Chapter 135: The Black-Hearted Noble Faces His Downfall
“Damn it… Why? How could this happen…!”
In a corner of the battlefield, a figure was dragging his injured body in a desperate attempt to escape. This was the man who once vied for the title of the kingdom’s strongest magician—the leader of the Queen Dowager Faction, Marquis Aiger.
Severely wounded from the fierce battle, Marquis Aiger had no magical power left to devote to Healing. All he could manage was to staunch the bleeding and hobble forward, dragging his leg behind him.
“I did everything the Queen Dowager commanded… So why did I fail? How could I be defeated…?!”
The hypnosis cast by the Empire’s magician had already worn off. With a clear mind, only questions swirled within him.
Defeat was an unthinkable outcome. Everything the Queen Dowager said was right. He had lived by her correct words, so why had he failed? Why was he suffering misfortune?
“Ugh…!”
Why was he… lying on the ground? Why was he crawling like a beaten dog? Shouldn’t it have been the foolish ones who disobeyed the Queen Dowager’s orders who faced such a fate?
“Why… Why…?”
“Pathetic… It’s disgraceful to hear you lament like this now.”
“Ugh…!”
His shoulders jolted at the voice. Turning around, he found a boy standing there, not even half his age.
“Why, you ask? It’s simple. We’re stronger, and you’re weaker. What else could determine the outcome of the battle?”
“Who are you…?”
“Wilhelm Lübesse. Just a Baron, for what it’s worth.”
A Baron. A member of the lower nobility. A name he had never heard before. Most likely just another one of the countless lesser nobles from the countryside.
“Honestly, I’m a bit dissatisfied with this outcome.”
As he looked down at the fallen Marquis Aiger, Lübesse muttered to himself.
“That guy was fighting Rodel, the Supreme Commander, while I had to deal with some decrepit old man… And here I am, second fiddle again after the Plain.”
Lübesse turned his face away, looking toward the direction of the Kingdom Army’s main camp. Suddenly, cheers erupted from that direction. Perhaps a notable general had been defeated.
“Ah, well… They really did win. The result was so predictable it’s boring.”
Lübesse pouted in dissatisfaction. Facing the de facto leader of the Rebel Army, Marquis Aiger, he displayed an astonishingly indifferent attitude, as if he had no regard for the dying insect before him.
“Ugh…!”
(How dare he underestimate me!)
Marquis Aiger’s mind boiled with rage. He was being looked down upon, belittled… by a mere Baron’s child. Chosen by the Queen Dowager as a close aide and appointed as the faction leader, he was being mocked by a child of such low rank.
(That little brat… Did he think I could no longer fight…?!)
Indeed, Marquis Aiger was gravely injured, teetering on the brink of death. However, if he channeled the magical power he had used to staunch the bleeding, he could still cast one last spell.
(There’s no way to escape… Then I’ll take this brat with me… this promising young fool!)
It was intolerable to be mocked by a child who had never even met the great Queen Dowager. Gathering every ounce of magical power left in his body, Marquis Aiger prepared to unleash what would be his final spell.
“【Wind…”
But he could not finish his incantation. For in the next moment, Marquis Aiger found himself soaring through the air.
(Huh…?)
He was flying like a bird. Below him, he could see the ground, the battlefield, the insolent young man, and… his own body.
(My neck… is gone…?)
Looking down at his own form, he saw that his neck was missing. And there was the boy, swinging his sword, likely having just cleaved through him with the last spell he had attempted to cast. Just moments ago, they had been casually conversing without a care in the world…
“Oh, I forgot to mention.”
Lübesse spoke, seemingly indifferent.
“Thanks for the contribution. It may not be as grand as that guy’s, but I’ll gladly settle for second place here.”
What could he possibly mean…? As questions flooded his mind, Marquis Aiger plummeted to the ground. His vision was swallowed by an inky blackness, and the consciousness of the cunning elder statesman who had threatened the kingdom faded into an eternal darkness from which he would never return.