Side story episode 20
* * *
The soil of this land and the knees of the rulers. What Dale was asking for was very clear, and at the same time, no one could have misunderstood its meaning.
Count Balian knelt, and his knights held their breath. In front of all the counties, he had shown unquestionable proof of submission.
“That’s enough.”
The man in the night crow robe, the black-gold monarch, nodded his head indifferently.
“Get up.”
“Oh, I understand!”
Dale stretched out his arm, and Count Balian hesitated and took his hand with both of his.
“As before, I will entrust this county to you, and furthermore, it will be protected under the Fourth Empire and my name.”
“Yes, it is an honor, Your Majesty!”
“Your loyalty will be rewarded, but never forget.”
Dale said, his voice cold and emotionless.
“The mercy and protection I bestow upon you are only the price of your loyalty to me and my empire.”
“I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty!”
Count Balian bowed his head again and shouted. Only then did Dale turn his back calmly, taking the soil and knees of this land in his hands.
The curtain of darkness covering the midday sky disappeared. The world finally regained its light, and sunlight began to pour down.
As if waking up from a daydream, the world regained its scenery.
Yet nothing had changed. In Count Balian’s eyes, what was before him was not a human like himself. It was a being that could not be called human, an absolute being filled with an unknown and incomprehensible fear.
The demon god was there.
When you think about it rationally, it’s all ridiculous nonsense. But strangely enough, his heart and intuition were crying out to him. Never go against that being.
Nothing can fool this man. So Count Balian bit his lip again.
“Tea, tea, I am truly sorry, Your Majesty!”
“What are you talking about?”
So, after a fear that even he could not explain, Count Balian opened his mouth hesitantly. He desperately held back his body that was trembling with fear.
“Father, please give me a chance to confess my disloyalty and prove my loyalty?”
“Speak.”
At those words, Count Balian looked around at those around him. The man also understood the fact and waved his arm indifferently.
“Let’s move for a moment.”
* * *
“The revolutionary army’s secret agent contacted you and said that you would join hands and kill me?”
Count Balian told the truth, and the Black Gold Lord Dale coldly sneered.
“That, that’s right! As soon as I give them the signal, my knights and the Iron Troops, armed with the Revolutionary Army’s magic armor, will attack Your Majesty… …!”
“You told me the truth without hiding anything from me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry! Please forgive my fleeting, vain, and utterly disloyal delusions!”
Dale shook his head blandly at those words.
“You have told the truth, so you deserve to be rewarded accordingly.”
After stirring, Dale said.
“What do you want from me?”
At that question, Count Balian held his breath for a moment. The black-gold monarch was speaking as if the absolute being were showing mercy to a small creature.
“What do you want me to do for you in return for your loyalty?”
“How dare I… … ”
“Your wish will come true.”
Before Count Balian could say anything, Dale answered, peeking into the truth that lay hidden in his shadow.
“Send the signal to the Revolutionary Army as promised, and let their Iron Troops attack me.”
“yes……?”
At those words, Count Balian fell silent for a moment.
“What you are saying is, I want you to set up a trap by ambushing my knights… … ”
“That won’t happen.”
But Dale shook his head quietly.
“Do nothing, just lead them to where I am.”
“Ha, Hao, our opponents are the revolutionary army’s proud iron armor, and they’re armed with Type 2 armor… …!”
“Are you worried about what will happen to me from them?”
Dale tilted his head and asked back.
“Why did you kneel down and offer the soil of this land to someone who would be defeated by enemies of that level?”
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
That’s right. If this man really is the kind of being beyond common sense he thinks he is, then he shouldn’t be defeated by something as simple as an iron pedestal. No, even if he were defeated, it would only prove that he was nothing more than that, so Count Balian had no reason to refuse this offer.
* * *
At that time, the Saxon Imperial Palace in the north.
“Miss Yuffie.”
At the unfamiliar voice calling her name, Yuffie turned her head. After turning, she held her breath.
“ah…….”
There was a woman with dark, black hair like Dale, and furthermore, her eyes were covered with black bandages.
“I heard that you have helped me in many ways, brother.”
“Oh, no way! Rather, I am the one who should be with Uncle Dale… … Ah.”
Before continuing, Yupi quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment. However, the black-haired woman smiled and shook her head. Rather, she couldn’t hide her giggles as if she was happy.
“Uncle Dale, I never imagined that there would be someone in this world who would call my brother that.”
“I’m sorry.”
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“No need to be sorry, Miss Upi.”
The black-haired woman shook her head and laughed.
“My name is Lise of Saxony.”
“ah…….”
Although she was still protected by this castle, there were still many things she did not know about Dale’s empire. However, it was not difficult to guess her identity by hearing the title she used for Dale, and even her name.
“Oh, so you are His Majesty Dale’s younger sister.”
“That’s right.”
Lize looked at Yupi with a happy smile.
“It was all thanks to Miss Yuffie that Dale Orabeoni, who was left alone in this world, was able to come this far.”
“No way!”
“It was only because of Yuffie that my puzzle pieces finally fell into place. So, for me, Yuffie’s existence was truly a miracle.”
“… … A puzzle piece?”
And in response to Lize’s words, Yuffie responded with a cold face.
“Do you know what your brother used to look like, Miss Yupi?”
“I don’t know.”
Upi shook her head.
“Are you curious?”
Lize asked, and Yuffie hesitated for a moment. After hesitating, she shook her head.
“Your Majesty Dale… … No, I remember the many appearances that Uncle Dale showed me.”
“Oh my, I wonder about that.”
And with her own determination, Upi said:
“Uncle Dale saved me, and Uncle Dale told me that he was saved because I was there. And I still remember the sadness that Uncle Dale sometimes feels whenever he recalls the past.”
Dale’s past, it was the old empire itself, right here. The people he loved.
So, Yuffie clenched her fist and asked back.
“Why… … did you cause so much pain to Uncle Dale?”
At those words, Lize was neither angry nor flustered. Rather, she smiled as if she even found the sight of Yupi adorable.
“I’m sorry, Miss Upi. I never intended to cause trouble to you.”
That’s why Lize simply bowed her head and smiled.
As for Upi, she leaves behind Dale’s old self, a past full of truth and lies, and the pain of sacrifice.
“I’m really glad that Miss Yuppie is by my brother’s side.”
Lize smiled. As a younger sister who only wishes for her brother’s happiness.
“My brother’s empire, and the world of those my brother loves… … .”
Dale’s loved ones. Yuffie was no longer an outsider in this empire.
“Welcome to the House of Saxony, Miss Yuffie.”
So, Lize opened her arms wide towards Uffi with a smile.
* * *
As planned in advance, Count Balian contacted the revolutionary army’s secret agent and showed them the location of a room in the castle where the ‘Lord of Black Gold’ resided.
And the soldiers of the Iron Band, the revolutionary bannermen armed with the ‘Improved Type 2 Magic Armor’, moved.
They too remember the time when their revolutionary comrades, armed with Type 2 armor, were massacred in the former Margrave of Rosenheim. They also deeply consider the possibility that the identity of that man is the one who now claims to be the Lord of Black Gold.
No, it’s probably true.
In any case, there were no survivors among the revolutionary forces in the Margrave of Rosenheim at that time. Nevertheless, there were people in the Empire who witnessed the power that this being displayed. And the revolutionary spy planted in the Empire overheard the words, and furthermore, they came up with their own countermeasures against the absurd power that the man displayed.
A black magician who uses shadows, and freely controls them by raising pitch-black tentacles from them.
A realm of magic that cannot be understood by the common sense of this era. But even so, nothing changed.
For the enemies of the revolution there is only death.
The collapsing Ninth Reich itself was no longer the enemy of the revolution. In fact, the victory of the revolutionary army was self-evident, and nothing could go against the spirit of the revolution.
Until the appearance of the Black Gold Lord and the ghosts of history who claim to be the Great Demon Empire.
That’s why it was also the role of the revolutionary army to finish it.
So, each with their own mission, the revolutionary leaders moved. Following the words of Count Balian, who was in contact with them, they headed towards Ilsil where the Lord of Black Gold resided.
“I was waiting.”
The Iron Troops, armed with pitch-black armor, charged in, and the man was there, as if he had known they were coming from the beginning.
“You… … !”
“I will give you a chance, just as Count Balian once had a chance.”
“Surely the Count would betray!”
“Don’t worry. I’m the only one here.”
The man spoke without caring.
“And now I will tell you what I am going to do.”
Indifferently.
“I will go to the imperial capital of the Ninth Empire alone and make the emperor there kneel before me.”
“What, what did you say?!”
The revolutionary army held its breath in bewilderment at the absurd words that followed from his mouth.
“After that, I will wipe out your revolutionary army that is calling for a new era, and I will hunt down the remnants and hang them.”
The man spoke without caring.
“Only my empire will remain on this earth, but before that… … I will give you all an equal chance.”
“Opportunity?”
“Kneel before me and my empire, and save your life and status.”
The man spoke without even a trace of emotion. At those words, one of the revolutionary soldiers armed with Type 2 armor burst into laughter.
“I have already figured out the nature of the power you have shown.”
“Do you really think so?”
In front of the revolutionary army’s words, the man coldly sneered.
After he had ridiculed her, the man spoke. His voice was devoid of even the slightest emotion.
“Then go ahead and struggle somewhere.”
