Chapter 198

(198)

Princess Sererassie was unexpectedly popular among the people of the capital.

The people hoped that the royal family leading them would be worthy of their affection, and so they wanted to offer their love.

Jeilliris was too far removed and aloof to be loved.

The Emperor of the Empire was a figure who deserved respect filled with awe and fear rather than love and affection.

Valenciaunos was a notorious miscreant that everyone acknowledged, regardless of gender, age, wealth, or status.

Even if he were not a miscreant, the people of the capital unconsciously understood that they should not love the Emperor’s twin, especially the elder brother in the line of succession.

Helena, Hadrian, and Denia rarely revealed themselves in front of the people.

Although they had loyalty and affection for the imperial family, neither the Emperor nor the elder brother were worthy of such affection, which was instead directed towards a mage.

“Your Highness Sererassie!”

“Your Highness! Please help me!”

Her origins from the Ivory Tower demonstrated her prowess.

An elite path, a year of downfall, an alluring story of splendid revival.

Investing in the slums, portraying a personfriendly stance.

The exhilaration of defeating and driving out Valenciaunos.

Long navy hair giving an intelligent impression and a mysterious, ethereal golden shimmer.

A haughty appearance reminiscent of a coy cat, maintaining a distance suitable for admiration.

Always adorned with a staff, a wide-brimmed pointed hat, and robes, embodying the complete attire of a mage.

Even from a distance, when one bowed their head, she would lightly raise a hand, graciously responding to cheers.

Sererassie possessed all the qualifications to be revered as a hero.

She elegantly stepped forward and raised her staff.

“Dispel.”

In an instant, a flash of yellow light flickered, and a fireball, roughly the size of a ripe melon, disappeared as if it were a lie.

Dispel required more mana than casting, yet Sererassie had prepared the spell meticulously for over 20 minutes using incantations, terms, tools, staffs, and reagents, achieving a clean success.

A slight dizziness remained, but it was a cute price to pay.

“Y-!”

Valenciaunos revealed his anticipated hostility, and Sererassie clicked her tongue, striking her staff against the ground.

“Brother, let’s go back.”

Thud!

Electricity burst from the yellow jewel, and the electrocuted Valenciaunos fell like a rotten log.

In the last moment, her nimble movements avoided crashing her head against the stone.

Sererassie swung her staff grandly, pointing it at Valenciaunos.

“Your tyranny is the threat to their safety.”

Chains made of stone emerged from the ground and tightly bound Valenciaunos’s wrists and ankles.

“Wooaah!”

The next moment, a cheer resounded that shook the area, louder than the thunder she had summoned.

‘Once the constables arrive, I can appropriately manage things and return to the Imperial Palace. I hope Lady Trentia comes quickly.’

“Sererassie!”

“Sererassie! Sererassie! Sererassie!”

“Your Highness, may you live long!”

“Please kill that miscreant.”

“Revenge!”

She was nearly overwhelmed by the overwhelming calls.

The loud voices, the aftereffects of casting powerful spells, the lingering foul smell despite the slimes’ purification, the blinding brilliance torturing her eyes, and the torrent of incomprehensible emotions carried by the cheers tormented her.

‘I want to get inside quickly. Seeing the horns and scales not settling down, it seems I should administer the red potion as well.’

As she gripped her staff tightly enough that the tendons on the back of her hand turned white, the murmuring crowd parted.

‘Who… is coming?’

* * *

Creak, shhh, whee-eee-ing.

The sounds of gears turning, steam hissing, and chains spinning filled the air.

A familiar face looked down at her from above the hole.

“Your Highness Sererassie. From now on, I shall serve you. Is that alright?”

Dressed in a vertical-striped suit, with subtly colored black eyes, gold-trimmed glasses, possessing a kind and intellectual smile.

However, Sererassie, being a mage, could see through it immediately.

Behind that suit and glasses lurked a madness that would make even ordinary infiltrators flee in terror.

The most dangerous great lord from the west.

The leader of the Ironblood Party, Marcus.

“We will also attend to Duke Valenciaunos. After all…it would be fitting for the Emperor to know of the misdeeds he attempted, wouldn’t it? However, we cannot simply throw him to them.”

The angry voices of the crowd still echoed loudly.

As Sererassie hesitated, two mechanical knights leapt into the underground waterway and approached her.

Instinctively stepping back, she narrowed her eyes at the boy standing beside Marcus.

‘Why is that kid here?’

White hair and partially closed red eyes.

The young boy who had been taken by Rudi and Trentia.

* * *

Rudi was from the fallen noble class of the capital, and Trentia hailed from a storied knightly lineage.

Rudi had grown his brown hair long, while Trentia kept her red hair short.

Rudi had a gentle and kind demeanor, while Trentia had a bold and dignified presence.

Rudi began working as a novice maid at the age of ten, while Trentia grasped a sword at the age of seven.

Rudi had served royalty with names in the hundreds in the line of succession for a long time, and Trentia was the top of her class at the academy, graduating with honors and receiving her knighthood.

Rudi had learned the assassin’s combat doctrine, while Trentia was a true knight among knights.

Though the two were so different, they shared one thing in common.

“Knight.”

“Yeah. I felt it.”

Both were keenly sensitive to hostility and malice while serving the same person.

Rudi peered outside through the curtain of the carriage window.

Despite racing towards the Imperial Palace, remarkably few people could be seen, and those that were there walked with an unnaturally consistent pace.

“Ah.”

Rudi, gripping the six-shot Agathe and the magic dagger ‘Living’, adjusted her optical glasses, and repeatedly tensed and relaxed her body to maintain focus.

Her green eyes, once gentle, now glinted sharply like shards of glass, and she smiled brightly.

‘Above. The building and the carriage following behind are both traps. The coachman seems to be coerced, and I don’t see any big weapons. It’s more likely they are skilled rather than using magic tools, but if they’re in the capital, the probability of them being skilled is high. It’ll be crucial to suppress them with rapid-fire shots.’

Clink.

Trentia unfastened the right clasp of her red cloak, flipping it over her left arm, securing it around her wrist with a gauntlet.

When wearing full plate armor, a separate shield wasn’t needed, but not knowing what magic tools the enemy might employ, it was better to block attacks with her arms rather than allow them to reach her body.

She didn’t even bother to rest her hand on her sword.

She was a knight among knights, a top-tier swordswoman, able to draw her sword in any posture.

‘Sounds of screams and galloping from the side. Those light cavalry must be chasing an open-top carriage… It must be the Ironblood leader who made a move, right?’

Trentia believed that if one had good physical condition, there was no need for the head to suffer but was interested in better protecting and following her lord.

She had witnessed how Valenciaunos and Jeilliris had been laying the groundwork for loyalty oaths with the great nobles of the northern, central, and eastern regions since last year.

To her eye, the most dangerous figure among the great nobles currently in the capital was undoubtedly Marcus, the leader of the Ironblood Party.

‘He intends to develop a magical cannon, which would conflict with the Ivory Tower, and his aim of expansion rather than stability would clash with the Emperor too. He likely used territorial expansion permits as a common goal to rally other nobles to his cause.’

The mesmerizing intersection with a junction island quickly approached.

The coachman pulled the reins to slow down.

In that moment, enemies suddenly appeared as if by magic.

“Kya-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

Light cavalry charged down the right street.

“Attack!”

Light infantry poured out from the left street like a flood.

Upon seeing the blue blades, the coachman panicked and pulled on the reins, losing all composure.

Of course, neither Trentia nor Rudi had expected the coachman to maintain his senses.

Rudi gripped Agathe, waiting for the right moment to approach, while Trentia kicked open the door and rushed out.

* * *

‘Scary bird?’

The creature ridden by the attackers from the right appeared to be an oversized ostrich, armed with a hard beak but unable to fly.

Trentia had heard of the scary bird light cavalry that roamed the southwestern deserts.

While they were weaker than horses, they were faster in turning and required less food, making them favored by nomadic tribes for raids.

The light cavalry, riding over a hundred of such scary birds, charged with eerie screams.

They fastened surcoats adorned with geometric patterns over chainmail, wore cloth-covered hats, and armed themselves with bows, spears, and crescent-shaped sabers.

“Arrarrrrr-!”

“Arrarraa-!”

Trentia raised her mask, revealing her proud face and red eyes as she alone blocked their advance.

“I am the knight of Duke Valenciaunos, Trentia. I am not afraid of you, and I am ready to fight. Who among you will challenge me?”

“Hihihihihih!”

“Hihihihih!”

Voices mocking her echoed among the light cavalry.

The warriors from the southwest regarded such fighting methods as ‘ignorant.’

An unnamed man rode forward, pulling on the reins without revealing his name.

A spear left his hand, slicing through the air, followed by a crescent-shaped saber that drew near.

“Without revealing your name, you cannot become my prisoner!”

Trentia started to accelerate, kicking off the ground with each step.

Thud, the spear ricocheted back without piercing her gauntlet.

Given the considerable force behind the attack, it seemed the opponent was at least a sword user level.

“Knight! Die!”

Just in front of her, a scary bird cavalryman lifted his saber.

Instead of blocking, dodging, or parrying, Trentia swung her right fist, clad in the gauntlet, and smashed the scary bird down.

The movements of a sword expert were both heavy and swift.

Neither the rider nor the bird could avoid, let alone see what had happened.

Thud!

The sickening sound of a broken neck echoed as the scary bird flew off like a kicked ball.

The stunned light cavalryman couldn’t even brace himself and rolled on the ground, giving Trentia the chance to finally draw her sword.

“Wait a moment!”

“You did not share your name with me. I do not know you.”

There was a reason knights insisted on such ‘ignorant’ methods.

Trentia beheaded the bewildered light cavalryman and threw his head at the following light cavalryman.

“Now! Who among you challengers is nameless?”

From her longsword ‘Hwanhan’ erupted a viscous, blood-like mana blade.

‘Still quite impressive.’

While Trentia dashed out, Rudi waited in the carriage.

‘The sorrow of those without full plate armor.’

The left door opened, and a light infantryman poked his upper body inside.

He was adorned with leather armor reinforced with plate pieces, showing gears and chains at the joints, and wore a makeshift firearm of sorts at his waist.

The T-shaped helmet had eye holes made of glass or crystal, enchanted similarly to optical glasses.

“Lucky for me.”

The elite soldier serving Marcus confirmed the white-haired boy target inside the carriage, feeling relieved and glad to see that he was still alive, knowing that only a frail-looking maid was with him.

“Yap!”

He went in for an attack, intending to stab the maid in the eye with an ice blade, all the while laughing even as his eyes pierced and thoughts unraveled.

Without even a scream, the elite soldier collapsed, and the light infantrymen drew their bows.

Enhanced strength and optical helmets truly showcased their worth during archery.

Thud, thud, thud!

The carriage transformed like a hedgehog, and Marcus’s soldiers calmly opened the carriage doors.

“Welcome.”

What awaited them was Rudi, sprawled at the foot of the seat.

“And goodbye.”

Boom!

The magic cannon Kaspar fired shot after shot, and the ten or so men gathered at the door fell simultaneously.

“Aaah!”

Rudi launched herself, grasping ‘Living’ and ‘Agathe’.

“You’re trying to interfere with Lord Valen, right? Ah, how precious this breathing air is! Go all of you, towards the God of Radiance!”

Grabbing someone by the collar and using them as a shield, she fired Agathe and thrust Living into the gaps of helmets and joints to ensure a fatal blow, swinging the blade made of blood to sever necks, rolling on the ground to stab behind their calves, and jumping up to pierce under their chins…

Maid and knight, the two ‘servants’ swept the battlefield.

However, the assassins from the shadow clan approached the carriage without a trace, and while over a hundred soldiers were slaughtered, they quietly left with one boy in tow.

At some point, Rudi saw the inside of the carriage had become empty.

“Hehe.”

She chuckled, wiping the blood that splattered on her cheek.