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–––Tannux’s viewpoint

My name is Tannux, I am the commander of Bordaule’s main force, the First Brigade of knights. I served the king since I was young, and I am turning fifty this year. I was thinking it was about time I retire and let someone else take the mantle, but then I was dragged into this coup. Now that I was employed by Stied, my pay increased.

His Majesty sometimes would act in a cold or insensitive manner, but that was always when dealing with something as a ruler. He strayed with all his might from injustice, and always chose the means that caused the least casualties. I had no qualms calling him a wise ruler, adept at his job. Thanks to him, Bordaule had prospered into a country where most of the citizens were happy.

But that was all in the past now. Under the pretext of the king suffering a sudden illness, Stied took over the throne, throwing the country into chaos. He had a stern hand exiling any noble, soldier, or commoner that dared speak against him, while granting anyone who followed him ample authority. As the number of soldiers and knights that kept the streets safe dwindled, crime rates and monster sightings increased dramatically, and we had to rely on adventurers for hire to deal with them.

I begged Stied to dispatch me and my men to other provinces to improve the situation many times, but he always scolded me saying my duty was to protect him.

I am sure that I am not the only person who thinks Stied is completely useless. But I am simply a mere knight. It is my duty to obey my master, even if he is a villain. I lived under that mantra so far, and I do not plan on changing now. I also did not plan on abandoning my post.

“Prepare the army to leave immediately!”

Everyone was shocked hearing Stied’s order, he had always avoided taking control of the army himself.

“W-Wait, Your Highness! I will take care of the army, please stay in-”
“Silence! It’s because you’ve been so lazy that a bunch of traitors have started popping up! Just do as told now!”

Stied despised learning the arts of the sword, he even hated having to move by himself, so he had always stayed away from the army. But now that did not seem to be the case anymore. Stied spent every day absorbed in indulging himself and doing as he pleased, so I knew he was not fit to command an army. I could consider taking him simply as a display of authority, but knowing him, he would be unable to keep his mouth shut. Fighting under the orders of such an inexperienced person sounded like a nightmare. Somehow I felt like the new recruits would do a way better job as commanders than him.

I desperately tried to find a way out of this mess, but could not think of anything. While I tried to think just what could have prompted such a change, a civil official I was friends with told me what happened.

“…They insulted him?”
“Yes, and it devastated him. They hurled unthinkable abuse and coarse language at him without a way to retaliate. I happened to be there by chance, but we all in the room were scared for our lives.”

Apparently Lapis, one of Princess Luvias’ friends, had used the magic communication device to insult the prince. I watched her in action once, she was far more beautiful than any noble girl, and was incredibly powerful. She had left a lasting impression on all of the country’s elite knights.

She had used the most vile language towards Stied, who knew no restraint, throwing him in a fit of rage. Anyone could tell it was a cheap taunt, and a calm strategist would ignore it or throw some insults back. But the prince was different. He was born a prince, raised being told he would be the next king, and there was almost no one who had the authority to deny his desires. In other words, he had never learned the meaning of restraint and self-control.

Telling him to ignore an obvious taunt was impossible. Lapis’ plan had been successful, the prince had been lured out to the battlefield.

(This is bad…really bad.)

I could still remember the magic she used. Her Fire Magic could melt the ground. That was enough to end the mock battle, but it was easy to imagine she could use other similarly strong magic too. Stied was still safe inside the palace. But out in the battlefield he was fully open to surprise magic attacks. If we fought head on, our magicians would outnumber them and somehow seal away her power. But I could not imagine they would ever fight fairly considering their numbers.

The next day I decided to proceed with the preparations Stied ordered, but I went to meet him to see if I could placate his anger somehow. There were many elite guards and black knights protecting his room. I heard those black knights have started wreaking havoc all over the country. I felt like they were an imminent evil we had to exterminate at all costs, but Stied treated them like his best allies, refusing to do anything to harm them, which only made me more annoyed with them.

“Your Highness.”
“You again? I hope you’re getting the army ready as I told you?”

He scowled the instant he saw me. Apparently he had grown irritated with me after my many complaints.

“We can leave tomorrow if needed. I still have a request, however.”
“Are you going to ask me to stay here again? Then no. I’ll go there and twist the neck of that b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲ with my own hands. I’ve already decided that.”
“Please reconsider-”
“Enough! She dared belittle me, the next king! I need to teach her a lesson!”

He had only been a candidate for the throne, the king never explicitly stated he would be next one. But bringing that up would only anger Stied more, so I ignored that and returned to the topic at hand.

“If you want her dead, I’ll make sure she dies. But there’s no need for you to expose yourself to danger on the battlefield!”
“I need to be there as king! Otherwise it’ll be a bad example for those below me!”

I would have been pleased hearing such a claim from him before he was taunted. But in this specific situation it just made me feel dismayed.

“Lapis’ power can’t be taken so lightly. I’m sure you witnessed her strength yourself.”
“We can easily overpower her with numbers! Not to mention I have my black knights and that man! I won’t lose!”

That man…the person whose strength the king relied on the most. He had appeared out of nowhere, and was the leader of the black knights. He was powerful enough to take down entire armies by himself. He wore black armor just like the black knights, but his helmet was different. His face was completely covered by a black helmet, and I never heard him utter a single word. I felt all the hairs on my body stand just by walking next to him, and he seemed to have no empathy for others, mercilessly cutting down soldiers and knights the prince deemed as enemies. I really wanted to know who he was, where he came from, but calming down the prince was more important.

“Please stop relying on such a suspicious character, we don’t even know where he came from. He could turn against you at any moment.”
“What did you say? Are you trying to shift your incompetence onto him?”

I could see scorn in his eyes. I could not understand how he would ever come to that conclusion. I clenched my fists until they turned white, but managed to contain my anger.

“Not at all. I’m simply concerned for your wellbeing…”
“Okay shut up already! I’m tired of hearing that time and time-”

He was about to shout at me when the entire palace shook. It kept repeating, like three earthquakes in a row. Then I saw fire through the windows. Everyone outside began shouting and making a commotion.

“Wh-What happened?”
“Protect His Highness! Someone check what happened! Order the knights to prepare for war! We might have a spy in the castle so keep the torches lit!”
“Yessir!”

One of my underlings heard all my orders and ran out the room. The guards tightly surrounded the prince, taking him deeper to find refuge inside the palace. I went to the room’s balcony to see what was happening outside.

“Hm?”

I felt like something darted in front of my eyes. I tried to follow whatever it was, but it kept moving from one direction to another in the sky.

“Is that…a person?”

Flight Magic, a spell long lost to the past. The only person who could use it now was Lapis. But I could see two figures flying through the sky. They kept hurling fireballs at the palace while moving all over the place. The soldiers on the ground desperately tried to take cover, put out the fire, and kept wandering from one side to another trying to find an angle to fight back.

“Did they come all the way to the capital already? That’s way too quickly!”

Only two days had passed since Lapis taunted the prince. The trip from Surfour to the capital took at least two weeks on the fastest carriages. It was impossible for them to already be here.

“I need to do something..!”

There were few options when fighting a flying enemy. Either use arrows and magic, or somehow fly like them. But it was virtually impossible to aim at a small object like a person in the darkness of the night. I would need to use all the anti-air defenses available in the capital.

I ran out of the palace trying to somehow deal with this situation.