CH 204

Some nobles took advantage of Raidorl’s absence to raise an army.

The leading figure in the rebellion is Count Irudo Rewir, who has a domain to the north of the royal capital.

Rewir raised his fist high in the air to the people gathered in the town square.

“Now is the time for us to regain our honour!　We will defeat the Pretender, Raidorl, and bring back His Majesty Granard from captivity!”

“「「「「「Oooooooooooo!」」」」」”

At the words of the ringleader of the rebellion the assembled people raise their weapons to the heavens.

The people are gathered in a provincial city north of the royal capital. The city, which has been ruled by the Counts Rewir for generations, fortunately suffered relatively little damage from the recent earthquake, and many parts of its buildings and walls have not collapsed.

This is why they were able to gather soldiers and rise up in the midst of the chaos caused by the earthquake throughout the kingdom.

A blond man in his late 30s or so, standing in front of the soldiers gathered in the square and addressing them. Irudo Rewir was a man who succeeded the Count  of Reweil title only a few months earlier .

The previous head of the family gave up his own title and went into hiding after the purge of the nobility carried out by Raidorl. The former Earl of Rewir escaped punishment because he had not committed any major wrongdoing, but he was scared by witnessing the purges of so many nobles that he fled his position as a nobleman.

He left everything else to his own son and he fell into a graceful retired life but the son caused the most outrageous incident.

“The Pretender, Raidorl, has imprisoned His Majesty King Granard and is playing with the country at will as Regent!　This has led to the deaths of many innocent noblemen and brought chaos to the people!　The previous earthquake must have been a judgement from heaven on that foolish king!　Now is the time to overthrow the Pretender and bring peace to the Kingdom of Zain!”

“「「「「「Oooooooooooo!」」」」」”

Rewir stands in front of the people and makes a speech. Surprisingly, not many people supported the man.

Most of the people present were survivors or vassals of noble families whose titles had been taken away in the purge carried out by Raidorl and the residents of the surrounding towns who had been eaten alive by the damage caused by the earthquake.

The reforms carried out by Raidorl had disposed of most of the aristocracy that had been involved in corruption. Those who had committed serious injustices were executed, and even minor ones had their titles and domain confiscated.

This led to the abolition of the noble families that had undermined the royalty. Those who had escaped punishment had developed a grudge against the Raidorl and were looking for an opportunity to take revenge.

As for the victims of the earthquake. They’ve been fed the rumour that the earthquake was caused by Raidorl.

Not all of them seriously believe that the earthquake was brought about by divine punishment. However, people who are suffering from hunger and poverty are inclined to put their trust in things that would be impossible in normal times.

It is for the same reason that new religions are born in times of war and turmoil, bringing chaos to the world.

For them, it does not matter whether the words spoken by Count Rewir are true or not. As long as there is an object to cling to, something to vent their resentment and frustration, it doesn’t matter what it is.

Distorted herd mentality. They want to blame someone else for the misery they are facing. They don’t want to admit it. The sharing of such feelings of melancholy by a large number of people has led them to blindly believe that the wrong direction is righteous.

“We will now invade the capital, and we will make a blood sacrifice of Sven Arbeil, the Pretender’s lackey! Then rescue His Majesty King Granard and His Royal Highness the crown prince Strauss, who are trapped in the royal palace!”

“Oooou!”

“I’ll do it! Take the money, take the food!”

“Death to false heroes!　Bring this foolish tyrant to justice!”

“We must rescue King Granard!　Death to the usurper!”

In some ways, the man…..Irudo Rewir is a brilliant man. At the very least, he possessed the qualities of an agitator demagogue who incited popular discontent to fight.

If he had not used his talents in the wrong direction, he could have achieved a high position as a cornerstone of power. He could have risen to one of Raidorl’s inner circles.

“Defeat the Pretender, Raidorl! We will restore peace to the Kingdom of Zain by our own hand!”

However, …..Rewir did not recognise Raidorl as the new ruler and chose to antagonise him. This would largely determine this man’s fate.

‘Kukku….. How easy it is to deal with foolish people! they’re just pawns in a game.’

Looking down at the heated up people, Rewir chuckled inwardly.

For him, the people who had gathered for his speech were neither his friends nor his subordinates. They were a wall of flesh – a ‘dead soldier’ – to keep the main force from being depleted.

From now on, Rewirl will drive the people as soldiers towards the royal capital. He does not expect they will be able to do much. It would have been enough if they could have reduced the number of knights and soldiers who stayed behind, even if only slightly.

‘The owner of the Holy Sword, Raidorl Zain, is on an expedition to the west. The royal city is defended by a small boy called Sven with a few soldiers. My army is not strong enough, but if I can get his elite to the point where they are exhausted by hitting this stupid people, it won’t be hard to bring down the capital!　Now all I need to do is to consolidate the centre with the other nobles who have been hiding out in fear of Raidorl, and we will no longer be defeated!’

Rewir’s strength analysis is not so far off the mark.

The number of soldiers directly under his command is two thousand. The people gathered around him are three thousand. Considering that the number of soldiers in the detachment protecting the royal city is less than one thousand or so, the odds are in his favour.

Raidorl’s main forces have their hands full with the undead. The knights have scattered around the country to clean up after the disaster and could also be defeated individually if the forces of the nobles dissatisfied with Raidorl are brought together.

If there is a miscalculation, it is that Rewir is unaware of the Holy Sword power.

Rewir underestimated the abilities of the holder of the Holy Sword. No matter how strong they are, they are still just individuals. He thought that if he crushed them by sheer force of numbers, that would be all.

He had heard stories about how Raidorl had blown up a large number of soldiers at Fort Blaine with a single blow, but he did not care since he assumed it was an overexaggerated rumour.

If he had seen the battles of the sword-bearers with his own eyes even once, he would not have raised his army so carelessly.

And most importantly, the biggest miscalculation was that he underestimated the presence of the fearsome guardian protecting Sven Arbeil.

[He is just a child who has earned his place through the prestige of the Count of Arbeil’s family.] Sven, who had been treated lightly in this way, was protected by a fearsome demoness who constantly stayed next to him.

Angelica Ilkas.

Rewir was still unaware that the fangs of the angry demon-goddess known as the 『Slaughter Princess of Ilkas』 was closing in on him.