This Is How You Make Friends? (3)

- - Queen Serena POV - -

"Would you like to meet with the Aquitania emissary in person? The alliance is a matter of state, but a meeting would not be a problem. I'm sure he'll be able to tell you much more about Aquitania than I can."

"Really?! Then I'll tell His Majesty about it. If he meets with His Majesty, something might change. Maybe he'll change his mind about the alliance..."

Dofle laughed inwardly when he saw Serena smiling brightly.

This was the daughter who had been locked up in the birdcage.

He had always felt bad for her, but seeing her so happy, Dofle decided that he would do whatever he could to let her see him.

He knew that meeting the envoy with the king would not change anything, but if it would make his daughter happy, it would be worth it.

***

- Back to the present -

 - - Julius POV - -

Kashak swung his sword.

Serena closed her eyes as she saw the sword blade flash.

She knew that this was her end, but it was gloomy.

It was her fate to die like this.

At that moment, she gave up on everything.

A strange thing happened as Julius, who had been cowering, suddenly blocked Kashak's sword.

The royal palace, where you cannot enter without returning your weapon, was completely irrelevant to Julius, who possessed the summoned item, Heavenly Demon Rain, as the blade magically appeared in his hands.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Julius had rescued Queen Serena.

Kashak's men jumped on Julius in a panic, but they were no match for him.

There was no one in Carthage who could match Julius's brute force with his perk blade, at least not here, unless they had enough numbers to overwhelm him, or the ability to carry don't the fight till the skill ended.

Kashak's men were all hit by Julius's [Attack] command and rolled on the ground, dead from various wounds.

"Watch your back!"

Serena shouted strongly, looking at Julius with a shocked expression, because behind him was Kashak.

With that, she ran to the king, because she had to defend the king first.

The king's blood pressure rose in anger, and he fell down, coughing violently, his face red.

He had received a psychological shock.

It seemed impossible for him to even get up on his own.

Serena supported the king.

"Your Majesty, we need to get out of here."

"Yes, that's right. Let's get out of here now."

The king nodded and agreed to Serena's words, he had no intention of dying.

"Your Royal Highness, that won't be necessary. The palace is here, and everything is fine. Where do you think you're going?"

Julius said, not paying any attention to Kashak behind him.

"Aquitania's vassal. You said your name was Haddin. Were you pretending to be weak on purpose?"

Kashak was more than a little perplexed by the fact that he had killed Nelchin with a single blow.

Even he was not confident that he could defeat Nelchin with a single blow.

Kashak pointed his sword at Julius with a look of bitterness on his face at the completely unexpected turn of events but Julius had no intention of exchanging words with Kashak.

"As I am now yes I am still weak but, You don't need to know that. You're going to die here."

I'll get rid of the ones that need to be taken care of.

This is why he swung his blade at Kashak but Kashak stopped Julius's attack.

No, it looked like he stopped him, but Heavenly Demon Rain's continuous attacks were really fast and sharp.

The 92 power level Kashak who could not use mana was like a child in front of Julius, who used his skill blade.

The outcome of the battle had already been decided.

In the blink of an eye, the pitch black blade had decapitated Kashak in a leisurely, circular motion.

The severed head of Kashak fell to the ground in the palace and rolled around.

"Are you hurt?"

Julius asked, shifting his gaze from the rolling head to the king and Serena.

The King of Carthage nodded as he looked at Julius.

Serena propped the king up and sat him down in a chair.

"I am in your debt, Aquitania's emissary!"

"We cannot rest yet. There must have been others who sympathized with them. The rebellion was not planned in a day or two. And surely these can't be the whole sum of the rebels."

"What?"

"Your Majesty!"

The king was so surprised that he coughed violently.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it for you."

Julius calmly picked up Kashak's head and walked out with it, planting it on the tip of a fallen guards blade before holding it aloft as if he were walking sporting a flag walking proudly as his did.

As he had expected, the palace was in chaos, the soldiers that Kashak had sent to guard the palace gates were opening the gates, and at the same time, Kashak's soldiers were fighting a fierce battle with the Royal guards.

In fact, the rebellion was on its way to success.

If the king and Chesedin had been killed here and Kashak himself had led that army, the result would have been clear, even though the Royal Guard were outnumbered.

The rebels led by Kashak would have eliminated the Royal Guard in the blink of an eye and taken over the palace, but without Kashak, it was a pointless rebellion.

Julius shouted out drawing their collective attention and threw Kashak's head in front of the rebels, who had temporarily ceased fighting.

"The leader of the rebellion has been decapitated. What are you doing? Royal guards, dispose of the rebels who've lost their leader!"

The rebel soldiers froze when they saw Kashak's head.

The Royal Guards were puzzled by Julius's order as they didn't know who the hell he was, but began to rush towards the rebels with renewed vigor.

They of course did not have to follow his orders as he was a foreigner, but the momentum of Julius, who was only a person from another country, pushed them to follow his orders after being the sole detractor who'd shaken the rebels by disposing of their greatest warrior and leader.

Julius smiled inwardly as he watched them.

Destroying this rebellion was a necessary action before the founding of Aquitania's new nation that was his reason for visiting Carthage under the guise of an alliance.

The timing of the visit was not difficult to set, since he knew roughly when the rebellion would take place.

Of course, Julius did not expect this to happen during his audience with the king and queen.

It was surprising that such an audience had even been separately arranged.

All he knew was that there would be a coup d'etat while he was in the palace, and he was going to make his move then.

The rebellion was stopped but it didn't matter if he stopped it when the king was dead.

It was just a matter of preventing the coup from happening to completion.

There were A-grade warriors in Carthage, but no S-grade.

There were only five S-class warriors on the continent thus far, and Carthage did not have one.

Although there was an unexpected development and history changed, as a result of Julius's arrival, there was still no special change in the Carthage.

Instead of doing a poor job of assassination, he had killed someone who could have brought Aquitania into the war openly and there were no consequences only benefits.

***

- - Count Dolfe POV - -

When Dofle heard the news of the rebellion, he rushed breathlessly to the royal palace.

He was covered in sweat so it could be seen how desperately he had run.

The king was in a bad state and Serena, who had been nursing him, came out of the king's bedroom and greeted Dofle.

"Serena! You're safe!"

He was so surprised that he forgot to call her "Your Highness" and shouted as if he were calling his daughter before she entered the palace and came right in front of Serena.

Serena nodded rather calmly.

"I'm fine."

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

"I hope so."

After confirming that she was not hurt, he finally let out a sigh of relief and sat down at the table.

The pair began discussing recent events at length

"I didn't know Kashak was a rebel... and the leader at that."

"That surprised me, too, Father."

Serena sat down next to Dofle and began to talk about the tense moment.

The more Dofle listened to Serena's story, the paler he became, because she had just returned from the brink of death.

"If it weren't for Aquitania's emissary, I'd never have seen my daughter again..."

"Oh, father. You see, I'm still alive."

"Ha ha ha."

Dofle smiled and shook his head as he sighed.

"But it was good. I'm really glad..."

"What kind of person is the envoy? I've never even spoken to him, and now this has happened...He saved my life and yours..."

"So he killed Kashak?"

"Yes, it didn't take very long. I think the fight was already decided before they even faced each other."

Serena calmly explained, recalling the situation as it happened.

The more she did so, the more Dofle realized how strong his daughter's spirit was.

How could she remember everything that had happened in such an urgent moment?

It was the kind of situation that would make a normal person freeze in surprise.

"He was such a great man. I had thought that he lacked spirit for a vassal of Aquitania, but I didn't expect such a development. I guess I'd better see him again."

"Father, we're indebted to that man and Aquitania."

"That's true. What do you think about the envoy? I want to hear what you think of him, regardless of the fact that he helped you."

Serena answered Dofle's question immediately, without thinking because she already had an answer.

"He is strong."

It was an answer he hadn't expected but Dofle nodded his head.

Then Serena smiled again.

"I'm not talking about physique."

Serena waved her hand in denial, then returned to her serious expression and opened her mouth again.

"He didn't just slay the enemy and stop there, he immediately read the situation and moved on. In no time at all, he started commanding the Royal Guard like they were his subordinates, and the Guards had no choice but to follow him. As a result, the remnants of the rebels were overpowered in an instant."

"So that's how it happened..."

He had never heard his own daughter praise anyone so much.

"Father, I have no intention of interfering in the affairs of state. I am in no position to do so. But at least I can trust Aquitania's ability to save our lives. There is absolutely no harm in forming an alliance with them. Please convince the nobles once again!"

"That's...something I'll do my best to do."

Dofle nodded, but he wasn't sure if the other nobles would listen to him, depending on how many still lived after this failed coup.

It was more important to them that their chosen successor would be the next king than to talk about an unprofitable alliance.

"I'd love to see you again. I have so much to tell you, Father."

Serena asked Dofle once again with longing eyes.

Naturally, Count Dofle could not refuse the request of his daughter who had sacrificed herself because of him.

When he left the queen's palace, he punched himself in the cheek when he realized that he had been treating Serena as a daughter and not as a queen.