Chapter 63. The End of the Rebellion
Duke Thorben Dux.
The only man in the empire to hold the rank of duke, and the hegemon of the south.
A man of mercenary origin, he had been granted his title for military achievements recognized on the front lines against the northern barbarians during his days of service.
The barbarians had called him this, in terror, as he swung his flail from the vanguard of the front lines:
"The Iron-Blooded Mercenary King."
A long, vertical scar crossing his left eyelid. His head shaved smooth without a single strand of hair, and his fierce eyes were more than enough to instill a sense of intimidation in people.
The Iron-Blooded Mercenary King, the hegemon of the south, the empire's only duke, he was...
"Our daughter, so you were here! Are you hurt anywhere? Daddy was worried. Hurry here, let Daddy hug his baby girl for the first time in ages!"
He was an extreme dotard.
Vivian Dux ran to the duke, jumped up, and nestled into his arms.
Duke Dux lifted his daughter with one arm as if she weighed nothing, kissed Vivian's cheek, and made a great fuss.
"How could you leave the estate without a word to Daddy? I was so worried!"
"You were worried?"
"Of course! I rushed right here, afraid my daughter might be hurt somewhere."
"Ahem, ahem!"
Unable to stand the father-daughter display of affection any longer, someone drew their attention with a dry cough.
The appearance of Duke Thorben Dux was unexpected for the Regent as well as the other nobles.
"Your Grace the Duke. You had been without word all this time; what brings you so suddenly to Essen...?"
Marquis Siller mustered his courage and stepped forward.
It sounded like a polite question at first glance, but beneath the words lay a nuance that his arrival was unwelcome.
"I came to find my daughter."
"Ah, the young Lady Dux. Then have you concluded all your business?"
"That I have, but... why, have I come somewhere I should not?"
At the duke's terrifying gaze, Marquis Siller took a step back.
He gestured the soldiers behind him to step back, trying his utmost not to offend Duke Dux's sensibilities.
"That is not the case, but after all, the situation being what it is..."
Anyone with any sense would realize this was not the time for a father-daughter reunion.
No less than the empire's next throne was at stake, after all.
"Hmm, indeed. The atmosphere is quite bloody."
At his very feet, a headless corpse was rolling about. It was a soldier struck directly by Binaeril's magic bullet.
'Please, just leave like this!'
Contrary to Siller's desperate inner wish, Duke Dux paid no heed to the surrounding situation.
He was a man who had never lived his life watching others' moods.
The noble faction's position or circumstances were none of his concern.
Duke Dux looked around the audience hall, found a figure, set his daughter down, and strode toward the center of the hall.
Soon he arrived before Charlotte the Regent.
The Regent cast a bewildered gaze at the duke. It had been truly long since she had last seen him, not since childhood.
The people's puzzled gazes fixed upon Duke Dux.
"This humble subject of the empire greets Your Majesty the next Emperor."
Duke Dux immediately knelt on one knee and bowed his head.
All who watched were shocked by his words and actions.
Especially Marquis Papen and Marquis Siller, who had just been calling for the Regent's head.
"Wh-what!"
"What is the meaning of this, Duke!"
Charlotte the Regent received Duke Dux's courtesy in a dazed state.
"Ah... yes, has Your Grace been well all this time?"
"Thanks to your concern, I have been well with my daughter. And please, do not lower your speech. Are you not the one who shall sit upon the throne?"
"Thorben Dux!"
At the loud cries of the noble faction, Duke Dux's eyebrows twitched.
"Your Majesty, if you would wait a moment..."
Duke Dux asked the Regent's pardon, turned, and faced the shouting people.
"Who is it that calls me?"
His eyes held a heavy, overwhelming rage.
"On this land, there is no man who may call my name freely besides His Majesty the Emperor and the elders of the Imperial House. Call me again. Who are you?"
At his sharp momentum, none of the nobles could step forward.
Eventually, Marquis Papen reluctantly came forward and inquired of his stance.
"What did you mean just now, Duke Dux?"
"What do you mean?"
"The next Emperor, to the First Princess who has not even properly held the succession ceremony yet..."
"What nonsense is that!"
Duke Dux roared at Marquis Papen.
"The previous Emperor has passed. His descendant lives and breathes with both eyes open, so who then is the next Emperor? Is it you, Felix? Or is it you, Victor?"
Each person his finger pointed at flinched as if struck by an arrow.
"What does that mean, coming now! You haven't said a word to us all this time, then appear suddenly calling her Emperor!"
Count List, unable to control his youthful temper, stepped forward and questioned the duke's words.
"Oh ho, Manfred. Then do you mean I must report my every thought to you?"
"That is not...!"
"Shut up, you rebel rats like mice. The throne is not a seat for mongrels like you.
To plot rebellion despite having received fief from His Majesty... beasts wearing human skin. You pack of dogs."
"Duke Dux, are you not going too far?"
"You there, Victor. Short words? It seems you have forgotten your manners."
"There is something Your Grace seems not to know. The Regent and the Second Princess were in collusion with Elfenbein."
Duke Dux turned his gaze and cast a brief glance at the Regent.
His gaze reached the Regent, Lord Chamberlain Brante, Vivian, and even Binaeril, before returning.
"I know."
"Let me ask one thing. What do you mean by 'collusion'?"
"What do I mean? Throwing away the great empire's prestige and clinging to the Tower's power, discarding our pride like straw—what is that if not collusion! That blue mage right there is the proof!"
Marquis Siller pointed at Binaeril.
Duke Dux also looked at Binaeril.
He recalled the brief exchange he had shared with Binaeril at the royal castle's entrance.
Duke Dux had a hundred-strong army at his back.
Binaeril could not have failed to see them unless he were blind.
Yet that boy had boldly asked him without a second thought:
"Are you the Princess's ally, or her enemy?"
Thorben Dux met the boy's eyes and was certain.
If he had answered that he was an enemy, the boy would have attacked him without hesitation.
Him. None other than the Iron-Blooded Mercenary King, Thorben Dux himself.
"A madman."
It was best to avoid a madman by nature.
Duke Dux turned his gaze again.
"The entire empire groans under the demons."
"The pride of the imperial people who do not rely on magic—I know it better than anyone else. I am a man who spent half his life wallowing on the northern front lines. But."
He recalled the countless fiefdom residents who had died to the demons.
"Now, we cannot manage with our strength alone."
"If pride cannot protect the fiefdom's people, cannot protect the citizens, then that sort of pride must be cast aside a hundred times, a thousand times. Failing to do so is denial, is apostasy.
When one is pathetically powerless, who speaks of prestige and who speaks of pride? Her Highness the Princess's decision is a matter deserving of applause."
Dux placed his hand on Binaeril's shoulder and said.
"Boy."
"On your way to the empire's capital, did you see what suffering this nation's people endure?"
Binaeril recalled.
East of Hohenberg, the abandoned people of the empire.
The kings of a kingless land, the Myo tribe hiding in the mountains, the street urchins who lived with Simon as well.
Binaeril opened his mouth.
"The empire was safe."
At the unexpected answer, Duke Dux's brow furrowed slightly.
"The roads of Essen were wide, and the people of Ayaksen seemed lively. The walls of Edenvere were high, and the armaments of the soldiers patrolling along the avenues were perfect."
"Yes, exactly! Magic and the like are unnecessary for the empire's safety!"
Marquis Siller, unable to distinguish friend from foe, chimed in and agreed with Binaeril's words.
"But that was all."
"...What do you mean?"
"Only that far, it was safe. East of the Hohenberg mountain range that crosses the empire, do you know what life is like there?"
"...Speak."
"The fiefdom's people are abandoned, and people are busy deceiving one another.
They target travelers' purses and do not hesitate to kill.
Street urchins roam the squares in packs, and those who hold meager power in a kingless world are arrogant.
This is the appearance of half the empire you take pride in."
Charlotte the Regent wore a graver expression than anyone at Binaeril's assessment.
"The empire still stands. Your empire possesses territory vaster than any other nation.
With no one paying attention to the abandoned lands, the empire must seem to stand firm in the eyes of nobles trapped living in the capital. But."
Binaeril took a breath.
"How long will the glory of a half empire last?"
It was a scathing remark.
Duke Dux's brow twitched even more violently than before.
He gripped Binaeril's shoulder tightly and answered.
"Your words... are right!"
The noble faction, including Marquis Siller, made faces as if they had chewed on bugs.
Binaeril had not nitpicked to diminish the empire's prestige.
He had spoken of life outside the capital, which they did not know, or knew but turned away from.
Not a single person could assert with confidence that his words were wrong.
Duke Dux took up Binaeril's words.
"Are you not ashamed? Does not a foreigner from a distant land understand our reality better than nobles who style themselves imperial subjects and loyal retainers?
Felix Papen, Victor Siller. While you were blinded by your positions and busy fighting over scraps, the two Princesses worried for the empire's future and peace.
Even I, unfamiliar with the capital's affairs, can see merit and demerit plainly. I have no need to hear more of your excuses. Veron!"
A stout knight who appeared to be Duke Dux's close aide stepped forward.
"Arrest the traitors."
"Yes, Your Grace!"
"Duke Dux!"
"Thorben!"
The noble faction cried out in alarm at the turning situation.
The situation had been overturned in an instant.
"Do you think you will remain unscathed after making an enemy of us all? To think you collude with the Princess and corner us—are you not regarded as the leader of the noble faction!"
To the noble's shriek of spite, Duke Dux snorted and answered.
"I have never once approved of plans by maggots like you. What leader? The only house I have ever served is House Albrecht."
A few of the noble faction's soldiers resisted, but it was meaningless resistance.
Their morale was broken; the tide had already turned.
"Lock the traitors in the underground prison and do not give them a drop of water! Disarm them and herd them together, and put chains around the nobles' necks."
Those who resisted were dragged away like an ebbing tide, and only the Regent and a few figures remained in the audience hall.
Duke Dux bowed his head to the Regent and apologized.
"I apologize for my overstepping behavior, Your Majesty."
"It is alright, Duke Dux. Ah, wait a moment, Lord Dalheim!"
"That thing you just handed to Sylvia, was it the antidote?"
Binaeril recalled Rike, whom he had forgotten for a moment.
She had been more worried about her younger sibling than her own safety.
"Yes. I captured the mage who ambushed us and obtained the antidote."
Charlotte the Regent forgot all decorum and ran from the audience hall as if flying.
Lord Chamberlain Brante and Binaeril followed after her, and Vivian and Duke Dux, not knowing the situation, followed them as well toward the bedroom where the Second Princess slept.
The sight of Sylvia tightly holding Rike's hand and praying came into view.
The vial was empty.
"How is my sister?"
"She has taken the antidote. But as for when she will wake..."
"Lord Chamberlain!"
Hans approached as if flying and examined Rike's condition.
"Her breathing... is stabilizing!"
Charlotte the Regent collapsed, her strength draining away.
Even to Binaeril's eyes, it was noticeable that Rike's breathing was gradually stabilizing.
People held their breaths in silence, all focusing on Rike's breathing. And a moment later.
"Bi-nae... ril?"
She opened her eyes and uttered her first words.
Surprise and relief burst forth among the people.