Chapter 112

“I can’t freaking handle this, damn it!!!”

Kyle swung his staff, smashing an orc’s head, forcing out a voice filled with frustration.

“There’s no end to this, no end! Damn it all!”

Kyle, who was alone protecting other nobles, was genuinely disillusioned with his job.

He was already busy enough fighting, yet he had to protect some foolish lady and pig-like creatures.

“That corpse bastard isn’t an easy opponent…!”

“Hey, Kyle…?”

“What now? You’re driving me crazy, tsk.”

“Um… aren’t enemies who only shoot arrows easy to deal with if you just get close and grab them? Since they shoot arrows, their strength or close combat skills must be terrible…”

Kyle, who was smashing orc heads, looked at Rizel with eyes that said, “What kind of nonsense is this?”

“What kind of nonsense is that about the former emperor keeping women at a distance?”

“Maybe they use bows because they lack strength, not swords or spears…”

“Listen, miss. How could someone weak even pull the bowstring to hit a target far away?”

In fact, there’s no weapon as demanding of strength as a bow. Kyle, who knew this better than anyone, couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.

He had seen the ghostly arrows raining down on the battlefield. Each arrow was comparable to siege weaponry. Who could call such a thing weak?

“That bastard is just a monster.”

The strength to pull the bowstring, the speed to nock the next arrow as soon as the previous one is fired, the vision to spot a fly’s movement from a thousand miles away.

And that unfathomable archery skill.

“…Everyone should be safe.”

As Kyle expressed his concern, an orc shook him by saying something it shouldn’t have.

“Kehahaha! Foolish talk! The King of Specters himself has graced this place! How could they dodge those arrows so close! The Emperor, the Empress, and even Raul Berze will all meet their deaths today…”

And at that moment, something sharp pierced the orc’s forehead.

The orc died without finishing its sentence, and Rizel instinctively stepped back.

Kyle had split his sturdy staff with his knee and embedded one piece into the orc’s head.

“What did you just say? You little bastards who dare to insult them…”

“Kyle…?”

Kyle seemed to have completely forgotten the staff and spear techniques he learned from Raul and Camilla. He just used the sharp ends of the broken staff to stab the orcs to death.

Not a trace of the refined techniques they taught him could be seen.

Eventually, when he could no longer use the staff, he grabbed a 2.6-meter-long marble table and started smashing orcs with it.

“Each of them is a force of nature! With all of them gathered here, how could some corpse bastards stop them!!! The ones who even defeated the Demon King?!!!!”

Swinging that massive marble slab to slaughter the demons, he looked more like a demon or a beast.

His usual demeanor was the result of Raul, Camilla, and Layla desperately instilling manners in him, but now that his precious ones were insulted, there was no need for such etiquette.

While most people might be put off by such behavior, the somewhat peculiar Rizel felt her heart skip a beat, just a little.

Meanwhile, Camilla also felt her heart racing as she swung her spear.

That unique excitement one feels when death is near. Feeling a primal excitement that no mere thrill could compare to, Camilla gritted her teeth.

Each arrow shot relentlessly by the King of Specters was aimed at vital points and had the power to shatter castle walls.

“Bloodline of the Empire! Shadows of the unworthy! The price for the sins your ancestors committed has finally come!”

The King of Specters was venting his long-held emotions, almost to the point of rage. Yet, his arrows never lost their sharpness, making it utterly maddening.

“…Your Majesty. Are you saying the sins of our distant ancestors are arrows aimed at the innocent descendants of the Empire? How can names so far back in the family tree become our names?”

“The foundation you stand on is the bones of those your ancestors killed! The fields that grew what you eat and drink were watered with the blood of my people! How can the fruit deny what the roots have consumed?”

The King of Specters nocked three bones onto his bowstring and swiftly shot them.

An ivory light shot toward them, and the Empress and Camilla barely managed to deflect it.

But no matter how desperately they deflected, their posture was off, and the moment their weapons touched the arrows, the shockwave traveled to their bones.

Even if they fought up close, there was no clear advantage. The King of Specters’ martial skills were as formidable as his archery.

His overwhelming physical prowess, with four arms and a monstrous body, far surpassed Camilla’s.

“Empire! Empire! The war is not over yet! Your king is still here! The tyrant still stands! Come and put an end to the war you started! Until one side is completely annihilated! Isn’t that the war you defined!!!”

He was angry. He had to be angry. He had lost his country but could only remain a king. Having lost his name, honor, and pride, all he had left was the hollow title of king. If he lost that, he would be nothing.

Being a king of the past, he could only see the past. Being a king, he had to be angry at the deaths of his people. Through anger, he endured the relentless flow of time. In the indifferent flow of time, anger allowed him to remember his people.

A king who existed only in the past, he was trapped living in the past. Trapped in the past, he had to remain angry in that tragedy. Because he had to be angry, he could only deny everything but the past. Denying everything but the past, he could have nothing but the past.

Such a vicious cycle turned the king into a monster.

Humans are beings who look forward and move ahead.

But specters are not. They live only to remember past grievances and seek revenge.

Thus, the king was truly a specter.

He was a pitiful specter who could no longer move forward.

A pitiful specter who burned even his own soul with an undying flame.

“Today’s Empire is different from the Empire of that time!”

“Different, you say! Look at what the former emperor did to the Demon King! See how he trampled on the heart of one who once loved humans! How he betrayed the one who once protected humans with his sword! With that mouth that claims the Empire has changed, speak!!!”

“…We executed the former emperor with our own hands…! How does that not prove the Empire is different from before!”

“Washing blood with blood is your first reason! Nobles who beheaded the emperor without even a moment of reflection are your second reason! The foolish people of the Empire who throw stones at heroes are your final reason!!!”

In the rain of sharp arrows, the Empress grew increasingly weary.

It was an unwinnable argument, and for the first time, the Empress was at a loss for words.

How could one defend the Empire before a king who had lost his country? It was like defending a murderer before a mother who had lost her child.

The Empress, already suffering from holding a hunting festival here, couldn’t possibly defend the Empire before the King of Specters.

“The Empire will not change. Do you think no one has tried to change that rotten Empire? Throughout its long history, such names are countless. Yet, do you not know the result? The war you experienced is the result. A shameful war born of ugly desires.”

Under such scathing criticism, the Empress couldn’t muster any rebuttal.

“Wise woman recognized by the throne. A genius who does not belong to the Empire. With that wisdom, answer me. Is there a reason the Empire should not fall? Provide the logic to support that flimsy reason.”

If we consider moral arguments like the lives of the innocent, the Empire has nothing to say.

The Empire destroyed the kingdom ruled by the King of Specters through unjust means and committed unspeakable acts against the Demon King’s rain.

The King of Specters couldn’t even argue the logic of power, that he fell because he was weak.

If the Empire destroyed weaker nations, then the Demon King would destroy the weaker Empire.

No logic could prove the Empire’s worth to continue.

“…”

“If you cannot prove it… I will simply continue the war as a bow, shooting everyone to death.”

The King of Specters shot arrows and words to shake off his fear.

By spitting out things he could never take back, he could momentarily forget the guilt gnawing at him.

At the same time, he was still afraid.

He was terribly afraid that he might still sympathize with the innocent people of the Empire.

But if he saw them and forgave them… it felt like his people, their tears, their grievances, and their traces would all disappear.

Thus, the king was afraid and angry.

To forget his guilt and turn his eyes away from the painful reality.

“Now, speak the reason why the Empire should not fall!!!”

And at that moment, a hollow, cold voice pierced through the anger and fear.

“Because I do not wish for it, King of Specters.”

That.

Without a doubt, it was the voice of some typical, mundane family head.