How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 160

How to live as a tyrant's spoiled brat, episode 160

(160)

“Do you need my help?”

Mateos muttered to himself.

I nodded and looked around.

The hallway was filled with chaos.

There were still hundreds of elite soldiers, dozens of knights and battle wizards, but there was no Marquis of Venezion to give them direction.

The court officials, including the treasurer, the secretary, the administrator, the chief steward, and the chief chamberlain, were running around frantically, not knowing where to go.

“I will first take care of Lord Tentia. If you have any divine power left, would you please heal her?”

“Yes, Archduke Valen.”

Sir Tentia sat awkwardly among the knights of the Marquis.

Seeing him take off his helmet, it seemed like the fight was over.

"majesty."

“It’s a good thing you’re alive, sir.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, the Marquis Knight standing next to Sir Tentia extended his hand to me.

“Sir Tentia is my prisoner. If you wish to have her and her sword and armor back, you must pay the ransom.”

He lifted his visor and met my eyes.

His blue eyes were shining with a colorful mix of effortful playfulness and cool anger.

I asked, not caring about it and just feeling absurd.

“What on earth happened? It’s rare for a knight with his armor intact to be taken prisoner.”

It felt like another big rock had landed in my complicated head.

The knight who had captured Sir Tentia answered quickly.

“She heroically held out, blocking the passage until His Majesty had retreated. However, several spirits fighting the Encroachers from behind were encroached upon and attacked our rear, so we invited Lord Tentia to join us in the fight.”

“I went to kill the Marquis, and you are saying that you reached out to my knight?”

“I was planning to open the way and then send a special force. And that’s exactly what I did.”

It was said that it was a conscious surrender invitation and tactical deception to get the hostile knights to fight together.

I sighed in relief and looked at the knights in golden armor in confusion.

“You all have such fierce eyes. Don’t you plan on killing me?”

“What happened to Your Excellency Venice?”

I took a deep breath and answered.

“He committed suicide for the honor of his family.”

“Was he really an eroder?”

I took a deep breath and answered.

“Yes. The saint and the bishop of this diocese will verify it.”

“If the Archduke has framed him, the Knights of Gremorius have the right and duty to take revenge on the Archduke.”

“Isn’t that a natural thing?”

I smiled leisurely and looked into his blue eyes.

He was the first one to turn his eyes.

I took a gold coin out of my suit pocket and handed it to him.

“Is Your Majesty’s knight worth a mere gold coin? You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“It’s not just a single gold coin, it’s my heart that wants to get her back even if it means giving up everything I have, minus just one coin.”

It was just a joke, but as if he had read my true feelings, the knight burst into laughter and slapped the back of Lord Tentia's chest plate.

“Your lord has paid the price. Your Majesty has been released.”

Sir Tentia came and stood next to me again.

I smiled bitterly and asked the knight who had taken her captive.

“Sir. What is your name?”

“Vitos. Vice-captain of the Golden Knights who serve Gremorius.”

“Good. Sir Vitos. Now you will be acting as the leader. The saint has performed a miracle and has cleared the surface of the eroders, but there is still chaos. We must stabilize Kimelion and capture the fleeing eroders.”

The eyes of the knights and wizards were filled with confusion.

At that level, everyone knows enough about erosion and antiquity.

You must also be well aware that erosion is not a simple transaction, but rather an act that contributes to the destruction of this world.

It must have been quite shocking to learn that one of your colleagues was an encroacher, let alone that the Marquis of Venice was an encroacher.

Even the strongest knights would have lost their minds.

What was needed at this time was work.

“Sir Vitos. Send out the knights and elite soldiers to stabilize Kimelion, and search the tunnels with the church’s purifiers and priests.”

“The first thing to do is to collect His Majesty’s body.”

“I too have run away because of the spirit of the old days. I will have to go with the saint or the bishop of Kimelion.”

The reason I added the bishop was a minor appeal that I had not already matched my words with the saint.

Vitos nodded and stood up from his seat.

I told Mateos.

“Saint. Please help us recover the body of Marquis Grace together with the elite soldiers and bishop here. Sir Tentia. You will follow the saint.”

“I understand, Your Highness.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I finally found my sister in Sereraji.

“Sister. You have somewhere to go with me too.”

Sereraji smiled faintly and whispered softly.

“You’re plotting evil again.”

I couldn't bring myself to refute it.

* * *

In any case, in the central city of the Marquisate, there was a well-made emergency situation manual.

It was said that just because the Marquis died, no one would shed tears and let the Archduke, who might have been the Marquis' benefactor, rule the land.

“Anyone who takes advantage of the chaos to loot a store should be beheaded!”

“Bars will be closed for the next week. Gatherings and gatherings are also prohibited.”

Elite officers, soldiers, and administrators quickly calmed the chaotic crowd.

“Charge in!”

“They’re running away to the right on 12th Street.”

“Battle Mage Division ready! Flame Wave long-range projectile. 3. 2. 1.”

Knights, battle mages, paladins, priests, and inquisitors entered the tunnels and fortresses, searching the places where the encroachers had emerged, and slaughtered any lesser encroachers and encroachment cultists who fled.

“Burn it all!”

Bishop Heharta of the Marquisate Cathedral rushed to the scene and took control.

He skillfully selected between the honorable warriors and the sinners who had chosen to perish among the dead knights, soldiers, and wizards.

“I see the saint.”

“Now that the bishop has arrived, we can collect the Marquis’ body.”

“Yes, Saint. I will analyze each and every one of them and clearly reveal under the light of the God of Light who is the true sinner.”

Bishop Heharta has lived in the Cathedral of Cimeliion for a long time and has developed deep ties with the Gremorius family.

As a priest he held the saint in deep esteem, but as a big shot of Cimelione he could not help but take a somewhat different stance.

It was quite possible to suspect that Archduke Valencian was attacking the Gremorius family through backroom dealings with the saint, and he actually did.

“Oh, light.”

Those doubts were dispelled when they discovered clear signs of erosion on the Marquis' body.

Heharta was a bishop who lived in Cimeliion his entire life.

Kimelion was a city where the erosion cult operated in secret beneath hundreds of tunnels that the eyes of the God of Light could not reach, and Heharta was a skilled priest who could sufficiently distinguish between voluntary and involuntary erosion.

“The area itself is limited to the left hand, but the erosion has penetrated deep into the bone. It means that the power was gained through the contract and efforts were made to control the erosion.”

When eroded by others, the body mutates randomly, and is eroded relatively from the outer part of the skin.

That is, the narrower the area and the deeper the erosion, the more dense the eroder.

“As far as I know, Your Majesty is right-handed. Left-handed. If it was really just your hand that was eroded, not your wrist, you could have prayed in church and shaken my hand if you put up with a little pain.”

Heharta looked at the saint with a sigh.

“My lord, if this fact were to be made public, there would be great chaos in Kimelion.”

It was then that Tentia realized why Valencian had sent her to the saint's side.

'Oh my goodness. I can't believe I'm thinking like that. I guess I've become a coward.'

If Valencian was not to make it look like he had torn a good marquis to pieces, the popular church had to condemn the marquis.

Talking wasn't her forte, but taking the beating was, so she could take the beating with words just fine.

“Bishop, compared to you, my depth of faith is incomparably shallow, but I know that if you try to hide it, it will eventually be revealed under the sunlight.”

The words of the Sword Expert-class knight wearing full plate armor had great power.

Even more so if that knight had lasted several minutes against a dozen other Sword Expert knights.

“Please do not ignore the truth that His Majesty Valen risked his life to uncover.”

Saint Matthew also nodded.

“Although Grand Duke Valen is not a man of integrity or gentleness, he is not one to compromise with the so-called old demons. He came to this land with only five people and had the courage to denounce the great nobles, so how could our Gwangmyeong Church ignore that?”

“Saint.”

“There are a hundred completely mutated eroders crawling out of this land. Isn’t this the moment for the church to lead the people?”

It was the moment when the political skills that Matheos had learned from Argos shone through.

Hechartha recognized that now that the Marquis of Venice was dead as an usurper, the Church had a huge excuse to interfere with the new Marquis.

To rise to the rank of bishop, one must possess both divine and political power.

It wasn't long before he made up his mind.

“It has been revealed to the world that the Marquis has joined hands with the encroachers and is attempting to sacrifice the city.”

That wasn't a wrong statement.

That actually happened about 24 years ago, based on the pre-regression standard.

He reveals that the Marquis of Venice is the Encroacher, killing him in name and body.

Everything was going according to Valencian's plan.

* * *

There are times like that.

When everything is going just as I thought it would, but I strangely feel dirty.

Of course I knew why.

That's what happened when good people were brought down.

Of course, it might have been difficult for even a good person to do Venice before its return.

Because he was ultimately blinded by revenge and ended up killing millions of civilians and sacrificing 200,000 citizens.

… … I was used to punishing those who brought about beggarly results with good intentions.

Still, killing someone who was doing his best in his position was no easy task.

Of course I know.

If humans were to choose erosion, coexistence would be impossible.

It's just… … a shame.

At least before he became entangled with Jaylilith, Venezion was a respectable nobleman.

He loved his subjects, ruled with enterprising spirit, and actually achieved good results.

That would be the biggest foolish thing that scratches my mind.

“We could have gone together.”

After all, there is nothing more frightening than being swayed by emotions.

His vision must have been far-sighted at that time.

Wisdom is needed to achieve one's goals while being selective about the means and methods.

The moment when I dreamed of revenge without regard to means and methods.

“I told you I was going to leave this city of fortresses and mines.”

He ends up forgetting Ji-Hee, who gave him wings, and even the dream he originally had.

Tax cuts, construction of trade cities, expansion of fiefdoms.

He had rejected everything he had hoped for just two years ago.

I pushed away my foolishness with a sigh and looked at Sereraji.

“Sister. If they rush in, immediately subdue them with lightning. The kids inside are at least sword users.”

She smiled bashfully and shrugged her shoulders.

“Shouldn’t you first tell me where this place is and what you’re here for?”

It was a mansion with a view of the Wyvern Pit nearby.

It was as tall as a castle and seemed so strong that no amount of magic could break it.

“The Marquis’ hideout. I’ve come to secure successors.”

Sereraji didn't even ask how I knew that.

She wasn't the type of person to be interested in such things.

“Successors?”

“We need to establish a child who will be as cooperative as possible with the royal family.”

Sereraji blinked her colored eyes in question.

“In Freuheit, the Marquis was a clear traitor, and with His Majesty the Emperor by his side, we could appoint a successor as we pleased. It seems different here, doesn’t it?”

“If things go my way, the Church will greatly reduce the reputation of the Marquis of Venice.”

And then, I continued.

“This time, it won’t be the way we nominate, but the way the survivor will become the Marquis.”

“What does that mean?”

I looked around the city.

Smoke was still rising here and there.

“Unfortunately, the grandsons of the Marquis of Venezion will die at the hands of the ravagers raised by the Marquis of Venezion. The one who happens to survive will develop a great affection for the Archduke of Celerazi who came running like a meteor to save him.”