Chapter 120 (1/2)
Just like a joke, the head of the next inline Emperor, Bias, was easily flung into the air.
[………..]
[That was the next Emperor. Your successor…..can you bear seeing that, can you bear hearing that, that was quite awful]
[…….I should have already said it. Even if we were all massacred, I won’t be pledging to anything. Be crushed by the fury of the Empire]
[To have that kind of attitude even after your son’s been killed. Ma~a, to begin with, he’s probably never been loved by you. After all, the position of Emperor is decided through ability, that’s why it’s not unusual for relatives to try and murder one another]
It was exactly as Cam said, relatives could gain the position of Emperor by winning a duel. Even if the partner is killed during the duel it wouldn’t be considered a crime.
Gaharudo had many concubines who gave birth besides the queen, Bias himself was a child of a concubine which managed to become Crowned Prince through showing his abilities in duels. It was befitting of their principles, the weak will follow the strong! and there you have it.
Probably because of that, Gaharudo’s expression didn’t change at all. Since the beginning, the standards were either weak or strong, there have been rumors that there were no love for his sons and daughters……there didn’t seem to be any hidden emotions either, so it may very well be true. Rather, the aide from a while ago was the only time he really exposed his anger.
Gaharudo that was snorting towards Cam’s words.
[If you know that it’s useless now then just stop]
[There’s no rush. You won’t pledge no matter what? You’ll continue tormenting the Demi-humans after this? You’ll continue tracking down our Haruia Tribe?]
[How repetitious]
[Is that so…..”Delta 1, this is Alpha 1, do it”]
———Alpha 1, this is Delta 1. Roger
All of the sudden, Cam started saying things which Gaharudo couldn’t comprehend. Though Gaharudo had a questioning expression, in the next moment, he felt and heard the roar of a huge explosion through his belly and the complexion of his face changed.
[-. What was that just now!]
[What, it’s not that much of a big deal. We only blew up the barracks that were watching the slaves]
[Blew up? It can’t be……]
[Fumu, how many people were inside again……anyways several hundreds of soldiers just died. It’s all your fault, Gaharudo]
[You bastards did it!]
[Nope, it was you, Gaharudo. Your decision claimed the lives of those soldiers. And……”Delta 1, this is Alpha 1, do it”]
Once again, Cam muttered things which Gaharudo couldn’t comprehend, Gaharudo immediately called out to him. It was far too bad of a joke that they could remotely detonate explosives from this location.
[Oi! Hauria~!]
However, Gaharudo’s words were in vain, a second roar erupted. Not within the Imperial Castle. A large explosion occurred somewhere in the capital.
Holding back his emotions, Gaharudo asked.
[……Where was that explosion?]
[The hospital]
[Wha, damn you!]
[Be relieved. What blew up was the military’s hospital. The only ones that died were soldiers and their doctors……to begin with, the public hospital, Inns, brothels, residential areas, though lots of people lost their homes and are living in temporary shelters after the Majinzoku’s attack, do you have any request?]
[Don’t go laying your hands on the general public! How far are you going to fall Hauria!]
[…….You guys always persecuted us Demi-humans. You’ve got no right to complain when the positions are turned around……”Delta, do it”]
[Wait~!]
The entire Empire persecuted the Demi-humans, at this point how is the general public not involved? Cam showed a slightly amazed voice. Then, mercilessly gave out the order.
The third explosion was heard, this time Gaharudo was grinding his teeth together as he was convinced that the publics buildings were bombed. But actually it was the drawbridge which allows entry into the Imperial castle. Since there will likely be reports coming from the capital about the explosions, the only route to enter the castle was destroyed.
In addition, Cam’s words were partly a bluff, they never set any bombs in areas that weren’t related to the army. The explosions weren’t caused through remote methods either, a unit of Hauria’s that sneaked into the castle had to manually set them off, due to this they couldn’t set up bombs in many places.
[If you won’t be pledging then we have no other choice. I’ll have to set off every bomb we’ve set up in the capital, you Imperial aristocrats and leaders here will be lending a hand in it. Thousands of people will be accompanying each other to the otherside. It’s not a bad way to end huh?]
What he was saying was definitely terrorist-like. Who the heck taught him……though some glances were focused on the boy in the corner of the hall, the actual person was indifferent.
Towards the merciless demand, Gaharudo couldn’t decide quickly and became silent. Though he was looking through his head for a method of breaking out of the current situation, no bright idea’s came to mind. His expression was sour and breaking out in cold sweat, it showed that he was being cornered.
And despite that Cam didn’t allow him any breathing room at all. Since the reply was slow he gave out orders.
[“Delta, this is Alpha 1…….do-”]
[Wait~!]
Gaharudo called out in a panicking voice. And he slammed his head into the ground several times to calm himself down, looked up with a face as if giving up
[Shi—-, damn it all! I get it! It’s my defeat! I’ll accept your demands! That’s why, stop taking lives indiscriminately through explosions!]
[That’s excellent. Then pledge to the oath]
Even though the demands were accepted, Cam replied indifferently. Gaharudo could only show a bitter smile. And while relaxing his shoulders, he talked to the remaining survivors within the hall.
[Ha~a, damn, I’m sorry you guys. I was done in this time. …..In the Empire strength is everything. These Usagininzoku, the Haura, showed it through “bringing down the Imperial castle”. Holding the lives of people. Hence, “As the representative of Hoelscher! All Demi-human slaves shall be freed! We shall never interfere with the Sea of Trees! Now at this time, the persecution and enslavement of Demi-humans is now prohibited! Those who break these vows shall be severely punished by the Empire! They shall also be enacted as new laws in the Empire!” If you guys have complaints, come to my place! If you can beat me, you can do whatever you want afterwards!]
If you wanted to treat Demi-humans as slaves like always, exterminate all who hold Hoescher’s blood! I’ll take you on! he declared. He really was a man who adhered to the principles that abilities reigned supreme. Of course this judgement does no harm to the Empire besides their loss of relations with the Demi-humans, as expected, losing in a direct battle had quite a huge impact.
[Fumu, you’ve finally answered correctly]
Along with those words, spotlights showed down onto everyone in the Emperor’s clan. The still young and oldest grandchildren who should not have been at the hall had a necklace with a bright red stone on their necks.
[If you don’t want the Hoelscher blood to be exterminated, don’t forget the oath]
[I know]
[The content of the oath will be made public tomorrow, at the very least liberate all the slaves in the capital by the end of tomorrow]
[By tomorrow? Just how many slaves do you think there are in the Empire……]
[Do it]
[You dirty bastard! I just have to do it right, I’ll do it!]
[Free the slaves and send them directly to the Sea of Trees. Gaharudo. You must accompany them to Fair Bergen. And then repeat the oath in front of the elders]
[Alone? Wouldn’t I normally be killed?]
[We’ll return you back safely. If you died, various problems would arise?]
[Haa~, I got it. I’ve had a bad feeling ever since you guys broke out of prison. To think that we’d be pushed this far. ……Na~a, do you have a grudge against me or the Empire, Hajime Nagumo?]
Gaharudo glared at Hajime through the darkness.
However there was no answer from Hajime. While holding Ririana by the neck like a kitten, he was leaning against the wall and yawning. Right now was the Haruia tribe’s time to take the leading role. That’s why, he seemed to take on the stance “I’m only a spectator in this affair”.
There weren’t any lights, even though Gaharudo couldn’t see his appearance, he at least figured that Hajime had no intentions of answering. Gaharudo grandly clicked his tongue.
[Gaharudo, as a warning. We definitely obtained some help from our benefactor who changed us. However, that power had already became ours exclusively. If we wanted to, we could easily search for information and invade the castle at any time. It’s easy to scratch your neck when sleeping. If you don’t make the laws, even without the power of our benefactor our blades could easily cut your neck]
[Exclusive use. I’m quite jealous. To be able to use artifacts even though Demi-humans have no magical powers……]
Gaharudo’s crushed and sour expressions weren’t hard to believe. Because it was impossible for the Demi-humans to stand up against another race without magic, however with the use of artifacts that fact was easily destroyed.
However, it isn’t enough to just say stop it, at best they could only curse out at them. [Jeez, what else could I do!], Gaharudo shouted his feelings towards Hajime.
His army was burning down because of the person who created an artifact which allowed him to fly in the air and travel the distance which should have taken 2 months into just a day and a half, if anyone were to be armed with artifacts of that stature then the Hauria’s claim of being able to invade anywhere and carry out assassinations held lots of credibility.
By the way, what was used this time around was the “Spider-typed Golem Scout”, “Improved Telepathy Stone”, and the “Gate Key”.
The “Spider-type Golem Scout” was the spider that saved Ririana. It was approximately 5 centimeters in length, can go anywhere through remote control with “Transmuting” and “Thread”, the images are sent to the “Crystal Display” through the “Distance Transmitting Stone”, and it can sense magic traps just like the magic eye. It also has paralysis and sleeping poison in its feet, even poison which makes it so that the little sonny doesn’t get up.
After Hajime entered the castle, he scattered and installed countless spider-typed golems everywhere. The reason why Hajime was seemingly distracted while in the castle was because the majority of his concentration was used to operate the golems. It was only a coincidence that he saw and helped Ririana while moving towards an installation point.
And the images that the countless spider-typed surveillance cameras that were set up were being transmitted back to the crystal displays installed at Headquarters, each Hauria force had an operator who communicated through the “Improved Telepathy Stone”, which enabled efficient and precise suppression.
The “Improved Telepathy Stone” was the single and most useful artifact to use against Gaharudo.
The principle was this. Ore’s with the property of “High-Speed Magic Recovery” was created through Creation Magic and added into the magical power tanks which caused them to auto regen, it always added fuel back into it as “Magic Radiation” was being emitted.
And the magic formation needed to activate it was a kind of sliding switch which was placed on it to allow it to smoothly activate on and off. Furthermore, there was a function which responded to the blood and status plate, meaning only the blood of the user would be accepted.
As a result, the Hauria forces were able to cooperate elaborately with Headquarters which was stationed outside of the capital.
Since they can’t actually operate the golems, without Hajime they’d have to manually place the spider-typed surveillance cameras. For that purpose, they infiltrated into the castle and installed the new hidden camera’s for the Haruia. Because the golems were unnecessarily complex, they were made to be hard to spot.
Moreover, the key-typed artifact “Gate Key” held a similar principle, because Hajime set up and concealed the keyhole-typed artifact “Gate Hall” in places, the Hauria are able to invade the castle anytime through opening the gate.
Really, from the Empire’s view, [What else could I do!], was definitely the right state.
To begin with, the magic traps are difficult to disarm without being able to directly manipulate magical power, so the fact is, another invasion would probably never be as smooth as this one.
Hajime and them purposely used Kouki to enter the castle, besides installing the spider-typed golem scouts, they were also to disarm traps that the golems discovered. Hajime and Shia in particular, Yue and Shia had to use the “Presence Severing Stone” to easily hide their presence, Kaori also acted, the magic traps were disarmed without notice before the party began.
For now, though there were artifacts devised to disarm magic traps, Fairglass (a goggle-typed artifact which could detect magic traps) was distributed to the Hauria, however this time they had no time for that. That’s why although they wouldn’t be able to disarm the traps, they could evade them instead.
[Don’t worry about it, Gaharudo. The artifacts only belong to the Haruia and no other Demi-humans. Now that you’ve swore to the oath, it wouldn’t do for us to get full of ourselves and attack the Empire. If that happens, we Hauria will wield our blades against the foolish people of Fair Bergen]