Ch.672The Dane Royal Tragedy (Edited 2:29)

“It’s impossible to infiltrate the royal palace. Even if you could evade the eyes of knights and soldiers, you cannot deceive the runic magic barrier installed inside the castle.”

“Then should we charge in directly, prepared to be discovered?”

“That would give Hestein and Ragnar time to escape. Not the main gate, but here—attack the royal residence area. If the information about your ability to fly is true, it shouldn’t be difficult.”

Thanks to my persuasion, Hrafin, who had transformed into an excellent traitor, pulled out the palace blueprint from the bookshelf and pointed out the flaws in the usurpation plan.

“After entering the residence area, if you collapse this corridor to block it, you can delay the royal knights and Crusaders of Seals from joining forces. That should be enough time to kill Hestein and Ragnar.”

As befitting his position as head of intelligence, Hrafin proved exceptionally competent once he decided to commit treason—as if he had dreamed of rebellion his entire life.

“The palace’s defensive forces consist of fifty Crusaders of Seals, about a hundred royal knights, and five hundred guards. The royal knights are armed with weapons engraved with runic magic, and the Crusaders of Seals, like Knut, have multiple runes carved into their bodies.”

“What about Ragnar?”

“Unknown. He’s certainly stronger than Knut, but he has never revealed his true power to anyone.”

It seemed even Hrafin didn’t know how powerful Ragnar was at this point. I’d have to rely on my memories for that part. Though like Isabella, he might be weaker than I remember… I’ll only know once I fight him.

“However, he definitely possesses the Rune of Domination, so be careful not to look into his left eye, even by accident. I don’t know where you obtained yours, but you also have rune engravings, don’t you, Lord?”

“You knew?”

“When someone who isn’t a mage wields powerful magic, there’s only one answer.”

Though I had never shown Hrafin my wrist, he seemed to have already figured out that I possessed two runes.

“The famous fire magic must be from the Flame Rune, and the power that destroyed the wall must be the Rune of Collapse. Since the Empire wouldn’t sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives for human offerings, they must have transplanted ancient runes rather than creating new ones. Am I wrong in my assumptions?”

His tone was so confident that instead of denying it, I simply smiled and briefly showed him the rune engravings on my wrist.

“You’re right about the rune engravings… but don’t worry about the Rune of Domination. I’ve already tested it. It doesn’t work on me.”

I’d heard that possessing the Rune of Domination allows one to control other rune warriors—did he think I would overlook such a danger? I’d already confirmed it long ago.

—-

Before departing for Edriksa, I informed Knut that I possessed two runes and tested the effects of the Rune of Domination on myself.

Nigel and Leonore objected, saying it was too dangerous, but it was something I absolutely needed to confirm.

I wasn’t particularly worried since I believed my mana resistance and the power of the stigmata could block mind-control magic.

However, Nigel and Leonore weren’t convinced by that alone.

They remembered when we entered Arvil, the city where Valkers was hiding, and nearly the entire group was brainwashed and almost turned into breeding stock. At that time, I could resist the brainwashing somewhat, but couldn’t completely shake it off and was gradually being influenced by the “common sense” of that place.

Of course, that didn’t mean I could avoid testing it.

To be frank, if the Rune of Domination was powerful enough to overcome both mana resistance and the stigmata, I would have to revise my entire strategy for eliminating Ragnar.

So I managed to get their consent by ordering them to hold a sword to Knut’s neck and to immediately behead him if they noticed anything suspicious.

And the result of testing the “Rune of Domination”…

“It doesn’t work?”

Surprisingly, Knut’s Rune of Domination had no effect on me whatsoever. It wasn’t that I resisted the brainwashing with mana resistance or the power of the stigmata—the brainwashing itself was completely neutralized.

The moment the domination power from Knut touched my body, it shattered into pieces and was absorbed into my wrist as pure mana.

Just like how, after obtaining the Flame Rune, fire’s heat couldn’t harm me and was instead converted into mana.

“You… absorb the power of runes?!”

Knut couldn’t hide his astonishment. He said this phenomenon couldn’t be explained by Dane’s runic magic theory.

As it turned out, simply having a rune engraving doesn’t grant immunity to that attribute. Even with the Flame Rune engraved, one would still get burned when touching fire.

It meant that the runes I possessed were somehow different from those of the Danes. The reason and principle remained unknown, but…

“Let’s… let’s test other runes too.”

Afterward, Knut launched several attacks at me to see if I could absorb the power of other runes as well.

Most of his runes were meant to enhance his capabilities as a warrior, so his offensive runes were limited to the Ice Rune and Lightning Rune.

“Urrrgh…!”

Unfortunately, after being hit by ice spears and lightning bolts, it was concluded that I could only absorb the power of the Rune of Domination and fire. The ice was cold and the lightning was shocking.

Since I possessed not only the Flame Rune but also the Rune of Collapse, I might be able to block powers of the same collapse attribute, but Knut didn’t have the Rune of Collapse, so we couldn’t test that.

—-

“If you can ignore the Rune of Domination, there’s nothing to worry about. Surely the Empire’s First Sword, who defeated even Orhan, wouldn’t lose to Ragnar.”

Hrafin nodded as if reassured. No matter how strong Ragnar’s hidden power might be, surely he couldn’t be stronger than the Empire’s strongest knight.

“After sending Hestein, Ragnar, and Eirek to Volberg’s side, all that remains are the Crusaders of Seals and the royal knights. Once we capture Prince Haral, break down a wall to create a path for us to enter.”

“You’re coming too?”

“Of course! Without me, it would just be the Empire’s vanguard and two traitors holding the prince hostage. How would you three persuade the royal knights and guards?”

He had a point. Even I could see that in such a situation, persuasion wouldn’t work without bloodshed.

“Fine. But remember this one thing. If you try any tricks… no, if I even sense you might, I’ll kill you first.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

When I glared at him with killing intent, he nodded with a slightly pale face and trembling eyes.

And so began the bold palace raid by one imperial and three traitors.

—-

They say life is interesting because it doesn’t go as planned? Considering that those who spout such nonsense usually end up dead without even leaving a corpse behind, I think life is actually more fun when things go according to plan.

In other words, this situation wasn’t fun at all.

“To attack the royal palace so soon. The Margrave of Landenburg is even more daring than the rumors suggest.”

In the middle of the collapsed royal palace. Beyond the corridor I had blocked with the Rune of Collapse, I could hear the shouts of knights and soldiers confused by the sudden attack. Nonsense about catapult attacks or meteors falling from the sky.

I had no time to pay attention to such nonsense. What awaited me after I penetrated the palace ceiling and rushed to the king’s chambers after collapsing the corridor was a scene completely different from what I had expected.

“Targeting this place immediately… you must have intended to recreate what happened in Panam?”

Overflowing blood stained the floor red.

In the chambers where I expected to find the shocked king and queen, there were instead four corpses sprawled out.

Bodies exactly as Frigg and Hrafin had described them. The King of Dane, Hestein, the queen, the eldest son Eirek, and the young princess Alvhild.

The heads of the entire royal family, except Prince Haral, stared at me with dull eyes.

In the middle of the four headless bodies reeking of urine, sat Prince Haral, covered in his family’s blood and entrails, trembling violently.

“…So you knew.”

I drew Durandal and glared at the man holding a sword to Haral’s neck.

Ragnar Lokan. The eighth apostle of the Church of Forgotten Gods was smiling at me with his blade soaked in the blood of his relatives.

“I wasn’t certain. When the traitor Knut defected to the Empire, I considered the possibility that the Empire might resort to extreme measures… but I didn’t expect them to deploy the Empire’s First Sword and attack Edriksa within four days.”

Ragnar answered while casually waving the sword pointed at Haral’s neck.

“Thanks to that, I had no choice but to behead my brother and nieces and nephews against my wishes.”

Whether from shock and terror or because his mind had half-collapsed, Prince Haral could only make whimpering sounds and convulse.

He looked incredibly weak, but that weakness was precisely why Ludwig had decided to put Haral on the throne, so it was only natural.

“One of your nephews still seems to be alive. Though he doesn’t look good.”

“I kept him alive thinking you might need him. To clean up after attacking the palace, you’ll need a royal bloodline to put up as a puppet, right?”

…He read me perfectly.

I clicked my tongue and glared at Ragnar’s sword.

No matter how quickly I moved, I couldn’t be faster than the blade already touching Haral’s neck.

Even if I used Defying Fate to approach, the carotid artery would already be cut. That alone would be enough to kill Prince Haral.

“…What do you want?”

Ragnar grinned.

“Nothing.”

The next moment, Prince Haral’s head rolled onto the floor.