Chapter 307: Chapter 271: Imperial Palace (2)

“…With all due respect, Marquis.”

Count Ravel said, barely calming his trembling body.

The way his mustache—which he had grown with great effort—trembled looked very pitiful to Marquis Bogut, but he decided to not say it out loud.

Because the marquis felt bad if he were to do that. It was clear that the count was still traumatized by the time he got hung upside down naked on the spire of his own palace just a few days ago.

“Are you out of your mind? Or are you just suicidal?”

“…”

Hearing this kind of words coming out of such a traumatized person just hits different.

Scratching his head awkwardly, the marquis asked the count.

“What’s the problem, Ravel?”

Seriously?!

What’s the problem he said?!

Tens of thousands of curse words were concentrated in the glare that Count Ravel directed at Marquis Bogut, but the latter just shrugged his shoulders as always, pretending not to know.

One surprising thing was that the marquis didn’t have his usual clown-like smile on his face, but the count just had no leniency to pay attention to such a thing, considering that the matter he brought up was of grave importance.

“You’re telling me you wish to have a conversation with both the empress and the chancellor?!”

“Yes.”

“Our current situation is risky enough already! If you were to request to hold a summit, it’s obvious what’s going to happen!”

The count knew that this wasn’t the tone he should use to address his superior, but at the same time, this was something that he had to address no matter what.

Their plan to deploy a large-scale army to occupy the Imperial Palace had been foiled because of the bastard called Dowd Campbell.

Knowing his close relationship with both the empress and the chancellor, there was no way that he hadn’t reported such a thing to those two.

“Nevertheless, in a way…”

However, the marquis just replied in a casual tone.

“We haven’t done anything to warrant a great reprimand by them.”

His statement was ridiculous.

But, in a way, he was right. Thanks to Dowd Campbell’s excellent work, they failed in their attempt to start a civil war.

That was why, even though they could be held responsible for their actions, they couldn’t be officially ‘punished’ for that.

“We can still bury our heads in the sand, meaning, it’s still possible for us to make a demand.”

“Demand? What even—? There’s no way they’d give such leniency to the people who blatantly tried to start a war—”

“Oh, but they would.”

He said with a bitter smile.

“Because it won’t be a one-sided demand, rather, it’s a deal. We just need to give them something in return.”

To those words, Count Ravel went silent.

He carefully read Bogut’s expression, as if trying to read the mood behind it.

“…M

Though this superior of his was like an enemy to him, the count had served him for more than ten years already.

He was able to sense the ‘difference’ in the way he acted, no matter how minor it was.

In that sense…n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Marquis Bogut’s current condition was… Well…

The count could feel…

A kind of ‘resolution’ that only someone who yearned for something so badly could have.

“…Are you okay?”

That feeling he sensed was so strong to the point that he asked that question before he knew it.

That question could be interpreted in different ways, but the moment he heard it, Marquis Bogut stopped moving.

“Why would I not be okay, Ravel?”

After a short silence, the marquis answered as such, then he proceeded to let out his usual silly laugh.

However…

The count couldn’t shake off the feeling…

That the marquis only said that to ‘reassure’ him.

It felt out of place.

However, before he could take a dig deeply into that feeling, the marquis already changed the subject.

“Rather than that, I’d like to hear the information regarding Nicholas.”

“…”

Hearing that name being mentioned, disgust crept its way onto the count’s face.

It was clear from his expression that he didn’t want to talk about this matter if possible.

“…I heard from my chief aide that they’re doing their best to ‘calm’ him down.”

“Will there be a problem in the management?”

“No. We’re using expendables who won’t affect anyone in the slightest even if they were to die; death row prisoners who had committed serious offenses. Some of them are used as ‘meals’ sometimes, but… That simply couldn’t be helped…”

“Is that so?”

“…Wouldn’t it be better to just dispose of him? At this point, he isn’t even a human anymore.”

Count Nicholas was his superior, and those weren’t appropriate words to use towards him, but…

Count Ravel couldn’t help but say so, and he meant his words.

He thought that ‘the thing’ that used to be called Count Nicholas would never get any better than this even if they were to wait for a million years.

“Well, that’s not something we can do at this point.”

But, Marquis Bogut replied as such in a cool voice.

“…Because I need him as the last gift for Dowd Campbell.”

After all…

He was hell-bent on killing that filthy motherfucker twice, wasn’t he?

That’s why…

“We need to gift-wrap him with care.”

This way…

We can create a rather fun situation for him.

●

“…A summit?”

I replied in a dumbfounded voice after hearing the chancellor’s words.

Since even Sullivan looked unsure about this, I didn’t feel particularly embarrassed by my conduct here.

“That’s what they’re demanding.”

“…”

“Also, they emphasized strongly that you need to attend the summit.”

Walking behind the chancellor—who walked through the corridor of the palace at a terrifying speed—I could only keep my mouth shut.

The moment I came to the Imperial Palace through a portal, she immediately dragged me out here to the meeting hall, as if she was trying to kidnap me or something.

“…Okay, seeing how you’re trying to bring me to the hall as soon as I arrive, may I assume that both you and Her Imperial Majesty had chosen to accept their demand, Chancellor?”

“There’s no reason for us to say no since we have the upper hand in this situation.”

I thought as much too. At this moment, neither Her Imperial Majesty nor the chancellor would lose out in accepting their demand.

But that was why I couldn’t understand the situation even more.

Why did Marquis Bogut choose to pick a fight with them instead of avoiding them for the time being?

Seriously, I just couldn’t understand that guy…

“…”

Based on my experience…

When someone tried to do something that was hard for everyone to understand, they’d fall into two categories;

[Either they’ve gone crazy, or they have another card to play.]

…But, even if he has another card to play…

In this kind of situation, the only card he could use was pretty much a ‘last-ditch effort’.

Get rid of the opponent’s leaders first. Though the aftermath would be painful for him to deal with, it was a better outcome than straight out losing.

In any other situation, this would be an extremely effective plan even.

But, they chose to do it here, in the Imperial Palace…

The Sword Saint is here…

[…That’s true.]

No matter how much violence they were going to cause, there was a suppressor here that could quell it in an instant.

This was the man who was able to suppress a Devil’s Vessel inside a fixed place. As long as the battle occurred here, he was pretty much invincible.

The reason why Her Imperial Majesty and the chancellor accepted their demand was probably partly because they were aware of that.

I just couldn’t find a way where our opponent could strike an effective blow here.

“We’ve arrived.”

While I was having such thoughts, the chancellor called out to me.

She stopped in front of a huge door, and I also did the same.

“…”

Anyway…

Whatever would be happening in the future, there was only one answer for me to pick.

To get there myself.

After all…

Even if the whole ‘war’ was skipped, I still had a whole Boss Battle to fight.

Logically speaking…

Chapter 5, the Empire’s Great Turmoil…

On the Branching Route, Skip…

The Boss Battle of the route would be happening here.

“Are you ready, Dowd?”

“…”

I took a deep breath.

Whether I was ready or not…

It wasn’t like I could avoid it.

“…Le

Right.

Let’s do this.

●

“…That Marquis Bogut… What is he even thinking?”

Victoria said in a low voice.

Her gaze was fixed on the passage where Dowd and Sullivan had just disappeared into.

Since Dowd was the only one who was summoned to the palace, the Devil’s Vessels were all on stand-by outside.

“I worked under him as my client once, but he didn’t seem to be that stupid back then.”

She said all those words almost like a monologue, never expecting it to turn into an in-depth discussion, nor receive an intelligent answer from a certain someone next to her.

“Are you talking to me…?”

“…”

But, this kind of answer was a little too much…

Hearing the voice that didn’t have a shred of intelligence or logic in it, Victoria narrowed her eyes.

Meanwhile, the person continued…

“V-Victoria t-talked to me first—”

“…Calm down, Seras.”

Victoria replied, holding her aching forehead.

“…I just…feel like it’s dumb if we just treat each other like air forever…”

Her words were blunt, but those words definitely showed that she was willing to have a conversation with the other woman.

Victoria felt a fellowship with her to a degree, considering that they both had been harassed by that pervert who had gone inside. Though, she wasn’t ready to ask the other woman about what happened in ‘the past’.

Meanwhile, Seras’ expression quickly lit up after hearing her sister’s words. She could tell that her sister had a change of mind, and it was a more than welcome outcome for her.

“Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean that I want to get along with you.”

“Yeah! Thank you!”

“My goal of killing you still isn’t—”

“Yes! I’ll do my best to get killed by you!”

“…”

Instead of replying to her again, Victoria just turned her gaze upwards before letting out a deep sigh.

She just couldn’t handle Seras—whose eyes were wide open to the point that her gaze felt extremely burdensome to her.

And…

Thanks to that, she managed to notice ‘it’.

“…Huh?”

There were several entrances in the Imperial Palace, which wasn’t really a strange thing considering what kind of place it was.

In the direction Victoria looked up at, there was a door that was connected to the passage Dowd had just disappeared into.

A group of people were carrying something, all of them wearing nervous expressions. It was an iron box that was tightly wrapped in all kinds of sealing magic tools and chains.

It was quite the strange sight to see in the Imperial Palace, so it caught her attention quite easily.

She tried to see through the thin gap on the box. ‘Something’ inside was moving.

And that something was…

An unknown thing, wearing a bandana with bandages wrapped all around its body.

“…”

The moment she saw it…

Goosebumps appeared all over her body.

“…!”

She immediately got up from her seat, freaked out. Seras, who was beside her, as well as the other Vessels who were around, focused their attention on her.

However, Victoria didn’t even have the chance to let their gazes bother her.

“…We need to go in!”

Instead, she said such a thing with a trembling voice.

“Get out of the way! I need to go to where that man is!”

“But, everyone except the people concerned were ordered to stand by in front of the room—”

“Who the hell cares about that?!”

“…”

That was the ‘recommendation’ from the people who attended the summit. Ignoring it meant that they were ignoring the authority of both the empress and the chancellor at the same time.

Is she out of their mind?

Everyone asked that question with their gazes, but Victoria just gritted her teeth before continuing.

“…We can deal with that later!”

She gritted her teeth before pointing at the passage the iron box had gone through.

“Dealing with that is better than letting Mr. Dowd handle that thing!”

She was serious when she said that.

The Sword Saint was inside the meeting hall.

That fact was probably the reason why everyone around her was acting so laid back despite the situation.

However, her intuition was screaming at her.

If we let that thing enter that room—!

Whatever it was…

Whatever Dowd could do, whatever abilities he could use.

He was going to die.

And that outcome was pretty much a certainty.