kscans

Chapter 98 - The Price of Favor, A Pawn Controlled by the Queen

The days passed with these twisted feelings.

It seemed his value as the Queen’s plaything had gradually diminished. The Queen’s contact with Julius lessened, and then eventually ceased altogether.

And then, a shockwave ran through him. He was informed that Darius had eloped with a commoner woman after embezzling funds.

Then, he himself received an order. The Imperial Guard, a unit directly under the king, was to place the Tree Sea Defense Force under its command.

Until now, only the higher-ups knew of the Tree Sea Defense Force, but its captain was apparently the commoner woman who had fled with Darius. It made sense to receive such an order when the Tree Sea Defense Force was without a captain, but...

Furthermore, because the woman had been a town alchemist, the Potions and High Potions she had made remained at the base. The order was to exchange them for ones made by the captain of the Mage Order. This part, he couldn't understand. Why was it necessary to exchange them?

He had never consciously thought about it since its entrance was concealed by recognition-inhibiting magic, but entering the Tree Sea for the first time, he found it to be a dreadful place.

Monsters he had never seen before swarmed them.

They were completely outmatched. In a chaotic scramble where men used each other as shields, half of the Imperial Guard members were devoured by monsters before they had even covered a few kilometers.

Julius himself only survived thanks to a High Potion he had been carrying. It was from a shop called the Moonshadow Teahouse, the very establishment run by the owner who had been protecting this Tree Sea Defense Force.

It shouldn’t have been a great distance to the base... It was then that he understood the King’s resentment and terror.

The King was mad. This was his own direct unit. To send us in like this, without any supplies, was tantamount to sending us to our deaths.

A thought struck him. The Imperial Guard was composed of the sons of nobles. Was he the only one? The only noble to have been victimized by the Queen. Weren’t there many among them who had been in the same situation as him?

He exchanged the specified potions with the king’s shadow who was there. Then, the shadow handed him a monster-repelling bell from the base, telling him to take it back as it was no longer needed by the Tree Sea Defense Force.

Thanks to that bell, he returned with his life, but many of the heirs of influential nobles had perished. They were his precious subordinates.

He went to the King and Queen, filled with rage.

There, he found the King, speaking with a vacant smile as he puffed on a cigar.

"Did you think I knew nothing?"

The Queen had kept video recordings of all their past trysts. It was his ruin.

The King continued, spreading the smoke of his suspicious cigar.

"Become a pawn that moves as I and the Queen command. Don’t worry, I won’t treat you poorly. If you do as I say, I’ll swap you and your subordinates with that commoner you hate, you know, Leonhard, the captain of the First Knight Order, and his commoner knights. As for you... yes. How about Supreme Commander, taking Darius’s place? That way, the Knight Orders and the Mage Order will be as good as under my direct command."

He laughed as he said it. I accepted his demands.

Soon after, Leonhard was ordered to become the captain of the Tree Sea Defense Force.

In the end, he was making Leonhard do what he himself could not. He was having Leonhard throw away the life that he himself could not bear to part with.

After all, wasn't he living in shame, no match for Leonhard in any way?

"You would do well to remember. Those whispered to have ‘received favor’ in the court also become targets for elimination."

He said it knowing it would anger Leonhard.

But at the same time, those were words meant for himself. And they were a truth he wanted to convey to Leonhard.

From Kyle, the king’s pawn, he had heard that the Tree Sea Defense Force was struggling. He found himself thinking, could he not send some supplies from the city, even just food?

Julius sent message after message via Morse code, though no reply ever came. Leonhard was said to be in critical condition from a monster attack. A reply was never going to come. And what’s more, Kyle, whom he had trusted, he had turned into a traitor.

He felt like he was being crushed by guilt towards both Leonhard and Kyle.

He had thought the healing medicine promised to Kyle for his girlfriend didn’t even exist. The captain of the Mage Order had said he could make it, but he showed no signs of actually doing so.

My former self, out of my own inferiority complex, had only wanted to see Leonhard’s downfall.

Now, because of my cowardly self, unable to let go of my life and pride, I was threatening both of their lives and destroying their bond.

Pathetic. A sob escaped him. He couldn't consult anyone. And in this state, he had become the Supreme Commander.

There was a request from the Mage Order. They said the supply of magic cores for the Magic Furnaces was cut off, and they wanted permission from the Tree Sea Defense Force to subjugate monsters.

The Tree Sea Defense Force belonged to the king, while the Mage Order was managed by the Supreme Commander. Therefore, he had to make the request, even if only as a formality.

The current Tree Sea Defense Force was likely in no condition to subjugate monsters, and with Leonhard in critical condition, there would probably be no reply. Even if there was, wouldn't they be happy to have someone subjugate monsters for them?

Julius did as he was told and sent the request to Leonhard for permission for the Mage Order to explore the Tree Sea and subjugate monsters.

He never imagined that the response would be different from what he expected.