30-75

EP.75 Betrayal for Betrayal 

“Your Majesty, it’s an emergency!” 

The face of the running minister was pale. 

Though his behavior was rude, no one stopped him. 

Even King Brutus simply watched in silence. 

“…Report.” 

Normally, a furious rebuke would have followed. 

But there was no room for that now. 

“W-we’re at war…!” 

“The eastern lady general has risen up…?” 

“Yes… You must prepare immediately…!” 

“I’ve already made preparations.” 

“…Excuse me?” 

The reporting minister looked puzzled. 

Not being an inner-circle aide, he had trouble grasping the situation. 

His confusion soon turned to a question. 

“What do you mean by that…?” 

“It means I’ve gathered the royal army to its maximum at the east and south.” 

“As expected…! You foresaw this would happen!” 

“Now, report the details.” 

The minister bowed his head with a face full of relief. 

But the king and the other ministers did not look pleased. 

“I will report! Lady Milleille of the south and Lady Eriz of the east are rebelling at the same time! They are advancing on the capital as we speak.” 

“There’s nothing more special, is there.” 

“Well… it seems quite a few nobles have joined them…” 

This was the worst-case scenario. 

It meant some nobles had decided the king could not win. 

Such a thing would be impossible without certainty. 

“A-and… around the capital, beastkin are destroying key military facilities…” 

“That damned hero…! I thought he was keeping quiet…!” 

This was the handiwork of Flora and Aliya. 

Outside, they clashed with the nobles who had joined the rebellion. 

Inside, they sowed further confusion. 

“Your Majesty… we can’t handle both fronts right now!” 

A minister watching the situation spoke in a gloomy voice. 

The king’s face twisted with rage. 

“For now, seal off the internal chaos and hold out!” 

“Understood. Then… the front lines…?” 

“The strength of the kingdom’s elite forces is far greater than that of a lowly hero!” 

The king had a plan. 

First, defeat the external enemies quickly. 

Then, quelling internal chaos would be simple. 

‘I’ve dispatched all the spies and elite knights I had in the palace. No matter how strong the hero is, he can’t win if the war drags on!’ 

The king’s confidence was not unfounded. 

If it became a drawn-out war, the king would have the advantage. 

“When the war is over, I’ll tear the hero’s limbs apart and hang them at the city gates!” 

His compressed rage echoed through the throne room. 

It seemed no one could oppose him. 

But then, an utterly unexpected voice appeared. 

“I’m right here, though?” 

“…?!” 

The voice came from among the ministers. 

The king was momentarily bewildered, doubting reality. 

‘That voice… no, it must be some insolent minister playing a trick…!’ 

But no one among the ministers would dare play a prank on the king. 

He was so confused he’d forgotten even this basic fact. 

“Who dares make jokes in my presence!” 

The ministers parted to the sides like water. 

But one person did not avert his gaze, meeting the king’s furious eyes head-on. 

“It’s been a while, Your Majesty.” 

“Guh…! Y-you…!” 

A presence that should not have been there. 

The hero was standing among the ministers. 

“How…! How did you get in here?!” 

“Nobody wants to work under a bad king.” 

“Grrrr…!!” 

The king’s gaze shifted to Teus’s side. 

Unlike the flustered ministers, a few remained calm. 

“We have no more loyalty to you.” 

“No troops will be coming here.” 

“We’re sorry. But… it seems impossible for you to remain in your position any longer.” 

Rage surged through the king’s body. 

He could not suppress the fury boiling up from below. 

Bloodshot eyes revealed his madness. 

“You scoundrels!! Guards! Call the captain of the guard!” 

“The minister just told you. No troops are coming.” 

Teus’s mocking words made the king’s veins bulge. 

He was calling for soldiers and power that would never come. 

“Captain of the guard! What is the captain doing!” 

“No matter if you’re the king, you can’t bring back the dead. Of course he can’t come.” 

“Y-you killed him…?!” 

The heat that had been boiling up suddenly cooled. 

It felt as if someone had poured cold water over him. 

The person he trusted most was no longer in this world. 

“If we fought head-on, it would have caused a commotion… so I took care of it at night. There were some helpful people here, too.” 

The king’s last source of reassurance was gone. 

The captain of the guard, who was nearly as skilled as the hero, was no more. 

With him gone, there was no way to resist. 

The knights who had been loyal had likely defected or died as well. 

“Grr…! You… I-I won’t forgive you…!” 

“What will you do if you don’t forgive me? Besides… I don’t plan to forgive you either.” 

“Y-you…!” 

For the first time, the king felt fear toward the hero. 

It was incomparable to any previous anxiety. 

With a single move, the hero could take his head at any time. 

‘I should have dealt with him sooner…!’ 

He had never imagined he would be this afraid. 

A hero who would use any means necessary. 

The worst scenario had come true before his eyes. 

“If you’d just ended things peacefully, none of this would have happened.” 

The cause was none other than the king himself. 

Teus had never been interested in power to begin with. 

“Grr… see! You’re after my head, just as I feared!” 

“That’s because you tried to take mine first.” 

“How could I just let you be, not knowing when you’d betray me!” 

The king never trusted anyone. 

Anyone who could be his equal was always a target for suspicion. 

Even facing death, that never changed. 

“So… what now? You can’t call for troops, and your ministers… Ah…” 

Teus glanced at the ministers, as if he’d had a good idea. 

“Come to think of it, I haven’t asked those people over there.” 

“What do you mean!” 

“They deserve a choice, too. Whether to follow an incompetent king. If you’d been a great king, someone would stay.” 

The ministers’ eyes darted quickly. 

They were watching each other. 

Would someone stay to preserve the honor of a fallen kingdom? 

Or join the hero’s praised faction and seek a future? 

The choice came suddenly. 

“Anyone who wants to abandon the king, come to my side!” 

The shout echoed through the palace. 

But no soldiers burst in. 

“W-what should we do…” 

“Hey… Count Pafel… I think we’d better go.” 

“I never liked how the king persecuted the hero anyway…!” 

“Of course. I feel the same!” 

Betrayal spread quickly. 

No one remained steadfast. 

Even those once loyal had become traitors under the king’s suspicion. 

“Y-you traitors! What are you saying!” 

“Your Majesty, you never had the qualities to see the bigger picture!” 

“How dare you say such things!” 

“There’s no future for someone so weak he can’t produce an heir!” 

It was a shocking insult. 

Something you should never say to a king. 

But they hurled sharp words at each other without restraint. 

“Grr…! You…!!” 

“What, are you impotent?” 

Mockery only fueled the king’s rage. 

He felt his manhood had been insulted. 

“Silence!” 

“If you couldn’t do it at your age… maybe it was your fate to lose the kingdom.” 

“Anyone can make an heir! Bloodlines can be created! I am the king, and whoever I choose is the prince!” 

“But no one chose you.” 

No ministers remained by the king’s side. 

This was the moment when once-mighty power collapsed. 

Everyone looked at him as if they wanted nothing to do with him. 

“You! Come back here at once!” 

His rage-filled shout was useless. 

Everyone just looked at him coldly. 

“Let’s have one last check…” 

The hero’s voice was filled with anger. 

It sounded playful, but the atmosphere was as sharp as a blade. 

He pulled out several swords and dropped them on the floor. 

“Whoever stabs the king will keep their current position.” 

There wasn’t even time for hesitation. 

As soon as he finished speaking, the ministers who had been on his side rushed at the king. 

They stabbed the king’s body. 

“Leave it to me, Hero!” 

“No, I’ll stab first!” 

Dozens of blades pierced the frail king’s body. 

“Gaaah…! You…! Ugh…!!” 

There was no chance of survival. 

The era of King Brutus was over. 

His death was destined to be recorded as a disgrace in history. 

‘As for the traitors… I’ll leave them to Milleille and Eriz. Even if they aren’t purged, they’ll never dare plot again.’ 

Teus planned to treat them rationally. 

The ministers had no thought of defiance. 

Author’s Note 

Tomorrow is the last episode. 

Starting tomorrow, my new work “The Barbarian Ravages the Forest Tribe” will begin serialization. 

If you’re interested, please check it out!