Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 96

96. Beggar Siblings - Revenge

On a night draped in thick darkness, a back alley in Lutetia was bustling.

Around forty people, either to ward off the cold or to hide their heavily armed bodies, lined up in thick robes.

In the darkness, Leo spoke.

"Sir Bart, be careful."

"Thank you for entrusting me. I will return with the head of the duke. Your Highness, please take care as well."

"Ahem."

Bart saluted Prince Leo with genuine gratitude and looked curiously at Hazen, who awkwardly cleared his throat beside him.

Apart from Jenia, the 215 knights following Leo were divided into two groups: 130 and 85.

The remaining 130 knights were to accompany Prince Leo to capture Prince Eric in the royal palace...

Bart had a question.

"Why did Sir Hazen insist on taking on Duke Tertan?"

Given the choice between capturing Duke Tertan and Prince Eric, any knight would have chosen Prince Eric without hesitation.

For Bart, who had a grudge against the duke, there was no choice to be made, but for the knights, capturing the prince was a much more honorable task.

He had expected a long discussion about who would go where, but Hazen's volunteering for Duke Tertan had settled the matter quickly.

As the second commander of the knight order, Hazen's decision left no choice for the knights under him.

It was an unexpected choice.

Hazen was the most influential figure among the knights gathered by Leo. If he had shown ambition to capture the prince, it would have happened without a doubt.

But he didn't, and Bart dismissed his small doubt as he stretched his arms behind his back.

If Sir Hazen had intended to betray, he would have done so long ago.

"Jenia, take good care of Lena."

"Yes, do not worry."

The prince entrusted the princess to Jenia and then led the knights away.

Bart had another question.

"Why did the prince insist on going to the palace himself?"

The prince was resolute and had convincing reasons, but he seemed too sentimental.

Was he determined to avenge himself on Prince Eric?

He was worried, but in truth, the most sentimental person at this moment was Bart himself.

Shaking off his idle thoughts, he drew his sword to check its condition.

A sword with a blade so long that it was crushed here and there, with no intact part.

Bart didn't sharpen the blade.

As long as the tip was sharp, it was enough, but these weren't his.

Bart turned around.

Behind him stood his long-time comrades, their eyes burning even in the darkness.

- Revenge

Bart nodded his chin slightly.

His comrades nodded back, their gestures faint but firm.

"Are you ready?"

He trembled with emotion at his own words.

Uncontrollable feelings pulsed through his veins.

How long he had awaited this moment.

With Prince Leo back, if they could avenge the duke and comfort the souls of their fallen comrades... he desired nothing more.

His comrades seemed to feel the same, pounding their chests with their excited right arms.

It was a signal of readiness. They hit their chests hard, emphasizing how long they had been prepared.

One comrade spoke, his determined voice low.

"For Barin and Nil, who sacrificed their lives for the prince."

The five men thought of them for a moment.

Barin, young but thoughtful, and Nil, rough in expression but always playful, who had fled with the prince and princess.

They had done well.

They saved the prince and princess with the highest merit. Without them, this glorious moment wouldn't have existed.

Another comrade spoke.

"For Rudy and Wendy, who fled bravely."

They remembered Rudy, who fled in a carriage, and Wendy, the only woman in the royal guard.

They were the most skilled at the time, and Wendy, particularly vibrant, was the life of the guard. Just like her cousin Rudy.

They had done well too.

Later, it was revealed that they had fled to the border of the Aisel Kingdom.

Their resistance had been so fierce that nets were used to catch them...

Cowardly bastards.

To treat a knight's honor in such a manner. The five men quietly ground their teeth.

Taking turns, another comrade spoke next.

"For Ludo and Joen, who sacrificed themselves for their comrades."

They were the first to sacrifice themselves to slow the enemy's pursuit when fleeing to the Right Kingdom.

Ludo, a giant, and Joen, who stubbornly insisted on using a spear, perished gloriously.

Amidst the biting cold wind, the former royal guards quietly recited the names of their fallen comrades. Even as Sir Hazen and the second squad of knights finished their preparations and stared blankly, they paid no mind.

This was their private memorial.

"Lastly... for that bastard who stole a horse and fled."

"The foolish kid."

"The annoying guy."

They remembered Galen, who excelled in horsemanship.

He survived to the end and spent ten years with us, but died while fleeing after killing Philas Tertan, the grandson of Duke Lappert Tertan.

Galen acted impulsively. He took all our horses and fled east.

To conceal that we were boarding a boat at the Irotashi River...

If he hadn't done so, the navy would have dispatched ships to sink our disguised fishing boat.

"You should've at least had a meal before leaving. Running off alone while we were eating... damn bastard."

I cursed, but I didn't mean it.

Our farewell was too sudden, and we had spent so much time together that it was hard to forgive his impulsive action.

The image of Galen riding away, waving his hand as if telling us to escape quickly, was still vivid in the five men's minds.

Foolish guy.

Bart and his comrades felt their hearts grow heavier.

"Let's go."

Bart walked forward, passing his comrades who patted his shoulder as he went by.

"Sir Hazen, let's go."

He led the way, and Hazen watched the avengers silently advance.

Tonight, the darkness was deep.

The capital of the Conrad Kingdom, Lutetia, was a vast city.

It was much larger than Orville, the capital of Bellita, the kingdom boasting the continent's strongest military power.

Due to the ample food supplies from the wide plains, Lutetia had continuously developed to accommodate its growing population.

The original city walls had been torn down and expanded wider and larger, including a low hill on Lutetia's east side within the city limits.

That hill formed the 'Moritz Avenue,' densely populated by nobles, where Duke Tertan's mansion was located.

Sir Hazen and Bart led the knights to Moritz Avenue.

Occasional torches flickered as Lutetia's guards patrolled, but there was no issue.

Sir Hazen fired a blue flare.

The magical flare silently soared into the sky, forming a thin, shining column, and in response, a blue line rose from near the royal palace.

It was the signal to begin the operation.

Then, a storm of blood began to sweep through Moritz Avenue.

Knights, who had arrived earlier and hidden, charged at the torches.

Paired guards, they couldn't even shout, "Who goes there?" before they met their end.

Sorry, but if the guards reported 'unauthorized movement of knights,' it could create a minor variable.

As the torches on Moritz Avenue were extinguished, the thirty knights led by Sir Hazen and Bart quickened their steps. Some guards quietly entered the mansion gates, but it didn't matter.

This wasn't a variable.

The nobles wouldn't move until they were certain of what was happening.

Soon, the nobles, knights, and soldiers in that mansion would wake and take up their defenses, but they wouldn't leave the mansion.

And when they did come out... they would realize the world had changed.

Leaving behind the brightly lit mansions on Moritz Avenue, Bart and Sir Hazen steadily advanced.

Knights scattered around joined the group one by one, their steps leaving trails of blood from the guards.

When they reached the grand estate of Duke Tertan, their number had grown to about fifty. The remaining thirty knights had gone to the back gate.

An imposing wall blocked their path.

Even at a glance, the four-meter-high mansion wall, slanting 'forward' to prevent intruders and allow light into the garden, seemed formidable.

How much money must have been spent to tilt it like this? They probably dug very deep. Various construction methods must have been used to prevent the wall from collapsing.

A guard at the main gate shouted.

"Who goes there!"

As it became clear that suspicious people were gathering here, one guard hurried inside, and the remaining one shouted nervously.

"This is Duke Tertan's estate. State your business or... ack!"

- Swish.

Bart dashed forward, stepping on the guard and leaping high. Following closely, Hazen decapitated the guard.

The spear the guard held was just a decoration to the two men.

Standing atop the wall, Bart looked down.

"Ring the bell! Quickly!"

A guard, peeking outside through a small hole, shouted, but his wish did not come true.

Bart threw his sword at the guard running to ring the bell. The sword pierced his back, bursting his heart.

'The one who went inside earlier... he's there.'

Bart spotted the guard running across the garden.

If they chased him quickly, they could catch him. Opening the door could wait a bit. If necessary, they could all climb the wall.

Without delay, Bart jumped down the slanted wall.

Suddenly, a flash! It was blindingly bright.

'Magic!'

He couldn't see.

But Bart calmly landed, maintaining his balance. He took a slow breath to regain his composure.

This wouldn't last long.

For experts with enough mana, the effects of magic were significantly reduced.

This was why knights were considered the only soldiers who could confront wizards.

"Haaap!"

With a loud battle cry, the guard who had shouted to ring the bell charged.

Right side, sound of feet.

Diagonal vertical slash, a strong attack.

Bart quickly identified the attack and spun his body, throwing a punch.

- Thud.

The guard's face was grotesquely smashed by Bart's punChapter As the magic faded, the blinding white vision began to clear...

Bart clicked his tongue and muttered.

"Of course."

The mansion was brightly lit.

It wasn't candlelight but countless orbs floating, illuminating the garden and mansion brilliantly.

Before the guard running to ring the bell could reach his destination, the mansion became lively with noise.

Magic.

A spell was cast to blind intruders and wake everyone in the mansion.

A full-scale battle was unavoidable.

Despite the slightly troublesome situation, Bart smiled.

This was better. He had no hobby of slitting the throats of sleeping men.

'I'll kill them all.'

Starved for the blood of the Tertan family, Bart drew his sword from the guard who had tried to ring the bell and shouted.

"Don't climb the wall! There's a spell on it!"

He no longer needed to chase the guard, so he unlatched the front gate.

Rushing in, Sir Hazen and the knights followed. Simultaneously, knights, soldiers, and branch family members of the Tertan family poured out from the mansion.

"Who are you!"

A man with disheveled dark brown hair, shouting heavily, had just woken up. He held the Tertan family’s red shield in his left hand and a broadsword in his right.

Midian Tertan.

The son of Duke Lappert Tertan and the Western Margrave of the Conrad Kingdom.

And he was also the father of Philas Tertan, whom Bart had killed.