CHAPTER XXX.
Princess Hertrude Sera Fanoss was excited, after two months the ship of her most trusted protector was spotted in the vicinity of the capital where she had been waiting anxiously for his return in her throne room, just behind her her little sister Hertrauda probably was feeling the same.
There were other people in the room, her knights and some of the court nobles that were perpetually in the palace, all of them sporting smiles on their faces, but she knew better, most of them had ulterior motives to be here, they were all just looking out for their own interests.
Ever since the death of her parents, her sister and her have been facing a hostile world full of nobles and tutors that only expected them to know better, as if every thought she had was wrong and every success had no praise.
Vandel was the only one that seemed to genuinely care for them.
His mere presence was enough to put a stop to the harassment they suffered. He was like the grandfather they never met.
His ship's engines had suffered heavy damage during battle and he had to return at a snail's pace but he was finally back!
The ship she sent to pick up her dear friend had just docked in a few minutes ago and he should be here anytime now.
And true enough, the doors to her imposing throne room opened and his disciples started to enter the room one after the other.
She was familiar with this ceremony they insisted on performing to honor Vandel, but there was something wrong this time.
She could notice they looked tired and the aura of despair that practically surrounded them was palpable.
Something went wrong during the mission?
Perhaps one of them perished when their ship was attacked?
Finally she saw Sir Gawain Him Zenden, Vandel's nephew and also his favorite disciple, but he didn't fill the usual spot…
Her blood turned to ice inside her veins.
Gawain kneeled in Vandel's spot.
NO!
She shouldn't jump to conclusions!
Maybe Vandel finally decided to retire and he would be arriving later in a more befitting attire to a retired knight?
"My Princess…" Gawain spoke with a heavy voice and her hopes disappeared all at once "We have failed our mission and my uncle, Viscount Vandel Him Zenden is dead'' the knight couldn't maintain his head up and she could see that this was true much to his shame.
She shook her head, she probably just heard wrong.
Vandel is the strongest knight in the continent and he couldn't have been defeated by an upstart ambush!
"I'm afraid I didn't quite catch what you just said Sir Gawain, would you please repeat yourself?" she ordered, and this time she would listen with extra attention, to hear about Vandel's victory.
"I'm afraid that you heard me right, my Princess, My uncle was defeated, his armor and body lost to our enemy, alongside the sword your grandfather loaned to him" Gawain's voice cracked several times during his speech.
She felt a knot on her throat and for a few moments she didn't know what to say, or what to do.
Vandel was always this unstoppable force, nothing ever stood in his way, no matter if it was a mean tutor or a threatening noble offering his son for her to marry, nothing ever stood in his way.
And now he is gone…
One of the nobles that had always supported Vandel spoke while she was still trying to assimilate the man's death.
"How many divisions did the Duke send?" It really didn't matter to her right now, but deep down she knew this was an important question, the frontier patrols should have noticed such a large force entering their territory, this was an act of war!
Gawain seemed to deflate at the question, his chin down as he spoke revealed this to be something painful for him, but he spoke, with unusual clarity, as if making sure that nothing he said would be confused as anything but the truth "Just one Knight"
The silence was deafening.
It just wasn't possible, no single knight could best their Black Knight in combat, not when the man could destroy a fleet and the armors they carried almost single handedly.
"He introduced himself as Viscount Leon Fou Bartfort, the man Lord Vandel was supposed to kill…" Gawain stopped as if to let anyone make a question.
Soon he continued taking their silence as a sign to finish his report. "Once we spotted his ship he came out in his armor and challenged us. When Lord Vandel went out to confront him, his ship fired at us from its position. I've never seen a ship with such a long range in my life!" Gawain paused again, his breath erratic and his eyes unfocused… A ship that can fire at you way before you are in range is a scary thing.
"The impact damaged our engines, we were left unable to pursue. Then they engaged in combat immediately, it was a short fight, both of them were trying to kill each other…" Sir Gawain was breathing hard, Hertrude admired his sense of duty.
"Bartfort is as much of a prodigy as we were informed, he saw through a feint and took advantage of it to take control of the fight and…" the knight swallowed a hard knot in his throat once again before proceeding "he disarmed lord Vandel, stole his sword…" a series of surprised expressions interrupted the knight.
"Soon after he landed the killing blow, and then he took Lord Vandel's body within his ship and left us with no option but to retreat" He finished lowering his gaze to the ground.
Left unsaid was the fact that the cursed Duke's knight would be presenting both Valndel's sword and his corpse to his master, Vince Rapha Redgrave once he goes back to the kingdom.
"Losing Vandel is quite the tragedy, but we all knew his prowess has been diminishing as he aged" Count Garret said to everyone in the room, she couldn't help the glare she sent him. He wouldn't even allow them the time to mourn a dear friend before he started making plans for the war again!
"The disciples he left behind are more than enough to destroy this new threat and our more advanced armors will give the rest of our knights the edge they need to destroy our enemies and finally, we have our princesses' flutes which will provide us with unlimited troops… It's time to strike the kingdom, the Duke will not reveal this to the Holforts, that is why we must attack now before they can learn of Sir Vandel's defeat and our enemy can make a plan accounting the Black knight's absence from the battlefield!"
She looked at her sister and received a nod of confirmation.
She would destroy the kingdom even if that's the last thing she does, but she would also make sure to destroy House Redgrave completely….
Gertrude was ready to summon both Guardians to finish all of her enemies at once and leave Gertrauda free of the burden!
For her parents!
And Vandel!
0x00x0
It was a dark and cold night.
The chilly nocturnal wind seemed to bypass his skin and get to his bones in the blink of an eye.
The Duke kept staring at the bonfire to distract himself, to avoid thinking how old he felt.
However Vince couldn't help but feel nostalgic for those long nights he spent exploring the borders of the kingdom looking for a new floating island for the chance to encounter an uncharted dungeon.
He considered that never finding one was the biggest failure of his entire life!
And he would never find one in this stage of his life, in his old age he lacks the energy and durability to embark on another expedition.
He was dressed in various layers of thick furs and there was a bonfire helping him to keep warm, but in his youth he could have gone without the furs.
Getting old is such a sad thing.
He was not dying by any means, but he could feel his body weakening year after year, he sometimes wanted to retire and pass his title to Gilbert so he could rest, and he would soon.
War was coming, and it was a war he helped to create so there was no way he would just retire leaving his son to deal with his mess.
That would not reflect well on his House.
Vince looked away from the fire and blinked repeatedly to make the after image of the fire disappear.
He then looked at his men, all of them are loyal to him more than his family, they would retire roughly at the same time as him, if they survive what is coming.
These veterans were all here escorting him to this rendezvous with his son-in-law not out of loyalty to him, but because of their own morbid curiosity.
There is a slight change in the light around, it's too early for dawn.
Looking up he squints his eyes hoping to catch one of Leon's ships in the sky above, it wouldn't be the first time it turned out to be just a monster getting too close to his camp.
But not this time, he can barely perceive the black body of Einhorn when its horn blocks a group of stars.
His men immediately cheer up when it lands close by.
As the doors of the Einhorn open the light nearly blinds him and his companions, it would have been the perfect moment to ambush him.
But alas, this is his son-in-law and not some mercenary he met at a pub in a barony in the middle of nowhere…
"Greetings my Lord!" Leon says with enthusiasm before his eyes have the time to adjust to the light flooding his camp right now.
Shielding his eyes with his hand he manages to make up the silhouette of Arroganz, Leon's personal Knight Armor, and then to its side another tall and but slender armor black in color but with golden highlights around its shoulders.
There is a hole in the area the pilot body usually is…
VInce smiled musically and started looking around frantically for the legendary sword Vandel wielded for decades!
But there is no trace of it…
When his eyes land on Leon he can see the man walking towards him with an urn in his hands.
Once he is a couple of meters away Leon smiles and offers the contents of the urn to him.
With a small amount of hesitation Vince tries to take out whatever is inside it, there is some kind of liquid in it but there is also a spherical object, and kind of heavy too.
Sending his hand deeper into the urn he finally managed to find something to grab and he lifted the ball…
Ruthlessly he suppressed his instinct to throw away the very human, very bald head!
Vince turns it until he is facing… the face of one very deceased Vandel Him Zenden!
He takes it with both hands and raises it above his head to show it to his men who are acting as if they were Leon's age, all cheering and there were a couple of men who were literally jumping in their happiness.
"VANDEL HIM ZENDEN IS DEATH!" he screamed with all his might.
They are very far enough away to not be overheard no matter how loud he screams.
Vince too had a couple of encounters with the man over the years, a couple of times he had to flee from this arrogant bastard in the field of battle!
His men cheered and he saw one drunk from a clear, unmarked bottle.
His men one by one congratulate him and Leon, who was the one to execute the Principailty's champion.
He now has in his possession the head and armor of the most feared man in the continent!
Only the blade is missing!
"Leon, the blade, did you get it!?" he asks, hoping it was not lost in the fight.
"It's in the Arroganz backpack, I was hoping to keep it, my Lord." Leon said while gesturing with his hand at the black metallic structure of his armor.
This man has bought him the head and armor of the Black Knight, he might as well have given him Angelica's Bride Price!
Vince was tempted to demand the sword as well but he just couldn't deny this man his trophy, that would be in poor taste.
"Of course, of course!" He said with enthusiasm while handing Vandel's head to one of his men.
That powerful weapon would be used to defend his daughter and grandchild, there was no need to make Leon a better protector!
"Now come… my son. we have to celebrate!" acknowledging Leon this way was something he needed to keep Angie and Gil close, and after this feat he has definitely earned his recognition!
"Because from now on you are Leon Rapha Bartfort, Duke of the future Redgrave Kingdom… Hey, stop kicking the head you morons!
0x0x0
There was a heavy mood in the barony, Lord Leon had suffered an accident in the mine he was trying to open and lost an eye due to it, he was in a critical condition and it was uncertain if he would live or not.
He knew the man left the island to buy the materials to start digging deeper in search for minerals a few weeks ago and reported it to the Queen, who appeared to be pleased and explained to him the real reason he was leaving.
To be so arrogant to believe he could beat the freaking Black Knight!
He had to play along with the rest of the crowd feigning worry about their beloved Lord.
But in truth, Aaron couldn't wait for night to fall and tell this to the Queen!
The Viscount had survived but was left crippled!
He got tired of this job once Leon Fou Bartfort failed to recognize the word Nihon, the name of his original life's country.
He had hopes that said noble would be another reincarnator, like the Crown Prince's lover and himself, but there was no such luck.
If he was, he would probably reveal himself and use his knowledge as leverage to gain influence while still informing the Queen about anything that would earn him a reward later, when the game goes back to its original ending.
In truth there was nothing the low ranking noble had that he desired… other than his women.
Such beauties were wasted in a plain man like the Viscount.
Aaron on the other hand was handsome, resourceful… not as strong… he couldn't ignore the gap in strength that existed before the accident happened, he learned of his party conquering Capital's dungeon and what he saw in-game was not something he would like to see in this world.
After clearing the dungeon he knew he was simply no match for the Viscount, that's why he was so hard pressed to pretend to be sad about his fate.
But now he had a lucky break and once he informs the Queen and she informs him when she would be striking he may be able to spirit away the Villainess and the other wife to keep for his own harem, all while keeping the rewards the Queen promised him… It's not realistic, he would have to just take the Queen's reward.
Impatient, he returned to his cabin. It consisted of only three rooms, the kitchen where he cooked simple meals, his dormitory and a bathroom/latrine that was added last week. It was in this last room where he stored his treasure, who would look there?
He took his cellphone he bought from a clueless merchant he dialed to the Queen.
In truth he doesn't know how the thing works in this world but it has the same functionality as a smartphone did in his previous life and he considered himself lucky to have it.
Dialing to his only contact he waited for twenty minutes for the queen to answer his call, it was the middle of the day and even if he knew he should be more careful with this, he knew that no one would bother him in his house.
He lived on the outskirts of the town alongside many immigrants, far from the Baron's estate.
"I assume you have news" the Queen stated with disapproval in her voice, it bothered him but he knew that the news was worth his weight in gold!
"I do. Bartfort just had an accident in a tunnel in the mine I told you about before" he told her, sarcasm filled his voice, for a moment there was silence, it was maddening, he thought the bitch would be jumping in joy!
"Are you certain?" she asked and he wanted to shout at her that of course he was sure.
"I saw him being carried on a gurney myself! He was a mess, last I heard he lost an eye!" Once again the Queen took her time to reply.
"Well done, but next time wait until night before calling, it's too dangerous to do it in the middle of the day!" The Queen cut the call!
He was furious, she said nothing about his reward! He knew he would be receiving the title of Viscount and this lands once this was all over, but he wanted more!
"That bipolar bitch!" he muttered under his breath, sometimes the Queen treated her kindly and others she just wanted to hear his reports and treated him like shit!
"The Queen doesn't hold spies in high esteem? Who would have guessed" he froze once he heard that feminine and somewhat mechanical voice, he looked all around him but there was no one else besides himself in the room.
"I must be imagining things" he said in a low voice, there was no way anyone could be here with him!
"If you imagined not being caught, then yes, you are!" that voice again, this time he was sure there was someone else with him, hurrying he took his gun and searched for the intruder once more, even now he couldn't find them.
"I might be in the ceiling" they taunted again, he was discovered, he knew it, but if he can find the rat he can still save his facade.
SWIFT!
He suddenly felt a sting on his neck and palmed the area trying to find a dart or some kind of non lethal ammo, but there was nothing there.
He fell to his knees, paralyzed but not unconscious for hours, he couldn't even scream!
The sun went down and the darkness covered him for hours, he was way too scared to sleep.
He almost felt relief when he heard his door opening, if he wasn't so sure that it would be the Viscount's men that were coming to get him!
He was right, except for a little detail, the one who came into the bathroom were he was lying was the Viscount himself, he was accompanied by his brother in law and one of the robots that helped on the fields.
The Viscount was healthy, not a scratch on him either!
They had flashlights and they were aiming them at him!
"Your name is Aaron, right?" the lord of this land asked him, but he couldn't answer, whatever was on his system wouldn't let him!
"The drug on his body won't allow him to speak master" the same mechanical voice he heard before being reduced to this sorry state alerted the man.
"Either way, you have fulfilled your purpose admirably," what was the man talking about? Why was he talking like he knew about his secret job all along?! "But now you have two options, you either start working for me or you die, what is it going to be? Hm? blink twice if you want to work for me and live"
He tried blinking twice as soon as he could with that drug still on his body. It felt like a herculean task!
"Hm he wants to die!" said the knight accompanying the noble when he failed to blink fast enough to convey the message correctly.
"Oh, so you want to live huh?" Once he managed to blink twice the knight kicked him hard on his stomach "What do you think would happen to our families had we not known about you huh bitch!?" It was only the first of a series of painful kicks aimed at his abdomen.
"That's enough James, I know how you feel but we still need this moron!" The Viscount stopped the beating, he knew what would happen to the people of this Island, hell he was planning to inflict some of the pain himself, and he was thanking whatever god was watching after him that the noble had a colder head than the knight!
He managed to look up at the Viscount who was massaging his shoulders when the man spoke again. "Cleare, plant the explosive on his neck" explosive? What the hell was he talking about?
SWIFT!
That sound again!
"Congratulations, now your life is in the hands of a being that feels no mercy and is only loyal to me and my line, if Cleare determines you are about to betray us, you die, I won't question her either."
With that said the Viscount dropped a paper in front of him and walked away, the knight kicked him one last time before following his lord like a loyal dog!
He will find a way to remove whatever they put on his neck and kill them for sure!
"No. You will not, you will follow the script Master has left for you and if you think I would hesitate killing you, you are sorely mistaken" the mechanical voice said as if reading his intention "If i detect your hands lingering on your neck you die"
A small metallic sphere floated with a blue lens in front of his face allowing him to see his would-be executioner for the first time.
It was a machine?
A cold unfeeling machine that only follows orders as commanded?
He was finished one way or the other
But this thing still followed the Viscount orders so following the script left by the man offered a little ray of hope!
He didn't want to die!