Chapter 12 (1/2)

Chapter 12

Northern Territory (3)

translated: iseuli

edited: lili

The Northern territory had been under the control of the Taran nobles for an uncountable number of years, to the point that their reign had become unshakable. It was an unwritten rule that even the emperor could not interfere with the North’s activities. With such power, the Taran nobles could have seceded to form an independent country, but they had not revolted against the emperor even once.

Most of the population saw the Duke of Taran as the North’s King. Even so, the duke’s rank only reached the level of the emperor’s vassal. Even without orders, the North paid their taxes; when at war, they were the first to fight in the front lines; additionally, they were the ones to take care of the conflicts with the borderland barbarians. If the emperor were to rub the North the wrong way, the duke could possibly shout for secession, causing a great headache. Not all past generations of emperors held the same opinion, but as long as the emperor had a bit of wisdom, he would know the best option was to leave the North to its own devices.

The Taran family had always defended their position as the rulers of the North. They did not interfere with the politics in the capital one bit; they only focused on the problems related to the North. However, that trend had begun to change the slightest bit seven years ago.

The previous Northern Duke had suffered an abrupt death, and the current duke had been conferred the position at the mere age of 18. As soon as he had become the new duke, he’d had to leave his Northern territory and become the vanguard of the various wars occurring throughout the empire.

Duke Taran’s military achievements had swept through the battlefields. His art of war had made the heavens and the earth tremble. Knights from other units, who got a chance to fight alongside the duke, had become his loyal followers regardless of who their original masters were.

While Duke Taran had been earning military merit, the Northern territory had been peaceful. The North had been a distance away from the war. No matter how much havoc Duke Taran had caused, the North suffered no consequences.

Hugo never received a formal test to see whether he was qualified to rule over the vast Northern land. He was young and had left the Northern territory on its own for a long time. People had begun to suspect that his only talent was in the art of war, and that his qualification as a ruler was nonexistent. Those were the voices of the ones discontent with the way Duke Taran ruled his territory.

In other territories, the dukes would impose taxes onto the counts of various regions. When the regions paid their imposed taxes, the counts would be given the authority to rule their land as they saw fit.

However, the Northern territory was governed differently. The Taran family controlled all its regions with minute detail. That included everything from taxes to the everyday laws concerning all the citizens. Each past generation of dukes of the Taran family forbade any form of tyranny in any of their regions. The commoners in the Northern territory lived peaceful lives, but many nobles of the North believed that the duke had unfairly stolen their governing rights from them.

The nobles living a safe distance away from the barbarian borderlands felt the duke’s military powers were unnecessary to their lives. Those regions, as well as other nobles living closer to the capital, had formed ties and mocked the duke together. They had planned to submit a formal request to the emperor for a secession from the Northern territory, to formally become an independent territory in the Empire. That wasn’t all; they had secretly increased the taxes behind Duke Taran’s back, and had made a secret fund that would be used for their own private military units.

But those people had made a fatal mistake. They didn’t understand the duke’s true personality at all.

“Uugh…”

He couldn’t breathe properly because his throat was being strangled. His body felt heavy like it was digging itself into the earth. His head hurt as if a steel pipe was being jammed into it. Count Brown blinked wearily.

He tried to properly open his eyes, but he couldn’t. A warm liquid was flowing down from his forehead, and it kept dripping into his eyes. He wiped his forehead roughly with his trembling hands and found clotted blood covering it.

A chilling feeling of dread spread across his back. The count looked back and surveyed his surroundings. The place looked familiar. This was inside the halls of his castle.

He heard muffled crying from somewhere. The count turned around and his eyes grew wide. In a single corner, dozens of people were gathered in a kneeling position. Their faces were stained with messy tears as they hyperventilated and blubbered all at the same time. They clamped their own mouths with the palm of their hands and their breaths were spastic, making for a miserable sight.

He was familiar with them all – his wife, children, and even some of his most loyal subordinates. The people who were slightest bit involved with Count Brown were all there.

He was going to ask what they were all doing there, but his voice wouldn’t come out. When Count Brown looked to his family, and their faces turned a degree uglier and messier while bursting into horrible wailing cries. Their eyes were filled with despair and resentment toward Count Brown and he couldn’t do anything.

“We’ve let a rat escape.”

“Apologies, My Lord Duke.”

The sound of footsteps followed the voices. The sound of leather shoes clacking on the stone floor echoed louder and louder. A group of people entered the hall through the opened door. One person was leading the group, while the others followed behind the man.

Count Brown’s eyes grew wide and his body shook like a poplar tree. The leading man had black hair and red eyes. All the residents of the Northern territory identified those unmistakable characteristics. The dukes of Taran all had black hair and red eyes. Even if a person had never seen the Northern territory dukes their whole lives, they would still be able to identify this person instantly.

The count glanced to the side. The moment Count Brown’s eyes met with the duke’s, he was frightened out of his wits and began to panic while retreating backwards. The duke drew closer to the count; it was as if a snake was drawing closer to a trembling frog. The count couldn’t do anything but bow his head and look at the floor.

The duke paused just a step away from the count. He put his cold long sword under the count’s jaw, forcing him to look up.

The count wondered why he didn’t choose to remain unconscious on the ground. The black-haired man was armored in a single black chest plate stained all over with something. The exact color staining the chest plate could not be seen, but it should have been blood. Especially seeing that the duke’s sleeves and pants were drenched in blood.

The duke’s sword being held against the count’s neck was dyed red with blood. The black-haired man’s face was splattered with blood. The count felt hot liquid spilling down his pants. When Duke Taran saw the count piss himself, he furrowed his brows.

“Count Brown. Correct?”

“Yes…Yes.”

“Your son, who was to inherit your position, escaped alone. Do you have any idea where he could have run off to?”

“Huh?”

Tch, Hugo clicked his tongue. The guy had lost most of his sanity and it was too late to get any reliable answers. It seemed it would take a while longer to catch the rat. Hugo stuck his hand out and made a hand signal. A knight immediately brought forth a document. Hugo threw the papers at the count’s feet.

“That signature, you were the one to sign it. Correct?”

The count took hold of the document with trembling hands and skimmed over it. It was the petition he was going to send to the emperor. All the related nobles’ signatures were neatly organized, along with his own. The ground he was standing on suddenly felt like a bottomless pit. It was as though death was looming right beside him.

“A…trial. I wish to request from the emperor a trial….”

The count’s jaw trembled without stop. Count Brown was duke Taran’s vassal, but at the same time, Count Brown was also the emperor’s vassal. As one of the emperor’s vassals, he had the right to request the emperor to mediate for him. Even though this was the duke, the count couldn’t stand around quietly and accept the judgement of treason against the Empire.

“A trial.”

A monotone voice mumbled out.

“He says the same things as the guy from this morning.”

The count felt a chilling fear wash over his whole body. He heard Death whispering in his ears. Without hesitation, he prostrated himself on the floor.

“Please have me-mercy! Spare me my life! Your Grace!”

His only thought was to get out of this situation with his life. He was prepared to do anything for his life. The count wanted to show how much accumulated wealth he could offer to the duke, but he couldn’t gather enough courage to speak. It felt like he was suffering a heart attack, his chest felt tight. Tears started uncontrollably spilling from his eyes.

“They seem to be exact clones of each other.”

His voice was full of disdain.

“Lift your head.”

The count lifted his head very fast as if someone was pulling on his hair. His eyes met indifferent blood red eyes. One couldn’t find the smallest amount of rage or excitement. The count was scared exactly because of that reason. He could feel the hidden killing intent that was behind those indifferent eyes. Those were the eyes of a predator lying in wait to pounce on its prey.

“Kugh… Have mer…cy…”

The count watched the sword dig deep into his heart. Even so, he didn’t think to try and step back, and simply stood there trembling. The sword continued to stab deeper and the count’s body convulsed exponentially worse. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as blood spurted from his mouth.

The knights had already witnessed the duke’s murderous nature many times before, and had become numb to the sight. Instead, they were watching the duke with admiration. ‘That maneuver is very difficult. He didn’t use his full strength, but his sword pierced through the armor into the flesh as if the count were made out of tofu.’ That was the reason Fabian called all of the duke’s hand-picked knights crazy.

Hugo didn’t flinch even once while watching the various emotions emerge on the dying person’s face. He continued to push his sword in until the spasming body turned into a corpse. That person had died more from horror than the pain. As soon as that person’s breath ceased, he swiftly pulled his sword out of the body and slashed it across the neck.

Thump.

The bones snapped and the severed head rolled on the floor.

“Kyaa!”

“Aaah!”

The count’s relatives, who were gathered in the corner, broke their silence and started screaming.

“Noisy.”

When the knights heard the duke’s low voice, they peered at each other and started walking toward the count’s people. As the knights drew closer, the gathered nobles began to wail.

“Your Grace!!”

Fabian yelled while running in.

“You cannot kill them all! Then, nobody will be left to work here! The administration will be at a standstill!”

The knights paused in their steps; the remaining family members clamped their mouths shut while trying to muffle their cries, and looked toward Fabian like he was their hope of life. The duke was frightening like a vampire drenched in blood. Nevertheless, Fabian didn’t seem affected by that at all, and yelled while stomping his feet.

“I thought I told you to bring some people to Roam.”

“Do you think the population of Roam is high? There is a limited amount of people who are qualified to work here.”

“There are no exceptions.”

A total of 13 lords had conspired together, and Hugo had visited seven locations thus far. Six regions were turned into a mess after his visit. The lords’ vassals and any of their remaining children were killed in cold blood. The number of people killed had amounted to a few hundred.

“Can’t you make a few exceptions? The amount of work after all your surprise visits has piled so high that my back is going to break. Break, I tell you!”

“I’ll exterminate all sources of possible troubles. What are you doing? Do you expect me to do everything myself?”

The knights complied and immediately drew their swords. A pandemonium of swords clashing, screams, and cries exploded. In a few moments, about 50 people had turned into a pile of meat. The smell of blood quickly filled the halls.

“Hhaa…”

Fabian let out a deep sigh. He could see his work snowballing bigger and bigger. Ah, really! Why did they have to monkey around without knowing their place and increase his workload! Fabian felt more concerned for his holidays than all the people dying in front of his eyes. In the eyes of the knights, Fabian seemed much crazier than them.

‘I’ve already predicted this, but… he really kills all these people like bugs.’

Fabian’s thoughts on the cruel reality were short. He had become too accustomed to it. All the blame had gone to those who had started the mess in the first place.

‘If it were me, I would rather choose suicide. Those idiots.’

These nobles didn’t understand the Northern Ruler’s temper at all. Hugo hated making anything complicated. When something got tangled into a mess, he would rather cut it off than try and attempt to untangle it again. If he was unsatisfied with something, there was no such thing as forgiveness. Fabian thought his Lord Duke was too cruel from time to time, but it was a hundred times better than an indecisive ruler.

“We will depart tomorrow morning.”

“Yes!”

The knights answered firmly. Fabian, who stood to the side, let out a heavier sigh. The way he took care of problems was so swift. At that rate, he would settle everything within a month’s time.

Thirteen region lords wasn’t something to laugh about. Individually, their territories were small, but all together, they added up to a big part of the Northern territory. However, Duke Taran’s knights were not some everyday normal talents. They had been fighting against the borderland barbarians for years, and they had all grown stronger exponentially during all that time. They all held a lot of real life experience, and their killing skills were of another level. Additionally, Duke Taran personally trained with the knights every day; there was no way they could relax for even a moment.

The duke and the knights had been crisscrossing the wide Northern territory, dealing with the murderous borderland barbarians. By now, they were nothing but killing machines. To these knights, such situations were like jumping into a fight against a flock of sheep.

A knight entered the hall with quick steps to relay information to the chief knight. Chief knight Elliott passed on the information to the duke.

“They’ve caught him.”

“Bring him here.” (Hugo)

Several knights communicated with each other through nods and left the hall. In a short while, two knights came in while dragging a man and restraining his arms at the same time. The man was a mess himself, but as soon as he saw the chaos within the halls, he started to scream. Just then, a knight struck the man behind his neck, causing him to tumble onto the floor.

“Waaah!”

The man crawled on the floor while spastically wailing. The duke wasn’t so kind-hearted to let the man continue crying. He was about the kick him, but stopped when the crying man started laughing.

“PWAHAHA!!”

Was he crazy? But the man’s eyes belonged to a sane person.

“Shut up. Before I decide to snap your neck.”

The duke’s quiet but murderous threat put a stop to the man’s laugh, who breathed roughly trying to calm himself down. He kneeled and slammed his forehead on the floor.