Ch.396Panam and Dein

The terrible tragedy that occurred in Panam spread across the world at an astonishing speed.

The locals called it the “Night of Nightmares.”

Old King Danon was found with his upper body cut in half, and Queen Eleonora burned to death in the royal villa.

Various parts of the palace were burned, the villa was completely destroyed, and many assets and supplies were lost to the flames.

The knights suffered severe casualties as well.

Andrea and Marcello, who were responsible for guarding the king, were brutally murdered, and Cesare, who was tracking the assassin, went missing.

In effect, three Masters, the kingdom’s core military strength, lost their lives on the same day.

Nearly seventy royal guards were sacrificed, and the number of dead soldiers was several times that.

Throughout Panam’s history, there had never been such devastation in a single night.

The enraged royal guards searched the entire capital thoroughly for the perpetrators of this massacre, but found nothing substantial.

The agents had already left the capital, and the corpses were all burned to charcoal, making it impossible to identify them.

A few longswords were found in the ruins of the villa, but they hardly served as evidence.

Imperial-style longswords were preferred weapons in all countries except Dane, and even Dane was gradually adopting longswords instead of their traditional one-handed swords and shields.

The identity of the perpetrators remained a mystery, and debates continued at the royal guard’s investigation headquarters.

Some claimed the Dane people had backstabbed them, while others speculated that the Empire had sent an assassination squad.

A knight with a more vivid imagination suggested that the Holy State had delivered divine punishment in God’s name for King Danon’s corruption and debauchery.

Perhaps he momentarily forgot which country he served as a knight.

Naturally, that knight was arrested on charges of treason and sent to the interrogation chamber.

He would either emerge with a renewed education in “loyalty” or never come out at all.

Meanwhile, some nobles believed it was the work of the first prince Borvik, a bastard son.

They claimed he had orchestrated the attack to assassinate both the king and queen after Danon decided to pass the throne to his legitimate heir with Eleonora.

Throughout all this, only Evian remained free from suspicion.

No one believed the incompetent playboy Evian had the capability for such an act.

—-

It didn’t take long for new confusion to be added to the Panam royal guards, who were already overwhelmed with investigating and handling the assassination.

No, this was the beginning of a great chaos that would engulf all of Panam.

The king and queen were gone, leaving only the young legitimate prince Ellesion, who had become an orphan overnight.

Taking advantage of the central government’s confusion, nobles who smelled power began to move all at once.

Ambitious nobles sought to use Ellesion as a puppet to become the real power in Panam, while the first prince Borvik gathered supporters to eliminate Ellesion and claim the throne.

For them, uncovering the truth was a secondary concern.

The military forces that Panam had cultivated to pressure the Empire now began to point their swords at each other.

Exactly as Leopold had hoped.

Reading the report, Leopold smiled at the rare good news and took a sip of his black tea.

Although many agents had been sacrificed, the result was nearly perfect.

He wouldn’t know the detailed information until Baron Median returned, but with this, the threat from Panam was essentially eliminated.

His next move had been prepared for a long time.

“Show him in.”

As Leopold murmured quietly, Percival, who was guarding him, threw open the door to the office.

Through the wide-open door, a man with brown, tanned skin walked in nervously.

“So, you’re Evian. Just as Baron Median described you.”

“I am honored to meet the Sun of the Empire!”

Evian, King Danon’s second illegitimate son, paid his respects to Leopold.

Leopold smirked at the flowery phrase “Sun of the Empire.”

If it had been Haschal, he would have sarcastically asked if that meant his head was as bald and bright as the sun, embarrassing the other person, but Leopold wasn’t the type to enjoy such malicious teasing. Besides, such mockery would only hurt himself.

“I’ve heard about the tragedy in your homeland. Truly a tragic incident. To think Eleonora would meet such an end…”

Leopold sighed, pretending to be grief-stricken.

“Yes, you must be troubled in many ways as well. I offer my condolences.”

Leopold offered conventional words of comfort without revealing that he was the perpetrator.

If Danon could see this from the afterlife, he would be furious.

“…Thank you. I also offer my condolences to Your Majesty.”

Evian likewise expressed his sympathy in a deliberately solemn voice.

After all, while he had lost his father, the Emperor had also lost his sister.

At least, that’s what he believed.

“Thank you. Please, sit down. I have important matters to discuss regarding that incident. Sad as it may be, people like us cannot afford to merely grieve.”

“…I appreciate Your Majesty’s consideration.”

Evian rose and sat modestly on the sofa in the office.

His courteous attitude would have been unbelievable to those familiar with the usual Evian.

That very courtesy clearly revealed the gap between the Emperor of the Empire and an illegitimate son of a mere kingdom.

“Good. Then let’s get straight to the point. It would be more comfortable for you too… Yes. I believe you’re well aware of Panam’s current situation. So let me ask you directly.”

Leopold observed Evian with a sharp gaze, resting his chin on both hands.

“Don’t you resent being born a bastard?”

Evian’s face twitched for a moment.

Reading the emotion in that expression, Leopold smiled with satisfaction.

As he had expected, this young man would make quite a useful piece.

“No matter how hard you try, you can never ascend to the throne, and if you display your talents, you’re seen as a threat and must fear for your life. What a miserable and tragic existence. I understand how terrible that is.”

Leopold began to speak in a kind voice, as if he understood Evian’s situation.

Evian listened to the Emperor’s proposal without even blinking.

Shortly after, having finished their conversation, Evian withdrew from the academy and returned to Panam.

Accompanied by several individuals assigned to him by Leopold.

It was the moment when the seeds of conflict that would drive Panam into civil war began to sprout.

—-

Panam wasn’t the only country thrown into confusion.

Dane was also unable to hide its bewilderment as the country they had been preparing to ally with suddenly lost its leadership.

Moreover, they were even being pointed to as likely culprits.

The Dane royal family naturally denied this, but without concrete evidence, they couldn’t completely dispel the suspicion.

They couldn’t announce the alliance now.

Unless they could announce the alliance with the Holy State and Panam together as originally planned, revealing the alliance now would only meaninglessly provoke the Empire’s anger.

“Things have become completely tangled. Who on earth killed King Danon…!”

The king, crown prince, and nobles who knew about the triangular alliance gathered in the confidential meeting room and discussed Panam’s situation day and night.

“If it wasn’t the Holy State or us, then it must be the Empire! Those imperial bastards must have found out!”

“Weren’t all the Empire’s Masters accounted for? Isn’t it as rumored—Borvik’s doing…?”

Of course, they too couldn’t identify the perpetrators.

The fact that the Emperor’s sister was also killed made it difficult to believe it was the Empire’s doing, and there were no reports of any Imperial Masters being absent during that time.

If the Empire had dispatched Masters to conduct the assassination, spies would have reported it.

However, no Masters had been missing, and there were even reports that Haschal the Dane Killer was resting at his mansion.

In reality, it was just a body double with blue eyes and slightly darker skin with dyed black hair, but it was impossible for spies limited to observing from a distance to discern this.

“…Let’s postpone the investigation of the truth. What’s important now is not confirming who did it, but deciding how to respond going forward. The triangular alliance was broken before it even began, and there’s still no word from the Holy State.”

The King of Dane sighed as he calmed the nobles.

With the triangular alliance—which had been considered the best option—now in ruins, they needed to completely overhaul their existing plans.

“Your Majesty is right. Now is the time to discuss countermeasures.”

The nobles nodded and began to discuss new plans.

There were anti-imperialists who proposed strengthening cooperation with the Holy State and containing the Empire with just the two countries, excluding Panam.

There were cautious ones who suggested waiting for the next opportunity while training more rune warriors and building up strength.

There were even war hawks who proposed sending troops to devour Panam in its confusion, using the pretext that Panam had staged this incident and blamed Dane.

“…That’s not bad. Since we don’t know if Panam’s next king will be hostile to the Empire like Danon, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for us to share some of their wealth.”

And Dane, being a nation of warriors, had many who agreed with the war hawks.

For those who found it burdensome to directly oppose the Empire but were reluctant to do nothing, the proposal to take Panam’s wealth and territory was an appealing suggestion.

“It would be a good opportunity to properly test the strength of our rune warriors. The warrior we dispatched earlier was detected and died too quickly because he was operating alone.”

The mysterious assassin who killed three imperial nobles before committing suicide.

He was a warrior secretly dispatched from Dane to test their successful rune warrior development.

Although he was detected and killed quickly because he wasn’t trained as an assassin, the fact that he alone slaughtered three nobles was quite an encouraging result.

“Yes. That would be good. Let’s mobilize troops and watch Panam’s situation, then march when civil war breaks out in earnest and they have no time to mind their borders. Do you all agree?”

“Yes! Everything will be done according to Your Majesty’s will!”

In the end, Dane decided to invade Panam, taking advantage of their confusion.

The complete opposite of their recent moves to form a strong alliance.

Such is the nature of diplomacy.

Without mutual benefit, friendly relations cannot exist, so the moment one shows weakness, they transform from an equal ally into prey.

=======[ Haschal ]=======

A few days later, I finally returned to the Empire.

Bringing with me the treasures recovered from the pirate ship and the Panam people rescued from slavery.

I entrusted their safety to the agents who returned with me, then rode my horse toward the capital.

Although I had promised ten days and it took fifteen, it was a quick return considering I had cut off the head of an entire country.