volume 1 - Chapter 55 (1/2)
Chapter 55 – Sword, light
Along with a fiercesome cry, the gargoyle swoop down from the sky and its hook-like claws latched onto Burnley’s shoulders, then raised the ball-like figure into the sky. The businessman reacted subconsciously and tried to wiggle out of the gargolye’s grasp, but realized he was in mid air and paled instantly and stopped moving.
Everyone raised their heads up. Even though they knew they might do the same thing as Burnley, they secretly despised him for his cowardice.
Brendel raised his hand up and yelled admist the army without looking back: “Uom (come back)!”
When he finally looked behind him, the soldiers before him took a step back under his gaze. However, once they did so, they revealed that Ciel was surrounded by hundreds of spears.
“Don’t attack me, I surrender!” The young wizard raised his hands up to show that he did not intend to resist.
[I say, can you be any more spineless?]
Brendel sighed once and shook his head. But Ciel did not seem to see his actions and blinked at him repeatedly, saying: ‘Everything is up to you my lord, I already did my best.’
Brendel wanted to pull his hair out.
The White-Mane riders marched up and circled behind Brendel’s back, as if they wanted to take control of the situation from the n.o.bles.
The Golden Apple Lord from afar started cursing, but there a number of factors that prevented him from controlling the enemy before him. Makavu was dead, Burnley was dangling in the air, Granzon was still in the fortress. There was no one beside him that was of use.
He could only ride forth alone. The truth he was enduring the cold perspiration in his back. He was almost certain that the gargoyle was coming from him.
[But why did he capture Burnley?]
The Golden Apple Lord gestured and brought forth a few n.o.bles along with him, riding towards the center of the army that surrounded Brendel. He stopped in front of Luc Beson. The two parties had nothing much to say as the tension between the n.o.bles and regional army leader of Grinoires was too much for civility.
The ‘Tiger’ Luc Beson stood tall like a spear on the horse’s back. He smirked as he looked at Esebar and the n.o.bles behind him. He might be in the White-Mane army, but his heart was in the monarch’s faction which sought to regain its power. The two parties looked down on each other, so he naturally did not want to waste any time on them.
He was more interested in Brendel and peered at him. The young man managed to create chaos in front of a big army, and managed to either escape or defeat his squadron leaders in the blink of an eye. But he was surprised to find Brendel’s gaze was on him.
[Does he know me?]
Luc Beson frowned but quickly composed himself.
“Young man, I’ll give you a chance to put the pitiful fellow, Lord Burnley, down to the ground. As you can see, your ally is in our hands.” Luc Beson took over the entire situation once he spoke.
Brendel confirmed that he was Luc Beson after hearing his voice. He had heard of his voice during missions in Fortress Riedon before the first Black Rose War.
[The Tiger, Luc Beson. An upper silver-ranked swordsman, one of the stronger fighters in the entire Aouine region.]
Brendel did not dare to underestimate a formidable foe like him. His thoughts moved quickly. He glanced at Luc Beson and Esebar, knowing that his only chance at survival was on these two people.
This standoff between these two men was not by coincidence.
This rivalry between the n.o.bles and the regional army was due to Aouine’s unique political rule. As the country came from the splintered Kirrlutz, its rules were derived from the Black Bible. Due to the long history of the lords fighting one another, the fourth ruler of Aouine, Einz the first created the rule of having a regional army governing their own location.
The lords started to create their own ‘country’ like a princ.i.p.ality. Within this ‘countries’ the lords enjoyed complete administrative power and their own laws. However, the king imposed a tax on all the mines, foresting lands and farms, while the n.o.bles were free to impose a second tax. The n.o.bles were also unable to hold their own private armies, and the defense was left to royalty or the regional army.
With this dual system of separating the army and administration, the royal family controlled all the states and created a strong kingdom. However, no matter how glorious Aouine was, there was going to be ambitious offenders that would plague the kingdom. When the royal family’s authority waned, the opposers gradually appeared.
The first appearance of internal strife came around the rule of the ‘Pious Disciple’, King Edelweiss, sixty years ago. It was also when he was succeeded by King Corvado. Duch Arreck, who also had the same succession rights, was spiteful over this event, and when King Edelweiss pa.s.sed away, the regional armies gradually started to support different factions. (TL: There might be some inaccurate TL here. The history lesson is killing me.)
When the royal family found that they were unable to control the huge armies, the authority in the capital started waning: And ever since the ‘Year of the Empty Beast’, the tax official was unable to gain access to a third of the lands. It was evident that the royal family’s authority had been reduced to be a miserable state.
Duch Arreck had forced King Oberg the sixth to change a new set of defense laws, and they only controlled the minor kingdom’s armies. Cifahd’s black bladed army and Ampere Seale’s eleventh voluntary calvary.
Under such circ.u.mstances, the royal family’s hold over many areas were becoming weaker. However, the contest for power was becoming more intense between the n.o.bles and the regional armies. In the Grinoires region, the earl and the archduke’s enmity was well known as a source of entertainment in pubs.
And in Fortress Riedon, this conflict was present in the n.o.bles and Luc Beson. They held the same att.i.tude in abandoning Bucce, but Luc Beson was in a disadvantage as he was weaker in political maneuvering and capability. Someone had to take responsibility for the failure.