**Chapter 135: The Puppet Master 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 man, once a contender for the title of the kingdom’s strongest mage, was none other than Marquis Aiger, the leader of the Queen Dowager Faction.
Severely wounded from the fierce battle, Marquis Aiger had no magic left to spare for healing. All he could manage was to staunch the bleeding and limp away, barely able to walk.
“I did everything as Her Majesty the Queen Dowager instructed… So why did I fail? Why am I the one who has been defeated…?”
The hypnosis cast by the Empire’s mages had already worn off. In his now-clear mind, only questions swirled.
Defeat was an impossibility. Everything the Queen Dowager said was correct. He had lived his life following her wise words, so how could he have failed? How could he have fallen into misfortune?
“Ugh…!”
Why was he 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 ended up like this?
“Why… How could this happen…?”
“How pathetic… Spouting such pitiful words at this point.”
“Wha…?!”
A shiver ran down his spine at the voice. Turning around, he found a boy standing there, not even half his age.
“Why do you think? It’s simple. We were stronger, and you were weaker. What else could determine the outcome of a battle?”
“Who are you…?”
“Wilhelm Lyubeth. Just a baron, for what it’s worth.”
A baron. A low-ranking noble. Aiger had never heard of the name Lyubeth before. He was probably just one of the many minor nobles from the countryside.
“Honestly, I’m a bit dissatisfied with this outcome.”
As he looked down at the fallen Marquis Aiger, Lyubeth muttered to himself.
“That guy, Rodel, is fighting the general, and I’m stuck with a dying old man… So here I am, second fiddle again, just like on the plains.”
Lyubeth turned his face away, looking in the direction of the kingdom’s main camp. Suddenly, cheers erupted from that direction. Perhaps a notable general had been defeated.
“Ah… They really won, huh? It’s such a boring result, just as I expected.”
Lyubeth pouted in dissatisfaction. In front of him stood the de facto leader of the rebel forces, Marquis Aiger, yet he displayed an utterly disinterested demeanor, as if he had no regard for the dying insect before him.
“Ugh…!”
(How dare you 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 her aide and appointed as the leader of the faction, he was now being mocked by this insolent boy.
(You little brat… Did you think I could no longer fight…?!)
Indeed, Marquis Aiger was gravely injured, teetering on the brink of death. However, if he used the magic power he had spent on staunching the bleeding, he could still cast one last spell.
(You won’t escape… Then I’ll take this brat… this promising young man down with me!)
It was unforgivable to be mocked by a child who had never even met the great Queen Dowager. Gathering every last bit of magic power left in his body, Marquis Aiger prepared to unleash what would be his final spell.
“[Wind…]”
But he couldn’t finish the incantation. For in the next moment, Marquis Aiger found himself soaring through the sky.
(Huh…?)
He was flying like a bird. He looked down at the earth, 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.
Just moments ago, they had been casually conversing without a care in the world…
“Oh, I forgot to mention.”
Lyubeth said, sounding 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 filled his mind, Marquis Aiger plummeted to the ground. His vision was engulfed in darkness, and the consciousness of the cunning elder who had threatened the kingdom faded into an eternal void, never to return.