Chapter 32
Dreihart, freed by Calix, was full of vitality once again today.
The people who had become free citizens worked wherever they wished and received wages commensurate with the work they did.
They no longer wore the painful purple iron chains, and they were free to walk around and meet their families and friends.
The new dueling tournament, UFC, created by Calix, became Dreihart's new claim to fame, drawing countless spectators from across the Empire. Its champions earned enormous prize money and honor, making them the goal of every warrior in Dreihart.
Yet even in this transformed Dreihart, where there was light, there was darkness.
Countless slaves had died during the Dreihart Rebellion, but countless nobles had died as well.
However, some of them had escaped underground, gritting their teeth as they waited to repay the suffering they had endured a hundredfold, a thousandfold, once the army sent to suppress the rebellion had crushed it.
But what they saw after enduring all that was unbelievable.
Calix Kron, who had seized Dreihart, had freed every slave, confiscated the nobles' assets in his capacity as ruler, and used them for the freed slaves and Dreihart.
The surviving nobles were naturally furious, and they took measures such as suing Calix Kron before the Platinum Council.
But the Platinum Council, which had already acknowledged Calix's right to rule and accepted the enormous bribes he sent, ignored them now that their power base of slaves had disappeared.
Thus, overnight, the nobles of Dreihart fell into a state worse than slavery.
The people of Dreihart who had become free citizens pointed fingers at them and called them 『The Abandoned』.
But did they quietly accept their downfall and reflect on their mistakes?
Not at all.
Late at night, masked people began gathering in a secret waterway deep beneath Dreihart.
They went to a secret room known only to the nobles and sent a signal.
Knock-! Knock-!
When they knocked on the wall, a small hidden window opened, revealing a human eye.
The person behind it asked the fallen nobles who had arrived in secret for the password.
“The slaves?”
”They belong to us.“
Creak-
Once the password was verified, the door opened.
Inside, they found a hidden room.
The fallen nobles of Dreihart were gathered there. At the center sat Jethon, Dreihart's former chief steward, who looked like a mouse and appeared to be their leader.
”Everyone is here. Then let us begin the meeting.“
At Jethon's words, they all took their seats around the shabby table.
Thus, the fallen nobles had retreated into the shadows.
They held regular meetings and prepared their revenge.
But for all their talk of revenge, ninety percent of their meetings were little more than venting.
”Those despicable slave bastards started renovating my house today! They said they were going to remodel it so other filthy slaves could live there!!“
“Our mansion is the same!!”
The wealthy people's homes were being remodeled so that people who had become free citizens could live in them.
They were furious that their own homes were being destroyed for the sake of slaves.
“Are we just going to take this lying down, Jethon!”
“Right! I can't stand it any longer!!”
Everyone's eyes turned toward Jethon, who had once served as Dreihart's chief steward.
He raised the corners of his mouth and spoke.
“Of course we can't just take this. I've thought of a way.”
“Oh! As expected of the lord's right-hand man, Chief Steward Jethon.”
“Yes! What is it?”
The fallen nobles focused on his words.
Jethon spoke without bothering to hide his ratlike expression.
“We will kill Lord Calix, Kron's Silver Dragon.”
“What!?”
“Is that possible?”
The other fallen nobles could not help but be shocked by Jethon's words.
Naturally, they all wanted Lord Calix dead as well.
But that was absolutely not easy.
“Are you thinking of hiring assassins?”
“Rumor has it that he even caught, single-handedly, the assassins of those Bloodkin bastards who killed our mages. Three of them, no less.”
If they spent every last bit of their funds, they could hire one or two assassins.
But rumors said that Calix had single-handedly taken down around three assassins with a paring knife.
To assassinate Calix with certainty, they would need even more assassins.
“Who said we would kill him using assassins?”
“Then what will we use to kill Lord Calix?”
Jethon revealed the trump card he had prepared.
The fallen nobles' faces turned pale when they heard it.
“Are you really going to use that method!?”
“If we're caught using it, we will all die!!”
“Then are we going to keep living like this!!!!”
The extreme measure Jethon had prepared was enough to fluster even these fallen nobles, who would stop at nothing.
Jethon was instead enraged by their reaction and said,
“Then are we going to keep living like this!!!!”
At Jethon's words, they all fell silent.
Naturally, none of them wanted to continue living like this.
“I will kill that despicable Calix Kron, the man they call the ‘King of Liberation,’ by whatever means necessary. And I will reclaim everything that was mine in the first place!! Anyone who does not intend to join me should leave this meeting and continue living as you are now until the day you die in the streets!”
Jethon opened the meeting room's door and thundered.
A brief silence followed, and they all watched one another's reactions.
But they already knew.
They knew this was the only option left to them.
The oldest-looking nobleman closed the door Jethon had left open and spoke.
“What should we prepare, Jethon…?”
That day, The Abandoned resolved to kill the King of Liberation.
* * *
…there appears to be a conspiracy.
I am currently investigating it with Zarha and will deal with them as soon as possible.
Even so, just in case, we should pay even closer attention to your personal security for the time being.
Please take care of yourself, my lord.
Your treasurer, Noah
——————————
The letter Noah sent from Dreihart was filled with vivid details, as if she had seen everything herself.
Had she watched it all through surveillance cameras?
How could her account be this vivid?
While I was thinking that, Azel, who was standing in front of me, lightly tapped her chest twice and spoke.
“You needn't worry! I will keep you perfectly safe, my lord.”
“Uh...yeah, thank you, Azel.”
Azel spoke as if telling me to trust only her.
After her farming-based mental training, Azel's obsession with justice had improved considerably.
The problem was that, perhaps because of the backlash, she followed me around like a madwoman.
That was indeed an escort knight's role, but Azel took it so far that she even followed me to the bathroom.
Just as I was getting a headache at the thought of her following me around even more, Rana spoke.
“If we need to pay even closer attention to protecting you, my lord, then from today onward, I will not leave your side either.”
“What!?”
Rana casually dropped this bombshell with her usual impassive expression.
Come to think of it, lately Rana seemed to be feeling a strange sense of rivalry as she watched Azel constantly follow me around.
No. That look in her eyes! She definitely feels it.
“You needn't worry, Lady Rana. I will protect our lord's safety perfectly.”
“Even so, just in case, you need a perfect maid like me.”
“It is fine! The Moonlight Knight Azel alone is sufficient!”
Sparks were flying between Rana and Azel.
Just as it seemed they were about to start fighting like a dog and a cat, Hart intervened.
“Now, now, let us all calm down.”
“Chief Steward Hart.”
“Yes, Lord Hart.”
Hart stepped between them and smoothly settled the situation.
“As Lady Noah said, the situation may be dangerous, so for the time being, I think it would be best for both of you to accompany my lord.”
“If that is what you say, Chief Steward Hart, I will comply.”
“I have no objection either!”
Rana bowed her head and followed the wishes of her great-grandfather, Hart.
And Azel, who valued rank, likewise followed Chief Steward Hart's words without complaint, as expected.
As expected of Hart! Half a century as chief steward wasn't for show.
But this...doesn't this mean I will be the one suffering in the end?
My prediction was exactly right.
After that, Rana and Azel did not leave my side for even a moment.
Naturally, they followed me whenever I went to the office or left the castle grounds, as usual.
They stuck right beside me during meals as well.
They even began sleeping in the room beside my bedroom.
And they even followed me into the bathroom.
At the moment when I should normally have been enjoying some leisurely time alone in the bathroom, Rana and Azel followed me inside and watched over me.
“…Rana, Azel, do you really have to come all the way in here?”
“My lord, they say a person is most defenseless when sleeping, eating, and bathing. We must always be prepared for any threat that might arise.”
“Rana is right! You never know what might happen!”
At times like this, the two of them were perfectly in sync.
When I thought it would be difficult to bathe comfortably under their watch, Rana spoke.
“If it bothers you that we're the only ones still dressed, then I will go take mine off right now.”
“So that was what made you uncomfortable! I will take mine off right away!!”
“No!! It's fine!! Please just continue guarding me as you are!!”
I hurriedly stopped Rana, who was about to take off her clothes, and Azel, who had already started undressing, then finished an uncomfortable bath under their watch.
Just as I was hoping this situation would end soon,
not long afterward, the incident happened.