why they say you shouldn’t raise a black-haired beast!”
“Vanessa has naturally purple hair.”
“Vanessaaaaaaa!!”
Even to the very end, Dunkest refused to come to his senses. He kept throwing out ridiculous deals, saying that if she helped him now, he would let her sit in a chair and rest, guarantee her at least two hours of sleep a day, still treating her like his property.
I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of treatment the slaves working under a bastard like him had been receiving.
“Mister Werther. This guy is beyond saving. From the beginning, the empire’s law states that anyone who joins the Demon King’s army is to be executed without question. Let’s just kill him quickly.”
Alex spoke with an expression that said he wanted to bring his sword down right this second. The reactions of the spectators watching Dunkest’s disgrace were similar.
“Kill him! Kill him now!”
“Death to the traitor!”
“What are you hesitating for?! Exercise your judicial authority as the Guardian Duke’s proxy!”
Indeed, Dunkest’s actions were a grave crime for which any verdict other than execution was unimaginable. Even acting alone, betrayal was punishable by death in every country and every territory. But he had forced nobles into it and incited a mass surrender. Even the kindest judge would have no choice but to sentence him to death.
“My lord… my lord. I beg you. Over there… Lord Werther!”
He was even using honorifics now. Could a person really become this pathetic?
“Surely someone like you, my lord, can spare my life. Please, I beg you, my lord. I’ll even lick your shoes, sob… I must have lost my mind. To turn my back on His Majesty’s grace and try to cling to the likes of the Demon King. I have truly reflected now… please, spare me.”
“Reflected? For real?”
“Yes. Yes, it’s true. I have completely abandoned any thought of surrendering to the Demon King’s army! So please, spare me, my lord!”
“Bullshit.”
“…Huh?”
“People who’ve never actually met the Demon King’s army might not get it, but after fighting those bastards to the death, I knew from the moment I first saw you.”
Dunkest had always been deeply interested in black magic. After all, he had carved a slave brand into Vanessa. And among black magic, there existed a forbidden art that could turn humans into demons.
“You… reek of that fishy demon stench.”
“…Heh heh. There’s no need to pinch your nose, is there, my lord?!”
Dunkest’s already ugly face turned green. His muscles swelled, ripping his clothes apart. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into an orc well over five meters tall. The horns sprouting from his forehead and the tusks reaching down from his jaw were all characteristics of the demon race.
“This bastard! He wasn’t even human! To think someone like you was commanding us!”
“Stop stinking up the place with that newborn smell and just fuck off already.”
“Uwaaak!”
Alex Bourbon swung his spear, but with a single swing from the creature, he was slammed into the ground and began convulsing. The other soldiers gripped their weapons tightly, faces full of tension. They didn’t look very reliable, but at least they were trying.
“Kuh… I was planning to hide this form until I made contact with the Demon King’s army, but it can’t be helped now. Werther, you bastard, I will definitely kill you. And as for Vanessa… slurp.”
Even after turning into a hideous demon, his obsession with Vanessa remained. What a creep.
“You will become my slave again. I will never let you go… I’ll give you training beyond anything you can imagine.”
“Vanessa, I’d rather die than become a slave again.”
Back when we were riding in the carriage to Versailles, I had given Vanessa a bow as a gift. I told her that if a dangerous moment came, she should try shooting an arrow.
‘Vanessa, I’ve never learned archery before?’
‘Just trust me and shoot.’
The elf Sharon had been an outstanding archer. Thanks to my buff, her archery had reached the level of a divine marksman. She could easily hit targets a kilometer away. The destructive power was enough to shatter boulders and turn forests into wastelands.
Impressed by that power, Sharon had evaluated herself as having grown stronger through the World Tree’s blessing and named her technique this:
"I offer this arrow to the sacred."
"May it pierce evil and return all to ash."
⟨ Divine Arrow ⟩
“You’ve gotten way too cocky, Vanessa! This body will teach a slave proper manners from the beginning! You must obey your master!!”
“Divine Arrow!!”
The arrow cut through the air and pierced the demon Dunkest. The sacred arrow that purified unclean power turned the count, who had sold even his soul, into cosmic dust. It was as if it was saying that once you removed the filth from him, nothing remained.
“Wow! Vanessa, you really are a genius! Or maybe you awakened through your desire for revenge… Vanessa, I’m actually getting scared of you!”
It seemed the elf Sharon’s power had been safely passed on to Vanessa. Seeing it with my own eyes put my mind at ease.
“Thank you, Mister Werther… I will never forget what happened today…”
“Meeting a righteous person like you was my good fortune.”
“I am a merchant who runs a large business in Grimoire. Here is my card. Please visit anytime!”
The nobles kept grabbing my hand and pouring out words of gratitude. People lined up to voluntarily offer donations of appreciation, and some even offered to scout me as a knight for their family.
While everyone was drunk on the joy of having survived, there was one person whose face had gone deathly pale.
‘Fuck… he really knew the Guardian Duke? But why the hell was he dressed like a beggar? Shit, I thought he was just some vagrant… I’m screwed.’
The hotel counter clerk, Jack, tried to sneak away but I caught him immediately.
“M-Mister Werther. The rudeness I showed earlier was truly… well, an unforgivable sin. Please, I beg for your forgiveness!”
“Unforgivable? Then do you want to die like Dunkest?”
“…Hic.”
Jack, who had thrown himself to the ground and was doing a dogeza without being told, began hiccupping from extreme terror.
“So yeah, you shouldn’t judge people by their clothes. Right?”
“Y-yes, sir. I have committed a grave mistake…”
“A mistake?”
“N-no! I was wrong! I was wrong, sir!”
“I need a place to sleep tonight…”
“I will escort you to our hotel!! The VIP room happens to be vacant!”
“How much does the VIP room cost?”
“For you, sir, it is naturally free. I will personally attend to your every need from start to finish, so please don’t worry about a thing!”
Jack groveled desperately, practically rubbing his hands raw, and gave us the hotel’s best room. He even showed unnecessary consideration by claiming there was only one room available and putting Vanessa and me in the same one.
“Vanessa, I am prepared.”
“I don’t need that kind of preparation. Just go to sleep. After we rest, we’ll have to rush straight to our destination starting tomorrow.”
—While I was enjoying a sweet, deep sleep at the hotel, the hero party was apparently going through quite a hard time.