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Side Story Chapter 23

He ignored the fleeing soldiers and only went after the knights slaying their own comrades. Both his spear techniques and his movement were exceptional. Diving into a hundred thousand enemies took incredible courage, and not just anyone could move like Selim was doing right now.

“That crazy bastard. What if the soldiers backstab him!?” Kireua shouted.

-Ganging up on Selim?

“…Ganging up?” Kireua frowned. “Where did you learn that word?”

-Books.

“Language, Coal. You should use words like ‘assault’ or ‘attack’ for a time like this.”

-You’re boring, Kireua.

“Forget it. Get ready.” Kireua landed on the ground and sprang forward.

“I-It’s Joshua Sandersssss!”

“Shut your mouth, you fucking bastard! It’s ‘His Majesty’! You’re going to get us all killed!” One of the soldiers that hadn’t managed to escape yet grabbed his comrade by the collar and then knelt before Kireua. “Y-Your Majesty, we surrender…!”

Of course Kireua just passed by the rebel soldiers because Selim was going up against all five hundred rebel knights on his own even at that very moment.

“So the five leaders brought one knight order from each of their families? Why did Selim jump right in the center of those knights? No doubt those are the best knights they had!”

All of the five hundred rebel knights were going after Selim, which allowed the rebel soldiers to escape through the rear exit much easier.

“Yo-Your Majesty!”

“Hurray for His Majesty!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Like the old story about an ocean miraculously splitting in half, no one stood in Kireua’s way.

“Ah, I think I’m working too hard…” Kireua grumbled.

He was now ten meters away from his destination. The rebel knights in the back of the fight turned to look at Kireua in surprise. Kireua immediately raised his spear above his head, spinning it over his head. The sky trembled. The techniques Kireua had learned ten years ago would be enough to fight against those rebel knights.

Magic Spear Arts Level 3, Transformation Spear.

The air in the rebel camp hummed quietly. While infusing his aura into the spear, Kireua focused his mana all over his wrist and arm muscles. The mana training method that the Emperor of Avalon had taught Kireua enabled his muscles to become as flexible as if he had no bones.

Of course, that was all Kireua could do. He was smart enough to understand the exquisite principle of Magic Spear Arts and become flexible, which was essential in using spears. However, Kireua didn’t have the most important trait of a good spearman. Kireua was born with short and slender fingers, which was a critical disadvantage. A spearman had to be able to freely change his grip at the right moment, but that wasn’t easy for Kireua; he often lost his grip on the spear and his balance during spars.

One smashed an opponent with the shaft of the spear, and the tip of a spear to stab another. To strike the killing blow, one used a spear’s blade. Spears required different grips depending on the situation; there was a reason why long weapons were difficult to maneuver. The more improvements Kireua had made in the Magic Spear Arts, the more unbalanced Kireua became when using the spear. However, Kireua’s disadvantage became advantage in swordcraft because his small hands gave him a very strong grip.

Kireua’s fierce swings came to a halt with the spear pointed to the front.

“Asura’s Path,” he quietly murmured.

Hundreds of magnificent black lines decorated the sky in a beautiful demonstration of the ultimate spear technique. The rebels’ horses neighed frantically in surprise; the hundreds of black spears spawned from Kireua’s one spear were real, not illusions.

The battlefield erupted with the clamor of metal.

“Arrggghhh!”

The rebel knights hit by Kireua’s attacks were knocked off their horses, joining the knights who had been struck by Selim’s spear.

The knights attacked by Selim were actually in a worse state. A single explosion catapulted ten of the rebel knights away. It was quickly followed by a chain of another three explosions in rapid succession. From Kireua’s perspective, Selim was at least above the level of a Master and able to use Magic Spear Arts’ Level 5 techniques.

“…I was worried about nothing.” Kireua chuckled to himself as he came to stand beside Selim.

In only a matter of seconds, over fifty of the rebel knights were groaning in pain on the ground.

Selim casually slung his spear over his shoulder. “Are you going to continue?” he asked the rebels.

“I-Is he really Joshua Sanders?” a rebel knight asked. The rebels were too busy looking at Kireua to pay attention to Selim\'s skills.

“…How dare you call His Majesty by his name? Do you want to die?” Selim asked coldly.

The knight was unable to take the pressure and sank to the ground.

“Count Manto, stop sacrificing your people and come forward before I make you,” Selim ordered.

Manto stepped forward, trembling faintly. “T-take off your robe,” he stuttered.

“What?”

Manto shut his eyes. “I need to see with my own eyes if His Majesty has truly returned.”

“…That is very rude of you. I swore on my mana.”

“Bu-But…!” Manto started to tremble again.

Kireua said nothing. The ploy to make the soldiers retreat had proceeded smoothly, but the situation was taking an odd turn. It seemed that Manto and the other rebel leaders weren’t going to back down no matter what. What would have the Emperor of Avalon done in a situation like this?

‘Hey, Coal,’ Kireua called.

-Yup?

‘Can you eat my hair?’ Kireua asked. ‘I want to dye it black.’

-I don’t eat trash.

Kireua frowned. ‘…You little shit.’

-But I can still change the color.

‘What? Seriously?’

-Yup, I can go inside you, then your eye and hair colors will all change like me.

‘Good. Let’s try it.’ Kireua mumbled in his mind and pulled the robe to cover his face up to his nose. Since his robe was made for winter, he could cover his entire face except for his eyes. The leading rebels became more suspicious.

“…Why are you covering your face? I knew it.” Marto’s mouth curled into a smirk. “You’re—”

Kireua heard a hum in his ear that no one else noticed; he instinctively realized that Coal had entered his body.

‘…But what is with this power?’ Kireua wondered. Something felt strange; for some reason, he felt like he could do anything right now.

-Stay still. I’ll take care of this.

Selim sent Kireua a telepathic message, but Kireua quietly shook his head and took off his hood.

“Hup!” Someone gasped after seeing the pitch-black hair and obsidian eyes—they were darker than Selim’s and stood out even at night. Very few people in the continent had those kinds of eyes and hair. In fact, it was very rare to find people with black hair and eyes. Since Kireua was Joshua’s son, it was only natural that he looked very similar.

“I-It really is His Majesty…!”

Even Selim\'s eyes widened.

Kireua walked wordlessly toward Manto, the rebel knights parting before his path. He vividly remembered the Emperor of Avalon’s voice, so what he needed right now was the Emperor of Avalon’s guts.

“…Count Manto,” Kireua said in a low tone.

“Yo-Your Majesty…!” Manto was already half out of his mind, so he kneeled immediately.

That was the beginning; the rebel knights subconsciously took several steps backward and prostrated to Joshua Sanders, the Emperor of Avalon, the great hero of Igrant, and the Martial God.

“You test me until the end,” Kireua stated.

Manto flinched.

If Manto kept hearing Kireua’s voice, he would notice something was odd, so Kireua had to finish this quickly.

“If you have any excuses, now is the time to say it.”

“I-I just did it for Avalon!” Manto hurriedly shouted.

“For Avalon?” Kiruea repeated.

“After y-you disappeared, Avalon went through all the signs of a country on the road to destruction. The country has been torn into four pieces, and the two princes are busy fighting between themselves for power just like twenty years ago!”

“Why did the country divide into four pieces in the first place? Isn’t that because of traitors like you?” Kireua accused.

“At least we in the south have a good reason! Queen Consort Charles! She’s the problem!”

Kireua’s eyes turned cold. He hadn’t expected Manto to mention his mother right now.

“After becoming the new Duchess of Pontier and gaining absolute power as a queen consort, Charles di Pontier has been wrongfully pressuring the noble lords in the southern region! But you must have not been aware of this, Your Majesty,” Manto quickly added.

“…Exactly what wrongful pressure are you talking about?”

“In the rich plains of the south, we grow crops, but we deliver all our harvested crops to the Pontier Merchant Group, enabling it to become one of the five top merchant groups on the continent. It may be called the Pontier Merchant Group, but all the noble lords in the south contributed to its success,” Manto explained.

“So?”

“At least the previous Duke Pontier appreciated our hard work and did not recklessly intervene in the private matters of our lands!” Manto exclaimed.

At that moment, Kireua smiled coldly. He already knew the whole story.

“That is because the noble lords in the south like you imposed an eighty percent tax on your tenants out of your greed, isn’t it?” Kireua tilted his head. “There is no means for your tenants to make ends meet under those conditions. How are they supposed to survive?”

Manto visibly trembled. The people in the central government only checked whether or not the citizens were paying their taxes on time, so there was no way for them to know such details. Unless they were directly involved in the matter or there was a mole in the south, no one would know the details.

Stunned by disbelief, Manto slowly stood up. “How—”

Manto’s head soared into the air, severed by an elegant black line.

The nearby rebels were appalled. Viscount Mendes was the first one to pull himself together.

“Y-Your Majesty!” he shouted, startled. “You promised us—!”

However, Kireua calmly pointed at Selim. “He’s the one who made the promise. I never said anything about sparing you all.”