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Chapter 126: Walking Provocation
Chapter 126: Walking Provocation
While Eurius was threatening Wallace, there were others who were busy moving in the southern part of the empire.
They were the black market.
“How are the preparations for the sacrifice going? The ones we captured will be moving soon.”
“We’re doing our best to sneak them out, but there are too many of them, so it’s taking some time.”
“You idiots! The whole empire will be in chaos soon anyway, why do you care about leaving traces? Just hurry up and gather them.”
The man nervously adjusted the mask on his face.
His subordinates looked at him with cautious expressions.
They knew very well that he was in a bad mood since he failed once in Heavengard.
The man bit his tongue inwardly.
‘Tsk! Even with all the preparations, I can’t be sure of success, and the preparations are so slow. I’ve lost too much power.’
“…”
The room was quiet after the man’s scolding, but it didn’t last long.
Boom!
“Aaargh!”
There was a heavy thud, followed by a scream from downstairs.
The man snapped out of his thoughts and got angry.
“What’s going on?”
“Boss! Some weirdos broke in out of nowhere… Ack!”
Crash!
The next moment, the ornate door was shattered and one of his subordinates flew in like a rag doll.
But that wasn’t the problem.
‘This aura?’
The man’s face turned icy.
At the same time, a rough voice came from outside.
“Sorry about that. I asked these guys to let me see you, but they didn’t listen, so I had no choice.”
“…”
Of course, the man didn’t care about his subordinate who became a rag doll.
His eyes were fixed on the person who entered the room.
“I already notified you that I would take care of this target, didn’t I?”
“That’s what you think, but the main school already decided that I would come, so you can’t complain.”
The man bit his tongue again, but at the same time he was thinking hard.
‘Of all the people from the east, why did he have to come? No, they must have sent him on purpose.’
His faction was not very good at fighting.
But the ones from the east were different.
If it was pure strength, they were far superior.
‘I’m not ready yet, but if he helps me, I’ll have to share the credit, but it’ll be easier, right?’
It was obvious that he wouldn’t listen even if he told him to go back, since he came despite his notification.
Even if they didn’t get along well, they had to work together for the same goal, right?
The middle-aged easterner who entered the room was very tall.
Another peculiar thing was that he wore clothes that looked black at first glance, but had a dark red color as if stained with blood.
He smiled creepily and opened his mouth again.
“So I heard from downstairs that the target is quite skilled?”
***
[To His Majesty Eurius.
As you ordered, I went to the south and joined their forces. But they seem to think that I hesitated and joined at the last minute, so they haven’t told me everything yet.
…(omitted)…
But judging by their attitude, they seem to have something they trust very much.
…(omitted)…
I’ll contact you as soon as I find out something new.
-Your loyal Wallace-]
P.S: As always, I’m risking my life for this. Please take care of the tax audit matter for me.
‘He’s a consistent person. How can he say such things in this situation?’
Eurius closed Wallace’s letter with an incredulous expression.
But he was sure that he was bringing useful information.
‘Judging by this letter, are the southern nobles planning to cause some trouble soon?’
And his prediction came true not long after.
The grand council meeting that day had a somewhat chilly atmosphere.
The emperor looked around with a puzzled expression.
“It seems that many nobles are absent… Is there something wrong?”
“Isn’t it an implicit protest against the tax audit?”
Eurius answered calmly, but inside he was coldly determined.
‘It’s finally happening.’
As he expected, not even an hour after the grand council meeting began, a messenger rushed in.
“Your Majesty! A large number of nobles are staging a sit-in outside the palace.”
“What?”
The emperor couldn’t help but wonder why they were doing such a pointless thing before getting angry.
The messenger had a large scroll of paper in his hand, which he quickly offered to the emperor.
“This is their purpose for protesting. They also posted these flyers all over the capital.”
“Hmm?”
The emperor unfolded the large paper and began to read.
The content was roughly as follows.
[Since HisGrace Grand duke, who used to represent our opinions, ‘unfortunately’ died while defending the capital, we will continue his will and appeal to Your Majesty.
…(omitted)…
The first prince is abusing the nobles with the trust of Your Majesty, who is old and frail, and coveting the crown prince’s position.
…(omitted)…]
[We will continue to protest in this place to defend the justice of the empire until His Majesty accepts our opinion.]
“…”
Crack!
The emperor tore the paper without a word and threw it on the floor. Then he glared at Eurius.
“What do you think of this?”
Eurius had no choice but to shrug his shoulders.
He had a feeling that something would happen, but how could he have expected such a thing?
Besides, the demands of the other side showed that their real goal was not the emperor or anything else, but only one target.
Their demands were roughly as follows:
- Cancel the crown prince appointment of the first prince, who is incompetent!
- The first prince should stay away from the capital for a while and stop interfering in state affairs.
- If you accept this request right now, we will stop this protest.
“So you’re telling me to give up my succession rights and keep quiet.”
The emperor looked frustrated as he saw Eurius, who should be more upset than himself, chuckling.
“This is not a joke. Do you have any idea why they are doing this? There must be something behind them that they rely on.”
In fact, nothing would change in the current situation even if some nobles did such a thing. They could all be arrested and imprisoned for causing trouble in the capital.
“Why don’t we just leave them alone for now?”
“Huh?”
“It seems that their purpose is me from the beginning.”
“But if we don’t stop their actions, strange rumors will spread in the capital.”
“They are just small fry anyway. It won’t hurt the nobility much if we arrest them.”
As he said that, Eurius paused for a moment and then spoke again in a firm tone.
“The real ones are probably somewhere plotting to harm me. This protest is just a preliminary work for that.”
At that, the emperor frowned and opened his mouth again.
“Now that I think about it, you seem to have known that something like this would happen, but how could they do such a thing unless they were crazy? There must be some powerful backing for them.”
It was unlikely that any situation would arise where Eurius would be harmed by anything they did in the capital.
The best they could do was spread malicious rumors like the nobles who were protesting outside.
‘But something feels off.’
However, the sharp emperor sensed that there was something sinister behind this protest.
But Eurius just smiled and answered the emperor’s question with an aggressive tone.
“What can I do if they don’t like me and shout like this? I have to deal with the trouble they caused me!”
“Ugh… You’re not telling me everything again. Well then, do as you please! Just be careful not to cause any damage to the people of the capital, whatever happens.”
The emperor clicked his tongue and decided to leave the matter to Eurius.
‘It would be easy to solve it with force, but I wonder how he will handle those nobles this time.’
He was planning to retire from state affairs in the near future anyway. He was curious about how Eurius would deal with them.
Eurius also came out of the palace with a good mood, but he had a lot of thoughts inside.
‘I can’t estimate their exact strength yet, but they must have judged that they could face me enough to pick a fight with me for no reason.’
He recalled the meeting he had a while ago.
***
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
“We haven’t started yet, so don’t worry.”
Seeing Cains rushing in, Eurius started the meeting.
The topic of the day was much heavier and more serious than usual.
Jegal Hwayoung couldn’t lift her head because she found out that Eurius knew about the unrest in the south before she did.
“I’m sorry for the delay in the investigation.”
“No need. You must have lost a lot of power to the east, so this is actually much faster than I expected. You guys worked hard too.”
Eurius praised her instead, and she was able to start reporting.
“First of all, these are some of the influential nobles who had contact with the black market in the south.”
“…”
The nobles mentioned by her were all powerful figures with considerable influence in the south. But the last name that came out was quite unexpected for Eurius.
“Did Duke Patrick of the southern front join them? He was almost like a disciple of His Grace Grand Duke.”
Duke Patrick was the commander of the imperial southern front, and he was one of the youngest and most talented among the existing superhumans. Grand Duke cherished him very much during his lifetime.
“That’s what everyone thinks, but he was actually just a prisoner captured by His Grace Grand Duke, not really close to him.”
But Victor corrected that rumor.
“I see… Grand Duke even made Count Carlos, the commander of the imperial guard, his son-in-law, so that must have been his intention.”
“Yes. He actually treated him quite coldly in private.”
“Hmm?”
Eurius wanted to know the reason for a moment, but he thought it was not something to ask in this place, so he didn’t bother.
Anyway, if a superhuman joined the other side, it meant that he had to face a new strong enemy besides that archbishop.
Jegal Hwayoung stopped talking for a moment and then continued in a determined tone.
“I’m not sure about their exact strength yet, but they must have decided that they could face you enough to pick a fight with you for no reason.”
[The southern nobles must have had something to trust, too. Even if they were sponsored by the black market, they wouldn’t have raised their flags if they had any brains, but they must have thought they had a chance if a superhuman joined them.]
But Eurius didn’t think the situation would change much even if he joined them.
Didn’t he have enough power to match him on this side?
“Then do we have to split our superhumans, too? Nuada, you can handle him easily if you go.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Nuada also clenched his fist and looked ready to rush to the south right away.
But there was a hasty follow-up.
“Master! And please listen to what Baekho Hobeop has to say for a moment.”
“Huh?”
“…!?”
He noticed that Jegal Hwayoung had a very serious face today.
Why was that?
She spoke with a cautious expression.
“Actually, my uncle who returned to Sega sent me an urgent message.”
“An urgent message?”
“He said that there is a great battle going on there, and in the meantime, one of the leaders of Magyo was spotted heading to the western continent.”
Magyo seemed to be the name of the damned cult that was active in the east.
“Are their leaders powerful enough?”
“Actually, they are not just powerful. The reason I requested this urgent meeting today is because of this person.”
“Huh?”
The people in the room all had curious eyes and waited for her next words.
The power gathered here was enough to make any kingdom unable to show their face.
But why did she speak so seriously?
The reason was revealed soon.
“The person who came over this time is a big shot in Magyo. He is called Suramazon, and he may not be well known here, but he is ranked third in Magyo! In other words, he is one of the absolute masters of the eastern continent who can be counted on three fingers.”
“Suramazon?”