WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈
Chapter 74: The World's Perspective
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The conquest of the Ashen Forest, the Holy Sword’s awakening, and the Demon King’s subjugation.
The public’s first response to the news that swept across the Empire was deep suspicion and ridicule.
A Cardenos brat had killed the Demon King?
Everyone scoffed, calling it such an outrageous lie that even a passing dog would laugh at it.
But as the expedition members who had returned alive began to speak out, the situation gradually changed.
A dim tavern in a back alley of the imperial capital.
Bang!
Mercenaries claiming to be part of the Ashen Forest Expedition’s vanguard slammed their fists on tables and shouted.
“You stupid bastards! I saw it with my own two eyes!”
“Why won’t you believe me? Commander Astin plunged into that magical beast’s head like a meteor!”
“He even took down the Demon King alone, after being chosen by the Holy Sword!”
Mercenaries were the most worldly and selfish sort.
Yet those rough men bulged the veins in their necks, their eyes welling with tears as they fervently told their stories.
“Wait, it’s true?”
“Have you spent your whole life being fooled? We saw it ourselves!”
“Still, doesn’t it sound impossible?”
“Fuck, if I’m lying, I’ll cut off my own hand!”
Even those who had mocked the story began to reconsider after the mercenaries vouched for it.
Some gossipmongers were moved and spread the rumors.
Then the Imperial Capital Gazette, the Empire’s fastest source of news, began to move.
“Extra! Special report!”
[Special Report] The Black Lion of Cardenos pierced the Demon King’s heart alone!
[Breaking News] The danger of the Demon King’s resurrection has been stopped before it began! The Black Lion of Cardenos, who saved the Empire and now hovers between life and death...
Testimony from countless people and the Imperial Capital Gazette’s special reports. The rumor spread rapidly, stirring the hearts of the people.
Astin, the Ring Knight. Or Astin, Meteor Sword.
And at the end, he was always called the Demon King Slayer.
The Demon King had been a seed of disaster that could have become a grave threat to the Empire.
Astin had succeeded in subjugating it alone, without anyone’s help.
Once the truth became clear, the public’s lingering doubts went out like a candle in the wind.
“Damn, it’s real? The Holy Sword Keeper testified in person?”
“That’s impossible. How could he kill the Demon King alone?”
“Why would the Holy Sword Keeper go mad and lie? There’s the Commandment too.”
Before long, people throughout the Empire were chanting Astin’s name as one.
Astin became a heated topic even at noble banquets in the imperial palace and the salons of noblewomen.
“Did Lady Azelin have no sense at all? Leaving such a noble man behind to fool around with another man.”
“She must have been thoughtless because she was young. Young Lord Astin merely punished an unfaithful woman.”
“Lady Lucia must have had a reason for choosing the young lord at the ball. She really does have an eye for people.”
Even Astin’s former reputation, once like a tag permanently attached to him, began to be glorified.
His past was recast as a calculated performance. He had played the wastrel to avoid the scrutiny of rotten noble society.
It had all been part of a grand plan to prepare for a great undertaking.
Beginning with the songs of bards, people everywhere began repeating the tale.
But the mood grew heavy when word spread that Astin was hovering between life and death.
Every night, the streets of the imperial capital flickered red with candlelight.
It was a nationwide display of respect that even a deceased emperor had never received. The people’s mourning for a living man spread like a tide.
“You traitorous bastards!”
Collective guilt was bound to ignite into an uncontrollable riot.
The public’s grief soon turned into rage and a feeling that they owed him.
That rage was directed at the scholars who had condemned the expedition as “the fuse of disaster.”
“You’re the Empire’s real disaster! Drag them out now!”
“You trash dared to stand in a hero’s way!”
“If the Grand Duke’s heir dies, you’ll die too!”
The enraged crowd threw filth at the scholarly society’s building and raised sickles and clubs.
The haughty scholars could only lock their doors tightly and tremble in fear.
While candles lit up the night in the square, torches burned outside the doors of the intellectual class.
“My judgment was right after all! I knew the Grand Duke’s heir of Cardenos would do it!”
Meanwhile, at the peak of imperial power.
Unlike the boiling public sentiment outside, the atmosphere in the imperial palace was far from pleasant.
Zenon raised a golden goblet before the ministers and offered a toast.
The smile twisted with joy was only a mask. Inside, his feelings had gone cold.
He had previously issued a statement supporting the Ashen Forest Expedition and provided military funds.
He was also presenting Astin’s success as the result of the Imperial Family’s wholehearted support, gathering public favor in the process.
Even so, the Empire’s public sentiment was directed not at the Imperial Family, but at Astin alone.
The people were not moved by justification or capital. They were moved by blood.
No matter how much the Imperial Family boasted about providing funds, all the public could see was Astin’s nobility.
Zenon considered Astin’s critical condition fortunate.
At the same time, he was wary of a future where Astin regained consciousness. There was a high chance Astin would become the Imperial Family’s political enemy.
“Given the gravity of this matter, listen carefully.”
Crown Prince Zenon was acting in place of the critically ill Emperor.
The atmosphere in the state council meeting he chaired was as cold as thin ice.
If Astin survived, he would someday become an uncontrollable monster capable of threatening the throne.
Zenon’s true wish was for Astin to die in the Ashen Forest.
Even if he returned alive, Zenon had expected the expedition to fail and Astin’s reputation to plummet.
Who could have imagined that he would not only conquer the Ashen Forest, but accomplish the miraculous feat of subjugating the Demon King as well?
The dice had been cast, and it was already done. They had to devise an immediate response.
“Why is no one saying anything? Shall we all just sit here and pray?”
That the Grand Duke’s heir of Cardenos would die. Zenon barely swallowed those words.
Political concerns aside, he could not tolerate it on a personal level either.
‘That bastard... Lucia...’
Zenon loved only her.
That bastard Astin had deceived him and brought Lucia into the expedition.
Just like during the Founding Festival, once again!
He had planned to tear Astin apart somehow once he returned from a failed expedition.
He had sharpened his blade for that very moment, yet things had turned out like this.
As Zenon agonized over the problem, an experienced minister spoke.
“Your Highness, there is no need to fear just because the Grand Duke’s heir of Cardenos subjugated the Demon King. Before the Empire’s laws, he is still merely a subject.”
“That is correct. We only need to put a leash on him with the Imperial Family’s authority.”
“Once the Grand Duke’s heir awakens, we should hold a victory banquet and an investiture ceremony.”
No matter how outstanding Astin was, he was ultimately only the Emperor’s loyal subject.
It would be a political performance intended to impress that perception upon the public.
“Is that all?”
A deep crease formed between Zenon’s brows.
The ministers’ measures were far from a clear answer.
Political trickery was nothing more than a transparent sham.
Astin possessed overwhelming martial strength that had cut down the Demon King alone, elite private soldiers who followed him blindly, and the legitimacy of being a living legend who had saved the Empire.
If he also gained enormous capital, Astin would become an enemy more dangerous to the Imperial Family than the Demon King.
‘Though he must still lack capital for now.’
Cardenos had poured an astronomical sum into this expedition.
Even if it had seized the Ashen Forest, extracting and refining resources from that barren land would likely bring more losses than gains.
‘For now, all I can do is hope Astin dies.’
Today marked his fifth day unconscious. It would not be wrong to consider him a living corpse.
Even the imperial physician had declared that it would not be strange if he died soon.
If Zenon had his way, he would immediately prepare Astin’s grand funeral and preserve him as a fallen hero.
Creeeak.
At that moment, the closed rear door of the meeting hall opened.
The person who rushed in was an intelligence agent from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
With a pale face, the agent approached the Minister of Internal Affairs at the round table and whispered in the minister’s ear.
Reports had arrived from the spies planted around the Cardenos estate.
As the Minister of Internal Affairs listened, their face turned white. The minister even glanced sideways at Zenon.
Unable to control his trembling, the minister fell flat to the floor.
Seeing that, Zenon carefully controlled his expression.
“What is it? Don’t tell me the Grand Duke’s heir has drawn his last breath...”
A faint joy slipped into his voice.
Unable to raise their head, the Minister of Internal Affairs repeatedly struck their forehead against the floor and forced out the words.
“T-The Grand Duke’s heir, Astin, has just regained consciousness.”
“...”
A suffocating silence descended upon the meeting hall.
Crrrk!
A chilling grinding sound tore through the silence. The golden goblet in Zenon’s hand crumpled.
“Y-Your Highness!”
“Your Highness, you’re bleeding!”
Bright red drops of blood fell between the golden fragments.
Zenon maintained a blank expression, but his jaw was rigid.
‘That bastard didn’t die after all.’
* * *
At the same time, at the Cardenos grand ducal residence.
Inside a sickroom, Astin looked at the ashen exoskeleton with interest.
“This will be a problem if it doesn’t work well with the Sun Ring.”
Though he had gained a new power, he could not celebrate carelessly.
Luna, the Outer God’s power, and the Sun Ring could not coexist.
The Demon King’s innate attribute might be similarly incompatible.
‘If I release Ashen Aura, I might not be able to use the Sun Ring.’
Astin gently closed his eyes and expanded his energy sense. He carefully examined the properties of the ash.
He could not feel any unclean energy.
It was not dark mana, but the Demon King’s innate ability. Pure energy itself.
“...If this works out, I might be able to keep using it.”
Astin immediately began experimenting.
Could the Demon King’s power truly coexist with the Sun Ring?
How far could its uses extend beyond regeneration and aura?
‘First, its interaction with the Sun Ring.’
Astin drew the rings settled in his Core through his entire body, little by little.
Fwoosh!
He clenched his teeth and waited for any possible backlash.
His consciousness sank deep into his mindscape.
It was a realm of heightened senses where the surrounding noise was cut off, leaving only the flow within his body clear.
Astin focused all his attention on the changes occurring in his body.
Sizzle!
Solar’s intense heat burned the fascia surrounding his muscles and the periosteum covering his bones.
Then an abnormality occurred, one he could sense.
The burned membranes became fine ash. Rather than scattering into the air, they flowed back intact.
They gathered at the base of his heart.
“Huh...”
The Sun Ring’s fatal weakness was that it used the body as fuel.
In an intense battle of attrition, it was a double-edged sword that could burn its wielder to death.
Once it exceeded its limits, flesh could burn away and the entire body could become a pile of ash.
Yet now, the fascia and periosteum burned by Solar became ash and flowed back toward his heart.
They had been converted into the Demon King’s innate attribute, Ashen Power.
“...This is insane.”
Astin’s eyes gleamed with exhilaration.
When fascia and periosteum burned away, they became Ashen Power.
What if flesh burned away completely as well?
That too would become Ashen Power.
Solar burned his body and left ash behind. The ash became Ashen Power, and that power endlessly regenerated his body.
The two attributes that seemed unable to coexist had interlocked, creating infinite power.
A fortuitous opportunity he had never obtained in his first life.
Crunch.
His fist, covered in Ashen Aura, clenched tightly.
“I can do this.”
This life had become completely different from his first life. Its ending would be different too.
Thud.
A scrap of newspaper rolled beneath the bed, but he did not care.
Astin’s mind was focused solely on the new realm he had reached.
No matter how the public reacted, or whether the Crown Prince ground his teeth in the imperial palace.
To Astin, a handful of ash was far more interesting.
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