Chapter 121: Childhood Friend – Hunting Grounds
Winter was over, and spring had passed.
The capital of the Orun Kingdom, Nevis, was beautifully organized and nearly ready for the heir award ceremony, ‘Akine’.
The main street that crossed the center of Nevis was spotlessly clean, not even a tiny pebble in sight, waiting for the arrival of Prince Aeton de Lognum, and the various colored banners hanging on the surrounding buildings created a grand sight as they fluttered in the sea breeze blowing in from the continent.
Additionally, a designated subsidy was paid to every household, allowing impoverished boys and girls who normally had to wear tattered clothes to dress simply but neatly.
Even the beggars were thriving. During such national events, they were often the first to receive (or be cleaned up), so they were enjoying a paradise of eating and sleeping within their dens, with substantial food rations distributed to them.
Furthermore, the Cross Church blessed the prince’s Akine by sending 150 Holy Knights and high priests, filling Nevis with excitement and anticipation for the grand event tomorrow. Many citizens were still noisily raising their glasses late into the night.
But among them was a young lady filled with a different sense of anticipation. Or rather, there had been a young lady filled with anticipation.
“P-Pallas is dead?”
Harriet Guidan asked in shock. She was supposed to marry soon.
After winter passed, she urged the fulfillment of the promise made previously. Then, she heard from ‘that guest’ that approval had been granted from the Tertan Duke’s family.
The guest named Lev, who had borrowed a necklace from her the first time they met, had held up his end of the deal.
– “Lend me that necklace. Then I will personally contact the Duke and obtain permission for the marriage.”
At first, he had asked for the necklace outright. But she had firmly refused, saying, “I cannot possibly give this to you.” Grimacing, he relented as if having no choice.
Lending might be fine.
She had no doubts about why he needed it or how he could gain the Duke’s approval.
All that mattered was the promise to return the necklace on her wedding day.
– “But since it’s only a borrow, I shall add one condition. Swear loyalty to me.”
Swear loyalty? To that man?
That was certainly the funniest joke she had ever heard.
Finding his serious demeanor amusing, she burst out laughing right there, her face flushing red.
But he didn’t retract the joke. Harriet lightly swore, thinking it was all in good fun.
“Alright, I, Harriet Guidan, will remain loyal to you until I marry Pallas Tertan. Will that suffice?”
He looked satisfied. Thus, the necklace was handed over.
Before the oath, lending the necklace wasn’t wholly pleasing, but afterward, it didn’t matter.
She believed the necklace would return to her, and the promise to marry Pallas would be kept.
That’s what allowed her to wait so long, dreaming of her marriage to Pallas.
But now, they say Pallas is dead? That too, last year? Unbelievable.
Harriet Guidan glared sharply at the maids before her.
“Nonsense. Pallas Tertan is dead? Ridiculous. That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
“It’s true. When we left Bospo, we heard…”
They were the two maids she had taken to Bospo.
Harriet had left them in Bospo when she hurried back to Nevis due to fatigue.
“We really heard so. But for Lady Harriet to marry, Administrator Walter urged us to quickly return, saying your grief would be significant.”
“…Unbelievable.”
Harriet Guidan abruptly stood up.
She intended to summon a knight and punish these lying maids immediately. However,
“Also, the household seems a bit strange. A guest is using Master Havny Guidan’s room, which is unusual. When we asked, they said he was a distinguished visitor… How could that be? What kind of room is that?”
Her words brought Harriet back to her senses. Her mind felt clearer.
‘…Right. He was using that side room. Why didn’t I pay attention to that? This place isn’t for guests…’
The east wing of the estate was used by her, her father, her mother, and the deceased sibling. It was never meant for outsiders.
Unease enveloped her. Once suspicion crept in, discrepancies seemed endless.
‘Why did Father show such respect? And why did I? Why did I trust the words of someone who wasn’t even a noble?’
Something was wrong.
Thinking back, even the maids had seemed to follow his orders first.
It was strange she hadn’t questioned this, but the butler? The knights? How could those who only obeyed her father act this way?
“…I need to go outside and confirm. Prepare for my visit to the church.”
Everything seemed doubtful.
First, she thought it was best to confirm whether the maids’ words were true, so she sat in front of the dressing table.
She tidied up her clothes and roughly fixed her makeup to go to the church, but as the maids’ hands reached her, Harriet couldn’t help but shiver.
This was the first time ‘our home’, peacefully decorated in green, felt terrifying.
If, after contacting the Duke of Tertan, it turned out that the maids’ words were indeed true… what would I do?
With a pale face, Harriet took a deep breath and stepped out of the room. But then,
“Where are you going?”
Harriet almost fainted.
‘That guest’ with a cold demeanor was at the door. As he gulped down rough breaths, it seemed he had rushed back, and he glared at her with eyes filled with murderous intent.
* * *
“Open this door! Now! How dare you… You are being deceived. Wake up!”
There was an uproar. A knight standing firmly in front of the tightly closed door outside let out a sigh.
“…It seems the lady has finally figured it out. I should have been more careful when the maids returned, my mistake.”
“What can be done about spilled water.”
Lev lied shamelessly in a tone of regret.
“We were planning to reveal everything after it was all over… But realizing the future endeavors to prevent her from marrying the prince will cause her even more heartache. We should keep her in here until tomorrow.”
Lev had been finishing up at the plaza. He saw the ‘servant-master relationship’ achievement suddenly drop to 1, and was astonished, so he rushed back to the mansion.
Seeing that the vision was still shared with Marquis Harvey Guidan, it was clear he had not broken free from the enchantment. Thus, Lev quickly realized that the enchantment and oath of loyalty he had placed on Harriet had been broken.
Fortunately, Harriet was still in the mansion. Lev locked Harriet, who was demanding, “Who exactly are you?”, “What have you done to my father?”, and “What is your purpose?” in the room.
“Please, please open the door. I need to see my father. This can’t be his will. You are deceived! By that person!”
Harriet’s voice alternating between pleading and fury could be heard from inside.
But the knights by Lev’s side only looked sorrowful without opening the door.
Marquis Guidan had long left Nevis and delegated full authority to Lev. As a Duke of the eastern kingdom, he took the eastern army to attack Nevis.
Lev knew he had gotten quite close through the narrow mountain path. Up to now, they had moved secretly, but the moment they left the mountain, they would attract the king’s attention, and the army would be summoned.
Or maybe the king already knew. Perhaps he was postponing the mobilization because of tomorrow’s succession ceremony…
But Lev was certain the marquis would not be attacked as a rebel.
Everything would be over by tomorrow.
It was just regrettable that his plan to storm the Nevis church tonight and kill all the priests had gone awry.
The capital church had sent a large number of paladins.
Last month, under the pretext of celebrating ‘Akine!’, they had patrolled the city and seemed to have noticed something, frequently visiting the Guidan Marquis.
That had restricted Lev’s activities. Previously, even if he had committed murder, he easily escaped by enchanting the guards who heard the screams.
This was a restriction that would have caused considerable trouble or gotten other ‘normal’ apostles caught if they had been greedy.
But fortunately, Lev was not an ordinary apostle, and no longer needed any offerings.
He wasn’t sure if this had repeated every turn. In the previous scenario when he had left Lena and traveled, Lev had already left Nevis by this time.
In any case, feeling challenged, he ordered Marquis Guidan to summon all knights and junior knights of the family to the mansion.
Soon, the mansion was bustling with 23 knights and around 200 junior knights, and Lev enchanted them all.
Enchantment was not difficult.
The reason it was hard to enchant knights was due to the consecration ritual their swords underwent during their knighting ceremony. However, the knights of the Guidan family had long discarded their consecrated swords, deeply empathizing with the fallen marquis.
The mere concern had been wedding rings? No problem. Lev resolved this with his divine power.
He had divine power to spare after offering countless thugs and their families. Prince Eric, no, any apostle in this world couldn’t even dream of the vast divine power he had.
Lev’s efficiency in offering was incomparable to the decimal place efficiency others had.
Enchanting junior knights was similar.
Junior knights, who honed their sword skills to be knighted and were mobilized for various chores of the family. As they were not officially knights, there was no problem of consecration.
It was amusing to need even the hands of such small fry, but the more people to cause chaos at tomorrow’s succession ceremony, the better.
“My heart feels heavy. Well, I’ll be on my way then. If possible… I hope to see you again alive. Please take good care of the Marquis.” (Knight)
The knight, who had been listening to Harriet’s plea for a while, retreated with a determined look. Lev then sent him off with a humble expression, saying, “May honor accompany your bravery…”
In the past, he had been arrogant enough to issue commands even to the Marquis, but now he had to restrain himself. Though they had succumbed to charm, the knights still remained loyal to the Marquis. Lev had not received a pledge of loyalty from them. Or rather, he couldn’t receive it. To strip the knights of their loyalty would have been a waste of divine power, and even if he hadn’t, he could still command them through the Marquis, so Lev felt no need to do so.
The knights believed that they were responsible for assassinating the prince and throwing the political situation into chaos just before the Marquis of Guidan rebelled. The Marquis also thought the same…
When the Marquis of Guidan brought his army, he firmly believed Lev’s words that there would be an internal response. When asked how he would help, Lev simply pushed, saying, “Don’t worry, just trust me.” The Marquis left the knights behind and departed, unaware of what would happen when he returned with the army.
Lev, who had been pacing near the door for a moment, debated whether to kill the noisily chattering Harriet inside the room… and then headed outside. Anyway, the woman would die the next day, and if she died now, the charm spell on the knights might break. It wasn’t really necessary, but still, to ensure everything, he decided to go outside.
Lev emerged at the plaza where the prince’s procession was scheduled. He wandered around, pressing his palms against the ground and walls here and there. This behavior continued throughout the night. Ever since he learned through the Marquis of Guidan last year that ‘Aki Ne’ would open, he hadn’t missed a single day doing it.
[ Trap Hunting ]
From the city walls surrounding Nevis to the corners of the alleyways, there was not a single spot untouched by his hands. The plaza, like the city gates, was a place where he put in a little extra effort. Lev, who was wandering the dark plaza, straightened his back. It wasn’t because he was tired and needed to rest. He merely sensed the dawn breaking and lifted his head once.
In fact, Lev hadn’t taken any rest recently. He didn’t eat or sleep, yet his body functioned perfectly well. He himself wasn’t sure when this started. Was it after he wiped out the weapons caravan, or after he took Harriet’s necklace and put it around his neck…
Barbatos’ blessing was indeed holy. And gratefully, he was that god’s ‘apostle.’
Before long, people started to gather in the plaza. As more eyes gathered, Lev also moved to a corner of the plaza. Guards were stationed all around. They were monitoring to see if anyone would cause trouble on this great day, but there wasn’t anyone that brazen, and the citizens were busy dancing to the cheerful songs echoing in the plaza or tasting the food being freely offered by the street vendors. All these were prepared by the royal family. It was part of an effort to alleviate the citizens’ boredom while waiting for the prince’s procession and to leave a good impression of the kingdom’s heir.
“The prince is coming!”
At that moment, the main gate of the royal palace opened in the distance, drawing the citizens’ attention. Aeton de Lognum, adorned lavishly, appeared. He was probably on his way out after the heir investiture ceremony inside.
Words announcing the birth of the legitimate heir to the Great Kingdom of Orun, amplified by magic, echoed loudly, and the citizens’ cheers grew even louder. The cheers reached their peak when the twin princes boarded the carriage drawn by sixteen white horses, but Lev mocked the entire process.
The princes elegantly waved their hands. The citizens shouted to the princes, “Become the wise rulers of the Kingdom of Orun!” but it didn’t take long for their cheers to turn into horror.
“Attack!”
The knights and squires of the House of Guidan slashed through the guards and charged forward. Disguised in plain clothes and assaulting the princes, they soon engaged in battle with the knights guarding the procession. The plaza grew more tumultuous than ever, with profanities flying from all directions.
“Those, those bastards!”
“What are they doing to the princes!”
Did the citizens not know that those princes were trash? Or did the festive atmosphere and the splendor of the procession instill a false sense of patriotism, driven further by the recent free meals and clothes they had received?
Foolish people.
Lev chuckled and walked slowly. While the guards kept the citizens away to secure the path for the princes, he slipped into the main street. It was the harvest day of his labor that he had worked on since last winter. As everyone’s eyes were on the safety of the princes, Lev made his declaration.
He stomped on the ground with all his might.
“This land, from now on and forever, will become the territory of Lord Barbatos!”
At that moment, from the center where he stood, the avenue, the street vendors, the buildings around, even the royal palace and the walls in the distance—all things embedded in the ground—turned a bright red color one by one.
[ Barbatos’ Hunting Ground ]
A massive, truly massive red trumpet pattern rose up, tearing through the sky. And from somewhere, a holy trumpet sound echoed for a long time.
It was the moment when Barbatos’s name was etched into history.
As the evil god who slaughtered all the humans of Nevis, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
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