Chapter 211: The Game of Thrones (2)

To Resolve Luther’s Indecision, Yuri Offered a Very Direct Solution

“If we choose something vulgar, it’ll seem like a farce. Let’s go with something impactful—you’re a murderer. You killed someone with a sharp blade, you stabbed them.”

“Are you completely insane?”

Now that things had gone this far, Luther stopped speaking to Yuri formally.

“You’re completely mad, you damned Briol lunatic…”

“Yes, perfect. We’re around the same age, so let’s talk informally. You’re the future king, you shouldn’t speak to me formally. This feels more natural. Your authority’s already showing, don’t you think?”

“What kind of guy are you…”

“When you said you lived without worries, you sounded distant, and that annoyed me. But now, you smell like a human. Why were you pretending to be normal? In a world of one-eyed men, if you pretend to have both eyes, you’ll eventually run into someone like me.”

Luther had entered the temple from a young age and had been trained as a saint. Among those teachings was the study of the human soul and psychology.

From his perspective, Yuri Briol wasn’t right in the head.

If the human mind were a room, Yuri’s would be an absolute mess.

“He’s definitely insane…”

Luther muttered, and Yuri smacked the back of his neck.

“I’m making you king and you call me crazy, you ungrateful brat.”

“Nobody asked you to!”

“Didn’t you say yes?”

“When?”

“When I counted to three, you said yes to being king.”

“That was because you forced me…!”

“You said it, so you have to go through with it. Come on, Luther. Let’s do this right, yeah?”

“Argh!”

“That’s it, that’s the spirit.”

Yuri patted his chest while smiling with satisfaction.

“Now we have to find someone to kill. But you can’t kill just anyone, that wouldn’t have style. We have to choose carefully.”

“Who?”

“I already have the perfect guy.”

Yuri clapped toward the door.

“Bring him in.”

Then the door opened, and Jared entered dragging someone small.

It was Glutenshtein.

With a gag in his mouth, he couldn’t say a word, and after struggling, he was thrown to the ground.

Simon and Guinness held his arms so he couldn’t resist.

Yuri spoke.

“You know who this is, right?”

“It’s…”

Luther swallowed his words.

What he couldn’t say was that this was the dwarf who had tried to marry Sybilla.

But since he had only been a passive observer in the end, he couldn’t say that in front of Yuri.

Yuri stood in front of Glutenshtein.

“This guy killed Sybilla.”

“Huh?”

Those from the Holy Kingdom who had witnessed Sybilla’s rampage weren’t surprised to hear that she was killed.

After all, her behavior had been so extreme that it wasn’t strange someone had tried to kill her.

But the identity of her killer remained a mystery. Yuri was about to give them that answer.

“Of course I killed her. But that’s not what matters.”

Yuri placed his foot on Glutenshtein’s trembling head and pressed down until it was crushed against the floor.

“If you think about it, this bastard is the one who caused Larsson to try to sell Sybilla, and in the end, she made the wrong choice. So in a way, he’s to blame for why I had to kill her.”

Luther nodded.

“Makes sense.”

He hadn’t done anything for Sybilla directly, but he at least felt sympathy for her.

And in that moment, he could empathize with what Yuri was saying.

“Like you said, everything went wrong because of this damn dwarf.”

“That’s right.”

Yuri raised his hand, and Luther gave him a high-five.

“See? When you’ve got a sword to your neck, people regain clarity.”

“I’m not sure this counts as clarity…”

“Luther. Do you know what it’s called to make someone with two eyes into a one-eyed man in a world of one-eyed people?”

“What?”

“Normalization.”

Yuri placed a sword in his hand.

“Congratulations on becoming normal, Luther Arsaint.”

“Wow…”

Luther shook his head and gave a dry laugh. Even though Yuri was only talking nonsense, somehow he was managing to convince him.

If someone like him, a saint, felt that way, how would everyone else feel?

It seemed inevitable that this man would end up completely upending the world.

“But…”

Luther looked at Glutenshtein and said,

“Still, I can’t kill him. Say I did it, but you do it, Yuri…”

“Understood.”

Yuri nodded and, without hesitation, drove his sword into Glutenshtein’s head. Blood gushed violently.

Luther recoiled in horror.

“Couldn’t you have done that somewhere else?!”

“Should I have thought about that?”

Glutenshtein, who had been slumped with his head down, collapsed without strength. Yuri pulled his sword from the corpse, pressing it with his foot.

“Well, he probably didn’t even feel pain. Too dignified a death for someone like him.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

“Besides, he wasn’t worth the effort. Now, Luther, tomorrow take the body and say you avenged Sybilla with your own hands.”

“Me? Personally?”

“Of course. We’ll support you from the shadows. You just go along with it, rise to the throne of the Holy Kingdom, and become Briol’s solid ally to face the Empire with us.”

Luther let out a long sigh.

“All right…”

After all, having worked with the secret organization, he had already heard about the need to oppose the Empire.

But the idea of being the king who would lead that war felt overwhelming.

Yuri threw an arm over his shoulder.

“Hey, don’t worry so much. In the end, I’m the one who’ll be swinging the sword. Why that face? Everything will be fine.”

“That’s what I should be saying… How ironic that the man who could stab me in the chest any second is the one trying to comfort me.”

“That was a good one! If you’d said that to the knights of Briol, they would’ve died laughing. They’d have burst out laughing!”

“Burst out…?”

He had no idea what Yuri was saying, but one thing was very clear.

The Luther who had lived peacefully, without major worries, was gone.

Now his life—

“Went to hell.”

***

The Next Day, the Holy Kingdom Was Thrown Into Chaos

Luther Arsaint, who had long ago entered the temple, suddenly appeared at the entrance of the royal palace dragging a dwarf’s corpse behind him.

His body was covered in blood, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He even carried a blade in his hand—something a saint should never wield.

“I avenged Sister Sybilla.”

Though the Holy Kingdom’s royal family tree was quite complicated, technically, Luther was Sybilla’s cousin.

“This damned dwarf murdered Sister Sybilla, and I took revenge on her behalf.”

The news shook the entire Holy Kingdom.

Had he been just another royal, it wouldn’t have caused such a stir.

But Luther had once been considered a possible future Pope.

And that wasn’t all—the Holy Knight, who had not appeared in public for a long time, declared his support for Luther.

The nobles belonging to the secret organization also sided with him.

But what most stirred the people was that, despite the threat of excommunication, he had dared to avenge Sybilla. That triggered a wave of popular fervor.

Amid the political turmoil, Luther Arsaint emerged as the leading candidate for the throne.

However, not everyone accepted Luther so easily.

The ambition for power often clouds judgment.

A royal named Leroy, who had ties to various nobles, opposed Luther.

“Sybilla was a tyrant who led the Holy Kingdom to ruin. Therefore, Glutenshtein could be considered a hero. Luther murdered an innocent man, and someone who has been excommunicated has no right to ascend the throne.”

That’s what he proclaimed everywhere.

Leroy smeared Sybilla’s name to discredit Luther—but that only attracted Yuri’s attention.

“Yuri. You’re not going to do anything to him… right?”

“I don’t know.”

“Control yourself…”

Luther was worried about Leroy.

As Francesco confessed, even if he regained his mana, he didn’t think he could defeat Yuri.

He said Yuri was already a monster who had surpassed even his father in his prime.

And the knights serving Leroy had no chance of stopping Yuri.

From Luther’s point of view, Leroy was about to get stabbed in the head while sleeping. That’s why he chose to act personally to protect his cousin.

Luther met Leroy in the middle of the royal palace.

“It’s been a while, Brother Leroy.”

“Indeed, Luther.”

They looked each other in the eyes. As both were accompanied by their respective factions, the nobles on each side exchanged tense glances.

Leroy spoke first.

“Luther. Why did you do that?”

“What exactly are you referring to?”

“Why did you put on that show dragging the corpse? Were you so desperate to become king?”

“Ha. You kept your mouth shut like a clam, and now that the others are gone, you show up all smug, huh?”

“What?”

“Am I wrong? When Brother Larsson mistreated Sister Sybilla, you stayed silent. When she ascended the throne and made mistakes, you looked the other way. And now that you see a shot at the crown, you go around insulting her like some great patriot.”

“Sybilla was a tyrant. Everyone knows it.”

“And whose fault was that?”

“No one’s. She chose that path.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“When they told her to marry the dwarf, she just had to accept it. Why make a scene by refusing? Do you think everyone gets to live how they want? If she had married the dwarf and had a good marriage, everything would’ve been fine.”

“Do you even hear yourself right now?!”

“And you too. You could’ve remained a simple saint. Why come out now and stir all this up…?”

Luther couldn’t take it anymore and let an insult fly.

“Ha… damn it… Brother Leroy!”

His rage boiled inside him.

Yuri, somewhere, was surely listening to all of this.

Luther was making a huge effort to protect his cousin’s life, but this idiot just kept digging his own grave. It was maddening.

Luther roared.

“Do you know why your life is a disaster? Because when someone tries to help you, you ruin it yourself! You’re a coward with piss-poor judgment! You can’t tell who’s offering you a hand and who’s about to stab you! You’ll only open your eyes when you’ve got a hole in your head!”

Leroy was taken aback by Luther’s uncharacteristically fierce outburst. Maybe the content of his words was hard to follow, but the insults were crystal clear.

And that was enough to enrage him.

“Are you… insulting me?”

“Yes, I’m insulting you. And what are you going to do about it?”

“You bastard…!”

“Let’s settle this with a champion’s duel.”

“What?”

“Well, you’re a coward, so you’ll probably refuse. But I’ll understand. That’s why I’m proposing a champion’s duel. Don’t tell me you’re going to reject that too.”

“You son of a…”

Grinding his teeth, Leroy quickly analyzed the situation.

Among his faction’s nobles, some had competent knights. In contrast, the only knight loyal to Luther was the Holy Knight, and it was said he had lost the ability to use mana.

Other than him, there was no one to fight as Luther’s champion.

Leroy grinned smugly.

“Fine.”

Either way, if things stayed on course, Luther would take the throne.

Just in case he hesitated, Leroy hurried to publicly announce the duel.

“I, Leroy Arsaint, and Luther Arsaint will face off in a champion’s duel! The loser will renounce his claim to the throne! That is all!”

While he laughed arrogantly, Luther merely looked up at the sky.

Though he had been excommunicated, his faith hadn’t waned in the slightest.

He muttered to himself.

“My God… are you watching this? I just saved another one.”

***

The Day of the Duel

Leroy and his noble faction were left utterly speechless.

The champion Luther presented was completely unexpected.

“Ah… a-a-ah no…”

Leroy stammered.

“W-w-why is… he… here…?”

It didn’t seem real.

He was the hero of the alliance, the swordsman who had massacred countless knights in Bezos and struck fear into the Empire.

A sword genius praised endlessly by all who knew him.

And with Fiore Briol’s disappearance, he was considered a likely candidate to join the Ten Greats.

He was the prince of Briol—Yuri Briol.

With his sword slung over his shoulder and his chin raised, Yuri stared at him.

“What are you looking at?”

You’re the one staring at me! Leroy wanted to respond, but he couldn’t even raise his gaze.