Episode 149 – Chaos
by Afuhfuihgs
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It was just a week before Victory Day.
For the past 20 years, this time of year had seen the vast Sionisia Empire bustling with a festive atmosphere, from the capital city surrounded by magnificent walls to the smallest villages with only wooden fences marking their boundaries.
For a week around Victory Day, the empire’s biggest holiday and anniversary, countless people and merchants crowded the streets, and everyone from top-notch musicians to third-rate wannabes who only strummed at home came out to perform.
But this year’s Victory Day week was different.
In Sioland, the empire’s capital, not even the slightest sound of music could be heard anywhere.
Clergymen abandoned their prayer times, which they held as dear as life itself, and locked themselves in taverns, drinking like mad, while criminals from the back alleys, who lived all sorts of rough and tough lives, all gave up their trades and rushed to the cathedral to repent for their sins.
Sioland was able to become the empire’s capital not only because the current Emperor seized power, but also because this city could most effectively defend against the invasion of monsters.
The high walls surrounding the city, and the presence of the Hero Robin within, were the most ideal conditions for those who had lost their homes to monster attacks to live in peace.
But the citizens realized, through the incident that had occurred a few days prior, that their peace of mind was nothing more than an illusion.
They had clearly seen a demon, that fearsome Demon King, enter the city and run rampant.
Even worse, the Demon King’s body was that of the Hero they had thought would protect them.
It was only natural that people were terrified.
But even though such chaos filled the city, hardly anyone left.
How many cities in the world were safer than Sioland?
Rather, the fact that the Demon King could enter Sioland so easily meant that, in other words, there was nowhere in this empire to run where the demons’ reach couldn’t extend.
People’s confusion and fear grew day by day.
The fear that the citizens held soon developed in two directions.
One was worship of Baron Salvie, who was almost certainly the new Hero.
A mysterious foreigner who fought against the unimaginable crisis of a Demon King resurrected in the body of the Hero.
Everyone had clearly seen the shining holy sword in the hands of that unfamiliar foreigner.
It was no wonder that rumors quickly spread that Baron Salvie was a new Hero and messenger of God, sent directly by the Goddess to save humanity.
Baron Salvie’s reputation was already sky-high, as he had been generously spending his wealth to help the poor, so no one dared to deny these rumors.
Or rather, they couldn’t deny them.
The only one who could give the citizens hope right now was Baron Salvie.
But the Baron had disappeared along with the Demon King.
As if the commotion a few days ago had all been a dream.
Only the ruined plaza and the remains of the two giant statues, now vanished without a trace and empty, calmly proved that this terrible reality was not a dream.
In fact, it was quite symbolic.
At the same time as the Demon King announced his resurrection, the most certain symbol commemorating the defeat of the Demon King 20 years ago had turned to ashes and disappeared.
Whether the Demon King had killed the Baron and fled, whether the Baron had defeated the Demon King and gone into hiding, or whether both had perished in a fierce battle that left no bodies behind, the citizens had no way of knowing.
All they could do was pray earnestly for the vanished Baron to return.
The second direction was anger and resentment.
The content of Baron Salvie’s testimony at the banquet had already spread rapidly throughout the city, and even young children knew about it.
All the evil deeds he had committed while holding the title of Hero, and the conspiracy to rebel against the Emperor.
And the story that the Demon King was behind it all.
There had already been many people who had suspected it since the Jennifer incident, and gossips who had amplified those opinions, but even those chatterboxes would not have imagined that such a thing would happen.
The head of the Valguir Duchy, Piadu, had left the next day after the banquet, relinquishing his status and wealth, acknowledging his father’s misdeeds, which further solidified people’s conviction.
Of course, since Robin himself had eventually appeared as the Demon King, there was no need for any other evidence.
The Hero was deceived by the Demon King.
No, the Hero betrayed us.
No, he was never even on our side.
The rumors that flowed through the citizens’ mouths gradually became more radical, and the reactions to them were the same.
Eventually, in a matter of days, Robin’s name and the Hero’s achievements became a laughingstock and an object of insult.
Commoners and nobles alike, countless people who had named themselves after him were busy hiding their names and changing them overnight.
The empire’s administrative affairs, already busier than ever due to the unprecedented major incident, were flooded with applications for name changes from the nobles’ children, and eventually, an absurd measure was taken to allow people with the name Robin to change their names without any special application process and record it later.
Despite the fact that it was a measure that could be abused in numerous scams and transactions, no one opposed the decision.
That’s how high people’s anger was soaring.
And the tip of that radical anger was directed at the Hero’s remaining family.
The question of whether they really didn’t know, or rather, the anger was filled with the conviction that they were definitely accomplices.
Edward left for the Vatican with the other Inquisitors for reports and interrogations.
Of course, this was also a consideration for Edward to some extent.
Because if he stayed here, he might be killed by the citizens’ anger at any moment.
The Vatican also offered to take Mela, the former Saintess, but Mela shook her head and stayed in the city, entrusting her daughter Tess to them.
The Inquisitors, who had arrived just a few days ago with a grand banquet in the Imperial Palace and were welcomed, hurriedly left the city in the middle of the night, avoiding the eyes of the citizens.
Without even saying goodbye to the Emperor.
In fact, it couldn’t be helped.
Because the Emperor was in no position to pay attention to the Inquisitors.
Even in the Imperial Palace, where the nobles who governed this empire were gathered, there were already many people who were falling apart.
First of all, the Emperor had tried to absorb the power of the Noble Faction by bringing up the fact that Robin was the Demon King, but the officials and nobles who were not part of the Noble Faction raised their voices, demanding that they be executed.
In particular, the Margraves, who were still defending the borders where even a small number of monsters were invading, drew their swords and raised their voices, questioning the remnants of the Noble Faction.
The remnants of the Noble Faction claimed that they didn’t know and insisted on their innocence, but the faces of the angry nobles, as red as heated kettles, looked as if they would unleash their swords and magic at any moment.
The anger of the lords who risked their lives to protect the empire from monsters was directed at the entire nobility who were only focused on politics in the capital, so the Emperor eventually decided to punish them by confiscating the Noble Faction’s property and status, but sparing their lives.
Of course, the citizens, angered by those who had lost their homes and status overnight, threw punches at them every day, and two of them even died within three days, so the verdict was, in effect, no different from the death penalty.
Even Princess Ellie, who was skilled in secret political maneuvers in the Imperial Palace and the city, was struggling to mediate, realizing that there was a fundamental difference between the lords armed with anger and force and the slick nobles who enjoyed power through politics.
In the midst of such chaos spreading throughout the city, Deborah was leisurely lying in a luxurious hospital room prepared in the Imperial Palace.
With her arm, the only one she had left, stretched out to the side table, Deborah picked up an unpeeled apple from the basket on the table and took a bite, quietly looking out the window.
Unlike the chaotic world outside, a peaceful silence settled in the hospital room, and only the sound of Deborah crunching on the apple echoed.
Deborah noticed Ellie, who had come out to the garden outside the window to take a break, and slightly raised herself up.
Ellie, seemingly stressed, strode to a bench in the garden, sighed deeply, and clutched her head.
“Oh my, Her Highness is having a hard time.”
Deborah mumbled, biting into the apple as if it were someone else’s problem.
Of course, as her miserable appearance with only one arm left proved, she deserved to rest.
But continuing treatment, or drinking an entire bucket of elixir, wouldn’t make her severed arm grow back.
Deborah, whose other injuries were almost healed, stretched languidly with her only arm and yawned.
The white, thin patient gown went up along her arm, revealing the skin of her fair abdomen.
Deborah rested her arm on the windowsill again, propped her chin up, and looked at Ellie.
“I’m bored.”
Deborah tried to count how long it had been since she had done nothing like this, but stopped when she realized that it had been at least a hundred years.
It seemed like it had been a very long time since she had worn clothes other than armor.
The most recent cloth clothes she had worn were the luxurious tailcoat she had worn to the banquet in the Imperial Palace, but at least that was a disguise, so in some ways, it could also be called armor.
At least it was an ‘assignment’ according to the Princess’s orders, so Deborah continued to think without dwelling on the tailcoat at that time, and suddenly looked down at her upper body.
Deborah, wearing a patient gown with buttons that seemed to be struggling around her voluptuous chest, looked surprisingly feminine, an image that was unimaginable in her usual appearance.
“…That’s right, almost 50 years… no, 60 years? I’ve only been wearing armor every day.”
Deborah turned her gaze to where her missing arm should have been.
The sleeve, with nothing inside, fluttered in a flattened shape.
Deborah chuckled and mumbled.
“It’s been a long time… it’s time to quit.”
Deborah turned her gaze back to Ellie.
Ellie had calmed down to some extent, slapped her cheeks a few times, and then got up again and headed towards the Imperial Palace.
Deborah thought as she watched her.
After some time has passed, I will tell them I’m retiring.
That’s what she thought.
Deborah, who had already thrown the half-eaten apple into the trash can under the bed, collapsed back onto the bed.
She looked up at the ceiling and pondered.
“…Robin.”
Her disciple who cut off her arm.
He had talent from the first time she met him, and he was an incredibly hard worker.
When she first heard that he had been chosen as the Hero of this era, Deborah was not surprised at all.
Because she remembered the burning eyes of Robin’s face, shining with the will to become stronger.
At that time, she thought that his passion would save the world.
However, was that strong will motivated by escaping his humble status?
In the end, he was blinded by politics and power and betrayed his comrades.
He indulged in pleasure and arrogance, willingly hurting many people.
And in the end, the evil deeds he had created came back to life, he was covered in humiliating insults, and his name disappeared from the world.
Deborah even felt sorry for Robin for some reason.
Although she didn’t know it, she even felt guilty that her teachings had not been able to save him from Villard’s grasp.
She accepted her arm as a punishment for not stopping such a monster, so Deborah didn’t care.
Rather, what truly saddened her was something else.
“…Where did you go, you idiot disciple?”
Ed had disappeared again.
Just like 20 years ago, and like that day of reunion, so suddenly.
Unlike Robin, Ed was terribly untalented at using a sword.
But he was a beloved disciple who had left behind the proud achievement of finally beheading the Demon King with his nimble movements and quick actions, which he had learned to survive.
Ed struggled and writhed in the midst of the terrible misfortune that had befallen him and the bizarre reality of being resurrected as an undead, and eventually took everything from Robin who had betrayed him.
Achievements, status, family, and the holy sword.
In other words, even the name of Hero.
Deborah recalled the terrifying magic that Ed had used on the day of that fateful banquet.
The atmosphere at that time.
It was definitely not Ed.
Because Ed was terribly untalented at magic too.
Perhaps it was the power of the Demon King that was dwelling within him.
Deborah trembled as she recalled his leisurely mocking of Robin.
Not because she was afraid, but because she remembered how much Ed had restrained himself.
“That foolish guy…”
He could have rampaged as much as he wanted.
I can’t even imagine how many opportunities and temptations there were to wield that terrifying power, abandoning himself to anger and hatred, without caring about the consequences.
But Deborah knew that he had hesitated to cross the line until the very end.
Rather, that’s why he must have been so hurt and tormented.
Ed’s reddened eyes, crying in Deborah’s arms like a child who had lost his mother, flashed through Deborah’s mind.
Ed resented the time that had passed, but he tried to suppress his anger at the changed world as much as possible.
Of course, looking at the state of this Imperial Palace, which is currently in great chaos, you could say that he vented his anger to some extent.
But isn’t this much the price that the world should pay him?
Deborah thought that far and then closed her eyes.
“The remaining people will take care of the rest from now on.”
After all, she was going to retire.
She had served this empire, no, the kingdom before it became an empire, for over 200 years.
Now that she wanted to rest, who would dare to say no?
Deborah smiled and sighed.
What should I do after I retire?
“An adventurer wouldn’t be bad either, a one-armed female knight.”
Deborah chuckled and shook her head.
Oh my, what am I thinking at this age.
Usually, when you retire, you should think about building a house in the countryside and decorating a flower garden.
But it seems that I’m just an awkward person who can’t stand still.
Deborah couldn’t erase the image of the adventurer that had flashed through her mind for a brief moment.
Now that the Demon King has been resurrected, there will be many people suffering from monsters.
The Demon King disappeared while fighting Ed, but no one thought the Demon King was dead.
There’s no way a moron who dies swept away by an explosion he created could be the Demon King.
Deborah mumbled.
“So where are you now, Ed?”
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the hospital room door.
“Deborah-nim. It’s time for your examination.”
“…Okay.”
When the door opened, a doctor appeared, wearing a white gown as usual and a bird-beak mask filled with herbs.
Deborah said, looking at the doctor.
“I’ve been saying this since yesterday, but I’m fine now. I don’t have any other injuries.”
“How can you say you don’t have any injuries when you don’t have an arm?”
“…Huh.”
“I’m sorry.”
Deborah looked at the doctor with a dumbfounded expression at the doctor’s cheeky reply.
The doctor bowed his head and said.
“Just think of this as a chance to rest. Even with the help of the elixir, ordinary people would be lying down for months after their arm is cut off.”
“…Hey,”
“I’m sorry.”
“What are you doing in that getup?”
“…?”
Deborah looked at the doctor with a dumbfounded expression.
“Ed.”
“…Ah, no?”
“What?”
“…”
“…”
The doctor scratched his head and said.
“How did you know?”
Deborah poked Ed’s head with her leg instead of her missing arm and said.
“The doctor in the Imperial Palace is a woman, you know?”
“…Ah,”
Deborah wrapped her legs around Ed, who was making a sound of exhaustion, and pulled him in.
Then, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder and said.
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Me too, Master-nim.”
Ed said, holding Deborah’s empty sleeve.
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