Do Your Own Revolution-Chapter 159
#159
With the Emperor’s death, the Knight Order occupied the Imperial Capital.
Taking control of the Imperial Capital meant seizing the transportation hub that connected to the entire Empire.
And the first thing the Knight Order did after seizing the Imperial Capital was to take over the Imperial newspaper company.
“Damn it, there’s no one here?!”
“Even the lowest-ranking employees have all fled. The confidential documents, ledgers, and sponsor lists are all gone!”
“Those quick bastards, when did they manage to smuggle all this out?!”
The Emperor, having foreseen his death, had swiftly evacuated all of them.
By the time the Knight Order arrived, all the key personnel of the Imperial newspaper company had already withdrawn.
Therefore, the magic nobles hurriedly deployed their pre-arranged personnel to print and distribute newspapers.
[Due to long-standing illness, the glorious ruler of the Empire, His Majesty Emperor Friedrich Franz Kalhyram, has passed away.]
[His Highness Prince Meldir Francis Kalhyram, first in line to the Kalhyram Empire’s succession, expresses his profound condolences and has temporarily assumed imperial duties in accordance with royal law.]
[Additionally, Duke Karl Buckenheim of Buckenheim territory, who resided as His Highness Prince Meldir’s guardian, has taken residence in the Imperial Palace.]
[He has resolved to lead the glorious Kalhyram Empire’s governance, succeeding His late Majesty the Emperor.]
“This… is this really the Imperial newspaper?”
“You found it strange too?”
“Strange doesn’t begin to cover it… Can we even call this a newspaper?”
Most Imperial citizens who received the changed Imperial newspaper could notice that the writers had been replaced.
The tone was distinctly different from what had been distributed before.
The format was closer to a declaration than a newspaper.
“Something must have happened in the Imperial Capital.”
“Did the Round Table do this?”
“But there’s no room to raise objections…”
“We have no choice but to remain silent.”
The regular nobles were equally confused.
The Emperor’s death was too sudden.
However, the succession rights were clear, and the procedures were flawless.
The nobles outside the Imperial direct territories accepted the newspaper’s contents and the subsequent rule of the magic nobles.
Or more precisely,
They had no choice but to accept it.
“Wh-what is this outrage?! We merely wanted to see His Majesty’s remains…!”
“Why is the Knight Order, which should be stationed in their territories, occupying the Imperial Capital?! Aaagh?!”
“You bastards, did you…to His Majesty…!”
The Knight Order raided nobles who questioned the Emperor’s death, forcing them to take their side in the upcoming civil war.
Threats, persuasion, shows of force.
The Round Table used every means necessary to secure governing rights within the Empire.
They needed to recruit key Imperial figures as quickly as possible to consolidate power and pressure the Kalhyram Army.
One week.
The magic nobles’ agitation that began in the Imperial Capital had engulfed the Empire in just one week.
Flutter-!
But at that moment.
“Huh, what?”
“What’s this?”
Above the heads of Imperial citizens who were skeptically reading the Imperial newspaper, countless papers fluttered down.
Letters crudely printed on poor quality paper.
The red emblem that hadn’t been seen since the Revolutionary Army disappeared.
“Hey, wait. Could this be…”
“After all this time, this is appearing again?”
The Imperial citizens who picked them up were all startled beyond belief.
[Revolutionary Newspaper].
The Revolutionary Army’s outlet that had exposed the corruption of magic nobles and the Imperial family in opposition to the [Imperial Newspaper].
It had once again made its appearance throughout the Empire.
The Imperial Capital.
Imperial direct territories.
Even reaching the autonomous regions directly governed by magic nobles.
One of the long-lost symbols of revolution began to dye the Empire red once again.
“What, what is this saying…”
A man who happened to pick up one of the revolutionary newspapers fluttering across the Empire cried out in shock.
“His Majesty the Emperor was assassinated?”
The [Revolutionary Newspaper] that had reappeared.
The document, formatted exactly like the [Imperial Newspaper], was densely packed with devastatingly critical content.
***
“Confirmed. Yes, without a doubt.”
Under the warm midday sun, before a beautiful mansion.
After exchanging a few words while looking at it, the knight slowly walked out of the shadows onto the forest path.
What he had been watching was a red-haired young lady who had just entered the mansion.
Keiren Buckenheim’s daughter, Marlene Buckenheim.
“Orders have come from His Grace the Duke. Capture alive if possible, but elimination is authorized if unavoidable.”
The man bearing the Buckenheim Knight Order’s seal spoke while activating his five stroke imprint.
With his words, around twenty knights gradually revealed themselves.
“Lady Marlene. We thought she was just an ignorant woman, but to think she was orchestrating something like this behind the scenes.”
Muttering this, Knight Order Commander Cade looked at the documents gathered by his informants.
Marlene Anne Buckenheim.
This young lady, known as Mari, had been working to smuggle the families of high-ranking officials loyal to Keiren and Special Magical Power Unit members out of the country.
While it was true that the Knight Order had seized the Imperial Capital, it would take time to verify the personal information of all these persons of interest.
A civilian organization centered around Lady Buckenheim had moved during this window while the Imperial Intelligence Department, which held the information, was in hiding.
“‘Special Magical Power Unit Wives’ Association,’ was it? What a joke.”
What they had dismissed as a mere social club had become a channel for extracting Kalhyram Army factions existing within the Empire.
A transport operation to minimize potential hostages in case of emergency.
Most personnel had already crossed the border, and those here were expected to be the last.
Swift movements, as if they had predicted the Knight Order’s actions.
However, Cade and his subordinate knights had moved one step ahead.
Securing Lady Marlene would provide leverage to bind Keiren, and by extension Eugene, who were the core of the Kalhyram Army.
“This seems excessive even so. Sending twenty knights to capture a non-awakened…”
“No, don’t let your guard down.”
Hearing his subordinate knight’s complaints, Cade shook his head and spoke.
“Those protecting Lady Marlene are veterans who survived the Eastern Monster War. They’re loyal dogs who would do anything to protect their master.”
“But they’re still just non-awakened, aren’t they?”
“…That’s precisely what makes them more frightening.”
Speaking thus, Cade closed his eyes with a troubled expression.
The Eastern Monster War.
That worst battle where even the Knight Order suffered heavy losses had left many scars on him, who had participated as a regular knight at the time.
“For non-awakened, who aren’t even mages, to have survived that hell… It’s no ordinary feat.”
“Is… that so?”
“So I’ll say it again, absolutely do not let your guard—!”
At that moment.
Splat-!
The heads of three boastful knights exploded right where they stood.
“Wh-what?”
The knights stared with wide eyes, unable to grasp the situation.
The 8th Knight Order Commander spat out a curse while deploying a barrier.
Clang-! Clang-!
“Deploy barriers! Snipers!”
“Y-yes!”
After barely surviving a brush with death, the knights finally came to their senses and deployed barriers.
Enhancing their vision with magical power, they could see figures readying guns in the corners of the mansion’s roof.
‘Anti-materiel rifles! They ambushed us before we could deploy barriers…!’
He himself, bearing a five stroke imprint, couldn’t be killed because he constantly maintained a magical power field.
However, the magical power fields of regular knights with three strokes or less could only stop rifle bullets at best.
They knew this fact and deliberately targeted the regular knights with large-caliber firearms.
‘In that case…!’
The Knight Order Commander immediately created magical power crystals and struck them with his sword.
The magical power crystals scattered like shotgun pellets and struck the mansion’s door.
Boom—!
Magic rained down on the mansion’s entrance, but the interior remained eerily quiet.
It meant they had already known they would be attacked.
“Capture the young lady! She couldn’t have gone far!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Maximum barriers. Cover each other’s blind spots during the search. We don’t know what might come flying at us!”
With these words, the knights began to thoroughly search the mansion.
“Commander! There’s nothing in this room—!”
Boom–!
Without fail, bombs had been planted at the mansion’s entrance and in the alleys.
“This way! There are footprints—!”
Bang–!
What awaited the knights who entered the undergrowth were the bullets of hidden snipers.
The delaying tactics and traps set in the complex terrain posed threats that knights who had only trained in parade grounds had never imagined.
How much time had passed like this?
“Huff…!”
Cade, who had finally caught up with the fleeing group, pointed his sword at Lady Marlene while catching his breath.
Of the twenty knights who had set out to capture her, only four survived.
As the knights chased after the people scattering into the forest with their ammunition depleted, Cade approached Mari with his exhausted body.
“It’s over, my lady. If you come with us quietly, there won’t be any more rough—!”
But at that moment.
Crunch-!
“…Huh?”
The magical power crystal Mari swung completely crushed the knight’s body and sent him flying.
Boom–!
The Knight Order Commander was blown away helplessly.
Before the shock, questions filled his head.
Blown away?
Despite my exhaustion, me, with a five stroke imprint?
“Ugh, uugh…”
Looking toward Mari wondering what had happened, the knight was startled beyond belief.
“A four stroke imprint…?”
The magic imprint shining on Mari’s right arm.
While her magical power control was at a beginner’s level, the sheer amount was enough to break through his defense.
“Haa… Haa…! Did you… think… I would wait for you… without any countermeasures…?”
After her first battle.
Mari spoke while catching her breath, as if still affected by its aftermath.
Though she pointed a sword created from magical power crystals at the Knight Order Commander, its tip kept trembling.
“My lady. Please cover your eyes.”
The one who appeared behind her was Keiren’s butler Walter.
“Butler Walter…”
“I already feel ashamed before Lord Keiren for involving you in combat. There’s no need for you to do any more of this…”
Walter spoke thus while approaching Mari, but she shook her head while gripping her crystal sword firmly.
“No.”
The trembling stopped, and the sword thrust out without hesitation.
Squelch-!
“Ugh, uugh…”
Knight Order Commander Cade, his heart pierced, died on the spot.
After confirming his death, some time passed.
Thud-!
As if her legs had finally given out, Mari collapsed there and looked at her hands.
“So… this is how it feels…”
The guilt of killing someone was almost an afterthought.
The sensation of piercing a heart, the hot steam of human blood.
The revolting sensation of tearing flesh and crushing something that had swollen like a balloon.
Her breathing was painfully constricted from hyperventilation, and nausea welled up.
Her father, Keiren.
Eugene, her fiancé, had continuously experienced these sensations to protect her.
Mari got up from her spot, gritting her teeth, and roughly wiped the blood that had splattered on her face.
“What about the others?”
“All safe.”
The one who appeared saying this was Mrs. Miriam.
She had been the one sniping the knights who invaded the mansion.
“However, that…”
But she wore a slightly troubled expression as she glanced to her side.
“You are…”
Mari frowned questioningly.
At the end of her gaze was the unfamiliar woman she had met at the café before.
“Hello, my lady. This is our second meeting today, isn’t it?”
At that moment.
Swoosh-!
Mari pointed her magic at her with eyes full of wariness.
“My, why so sudden? Despite appearances, I’ve helped quite a few people here, you know.”
“Meeting someone I coincidentally encountered in the Imperial Capital all the way out here, and that person helped us? Could you not be suspicious of such an unnatural situation if you were in my place?”
“Well… honestly, I couldn’t.”
Tch, she’s much sharper than I thought.
Thinking this, the woman drew up the magical power engraved in her imprint.
Whoosh-!
“My lady!”
“Impossible. This magical power… a seven stroke mage?!”
People rushed to block Mari’s front with pale faces.
Such loyalty.
Just like watching our own puppies.
With these thoughts, she smiled slightly and bowed to Mari.
“Let me introduce myself properly, Lady Marlene.”
“…”
“Westraine Republic Special Operations Intelligence Department Agent 2, currently unemployed. Anthony Rose.”
“…Wait, what did you say?”
Unbelievable information came out one after another.
Republic Intelligence Department? Agent?
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What’s this all about suddenly?
Mari swallowed dryly and spoke while trying to suppress her body’s trembling.
“What business does a Republic agent have with me?”
“I’m pondering. Now that the country I devoted myself to is completely ruined, and the Empire is split in two fighting itself, I’m wondering which side I should join to live well for a very~very long time.”
“…”
“So, my lady, you’re heading outside the border now, right?”
Speaking thus, Anthony maintained her smile and opened her mouth.
“I have something I’d like to negotiate with your husband, could you perhaps take me along?”
Author's Thoughts
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