A whole day went by. The capital still hadn’t recovered its vitality.
The rain had stopped, but the cloudy weather persisted. Now the people were afraid to step outside.
The roads had long since twisted up like snakes, and so were simply destroyed in places. About half of the arc lamps in the city were broken.
It was a complete disaster. And in this situation, a carriage ca to a stop by the road.
“I hope you didn’t feel sick, Your Highnesses.”
A man with his hair slicked back stepped off the carriage first.
Afterwards, two young n stepped out. The man bowed his head towards the young n and looked around.
“...It’s as bad as they said.”
The two Princes looked distressed.
“Please. You are the only one we can trust now.”
“There is Duchess Totzfel as well.”
Alion shook his head.
“That woman is no good. I’ve already excluded her for the private army she was keeping in secret.”
“Have you known this since you were young?”
“She went around in front of my father with her staff out, so of course.”
The man, Renawill Hasfeldt, chuckled. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were cold.
“So you are saying that Blanton, Argana are dead.”
“Blanton was a Beast infiltrating the palace. He was subjugated, to be exact. Although I’m not certain as to how he died....”
Renawill nodded.
“Anyway, I will take care of the urgent matters first.”
**Renawill crowned the First Prince as the new Emperor. And as soon as he did, so of the vassals objected.
Because why was the First Prince who had been imprisoned becoming the Emperor when His Majesty had appointed the Second Prince as the Crown Prince?
But Renawill was firm.
“What is the aning of this! Duke Hasf–eeeeldt......!”
“It is the decision of the current Imperial court. What is there to object?”
“We cannot stand by and let you defy the orders of His Majesty’s orders from when he had been alive!”
“His previous Majesty had been controlled by the Beasts.”
“Do you think people will believe you just because you say that......!”
“Hang him.”
Renawill purged every opposing party. It turned out that most of them were involved with the Beasts.
This was a fact he confird by reading over the official docunts.
They’re all faked.
He had to suspect every paper since Beasts had infiltrated the palace. Renawill focused checking the most important docunts.
After checking with several analysts, there were quite a few parts with the wrong handwriting or where they had been stamped wrong. Based on this, he considered the date, location, and source of the paper of the docunt. This took half a day.
It wasn’t aningless, as he learned everything.
“Viscount Mössbayer, how does it feel to be caught committing treason against the Empire?”
“I-I didn’t commit treason!”
“You had a connection with Duke Blanton who was confird as a Beast. Let’s see, the first eting was October 4th, 983.... Inspected a Youko village with Duke Blanton at the Ministry of Defense, then attacked. November 27th of that year, enslaved the captured beastkin and transported them to the Elankayas....”
“L-lies! How dare you! How dare a Duke lay his hands on Imperial papers! This is a fake......!”
Renawill smirked.
“Hang him.”
This day, the nobles who vanished like dew on the execution stand numbered seventeen. They were all those who were around when Duke Blanton did sothing. Renawill didn’t pity them at all.
He couldn’t finish with this. There were still many issues to handle.
“Oh my, aren’t you being a little too aggressive?”
As he was working, Duchess Totzfell ca and feigned ignorance. Renawill ignored her and kept moving his pen.
“The people will be afraid if you reign with terror.”
“Do not jest. These are serious tis.”
“I only wished to give you advice.”
Chuckling, Totzfel sat on the sofa. She crossed her legs and watched Renawill, a steady gaze.
In a way, she was being seductive. A thoroughly calculated seduction.
Totzfel was a widow, and Renawill had also lost his lover in his youth. This ant one thing.
“Why don’t you co see and take a bit of a break. How about it, a quick cup of tea.......”
“I have no intention of uniting with your house.”
“Oh dear, how indecent.”
Totzfel took out a hand mirror and refreshed her lips. She was no longer hiding her intentions.
“Two Dukes have fallen. The Imperials are currently weak as well. What do you think, if we work together.......”
But Renawill didn’t move an inch and only thought of what was ahead. With a deflated noise, Totzfel stood up.
“Excuse , dear. Are you listening to ?”
“......Duchess Totzfel.”
Clack. Renawill put down the quill. He soon had a cigar in his mouth and glanced over.
Pupils like spinels. A subtle anger burned from deep within those eyes.
“Is that what you want to say at a ti like this?”
“......Pardon ?”
“How can you speak like that when the country is in a dire situation?”
Like Totzfel, the Hasfeldt family didn’t hide their intentions either.
“All mbers of our house live with only two goals in their hearts. One is the annihilation of Beasts, and the other is the continuation of the Empire. Besides those, my belief is that there is no need for excessive money or power.”
He already had enough money and power.
Money ca from catching Beasts and selling mana stones, and the Hasfeldt had so much authority that people trembled just from hearing the na.
Clench. Hasfeldt raised his hand and curled it into a fist.
“Honor is all that is needed. Great pride as a noble, and honor supporting the loyalty to the Imperial family.”
Renawill stood from his seat. It was just after he’d finished writing a docunt.
The new organization chart of the new cabinet that the new Emperor would be appointing.
“The Empire, the House of Hasfeldt, must not crumble here. And that also goes for your house, Totzfel.”
“.......”
“Do not lose everything you currently have because of your foolish ambition for power if you do not wish to be seen as repulsive by the future generations.”
Click.
Renawill stepped out of the office. As soon as he arrived at the palace, he handed over the chart in his arms to Alion.
“I appreciate your efforts.”
Nod. After bowing his head, Renawill brought up the next task.
“What are your plans for the funeral, Your Majesty?”
“I’d like to hear your opinion first.”
“Then.......”
Renawill hesitated for a mont, then opened his mouth. He couldn’t help it as it involved the previous generation.
“...Try to be as frugal as possible.”
“To save budget?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“That won’t be a problem. We can hold another one later after the country returns to normal.”
Alion nodded.
“However, I’d like to know which plan to focus on specifically.”
“Understood.”
Renawill and Alion talked with each other for a long ti. To summarize their exchange in two statents:
One, restore the infrastructure and rebuild the economy by increasing the basic funds for the country’s reconstruction.
Two, soothe the hearts of the people by providing dical, funeral, and disaster support to those affected by Vanta Tortoise.
“These two things must happen so that the people will support the Imperial court and for the country to be stable again.”
“That is what I think as well. I will entrust it to you.”
Afterwards, he kept working. Sleep? He could sleep when he was dead. Things were urgent right now.
My shoulders might freeze again at this rate.
When he ca to, it was dawn. He had stayed up a whole day. But even so, Renawill didn’t stop.
It was almost ti to head to the checkpoint.
The checkpoint.
It was usually another way of saying the immigration office, but the checkpoint that Renawill was going to was different from that.
Tilette Academy.
The place where they inspected and questioned those who had been at the scene.
Renawill stepped into the temporary checkpoint that had been set up, relaxed his shoulders and sat down. Soon, a woman appeared through the window.
Her pupils weren’t visible, her eyes being narrow. However, he could tell that she was worn out.
Her ash-colored hair was no longer glossy. The woman simply covered her face and let out sigh after sigh.
“Count Heerlein.”
Renawill spoke.
“I’d like to ask sothing.”
**Imdiately after the incident was over.
Aether had nowhere to go. She’d fled for the mont, but she didn’t know where she could go.
For now, she hid into the nearby forest. It was a desperate attempt to not be discovered by the Elentals.
She quenched her thirst at the stream in the vicinity, ate a few berries, and sat on a random rock.
Being drenched by the rain, her throat felt uncomfortable. Aether took off the muffler and squeezed the water out.
“.......”
A white muffler. Soone had definitely given it to her, but she didn’t rember.
“Where was it from again?”
There was no answer.
Still, she felt sothing strange when she looked at it. The area around her diaphragm felt tight so she kept hitting it.
She was off the hook for now, so Aether decided to review the situation.
That Youko brat and Professor Heerlein did nothing wrong.
Those who had defended her until the end. She wasn’t going to be angry at them as well.
However.
─ All races have their respective joint responsibilities.
At so point, she began hearing such things.
─Being weak, unable to stop sothing from happening or ruining it due to weakness. That is a sin in itself. The weak are wrong just for being born.
It was the voice of the Demon King.
It has been more than a millennium.
A nostalgic yet revolting voice. It was still in her mories, apparently.
The Demon King she rembered was soone who was outspoken about the superiority of races. The Golden-Eyed were majestic, and the rest were savages. He instilled this kind of idea and united the persecuted Golden-Eyeds from all over.
Aether had watched it all happen vividly. The number of those who followed him increased by the day.
Ironically, the girl who had been the King’s right hand doubted his idea until the very end.
I don’t know what’s what anymore.
How good would it be to just blow up everything and reset the world?
Aether got up and dusted herself off. She had a general idea on what she should do.
The only thing in her mind was completing her Innate Magic, humans be damned.
There was no other reason for thinking that. She just wanted to. The mysterious, bitter impulse pushed her to move.
Most of all, the Elentals.
The animosity she had towards Elentals was unbearable.
“I’ll kill them all.”
With hands in her pockets, Aether headed towards the palace. It the day before Renawill arrived at the capital.
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