WeTried Translations
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 201: The King's Return (10)
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One by one, people entered through the open gates. Following the Knights of Ash came lords from every region.
Royal loyalists and neutral lords led by Duke Rosenberg. Each looked around Baldheim, which they had returned to after so long, with complicated expressions. Though thousands had gathered near the southern gate, where all of Duke Ehrenfeld's knights lay dead, the area was silent. Instead, the duke's remaining soldiers muttered in trembling voices.
“Ah...”
“It’s over. It’s all over.”
“I... I can’t do this anymore. I have to go home.”
“Why were we fighting in the first place? Why did we even...?”
Clang! Clang! Clatter!
As the knights and soldiers at the front appeared behind them, Duke Ehrenfeld's troops guarding the southern gate each dropped their weapons. The sound of blades hitting the ground rang loudly from all directions.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on Kyle and Oswin.
The well over one thousand citizens and soldiers standing behind Oswin looked to Kyle, the returned Commander of the Knights of Ash. The lords and Ash Knights standing behind Kyle looked to Oswin, Hailen's oldest pillar.
Beginning with the knights beside Oswin, Baldheim's soldiers and citizens fell to their knees one after another.
As though paying respect to the returned royal knight.
Or as though praying to a god named Kyle.
“Ah...”
The old Count of the Royal Court's eyes reddened as he stared endlessly at Kyle.
There had been so much he wanted to say. He had counted the days until this moment.
Yet now that they stood face to face, he could not speak. He did not know what to say, or how to begin. He felt like a fool.
No, perhaps he had become mute.
Ever since the Northern War ended. Ever since then.
“I apologize. I am very late.”
Kyle was the first to break the silence. After moving his lips for a while, he finally managed to speak.
“How...?”
“I had some matters to attend to.”
“...”
“I am glad you are safe.”
Oswin's trembling eyes widened slightly. Taking it all in, Kyle slowly looked around.
Baldheim, which he had returned to after five long years, had not changed much. The only difference from the last time he had seen it was the countless soldiers behind him and the citizens kneeling before him.
As he watched them, all that had happened passed before his eyes like a panorama. So much had happened since they lost the war, fled south, and returned north.
“I would like nothing more than to catch up after our reunion at once.”
“...”
“But it seems there is still work to be done.”
Kyle gave a signal with his eyes. As though they had agreed beforehand, the knights of House Haska and the Royal Palace beside Oswin all rose at once.
“Your Excellency.”
“Yes. Speak, Commander.”
“As the Commander of the Knights of Ash and the last member of the royal family, I wish to see this through. Would you guide me?”
Kyle spoke politely. Oswin did not even need to answer.
In the blink of an eye, a straight path opened all the way to the Royal Palace. The citizens and soldiers, rising together with the knights, split to either side. Kyle exchanged glances with Hermann, Walter, and the other Ash Knights.
Countless people followed behind Kyle as he led the way.
* * *
Duke Ehrenfeld awoke from his sleep without realizing it.
When he lifted his heavy eyelids, the first thing he saw was the ceiling of his lavish room, shrouded in dim darkness. He could also feel the soft blankets brushing against his skin.
What time is it?
With a muddled mind, Duke Ehrenfeld looked at the clock on his bedside table. It seemed quite some time had passed since he fell asleep, as its hands had already passed midnight.
Tossing and turning from insomnia was nothing new. Still, it was incredibly irritating that he could not sleep deeply even after relying on alcohol.
Damn it. I got thoroughly drunk, yet I still can’t sleep properly.
Even by a generous estimate, it would take several more weeks for the outlying lords to gather in Baldheim. It would be a race against time, so preserving his strength for the moment was his top priority. For that, sufficient sleep was essential.
I should have another drink.
Muttering inwardly, Duke Ehrenfeld dragged his heavy body out of bed. Faint moonlight streaming through the window softly illuminated the room.
He had no particular worries. Baldheim's walls were high, its gates sturdy. Oswin was imprisoned in the deepest part of the underground prison.
The duke walked over to the table where he had been drinking earlier and poured more liquor into his empty glass. Just as he raised it to his lips and was about to tilt it back.
“Something terrible has happened!”
The closed door suddenly flew open.
“Baldheim's southern gate...!”
* * *
After entering Baldheim with Oswin's help, Kyle gave instructions to the lords following him as he walked down the avenue at the heart of the capital.
“Duke Ehrenfeld's soldiers remain everywhere except the southern gate. Deal with all of them.”
“Yes.”
“Offer surrender first, but kill them if they resist. Deal with the knights and mages on the spot. We don't know what they may attempt.”
The moment the orders were issued, a large portion of the six thousand troops split into several groups and spread throughout the city. Their movements were utterly refined, without a single wasted motion.
Kyle had more than six thousand soldiers. Duke Ehrenfeld, on the other hand, had just over three thousand private soldiers. The knights and mages guarding the southern gate had all been killed, and the remaining five hundred or so soldiers had been subdued. In truth, the battle had effectively ended the moment they entered the capital.
Even so, Kyle allowed not a single opening.
He led the Ash Knights and the lords who had sworn loyalty to him.
Behind them followed countless citizens and soldiers of Baldheim.
Though it was past midnight, Baldheim was more crowded than ever. Those who woke late opened their eyes wide at the sudden upheaval, but once they grasped the situation, they joined the procession.
Kyle stood at the head of it all.
Without the slightest hesitation, he walked through the city that had once been as good as his hometown. The shopping district that was always crowded during festivals. The central plaza, where laughter never ceased amid bards' songs and jesters' tricks. Baldheim's tallest bell tower, thick with memories of Cecilia.
And finally, the entrance to the Royal Palace, which had been as good as his home.
“What is... this...?”
A group that seemed to have come out in advance had gathered at the Royal Palace entrance. They were the traitors led by Duke Ehrenfeld.
“Count of the Royal Court of Ingrahim...!”
Duke Ehrenfeld, who had rushed out in a panic wearing only sleepwear and a thin outer robe, widened his eyes upon seeing Oswin directly behind Kyle.
Yet despite the fury blazing in his eyes, he could do no harm. The entire avenue leading to the Royal Palace was already filled with a tide of countless citizens and soldiers. The Ash Knights were also quietly watching him.
“The defenses were breached sooner than I expected.”
“Ah...”
“Do you have any last words?”
The knights beside Duke Ehrenfeld quickly darted their eyes around. But there was no way out.
The duke gave a hollow laugh as though he had lost his mind, then raised his voice.
“I... I was not wrong!”
Duke Ehrenfeld sharply raised his murderous gaze.
“It was necessary. An unavoidable sacrifice.”
“And?”
“What have you all done until now? You call me a traitor who sold Hailen to the Empire? No! I saved the north from destruction! I could not trade lives for worthless honor and history! I could not sacrifice our future!”
Duke Ehrenfeld's voice boomed through the center of Baldheim.
“Who negotiated before the Empire could destroy the north?”
He appealed to the people surrounding him.
“It was me. Me, and no one else!”
Several citizens turned their heads away as though unwilling to look at him.
“You too! Did you not all silently agree?”
Duke Ehrenfeld continued as though coughing up blood.
“And now you will cast every original sin upon me? Who among you can throw a stone at me? Who can condemn me, after I endured such terrible disgrace to save this north...?!”
“Duke Ehrenfeld. If you truly bowed your head to the Empire for the sake of the north.”
Kyle cut him off.
“When I returned, you should have knelt before me. Instead of being blinded by an empty throne and speaking of mutual destruction.”
The duke let out another hollow laugh. Unlike before, this one held resignation rather than disbelief.
“I was... wrong? You are saying I was wrong not to bow before a coward who abandoned his homeland?”
Kyle did not listen to another word and began walking.
With every step he took, Duke Ehrenfeld's knights instinctively flinched and stepped back.
“A defeated man laid low by a mere curse...”
“...”
“What right do you have to judge me?!”
Clang!
Duke Ehrenfeld pulled a sword from the waist of one of the retreating knights. Before the startled knight could stop him, he charged at Kyle at full speed.
“Aaaah!”
His stance was unsteady. His appearance was disheveled from drink.
Kyle, on the other hand, did not waver in the slightest. Holding Yurian's sword, which had become more familiar than ever, he swung it lightly.
The blades crossed.
A single strike.
Crack!
The white blade cleanly cut the duke's sword in two. Duke Ehrenfeld passed by Kyle, then stared blankly at the broken blade in his hand.
“Sword Aura...? How...?”
Cough!
He vomited blood. A beat later, terrible pain flooded through him. When he came to his senses, he saw that not only his sword, but his chest had also been slashed in a long diagonal cut. Blood flowed from the wound and bubbled as it was consumed by the pure white Sword Aura.
“I...”
“...”
“I will never...”
Thud!
Duke Ehrenfeld's blood-soaked body collapsed softly.
Kyle only turned his head to confirm the duke's corpse, then dispersed the Sword Aura rising from Yurian's sword into the air.
Then he declared to them all.
“All of them.”
“...”
“Kill every last one. Do not leave a single person who swore loyalty to Duke Ehrenfeld.”
The moment he finished speaking, the Ash Knights moved. Duke Ehrenfeld's remaining knights shouted desperately.
“Wait... P-Please spare us!”
“I did nothing...!”
Their excuses became their final words.
Leaving the duke's knights to die behind him, Kyle stepped into the Royal Palace. Whether preparations had been made in advance while freeing Oswin from the underground prison, unconscious or dead people lay scattered from the palace entrance onward.
Kyle entered the Royal Palace with complete familiarity and stopped before the massive doors he had long awaited.
Then.
Creeeak.
The doors opened.
The first thing that entered his sight was the vast audience chamber.
A blue carpet stretched in a straight line through the chamber from the entrance. At the far end, atop a platform, stood an empty throne. Pale moonlight poured faintly behind the dust-covered throne.
Kyle stared at the sight for a moment, then slowly began walking toward the throne.
He passed down the path he had taken on the day he received his first knighthood.
Until he reached the platform at the end of the audience chamber, which he had always looked up toward.
Countless thoughts swept through his mind in an instant. Eleven years had already passed since he fell into this world. The years slowly rewound before the empty throne.
When he had first become a knight, he never thought he would stand here. Hailen had become his second home, and he had vaguely believed that Yurian, his most precious friend, would one day inherit the throne.
Not anymore.
Holding Yurian's sword, Kyle settled into the empty throne. Moonlight pouring down from overhead clearly illuminated the depths of the audience chamber.
At some point, lords from every region had entered behind him and lined up below the throne. There were Haska, Lunbern, Sigreta, and Wolfran, as well as Duke Rosenberg. There were also many neutral lords and lesser lords.
Only after the Ash Knights, having finished dealing with matters outside, took their places did Duke Rosenberg, standing at the front, speak.
“House Rosenberg has served the Baldrick royal family for more than a thousand years. Ever since the first king, Asherad, founded Hailen.”
He looked around the audience chamber. The heads of the other houses stared intently at him.
“That has not changed even now. I told you before, did I not? That I would remain by your side and see how far you could go.”
“...”
“It is time to swear once more.”
He suddenly drew the sword at his waist. Its clear ring echoed through the quiet audience chamber.
“From this moment on, I, Elvaric Rosenberg, pledge my loyalty to you until the day I die. This is the will of my house, and it shall not change until the day the north disappears.”
Clang.
The old high noble drove the sword he held in one hand into the floor.
“For the King of the North. Glory to Hailen.”
Duke Rosenberg bowed deeply.
Immediately afterward, as though they had been waiting for it, the other lords drew their swords one by one.
“For the King of the North. Glory to Hailen.”
The raised swords fell to the floor one after another. Beneath the clear metallic sounds, cold blades were driven into the ground in reverse grip.
Before long, everyone gathered in the audience chamber was bowing with swords in hand. The Ash Knights did the same.
After watching them for a while, Kyle suddenly looked at his right hand. In the callused hand, with its crooked fingers, was the keepsake of his dearest friend.
Yurian...
Kyle tightened his grip on Yurian's sword. Like the lords who had sworn loyalty to him, he held the hilt in reverse grip and planted it firmly before the throne.
“Count of the Royal Court of Ingrahim.”
Standing first to Kyle's left, opposite Duke Rosenberg at the front, Oswin slightly raised his head before bowing politely again.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Deliver a message to Duke Ehrenfeld's remaining forces.”
Kyle's eyes left Oswin and fixed on the open doors of the audience chamber.
“They may die, or kneel before me.”
Kyle's black eyes were deep and still as he gazed beyond Baldheim.
“There is no other choice.”
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