The Legendary Spearman Returns

Side Story Chapter 213

A heavy silence fell over the forest. The shock of what had just happened slowly sank in. No matter how good a reason he had, Kireua had killed a knight based on only one side of the story; that was entirely unreasonable, especially when he had to unite his force and infiltrate the enemy camp. Besides, the knight he’d just killed, not the Imperial Knights. The knight’s lord could raise an official complaint to the Imperial Family for this, not to mention the effect it would have on his force’s morale.

Cain immediately noticed the change in the air.

“Your Highness...”

“Don’t say it, Sir Cain.”

Cain glanced around at the unsettled crowd. “...No, I have to say that you acted too rashly this time.”

Kireua quickly turned to look at Cain with cold eyes. “I was rash?”

“Regardless of what happened, he was a knight and had the right to treat his squire however he wished. It doesn’t matter if he asks her to clean his toilet or used her as a human shield on the battlefield.”

“Squires are still citizens of Avalon, so the Imperial Family has a duty to protect them.”

“Your Highness, servants aren’t citizens under Avalon’s laws. They’re property of their owners; it’s their duty to feed their property and their right to demand that their property do their biddings.”

Kireua gritted his teeth. “...If I become the emperor, I’ll change every part of these laws about slaves and servants! No matter what!”

There was a good reason behind Kireua’s anger, given what Lucia, Kireua’s grandmother, had gone through. Aside from his mothers, his grandmother was the only one who had loved Kireua unconditionally, so what had happened to her made Kireua’s blood boil. Such a warm-hearted and elegant woman had lived as a mere maid for decades so that the former Duke of Agnus could use her as a tool for his political schemes.

-Hahahahaha! A prince executing a noble’s knight for the sake of a servant.... You’re quite something. I guess your arrogant father’s madness didn’t go anywhere.

Kireua fed his aura into his sword. “...I won’t tolerate any more insults about His Majesty or me.”

The knight’s blood smeared on Kireua’s sword instantly evaporated, making Kireua’s already red aura look even more bloody.

-Before any of that, I would like to hear what the person involved has to say first.

“...What?” Kireua tilted his head in confusion.

-Child, the young prince over there has taken revenge on the knight on your behalf.

Kireua realized that Jack was speaking to the survivor.

-Are you grateful?

The survivor’s lips trembled faintly as she looked at the knight’s corpse, but that was it.

“...No, I’m not. If he was going to help me, he should have helped me before my family was slaughtered...” She bit her lip for a moment. “...The world doesn’t change just because he died.”

“Wait, what is your name?” Kireua quickly asked.

The survivor slowly shook her head. “I don’t have a name. The day my entire family died after I was sold off as a squire, I abandoned my name.”

“But still..”

“The knight over there called me his toy before his death,” the survivor bluntly stated.

Kireua’s words died on his lips.

“You’re the prince of this country, aren’t you?” the survivor asked.

“...Yes, I am.”

“I’m grateful for your gesture, but you shouldn’t have.”

Kireua frowned slightly. “No, it’s not something—”

“Look around you.”

Kireua could already feel the knights glaring at him without looking around.

“The world isn’t going to change just because some of us try. That’s why I want to build a new world from scratch—so I’ll never suffer like this again.”

The survivor was so resolute that Kireua couldn’t bring himself to argue.

-You heard her. From these seventy children and over one thousand deceased children, not one came here against their will.

Jack quietly lifted his finger.

“What are you trying to do right now?” Kireua’s eyes narrowed.

-We’ve got to hear the last word of an honorable knight who died unfairly because of a mere servant, don’t we?

In some way, the survivor’s enemy was coming back to life, but it seemed the survivor had given up on everything after losing her family because she showed no reaction. Perhaps she wanted to at least hear the knight’s excuse, but there was no knowing what was actually going on in her mind.

“Stop!”

Cain bared his murderous energy, but Jack’s next words made him stop:

-I’m a great mage who mastered the supreme level of the Eighth Circle. I’m going to make a death knight, an undead of the highest order.

“I’ll kill you!” Cain yelled.

-Hear me out first. A death knight cannot be made without the permission of the dead. The contract won’t be established in the first place.

Cain already knew what Jack was telling him. Death knights were called vengeful knights of death because the greater the grudges they held, the higher the chances of making a contract were.

-A member of the Imperial Family ought to give all of their people a fair voice.

Jack grinned as evil energy billowed out of the dead knight and rose in a thick cloud.

[It’s not fair! Not fair! Not fair!]

Creepy, ghostly wails filled the air with enough power to make some of the delicate mages freeze.

“Stop that right now...!” Cain shouted.

“Wait.”

“Your Highness!”

“It happened because of me, so let me deal with it.”

Kireua stepped closer. Cain bit his lip. He had no better options. The best move in such a situation was for the parties involved to come forward and handle it. At this rate, it was safe to assume that they already failed their original mission even before it had even begun. No one in the world was going to risk their lives in battle for a commander who refused to listen to his people.

“Leave it to me,” Kireua repeated.

Cain met Kireua’s determined gaze and took a step backward. In some ways, this was Kireua’s first test as the potential future emperor of Avalon.

-I! Am! Innocent!

The dead knight burst back to unnatural life and roared.

“Gods!”

“Paulman... actually became a death knight.”

“But Paulman was an advanced expert knight at most! From what I heard, it takes at least a Master to create a death knight.”

-I’ve dedicated decades to researching dimensional gates and black magic—especially necromancy.

“...What is it that you want to say?”

-Should your level remain the same even after becoming an undead, offering a soul wouldn’t mean much. Besides, a mage’s level elevates after becoming a lich like me, so... it would be awfully unfair if the only benefits of becoming a death knight were infinite stamina and a sturdier body.

Since most aura attacks couldn’t leave a scratch on death knights, these two changes were still incredible.

-The death knights I made are at least two levels higher than before their death. If a knight used to be an advanced expert, then the death knight will be a Master.

Everyone’s jaws dropped.

“Impossible...!”

Before they could regain their composure, the newly-created death knight took action.

-I will...! Kill you...! Kireua Sanders...!

“Paulman...?”

The knights’ murmuring grew louder.

Kireua was still calm. “Do you think it’s unfair?”

-Why... did you... kill me...? Was a servant... more important than a knight?

“The fact that she’s a servant doesn’t matter. Both you and her are the same to me.”

-Bullshit...! It’s hypocritical... for royalty to deny the hierarchy..!

The death knight unleashed more energy of death over time.

“I’m not denying it.”

-What...?

“I’m a prince of this country and claimant to the throne. This is the mindset that an emperor should have.”

-What kind of... drivel...!

“There is no country without its people. A handful of knights on their own aren’t enough to build a country from. If you were an ordinary citizen, would you want to live in a country where a family of eight can be killed at the whims of a knight?”

-How can you... compare those slaves... to honorable knights?

Paulman’s angry shout echoed the sentiments of the other knights. Neither the living nor the dead were able to understand Kireua.

However, the woman, a poor tenant farmer’s daughter and later a servant, and the other sixty-nine survivors were staring at Kireua for a different reason. They were losing quite a lot of their vitality to the portal, but that couldn’t account for their daze.

“I won’t allow such a country to exist in the first place. Those damned laws will not stand in the world I’ll build.” Kireua’s eyes were shining more brilliantly than ever as he drew his sword. “I, Kireua Sanders, swear as the Second Prince that under my rule Avalon will bear no shame.”