Chapter 368 - The Uncertainty of the Continent 1 (2/2)
“If we can go half-day on the road and make our camp, it could be a good place to ambush. If we can hit the Emperor’s advances from there, we might actually win. Hopefully takedown Rudolf.”
At the words of Count Voltas, one of the commanders, Count Stark refuted.
“What if the Emperor is already occupying the land there?”
“That sounds plausible… however, such a situation wouldn’t arrive as you assumed. The canyon is a lot closer to us than the marching squad of the Emperor, so we will be the ones to get there.”
“Ung, that is something you are thinking.”
Count Stark’s eyes were full of hostility and contempt.
Shortly before the bloody ceremony took place, he and Duke Butler had managed to escape the capital.
However, quite a few nobles had died, and some of them were his close friends.
It wasn’t just that, the lovely retainers who were left behind in the capital mansion were all assassinated by the tyrant emperor.
The trouble wasn’t just with Rudolf, but also Voltas who always stayed by him was currently trying to sweet-talk them.
“I don’t know about the others here, but I doubt you.”
At the word of Stark, Voltas’s face hardened.
“You are suspicious, do you think that I am a spy sent in by Rudolf?” Asked Voltas.
“Since there are a lot of doubts here, I can’t just say no. It could be true that you escaped from that place alone, but joining us so shamelessly.”
“What did you say? Shameless? Are you saying such words not knowing in what state I had arrived here?”
Voltas’s face was red as he got up from his seat.
His eyes were boring into Stark’s when he tore off his coat and shirt.
On his skin lied terrifying scars.
Traces of being beaten with whips, and poked with awls and skin torn apart.
However, even more surprising was the right arm which got cut off in the middle.
The hand which he had used to point the map was a prosthetic.
Since he had covered his hand with a full glove, no one was able to notice it.
“Oh, Oh my…!”
“That is terrible!”
Although Duke Butler and Marquis Vanden knew something had happened to him, the other nobles were quite shocked.
It was the same with Count Stark, who has suspected Voltas a second back.
“Look at me carefully. This is how the man who was loyal to the Emperor had been treated…”
“…”
“I surely made a terrifying mistake. I never believed my son’s skills. And I was prepared to get punished for the mistakes. But to treat a long line of loyal men like traitors!”
Voltas was crying out in a desperate tone almost as if he was trying to reason with Rudolf.
“The tyrant emperor had defiled my body and stripped of my title and wealth and my pride! And raped my wife and daughter right in front of my eyes! And told me he would take my hand off rather than my neck after making me witness that!”
It was terrifying how Voltas was trembling and crying by falling on the ground.
“How could he… how could this happen? After all I…”
Voltas’s feeling of betrayal from the Emperor was huge.
In fact, no noble would be subjected to such a harsh torture unless they have committed to a heinous crime.
And in terms of honor, it was known to kill them neatly.
However, Rudolf didn’t just torture Voltas, he cut off his right arm too.
Cutting off the arm was a punishment for pickpocketing or stealing on streets.
In other words, the emperor treated Voltas, who had lived loyal to the Imperial family the same as any roadside thief.
From the point of view of Voltas, who had always lived in the capital with his family, it was more insulting than dying.
“Calm down, Count Voltas.”
Marquis Vanden, with a sad expression, took off his cloak and covered Voltas’s body.
And spoke to the commanders who were still in shock.
“I was the one who found Count Voltas when he escaped and brought him to our camp. If he causes any problem, I will take full responsibility.”
It was marquis Vanden who had brought Voltas out of the hell hole.
Luke, Duke Butler, and Vanden paid attention to the value of the man.
And as Vanden had the second largest position in the western army after Butler, the other commanders and nobles remained silent.
Marquis Vanden then continued to speak.
“The Emperor is going to be the same, and we have nothing to do but go for the civil war. I can’t place my full belief in Marquis Mayers or the south, and the behavior of the neutral lords is unusual.”
The neutral lords who seemed to be joining the nobles at the start were turning passive.
There were reports of them joining a third party which centered on power made by someone unknown, and doubtful of the Emperor’s mind.
“Marquis Vanden is right. We need to take the opportunity and blow the throat of the Emperor, or at least strike close for his destruction. That way, we will be able to take the initiative of the Empire as the western lords.”
Butler agreed with Vanden’s words.
The words of taking the initiative of the Empire were like a wind of fresh air for the western nobles.
Even if they belonged to the noblemen collectively, no noble had the intention of sharing power with the southern lords who new only tricks and money.
“We will follow Count Voltas’s plan. So hurry up and get ready to move.”
“Yes, Sire!”
After the meeting was done, all the commanders scattered quickly.
Voltas, who returned to his barracks, laughed gladly when the operation was accepted.
“Now it will be decided. My destiny…”
Voltas went out of barracks and looked at the Dris mountain which was in distance.
The mountain was dimly covered by rain clouds.
Which represented that the future was unknown.