The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

94 – EP6. The Great Change

The sound of uproar echoed throughout the palace. The reason was simple. There was someone causing a commotion in the palace.

Usually, anyone causing such commotion would be apprehended by the imperial guards and thrown into prison. However, this time was different.

“You fools!”

How in the world did they manage to reach the top of the palace, where the Emperor resided, and cause chaos? Even when the guards attempted to subdue them, they were all knocked down one by one, leaving the guards powerless and only able to watch helplessly.

The Commander of the Imperial Guards, Rempar, sighed.

“If only we had a magician, it would have been easy to suppress them. But without a magician, there’s nothing we can do…”

As Rempar had such thoughts, a booming voice suddenly resonated.

“The Emperor is dead! Here is his head!”

“What!?”

Rempar was startled and looked in the direction of the voice.

Thud, a head that appeared to belong to a human fell to the ground.

“W-What is this?”

Rempar stared at the head. Since it had fallen from a high place, the crushed and unrecognizable form emitted a stench of blood and created an eerie atmosphere.

Rempar urgently instructed the guard standing beside him.

“Take care of the Emperor, ensure the Emperor’s safety! Quickly!”

The guard started rushing towards the scene.

“Why would anyone do such a thing?”

Rempar shouted towards the person causing the chaos at the top.

“To announce the dawn of a new era.”

“A new era…?”

As Rempar muttered, the person causing the chaos spoke.

“That’s right, a new era! The old power has become futile, and a completely new era is coming. That is the reason for my presence here, my mission. That’s why I killed the Emperor, to let you all know that the values you have worshipped all this time are no longer needed!”

Rempar looked at the madman standing at the top with an expression of disbelief.

And at that moment, the guard he had sent returned.

“Commander, the Emperor has been assassinated, his throat slit!”

“What!?”

Rempar exclaimed in bewilderment.

He had thought it was just a lunatic causing trouble, but the Emperor being assassinated?

“What nonsense is this! There’s no way the Emperor has been assassinated! Numerous imperial guards are guarding the palace meticulously!”

“But, but the headless corpse of the emperor’s empress on the throne!”

Lempar looked up with terror in his eyes.

So, does that mean the man is not a lunatic, but an assassin?

“I clearly said it! I killed the emperor. That emperor cooperated with us. Stupidly, he believed that if he let us use the imperial citizens as materials, he could unite the people as our common enemy. And, even more stupidly, he trusted us without any doubt. Thanks to the mess he made with the magicians, it was easy to assassinate him.”

Lempar spoke urgently.

“Get the author out of here immediately! No, shoot him with an arrow! It’s okay to kill him!”

Sudden secrets were being revealed from the villain’s mouth in no time. Even though there was no evidence, such provocative words spread well by people’s interest. Since there were many nobles in the palace, if the rumor spread wrongly to those nobles, no one knew what would happen.

But the villain leaped down from the top of the palace and turned the palace guards into a pulp in no time.

Lempar bit his lip and said,

“…A dark sorcerer!”

“Yes, a dark sorcerer! Your emperor cooperated with, and betrayed, a dark sorcerer!”

“Don’t talk nonsense! There’s no way the emperor’s empress would have teamed up with a dark sorcerer like you! Not only did you assassinate the emperor’s empress, but you dare to insult the emperor’s empress with such words, you cannot be spared!”

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“Your petty words won’t make any difference if I go mad. Look closely, all you nobles gathered here! The emperor’s head has fallen here! Along with it, the order of the old generation has fallen too! When we usher in a new era, all the norms, power, and everything will be turned upside down!”

With those words, the dark sorcerer scattered a black mist.

“We don’t know what he’ll do, so everyone stay on high alert!”

Lempar shouted, but when the black mist cleared, the dark sorcerer’s figure had long disappeared.

“…Teleportation.”

Lempar muttered helplessly.

“He assassinated the emperor’s empress and escaped with teleportation. Why couldn’t we detect the teleportation?”

Lempar asked, and his aide said,

“…Because there was no magician. Without a magician, we couldn’t even detect the flow of dark magic.”

“Even so, we should have had tighter security than usual. Did anyone really think it was possible for someone to teleport to the heart of the empire and carry out an assassination?”

“Even if they did, it wouldn’t have made a difference. Maybe there was an informant inside the palace.”

“An informant inside the palace? I don’t even want to think about it. That means… the safety of the other nobles might also be at risk?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Sigh… In that case, we’ll have to tighten the security so that nobles can never walk alone, and I can only hope that the next commander of the guards does a better job.”

“The next commander of the guards…”

“Don’t you know? The commander of the guards couldn’t stop an assassination. I’ll probably be executed.”

“Um…”

Lempard bit his lip until blood came out.

As an orphan, he went through all sorts of education and training for the Empire since childhood, and finally made it to this position. However, in just one moment, everything he had built crumbled.

“Handle the Emperor’s body. Determine the cause of his death. It’s a confusing situation, but we must do what needs to be done.”

Lempard collected the supplies that were so scarce that they couldn’t be recognized.

“I’ll take care of this. Make sure the nobles are under surveillance. I don’t know how effective it will be, but it’s worth a try.”

“Yes, understood.”

Lempard looked up at the sky.

Thump, raindrops poured down.

“…It seems it’s raining at the end of summer. It looks like this autumn will be a bit tumultuous.”

A great upheaval had begun.

“…Is it right to send that guy?”

One dark sorcerer cocked his head.

“We were told to assassinate the Emperor and create confusion. Who ordered us to deliver the opening speech?”

As that dark sorcerer spoke, another one said.

“I guess it doesn’t matter. The nobles love stimulating rumors. And such rumors will undermine the imperial trust.”

“It probably doesn’t matter. The current crown prince will probably become the Emperor, and the crown prince is just a puppet under the Queen’s control. This will give us a greater advantage in our plans.”

“Thanks to Mar Tapju, we have gained many benefits by dramatically engaging in a power struggle with the Emperor. We could easily conquer us if they wanted to.”

“…But we have a problem.”

“What is it?”

One dark sorcerer said with a serious expression.

“Saint Ludran, the Empire’s Golden Lion, seems to have finished traveling with the warrior. She is leaving her hometown and heading for the Empire. And she’s eliminating us one by one.”

“What!?”

For the dark sorcerers, the fact that the Empire’s Golden Lion had started targeting them was a huge problem. She was an existence that they had to bring all their forces to in order to guarantee victory.

Moreover, if Ludran herself was directly targeting their forces, the size of their forces would quickly diminish. Except for the Empire, the dark sorcerers never established a proper position. In such a situation, the size of their forces would quickly diminish.

“Ludran… It’s a big problem. Is there no solution?”

“Well, since we haven’t figured out her motive, we can’t find a solution. Can we afford to engage in an all-out battle with Ludran?”

Then, one dark sorcerer spoke.

“Well, the situation may have become difficult, but we can just hide in the shadows for now.”

“What? If we do that, the supply of materials will be delayed!”

“Anyway, there are slaves. It doesn’t matter if we use them as materials.”

“Even so…”

“The empire is what matters. The supply of materials in other regions has been unstable, so it’s not a problem. However, the empire is the only one with a stable supply of materials. If that idiotic crown prince moves as we expect, then it’s not a problem. But if the calculations go wrong, there will be trouble.”

“I see…”

Yes, the most important thing was the empire. The dark sorcerers could find some relief knowing that.

Yes, if the crown prince became the emperor and moved according to their expectations, there would be no problems.

If the crown prince became the emperor.