The Champion's Return

by Hyougetsu

  “Incidentally Your Majesty, what would you do if you were in charge of handling this situation?”

  Ashley looked up at me, his face haggard. “My first priority would be to ensure that my supporters and the citizens were safe. The people shouldn’t get dragged into squabbles between nobility. Our job is to protect them, not make their lives worse.”

  “You have a point...”

  The imperial family were guardians of the nobility, and the nobility were guardians of the common people. And since the imperial family were at the center of this power struggle, it wouldn’t be surprising if the people and nobility lost faith in them because of this.

  “But, Your Majesty, you’re a victim of this incident yourself.”

  “I’m glad you think so, but this all could have been avoided if I had been firmer with my sister. I need to accept responsibility for my failure.” After a short pause, he added, “My sister...Dillier, has converted to the Sternenfeuer cult. This is a scandal that could rock the empire to its very core.”

  I had no idea why Lord Bolshevik had asked Dillier to convert, but it was clear her conversion had been a huge blow to Ashley regardless. The emperor was meant to be a symbol of the Sonnenlicht Order, so the fact that one of his relatives had converted to Sternenfeuer was definitely crippling.

  “That...isn’t good.”

  I wanted to say something more eloquent, but I couldn’t find the words. Ashley got to his feet and looked out the window. There was the faintest tinge of pink in the sky; dawn would be arriving soon.

  “First the Doneiks Rebellion, then Lord Bolshevik’s scheming and my sister’s conversion. And now the capital is filled with undead. The imperial family’s prestige is in tatters.”

  Sorry about that. Unfortunately, summoning a bunch of skeletons was the fastest way to gain control of the city.

  In peacetime, Ashley was a perfectly competent emperor. But his weakness was that he didn’t know how to handle military situations. He also happened to have one other huge weakness. And this one, he brought up himself.

  “Lord Veight, what do you think of an emperor who keeps failing to prevent his relatives from rebelling against him?”

  There was no majesty in his tired voice. This wasn’t a query from an emperor; it was a simple question from one human to another. So I decided to give him an honest response.

  “You’re a kind man, Your Majesty, but that kindness has come back to bite you. As a ruler, you need to be able to force others to submit to you. Unpleasant though it may be, you cannot allow others to defy you, no matter how much you sympathize with their situation.”

  “I suppose so...”

  Ashley’s face fell. Feeling guilty for putting him down, I decided to change the subject, “The truth is, I was told something similar by the Demon Lord. He said that I wasn’t fit to be a ruler because I lacked the decisiveness needed.”

  The previous Demon Lord had indeed written something to that effect in his will. I still read it over from time to time.

  “Rulers sometimes have to make cruel decisions for the greater good,” I continued. “I’m not capable of that, which is why I’ll never be more than a Vice-Commander.”

  Before his death the old Demon Lord had asked me what I thought of becoming the next Demon Lord, so he must have at least believed I possessed the qualities of one. Of course, I’d refused him, but... When I saw how Ashley was struggling with his choices, I realized making Master the next Demon Lord really had been the right choice. She was a kind person, but she was also a scientist to the bone. If she believed something was the rational thing to do, she’d do it without hesitation no matter how cruel it might seem.

  “There are a few people I care for like family. If any of them suddenly became my enemy, I’m not confident I’d be able to kill them if it came down to it.”

  What if Parker or Master finally fold under the pressures of being immortal and snap? What if Airia’s loyalty to her city leads her to one day betray the demon army? Would I be able to do my duty as the Demon Lord’s Vice-Commander and kill them? They weren’t questions I wanted to think too hard about.

  “Which is why I’m always doing everything I can to make sure I don’t have to make a choice like that. Sometimes that requires using underhanded methods, but I don’t mind.”

  I’d experienced enough suffering in my past life. This time around I wanted my life to be a good one. In order to make that possible, I was doing everything in my power to nip problematic elements in the bud, before they could harm me or the people I cared about. And of course, I’d continue doing so in the future. The whole time he’d been listening to my story, Ashley had been looking down at the floor. But after I finished, he sighed and finally looked back up.

  “You’re absolutely right. I should have followed your example.” Ashley stared into my eyes for a few seconds, then said with determination, “Once this incident is resolved, I will take responsibility by abdicating the throne.”

  “Your Majesty, please don’t get carried away by a momentary surge of emotion and make a decision you might later regret.”

  “This is no ‘momentary surge of emotion’ as you put it. I’ve been considering abdicating ever since the Doneiks family rebelled.” Ashley’s voice rang with determination. “I’ll leave everything in Eleora’s capable hands. I’m not sure if she’ll accept the position of empress, but I know the people won’t object.”

  This was what I’d spent the last few months working tirelessly to achieve, but honestly, success didn’t bring me any happiness. Right now, I just felt sorry for Ashley. Had this been a peaceful generation, he would have gone down in history as an exemplary ruler. After a few seconds, Ashley straightened his back, looking more like the regal emperor he was supposed to be.

  “But for the moment, I am still emperor, and resolving this current crisis is my responsibility.”

  “As you say, Your Majesty.”

  “The longer this drags on, the more ambitious nobles will pop out of the woodwork looking to take advantage of the chaos. We need to put an end to this coup within a few days.”

  Yeah, pretty much. It was the emperor’s job to maintain order within the empire, and right now that wasn’t happening. Though it was partially my fault, since I’d brought the skeletons into the capital. Ashley’s expression grew grim and he added, “The only way to restore order is to remove the root cause of this attempted coup.”

  “Correct.”

  “While Lord Bolshevik’s involvement has yet to be proven, it is a fact that my sister, Princess Dillier, imprisoned me in the east tower. She must be caught immediately and tried for the crime of treason.”

  I knelt in front of the emperor and said, “Please leave her capture to me, Your Majesty.”

  “It’s not as if I have any other vassals to rely on anyway. Lord Veight, I charge you with locating and capturing Princess Dillier. If she resists...”

  Ashley bit his lip, hesitating. But then his stern expression returned and he said, “I, the emperor of the Holy Rolmund Empire, Ashley Voltof Schwerin Rolmund, give you permission to kill her.”

  “As you wish, Your Majesty.”

  Naturally, I had no intention of killing her, but I understood how much resolve it must have taken Ashley to say that. He asked for a piece of paper, which I gave him, and wrote down what he’d just said. He then signed the imperial decree and pressed his ring into the space on either side of his signature. The seal he’d pressed into the parchment didn’t seem to be the imperial seal. He handed me the decree and gave me a sad smile.

  “That seal is a secret that has been passed down among the Schwerin line for generations. There are no forgeries of it in the world. Only my sister will recognize this seal, but this will prove to her that it is a genuine imperial edict.”

  “Understood, Your Majesty.”

  I carefully rolled the parchment up and put it in my pocket. I looked out at the dawn and saw a few of my werewolves had returned to the manor. From the looks of it
, they had new information.

  “Your Majesty, I will now begin pursuing Princess Dillier. Worry not, I have left the manor’s security in capable hands.”

  Alright, it’s time to put an end to this.

  It turned out to be surprisingly easy to track down where Dillier had gone. Apparently plenty of common citizens had seen her personal carriage head out the west gate a short while before Parker’s skeletons had flooded the capital. To the west of the capital lay the lands of the Schwerin family. There were plenty of places where she’d be able to hide herself. However, no one had actually confirmed whether or not Dillier had been riding in the carriage.

  “What kind of entourage did the carriage have?”

  “From what I heard, there were just two knights guarding it. And at best there couldn’t have been more than two to three people inside the carriage,” Mao replied. I’d met up with him and the two of us were now walking together.

  “That’s a pretty small entourage for a princess,” I mused.

  “Is that not proof she’s been backed into a corner?” Mao asked. I wasn’t convinced.

  “Did anyone actually see the princess riding in the carriage?”

  “The curtains were drawn around the windows, and it didn’t stop for even a moment, so I’m afraid not.”

  Yeah, that’s definitely suspicious. The whole affair reeked of one of Lord Bolshevik’s plots. As long as there was a possibility he was involved, it was better not to take anything I saw at face value. After weighing my options, I came to a conclusion.

  “Alright, I’ll send one squad after the carriage.”

  “Do you think four people will be enough?”

  “Yeah. The rest of us will go north.”

  “By ‘north,’ you mean toward Lord Bolshevik’s lands?”

  “Yep.”

  “Why would Princess Dillier try to flee to Lord Bolshevik’s territory?” Mao asked with a puzzled look. “There’s no guarantee her fiance is even there right now.”

  “You have a point. But Princess Dillier has to know fleeing west would be the end of her.”

  Ashley was still the head of the Schwerin family, and Dillier didn’t have much influence among her relatives. At best, one of the people closer to her might shelter her in their villa or something, but they wouldn’t be able to raise an army to defend her. After all, the people wouldn’t follow Dillier. In other words, going west would be the equivalent of announcing her retirement from the political stage. And if she did that, we could just take our time searching through Schwerin’s castles and mansions without worrying that she might try anything.

  “She’ll only be a threat if she went north. Lord Bolshevik still has a lot of soldiers within his territory. If he is back there, we absolutely cannot let Dillier meet up with him.”

  “I see what you mean, but...you don’t have much evidence to back up your theory that she’s gone north. Why are you so confident she has?”

  “Because North Rolmund contains the Sternenfeuer holy land,” I said to Mao with a reassuring grin. “And Princess Dillier is a Sternenfeuer believer.”

  Mao gave me an incredulous look and replied, “Do you honestly think she’s going to beg her god for help?”

  “You and I both don’t believe in god so we tend to forget this, but... Religion can be a strong pillar of support for some people. Besides, the fact that she’s Sternenfeuer means she’ll be able to solicit the support of fellow believers. Especially since she’s betrothed to their leader.”

  Though I suspected most Sternenfeuer believers wouldn’t want to deal with the burden of protecting Dillier.

  I let my subordinates take care of tailing the carriage heading west while I took the rest of my werewolves north to Lord Bolshevik’s territory. As we arrived at Creech Castle, the messengers I’d sent to Eleora returned with a reply.

  “Boss, Eleora won!”

  “She beat back that giant rebel army! That princess is one hell of a general!”

  According to the report my panting werewolves delivered, Eleora had discovered where the enemy’s camp was and taken a small force of 1,000 elites to launch a surprise attack on them. Apparently, it was the werewolves I’d sent to guard Eleora who’d sniffed the enemy out. She hadn’t kept them around as guards but rather had utilized them as scouts. One of Skuje’s brothers had a keen eye, so I wasn’t surprised he’d found the enemy’s camp. There had been over 10,000 rebels, but they were mostly serfs who’d received only basic military training, and they’d split up into multiple camps. It had been easy enough for Eleora to take a smaller force of highly trained veterans and launch a night raid against their command center.

  The enemy had been taken completely by surprise, and Eleora had managed to annihilate all of the professional soldiers and knights Lord Bolshevik had assigned to the army. Without anyone to lead them, the remaining serfs had fled. They hadn’t had any desire to fight to begin with, so it was only natural they’d leave if their commanding officers were killed.

  As a result, Eleora had managed to stop the rebellion with minimal losses. The few serfs that didn’t throw down their weapons and return to their villages surrendered to her army instead. Sure, werewolves are good at scouting, but that’s not why I sent those guys with you, you know...

  “It seems Lord Bolshevik’s ambitions have been well and truly crushed now,” Mao said thoughtfully.

  I nodded and replied, “Probably. According to the reports, the rebel army was comprised almost entirely of serfs. He probably sent all his regular troops to the capital.”

  However, now the capital was under the control of Parker’s undead army, and Lord Bolshevik’s troops had been forced into hiding. As far as I could tell, we’d managed to counter all of Lord Bolshevik’s plots. Now our highest priority was catching the mastermind. Fortunately, sniffing a human out was a piece of cake for us werewolves.

  “Boss, we found a suspicious-looking group of pilgrims. They’re going through the mountains instead of taking the highway,” one of my werewolf scouts reported. I doubt that group’s a decoy.

  “How many are there?”

  “Sixteen. Five women and eleven men. The men are all built like soldiers, and we could hear metal clanking under their clothes. Some of them have horses too.”

  That’s gotta be the princess and her entourage. I ordered my werewolves to surround the group, then joined one of the squads. As soon as I spotted the group of “pilgrims” I could tell the men were trained soldiers. They were marching in formation, with the women in the center. The point man was riding a horse, as were the men on either flank. That was a common marching formation used by armies.

  We leapt from tree to tree, silently tracking the group. Once the encirclement was complete, I took a few of my men and strolled into view of the pilgrims.

  “Halt. I am Eleora’s Vice-Commander, Veight. My apologies, but I need to verify your identities.”

  The men suddenly dropped into combat stances. All they had on them were staves, but they held those staves like spears, and their coordination was impeccable. There was no doubt about it, these men had military training. Extensive amounts of it, too. I decided to point that out.

  “Your formation and your stances are obviously those of soldiers. It was suspicious enough that a group of pilgrims were taking the mountains rather than the road, but now there’s no denying who you are.”

  Though my words unnerved them, the soldiers nevertheless closed in on me. If I wasn’t careful, we’d have a fight on our hands. Of course my werewolves could easily shoot the soldiers down, but I wanted to avoid bloodshed. Just then, the only mounted woman in the party raised her hand imperiously.

  “Cease. This man is not someone you can defeat.”

  “But...”

  “I said, cease. Look around you.”

  The soldiers gasped as they examined their surroundings. Blast Rifle muzzles were poking out of the bushes in every direction. With a single word from me, my werewolves could slaughter the entire grou
p. The mounted woman handed her bridle to one of the men and he urged her horse forward a few steps. Though her features were hidden by a deep hood, I could tell it was Dillier.

  “It has been a long time since we last met, Lord Veight. I believe this is our first time exchanging words.”

  “It is, Princess Dillier.”

  I couldn’t tell if she had nerves of steel or if she’d just resolved herself to her fate. Either way, Dillier didn’t seem shaken at all.

  “Your Highness, I have come to deliver an imperial decree from His Majesty the emperor.”

  I strode forward and showed Dillier the edict Ashley had given me. Her guards crowded around me, carefully watching my every move. After reading the decree, Dillier scrutinized the seal next to Ashley’s signature.

  “I see you’ve finally gotten serious, Ashley.”

  For some reason, Dillier smiled as she said that. She turned to me and nodded. “At this point, resistance would be futile. I am already a wanted criminal.”

  “Princess, surely you won’t surrender!?” one of the men exclaimed, but Dillier waved him away.

  “I will indeed do as Lord Veight asks. Thank you for your loyal service until now, my brave attendants.”

  Dillier’s retinue dropped to their knees in shock. Clearly, both the soldiers and the maids were staunchly loyal to her.

  She refocused her attention on me and asked, “Lord Veight, will these men also be tried?”

  “I shall advise both Princess Eleora and His Majesty not to harm them.”

  Had Dillier’s knights only been interested in self-preservation, they wouldn’t have stuck with her. Their loyalty to her was admirable. It would be a waste for them to be executed. Besides, I doubted either Eleora or Ashley would want them to be punished anyway. Relieved, Dillier dismounted from her horse.