Side Story Chapter 232
Anna’s childhood could be summarized with two words: “escape” and “manipulation”. After being adopted by Draxia bel Grace, the Tragic Prince of the Swallow Empire, she had also been thrown out to Avalon to become the foster daughter of an obscure viscount named Vig in the countryside. She had also attended the Academy, where she had gotten involved with Joshua Sanders. He was monstrously strong—there were and would never be anyone else like him.
Everything in her childhood had happened because of political power struggles. Compared to the scale of a country, she was merely a disposable tool, so she had no choice but to comply. She wasn’t given a choice in the first place—everything had been put into place before she could even think for herself.
Now, she had a chance to throw a punch at the kind of people who’d done that to her—payback for her past. As a matter of fact, one such person happened to be the emperor of Hubalt, so how could she not look forward to completing the mission?
“Stay on guard from now on,” Anna whispered as a gust of wind blew against her and Kireua.
A dark entrance yawned in front of them. Although the entrance was small and could fit only one person at a time, the tunnel looked unfathomably long.
“The Imperial Family of Hubalt isn’t stupid, so they installed two safeguards,” Anna informed Kireua, raising two fingers.
“Magic traps?”
“You’re smart.” Anna stroked Kireua’s head with a smile.
Startled, Kireua immediately stepped backward. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, my... I was so proud of you that I patted your head without thinking.”
“I think you’re forgetting that I’m royalty.”
“Of course you are. I’m sorry. This must be how mothers feel. Hahaha.” Anana giggled.
He was disguised as the Emperor of Avalon right now, so Kireua quickly tidied his hair with a frown.
“But how long are you going to stay in your disguise?” Anna abruptly asked.
“...Why? Do you think you’ll fall for His Majesty too?”
“No way. It’s quite the contrary—I’m still scared of him.” Anna laughed disparagingly.
Kireua’s feet halted right before he entered the tunnel.
“Wait, you don’t want to get revenge...?”
“Revenge? I don’t know what I look like to you, but I gave up on that long ago. That’s why I’m helping you, the son of my enemy.”
“Then what do you mean by ‘scared’?”
Anna shrugged. “I’ve been on the run for around two decades. I heard that even your father was looking for me, so how could I not be scared? He’s the strongest man on the continent.”
Kireua remained silent. He couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of emotional trauma Anna must have gone through.
“Every night, I had nightmares of getting butchered by a red spear. I can still remember it vividly.”
“Does that mean... you don’t have that nightmare anymore?”
Anna smiled softly. “Yes, thanks to someone.”
Kireua heaved a quiet sigh of relief. He was glad to know that Anna and the Emperor of Avalon could clear up their misunderstandings. After all, the Emperor of Avalon hadn’t been searching for Anna to settle an old score either.
“I hope you’ll be happy from now on. Don’t have any nightmares. Leave your past behind and just think about your happiness for the rest of your life. That’s what I want, as your friend...” Kireua’s voice gradually sank down to a whisper as his embarrassment caught up to him.
Anna’s eyes widened and then she beamed at him. “Are you consoling me right now? Wow, it’s an honor to hear that from a prince.”
“J-Just bear with me a little longer. It’s all for our mission.” Kireua marched into the tunnel.
“Slow down!” Anna shouted. “You might step on a pile of poop, you know.”
*
Meanwhile, in the palace’s council chamber—the other end of the secret route—Kurz sat dourly on his throne. The report he was receiving had soured his mood.
“Th-They’ve lost the target.”
Kurz slammed his fist against the armrest of the throne. “They didn’t ‘lose him’, they let him go!”
“F-Fortunately, Joshua Sanders headed out of the city instead of going further into the capital.”
“What do you think about this?” Kurz asked the nobles lined up in the council chamber.
When Kurz’s ire was turned on them, the nobles broke into a cold sweat—but they were even more frustrated than Kurz right now. They had brought their armies, their vassals, and their families into the palace, so their lands were practically empty.
Which gave the enemy free reign to run rampant across Hubalt. If there were an army that was tens of thousands of men strong, the nobles would have just accepted their fates—but the enemy was estimated to be fifty at most. Of course, every one of them would be an elite, but that did nothing to change the fact that the nobles were going to lose their fortunes to a mere fifty people. How could they not feel slighted?
One Count Urme finally worked up the courage to speak.
“Y-Your Majesty, why don’t we just send out our knights and hunt Joshua Sanders down? It’s obvious that he’s going to go join his people.”
Urme was known to be the richest man living near the capital. Most of his assets had been accumulated by sucking the blood from the people in his land. Urme had used loyalty to the throne as a pretext to increase the taxes in his territory to ninety percent. That meant that the people in his lands lost all of their income except for an amount barely sufficient to scrape by on.
Urme had been doing such deeds at every chance he got, so it was no wonder that he was practically swimming in coin. The thought of losing all the money that he had hoarded had haunted Urme’s sleep for days.
“Do all of you think the same?” Kurz asked.
The other nobles eagerly chimed in as if they had been waiting for him to ask.
“I agree with Count Urme, Your Majesty.”
“All else aside, I believe that we can’t let Joshua Sanders go like this. Considering how symbolically important the Martial God is, we’re almost certain to conquer the continent if we succeed.”
“He’s right. Killing Joshua Sanders can only benefit us since no one will be able to stop our grand army.”
After listening to the nobles chatter for a while, Kurz sneered. “Do you even have a way to kill Joshua Sanders?”
Urme immediately took the bait.
“I don’t think even Joshua Sanders will stand a chance if tens of thousands of knights and soldiers attack him at once. He’s still human.”
“Then I’ll give you that army right now. Why don’t you go out and bring Joshua Sanders here, Count Urme?” Kurz scoffed.
Urme fumbled for a reply. It wasn’t just Urme. No one would voluntarily walk to their grave.
“Ahhhhh...!” Kurz’s rage grew as he watched the nobles. “Are all of you fools?! Don’t you understand that’s exactly what he wants us to do!? He’s trying to draw us out of the capital, just like how a million people went all the way over to the Great Plain of Aiyas just to capture him!”
The council chamber was dead silent except for Kurz’s thunderous voice.
“The entire army was wiped out in one go using elementary guerilla tactics—and now? A lot of people still mock both Hubalt and Swallow for failing to take down one man together. Do you seriously want to repeat that?”
“No, Your Majesty!
It was the only answer that the nobles could give right now.
Kurz looked behind him, where a masked person in black clothes was prostrated.
“Number One, you’re the temporary leader of Ardan from now on,” Kurz commanded through gritted teeth.
The masked person’s eyes gleamed for a moment. The numbered agents were the most elite members of Ardan, Hubalt’s spies, but they were still considered disposable. However, Number One had received a chance to rise above that after the former leader had been unexpectedly killed by their target.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Number One answered.
“Mobilize all of Ardan’s available assets to track down Joshua Sanders. Report his location to me as soon as he’d found and come up with a way to stop him. If you succeed, I’ll officially appoint you as the leader.”
“It will be done!”
However, Kurz didn’t think Number One would achieve much. Despite what he had said, Kurz was worried sick by the possibility of Joshua changing course and attacking the palace.
‘Bel, where in the world are you?’ Kurz wondered.
Speak of the devil—Number Two appeared beside Number One and politely held up a crystal ball.
“Your Majesty.”
Perhaps the missing gods had granted Kurz’s wish one last time?
“What is it?” Kurz frowned.
“The call is from the Swallow Empire’s palace.”
Every set of eyes in the council chamber turned toward the crystal ball at the mention of Swallow.
“Wait...” Kurz’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes, they successfully subjugated Thran.”
“That was quick,” Kurz said, surprised. Although he didn’t want to admit it, the Flame Emperor was a force to be reckoned with. That was why Kurz hadn’t paid much attention to Swallow. He could let Thran and Swallow fight each other all they wanted and then Hubalt would step in to crush the now-weakened victor.
“Does that mean that the Flame Emperor lost?” Kurz asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Kurz looked at the shining crystal ball. No doubt the answers to his questions lied on the other side of it, so Kurz gestured at Number Two to accept the call
The crystal ball hummed and projected a familiar figure.
Kurz gasped. “Bel...?”
-Hahaha. It’s good to see you again. How have you been?
“You! What in the world have you been doing—!” Kurz quickly stopped himself. Too many people were around, so Kurz had to refrain from angering Bel. If Bel embarrassed Kurz in front of them, Kurz’s authority would suffer.
“Come back to the palace right now! You’ve been desperate to fight Joshua Sanders, haven’t you? He’s here right now!”
Bel tilted his head in confusion.
-Joshua Sanders is in Hubalt? I highly doubt it.
“What?” Kurz frowned.
-Anyhow, I can’t get to Hubalt right now. I found a new toy.
“What nonsense is that? A toy? Is this war just a game to you?”
Kurz immediately realized that he had allowed his anger to get the better of him. Despite his harsh tone, however, Bel still seemed to be in a pleasant mood.
‘What in the world...?’
-Why did I never think of it before?
“What do you mean?”
-As the Martial Emperor’s heir, I should have foreseen the possibility of the Crimson Sky having an heir.
There was only one man in history who was called the “Crimson Sky”.
Kurz's eyes widened. “Wait, are you talking about Grand Duke Lucifer...?”
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