CH 120

The white blade of madness

Translated by SoundDestiny

Edited by Zil

“Your Majesty? What are you doing here?…… No, more importantly, that sword is……”

“Kuku… ‘m the master of this castle, and I am the first to ask you questions. You’re an outsider, aren’t you?? It’s unexpected, with my Prime Minister in such a state, it is only natural that this country should be in disorder.” 

“Your Majesty. You are ……!”

Lockwood’s shoulders shake with a violent chill as the king smiles at him like a madman.

The Granard in front of him is clearly out of his mind. Since Raidorl’s return to the capital from the frontier, Granard has been in a constant state of emotional instability.

But even with that in mind, the current Granard is out of control. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was contorted like a demon’s, as if he had been possessed by it.

The same feeling of abnormality was felt by Shanoar. Rising from her chair, the queen cradled herself in her arms and whitened her lips at the headless body of a soldier lying on the floor.

“Ga-ranard. I don’t believe you’re……this soldier, why on earth are you ……?”

“Hmm?　This man has interrupted me, the king, to inquire about my visit!　This is my country. My castle. I can enter whenever I want” 

“You can’t possibly……h-h-how dare you?”

“How dare I? How dare you interrupt me, the king?” 

“Kahwa ……!!?”

Granard approaches Shanoar without hesitation and strangles her. He lifts the dressed body lightly and hangs it in the air.

“Ghhh..aaa”

“What were you doing here, Queen? Have you really been having an affair with the Prime Minister?”

“N-no..”

“No, please! Your Majesty, Granard!”

Seeing Shanoar’s face turn white due to lacking oxygen, Lockwood hurriedly raised his voice.

“We were just discussing the future of this country! His Majesty has locked himself up in his room, and we have only been working together to find a way out of this national crisis!　There is no such thing as infidelity……”

“What? So you think it’s my fault?　Do you mean to say that it is my fault that I have neglected my duties as king! How rude!”

Granard shouts like he’s having a tantrum. He threw Shanoar’s body against the wall and swung the sword in his right hand sideways. The white blade gushed out to cut the room in half, and a brilliant beam of light shot out from its tip.

The white laser passed right by Lockwood and smashed through the wall of the room with ease. Even after breaking the wall, the laser was still going strong, penetrating even the clouds in the night sky.

“It’s ……what power!”

Lockwood, nearly pierced by the laser, opens his eyes in astonishment and looks at Granard’s right hand. In his hand is a sword that shines with a strange light. It’s the kind of material that is both divine and terrifying at the same time.

“This is my holy sword, Brionac!　It is a sword fit for me, king of Zain, and eventually king of the world!”

(TL:ブリューナク ) 

“A holy sword? Impossible” 

The Kingdom of Zain possesses only one holy sword, the Dáinsleif. It’s also the one that Raidorl has been chosen to hold.

Lockwood suspects that it is a fake, but indeed the sword in Granard’s hand shines with a divine light. It is a sword that is far more like a holy sword than the Dáinsleif, which is covered with a noxious miasma.

“Why, where did you get that?”

“The goddess. A goddess has come down to us.”

“Goddess?”

“I am the king of this land. I am not Raidorl, I am the true hero chosen by the goddess ……!”

“……….”

“Not good enough., I don’t understand you…”

Lockwood groans in his mind, desperately trying to find a way out of this.

In the past, it would have been easy to raise his hands and rejoice because the king he served has been chosen for the holy sword. But with Granard’s current state of affairs, he couldn’t afford to be complacent.

Putting the Holy Sword in the hands of an insane madman is like giving a Molotov cocktail to an infant. No one knows what he will do.

Lockwood was prepared to go down with Granard, but he could not accept the idea of being murdered by a frenzied king who did not know what he was doing.

How did Granard lose his mind like this? 

Where did he get the sword that he calls the Holy Sword? 

Lockwood has to get out of here to find out what’s going on.

“From the looks of His Majesty, there is a mastermind behind this heinous crime……!” 

The purpose of the mastermind is unclear, but under the circumstances, giving Granard a weapon similar to the holy sword would only serve to plunge the kingdom of Zain into chaos.

There are enemies in this country. It’s not just the Empire, it’s a much more foreign and unpredictable enemy.

“Your Excellency! Are you safe?”

Hearing the commotion, the palace guards stormed into the office.

They looked at the Prime Minister, the Queen and the broken wall in turn, and then at Granard, who was standing with his sword, pointing their spear at him.

“You crook!…… How dare you disrespect the Prime Minister! Put down your weapons!”

“A crook…? To whom are you talking?”

“You … no, you really are …!?”

The soldiers seemed to have realised that the crook who had attacked the Prime Minister was the king they were serving. They shook the tip of their spear, their eyes black with agitation. They should have immediately lowered their weapon and prostrated, apologising for their rudeness, but the apparent change in Granard’s appearance confused them and they froze.

As a result, the soldiers were left with their weapons at their sides, and Granard’s face twisted with rage.

“How dare the soldiers of this kingdom take up arms against their own king? Fools and traitors!”

“Gah!!?”

Granard swung his sword in anger. In a flash of white light, the guards of the palace are slashed to pieces.

Granard kicked at the remains of a soldier who had been cut in two, armour and all.

“Do you defy me too?　You have a king, a lord, and you sided with Raidorl?　Fuck!　Damn you! Damn you! It is because of you, my loyal subjects, that the Empire scorns me!”

The soldier has already become a mute wreck, but Granard just keeps on kicking him. The blood spattered from the mangled corpse stained the hem of his trousers, but he didn’t care, he kept stomping on it.

“This! This! ThisssssssAAAAaaaaahHHHHH!!!!!!”

After stomping on the soldier dozens of times, Granard finally had enough and breathed, his shoulders rising and falling.

He looks back at the Prime Minister with a smile on his face and a sense of satisfaction that he has killed another disloyal man who has wronged the kingdom.

“Hm?”

But Lockwood was no longer there. Shanoar, who had fallen against the wall, had also disappeared with him.

“Where did you go? You’re leaving me, the king…… you’re leaving me too! Are you going to betray me and go to Raidorl? U…giiiiiii…AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahHH” 

Granard’s roar of rage echoes through the air.

From the heart of the palace, a mad voice roared like the cry of a monster in the darkness of the capital.