Chapter 123: A Sword That Surpassed the Kingdom

The commotion that broke out outside the Royal Capital spread inward.

Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!

Members of the Black Lion Order ran through the corridor inside the Royal Capital and burst into the Great Hall.

Inside were nobles and ministers who had entered the Great Hall early in the morning.

“Stop!”

Cheng! Cha-cheng!

Sensing something was wrong, the Royal Knight Order guarding the Great Hall drew their swords first.

From the beginning, no one except the royal family and the Royal Knight Order was allowed to carry weapons inside the Great Hall.

“What in the world are you doing?”

“Have the Black Lion Order knights gone mad?!”

The startled nobles and ministers shouted, but the Black Lion Order knights kept silent.

Then Aspar Daker, the Black Lion Order Commander at the front, noticed that the very center of the Great Hall had been left empty.

“Why is His Majesty not here?”

I had heard that King Laskan Canel had departed toward the Great Hall.

By now, he should have arrived long ago.

Aspar’s eyes trembled violently as he found the empty throne.

“Could he have noticed our plan…?”

“Hey! Commander Aspar! I asked you what you are doing right now!”

It was Marquis Salad, a noble of the royalist faction.

At his question, Aspar pointed the sword he held toward him.

“It would be best for you to keep your mouth shut, Marquis Salad.”

“What! Do you even know who you’re speaking to in that tone?!”

“If you insist on hastening your death, then so be it! Everyone, clear this place completely!”

Chwa-chaang! Chang! Chwa-chaaang!

The other Black Lion Order knights also drew their swords.

In that moment, the Royal Knight Order surrounded the nobles and ministers.

“That’s enough.”

A voice came from the front of the Great Hall.

Aspar turned his head at the shout.

From beside the throne, Raion’s butler, Patrick Waver, stepped out slowly.

Step. Step.

“You are…?”

“This is our first time greeting each other formally. I am Patrick, personal butler to the Third Prince.”

“Why are you coming out from there?”

“I received an order from my master, the Prince. He instructed me to take responsibility for this place.”

Aspar Daker’s expression twisted.

He had come with his knights to confront King Laskan Canel.

But the King was not there. Instead, more Royal Knight Order members than usual had been stationed, and Prince Raion’s butler Patrick blocked their path.

“I don’t know how you learned of our plan, but it seems you greatly underestimated us.”

“If you came here intending to shed blood, it is only proper that we meet you in kind. Everyone, please fight while protecting the others.”

“Yes!”

Command authority had already been transferred beforehand.

The Royal Knight Order raised their swords with determined expressions.

Seeing this, a bitter smile crept up Aspar’s lips.

“Today, the Great Hall of the royal family will be dyed with your blood!”

“You speak too lightly. Do you truly think we will just let that happen?”

“For a mere butler, you talk too much! Everyone, kill every last person in this place!”

The order was given.

The Black Lion Order knights charged toward the Royal Knight Order.

Cha-cheng! Cheng!

As battle began, Aspar’s sword moved as well.

First, he intended to kill Marquis Salad, one of the pillars of the royalist faction.

At that moment, a dagger flew in from the side.

Shuaaaak! Cha-cheng!

“Kh!”

Aspar swallowed a groan as he blocked the dagger.

Blocking it wasn’t hard, but the force behind it was considerable.

“How could a butler wield such power…?”

My sword-hand tingled sharply.

As tension began to rise, Aspar shifted his target away from Marquis Salad.

“If you wish to die that badly, I shall personally cut you down!”

“You shouldn’t speak of killing so easily.”

“You’re all talk!”

“I wonder if it’s only talk!”

Aspar swung his sword wide. As expected of the Black Lion Order Commander, he left no obvious openings.

I avoided his blade lightly and shifted my movement toward the center of the Great Hall.

Whooong! Whoong!

His sword kept slicing the air with sharp sound.

But he still couldn’t catch my swift movements.

“Your sword trajectory is near perfect, but impatience is seeping into it. Before swinging your blade, you should find composure first.”

“Shut up!”

“My, my. You shouldn’t treat advice as nagging.”

Before I knew it, I held a dagger slightly longer than the previous one.

The dagger struck upward, knocking Aspar’s sword aside, and then extended toward him.

“To think you were just a simple butler—are you a master of dagger-arts?!”

Aspar hurriedly recovered his sword and blocked my attack.

Ka-ga-gak—!

The metal scraped together with a chilling sound.

Facing him at point-blank range, Aspar judged it as his chance.

He tried to scrape down with his sword and overpower me.

“Take this!”

“Hasty decisions only lead to mistakes.”

“The mistake was engaging me in swordplay in the first place!”

Chwaaak! Cheng! Cha-cheng! Cheng!

Aspar’s sword slashed in all directions—yet again, I blocked it.

His blade clashed against the middle of my short dagger and failed to slip past, held firmly in place.

“What in the world were you doing before this?!”

“I’m afraid I cannot explain that!”

Shu-shu-shuk!

In that brief opening, I flicked another dagger in a different direction to assist the Royal Knight Order.

Black Lion Order knights dropped one by one as throwing daggers struck the backs of their calves or pierced their necks.

“Damn it—!”

“Bad words aren’t good for a knight! Hup!”

I swung my dagger even faster.

Cha-cheng! Cheng! Cha-cha-cheng! Cha-cheng!

Aspar, who had seemed to be on the offensive earlier, now struggled just to block.

The dagger drew pale trails before his eyes as it scraped across his armor.

Ka-kak! Kaaaak!

Had he not twisted away at the last moment, the dagger would have slipped between the plates of his armor.

Cold sweat began to run down Aspar’s face as he sensed something had gone terribly wrong.

‘Where did things start going off track?’

He had walked this path believing only in Duke Alito Kright, the Chancellor and his master.

But everything had started to go awry, and now even his life was in danger.

“Take the nobles as hostages! They will never allow the nobles to be harmed!”

It was a desperate trick scraped together on the spot—one that abandoned all chivalry.

The Black Lion Order knights’ eyes glinted sharply, and they tried to rush past the Royal Knight Order toward the nobles.

“I never expected the Black Lion Order, once hailed as one of the strongest blades of the Canel Kingdom, to fall so low!”

“This concerns the survival of a great cause! How could mere chivalry compare?!”

“So you lacked even a knight’s conviction. It’s fortunate that my master didn’t have to handle someone as filthy as you.”

Pa-pa-pak! Shuaaaak!

Throwing daggers flew before anyone realized it, aimed at the Black Lion Order knights rushing toward the nobles.

Cha-cheng! Cheng!

Only a few managed to block them—many more did not.

As the battle dragged on, the number of knights collapsing to the floor increased.

Aspar, too, received wounds all over his body while fighting me.

“What nonsense!”

“I said it’s fortunate that my master didn’t have to dirty himself with the likes of you.”

“Shut up—!”

Shuaak! Cheng! Swaak! Pa-pak!

At that moment, I stepped into Aspar’s guard and seized his arm.

At the same time, I twisted his arm the opposite way and drove my dagger in with my other hand.

Udeuduk! Puk! Pupuk!

It all happened in a single instant.

“Argh! Guhk!”

Clang—!

His sword fell to the ground.

The technique I had just used was something I learned from Raion.

True Martial Art— Hand-to-Hand Combat Art, Transforming Force.

It was a technique Raion mastered back when he served in the special forces, and I had learned it and put it to use.

As a result, Aspar clutched his arm while the dagger remained buried between the plates of his waist armor.

“Kuhhhk! Guhhhk!”

The dagger had gone deep enough to pierce his lungs.

His defeat affected the morale of the Black Lion Order knights.

Because of that, the Royal Knight Order seized the momentum and pressed forward decisively.

Meanwhile, I straightened my disheveled attire and continued speaking.

“It seems everything is neatly resolved. Now, everyone, please move to a safe location. The knights will escort you.”

“You said your name was Patrick.”

It was Marquis Salad, who had nearly lost his life moments ago.

“That’s correct, Marquis Salad. Do you have something to say?”

“What in the world is happening? Where is His Majesty the King, who was supposed to be here?!”

Today was an important day, the day the successor to the throne would be decided.

Everyone had heard the news about Kanas Territory, where Raion had stayed, and had come filled with expectation—only to be caught in this near disaster.

They could finally breathe again, but they still had many questions.

“Before I answer, please wait a moment.”

“For what reason?”

My gaze shifted toward Aspar, who lay collapsed and groaning.

I slowly approached him.

“My master told me to handle things cleanly. Well… not that you’d be able to answer anything now.”

“Kkeuuugh!”

Puk—!

My dagger pierced through Aspar’s throat.

Blood flowed, staining the floor of the Great Hall.

To anyone watching, it was an absurdly anticlimactic death.

Those guarding the surroundings swallowed hard at the sight.

“It may be unpleasant to look at, but please endure it.”

“Now tell me what is going on!”

Even as he grimaced, Marquis Salad was filled with curiosity.

I wiped the blood off my dagger, slid it back into my coat, and finally answered.

“It should be obvious from what you saw.”

“Are you telling me the Black Lion Order attempted treason?”

“Do you think they acted alone?”

They both knew well under whose command the Black Lion Order served.

With that, Marquis Salad’s brow furrowed deeply.

“So the Chancellor has finally done it.”

“He is carrying out his plan quite thoroughly. Fortunately, my master discovered the plan and acted first.”

“How could he have learned of such a plan?!”

Duke Alito Kright had risen to his position thanks to superior information and knowledge.

He even held military strength through the Black Lion Order.

And by marrying off his daughter Elina to the King, he had secured his place as the maternal grandfather of two princes.

It was baffling that not anyone else, but the Third Prince Raion, had somehow learned of such a person’s secret plot.

“You may ask him personally later. I must go handle the remaining matters.”

“Sir Patrick, what should we do with the Black Lion Order members who surrendered?”

“As I said before—my master desires a clean resolution.”

At my answer, the faces of the Black Lion Order knights turned deathly pale.

“S-spare us! We only followed orders!”

“Please spare us!”

“We had no choice but to obey our commander!”

Hearing their pleas, I shook my head.

“A knight who betrays once has no loyalty left. That is my master’s decision.”

Pa-pa-pak! Pa-pak!

The daggers that shot from my hands pierced the knights’ throats.

It was a brutal sight, yet I did not blink even once.

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