Chapter 199: 106. Lomania -1 (Part Two)
**
When Lome kingdom’s nobles arrived in the audience chamber, they were greeted by the sight of First Prince Barus and Second Prince Derian kneeling on the floor.
“Y-your highness...?!”
I figured that this scene must’ve seemed rather incomprehensible to these nobles.
The leader of the rebels, the First Prince, being here was one thing, but then, the sight of the Second Prince kneeling like this must be quite shocking to them, as well.
The Paladins brandished their holy spears and pointed them at the gathered nobles.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
“Could it be that the Theocratic Empire is trying to invade our Lome Kingdom...?!”
It was right at that moment; the door to the royal audience chamber was pushed open.
-Ku-aaaaah!
The nobles promptly clamped their mouth shut.
They could see a single lycan in shackles being dragged in by the Paladins. Not just the undead creature alone, but even Rose Darina with her arms and legs shackled tightly was being dragged in along with her maidservant as well.
Derian’s complexion paled even more at this sight.
I remained seated on the throne, and after resting my cheek on the back of my hand, I addressed them all, “As you all can see, your Second Prince Derian has been working with the Vampires all along and even provided shelter to Second Crown Princess Consort.”
The eyes of the nobles opened wider.
“This is an act of high treason that clearly goes against the rules of the continent. Not to forget, this is also the conduct of a devil worshipper that defies the laws of the gods.”
It didn’t matter whether you were a prince or a member of the Imperial Family, you wouldn’t be able to keep your head from such a serious crime.
“Is there anyone who’s not convinced now?”
The nobles stared at Derian with looks of disbelief clearly etched on their faces.
I used [Mind’s Eye] to check out the gathered nobles, but as expected, it wasn’t possible to find out if there were any other collaborators hidden among them. And there were no Vampires either.
I glanced at Rose Darina next.
She lightly bowed her head at me and offered a simple greeting, “It’s been a while, Seventh Imperial Prince Allen Olfolse.”
I couldn’t help but frown at her current attitude.
She was rather relaxed for some reason. She must’ve known that once we dragged her back home, her head would go flying away. And yet, I couldn’t see a single hint of anxiety or nervousness from her at all.
I turned my head and stared at Charlotte.
She shook her head side to side before approaching me.
After leaning in closer, she whispered, “It’s far too easy, your highness.”
I had to agree with her assessment.
“Definitely.”
This was strange. Not only was it way too easy, it felt too simple as well. This sour-tasting and ominous foreboding took a hold of me in no time at all.
Why was this? I thought the Vampires were protecting Rose Darina? Was I wrong?
Why were they handing over Rose this easily? What about Prince Derian? Was he nothing more than a disposable pawn?
But... to achieve what exactly?
Was it really as simple as them exploiting the civil war in the Lome Kingdom to increase their forces?
I had no way of finding out. No way of knowing what the Vampires had been scheming, what they ultimately wanted to achieve.
I tried to remember what Derian had told me earlier.
-O-of course it was me who sent the assassins. However, I was merely told to do it, that’s all!
Apparently, it wasn’t his decision alone to send the assassins.
-It was Raiden. He told me to do it. He said that it’s the best way to unite the Lome Kingdom into one... He even told me that he could do something about the Theocratic Empire by himself!
Hang on, Raiden did what?
A dazed expression floated up on my face.
Derian, Rose, and those low-calibre assassins.
This feeling that the Vampires simply handed everything over to me...
...As if they were just bait in the end.
Bait?
“Hang on a second here.”
I swallowed my dry saliva.
The information on Rose’s whereabouts had been leaked out way too easily, didn’t it? And after receiving that news, the scions of the Imperial Family, burning with flames of vengeance, personally stepped up to handle the subjugation effort.
And right now...
“It can’t be...”
Two members of the Imperial Family, the ones that the Vampires feared so much, were currently in the kingdom of Lome – Crown Imperial Prince White, and his son Luan Olfolse.
Lome embroiled in the civil war would surely prove to be easier than...
“Did they deliberately lure us out here...?”
...The Theocratic Empire if the Vampires were planning to eliminate them.
Charlotte’s expression hardened at my observation.
**
A bat watching the proceedings from high up in the skies of Lomania flew towards a forest over a hill some distance away from the capital city. After it reached its destination, the creature scattered away into ashes and disappeared.
“How can this be!”
A bizarre-looking monster muttered out loudly in clear excitement.
It turned its head and looked at Raiden standing next to it.
The monster with wrinkled face, pale-white hide, sharp and prominent eyes, and white hair was none other than the Progenitor Vampire named Marquis Kirum.
He rubbed his eyes with his lengthy fingers. “It’s truly amazing! Amazing, I say! He was quicker than we suspected him to be! We hadn’t anticipated this turn of events. It seems that we’ve been underestimating the Seventh Imperial Prince until now!”
This Vampire had goblin-like facial features while its arms and legs were abnormally lengthy. As for its attire, it was dressed like a clown with chequered patterns.
Actually, Marquis Kirum was already referred to as the ‘insane clown’ even among the Vampires.
He looked quite awed at the moment. Having watched the Seventh Imperial Prince in action through its bat familiar until now, he could only speak in admiration of the boy. “Not only does he have a way to detect Vampires hidden among humans, he also possesses another method to detect collaborators working for us. Coaxing the Second Prince just in case turned out to be the right call in the end!”
“Indeed, he... acted faster than I have anticipated.”
Raiden didn’t expect the boy to act this quickly. That boy didn’t simply pressure Derian for the suspicion of the assassination attempt, but even seemed to have gained insight on the Second Prince’s connection to the Vampires and Rose Darina in an instant.
In other words, the Seventh Imperial Prince was ‘certain’ that Derian was an accomplice working with Rose and the Vampires.
And with this, the Vampire had become certain of it.
The Seventh Imperial Prince was able to see ‘something’. No, wait – to be more precise, he was seeing through one’s heart. As if he could read what’s in a person’s mind.
But then, Marquis Kirum spoke up what was in his mind, which proved to be slightly different from Raiden’s thoughts. “However, whatever that method is, it’s not perfect. It seems there’s some kind of restrictions on it. If that wasn’t it, he wouldn’t have resorted to torturing Derian like that earlier.”
The boy could glean into one’s thoughts, but was unable to find everything out – that was the conclusion the Vampire had come to.
With an expression of a man who had stumbled across something genuinely intriguing, Marquis Kirum began rubbing his hands gleefully like some kind of a fly. “This is truly interesting. Ah, ah... That livestock sure is tempting, isn’t he? As expected of someone called the Saint. It seems that the rumours of him being blessed by Gaia weren’t false. Oh, how I wish to keep him as a pet and enjoy drinking his blood for a long, long time!”
Raiden glanced at Marquis Kirum next to him.
“However, he possesses eyes that allows him to discern us, making him even more dangerous than the Holy Emperor himself. We got lucky this time. To think that he’d willingly leave the Theocratic Empire. Our original targets had been just the First Imperial Prince Luan and the Crown Imperial Prince, after all.”
By leaking out information with Rose as the bait, both Luan and the Crown Imperial Prince, burning with flames of vengeance, would no doubt blindly latch onto it.
By using Derian, those two could be tied down in the capital of the Lome Kingdom, Lomania. The pretext of needing to investigate the rebels would certainly buy ample enough time, and once they figured out that the ‘Vampires’ were involved in the matter, they wouldn’t want to leave the kingdom anytime soon.
“It’s great that...” Marquis Kirum’s eyes gleamed sharply. “...We can now kill them all at the same time.”
“...”
This was the end goal of their plan.
The reason why they kept Rose Darina around when she was no longer useful was to serve her up as the ‘sacrifice’. However, they didn’t expect the Seventh Imperial Prince to interfere as well.
But this was actually for the better.
Marquis Kirum’s lips curled up so much that his cheeks almost tore open. “About two hundred thousand citizens live in Lomania. The number of the capital defence force is about seven thousand and five hundred. One thousand Heavenly Army Paladins. Although this is a fairly strong combat force, they are still ‘prey’ that we can eliminate no problem.”
Raiden glanced behind the clearly-excited Marquis Kirum.
Several Vampires emitting bizarre, monstrous auras but still retaining the outer appearances of humans leisurely walked out from the forest.
Marquis Kirum cackled hoarsely. He elegantly waved his hand at the Progenitors that had made their entrance and spoke, “Dear Marquis Raiden, please say hello. These fine folks are the nobles entrusted with the task of today’s ‘slaughter’.”
He then pointed to individual Progenitor Vampires and introduced them.
“Baron Jenis, Baronet Berunie, Viscount Logher, Baron Tiru, Count Guibert, plus thirty knights from the knight order directly under his majesty the Vampire King.”
The Progenitor Vampires’ sharp eyes gleamed coldly.
The number of the ‘undead army’ they had gathered from throughout the kingdom of Lome was around two thousand, plus they could summon three thousand more of mid- to upper-tier undead as well.
“We have an undead army five thousand strong with us.” Marquis Kirum turned his head and stared at the distant capital city of Lome kingdom, Lomania. “Not only that, two hundred thousand citizens who will serve as our livestock are waiting for us. Every time we kill them, they would become a part of the growing zombie army. With this, we should be able to...”
Marquis Kirum glanced at Raiden briefly.
“...Kill all the scions of the Imperial Family. Wouldn’t you agree, Marquis Raiden?”
“...Indeed. We will, Marquis Kirum.”
Sure, the Crown Imperial Prince was there, but Raiden was tasked with dealing with him. That’s why he was here, after all. If the battle became unfavourable, then other Progenitors would participate as well.
As for Marquis Kirum, he should be able to handle the Seventh Imperial Prince and First Imperial Prince Luan.
Raiden turned his head and looked at Lomania. He then recalled the face of Prince Derian.
The former dragon slayer clenched his teeth hard. Blood seeped out from between his teeth.
He had to bow his head not to the Vampire King that he swore his loyalty to, but to some measly little livestock. Oh, how humiliating that was.
But now, the time had come to vent his anger.
“I knew it, she was just bait.”
It was then, a voice suddenly came to the Vampires, and Raiden’s eyes shot wide open. He quickly turned his head in the direction of that voice.
A man was walking out of the forest.
“I’ve been thinking that the situation in Lome looked weird all along, you see?” The man muttered in clear dissatisfaction while scratching the back of his head. “So I investigated the whole kingdom just in case and discovered that quite a few villages and territories not in the war zones had disappeared from the map. Not only that, the residents there had all turned into the undead, too.”
This man didn’t look scared at all even though bizarre monsters were nearby.
“I’ve been chasing after you creeps for ten years already. And guess what? I’ve run into this sort of trap plenty of times before.”
The Progenitor Vampires shed cold sweat drops and stumbled back in fear.
“However, you bastards sure have gone out of your way to prepare this, haven’t you? That’s certainly surprising! I knew that you were getting more systematic and organised lately, but to think that it’d be on this scale.”
Storms of divinity began swirling around the man. Swords of light materialised and took aim at the Vampires.
Marquis Kirum looked at the man and cried out in shock, “It’s the head collector!”
The man furrowed his brows unhappily. “Hey, my name is White Olfolse. Who are you calling the head collector here?”
Indeed, he was none other than the Crown Imperial Prince of the Theocratic Empire.
White smiled refreshingly and waved his hand at the Vampires. “Whatever the case may be, it’s still nice to meet you all like this, Vampires. And also...”
Suddenly, the light in White’s eyes grew deathly frigid.
“...This is a goodbye, too.”
The swords of light impaled the Vampires.
< 106. Lomania -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.