I Will Surrender My Position as the Empress - Chapter 58
Lennox wandered through the mansion, chewing his lips thoughtfully. Fortunately, the assassin had chosen to end their own lives in time, sparing Lennox from a complicated situation. If they had been captured alive, things would have become much messier.
Duke Despone remained oblivious to the events. Lennox had no intention of revealing the failure; on the contrary, it needed to be shrouded in even more secrecy. Suddenly, Lennox stopped in his tracks, his ears perking towards the outside of the mansion. Squinting his eyes and listening intently, he slowly exhaled before sitting down on the floor. The eerie silence outside indicated that there was no intention to alert anyone. Lennox pressed his restless heart and regulated his breath several times, but his expression remained grim. It was he who had magically bound Adele’s body. Binding the body of an unseen opponent with magic was a challenging feat, but Lennox believed in his abilities. Confident that he could undoubtedly kill the Empress, he held her in his magical grasp. However, as he held onto the Empress, the assassin infiltrated her camp. The Empress remained motionless. At that moment, Lennox’s heart raced with anticipation. The Empress was about to die. She had to die! However, an unbelievable event occurred—the gradual retreat and dispersion of his magic. Despite his efforts to push back, it was futile. Only a select few among the first-grade keepers could repel Lennox, the top-tier striker. The Empress was a striker, possessing control comparable to a first-grade keeper! Another reason to ensure her death emerged. Having failed to bind her with magic and with the impending realization of his actions by the Empress, Lennox revised his plan. With the current situation, killing the Empress within the magical radius was difficult. He would have to wait until after removing the Vuetta Marquis’s tower to eliminate the magical radius. He would seize the opportunity then.
****
In a temporary camp, there was a women’s lodge reserved for magicians. Amidst those sleeping at a reasonable distance, a woman with striking red hair lay. Her name was Brunhill Alexa. Ranked second among the Ehmont Strikers, she harshly criticized the approach to the Ehmont Tower, deeming it the worst. To minimize damage by properly destroying the tower, she suggested establishing a jurisdictional zone with magicians stationed in various areas rather than a centralized approach. However, her opinions were largely ignored due to her status as an orphan from the slums, coupled with her sarcastic and critical personality. There seemed to be nothing more she could do in Ehmont. Yet, she was not one to easily give up. Once a wound began to fester, it would continue to fester until pus oozed out, and only then would new flesh emerge. Ehmont was a festering wound. She decided to wait and gather information. To understand the Duke’s intentions, she collected information about the tower he was constructing. Being a skilled magician at the second rank, it was within her capabilities. She also thoroughly distinguished those within the magician’s guild who shared similar thoughts as Duke Despone and those who could align with her. As she pondered how to share and utilize this information, the answer appeared like a comet. Ignoring the shattered tower, the queen descended to the ground. Brunhill remembered the Queen’s figure vividly.
“Ah, such a method exists. How did she find out? Without contemplating the destruction of the tower, it would have been impossible to discover.”
During this journey, Brunhill’s gaze was fixated on the Queen. She scrutinized the Empress fiercely. Could she be the one to wipe away the festering wound and encourage the growth of new flesh? If so, Brunhill was determined to devote everything to the Empress.
****
The next morning, the Duke of Despone awoke in a wretched lodge, feeling particularly gloomy.
“Of all times, the Vuetta Tower had to come down! Tsk!”
Wiping his face with water fetched by the knights, he muttered irritably. The animal fur used for the bedding seemed to be of an unknown and shabby creature, yet even with five layers, his back still ached. Initially provided with only two fur blankets for the entire group, the Duke, dissatisfied, had even pulled over additional blankets intended for the knights. Despite their use of the blankets, the Duke remained dissatisfied.
Homelessness was one of the things he detested most—unsanitary, cold, and the worst in terms of taste and quantity of food that had to be chewed. Given all that, why did the Duke choose to travel this path?
“I must endure. Vuetta must not have a tower.”
Duke Despone calmed his mind and unfolded a map. On the map, black and red dots were scattered in a chaotic manner. The black dots indicated the current location of the tower, and the red ones..
“All these locations should have towers coming down.”
A greedy smile crossed his face.
Until the day when towers descended without fail to these marked red locations, Ehmont would become the world’s first magical nation where magic could be freely used anywhere. There was a drawback of a narrowed safe zone, but where in the world could one find something without danger? The tower was a mysterious thing. The location and power of the tower influenced other existing and future towers. When a powerful magical focal point tower was erected, there was a certain probability that a tower would descend nearby. Duke Despone was manipulating the tower’s location using this information. The reason for leaving Count Calvin’s tower untouched and intending to destroy the Vuetta Marquis’s tower was precisely because of this. He did not even share this information with Lennox. Lennox, in the first place, did not attempt to see beyond the information provided by the Duke, but…
“Vuetta must not have a tower; otherwise, a tower might come down to my territory for no reason.”
Duke Despone grumbled, grinding his teeth.
“If Vuetta’s Tower is destroyed, where might a tower come down as a result?”
He narrowed his eyes and scrutinized the map.
“This is level 1, and… this is level 3… then the magical radius should be about this much.”
His finger slowly dropped to a specific spot on the map. There, in clear and bold letters, it was written: [capital]. If Vuetta’s Tower were destroyed, there was a high possibility that a tower would come down in the capital. A tower comparable to Vuetta’s. However, on Duke Despone’s face, there was no trace of worry. After casually tapping the capital with his finger, he neatly rolled up the map, stretched, and yawned.
“Well, it worked out well.”
He had hoped for a tower to come down near the capital anyway. That way, they could use magic even in the capital, right?
“If it comes down above the palace like last time, it might be problematic.”
The Duke’s nonchalant face glowed with a dangerous light.
The hazy dawn. Adele rose with a grimace, lightly wiping her face and hands.
“The next assassin must be caught alive, for sure. Could you try getting caught? Ugh, I’m tired.”
With a heavy touch, she pulled her robe over herself and roughly wiped her face. She then walked out of the messy lodge. As the golden sunlight began to mix with the pale gray world of the early morning, the group resumed their sprint towards Vuetta. The goal was to arrive at Vuetta’s Tower before sunset.
****
The red sky and overwhelming black catastrophe.
“Aaaahhh!!!”
“Save me!!! Save me!!! No… Ugh!”
The knight’s armor crumpled before the gruesome fangs of the monstrous creature. Abandoning the fallen comrade whose life had been claimed, the remaining knights faced the onslaught.
“Wizards are coming from the capital!! Hold on!”
Lord Vuetta rushed forward to encourage the knights, but even in his eyes, the situation seemed desperate. The well-trained and carefully nurtured knight order was on the brink of annihilation, only three days after the Tower descended. The knights of the Gasin family were beyond mentioning. Even the young men who could fight were all rushing out, wielding their swords. However, in the face of an overwhelming catastrophe like a natural disaster, humans were too insignificant. Trembling with swords in hand, even a young man who had just shed his boyishness made Lord Vuetta bristle with anger. Damn it! If the wizards don’t come before this insane disaster, does that mean we should all die?!!!
“What are you doing? If you don’t get your act together, you won’t escape death!!!”
Lord Vuetta yelled forcefully, grabbing the young man’s shoulders. The terrified gaze filled with horror met his. However, as the young man looked past Lord Vuetta, his eyes suddenly turned toward something behind him. With widened and trembling pupils, the young man opened his mouth, whimpering.
“Ah… Aaa….”
Seeing that eerie expression, Lord Vuetta turned around abruptly. Before him unfolded a scene that made him feel like he was in hell.
“What is that?”
A body resembling a giant snake, two claws with axe-like talons, and a pair of enormous blood-winged membranes that could cover the sky.
“It’s a Wyvern.”
The most powerful magical beast that could come out of a level 2 tower was circling low over Vuetta’s territory, emitting an ominous howl. Suddenly descending rapidly, it completely crushed the formation of knights that had gathered.
“Aaahhh!!!”
The last line of defense collapsed completely with the appearance of the Wyvern. The knights, overwhelmed by the approaching magical beast, had already lost their will to fight. Seeing this, Lord Vuetta gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Everyone, retreat!”
But in the face of overwhelming terror, the knights, who had lost their composure, were already in a state of panic. As the Wyvern, flying through the air, approached with its wings pressed tightly against its body, Lord Vuetta sensed the end. All sounds faded away, and the view blurred. Like being submerged in water, only the noisy sound of his breath was disturbing. Unconsciously, he closed his eyes and sought solace. However, suddenly, a tearing scream echoed. Startled, Lord Vuetta opened his eyes, and in front of him, an unbelievable scene was unfolding.
One wing-torn Wyvern was crashing onto the ground, and the Royal Guard, passing by Lord Vuetta, rushed forward, wielding their swords against the Wyvern. Hearing the sound of hooves and the desperate cries of the knights, Lord Vuetta, who had unknowingly closed his eyes, returned to his senses. He saw the chaos, the sounds of hooves, and the urgent shouts of the knights. Only now did he realize he was standing among them. Amid the chaos, he was about to stand up to find the person in charge of the Royal Guard when someone’s shadow was cast over him.
A woman with golden eyes, unbelievably beautiful, was looking down at him with an imposing presence.
