Emperor Has Returned

Ethan kicked upon entering the room.

The people inside the dark room all stood up with a nervous expression.

Soon after, guards followed him into the room with awkward expressions.

The correct thing to do was to stop Ethan who was barging in, but there was no one who wanted to confront a Paladin.

“Ethan? This is the Hiveden’s governing council. It’s not a place where you can freely enter, especially after kicking the door open.”

Ethan looked at the man who spoke.

When he was at the capital, he was a noone, but upon coming to Hiveden, he became head of the Hiveden’s loan industry.

It was the same for the rest. Heads of prostitutes, swindlers, gangsters, gamblers and smugglers…

These groups of criminals held the real authoritative powers in Hiveden.

“So it looks like Earl Hannbon is really dead. Are you the new head?”

“Thats right. Name’s Ardin. I heard you were the last person that he had met. Maybe you can tell us anything?”

A question filled with suspicion. Their leader had been found dead last night so their attitude was only natural.

Ethan replied with an expression filled with sneer.

“If it was me, I wouldn’t have killed him without leaving any marks. Wasn’t he killed without any evidence on his body? That’s your guys’s expertise, isn’t it?”

Ardin and the other head’s expressions changed at hearing him mention this. They already had their suspicions between themselves. The reason why the council was called immediately was in a way to keep tabs on each other.

“Please mind your manners…..when you’re talking.”

Ardin who was of nobility, carefully stated.

Ethan didn’t even glance towards him and instead pulled out his dagger from his hilt and plunged it into the table.

A crack appeared on the table along with a loud ripping sound.

The entire dagger’s blade was inserted into the table, fully though.

“The slightest bit of manner I’m about to show everyone here is that I won’t kill you criminals here right now. Your protector Earl Hannbon is dead, and the Hugin knights that are hiding in the shadows are going to be exterminated. The White crow knights are on the way.”

Ardin froze still and swallowed a gulp.

“I’m planning to clean out this city that I should’ve done a long time ago. But before I do, I’m here to propose something.”

“Wh, what?”

“Hand over the rights to the city.”

Ardin made a disapproving expression.

“What are you saying! The rights for Hiveden can only be gotten with the approval of the council of nobles! It’s not something you can simply take! If you have some other intentions behind thi…….”

At that moment, Ethan grabbed Ardin’s throat and lifted him up.

The other heads quickly pulled out their weapons and the guards that were hiding in the shadows around them revealed themselves and surrounded Ethan.

Ethan came alone so he didn’t have anyone else with him. The surrounding guards were of far higher skill than a normal soldier.

“Don’t tell me you really think I have aspirations for politics or secular wealth.”

Ethan whispered while he still held Ardin in his clutches. He didn’t care what they thought of him.

“You lot can keep the wealth and power to yourselves. I only care about killing those that are the enemies of the emperor.”

Ethan let go of Ardin. Ardin gasped for air as he backed away. Fear and hate was evident on his face.

Ethan grinned as he opened his palm towards them.

“Why don’t you lower your weapons. I feel like I’m being threatened, seeing everyone hold their weapons.”

“……..Not sure how many knives there are in this room.”

“Yes. And I wonder how many could even reach me.”

Ardin shut his lips tight.

Even if he ordered the attack on Ethan, he wondered how many could potentially even hurt him.

A Paladin commander was one of the most powerful beings in the empire.

Even in one in hundred chance they killed him, Hiveden wasn’t a city that could handle the consequences of doing so.

It was certain that everyone involved, everyone that watched by would be hunted down.

Behind Ethan stood the empire’s church.

But Hiveden’s council was the same. Behind them stood the capital’s nobles and the corrupted priests.

Their combined power would be significant enough to go against the White crow knights.

“If you take our rights to the city, do you think the council of nobles will do nothing?”

“Of course they won’t do nothing….. But, you’ll all be dead by then.”

Ethan giggled.

Ardin felt a chill down his back.

That crazy bastard from the White crow order was intending to use any means possible to eliminate the Hugin knights. Now the question was, which side they should choose in order to survive.

Ardin and the other heads quickly calculated the earnings and possible future benefits they would have by staying loyal with the Hugin knights.

“……..Give us some time. We’ll think about it.”

“You’ve got till tomorrow.”

“That’s too soon! A week at least……”

“I see you’re already scheming. Trying to get more time to contact the nobles in the capital. If you think your cute schemes are going to change your fortune, you’re wrong.”

Ethan left and gave a final message.

“You’ve got till tomorrow dawn. If you don’t have your answer by then, Hiveden will face an unexpected battle. I wonder against Paladins and Laus scouts, how long this pitiful city will hold.”

*****

A long silence followed. The dagger that was stabbed into the table in the middle felt heavy as if it was stabbed into their foreheads. Ardin, who had been Earl Hannbons closest compatriot, opened his mouth first.

“What are we going to do?”

“It’s obvious isn’t it!”

A bald man with a dying voice stood up and shouted.

“You know what those fanatics are going to do when they get the rights to Hiveden! They’ll make Hiveden into one of their religious cities, just like they’ve done with the other one’s in the past! And at least half of our business will be forfeited to those church bastards!”

Ardin looked at him with a tired expression. It was Yuldrick, captain of the mercenary corps. Technically they were mercenaries but they were no better than bandits.

“Correct. While they are saying it’s just temporary, once the city is in their hands, they will for sure derive of its riches. Like the Laus scouts, we’ll be under their command for eternity.”

Selpa, the head ponce of the city’s prostitution industry.

“More worrying than Paladins, we don’t know about the priests behind them. From what I heard, Earl Hannbon was intending to give a present to Bishop Rieto and because that fell through it might be coming back to bite us. Maybe they’re using this opportunity to take control of the entire city.”

Gino, the owner of the city’s gambling business.

It was a matter of survival, so it was natural that there were a lot of dissenting opinions.

They were corrupt in the way they got their money, but upon realising their source of funds would be cut, they had to do something.

As the atmosphere heated up, Ardin quietly stated.

“Then why didn’t yous say anything when Ethan was here.”

“………..”

A silence fell upon the room. Then Gino carefully opened his mouth.

“What’s our current defences like?”

“……We’ve got mercenaries and many soldiers but no equipment. Our walls are low and thin and we don’t have any pots to boil oil nor arrows to attack. Most likely, our walls don’t even have any guards patrolling them at this moment.”

Hiveden wasn’t a city that was built during the era of gods or the era of the emperor. It had only been established recently.

Because the city was located close to the empire’s center, it didn’t really need to worry about getting invaded upon.

So the city had built not a castle wall, but just an ordinary wall around it. It’s defenses were non-existent and there weren’t any items ready to use to counter an attack.

“What? Then what’s the point of having a security guards?”

“I don’t know why you’re asking such stupid question, but if you really want to know, its because it was deemed best for the city to focus the guards on protecting our citizens from potentially harming each other.”

Everyone agreed that Hiveden didn’t have the best public order in place.

Although people would laugh, Hiveden did in fact have security guards.

But they competence only extended to covering murder incidents and scuffles around the city.

Having been hit with reality, every Hiveden’s heads dropped their faces into their hands. Selpa mumbled a groan.

“So facing the White crow knights isn’t a viable option then?”

“Even causing damage to their equipment would anger the church. They would come demanding recuperation. We need to make ourselves the victims here……. We need to somehow provide proof that the Hugin knights aren’t here.”

“Well, we have our associates in the capital. We should make contact with them. Part of our cash is going to the Pope. What can the Paladins do if we have the Pope on our side.”

“Didn’t you hear him before? Ethan that crazy bastard explicitly said that he won’t care about any of that.”

“Well if they can’t get Ethan to obey orders, then they should send us an army! It’s the least they can do after they’ve been freely pocketing our cash till now!”

As Yuldrick wildly shouted, the other heads looked at him as if they were looking at a maniac. Ardin sighed.

“You think the church and the capital knights will fight? The General isn’t someone that can be bought with money and the Capital’s pigs only care for themselves. They will not put themselves in danger for anyone else. No, this is something we’re going to need to figure out on our own.”

“……..Well, at least we should send a message to the capital. One way or another, they’ll make their stance known. And maybe it could be to our benefit. Ethan may just as well have been bluffing.”

“I hope that’s the case.”

Ardin nodded. The heads whispered to their subordinates with worried expressions. It seemed in everyone’s minds, their future was bleak.

They’d been through all sorts of hardships, but it was never a good thing to be involved in incidents with Paladins.

“Then I’ll call this meeting to an end. Go back home and spend some time with your family…..”

“What about joining forces with the Hugin knights?”

The one who’d stayed silent till now but suddenly opened his mouth was Oppert, the head of the smuggling faction in Hiveden.

He had established his influence by bringing in rare spices and products from outside the border, and selling them to nobles in the Capital.

He could easily get his hands on products that were banned by the church, so he was sought by many nobles and even members of the Hiveden council.

Until now, Ardin thought the man was quite clever, but hearing him now Ardin considered whether that perception needed changing.

“What do you mean joining forces with the Hugin knights?”

“Exactly as I’ve said, join forces with the Hugin knights and bring down the White crow knights. If we’re going by pure numbers, it’s not like we’re disadvantaged. Other than the guards, we have members of various organisations. Many are trained soldiers who are confident and skilled.”

“Are you stupid or just foolish? If we agree terms with the White crow Paladins and get the noble committee’s help, we may survive through this. But if we join hands with the Hugin knights? Then we’ll be branded as traitors by the entire empire for joining the enemy. Don’t you know what will happen then?”

The arrival of the imperial army.

The General, Vares Valte will make his way here.

Hiveden and all it’s buildings will be crumbled and it’s citizens reduced to ash.

If they don’t hide deep in the mountains like the Hugin knights did, they would vanish without a trace.

After the emperor’s assasination, there were already two cities that were made examples of this.

And the workings of that severe purge, naturally sent the entire empire in fear.

The relationship with the Hugin knights till now had lasted because it was under straps.

Oppert was about to say something more, but Ardin ignored him.

He had the least influence out of the heads. Disregarding his opinion, Arwin dismissed the meeting.

“Everyone return to……”

“Ardin nim!”

Arwin was about to blow up.

It felt like everyone was out to stop him from ending the meeting. The man who had called out to him was a soldier.

He was out of breath and his face pale. Seeing his expression, Ardin started to get worried.

“Sir, you need to see what’s going on outside.”

“Outside?”

Ardin and the heads in confusion looked out the window.

Upon looking out the terrace window, there were many others who were looking up into the sky.

Wondering if there’s something going on, Ardin looked up and saw a golden light covering the entire city in a bubble.

Ardin still didn’t know what this was.

Then someone grabbed his wrist. It was Yuldrick, head of the mercenary corps.

Only moments ago, his face was full of vigor ready to fight back, yet now his expression was pale white.

“Ar, Ardin. I think we should just surrender.”

“What? Why do you say that. What is that?”

“I, I’ve seen that ‘grace’ a few times in battle. At the time, I had been deployed alongside Paladins and they told me that’s a wall made from the power of ‘grace’. Once inside, any sound, anything physical won’t be able to escape. The Paladins call this ‘grace’ the emperor’s ‘foot’.”

“It’s a wall?”

Yuldrick quickly nodded his head.

“The important thing is, everytime this grace was used, they killed everyone inside that didn’t surrender. Just like its name, they’ll stamp and crush anyone that doesn’t submit to the emperor’s name. Ethan is saying he’ll wipe us out if we don’t concede our stance.”