Chapter 62
Rescue Team (2)
The ducal estate located at the center of the Paul wyvern territory.
Inside the conference hall, with the emblem of a dragon spreading its wings engraved at the center, a group of nobles had gathered.
“Did you see the knights standing guard?”
“Yes. Just what in the world were those appearances…?”
The people gathered here were the provincial lords of Paul wyvern who had sided with Helian.
Collateral branches of the family that had gradually seized control of the ducal house through Imperial support.
Despite finally winning the struggle for power that had dragged on for over a decade, there was not a trace of joy on their faces.
“Purging the opposition is one thing, but why imprison the knights?”
“And I’ve heard the territory’s civilians are disappearing too. This is clearly…”
The nobles looked deeply uneasy and anxious.
Rather than victors, they resembled livestock driven into a slaughterhouse.
“This is absurd!”
Of course, not everyone present was merely trembling in fear.
“That’s right! How could she treat us like this after all our cooperation?!”
Some of the more aggressive nobles were openly venting their fury toward Duchess Helian, who had yet to arrive at the hall.
“She’s conscripting even the private armies of the territories?! Does Her Grace intend to start a war?!”
The lords defending Paul wyvern’s western border were especially resistant.
They had cooperated for the sake of profit, but not all of them truly supported her actions.
Now that their own interests were being threatened, they immediately began pushing back.
“These aren’t just private soldiers—they’re the forces guarding the western coastline! If they’re withdrawn, then what happens if—!”
“Kh…”
The continuing tirade made the expressions of the nobles tied to the Empire visibly uncomfortable.
Even so, none of them bothered refuting it.
And for good reason.
The number of Imperial troops entering Paul wyvern had far exceeded moderation.
“And among all Imperial troops, why necromancers of all things?”
The elder nobles of Paul wyvern also added their complaints.
“To think the great Paul wyvern Castle is now guarded by corpses!”
On the way to the castle for this very meeting, the elderly noble had seen the zombies and necromancers filling the inner fortress and grimaced in disgust.
“How could such a thing possibly be—!”
“And what exactly is the problem?”
Helian’s voice cut through the nobles’ dissatisfied murmuring.
“D-Duchess…!”
“W-What were the gatekeepers doing?! Why was there no announcement for Her Grace’s arrival—!”
The nobles hurriedly shut their mouths after realizing their insults toward Helian had been overheard.
“I-It’s a misunderstanding, Your Grace. We merely—urk?!”
One of the nobles who had tried to smooth things over suddenly sucked in a strangled breath.
“N-No…!”
“W-What is that appearance…?!”
The other nobles who saw Helian’s face recoiled in shock and covered their mouths.
“Y-Your Grace… is that truly you?”
Helian was in her mid-fifties.
The traces of age appropriate to that time should have been carved across her face.
“What a ridiculous thing to say.”
Yet rather than angering her, their reactions seemed to delight her.
Wearing a faintly sinister smile, Helian strode proudly through the gathered nobles.
As though time itself had reversed—
Helian had returned to the appearance of a woman in her mid-twenties.
“Begin your report.”
Helian sat down in the highest seat located at the center of the conference hall as she spoke.
The position from which the dragon emblem overlooked everyone present.
The “Dragon Throne” where generations of Dukes of Paul wyvern had conducted affairs of state.
“M-My Lady?”
“T-That seat…!”
Originally, when the meeting had been convened, Helian’s place was not there.
Her designated seat had been one of the temporary chairs arranged beside the throne.
The fact that she ignored that entirely and seated herself upon the Duke’s throne made her intentions unmistakably clear.
“That’s enough! Have you gone mad, Duchess Helian?!”
Unable to endure it any longer, one of the elders stepped forward shouting.
“A woman without even the direct bloodline of the main house dares sit upon that seat?! Do you truly believe the Council of Elders will continue supporting you after such arrogance?!”
As the aged noble protested fiercely, the other nobles quickly joined in as though a dam had burst.
Helian’s actions had clearly crossed the line.
If they tolerated this, their own standing within the family would become unstable as well.
“If you do not rise this instant, then I myself will—gkh?!”
The elder’s enraged shout abruptly stopped as though something had seized his throat.
“Wh-what… is…?”
He too had once belonged to the knight order.
Though aged, he had believed his mana and swordsmanship had not dulled.
Yet despite all that prestige, the old noble merely clawed at his neck, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
“To come all the way here just to spew such nonsense.”
Watching the struggling noble, Helian laughed mockingly and slowly clenched her fist in the air.
“Ghk…! Gghk…!”
As though wringing something invisible, Helian twisted her hand.
The elder’s eyes rolled back as he writhed helplessly, unable to continue speaking.
And the next moment—
Crack—!
The sound of bones breaking.
Along with a sickening crunch, the elder’s body collapsed onto the floor, his tongue hanging grotesquely from his mouth.
“Ugh…!”
“Aah…!”
The rebellious atmosphere filling the hall vanished instantly, replaced entirely by terror.
An elder had just been killed in the middle of the conference hall.
Yet Helian merely examined her own hand with satisfaction, smiling as though it were nothing important.
Bang—!
At that moment, the doors burst open, and countless knights stormed into the conference hall.
Shrrrng—!
Dozens of knights gathered with swords already drawn.
Blood vessels bulged grotesquely across their faces, their skin blackened like corpses.
And within their eyes burned vicious killing intent.
‘Those knights…’
‘They’re not human…!’
The nobles could do nothing but tremble in silence.
“Well then, I believe you now understand the situation.”
She had purged the opposition and driven Lady Laia away.
Which meant the only ones left sharing Helian’s power were the nobles gathered here.
The moment they realized that, the faces of everyone in the conference hall turned pale.
“The undisputed ruler of Paul wyvern, Helian Leinrant, commands you.”
Looking at the knights surrounding the hall, Helian spat out the words coldly.
“Kill every single one of those fools who were just babbling nonsense.”
The instant she finished speaking, the knights encircling the nobles charged all at once.
Paul wyvern.
The sacred fortress of heroes that once defended the continent from the dragon invasion.
But now—
It had become a living hell filled with blood and screams.
“With this, all preparations are complete, Duchess Helian.”
A black-haired young man appeared behind her and spoke.
Helian slowly nodded.
“And the goods?”
“They have been secured without issue. Arrangements have already been made so we may trade with the ‘materials’ within the week.”
Archbishop Palliman bowed deeply.
And alongside the screams of the elders and nobles who had secretly looked down upon her—
“Excellent work, Palliman.”
Helian, trembling in ecstasy, lightly raised her hand to praise him.
“If I obtain Leinrant, you shall receive a reward worthy of your efforts as well. You may look forward to it.”
Hearing those words, Palliman raised his head and replied respectfully.
“I am unworthy of the grace you have bestowed upon me.”
Yet as he watched Helian’s back, Palliman’s expression clearly concealed mockery.
Rumbleeeee…!
An empty wilderness with nothing in sight.
After pushing through the thick reed fields, what appeared before us was an ancient stone slab.
“Whoa…”
“No matter how many times I see it, your strength is incredible, My Lady.”
“I’m not happy about it at all, so stop gawking and help already…!”
I’d been worried we might need a crane, but thankfully that wasn’t necessary.
Boom—!
Without showing the slightest sign of fatigue, Laia lifted the enormous slab and dusted off her hands.
“To think our ancestors’ mausoleum was hidden in a place like this…”
“It’s information passed down only to the direct bloodline. Under normal circumstances, I never would’ve revealed it.”
Once the slab was moved aside, a long staircase descending underground appeared beneath it.
Several knights headed down first and lit torches mounted along the walls.
“After walking for about an hour, it should connect to the castle sewers. Once we get there…”
Laia, who had been giving instructions to the knights, suddenly looked toward me.
“What are you staring at so intently?”
“…This stone slab.”
I stared carefully at the slab Laia had lifted before speaking to her.
“Was this really built two hundred years ago?”
The moment I said that, one of the Paul wyvern knights approached me with an irritated expression.
“This passage is a secret of the main family. Even if we are allies, any further information is—”
“Did I ask you a question?”
At a time when every person counted, starting a contest of pride.
I couldn’t help sighing, though I understood his feelings.
They were that desperate and anxious.
‘Still, that doesn’t mean I can just bow my head obediently.’
I was still a prince of House Leinrant.
Even if the knights of my own house could speak freely to me, a knight of another family was in no position to treat me lightly.
“I asked Lady Laia a question. Why is a mere knight answering in her place?”
Unlike my usual casual demeanor, I now spoke with open authority.
Caught off guard, the Paul wyvern knight couldn’t continue speaking.
Unlike before, I now held the hilt of the sword.
And I had made sure he understood the difference.
“That’s enough. Both of you.”
Unable to keep watching our verbal clash, Laia stepped in.
“The exact year isn’t known. Even if we tried investigating it, all related records were lost.”
“Lost?”
“The Archimond Incident.”
Saying that, Laia looked toward the slab.
“They say Paul wyvern was forced to abandon the castle because of the undead legion pushing down from the north. During that process, the archives were destroyed.”
“The undead legion burned the archives?”
“Yes.”
Recalling the events of that time, I inwardly scoffed while staring at the slab.
‘Bullshit.’
The undead legion that invaded Paul wyvern had one objective:
Occupy the castle and secure a sea route that would strike at the Empire’s center.
An army that cared for nothing beyond its assigned orders suddenly burning archives?
Ridiculous.
The ones who burned Paul wyvern’s records weren’t the undead.
It was the holy knights who reclaimed Paul wyvern afterward.
‘Those bastards from the Order pinned it on me using methods like this?’
Engraved upon the stone slab was the image of a dragon.
A dragon with three heads, trampling mountains beneath its feet.
‘One of the Three Ancient Catastrophes… the Black Dragon.’
Two hundred years ago, this had been the greatest reason I tried to conquer this place.
To think I only discovered this location after everything had already ended.
Fate truly had a cruel sense of humor.
“But why ask about that all of a sudden?”
“…It’s nothing.”
This staircase was not merely a secret passage.
If the hidden ritual buried beneath it were activated, the “real thing” sleeping below would probably reveal itself.
‘Though now isn’t the time.’
Knowing the location alone was enough.
As I was now, I could neither awaken nor control it.
‘Still… who knows what the future holds.’
That was the thought running through my mind as I gazed down the passage descending deep underground.
A grim intuition lingered in my heart—
That one day, without fail, I would return to this place again.