Ch.148148. Feast of Blood

My policy was extermination.

Whether duke or count, old or young, man or woman, I didn’t plan to discriminate.

Even those who mindlessly followed others and merely filled numbers wouldn’t receive my mercy.

…

“Marquis Wellesley, why are you here…!”

“Where is the Royal Order! They should be protecting us!”

Thirty-five lords. Plus their wives and children. Altogether just over a hundred people. Every single one was at least a viscount. The vassals serving the dukes, marquises, and counts (mostly barons) couldn’t even attend because of their low status.

‘I need to finish this quickly.’

I stepped forward decisively.

The first person to catch my eye was the human called Viscount Widen.

“Hero. What is the meaning of this…!”

His face was flushed as he questioned me, constantly flinching.

He was the one who had rejected my proposed “Futures Transaction” in the past, spouting nonsense about borrowing gold from me to craft and supply premium accessories.

He was also the one who drove his territory to ruin because he couldn’t receive funding then. I heard he was obsessed with the Lottery now.

However, I wasn’t going to kill him for exposing his people to poverty and danger.

I was striking because he stood against me, because he tried to take my power.

This wasn’t me pretending to be villainous—it was the reality. This was the quickest and easiest way for me to seize control of state affairs in a short time.

‘…Still, I should acknowledge what I can. It does make things easier when dealing with trash.’

Yes. He would be the first.

The next moment, I gripped my hammer short and swung it casually.

“Guhk…!”

With a thud, the hammer crushed Viscount Widen’s pelvis. There was no satisfaction in the hit. Unlike the countless demons I’d torn apart in the Demonic Land, Viscount Widen was just an ordinary middle-aged man.

From that playful strike, Viscount Widen collapsed with his body bent at a grotesque angle. He trembled a few times, but that was the end.

Right after that.

“Kyaaaaaah!!”

“The Hero killed someone! The Herooooo!”

This was the moment when the grand banquet hall of the imperial palace, that splendid space, suddenly transformed into a human hunting ground.

The reactions of those who witnessed my murder varied.

“Your Majesty! Where is His Majesty! The Hero has gone mad!”

Some were belatedly searching for the imperial family members who had already been escorted away by the Royal Order knights (Selin was among them). As if the Emperor was their only hope of rescue from this quagmire.

Nothing would have changed even if the Emperor had been present.

It would have just made my work a bit more awkward. It would be difficult to strike the back of the heads of those clinging to the Emperor’s robes and begging. I was simply grateful he had left at such an opportune time.

Of course, this was devastating news for the nobles.

“That so-called Emperor is trying to hand the entire country over to the Hero, crazy…!”

I killed the eldest son of a ducal family who dared utter such blasphemous words by smashing his head.

“Just one word to His Majesty, just one word, guhk!”

I grabbed someone who might have been a count or marquis by the scruff of his neck and threw him against the wall, unable to let go of his attachment to the end.

The result was the same. Instant death.

After that, it was just a continuous series of killings.

I killed those who tried to initiate dialogue with frightened expressions, and those who knelt and called for the Goddess were kicked to instant death. In terms of effort, it was as light as breaking a reed, but people were clearly dying.

“Hero, wait! You shouldn’t…! Fuck!”

Crack!

Perhaps they realized dialogue wouldn’t work.

Soon, the struggle to escape began.

Some rushed toward the exit in a panic, while others climbed decorative pillars, trying to get as far away from me as possible.

There was even someone who leaped onto the balcony railing with excellent athletic ability, perhaps a graduate of the knight department.

Of course, escape wasn’t a good option for them. Several soldiers had already been stationed inside and outside the grand banquet hall.

‘I can’t use aura to kill those ones. Bystanders would get caught up and die too.’

I needed another method. Fortunately, this was a banquet hall. Although the food was getting cold, there were plenty of weapons I could throw around me.

High-quality knives made of pewter.

Those about to die might be too resentful to close their eyes if killed by such shabby items, but I had no time to consider the feelings of the soon-to-be dead.

I immediately grabbed a knife and threw it without even putting a spin on it.

Though I hadn’t imbued it with aura, it had enough power to kill. Because I was the one throwing it.

“Kuk!”

The person fighting with guards inside the balcony died with a knife stuck in his back, and the one climbing the decorative pillar died with a butter knife lodged in the back of his head. There was even someone who died after being hit by a wine glass.

By now they should realize escape is impossible, but there were still many who couldn’t give up.

“Open up! Damn it!!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“I’ll stay buried in my territory and never come out again, I won’t even look toward the capital, please just let me alone escape, please, please…!”

Nobles frantically pounding on the firmly closed entrance doors and pushing with their shoulders.

But the tightly sealed doors didn’t budge at all.

Rather, an accident occurred due to the nobles going berserk trying to break through the door. Someone who knew magic suddenly cast a spell without caring what was in front of them.

“Arrow of Freezing!”

“Kuhuk!”

Several nobles who were hit by the magic writhed in pain and collapsed.

But the survivors remained focused on escape, regardless of who died beside them. Their persistence seemed to be working as the solid iron door began to shake slightly.

Thanks to that, it seemed I could finish them all with one strike.

No need to drag this out. I concentrated aura in my right hand.

Soon, brilliant energy swirled around my upper arm.

I was controlling my power to avoid destroying the building. It might seem ridiculous to worry about facility damage after killing dozens of people, but I had to be careful as one corner of the banquet hall could collapse if I made a mistake.

Just as I was about to deliver the slash, thinking this should be enough—

There was one person who seemed to sense something and fearfully turned toward me.

A medium-height, plump elderly man with bulging eyes and an open mouth, but a familiar face.

Duke Gascoigne. He was originally a knight, and when I was in my final year at the Academy, he had tried to pair me with his illegitimate child.

It was probably an attempt to make me his vassal cheaply, but his attitude was relatively gentle. I rejected it then because I had no interest in marriage.

‘What a place to meet again.’

Come to think of it, quite a few of the people I had already killed or was about to kill were at least acquaintances.

Until the Cordana incident, they weren’t even on bad terms with me. No noble would deliberately cold-shoulder a promising member of the Royal Order.

These were ordinary people who, if not for Gwon Heejin, would have lived normally, managing their territories and passing their titles to their children before dying.

It was strange how they had ended up in this situation. Even stranger was my own circumstance—trapping them in the banquet hall and calmly killing them.

Of course, I had no intention of hesitating.

Rather, I decided to aim my attack precisely at that group desperately ramming the door as a single mass. Just like when I slaughtered countless demons at the Demon Lord’s castle. I decided not to care about trivial personal connections.

“Please spare me.”

Someone’s faint voice mixed with tears,

But that plea was drowned out by the aura shot from my hand.

Boom!

…

The next moment, what entered my vision were dozens of corpses, mangled beyond recognition, unable to even scream properly before dying.

***

The miserable annihilation of those who once ruled as the Empire’s upper class.

In terms of impact on the Empire, it might have been more significant than the death of the Demon Lord. After all, the owners of more than thirty sizeable territories were wiped out in an instant. No tyrant had ever committed such madness.

‘No, it’s not complete annihilation yet.’

There was exactly one survivor.

“Huu… Aaaah!”

A middle-aged nobleman hiding behind a decorative pillar, frantically hitting his own head while wailing in anguish.

It was Duke Arknight, the highest-ranking attendee at the banquet.

He seemed to have lost his mind after losing his first and second sons to me just now. Yet he still valued his own life enough to hide.

And he wasn’t just hiding.

Even now, translucent magical energy was protecting him. He seemed to have activated a protective spell using a magical tool he possessed. And not just any weak protection spell, but a powerful one estimated to be of the 6th circle or higher.

Of course, he wasn’t alive because of the protection spell. To be honest, it was closer to me deliberately keeping him alive until the end.

Because I had something to say before killing him.

Not something to tell Duke Arknight himself, but something to tell the nobles who were “forcibly” watching this scene from the balcony.

“…This man and his followers disrespected the imperial family and attempted to harm me, the agent of the Goddess and protector of humanity. It has already been revealed that they misappropriated public funds for personal gain and ultimately coveted imperial authority.”

These were the charges against those who died today.

I had pinned enormous crimes on those who had merely aimed for control of the Lottery funds.

I didn’t know whether they had actually intended to undermine imperial authority. But their true intentions didn’t matter at all. The truth would never come to light.

Because I had clearly shown what happens to those who oppose me through this incident.

“After doing something like this.”

“I can handle it. I already have a plan.”

Having gone this far, I knew I had to rebuild the Empire. I had long since resolved myself to that.

Immediately after, I swung my hammer, crushing both the magical energy protecting the duke and his body in one strike.

The banquet was over with that.