chapter 31

The knight commanders' faces suddenly lost all their blood and they trembled. Their eyes, filled with astonishment, were fixed on me.

To that extent, it was within the expected range of reactions. It was enough that he didn't try to kill me right away, saying, "Are you crazy for lying to the Emperor?"

"You, newbie… … really… … ."

"Oh, don't misunderstand, Iris. It's not like I harbored any feelings for His Majesty the Emperor or anything. This was the only way to deal with him without any repercussions."

Iris didn't say anything, perhaps because she hadn't completely recovered from the shock. However, her eyes were sending me a silent gaze that seemed to indicate that she wanted to hear the reason, so I continued.

"As you all know, he is of royal descent. Of course, he is a man who would not even turn his head in the direction of the throne, but even if he is far from the throne, the mere fact that he has royal blood flowing through his veins gives him power greater than that of an average noble. If you want to deal with such a man without any trouble, it would take more than just a simple method, right? That is why I dealt with him in a very unusual way."

"...."

They probably know better than anyone that the former lord is not a man who will die gracefully. Because he threw a tantrum while being exiled, he was dragged down from the palace knights to this remote territory.

I guess they must have guessed that they would have to use really extreme methods to deal with such a person without any trouble. However, the method I used was much more extreme than they had expected.

Making the devil take interest in him, stripping him of all his rights, and then having the Emperor deal with him personally. Who would have dared imagine such a method?

"I didn't tell any particularly dangerous lies. The only lie Aurora told me was that I approached the lord to discuss how to deal with the book I found by chance."

"The weight of the lie is not important. The fact that you lied to His Majesty is important. And what if the truth is discovered? What if the truth is discovered that you brought in the devil to harm the royal family from the beginning? What would you do if you did something like this?"

"No. Even if I get caught, it won't be a problem."

Aurora, who had been watching the situation, suddenly intervened. Iris looked at Aurora with eyes that said, "Isn't that a problem?"

"His Majesty the Emperor, my aunt, didn't like that piglet very much either. He deliberately left him alone because he thought his position would be strengthened the more he behaved. He dealt with that kind of person without any trouble, and the noble factions that he was friendly with now had an excuse to pressure him, so there's a high chance that he'll just let it go."

'Was there such a story behind it?'

I didn't want to complicate the case, and since Young-ju was probably an incompetent idiot anyway, there was no point in digging deeper, so I thought he'd just end it on his own.

I never thought that even the emperor would hate that guy.

Of course, the lord of this side was much more open-minded than in the game, so it was unknown whether he would think that way in the main story of Blizzard 4. After all, he had some common sense there.

"So, Commanders of the Knights, you don't have to worry. We've dealt with the bug that was eating away at society, cleaned up the garbage it left behind, and restored everything that was twisted and distorted to the way it should have been. It's just that we've used a few negative methods in the process."

The faces of the knight commanders regained some of their color as they were assured that there was no need to worry as they could call the Emperor by his title of aunt.

I knew how the story would unfold from the beginning, so I stayed calm.

"But still… … telling lies to His Majesty… … ."

"There is no need for you, the Knight Commanders, to speak up. That is the job of Aurora and the new knights sitting over there. All you have to do is rush to the scene of the urgent request for assistance and continue to prevent the demons from rising."

"… … So that the devil doesn't rise, you say?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, we have no way to deal with demons."

Aurora glanced at me as she spoke. I returned her gaze confidently. For a moment, a look of bewilderment passed through her eyes.

"Don't overthink it. I'm sure it'll benefit you guys too."

I jumped up from the sofa. It was time to move.

"I have to pay back everything I've received so far, including interest."

I led the Knight Commanders and Aurora down to the basement where the lord was struggling, driven to the brink of death. As soon as the four of them gathered the lord who had become half-man and half-horse, they instinctively reached for their weapons.

"… … It really looks hideous."

Lize muttered and said a word.

"It's just writhing around on the floor, and that alone is disgusting. If this is what a half-human, half-horse in a dying state can do, I can't even imagine how great the power of a true demon would be."

In a state of near death. Well, it wasn't wrong. I brought the blessed dagger with me on purpose and cut the lord's blood until he was about to die. Of course, there was another reason for this.

Even though he hasn't even properly recovered his strength, he is still a demon at heart. If the half-human, half-horse lord is left alone, he will gradually pollute the surrounding terrain.

To stop it, I had to keep beating the lord until the Emperor arrived and purified it. I told him to use his remaining strength to not pollute the surroundings and to continue to recover his stamina.

'It would be perfect if I left it to the knight commanders. I've been suffering from that guy so far, so I'm going to take revenge.'

But since we don't know how long it will take for the Knight Commanders to arrive here and for us to finish our explanation, we had to take steps to keep it from contaminating the surrounding area in the meantime.

That's why I brought the blessed dagger with me.

"… … So, you want us to stop this guy from regaining his strength?"

Claudia slung a longsword as long as she was tall on her shoulder. Judging by the faint smile on her face, she seemed to have guessed what I was going to ask of her.

"I told you, didn't I? You have to pay back everything you've received up until now, including interest. Just beat me up as much as you want. Of course, you have to control your strength appropriately so that the basement doesn't collapse."

In fact, it wasn't really a necessary process. Since I had already reduced all of the stamina with the blessed dagger, even if I left it like that, the surrounding area wouldn't get contaminated.

However, the Knight Commanders had been suffering terribly from that lord for the past few years. It was only natural that they should repay him for what he had done to them.

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Even if I have to kill, I have to take revenge and kill.

"Really? Then I won't decline."

The first person to respond to my words was Claudia. She grabbed the greatsword like a golf club and used the side blade to swing it full-swing, striking the lord's body.

With a loud "Bam!" sound, the scale-covered body floated up. The lord flew backwards for a long time and crashed into the opposite wall. The attack was so strong that the basement walls shook.

Iris and Erica seemed surprised by the sudden action. On the other hand, Lize thought about something for a moment, then pulled out a dagger from her waist, wrapped the blade in ice, and laughed heartily.

"If you don't beat that pig, the devil might come back to life, right? Don't worry, I'll make sure that never happens."

Lize ran towards the lord, leaving behind a trail of frost, with a short thank you, "Thank you, rookie!" Claudia watched her back with a pleased expression.

"Don't think too deeply, Iris. If that guy dies, this is a chance you'll never get again. Just don't think about anything and enjoy it until it's over."

"… … Are you serious, Claudia?"

"Seriously. And you think the same way as me. If you were really against it, wouldn't you have just taken your hands off the weapon?"

Claudia pointed to Iris's hand, which had been fiddling with the knife strapped to her waist.

If only there was a chance, and if only she could convince herself, she would be ready to draw her sword and rush in. Iris's cheeks instantly turned red, perhaps because she was so embarrassed that her true feelings had been revealed.

"If I had heard of such a plan from the beginning, I would have opposed it. But the newbie has already committed the crime, and it is an irreversible situation, so what can I do? You have to trust him. He has already proven that he keeps his word. So, Iris, just accept it and come back. Let's join him and beat him up together."

A chilling cold blew in from the other side of the basement. The ice made it hard to see what was going on, but it looked like Lize was having quite a blast.

Aurora shivered as the air cooled rapidly. Then she came up next to me and put her arms around me. I turned my head to see what she was doing. I received a shameless look back, asking what was wrong.

"Erika, let's go."

"Oh, yes? Me?"

"Then who else is Erica here besides you? You look surprisingly similar to Lize, so I can tell what you're thinking right now. Don't pretend to be worried and just follow me."

Erica grumbled for a moment when she heard that she looked like her older sister, but she followed Claudia obediently, as if it wasn't completely wrong. Flames slowly rose from the weapon in her hand.

Iris, who was left alone next to us, blankly stared at the other three who had started beating up the lord together, then sighed deeply and looked at me.

"Newbie."

"I'm listening."

"It's as Claudia said. If you had asked for permission in advance, I would have shouted out in protest. Telling the Emperor about the lie is something I could never allow in my right mind."

but.

Iris's mood, which at first seemed to be reprimanding me, changed with those words. The corners of her mouth went up against gravity, and her eyes slightly curved, becoming much softer.

"I believe you have thought of something this time too. When you went to subdue that monster, I didn't trust you until the moment you returned… … This time is different. If you have shown me the actions you have taken so far, I think I will trust you even once, no matter how absurd your plan may be. I will leave this matter entirely to you."

With those words, Iris blew wind into her weapon and turned to face the other knight commanders, but then paused for a moment and turned her head halfway.

"And, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity."

"you're welcome."

On the other side of the basement, something close to a storm was already raging. The basement was flashing. Aurora and I watched the scene for a while before going outside.

The moon that had been floating in the sky was slowly sinking beyond the mountain.

"You said it hasn't been that long since you joined the Knights of the Silver Dawn?"

"I don't know the exact date, but I think it's been about two weeks now."

"And yet you managed to gain such strong trust from me? You're quite resourceful."

I answered with a laugh.

I was just trying to progress the story like in a game, but it was perceived as an absurd achievement by other people. By my standards, it was normal.

Moreover, the scale of enemies appearing in the future will continue to increase.

If I follow the same storyline as Blizzard 4, I'll have to single-handedly defeat all the monsters that have the power to easily destroy a city.

The recommended level to see the ending in the first playthrough was around level 100, so leveling up by killing tens of thousands of creatures that are lower than that is a bonus.

It's like subduing dozens of city-destroying monsters and tens of thousands of ordinary monsters, so even the emperor probably wouldn't be able to do that.

That was all the achievement of one player.

'That's how all game protagonists are, you know.'

So, isn't he the main character?

We sat in a corner of the garden, chatting about trivial things, and waited for the Emperor, who would arrive by morning at the latest. Aurora was quite the talker.

As time passed and the sun began to rise, the knight commanders did not show up. I could understand that they must have had a lot of emotions built up. They could do this all day.

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"So, later on, all the servants will have to be replaced too."

While discussing how to overthrow the servants, maids, and servants, a magic circle was drawn in the garden right next door. The magic circle appeared, crushing and burning the grass, and shot a blue pillar of light into the sky.

Transference magic. It was exactly like what we saw in the game, so we could tell right away. We stood back and prepared to greet the Emperor.

Within the pillar of light shot up by the magic circle, blue particles gathered together and formed a human figure. Arms, legs, a head, and a body were created, and clothes were put on that body.

The halo of light, transformed into a perfect human form, slowly walked out of the pillar.

"...?"

It was a woman who looked exactly like Aurora.