Chapter 98 - Chapter 98: Imperial Usurpation
A little before the Yellow Empire Emperor, Cliff Iso Yellow, passed away, Leonard was having a secret meeting with Cyrus Napier, who was the Ace of Wand, in the western part of the Empire.
Leonard was the top of the Western Military District, and the Wand Knights Order were the Suit Knights that governed the west.
Leonard had one foot in old age, and gray hair stood out among his blonde hair. As expected of someone who commanded the army, his own physique was good, but he was inferior to the Cyrus in front of him.
Leonard spoke to Cyrus.
"Cyrus, in the Eastern Military District, all the Suit Knights of the Sword Knights Order were killed by the Kingdom of Cascade, yet despite such a situation occurring, do you not think it strange to punish only General Garrett and end it?"
"If this is criticism towards Your Majesty, I cannot agree."
"Well, let's say Your Majesty is infallible, but it would be strange if my brother Henry bore no responsibility at all. Especially since he is the one taking over state affairs in place of the elderly Your Majesty. That would not be acceptable to others either."
Cyrus knew Leonard's ambition. He believed he himself was suitable for the next Emperor. However, that was something that could only be spoken because he was royalty, and no matter that he was the Ace of Wand, criticizing the Crown Prince would not exempt him from blame.
Therefore, he needed to choose his words carefully.
"As soldiers, many would say it is fine since the top of the military district took responsibility."
"That is a general theory. If I say I will not allow this conversation to leak here, do you have the resolve to listen to what comes next?"
"It depends on the content."
"Hmm, how about this? In the Suit Knights ranking, the Wand Knights Order becomes the top."
There was no ranking for the Suit Knights. If it were playing cards, there would be a sequence based on the suit type, but the Yellow Empire's Suit Knights did not have such things. If the Wand Knights Order became the top, then Cyrus, their Ace, would become the pinnacle of the Suit Knights.
However, Cyrus did not know what would change with that.
"Then, what kind of merit is there?"
"Honor goes without saying, but how about giving the appointment authority for all Suit Knights to the Ace of Wand? Since he is the pinnacle of the Suit Knights, having that much should be fine."
Currently, the appointment of Suit Knights is done by the Ace of each Knights Order. When an Ace retires, it is also their job to designate the next Ace. They are trying to gather that authority to Cyrus. If there is authority, various benefits will be born there. Cyrus calculated those benefits.
And an answer came out.
"Charming. I have the resolve to listen. I will not leak it, but there are things I can and cannot do."
"That's right. Then, let's talk about what comes next."
What Leonard spoke of there was the plan for a coup d'état.
"According to information from my people in the Imperial Capital, Your Majesty does not have much time left. We act immediately after Your Majesty passes away, eliminate the Crown Prince, and I take the throne. If we say we are rushing to attend Your Majesty's passing, there should be no problem even if I lead troops from the Western Military District to the Imperial Capital."
"However, we cannot leave the Western Military District empty, so it will be a small number. Is it not difficult to suppress the Imperial Capital?"
"How about if I say I have persuaded the Chalice Knights Order?"
"You persuaded them well. I did not think that Ace over there would nod."
Cyrus knew about Cecily and did not think she would agree to the coup d'état from her personality.
"The Ace over there was demoted due to her sister's mishap. I persuaded the King."
"Is that so. If that is the case, then what the Queen of Sword did should also be praised."
"Exactly. She contributed to the collapse of the Sword Knights Order, created an excuse to blame the Crown Prince, and eliminated the troublesome younger sister."
The collapse of the Eastern Military District from Nancy's betrayal was involved in the motive for this coup d'état. Even without that, Leonard would have acted according to his ambition anyway, but he had given a perfect excuse.
"However, it will not end with just suppressing the Imperial Capital. I do not think foreign countries will remain silent during that time."
"So I am consulting with you, but could you not carry out the assassination of the King of the Kingdom of Cascade, the largest country? Their specialty tactic is sending elites via teleportation directly in front of the King and taking their head. I will lend you a teleportation mage as my pawn."
Leonard, taking advantage of domestic chaos, considered the possibility of foreign countries moving. Looking around, he feared being moved by the Kingdom of Cascade, which currently had the most momentum, and wanted to plunge that place into chaos so they could not hinder him from taking the throne.
If they could cause a coup d'état in the Kingdom of Cascade as well, they could reduce its military power, but currently, no such opening could be found in the Kingdom of Cascade, so they thought of assassinating the King.
Cyrus calculated the possibility of its success.
"If it is the King of Wand from my side, I thought he would not lose to anyone except Archibolt. However, the issue was how to get in front of the King."
"If it is the King of Wand, it should be possible to teleport right in the middle of the enemy, defeat the King, and teleport again, but the problem is how to teleport in front of that King."
Cyrus conveyed the issue to be solved to Leonard.
"For example, if we get information on the King's inspection in advance, decide the place to teleport beforehand, and teleport when the King approaches that spot, how about that?"
"As expected of His Highness. However, it is also difficult to wait armed within visible range."
"For example, if we have a fire attribute mage stand by at that spot and make them use magic when the King approaches, how about that? In that case, they can wait at a distance where the magic is visible. If they launch a fireball into the sky, it should be visible even from quite far away."
Thus, the assassination plan for Kingdom of Cascade King William was implemented by Leonard. To fit within the Emperor's passing, immediately a teleportation mage and the King of Wand departed from the Western Military District.
And, upon entering the Kingdom of Cascade, they met with agents who had infiltrated beforehand in the Royal Capital and obtained the King's inspection plan. They told the agents it was a top-secret order from royalty, and did not speak of the coup d'état.
Thus, they grasped the information on the inspection of the Imperial Zoo and moved to execute the assassination plan.
The result ended in failure, however.
The assassination plan failed, but the coup d'état plan proceeded as is. It was not that Leonard's ambition was thin enough to not act out of fear of the Kingdom of Cascade's movements.
Receiving news of the Emperor's passing, they showed movement to rush from the Western Military District. Taking along a thousand elites. Along with that, the Chalice Knights Order that governed the Southern Military District also joined, and they attacked the Crown Prince who was preparing the Emperor's funeral. Attacked by the army they thought was an ally, the Crown Prince's side fell into great confusion.
At this time, the Crown Prince had not declared succession to the throne again, and had no authority to move the army owned by the Emperor, so they were on the back foot against Leonard who had prepared.
As a result, the Crown Prince was killed within the palace, and Leonard declared succession to the throne. In response to this, other royalty raised objections and moved armies in various places. Each noble split their power depending on which royalty they supported, and the Empire would fall into great chaos.
Leonard immediately sent assassins to the Crown Prince's children as well.
At this time, the eldest son Louis was guarded by the demoted Cecily, and Cecily, who noticed a change within the mansion, drew close to Louis and faced the sent assassins.
"Thieves! Do you know who this person is?"
"It is likely the eldest son of Crown Prince Henry."
The assassins confirmed the target.
Cecily understood that the thieves were definitely targeting Louis. However, she did not know whose instigation it was at this point. When all the sent assassins were defeated by Cecily, information also reached the mansion.
"His Highness Leonard moved the army in the Imperial Capital and attempted usurpation of the throne! Your Highness the Crown Prince lost his life by His Highness Leonard's army!"
Upon hearing that, Louis decided to escape the Imperial Capital before feeling sorrow.
"Let's escape from here."
"What will you do about Father's revenge?"
"Do you think it can be done with just the forces of this mansion?"
Louis did not flow with emotions, looked at the situation calmly, and judged so. If Father was defeated, he judged that military power was also lost, and seeing that the soldiers guarding the mansion alone could not win against his uncle Leonard who executed the coup d'état, he decided to escape to attempt a resurgence.
At this time, the Chalice Knights Order was under Leonard's command, but Cecily did not know that information, so she decided to act on her own judgment.
The command of the Suit Knights was to be done by the person in charge of each military district, and in the South, the Chalice Knights Order had threatened the General to make him Leonard's ally, so originally Cecily should have been in a position to join the suppression of Louis.
While Louis and Cecily were talking, Cyrus arrived at the mansion.
Thinking that the assassins sent by Leonard beforehand were not enough actors for dealing with Cecily, he went himself.
And as expected, Cecily was alive.
Cyrus spoke not to Louis, but to Cecily.
"It is better than anything that you seem healthy despite being demoted from the battlefield, Ace of Chalice. Is this not the time when you were tired of idle jobs like guarding His Highness Louis?"
"Disrespectful words like being tired of guarding royalty. That is speech lacking the dignity of a Suit Knight."
Cecily turned a gaze of disgust towards Cyrus.
Cyrus did not mind that gaze at all, and rather laughed to provoke.
"The Chalice Knights Order you belong to has shown submission to Your Majesty Leonard, and is now moving under that instruction. We wish to take His Highness Louis's life by Your Majesty's order."
Hearing that, Louis's face stiffened. Cecily also understood that, and tried to reassure Louis.
"Do you think I would believe being told such things suddenly? I cannot obey if I cannot confirm the Imperial Edict."
"However, if later it turns out to be a true Imperial Order, you will be punished."
"Since I cannot confirm, orders until now take priority. Protecting His Highness is my job."
"You are so rigid. You don't have to follow the job given due to your older sister's fault that much. If you follow Your Majesty now, you will get better treatment."
Cyrus sneered at Cecily.
Cecily could not tolerate that attitude.
"Further discussion is meaningless."
Saying that, she used body strengthening magic to improve physical abilities, and slashed at Cyrus. With Cecily's attack where physical abilities were improved, Cyrus became purely defensive, but while blocking the attack, he cast curse magic on Cecily.
When the magic took effect, snakes appeared on both of Cecily's arms.
"Well, I have cast a curse on you. Your life is two weeks left. Most likely, consciousness is only about half of that. I look forward to seeing if you can cut off both arms to survive, and still guard His Highness."
"I will show you by breaking your curse!"
"Yes, please do your best."
Cecily took distance from Cyrus who showed a smile belittling her, moved next to Louis, and immediately teleported outside the mansion. From there, she teleported to her own lodging, confirmed there were no enemies inside, and took out saved money and clothes.
That was the only funds for escaping.
Cecily had no destination to escape to. Since the Western Military District and Southern Military District were likely hostile, she asked Louis what she should do.
"Your Highness, if what the Ace of Wand said earlier is true, the West and South are dangerous. Which way shall we go?"
"East, I guess. In the Eastern Military District, people from the former Kingdom of Beach are causing rebellion, and the Empire is also having trouble suppressing it. So the army probably cannot chase us easily. It would be bad if I am revealed as a prince, but I do not intend to stay there. I plan to escape abroad once and wait for an opportunity."
"Further East would be the Kingdom of Forest, right?"
"Beyond that, the Kingdom of Cascade."
Hearing that country name, Cecily's face became grim. Because it was the country where her older sister died, which caused her to be demoted. However, Louis did not hesitate towards Cecily.
"I think you have thoughts, but right now, that place is probably the only one with the power to fight our country. If they lend us troops with the conditions we propose, isn't that good? If they refuse, let's escape beyond that. If it's with Cecily, we can escape, right?"
Louis was expecting Cecily's teleportation magic.
Cecily also wanted to meet that expectation, but she was anxious about how far she could move with a cursed body.
"Your Highness, I am a cursed body. I do not know how long I can accompany you."
"Then it is fine. I have a ring that cancels magic."
Saying that, Louis gave Cecily his magic item, a ring with the effect of canceling magic. Cecily received it and put it on her finger.
However, the arm snakes did not disappear.
The ring could be removed even if worn afterwards regarding charm or command forcing magic, but regarding curses, even if it could be cancelled at the time of activation, once cursed, it could not be dispelled. That was something Louis did not know either.
"Such a thing, even with a ring, cannot dispel the curse?"
Louis was stunned. He thought it was fine because there was a ring, but it was not useful. To the dejected Louis, Cecily showed a brave attitude.
"Your Highness, shall we try going as far as we can?"
"That's right."
Thus, the escape journey of Louis and Cecily began.
Thank you always for typo reports.