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The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (153)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

51 A New Phase (3)

The capital’s long and chaotic night had finally passed.

Traces of their desperate struggle were visible as the light of day shone down on the streets that were once covered with darkness.

Dead bodies, whether it was humans, the undead or the terrible experiments, littered the streets of the Empire. However, amazingly enough, the damage that the ordinary citizens, and not the soldiers, had received was far less than what they had expected.

The royal road, the road from the main gate to the Imperial Palace, was devastated but the other places did not suffer that much damage. It was as if their enemies’ goal was just the Imperial Palace since the only places that suffered severe damages were the areas in the vicinity of the palace. 

The streets where the nobles and merchants stayed were close to the Imperial Palace, so the damage that they had received was quite large. However, the streets where the ordinary people and the slums where were safe enough to the point that they did not see a single Death Corps during that chaotic time. 

“Hurry! Move quickly!”

“Let’s first look for survivors!”

The people moved urgently after the war in the capital had ended. 

The Death Corps, with their huge numbers, had only lost its commander and did not disappear. In fact, the loss of their leader resulted in their loss in control making them more dangerous as they ran wildly.

Fortunately, most of the Death Soldiers in the capital had already been dealt with. All that remained were those outside. However, the citizens of the capital did not need to pay attention to them. 

“You’ll be my first kill!” 

“The core! Secure those first! The alchemists are going crazy since it’s useful!” 

“Kill it and make sure that the black armor does not break as much as possible!” 

“All of these are money!” 

The humans outside of the walls of the palace were clamoring and trying to get ahead of one another in killing the Death Corps. They were only able to do this thanks to the other-worlders and the chosen ones coming forward to organize the enemies outside the walls. Now that the Central War was over, they were actively trying to wipe out the remaining troops to receive greater titles and more achievements. That was the reason why they did not need to pay much attention to the situation outside of the walls.

The capital had finally regained peace after the fierce battle between the Death Corps and the coalition of the other-worlders and the chosen ones ended outside the palace walls. The troops were still on high alert. But, at the very least, the Imperial public were able to have a brief respite from the constant fear and anxiety during the war. 

While the people of the Empire were gradually regaining their peace and tranquility, the person, who made the greatest contribution in regaining their peace, still laid prone and unconscious in one corner of the almost devastated and broken Imperial Palace. 

“Uhm…” 

Crimson spoke up with a chuckle when he saw Iron waking up while holding his tingling head. 

“You woke up earlier this time.” 

“…Commander.” 

Iron smiled happily when he saw Crimson near him.

“We won.” 

Crimson also smiled and nodded his head in agreement. 

“It’s all thanks to you.” 

Iron felt a bit shy and embarrassed when he heard Crimson’s words. Then, he saw the white light from the open door. Crimson quietly opened his mouth after immediately noticing where Iron was gazing at. 

“Unfortunately, the white crystal that you protected will break soon.” 

Iron’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Did I…?” 

“No. You protected it well. But… Although it was just for a moment, being contaminated by the Death Lord, in a situation where it was already at its limits, had been a huge burden to the crystal.” 

“Ah…” 

Crimson explained everything in detail. It seemed like he expected Iron’s curiosity towards the matter. 

In the first place, the white crystal’s durability had already reached its limits.

They were able to learn about the information and the rough situation from the Emperor’s surviving secret guards.

From what they said, the recent research and the severe corruption began because they had expected that the white crystal would not last long. They had conducted countless experiments fearing what would happen once the white crystal, the crystal that protected the Empire and the continent, broke down. In fact, they had sacrificed their blood and soul to gradually increase the durability of the crystal.

“In the end…” 

“…That’s right. The cause of everything is the Imperial Family.” 

Crimson spoke bitterly. 

The Imperial Family had made a lot of sacrifices to protect the white crystal that guarded the Empire. However, it seemed like it had gone murky after being stained in the process so the devils and the corrupt and fallen gods were able to interfere with the continent. 

‘Did the God Game begin because of this restriction?’ 

It seemed like God had predicted that this would happen so he called him and the other other-worlders to this place to create a huge continental-scale battlefield. All of these were prepared just so the continent would not fall. 

From God’s perspective, it did not matter how much of mankind died. The most important thing to them was maintaining their hold on this continent and world and never letting it get to the hands of the external gods. 

In order for them to not give any room for mistakes, they forced the Imperial Family to make a noble sacrifice. However, as long as these people remained human, they would never be able to work impeccably and purely for God’s sake. They were bound to fall to corruption before being forced to collapse and face destruction. Which was what happened to the Imperial Family of today. 

‘What a brutal and horrendous truth.’ 

Iron sighed. 

This was a misfortune brought about by the difference in thought process between the humans and the gods. And this was their current situation. 

For those who believed in God, this situation would have stemmed from God’s order. But for those loyal to the Imperial Family, this situation was brought about by their loyalty towards the Empire. And for those who knew the truth, the cause of everything was their sacrifice to protect this white crystal. 

Faced with this terrible truth, all Iron could do was look out of the door with a heavy sigh. Crimson’s expression was also a bit suffocated as he stared at the bright light. 

They might have postponed the scheduled outcome but the result was this half-devastated Imperial Palace, the very same Imperial Palace that boasted hundreds of years of history. 

Both Crimson and Iron’s expressions were complicated as they looked at the scene. 

However, in the end, the Imperial Palace was still protected. And they still had to move busily. 

Huge supplies from all over the Empire flew in after they heard the news that the capital had collapsed. And since the Death Corps was still not yet completely dealt with, countless airships flew to the capital carrying supplies and troops accompanied by the drake units. 

“It… It’s really true!” 

A man came out and looked at the monster. This was the being who was once a part of the Imperial Family. However, right now, it was only a hideous body that died from a Death Corps’ weapon’s stab. 

People from the Center and other regions of the Empire were shocked to see the capital when they rushed over to send support after hearing the news about the capital. This was because the current scene had proved that all of the things that they had seen from the videos that had been spread all over the capital through the video zones were real. 

“Everyone, back off!” 

The soldiers stopped them when the people began to flock and whisper. Even the reporters that tried to capture the terrible scene with their video tools had been stopped. Covering it up right now might not be effective but some of these bodies were the soldiers, who died stopping their enemies until the very end, so they wanted to stop them for their honor. The reporters protested fiercely at first but they ended up quietly accepting the order and stepping back when they saw the soldiers’ dead bodies. 

The once majestic royal road was restored to its previous state thanks to the efforts of the soldiers and the people who erased the traces that the battles had left behind.

Their biggest problem was the Imperial Palace. The place where the audience hall was located had completely disappeared. Most  of the buildings were also destroyed after being engulfed by the blood storm. In short, it was difficult to find an intact building inside the gates of the Imperial Palace.

Thankfully, the old Hall of Glory had survived and was maintained at its best condition so they were able to use this building for the government to begin the restoration of the Imperial Palace. 

While the Imperial Palace was busy with its restoration, the situation in the capital was gradually turning complicated. 

The nobles in the capital had been killed by the Death Corps, so most of the nobles in the provinces had rushed to the capital. 

‘This is our chance!’ 

This was what the local nobles had thought as they rushed towards the capital. 

Now that many of the Central nobles had died together with the Emperor, the power structure would definitely be reorganized. And if they stepped forward during this process, they might become one of the prestigious families over the years to come. With such hopes and dreams, they headlessly rushed to the capital. Even the other-worlders had begun to work behind the scenes to receive the status of a noble in the Empire. 

With everyone flocking towards the capital to enter the Imperial Palace, the core of the Imperial forces and their power reorganization had also flocked to the capital one after the other. 

“His Highness, the 4th prince? Amazing.”

The 4th Prince, who appeared together with a huge number of provincial nobles, looked imposing. No one could stop the 4th Prince from entering the Imperial Palace with those nobles behind him. 

Even the other princes, who had never shown themselves before, had appeared. 

The first to appear was the 2nd Prince. He appeared with a group of forces that looked comparably weaker to the group that the 4th Prince had brought over. In fact, he was only accompanied by barons and baronnettes and some provincial unknown knights. However, when some people recognized their faces, their evaluation completely changed. They were the people who dominated the underworld*. And the 2nd Prince was the one leading them. 

Then, there was the 3rd Prince. He was also quite formidable. He had returned to the capital with the Southern Kingdom’s major nobles and even brought the aristocrats from the small country, an island nation beyond the sea. 

Those who saw them realized how formidable they were despite being quiet for all those years. 

On the other hand, there was no news of the Crown Prince.

“Didn’t he run away?”

“Maybe he got killed by the Death Corps?”

Rumors spread wildly as speculations about the Crown Prince’s whereabouts ran rampant among the people.

But then, something unexpected happened outside of the Empire. 

The attack coming from the dimensional gate that opened in the South had changed courses and was now targeting the Southern Kingdoms. Even the birdmen in the West had turned towards the Western Kingdoms. Because of that, the other kingdoms present in the continent were like ants being fried on the pan. All of them moved quickly and asked for support from the countries that were allied with them. 

Thanks to that, the Empire was able to restore their collapsed system while quietly recovering from the damage. 

And all of the nobles had gathered together to try and take the most important center stage.

The reason they had gathered was simple.

‘The Emperor’s Funeral’. 

With this simple but definitive reason given to the nobles, all of them had flocked towards the Imperial Palace’s vacant lot that had buildings temporarily built surrounding the old Hall of Glory. There were a lot of the nobles and aristocrats to the point that the vacant lot looked like it would burst from the seams.

The three members of the Imperial Family stood at the center of the Hall of Glory. They were followed by the Imperial Masters. Originally, the Central nobles should also be present but the other nobles dared not step up. With the current situation, they would definitely be immediately purged by the masters if they act greedy. 

With all of the secrets of the Empire out in the open, it was only thanks to the efforts of these masters and the family head of the two most prestigious families that the Empire was not dismantled and brought to safety. 

They were the masters who supported the Empire. And for the first time, they became the core of the power of the Empire.

However, among these masters stood a young man. The young man looked like he did not belong there. This young man was the North’s Hero. The general who became the Empire’s Hero here in the capital and its disastrous situation. 

Some people thought like this…

‘No matter how much of a hero he is, he shouldn’t be standing with the masters.’

‘How dare you stand with the commanders of the army with just your measly brigadier general rank?! How arrogant!”

However, none of these words came out of their mouths. This was because of a video that had been released before they came here. 

The video was the video of all the masters of the Empire paying their respects to the Empire’s Hero standing in front of the white crystal after the blood storm was purged. Their first salute was for the hero. And their second salute was to acknowledge the birth of a new master. 

This was the reason why everyone present had kept their mouths shut. This was so they could avoid the ire of the beings that would become the Empire’s core in the future. 

While the nobles were busy fighting a battle of wits and seats so they could approach them just a tad bit closer, the light of dawn finally shone on them which signaled the beginning of the Emperor’s funeral. 

“First…”

“Not yet. There’s still one more person to arrive.”

The archbishop stopped when Commander Leopold spoke up. Even the other princes couldn’t help but tilt their heads in confusion. 

“Who’s coming?”

Leopold looked to one side silently after hearing the 4th Prince’s question. 

There, they saw a man walking from afar. The man was walking leisurely among the nobles who parted and paved the way. None of them dared to stop this man from going forward. 

“How dare you come here…”

The 4th Prince looked at the man that was calmly walking to the front with anger. 

He hid. He died. He fled to another country.

The Crown Prince, the center of these rumors, had appeared. 

“You trash! Where did you hide while His Majesty was being killed?!”

The 3rd Prince spoke quietly after the 4th Prince’s outburst. 

“But, you’re no different?”

The 4th Prince gritted his teeth after hearing the words of the 3rd Prince. 

“I led the provincial nobles’ troops to help the capital!”

The 3rd Prince snorted at the 4th Prince’s retort. 

There weren’t even rumors that the 4th Prince had made contributions in the provinces. 

The 3rd Prince rallied the support forces from the other countries and came to the Empire through the South to send help. Even though they were late, the rumors still spread. That was the reason why the 3rd Prince’s reputation was soaring in the capital. 

On the other hand, the 2nd Prince had gathered the people from the underworld as he made a huge contribution in the West. Thanks to this, public opinion about the 2nd Prince was quite favorable in some parts of the West. 

Compared to the two, the 4th Prince, who was showing great momentum earlier, was now in a crisis after not being able to show anything. 

In the first place, the nobles were people who could only unite under the banner of mutual benefits. If they failed to overcome this crisis, they would be the ones who were too far removed from the Empire’s power structure. 

Then, the 2nd Prince stared at the Crown Prince.

“Where were you hiding?”

“He wasn’t hiding.”

The one to answer the 2nd Prince’s question was not the Crown Prince but Commander Leopold. The princes couldn’t help but tilt their heads at him.

“Then…”

“By the orders of His Majesty, the Emperor, he guarded the Crown and the Imperial Seal in the Emperor’s secret office.”

Leopold’s words brought silence in the Hall of Glory. 

***

Notes

*underworld – The underworld here refers to the crime syndicate. Basically the mafia.

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