Vision returned to normal, and what unfolded was a dark cavity.
The magic stones embedded in all directions, the magic circle under my feet, and the magicians in the robe surrounding me.
It was the same scene when I escaped from the convoy and set foot in the Overlord Castle for the first time.
As I climbed the stairs leading to the ground and walked down the hallway, it felt similar to when I first came to Overlord Castle. It felt like entering a tiger’s mouth.
And it wasn’t really that different.
Depending on the outcome of this emergency call, this place could be my execution site today.
However, unlike back then, the reason my mind was calm was probably because I was used to this world that much, and also because I had prepared enough before coming.
As I continued to act as a Lord, I seemed to have assimilated with that role.
I walked down the dark hallway and arrived at the place where the knights were lined up and standing.
All of them were wearing the same jet-black armor as the leader of the Black Star Order, and their levels were over 80. All of them seemed to be Knights of Black Star.
And at the end of it was a huge door.
We walked past the knights and stood right in front of the entrance to the conference hall.
…Hmmm.
I felt a huge presence that could not be hidden beyond the door.
At that moment, I was convinced that all the Lords were gathered inside, and at the same time, I realized it.
If things didn’t go according to plan, there’s really no way to survive.
“This convening is open to hear the explanation of the Seventh Lord on why you killed the Sixth Lord.”
The Wiseman opened the door and opened his mouth before going inside.
I glanced back at him.
“I don’t know if you know, but it’s pointless to speak a lie in front of the Overlord.”
“···”
“I hope you will be able to honestly reveal your true feelings and persuade the Overlord.”
The First Lord was the most special among the nine Lords.
First, he had the highest level among the Lords, and above all, he was the first one to have maintained his position as a Lord since the founding of Calderic.
To that extent, he did not differ from being the largest pillar of Calderic, and he was a person who sincerely thought about Calderic’s peace more than anyone else.
Perhaps he, like me, wanted no more clashes from this incident.
Without answering, I looked forward again.
The Wiseman took a step forward and opened the door himself.
Coo coo.
The door opened, and the scenery inside the conference hall came into view.
A huge round table, and the Lords sitting around it.
All their eyes were already on this side.
“···”
From the First Lord standing next to me, to the Fourth Lord, the King of the Dead, and the Ninth Lord, the Giant King, who did not attend the previous meeting.
All the Lords had gathered.
In particular, I looked at the figure of the Ninth Lord, who was filling up one side of the seat by himself.
A giant who appeared to be at least 5 meters tall. One of the rarest races, the giant race.
Unlike the other Lords, he sat alone in a huge chair that fit his body and looked down with calm eyes at where I was standing.
No one was hostile or murderous, but enormous pressure filled the conference hall.
Because all the Lords seated in their seats were properly armed.
“Come and sit, Seventh Lord.”
The Overlord, sitting at the top of the round table, smiled and opened her mouth.
She was wearing the same black dress outfit I had seen before.
I was a little puzzled by the laughter that didn’t suit the situation at all, as well as her not showing any hostility.
“You came earlier than expected. There were no major collisions?”
The Mad King, who was resting her chin on the armrest, straightened her posture and said in a voice mixed with laughter.
I walked over to my seat and sat down with a blank expression.
The Wiseman also sat in his seat, and Dayphon and Kadriel approached and stood behind where the Overlord was sitting.
There was silence in the meeting room for a moment.
Soon the Overlord spoke again.
“Now, since we are all gathered here, shall we begin?”
She pointed to the empty seat of the Sixth Lord.
“The reason I declared an emergency call is that of the death of the Sixth Lord, as everyone knows. And the one who killed him was the Seventh Lord, who gained that position recently.”
Her gaze shifted to me again.
“Do you have anything to correct about what I just said?”
“None.”
This was also a formal confirmation.
The Overlord continued speaking after I answered.
“Okay, first, this is the situation that I understood. In a gladiator match hosted by the Sixth Lord, the Seventh Lord suddenly broke in, and unilaterally declared to the Sixth Lord that he would take away the slave gladiators from the match, and there was a clash with the Sixth Lord who became angry with that declaration. After a fierce battle, he killed the Sixth Lord.”
“···”
“How is it, Seventh Lord? Is there anything you want to correct?”
I said quietly.
“First, Sixth Lord’s side attacked first.”
“Oh, yes. But that’s not important, is it?”
The Overlord shook her head.
The Second Lord, Thunder Lord, intervened and joined in.
“Even if the Sixth Lord attacked first, wasn’t it said that it was the Seventh Lord who first intervened in the event that the Sixth Lord was hosting? So, the one who started it first was definitely him.”
I glanced at the Thunder Lord.
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She was the one who mostly resisted the decision of me being appointed as a Lord, and now she’s also the one who’s active in this meeting.
The Overlord looked at me with a smile.
“Seventh Lord, can you give me an answer? Even if the Sixth Lord attacked first, did you already have the intention to kill him?”
“···”
I clicked my tongue at the question that stabbed me directly.
I expected it, but it didn’t seem like it would go easily.
The ability to see through truth and lies, which the hero of Santea also possessed.
As long as the Overlord had that ability, it wouldn’t work for me to play clumsily in this place.
Whether I had the intention of killing the Sixth Lord before the other attacked?
I couldn’t say no at all.
Because at that time, I had already decided.
If I couldn’t figure out another way to cure the light blood disease, I would kill him and take the siblings and leave.
“It’s not that it wasn’t there.”
The Overlord asked again.
“Then, it’s not that you were forced to kill after the battle became too intense, but that you killed the Sixth Lord with clear intentions, right?”
“Yes.”
This was also an undeniable fact.
I killed him after taking away most of his physical abilities and then subduing him.
Each of the Lords responded to my answer.
The Wiseman and the Thunder Lord slowly furrowed their brows, and the Black Sea Empress and the Mad King smiled strangely as they did when I first entered, and the rest of the Lords did not show their emotions.
“Now that I’ve confirmed the facts, I’ll have to listen to the reason.”
The Overlord asked with a smile on her face.
“Seventh Lord, why did you kill the Sixth Lord?”
I shut my mouth for a moment and answered nothing.
Why did I kill the Sixth Lord?
This convening was happening so they could hear the reason for my actions, and to execute me if the reason was not reasonable.
So, I could say that whatever answer I would give would decide my life or death.
···But I cannot give a good reason.
It was natural.
Two human beings who would be nothing more than insignificant bugs of no value to them.
What if I answered I killed the Sixth Lord only to save them?
Of course, there was also a reason.
The fact that one sibling was the person who would kill the Sixth Lord in the future, and that the other would have died in the not too distant future if I hadn’t intervened, anyway.
But, of course, this was inexplicable.
Of course, an Overlord capable of distinguishing between truth and lies would know that my absurd reason was indeed the truth.
But what if that happened? Again, things would get complicated. If I openly revealed Rigon’s existence to the Overlord, one never knew what would happen.
[How about playing a game with me? I’ll spare your life. Instead, you will become the Seventh Lord of Calderic.
…Which could make the siblings unhappy again, who barely escaped from hell.
Giving out that information to the Overlord to escape this immediate crisis and save my life was not the worst, just a lesser evil.
So, I took a risk.
The best answer I could give her was this.
“It was for the best.”
“···Yes?”
The Overlord narrowed her brow slightly, as if she did not understand what I was saying.
“Killing the Sixth Lord, at least in my opinion, was the best thing. It was less detrimental to Calderic’s future.”
This was the truth without a lie.
The Sixth Lord, who would have died in the future anyway, just died a little earlier. And Rigon, who would have become a ghost in the future, had not fallen.
I didn’t know if this could be called an advantage for Calderic, but I didn’t think it was a loss, anyway.
The Overlord tilted her head with an expression of more incomprehension.
“So now, you want to say that the existence of the Sixth Lord was harmful to Calderic?”
“···”
“I’d like you to explain why you made such a judgment, Seventh Lord.”
“This is all I have to say.”
If I explained further here, I had to somehow reveal Rigon’s existence, so I said nothing more.
The Overlord let out a small sigh.
“Don’t you think you’re being too forceful? If you don’t give a proper reason, we can’t decide. If you keep going like that…”
“What is there to hear more?”
The Thunder Lord interrupted in a cold voice.
“Another Lord has killed a Lord. If it goes on, the order of Calderic will be shaken from the very core. Whatever the reason or how reasonable it may be, we must execute the Seventh Lord right here and correct this order.”
The Mad King opened her mouth.
“Hey, but you hated the Sixth Lord so much. To be honest, aren’t you still bearing a grudge because of what happened at the last meeting?”
“···Are you really joking about this situation?”
“Look, I think I was correct.”
She giggled and picked up the sword she had set aside.
“Still, I agree with the Second Lord’s opinion. The reason for the murder, whatever it was, doesn’t really matter.”
“That’s right, Overlord. He doesn’t even want to actively explain it, so don’t waste your time and just kill him.”
The Black Sea Empress also intervened and fluttered laughter as she flapped her wings.
I looked at the Overlord.
“Seventh Lord, I’ll give you one last chance.”
She said with a look on her face that something had cooled off.
“Tell me something that will change my mind or persuade me, or you will die here today.”
The tone was as if she had planned to execute me from the beginning, no matter what the reasons the Lords said.
I exhaled and folded my arms.
The Overlord was a ruthless but reasonable person.
By being reasonable, I meant she wasn’t the type to put her pride first.
So she decided to execute me here only because it was in Calderic’s advantage.
I dared to break the iron rule and kill a Lord? It’s not an emotional choice.
No matter how much she judged me as a talented person, I was someone who had just taken this position and I, in fact, still lacked credibility.
She must have judged that there was no merit enough to continue leaving the element of anxiety that shook the fundamental order of Calderic that had been maintained for hundreds of years.
So I thought.
If there was no benefit in saving me, she would imprint the damage I had done to the people here as a warning.
The Lords, who were seated around the round table, slowly raised their resolve and stared at me.
I glanced at them once and opened my mouth.
“If there is a battle, there will be no way for me to survive.”
This was true.
No matter how many abilities I acquired, I never thought about the possibility of surviving the joint attack of all the Lords, including the Overlord.
“But keep this in mind.”
Here, the Lords without shield-type abilities were the Fifth Lord – the Mad King, the Ninth Lord – the Giant King, and the Eight Lord – Black Sea Empress…
The number of space leaps in a row was three times, and blood magic.
In the limited space of the conference room, if I spread blood and spill blood in all directions, how well would the Lords respond?
I couldn’t know. Maybe I couldn’t hit even one, or I could hit more than I thought because of their carelessness.
In other words, no one knew what the outcome would be.
I might die in vain killing no one, or conversely, the Lords might be annihilated.
“Half of the people here.”
So, what I was saying now was not a bluff, but pure sincerity from an unpredictable future.
And the Overlord would know it.
“If you’re going to kill me, more than half of you must be prepared to die.”
