Chapter 80 - Volume 5 Chapter 9 The Palace at Night

Linus was stunned when he read the report and threw the things that were on his desk at the masked man kneeling in front of him.

“You failed!? And you have the audacity to call yourselves the Darkness!?”

What infuriated him most was that they had left behind evidence that pointed at Linus’s involvement.

He could easily push the blame on the executives of the Clave Company, but Liam would definitely know who the true mastermind was.

The masked man was also restless.

“I believe that our enemies were informed of how we do things. They were proficient in their works, so the people under Liam should be quite the experts.”

An organization equivalent in strength as the current Empire’s Darkness.

Linus felt a shiver run down his spine.

The enemies that he deemed as small fries turned out to be very troublesome opponents, but he was a tad too late in realizing this.

“—Crush Liam in whatever way possible. Cleo can be dealt with any time. However, if we don’t act now, my position can be jeopardized.”

He thought he would be fine against a nobleman who could only be counted as being somewhat powerful.

Until now, that was true.

However, Linus was pushed to a corner when he learned that things were getting out of his control.

It wasn’t the time to be bothered by his competitor, Calvin.

He was sure that the aristocrats in his faction would desert if they were told of what transpired.

The masked man made another report.

“Liam will be visiting the palace to see His Highness Cleo. We don’t have the leeway to hold back anymore. Your Highness, gather your hands. It matter not whether they’re knights or mercenaries.”

Linus was already in a pinch.

Although blatantly conducting an assassination in the palace was indeed aggressive, he wasn’t in a position to choose.

Now that things had progressed until this point, he would not be able to greet tomorrow’s morning without having Liam disappear.

“I’ll convene everybody. Gather all your forces too.”

“Understood!”

In the room where the masked man disappeared, Linus’s expression turned blank from despair.

◇

I’m walking towards the palace to meet with His Highness Cleo.

Even so, the palace is quite large.

In spite of the uproar caused by the assassination attempts, the tranquility here suggests that there was nothing of that sort.

The fact that it’s night may also be playing some part.

Regardless, what a peculiar atmosphere.

I get into a car that is floating on the road and look around.

I sense killing intent.

“To send assassins so openly. Humans. Even if they know that it’s not a wise decision, they will strike when they’re at the edge of a cliff.”

Klaus, who is sitting beside me as my guard, has not noticed their presence.

“What’s wrong, Lord Liam?”

“Hey, stop the car.”

When the driver parks the car, I come out with my escorts in tow.

Kukuri must have noticed already as he and his subordinates appear as I step out of the car.

We’re at a beautifully paved road.

Not only are there trees and street lamps lining up both sides of the road, there are flower beds decorating it as well.

If I am to describe the width of the road with terminologies from my previous life, it would be that the road is wide enough to fit four lanes on one side.

That would be eight lanes total going in either directions.

With no questions asked, a gunshot reverberates through the air instantly as I step out.

I move half a step sideways, and a bullet passes by me before imbedding itself into the ground.

My ears only ring for a while from the loud sound because I have strengthened my entire body.

Klaus hurriedly jumps in front of me.

“Lord Liam, please step back!”

“Don’t worry and focus on protecting yourselves.”

I push Klaus away and step forward as I draw my katana.

Bullets are shot by snipers from different angles, but I cut them down one after another.

Now, this is getting a little interesting.

I’m happy that I can reproduce the scene of an expert slashing apart bullets that I saw in my previous life.

It’s all thanks to this physically enhanced body and the One-Flash technique.

This is child’s play to me.

I speak to Kukuri.

“The snipers are annoying.”

“Acknowledged.”

Some of Kukuri’s subordinates fade into the darkness.

More people are gradually gathering here.

They’re not palace guards who rushed over upon detecting the incident.

Instead, these people are leaking killing intents.

Knights, soldiers, and mercenaries?

The large force surrounds us.

Facing them, Klaus and the remaining guards draw their swords.

“Are you aware of what you guys are doing!?”

The enemies don’t seem keen on talking with us.

They raise their weapons while covering their face.

My guards are trying to advance, but I stop them from doing so.

“Klaus, don’t get in my way. Perfect. Let’s check out what His Highness Linus’s elites are made of.”

I raise my chin slightly at my enemies.

“What? You’re not charging?”

There may be strong ones among them.

Nevertheless, they’re not my match.

As I thought, Linus, who can only gather this many troops, is suitable as my first opponent.

He’s like a mid-boss that appears in the early stages of a game.

They will serve as good experience.

The knights are rushing towards me.

At the same time, the soldiers are about to pull their triggers, so I opt to ridding myself of the nuisance first.

I have not changed my stance, yet in front of me who is displaying a pompous attitude, soldiers are being torn apart and spewing blood.

The mercenaries panic, but the knights yell at them.

“This is his One-Flash! If you want your life, cut him down quic—”

I kill the knight who is blabbering.

His head flies before he even approaches me, but the other knights charge at me, bracing themselves for death.

Your bravery is commendable.

Unfortunately…

“Bravery alone will not save you.”

—I’ll slash them all down.

I might not seem to be moving, but I am in fact slicing the necks of all the knights.

The knights fall powerlessly to the floor.

I warn Klaus who is zoning out.

“Klaus, make sure to at least keep yourself out of danger.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The mercenaries helplessly watch as the knights fall… no, is bounty hunters the more appropriate term?

The bounty hunters tremble at my sight.

“What’s the problem? You guys want my head, no? You won’t be killing anyone if you don’t ready your weapons.”

When I step forward, some of them get frightened and try to escape by throwing away their weapons.

I cut down one of the bounty hunters that show his back.

He’s somewhere my sword shouldn’t be able to reach, but he’s actually within my attack range.

“The moment you pointed your weapons at me, yours and your master’s fates were sealed. What a shame.”

I sheathe my katana in front of the confused crowd of bounty hunters that have their weapons turned towards me.

With clicking sounds, they collapse onto the ground.

To a bystander, what occurred just now would seem unfathomable.

Klaus is also confused.

“Klaus, everything’s over. I’ll be meeting His Highness Cleo through another route. Inform the palace guards about the situation.”

The scene here is terrible.

Klaus shakes his head and returns to his serious face.

“Is our original route too dangerous?”

“There isn’t a reason for us confront them foolheartedly. Besides, I sense something unpleasant.”

Kukuri nears me as I am about to return to the car.

“Lord Liam, there is something I wish to tell you.”

I smile upon hearing Kukuri’s report.

◇

Cleo had escaped to a facility outside of the Inner Palace.

Guards were stationed there, and the location doubled as a shelter in case of an emergency.

Cleo, who had fled to such a facility, was calming himself along with his escorts and Lysithea.

Lysithea let out a sigh.

“I’m glad that Sister Cecilia is absent from the Inner Palace.”

Fortunately, Cecilia, who was not suitable for disputes, had left the Inner Palace for her miai.

Cleo observed the faces of the servants that fled with them.

“Tia, why are some of them missing?”

Tia was armed and was serving as Cleo’s guard, but her voice was dreadfully cold when she addressed the missing servants.

“They came up with excuses to be absent today, as if they were expecting an attack.”

Cleo picked up on what she was hinting at.

“So that’s how it was… Some of them had served me for a long time.”

Foreseeing the attacks – Simply put, they were traitors.

Cleo knew that he couldn’t afford to express anxiety in front of his frightened servants and tried to appear dignified.

Watching his attitude, Tia praised him.

“Outstanding, Your Highness.”

“Aren’t you treating me like a child? That aside, did you contact the Count?”

“Yes. They were ambushed along the way; however, they are heading here without any problem. In five minutes,—”

Tia, who had spoken thus far, took out her rapier and moved to cover Cleo.

The sound of metals clashing was heard, and Tia managed to repel the weapon thrown at them.

Men bathed in the blood of the knights and guards that were protecting this place entered one by one from the entrance.

Lysithea had also taken out her weapon, but she was a beat slower compared to Tia.

“T-they chased us this far?”

Lysithea’s disoriented state was understandable.

On the other hand, their enemies looked to be in the know about everything that was happening.

“The situation inside the court is mysterious and unpredictable — these kinds of events are a daily occurrence.”

The reason behind Lysithea’s confusion was the knight in front of them who she saw often in the palace.

As someone who worked as a knight during normal times, it was unexpected of him to launch this attack.

This man who had thin eyes that made people think his eyes were closed had his eyes opened a little right now.

His eyes were devoid of emotions.

Tia ordered her subordinates to guard Cleo and stood before the man.

Then, she spoke with a voice that was one degree lower than her usual.

“Your owner doesn’t seem to care about the method he uses; neither does he bother to put up pretense.”

Having heard her words, the men laughed in a small voice.

Tia squinted her eyes.

“What’s so funny?”

The thin-eyed man spread his arms out slightly and shrugged.

“No~~thing. We just found out that you are not very familiar with how the court operates. I bet you’ll be shocked if we tell you who our master is.”

With her rapier, Tia stabbed the two knights who were closing the distance at a tremendous speed after appearing from behind the thin-eyed man.

Cleo wasn’t able to react to this exchange.

(Are they veterans?)

Tia was also commendable for defeating such opponents with ease.

The thin-eyed man applauded.

“What a remarkable skill. I’d scout you if I could.”

Tia smirked provocatively.

“You jest. I’ll be slaughtering you all.”

Tia was just about to walk forwards but immediately jumped back the next moment.

Immediately, a sword came crashing down on the spot where Tia was previously.

The man who had swung the sword was 2.5 meters tall.

He had swung down a sword as big as his body and was grinning at Tia’s reflex.

“It has been years since someone last dodged my hit.”

Cleo, recognizing who this person was, opened his eyes wide.

“Why are you…”

Lysithea was also trembling.

“Why is the Sword Saint against us?”

The Sword Saint carried his longsword on his shoulder and turned towards the thin-eyed man.

The thin-eyed man was demonstrating a fearless attitude.

“The Darkness of the Empire is extremely deep. People often stare into the abyss, only to realize that they’re still at the entrance.”

There were multiple Sword Saints in the Empire.

The number of Sword Saints varied depending on the era.

In this generation, there were four people who were bestowed the title of Sword Saint.

Regardless of the school or style, Sword Saints were those that climbed to the peak of swordsmanship.

And one such man was in front of them.

As an enemy, no less.

Tia was also on her guard.

Her relaxed demeanor was nowhere to be found.

The Sword Saint called out to Tia.

“Let me ask again. It would be a pity for a swordswoman like you to perish here. What say you to joining our side?”

Tia snorted.

“I will only ever serve one lord. There’s no way I’d turn coat.”

“Unfortunate. — I wanted to kill you when you were stronger!”

The Sword Saint narrowed the distance between them instantaneously and crossed swords with Tia.

Countless sparks flew in a moment’s notice with Cleo being unable to follow the exchanges between Tia and the Sword Saint.

(Is this how the knights that have reached the summit fight?)

Their movements were so swift that his eyes weren’t able to catch up.

Before he knew, Tia was blown away and crashed into a wall.

The thin-eyed man flattered the Sword Saint.

“As one would expect of a Sword Saint. The title of the present generation’s strongest isn’t for show.”

The Sword Saint frowned at his praise.

“Enough with the compliments. I’ll leave the rest to you. It’s not fun killing the weak.”

Perhaps the Sword Saint was the type that desired to battle against the strong.

He walked towards Tia without batting an eye at Cleo and the others.

Nevertheless, neither Cleo nor Lysithea, who was training to become a knight, was able to budge.

They had been overwhelmed by the display of power.

The thin-eyed man scratched his hairs.

“Then let’s start cleaning up. I don’t want to spend too much time on this, so let’s get this over with. Guys, it’s time to work.”

The thin-eyed man took a glance at his subordinates.

They were frozen in place.

“What’s wrong? Quickly—”

Footsteps were heard from beyond the entrance where the intruders had passed through.

“They can’t work now that they’re dead. Allow them to rest.”

Hearing that voice, Cleo sucked in air

“Count Banfield!”

The figure that emerged from the dark passageway was Liam.

“Is this the party venue?”

When Liam passed by the thin-eyed man’s subordinates, they crumbled down bleeding.

Tia who was stuck to the wall let out a pained-yet-delighted voice.

“Liam… sa…ma.”

Liam first looked at Tia and then at the Sword Saint.

“I had anticipated meeting the Sword Saint. Hey—hand over your title.”

Liam sold a fight to the Sword Saint as if he was challenging someone in a game.