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[LFTAW] Chapter 365: Worst Decision
🕑 Added 2025-01-07 01:20:42 +0000 UTCAs the Black Scripture began to take action, heading toward the battlefield where Riezel and Shalltear were fighting, another group of people simultaneously retreated, eager to get as far away as possible.
BOOOM!
A loud, explosion-like roar echoed from a building a distance away, sending tremors through the ground.
Looking at the building that was gradually collapsing, all the members of Blue Roses and Brain, who had regrouped, paused and stood silently in place.
"We can't stay here any longer..."
Finally, Lakyus took a deep breath and was the first to calm down from the situation before speaking to the group.
"Since the vampire controlling the Eight Fingers is far stronger than we imagined, even if we stay here, we can't be of any help and only hold Sir Brynhart back. In that case, we must take a different approach."
Lakyus's words were met with unanimous agreement from the group.
"Yeah, staying here any longer would be pointless."
"Our strength gap's way too big, so there's no way we can jump in. Even if we wanted to help Mr. Brynhart, we couldn't."
"Hard to believe a monster like that exists in this world... I'm starting to get you now, Unglaus."
Tia and Tina agreed with Lakyus's words, and their tone toward Riezel began to carry a hint of respect. Gagaran, on the other hand, spoke sympathetically to Brain, whether in jest or self-deprecation, causing him, his face still pale, to let out a wry smile.
"All I can say is, we luckily have Lord Brynhart on our side, or else I can never cheer up."
Brain spoke in his usual self-deprecating tone, but this time, it was no longer met with opposition from Blue Roses.
It couldn't be helped.
As they watched several buildings continue to collapse and remembered the young man who seemed almost invisible, their feelings grew more complicated.
"I admit, those two are surely Dragon Lord-level, and among the top at that, the so-called world's strongest—level that's far beyond us." Evileye coldly remarked. "It's better not to keep comparing ourselves to them, or you'll start doubting why you're even bothering to stay alive in this world."
She then turned toward Lakyus.
"Lakyus, what do you think we should do next to help Riezel Brynhart?"
Hearing this question, everyone turned their attention to Lakyus, who seemed to have already come up with a plan.
"First, we need to inform the royal family, especially Princess Renner, so they fully understand just how terrifying the vampire that sneaked into the royal capital is."
"We also need to notify the Adventurer's Guild. Now isn't the time to worry about rules. If we're not careful, with a monster like that vampire wreaking havoc in the royal capital, the royal capital will be destroyed."
"We have to make the royal family, the nobles, and even the civilians realize how serious this situation is. If necessary, we need to stop the damage in time."
"In the worst-case scenario, we might have to persuade everyone in the royal capital to evacuate."
No one needed to explain what this meant.
"...Evacuate?"
"Persuade everyone?"
"Y'know, that's gonna be really difficult..."
Gagaran, Tia, and Tina were all pessimistic as they spoke one after another.
Evileye was no different.
"Tch, the princess is manageable, but I don't think the royal family and the nobles will listen willingly, especially the nobles."
Hearing Evileye's words, which were filled with annoyance, the others wore grim expressions.
One should know that the Re-Estize Kingdom was located in the central-western region of the continent's northwest corner, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on two—it was easily defensible and difficult to attack.
At the kingdom's east lay the Baharuth Empire, to the south the Slane Theocracy, and to the north the Argland Council State, creating a geographical situation where the kingdom was surrounded by three countries.
It was thanks to the natural geographical barriers that the kingdom was hard to invade by other countries, and thanks to the kingdom's land, mostly flat, fertile, and rich in resources, it created an environment of ease and comfort for humans.
However, due to the long-term peace and stability of the environment, coupled with a lack of external crises to serve as stimulation, the upper echelon of the kingdom gradually descended into decadence and corruption.
Here, the nobles were rampant and overbearing.
Here, a criminal organization's influence had spread and firmly taken root.
Here, the commoners were despised by the nobles.
Meanwhile, only 30% of the kingdom's land was controlled by the royal family, another 30% by the six most powerful, highest-ranked noble families, while the remaining 40% belonged to other mid- and low-ranking noble families.
Such a situation led to a long-standing conflict between the Royalty Faction and the Nobility Faction, causing great suffering for the people.
In other words, the Re-Estize Kingdom was a backward and corrupt country—instead of focusing on defending itself against foreign enemies, it was more obsessed with internal strife.
Even in the event of war with a neighboring empire, the kingdom resorted to conscription, forcibly recruiting male civilians to serve as militia and form an army to confront the empire's forces.
It could be said that, aside from a few private soldiers of the royal family and nobles, the kingdom's soldiers were mostly poorly trained, low-morale commoners with meager equipment.
Needless to say, the only advantage the kingdom had was a large number of soldiers they could recruit, and beyond that, they had almost no military strength.
Even worse, the kingdom had a deep-rooted admiration for valiant cavalry, which led to magic knowledge being excluded from general education. Even most of the royal family members and nobles lacked a basic understanding of magic, leaving the kingdom with no magic-ready forces tied to it.
For such a country, it was easy to imagine how many corrupt and degenerate people were inside.
In this country, where the nobles occupied 70% of the land, most were corrupt and incompetent, having long exploited the commoners and allowed crime to run rampant.
What made it even more ridiculous was that, to maintain their own interests, they even engaged in infighting with the Royalty Faction that supported the king's policies, causing untold obstacles and weakening their own country's strength.
Because of this, Gazef was deeply worried about the kingdom's steadily deteriorating situation and the king's position. Even when he learned that those nobles were actually trying to eliminate him to weaken the Royalty Faction, he was helpless and couldn't seek justice from those powerful nobles—truly frustrating.
Now that an extremely terrifying vampire had appeared in the royal capital, with the power to easily destroy the entire city, Lakyus and the others judged that if the vampire wasn't dealt with, the royal capital would definitely be lost.
Given this, they could only try to persuade the royal family and the nobles to cooperate, convince the civilians, and, while the vampire was being held off by Riezel, make the worst-case preparations.
If necessary, they would have to abandon the royal capital and evacuate everyone.
However, no matter how they thought about it, it seemed impossible to prevent those profit-driven nobles from obstructing such a suggestion.
"Hmph, those mindless fools will probably think we're just making empty threats. In their minds, it's just a single monster after all. They'd never agree to abandon a city that holds so much of their wealth and property."
Evileye spoke coldly while looking toward the gloomy sky.
"If we pass this info to them, the most likely thing they'll do is force us, force the commoners, even force the king, to form a suicide squad willing to risk their lives to hunt down that vampire to protect their wealth and safety."
What Evileye said was definitely a possible outcome.
For those corrupted nobles, the lives of commoners and adventurers were as cheap as dirt. If sacrificing them meant preserving their own interests, they would do whatever it took to make it happen.
Even worse, they might come up with a plan to have the royal family send troops to hunt down the vampire under the excuse that the royal capital was the royal family's territory and the kingdom's capital.
That way, whether they succeeded or failed, there would be a benefit for them.
If successful, their interests would be secured.
If they failed, the Royalty Faction would be greatly weakened.
It was a win-win situation.
Of course, this wasn't the worst part.
"The worst part is, I'm worried those fools might do something stupid once they find out Riezel Brynhart's true strength and then resort to underhanded methods to make him their lackey."
Evileye looked at Lakyus, speaking every word clearly.
"You don't need me to tell you—you should understand by now how serious the consequences would be if those fools anger someone like Riezel Brynhart."
At this, Brain reacted.
"If I were Lord Brynhart, I'd just storm into the royal castle and chop off the heads of those stupid nobles." Brain said with a cold chuckle.
Hearing this, Evileye sighed faintly and then continued.
"If something like that really happened, this kingdom's done for. Not only would the nobles managing the lands be finished, but the king would also have to take the blame and step down."
"Later on, the royal family's children would start fighting for the throne, and the people would suffer as the land turns into a battlefield."
"Without a ruler, they wouldn't survive, and in the end, this kingdom would either be wiped out by neighboring countries or destroy itself—there's no third option."
Evileye's words left Lakyus gasping for air, almost suffocating from the pressure.
Seeing this, Evileye seemed to soften.
"Anyway, let's go talk to the princess first and try to come up with something using her advanced intellect."
Evileye offered a solution that wasn't really a solution.
"...Okay, let's go with that." Lakyus said while nodding helplessly.
With that, the group began to leave the area, heading toward the royal castle as quickly as possible to meet Renner.
However, they had no idea that they were making the worst decision of all.
===
At the same time, the Black Scripture finally arrived at the hideout of Eight Fingers, entering the battlefield where Riezel and Shalltear were fighting.
However, the battle unfolding before their eyes left these elite human experts frozen, their hearts filled with dread.
"Oh my god, what am I seeing..."
Seeing the battle directly and clearly with his own eyes, the Captain of the Black Scripture seemed unable to believe what he was witnessing and muttered in disbelief.
"..."
Certain Death also stared intently at the battle, feeling the overwhelming power of Riezel and Shalltear in the air, which made her grip on her war scythe tighten. Upon closer inspection, a bead of sweat could even be seen trickling down her forehead.
Clang—!
In front of these human experts, above the collapsed ruins of buildings, Riezel and Shalltear collided like falling meteors, their weapons smashing together with a thunderous metallic sound, sending shockwaves that rattled the air.
Clang! *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
Clang! *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
Each clash of their weapons sent a storm-like shockwave, followed by the constant ringing of metal and booming sounds.
Riezel and Shalltear engaged in a jaw-dropping battle, like two streams of light chasing and colliding in midair.
In the eyes of this world's natives, such a scene and the imposing clashing sounds were as if two gods were in conflict.
