Chapter 587
Natural Disaster is Approaching
Chapter 587 Natural Disaster is Approaching
The first light of dawn shone through the tall stained-glass windows, illuminating the empty center of the Royal Palace of Roland, as if the sun had never risen.
The solemn and dignified court assemblies of the past have vanished, leaving only a deathly silence and the roars emanating from outside the palace—
Those were the roars of the rioters as they stormed the castle gates; these peasants were making such a racket so early in the morning.
Theoden de Vallout is the same.
He sat slumped on the tall throne, his chest heaving, and he was breathing heavily like a ghoul.
In just three months, the once majestic king seemed to have aged more than ten years. His already wrinkled skin was now loose and ashen, like a shaved mouse.
Without a doubt—
The holy water supply has been cut off once again.
His hands trembled uncontrollably, his nails digging into the velvet armrests, trying to alleviate the emptiness that felt like being bitten by a thousand ants.
"Damn Cassius... I knew he was unreliable! Just like that dead Marius, these lowly fellows always fail at crucial moments!"
Theodore cursed through gritted teeth, his cloudy eyes bloodshot, his pupils sometimes clear and sometimes cloudy.
His palace was like that, sometimes bright, sometimes dark.
One second the magnificent hall was still splendid and magnificent, the next second it turned into a deep and dark dry well.
Thousands of vengeful spirits seemed to seep from the wall, crawling to his feet like flowing asphalt, wanting to take something back—
It's as if the Devalo family owes them something!
Theodore watched the writhing, maggot-like souls with indifference, unfazed by the illusion. What truly terrified him was that the dagger he had concealed in his sleeve had been stolen once again.
It wasn't just the gravedigger who disappeared, but also the nobles and courtiers who used to surround him; now they're nowhere to be seen!
These fence-sitters!
Theodore could guess where they were and what they were up to. They simply wanted to make him suffer a setback so they could extract more benefits from him, just like they had done when the Third Estate had just convened.
"A bunch of ungrateful wretches..."
He spoke through gritted teeth, muttering curses under his breath.
He's getting old after all.
In the winter of 1053 AD, he still possessed the ability to manipulate various forces and control the different factions of the kingdom.
Even earlier, he was able to cleverly use the Green Forest Army as a weapon to weaken the local nobles who were only superficially allied with the royal court, and to use the power of the court to clean up the mess on the battlefield.
But just a year later, in the winter of 1054 in the Austen calendar, Theodore, who had reached the pinnacle of his power, encountered the lowest point in his life.
The "Lion King," who commanded a million-strong army, was helpless against a mob besieging the royal court and could only sit idly on his throne.
Since Marius's death, he has had fewer and fewer cards to play.
Just then, a sound came from below the steps—
"Your Majesty, the number of rioters outside the palace has doubled, and I heard they seized the city garrison's armory last night! If we don't do something soon—"
Theodore slammed his fist on the armrest and roared down toward the throne.
"Pass on my orders! Let the archers fire! Let the musketeers open fire! Slaughter all those peasants who try to approach the palace! No warnings, no prisoners, I want to see rivers of blood! The throne of Devalo was won with iron and blood! If you want the crown on my head, you'll pay with your heads!"
The hoarse roar echoed throughout the hall.
Below the steps, Military Minister Antoine Manda knelt on one knee.
This minister, who was once so elegant at the ball, now had disheveled hair, was covered in sweat, and was trembling like a leaf.
"His Majesty……"
Antoine's teeth chattered, and he had to steel himself and interrupt the king's reverie. "The Royal Guard has done everything in its power; they've been doing as you instructed since last month. But, but the number of mobs is simply too great. Every time we kill one, another surges in. The most urgent task is to call for reinforcements—"
"Reinforcements? Where are my foreign mercenaries?" Theodore's eyes widened. "Let those Rhodesians teach them a lesson!"
"Your Majesty...they have already taken up the position."
Antoine raised his head in despair and said tremblingly, “Have you forgotten? Three days ago, they changed into the uniforms of the Royal Guard as you ordered… I don’t deny their bravery, but we’ve already played this card.”
Theodore paused for a moment, then his anger intensified.
"Then conscript those nobles' private armies! Issue my order: appoint Duke Eiffel as the Kingdom's Marshal and immediately mobilize all conscripted troops from the north to reinforce Roland City!"
Upon hearing this order, Antoine finally managed a bitter smile on his desperate face.
Looking at the hysterical monarch on the throne, he trembled as he spoke the truth that the king had selectively forgotten.
"Your Majesty... I'm afraid the Duke of Eiffel will not come."
Theodore's eyes widened.
"Why do you think that is? He dared to disobey my orders?!"
Antoine swallowed hard and continued with difficulty.
"You...you remember half a month ago? When your brother, Prince Hagmer, withdrew his troops from the Twilight Province, he forcibly requisitioned grain from the merchant caravan under the Duke of Eiffel's name due to a lack of provisions..."
Theodore certainly remembered this.
That batch of grain was goods that the Duke of Eiffel was preparing to sell to the Duchy of Campbell. He had even given Hagmer a severe scolding for it, but it was clear that the Duke of Eiffel was not satisfied with the lenient punishment.
In particular, the coup d'état last winter, in which the king broke the law and interfered in the duchy's internal affairs, had already touched a nerve with the nobles. The Duke of Eiffel was already quite critical of this matter, and Hagmer's "robbing the rich to help the poor" had completely offended this powerful northern duke.
After the Lionheart Knights intercepted the grain, a portion was used by Hagmer to provide relief to disaster victims encountered along the way, while only a small portion eventually returned to Roland.
This grain was a drop in the ocean for the situation in Roland, but the trouble it brought back was something that no amount of water could extinguish.
The thugs besieging the palace now include beggars that guy brought back from outside, and even a group of more troublesome people mixed in!
Theodore would get so angry whenever he thought about it that his liver would ache.
At this critical juncture, unless Theodore can offer something more tempting than selling a province, the duke will never send troops to his rescue.
Like other wealthy and powerful nobles, it was more in the Duke of Eiffel's interest to remain on the sidelines and watch from the sidelines.
"Bastard!"
Theodore let out a hysterical curse and slammed his fist hard on the velvet armrest.
"That despicable traitor, he betrayed his king! And Hagmer, that good-for-nothing! I sent him to war, and he's made enemies everywhere! He hasn't done a single thing I entrusted to him, he's just causing me trouble!"
Seeing the king descend into madness, Antoine knew all was lost. He crawled forward a few steps and pleaded in a low voice.
"Your Majesty, it seems Roland City is beyond our control. Those rioters have gone completely mad! I suggest you immediately move to the summer palace in the suburbs. The rural nobles of Roland County are still our supporters. Once we reach a place beyond the reach of those rebels, we can regroup our defenses, and then it won't be too late to lead our men back to fight them off—"
That statement was like stepping on Theodore's toe.
He abruptly stood up from the throne, grabbed the heavy scepter symbolizing power, and hurled it at Antoine with all his might.
"Clang—"
The scepter slammed onto the marble floor beside Antoine, creating a dent, which terrified the minister, who scrambled backward, covering his head in his hands.
"You want me to run away?! Don't even think about it! This is my royal palace! It's the symbol of the glory of the Devalo family! My father and ancestors are watching me!"
Theodore stood on the steps, his emaciated body swaying violently with rage, yet he still gripped the armrests of the throne tightly, as if they were his own heartbeat.
“Tell my soldiers, and my generals, that their king is not going anywhere! He is right here, with them!”
"I want to see how those peasants managed to break into this place!"
"Yes, yes!" Antoine replied in a panic, and hurriedly fled from the empty hall, not daring to linger for even a moment.
He was terrified of being dragged out and beheaded by the enraged king, for anything could happen at such a critical moment.
Theodore stared at the entrance to the hall, his anger still simmering, his chest heaving violently.
A moment later, a twisted smile appeared on his lips, a dry laugh, as he slumped back onto his throne as if collapsing.
He hasn't lost yet—
Although he despised his pedantic and stubborn younger brother a thousand times over, it was precisely because of that brother's pedantry and stubbornness that the "Radiant Knight" would never turn his sword against his king.
As long as the Radiant Knight doesn't fall.
His crown will never fall!
Theodore's smile twisted even more as he thought about how that guy was slaughtering the civilians he cared about most.
Just like a year ago, when he stood on the palace terrace in the dead of night, watching the fire that engulfed the slums.
It was the most magnificent performance he had ever seen in his life, designed for him by Baron Wickton and featuring the Royal Guard.
And now-
Perhaps his brother will be able to surpass it.
"It's painful... that's what's meant to be painful."
A burning, parched feeling rose in his throat, and Theodore roared as he looked at the group of trembling waiters huddled like insects under the marble pillars.
"Go to the cellar! Bring me my wine!"
He was thirsty!
……
King Ryan was drinking heavily, while blood flowed through the cracks in the stone slabs outside the palace gates. Hagmer wiped his knight's longsword, his empty eyes filled with bewilderment, as if the idol that stood in his heart had shattered.
A year ago, his opponents were the rebels and heretics of the Twilight Province. In just one year, he has to turn his sword against his own homeland.
Standing atop the mountain of corpses and the sea of bones, he was momentarily at a loss for whom to hate; behind those thugs, there wasn't even a specific king...
Today's events are nothing more than a continuation of those of the past.
This time, however, the fire spread to his own home.
Just as the Radiant Knight was lost in confusion, Marshal Fayette, who had just escaped from the National Assembly's secret stronghold, was following in the footsteps of "Shadow" and rushing into the alley of the lower city.
Since the old slums were burned down, this place has become the new slum in Roland, inhabited by people from other places who come to make a living.
The intricate alleyways, like the city's intestines, were shrouded in a stench-filled mist that obscured the corpses and garbage strewn in the corners. Just then, a sharp whistle rang out in the distance.
Fayette was immediately startled, recognizing it as the Royal Guard's whistle, and his heart leaped into his throat.
The gravediggers were clearly not acting alone; as they stormed the secret hideout, the Royal Guard had already surrounded the area.
Sure enough, just as the two turned a corner, a series of hurried footsteps came from the alleyway to their side.
"Over there! Grab them—"
"Fire! Open fire!"
A Royal Guard officer interrupted his subordinates' commotion and ordered the soldiers behind him to kill the fleeing target on the spot.
They don't need prisoners at all.
All you need is a brain.
Five soldiers hurriedly raised their muskets, aiming at Fayette's back as they prepared to pull the trigger. But at that moment, several dark figures leaped down from the roof and landed silently beside them.
"laugh--"
There were no screams like a pig being slaughtered, only the faint sound of a sharp blade cutting through a throat.
The assassins, with their hoods pulled low, moved swiftly and decisively, plunging their daggers into the throats of the soldiers in an instant.
The gushing blood splattered on the snow and stained the wall.
The commander of the Royal Guard was so shocked that his mouth dropped open. As he drew his command sword, he gathered all his divine energy, ready to fight the assassins to the death.
However, just as he swung his sword, a wisp of black light, as faint as smoke, swept across his throat, causing his head to roll to the side of the road.
The assassins standing beside the corpse nodded slightly in the direction of Thanos; they were all subordinates personally trained by the Shadow Demon General.
Thanos didn't look at them or the corpses, but calmly spoke to Fayet, who was panting behind him.
"Keep up, we're almost there."
Fayet swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing the shock and fear within him. He quickly caught up with Thanos and finally couldn't help but ask.
"Sir, I am very grateful for your help... I understand that you do not want to reveal your identity, but you must tell me why you helped us?"
Thanos answered calmly.
"Because a threat of chaos is brewing here."
"chaos?!"
Fayette was stunned, and almost stopped in her tracks.
"This is impossible! How could chaos happen here! I'd believe you if you said Thunder City... but it's absolutely impossible in Roland City!"
He certainly knew what chaos was, but he never expected to hear the word here.
After all, this is not the desecrated Twilight Province, but the ancient city of Roland! In the entire eastern part of the continent of Os, there is no church more magnificent than the St. Roland Cathedral.
The paradox of fanaticism lies precisely in this: the more fanatical the believer, the less they see their own flaws and blasphemy.
On the contrary, they, who are pure and innocent, are keenly aware of the filth in the entire universe.
"Yes."
Thanos was too lazy to argue with this guy.
As a demon, he didn't believe a single word in the Holy Word, and he didn't care whether Roland City or Thunder City was more devout.
He simply stated it in a straightforward tone.
"Our intelligence indicates that magicians from the Academy are conducting a blasphemous ritual in the royal prison. They are not only helping the king suppress the rebellion, but also using the souls of these tens of thousands of rebels as sacrifices for some kind of evil invocation."
The information wasn't necessarily accurate; after all, the person who leaked it was supposedly just a terrified prison guard. When someone is in a state of extreme fear, they are bound to add their own imagination to the facts.
However, one thing is certain: that prison is now teeming with magic apprentices, like rat burrows in the towering mountains.
“Sacrifice…” Fayet felt a chill rush to his brain, but it also made him feel a little better.
At least it wasn't the Ryan people who were being blasphemed.
Instead, it's Xuebang (学邦).
Thanos continued.
"Whether you believe it or not, this is the truth, and it has already been proven on the Wanren Mountain Range. If we stand idly by, tens of thousands of people will die. You ask me why I'm helping you? I don't actually want to get involved, but now we have to do something."
Fayette's Adam's apple bobbed up and down with difficulty.
Although he vaguely guessed that Xuebang might have intervened in the situation in Roland City, he never expected that they would be so deeply involved, and that they would bypass the king and stand directly behind the tomb keeper!
What he found even more unbelievable was that Xuebang, which was regarded as a beacon of human wisdom, was actually an accomplice of chaos!
“Aren’t they vassals of the empire? How dare they…” Fayet instinctively wanted to ask, but swallowed the words back.
In this increasingly frenzied era, nothing is impossible.
Moreover, for Roland City now, this is no longer important. The only thing he can do now is to secure the only support he can obtain for the fragile National Assembly.
These people seem to be even more powerful than the dukes of the south!
The two turned the last street corner and rushed into a secluded abandoned courtyard.
Fayette had assumed that Lord Shadow's private army was stationed here, but he never expected to witness a scene that sent chills down his spine.
In the center of the courtyard, a group of monks dressed in black robes were busy at work.
Some of them held a purple magic crystal in their hands, chanting incantations. Others held metal implements, drawing complex magic circles on the ground.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of sulfur, and something even more terrifying than the smell of sulfur—
That's the smell of hell!
And not far from them, there were several skeletons carrying boxes!
Fayette abruptly stopped and looked at the "Shadow" standing beside her. Her already frozen cheeks lost all color.
"You are... followers of the devil?!"
Saint Sis above!
He had just walked alongside demons and watched them kill his own people!
The black-robed monks around him ignored his exclamation and continued to focus on adjusting the magic array, but the creaking skeleton soldiers glanced at him a few more times.
Seeing Fayet retreating, Thanos neither made a move nor stopped him, but a playful smile appeared on his lips.
The devil's followers are alright.
The marshal seemed unaware that he himself was the devil.
"Did you only realize this today?"
The unspoken meaning—
Haven't we been working together for a long time?
Fayet looked at the Shadow Lord with a half-smile, his Adam's apple bobbing as he quickly calmed down and processed the surprise and fear in his mind.
I see--
"You are that mysterious assassin?"
“Yes,” Thanos nodded slightly. “If it weren’t for my intervention, you might have been hanged last month. Including that fellow named Newcastle, who was your financier and advisor? In short, if we hadn’t secretly dealt with the informants and insiders, a mere Baron Lombard’s daughter wouldn’t have been able to protect him in this matter.”
“…I find it hard to believe that the demons of hell would genuinely care about us, but I also think it’s too naive to discuss good and bad right now,” Fayet said in a low voice. “I must thank you, Lord Shadow, our uprising has been too hasty in many ways.”
You're welcome. Everyone has immature moments.
Thanos smiled slightly, looked at the Marshal who had calmed down and stopped retreating, flicked the brim of his hat with his index finger, and continued in an elegant voice.
"As you can see, it doesn't matter whose followers we are. What matters is that your soldiers are bleeding and your homeland is burning. If we let the situation continue to deteriorate, your deaths will not change anything, but will only add fuel to the furnace of our enemies... Therefore, we have no choice but to cooperate."
Fayette shrugged.
"How can we cooperate? By offering my soul to you?"
"That's a slander against us by the Book of the Word. If you don't believe us, your soul is useless to us. You should keep it for yourself."
Thanos stretched out his pale hand and drew Fayet's gaze to the magic circle that was emitting a faint glow to the side.
“Our Majesty has proposed a perfect solution: we will use the magic circle deployed in Roland City to guide the souls of the Great Tomb here.”
Fayette watched him nervously.
"What's the meaning……"
“Literally,” Thanos said with a smile, “our souls will take over those flesh and blood who have fallen in the streets, and they will awaken as the dead.”
“They will take the place of their deceased masters, rush into the prison on the banks of the rushing river, and reclaim the stolen souls for the original owners of the bodies… before they are completely devoured.”
Fayette held his breath and remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking.
"This sounds... like it has nothing to do with me. You guys could do this yourselves?"
Thanos smiled and nodded.
“That’s true, but if we can get the cooperation of the citizens of Roland, our plan will go much more smoothly, at least we won’t be blocked by those mobs. And if our people can fight under your command, that would be even better, we acknowledge your military capabilities.”
"But what if the Holy City knew—"
"Forget about the Holy City, they don't care about you at all. And by the time they start to care about you again, it will be too late... Think about what's happening in the Twilight Province!"
Interrupting Fayette, Thanos looked into the eyes of the National Assembly Marshal and uttered a devilish whisper.
"We need you to make a choice—"
"Is it to fight one more time with our fallen men, or to watch this city perish?"
(End of this chapter)