How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 196

(196)

The boy crawled and hung on to Valencian's feet.

Valencian was a man synonymous with ruthlessness and cruelty, but he could not help but hesitate to cut in half a face that looked so much like his own.

“Yeah. Well, it looks like the royal family is the royal family.”

Instead of bringing his sword down, he turned it behind his leg, cutting off half the wrist of the boy who was trying to hang on to his leg.

“Ahh!”

The boy screamed, and the sword with only a handle fell out from inside his torn sleeve.

“Oh, how did you know-!”

Valencian looked down at the distorted face with composure.

“I’ve done it a lot. Hanging on a pole, stabbing behind the knees, grabbing both legs and throwing them backwards, stabbing under the neck.”

“What the hell!”

“I am the one who grew up to be a member of the royal family like you.”

Valencian kicked the boy in the chest with his white shoe.

The hood, which had been tattered since it had been hit by Rudy's shotgun, finally tore long and revealed the boy's upper body in the darkness.

Valencian frowned as he looked at the boy's body.

“What kind of monster are you?”

The boy glared at him reflexively.

It was meant to be a sensitive subject that would frown even in the face of a life-threatening crisis, but Valencian was a cold-blooded man who kidnapped a saint and killed her father in front of his daughter.

“I am a human!”

“People have belly buttons. You must have been born from an egg, right?”

The boy's lower abs were clean and free of any traces.

Valencianus inferred several facts from its appearance.

one.

'It's a homunculus made using the blood of the royal family. Obtaining blood wouldn't have been that difficult, but it's hard for even the most skilled blood magician to make a homunculus. Even if you receive knowledge and power from an old being skilled in the art of creation and blood magic, you need a lot of equipment and space. That's what it means to have that.'

two.

'No matter how you look at it, it's human. Even though it's using green flames, you can barely feel any corrosive energy. The knowledge of the holy relics that you obtained from the monastery is certain. It seems that you've reached the level of transplanting them into your body. It's going to be a tough fight.'

three.

'No matter how large the empire is, it's hard to keep that much equipment and space completely secret. You'd need the support of a count-level noble. … … It's better. The more they rely on the human world, the greater the damage they'll suffer if you wipe them all out.'

four.

'There are several Encroachers who have blended into society. They are not physically strong, but are only mentally strong. They are not just any old thing that has been given power and mutated to run wild, but they are well organized and systematically controlled so that their minds do not encroach on their bodies.'

five.

‘Even before the regression… …was it like this?’

Valencian was lost in thought for a moment.

Of course, he didn't forget to aim his sword at the struggling boy.

'If we had this much knowledge and power before the regression… … we should have been much stronger. But the Encroachers we faced were nothing but monsters. The world before the regression was more chaotic due to civil war and war, so the Encroachers should have been strong, not weak, right?'

Two things came to mind.

The first hypothesis was that the invaders were also involved in the war between the great lords and suffered damage.

'At that time, they issued a loan certificate and confiscated property and people. Except for the so-called priests and bishops, it is possible that everyone was dragged off to war and died without being able to do anything.'

It was surprisingly a reasonable inference.

'In order to operate beyond the territory, you eventually have to disguise yourself as a merchant or something. At that time, if you saw a merchant coming and going near the front line, you would just capture them and send the people as soldiers, the luggage as military supplies, and the carriages and horses to the front line.'

In that way, the nationwide network collapsed and became fragmented, and eventually only a few big names survived, and the eroding religious organization collapsed.

The second hypothesis was that there was no need for them to come forward in the first place.

'The great lords were turning the world into hell on their own. Because there were no troops to close the demonic realms due to the war, demonic realms flooded in from all directions and caused chaos. I don't know if they just picked their noses without touching them.'

Just as he and Jaerilis were beginning to stabilize and turn against the invaders, Justinian rebelled once again.

'And then I died and time went back. Maybe from their perspective, it was all over without them doing anything. It must be absurd.'

Valencian, who had thought that far, aimed the sword he had put away at the boy.

'I'll definitely take you alive.'

“Do you think you are royalty?”

* * *

The boy just looked bewildered, unable to keep up with his sudden change in attitude.

Valencian asked, carrying the black tower.

“I asked you if you thought you were royalty. Answer me.”

The boy answered, putting on his torn hood.

“They said that I… … would enter the palace one day.”

"okay."

“The same blood flows through my body as yours.”

“Yes, I do. I hate to admit it.”

“The scope of family may be different for each person, but I think we are blood relatives.”

"so."

“That’s right. I am the royal family. I will kill all my rotten relatives and reform the empire.”

The boy said crookedly.

Valencian replied, irritated by the inconsistent attitude.

“I guess you don’t really want to live. You’ll have to lick the bottom of my shoes.”

“You seem to have forgotten, but I have six explosive spells hidden in this sewer. They’ve already been cast, so I can detonate them at any time.”

“Then it seems you are not royalty.”

There was doubt in the boy's eyes.

The Archduke straightened his uniform, which had been disheveled from the fight, and spoke in a dignified manner.

“If you are royalty, you must take care of your subjects.”

The boy frowned as if to tell her not to talk nonsense.

“How many thousands of people did you abandon?”

Valencian answered calmly.

“It was for hundreds of thousands, millions of people. I couldn’t kill them all, so I stamped the seal, but I didn’t enjoy the process.”

“Don't make me laugh.”

“On the other hand, what about you? Are you doing this to save someone? No. You are only doing this to disrupt the oath of loyalty and bring chaos to the empire. That’s why I am the Archduke who made a cruel choice with tears in my eyes, and you are an ugly criminal.”

The boy staggered to his feet.

“Are you saying that with your own mouth?”

Valencian did not place his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“There’s only you and me, so I don’t think you’ll tell me, so I’ll have to.”

“I hate the current royal family.”

He just smiled confidently and shrugged his shoulders.

“Why? You don’t think you would have killed your parents? Were you brainwashed? That we are rotten? What’s your evidence?”

“… … .”

“We didn’t really hold festivals or anything during the Great Famine. It’s common in Soletaras history to ascend to the throne by purges. Jaryllis didn’t even say “if you don’t have bread, eat cake” nonsense. You’re not even a year old… … Where did you hear anyone say you were rotten?”

As the story became longer and longer, the boy lowered his head, and Valencian became more and more proud.

“Many people died.”

"know."

“But the nobles and the royal family did not die.”

"okay……."

“Then you can go back.”

Valencian said, suppressing a hint of reluctance.

Even if the value of a knight's life and that of a soldier's life cannot be the same, it would be unacceptable for someone above him to openly admit that.

But now, what was needed was sophistry, not logic.

“Boy, behave like royalty. Be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor and sacrifice for Him. Love the entire Empire and make what you see the pillars of your heart.”

“… … .”

“Then I will treat you like royalty too.”

The boy took a step back.

“Don’t talk nonsense. I’m an eroder.”

Valencian stood there with his eyes shining and his hand outstretched.

“Can’t you control it?”

“It might cause a mental breakdown.”

“Then hundreds of people will die. I can kill hundreds of people with one spell, just like you.”

“As you said, I am a homunculus. I have neither a father nor a mother.”

“I was born from the death of my mother, and I saw my twin brother kill my father. I chopped up my half-siblings and burned them with my own hands. The fact that we are blood relatives doesn’t change, but whether or not we can become a family changes with effort.”

“… … .”

“Let’s go, nephew.”

Valencian turned around.

There was the sound of footsteps following.

He rested his hand against the wall for a moment and suppressed the urge to vomit.

As expected, lying did not suit my personality.

* * *

Valencian stood before an empty spiral staircase.

The cries of the Black Iron Knights, who were slaughtering ghouls from all over the waterway, could be heard.

The boy never looked back again.

“You go up first.”

“No. I’ll go first.”

The boy climbed the stairs first.

I could see bright sunlight through the crack in the door in front of me.

The boy slowly opened the basement door.

My hands were trembling with a strange excitement and fear of starting a new life again.

Paaang!

Before the door could even fully open, a bullet flew in, pierced the door, and pierced the boy's shoulder.

“Ahh!”

And before the scream could even end, a knight in white armor rushed in, grabbed the boy by the collar, threw him to the ground, covered his mouth, and dragged him out.

Valencian was not at all embarrassed or agitated.

He simply climbed the stairs with a leisurely gait.

"it's okay?"

“Okay, that’s it.”

Outside the basement, Rudy, Tentia, Sereraji, and the veteran sheriffs were lined up.

Sereraji looked down at the boy with eyes filled with joy and winked at Tentia.

“Don’t worry. You will contribute to this genius’s achievements. It may hurt a little, but that’s none of my business.”

Tentia forced the boy's mouth open, and Sereraji took out a blue medicine from her bosom and poured it down the boy's throat.

The boy gritted his teeth as he felt the strength dissipating from his body.

“Valencian!”

“Why are you so angry?”

Valencian walked out of the cellar at a leisurely pace.

That face, with its brazen and strong smile, looked like that of a transcendent alien race that had toyed with humans in the distant past.

“You lied to me… … .”

“Imperial law does not punish those who deceive people. Moreover, I am a police chief who has been granted the right to conduct entrapment investigations and leading questions by the Emperor, the unyielding sun of the Empire.”

“Live like royalty! Then I will treat you like royalty!”

The boy roared, his red eyes wide open, and Valencianus grinned like a predator.

“Yes. Won’t you give me the chance to do so now? This is the chance to sacrifice myself for His Majesty the Emperor. Dedicate myself honorably!”

“You lied to me!”

The Archduke shook his head.

“No! You tricked me. You said you had six explosions prepared. Wasn’t it actually seven?”

“!”

The struggling boy lost all strength in his body.

The police officers tried to put shackles on the boy's arms and legs and a gag on his mouth.

A look of triumph appeared in the boy's eyes, and Valencianus lifted one hand to release the gag.

“I think you have something to say.”

The boy said with a bitter laugh.

“If I… … stop restraining the power, it will explode. This city will now become a sea of fire. Hell will descend upon this land, and you will all be cursed!”

"lie."

Sereraji just cut in.

She motioned to the marshals again to gag the boy, then pulled down the brim of her blue cone-shaped hat to shield herself from the afternoon sun.

“Valentine. Don’t listen to me. I’m lying.”

"okay?"

“You know that you can’t sustain an explosion that has already occurred for that long, since you’ve also made explosions with a time difference. You’re just suppressing an explosion that has already occurred with mana.”

"yes."

“It would take someone as strong as His Majesty the Emperor to sustain seven explosions for several days. He may be able to finish casting, but he probably hasn’t memorized the ignition, and since that guy is now helpless… … .”

As he continued speaking, Sereraji's face turned ashen.

Blue and yellow eyes swiveled in different directions.

“It could explode at any moment… … ?”

Kugugugugugugugu-!

The basement began to shake with a loud noise.