Ch.333Chapter 333 – An Unexpected Messenger

# The day after a major battle at the royal palace, when they agreed to withdraw without further bloodshed.

With Beatrice missing and Vanilla bedridden, the resistance forces under Princess Gabriella couldn’t use the warp to head back to headquarters. Instead, they were forced to set up camp near the royal castle, taking an uneasy rest.

An unexpected messenger appeared before them.

“May I ask why you’ve come to see me?” Gabriella asked the knight standing before her.

He was the one who had led the royal guard yesterday. He had arrived at dawn with two adjutants, carrying a white flag.

After requesting an audience with Princess Gabriella, he now bowed quietly and said, “I’ve come to surrender to you.”

“I see.”

Gabriella seemed to be contemplating various thoughts. The guard spoke quietly.

“There’s no one left in the palace to lead the subordinates.”

“That’s strange. Surely there must be a chancellor or someone of high rank.”

The guard hesitated at Gabriella’s words. Then he quietly said, “The chancellor appointed by the late king, along with many ministers, have already lost their lives.”

“Why is that?”

“Because they raised their swords against the late king.”

The guard then told her what had happened, based on what he’d heard from his subordinates.

Princess Gabriella asked with trembling eyes, “How could such a thing happen in the castle…?”

“I don’t know. However, it appears the Guardian Water passed judgment on the king after the royal guard had dealt with the nobles inside the castle.”

The nobles, including Florence, had been trying to flee to save their lives or had been targeting the king’s life upon hearing news of reinforcements from inside. In the end, they were either killed or wounded and imprisoned after failing to overcome the royal guard.

While the royal guard was dealing with the nobles, they learned from the guards who had been with the king that he had disappeared during a brief moment when they had gone ahead on his orders.

The king, having evaded his escort, ended up with only his head remaining, which the Guardian Water had brought and presented to Gabriella before disappearing.

“The nobles committed rebellion in their final moments, and with the king’s death, there’s no one left to lead us. After deliberation, the survivors in the castle have agreed to surrender to the resistance and believe that you, Princess, as the only remaining royal, should ascend to the throne.”

The “survivors” he mentioned weren’t particularly high-ranking individuals apart from the guard representative. Most were people who had fallen out of the king’s favor but had luckily been demoted rather than killed and remained in the castle. If pressed further, they were mostly maids and servants.

“This feels rather strange. Just yesterday we were fighting to kill each other, and today your attitude has completely changed, saying you want to make me king.”

While Gabriella did have legitimacy for various legal and bloodline reasons, it felt odd hearing this from those who had been hostile to her.

At her words, the guard carefully knelt and said, “Of course, the royal guard and its generals bear the guilt of raising swords against you on the king’s orders.”

The guard bowed his head as he spoke.

“However, the high-ranking officials who should take responsibility are either dead or have fled. I’m the only one left with a neck to bear responsibility.”

“…”

“So I ask you: take my head. And I beg for your mercy to forgive the people inside and allow them to serve as your subjects.”

Princess Gabriella closed her eyes for a moment at his words.

After a while.

“Very well.”

Having made her decision, she drew her sword herself and approached the guard.

+

“The camp is noisy.”

“Understandably so.”

It was natural, given that soldiers from the kingdom had suddenly arrived at dawn.

While yesterday’s battle could be considered a victory for the resistance since they achieved their objective, that didn’t mean there were no casualties.

The battle had been so fierce that there were many wounded, and even those who survived were too exhausted to move.

As a result, the camp was filled with cries of pain that distressed anyone who heard them. I had already asked Chris and Sera to treat those in critical condition.

They had been worried about my condition and didn’t want to move, but I persuaded them by promising to let them examine me afterward. Reluctantly, they each took medicines and bandages to treat the soldiers, especially those in critical condition.

Thanks to that, both were extremely tired and couldn’t get up even though the morning was well advanced.

In the opposite corner, Vanilla and Gigas were asleep in their respective beds.

“Should we wake everyone up?”

“No. Let them sleep more.”

Even though Sera and Chris had tried not to move yesterday because of me, they’re fundamentally good people.

If they woke up today, they would likely want to check on the wounded.

And Gigas and Vanilla were injured themselves.

I thought it would be better to let them rest as much as possible rather than deliberately waking them.

“By the way, I don’t see Beatrice.”

“Honestly, if she has any sense, she wouldn’t show herself in the resistance camp.”

After yesterday’s retreat, I had a chance to hear a bit about the situation from Domestica after taking a short rest.

The princess and Domestica had planned to lead from the front to encourage the soldiers, and just as they were about to enter the battlefield…

“Beatrice personally knocked them both out and left.”

Because of that, the two only arrived after the battle had been underway for quite some time.

Meanwhile, Beatrice had disguised herself as Princess Gabriella, and due to the chaos of the battlefield, the soldiers hadn’t noticed the princess’s absence.

Fortunately, this prevented the soldiers from becoming demoralized, but Domestica seemed quite angry.

“I still remember her sharpening her dagger, saying she couldn’t forgive Beatrice for knocking her and the princess out and running off.”

As a bonus, she had impressively peeled an apple she had brought for the princess with that dagger.

It was a performance so flawless that Sia had admired it.

‘The princess herself seems to have something on her mind, though.’

Perhaps she had realized that Beatrice was her sister.

Whether because of that, or because she was afraid of the very angry Domestica, Beatrice hadn’t shown herself to us again.

However, we knew she was safe because she had somehow managed to slip notes into our tent while we were taking turns resting, informing us of her well-being.

“From last night to this morning. Too many things have happened.”

“That’s how chaotic it was.”

Anyway, things seemed to be calming down now.

What remained was to rest and then consider our schedule.

As I was thinking this, I noticed Eve staring at me intently.

“Eve?”

“…Kay. Please be honest with me.”

Eve asked seriously.

“You’re not feeling unwell, are you?”

“No.”

I smiled at Eve.

“To be honest, I did feel a bit dizzy right after taking off my armor, but I’m fine now.”

I quietly told Eve that I was fine. Eve looked at me silently for a moment, then nodded with a faint smile.

“That’s a relief.”

She was relieved that I said I was calm.

…But I could immediately tell from her eyes that Eve was acting.

She didn’t believe what I had said.

I could sense that she didn’t believe I wasn’t sick, but she was pretending not to know for my sake.

I could tell just by watching her glance at the sleeping Sera and Chris.

If I hadn’t suggested letting them rest, she probably would have woken them up immediately to check my condition.

‘Should I change the subject?’

I thought, looking at Eve’s gloomy expression.

I wanted to prevent her face from being clouded with worry and guilt because of me, even if only for a moment.

“By the way, I wonder why the royal guard came from the palace.”

I asked about something I wasn’t particularly curious about to forcibly change the subject.

At my words, Eve slightly fidgeted with her lips, then sighed quietly and spoke.

She seemed willing to go along with the change of subject.

“They probably came to surrender.”

“Surrender, huh.”

I thought for a moment and asked.

“Would the palace have a reason to surrender?”

“If we had just achieved our goal and retreated, there would be no reason for them to surrender.”

Eve quietly said that in that case, they wouldn’t have surrendered despite the heavy casualties.

“But there were too many variables in that battle.”

“We had the Dragon Slayer. That giant dog was there too. Not to mention us. …And.”

“Emiris.”

Following Sia’s words, Eve concluded.

“Although nothing directly targeted the palace, so the damage wasn’t severe, I heard that many palace facilities were destroyed as a result of the battle.”

“And, as you know, the king was assassinated at the end.”

Sia said.

“It doesn’t matter much to us, but for Florence and the palace people, the king was their focal point. The royal guards fought to protect him. But now that he’s lost his life, their leader is gone.”

“In this situation, they need to choose a new leader. But there’s another problem here.”

Eve raised a finger as she spoke.

“I heard that the king had no heir. In that case, the throne would pass to the closest relative.”

“Princess Gabriella.”

According to palace rules, Princess Gabriella would be next in line for the throne.

“Of course, there might have been someone among those staying in the palace who was related to the royal family. Like someone whose maternal grandmother was a princess. But if such a person existed, people wouldn’t have come so early this morning, so we must assume no such authority figure has emerged yet.”

“If there were, someone would have forcibly put them forward to manage the chaos, but they didn’t. That means they either fled, were executed earlier, or were caught up in this fight and died.”

Sia said quietly.

“Either way, it’s clear that no one from inside has stepped up to be the leader.”

“Come to think of it, I don’t think anyone would want to be king in this situation anyway.”

“Why do you think so?”

In response to Eve’s question, I answered quietly.

“First, they need the recognition of the royal guard and the support of the scattered armies. That alone would be difficult, but now the kingdom is close to civil war due to the Emiris Order and the resistance. Starting from gaining the support of their own forces, they face enemies on all sides.”

The kingdom had been at war with the Emiris Order, and while the resistance might be considered a weak force, the situation had been unstable.

In such a situation, becoming king means taking responsibility for everything, and anyone with a decent mind would know that position is a bed of thorns.

Thinking about it that way, I thought that perhaps the king who just died wasn’t completely incompetent.

Despite his major flaws, at least there weren’t many defectors among his allies, and the remaining army and royal guards were loyal to him.

‘But how terrible must his flaws have been.’

He even brought in demons and tried to sacrifice his citizens in return.

‘What trash.’

Of course, not all demons are bad, but he was still trash for trying to sacrifice his citizens to an untrustworthy party.

Putting aside my assessment of the king, I looked at Eve and asked.

“What do you think will happen now?”

“It’s hard to predict exactly. I don’t know what the princess is thinking.”

Eve said.

“But what’s certain is that whether she takes the throne or not, she now has new enemies.”

“New enemies?”

“Kay knows too. Think about it.”

At Eve’s words, I thought for a moment.

Come to think of it, there was a potential new enemy.

“The resistance.”

Honestly, the resistance was just a disorganized group united only in their desire to overthrow the king.

The reason Princess Gabriella came here in the first place was because they were plotting to eliminate her as a rival.

But now the princess had miraculously succeeded in her mission, and with the king dead without an heir, she could legitimately ascend to the throne.

Those who were secretly full of desire for power themselves would never welcome this, and might even try to forcibly remove her.

In this chaotic situation, with the princess’s forces not being particularly strong, they might continue the rebellion, claiming her bloodline is cursed.

“But if she accepts the throne, there might be internal discontent too.”

People who were killing each other just yesterday were now extending their hands, asking her to be their leader.

Though they might not show it, they would obviously be very reluctant in their hearts.

The same would be true for the palace side.

It’s questionable whether they would truly accept someone who had killed their comrades, even if they didn’t say it out loud.

“…Thinking about it all, it’s really complicated.”

“At the very least, the princess needs strength and time to sort out her surroundings.”

And to resolve the internal resentment.

“It’s a thorny path.”

“Do you sympathize with her?”

“A little.”

She won, but it doesn’t look like she’s at ease at all.

I sighed slightly as I spoke, and Sia grinned and said.

“You seem unexpectedly concerned about Princess Gabriella.”

“No. It just sounds like a really frustrating situation.”

Honestly, I think it’s okay to sympathize a bit after hearing about such a complicated situation.

“Nothing in this world is easy.”

Sia said with a bitter smile.

“Disciplining and uniting one’s people from above while ensuring peace for the citizens below cannot be easy. The path of a king is inherently thorny.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s why some kings fall to temptations like wanting to be comfortable or doing as they please, and stray from that thorny path.”

Sia seemed to be thinking as she lowered her head for a moment.

“Sia?”

“…No, let me continue. Walking that thorny path, one might become deluded about oneself. Am I walking the right path? Is this the correct way? Have I strayed?”

But, Sia smiled.

“Still, I want to believe that at the end, there’s definitely a desired future. Glory. A dream waiting.”

“I see.”

“And to walk that path to the end, a king needs shoes made of the support and smiles of their subjects and citizens. Shoes that protect the king’s feet as they walk the thorny path.”

Sia spoke gently.

“Fortunately, the princess has people who support her. People loyal enough to follow her through the difficult resistance environment. With such people, I believe she can win everyone’s support.”

“Right.”

It wasn’t our problem to interfere with anyway.

Now the kingdom’s problems had to be solved by its own people.

“…I just hope everything ends well.”

“Shall we stop thinking about it now? We need to prepare as we have to get back on our journey.”

“We need to head toward the fourth seal.”

To reach the fourth seal, we first had to sail.

And surprisingly, the sea dragon, which had been the biggest obstacle preventing that, had been eliminated at the royal palace.

I had eliminated it myself.

Of course, the sea route wouldn’t be safe, but at least we wouldn’t have to worry about another sea dragon being used as a weapon by the Order.

“Let’s start planning then.”

As I was about to look back at Eve and Sia, a soldier came running in a panic.

“T-terrible news! Terrible news!!!”