The air in the conference room turned icy.
As Arkhan was about to say something, Luke’s voice cut in first.
“You should take responsibility, so it’s time to step down from your position as Lord.”
Luke’s words were unyieldingly firm.
At that moment, Arkhan realized something. While being a Lord was generally considered the highest honor a human could achieve, Luke Richter was far from ordinary.
If someone else had made such a proclamation, it might have been dismissed as mere bravado, but Luke was different. He was genuinely excited at the thought of abandoning his position as Lord.
Just in case, Arkhan checked his intentions with Insight, and as expected, Luke was 100% sincere.
Arkhan blinked her eyes in disbelief, screaming inwardly.
“It absolutely can’t happen!”
She had to stop this. If they lost him now, it would be as if they lost two lords at the same time.
But if they let this go, what would happen to the discipline and dignity the Lord’s Council had always emphasized?
“…Maybe some coercion would work?”
Arkhan stared at Luke for a long time before shaking her head. Coercion would only work if it could affect someone, but it certainly wouldn’t work on this monster who casually strolled around and instantly killed extraterrestrial beings.
On the other side of the table, First Lord Ekion sat expressionlessly, while Third Lord Kalen’s lips twitched in amusement as if he found the situation intriguing.
The reactions from Fourth Lord and Fifth Lord were different, though. Lacking a full understanding of who Luke was, they were rather offended by his attitude, snickering and shaking their heads in disapproval.
“Do you even understand the current situation?”
Fourth Lord, Arhen, brushed her azure hair behind her ear and recited Luke’s offenses in a cold voice.
“First, you trespassed into someone else’s territory without permission. Second, you killed another Lord. Third, when held accountable for these actions, you simply declare that you’re stepping down.”
Her piercing critique made Fifth Lord Etina beside her nod in agreement.
With the Grand Lord, four Lords, their direct successor Qing, and hundreds of other Council members—all commanding forces powerful enough to defeat an empire with over seventy percent certainty—Luke’s audacity to stand up so boldly as a mere human was incomprehensible from their perspective.
However, Arkhan thought otherwise. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to rip Fourth Lord’s mouth apart right then and there.
Just as she opened her mouth to mediate, Luke spoke again in a cold voice.
“So what are you saying?”
“…What?”
“What else do you expect me to do besides stepping down from my position?”
“Hah, you’re utterly insane.”
Arkhan massaged her aching forehead. The situation was completely in deadlock. She had poured centuries of effort, even compromising the neutrality of the Lord’s Council, to recruit Luke as a Lord, and now all that hard work was about to go to waste.
There was no thought of killing him—first of all, he wouldn’t have let her, even if she tried.
So, the only options left were to either let this pass or let him resign on his terms. Of course, for Arkhan, there was only one option.
“Hmm… Are you really stepping down from your position?”
“Yes, because, as you said, ‘responsibility’ must be taken.”
“There’s no need.”
“There’s no need?”
“It’s settled. No need to take responsibility!”
Luke’s face slightly contorted in surprise. Arkhan’s claim that no responsibility was necessary was unexpected.
Luke wasn’t the only one shocked. The Fourth Lord, who had been watching in disbelief, wrinkled her brows and asked.
“Grand Lord, have you lost all rational judgment?”
“…Just stay quiet.”
“Stay quiet? You actually intend to let this outrageous act slide—after arbitrarily appointing a complete unknown as a Lord without proper vetting?”
Ekion, the First Lord, chimed in. “She’s right. This is a matter I must take responsibility for and thus step down.”
Fourth Lord condemned Luke, and Luke agreed, announcing his decision to resign from his position as Lord.
The Third Lord watched silently while suppressing laughter, and the First Lord sighed exasperatedly.
In response to Luke’s decision, Arkhan answered firmly.
“Absolutely not.”
“What?”
“It’s not allowed. Absolutely not!”
The refusal was clear, almost desperate in tone.
“The death of the Second Lord? It was actually a good thing! I was about to handle him myself because he was causing too much trouble. Now, thanks to the Sixth Lord stepping in, my workload has decreased. Thank you, by the way. That’s why I called you here today.”
Silence fell into the meeting room. The other Lords blinked in disbelief at the Grand Lord’s unreasonable statement.
Luke was no exception. Narrowing his eyes, he questioned.
“There’s no way. Since I killed another Lord without just cause, I must be reprimanded.”
“Without just cause? Didn’t that guy provoke you first?”
“No, I provoked him first. Moreover, I sneaked into his territory and plundered his relics.”
“Ahh, that relic? It’s fine. As it turns out, the Second Lord didn’t even know about its existence. So, consider it the relic finding its rightful owner.”
“… Do you really think that makes sense?”
“Sure, it makes sense. So, do you get it?”
Retirement is not an option—not even a dream.
Arkhan smiled faintly, raising the corner of her mouth.
1st Lord sipped his tea as if it was none of his business, and 3rd Lord seemed to be enjoying the chaos.
5th Lord sighed as she looked out the window.
However, 4th Lord wasn’t about to let it slide. Glaring at the Grand Lord, she said with a tone of sharp reprimand.
“Grand Lord, your unilateral judgment has gone too far.”
“Unilateral?”
“If rules were broken, they need to be punished accordingly! If you don’t want me to leave the Lord Council, take responsibility!”
“I also agree with 4th Lord. So I’ll take responsibility and step down from the 6th Lord’s position.”
“You, be quiet!”
Arhen raised her voice resolutely. Though she didn’t want to give up her position as a Lord, it seemed like this was the only way to bring sense back to the Grand Lord.
Even though she wanted to resort to force if she could, doing so would provoke the Grand Lord, making this the best option.
But the Grand Lord’s response was far from what she expected.
“If you’re dissatisfied, leave. It’s fine.”
“Wha-?”
“Now, let’s conclude. Although 6th Lord did kill 2nd Lord, there were valid reasons, so…”
“Grand Lord…?”
“…”
“Hahahahaha!”
It was utter mayhem.
The meeting ended in complete chaos with no conclusions drawn.
No matter how much time passed, no decision was reached. The Grand Lord continued to ramble nonsensically, and I insisted on stepping down from my position as Lord.
The dialogue was at a complete deadlock due to the opposing stances.
The one silver lining was that I had a wonderful supporter in the 4th Lord.
‘I’m not being allowed to step down, even to this extent?’
I already knew that killing another Lord was a violation of the rules.
There were two reasons I went ahead with it anyway.
First, I despised the 2nd Lord. Second, I wanted to use this as an excuse to leave my lifelong position as Lord.
The plan was perfect—except for one thing I hadn’t foreseen: the Grand Lord’s obsession with me was far beyond my imagination.
Of course, my own stubbornness about resigning wasn’t trivial either, so the meeting dragged on without conclusion.
‘Is it still not enough?’
Sitting in the office of Lord’s Domain located at the entrance of Blackmore, I fell into deep thought.
What more could I possibly do?
The time for the original story to begin was approaching, and ideally, I wanted to step down before getting entangled with the protagonist.
The reason was simple. If I stayed as a Lord, I’d inevitably get caught up in the main plot of the original story—something I wanted to avoid at all costs.
“Hmm…”
I had to figure something out before the next Lord’s meeting.
Well, it wasn’t too difficult. As I had justice on my side, all I had to do was insist, right?
As I thought this way so casually:
“Lord Six.”
Siron entered the office, looking uneasy. There was sweat on his forehead.
“Is there something wrong?”
“We have a visitor.”
“Visitor?”
What visitor? I had no planned appointments.
Tilting my head, Siron nervously mumbled, his voice trembling.
“…His Majesty has arrived.”
“What?”
“His Majesty, The Emperor, has come to see Lord Six.”
Ah, hell.
