Chapter 82

“So, what happened?”

“Rest assured, Your Grace. General Rafael and his men ultimately retreated without even entering the Assembly Hall. Those sycophants who followed them left without doing anything as well.”

“Hehe, excellent. How could those fools ever defy His Majesty the King?”

Duke Ocleang chuckled, his mood light as he turned his gaze to the figure standing nearby with a stiff smile.

It was General Garden.

“Good work, Garden. If you hadn’t tipped me off about their scheme beforehand, things could’ve gotten quite tedious.”

“Uh… thank you, Your Grace.”

General Garden replied with an awkward voice.

Then, Duke Ocleang said to him, still wearing a cold expression, “Alright then. Now be off.”

“W-what?”

“I said be off! Have your ears been stuffed?”

“B-but… Your Grace? I saved your life…”

“And what of it? You failed to carry out all my orders! You didn’t bring me the Pirate King’s head, you didn’t secure their treasures, and you didn’t reclaim the slaves! All of it!”

“B-but… that wasn’t my fault! It was Commander Pierre’s…”

“So what? You participated as a commander there too! You should be hanging in the plaza for your failures, and yet I’m graciously letting you go!”

“B-but…”

The hope of at least receiving some reward was thoroughly shattered as Duke Ocleang issued the Invitation to leave without a single coin in his hand.

“What are you still doing standing there? Off with you! Do you really want to die?”

“Ah… no! I-I’ll go!”

Garden had plenty he wanted to say, but in the end, he had no choice but to leave with his tail between his legs.

He was hardly in a position to stand his ground, and if he pressed the matter further, he risked losing the life he had barely salvaged. So he departed empty-handed.

Immediately after disposing of Garden, Duke Ocleang looked at the remaining subordinates.

“Well then… all that’s left is to quickly finish this Three Estates Meeting and sweep away those arrogant fools who dared to challenge me.”

“But, Your Grace, is it really wise? The opponent is General Rafael. He wields the military authority of this country and is the foremost warrior of the Kingdom of Frantz. If we provoke him, we might end up on the receiving end ourselves.”

“Hmph! What’s the big deal? His Majesty the King is on our side. With a single edict from him, we can easily brush aside someone like Rafael.”

“Can it really be that simple? If General Rafael truly loses it, then…”

“What does it matter if that fool goes mad? No matter how much military authority he holds, he’s still just a general. One strike, and he’s nothing.”

“B-but…”

“I’ll persuade His Majesty right away to move this forward. You lot, find out what happened to that Commander Pierre. By Garden’s words, he should have arrived long before now!”

“A-understood…”

Even with the Duke’s words, his noble followers could not hide their anxiety.

They knew well that there was nothing more terrifying than an unstoppable force that couldn’t be controlled by power.

Prodding the general who could single-handedly face thousands of soldiers, along with his devoted subordinates, could lead to unknown disasters.

Yet, it was Duke Ocleang, oblivious to all this knowledge, who remained in the dark.

He was, after all, a man who had no intention of considering such matters…

A man who believed he could do anything with his power.

And unfortunately,

At this moment, there was no one present who could stop such a Duke Ocleang.

*

A multitude gathered at the tennis court.

General Rafael and his select noble companions, unable to enter the Assembly Hall, stood amongst a majority of common representatives and several clergy aligned with them.

And even more…

The vast crowd that the Pirate King had brought along.

Observing them, General Rafael and his aides began discussing the matters they could not wrap up on their way here.

“We’ve made it this far, but… what should we do now?”

“We must inform them of the justification for the revolution. We need to explain how this country operates and how we can solve its issues. Besides, the representatives of the three estates are gathered here, so we can present our opinions formally to His Majesty.”

“Do you think the King will accept this? After all, he just permitted Duke Ocleang to close the Assembly Hall…”

“For that part, we’ll have to leave it to fate. Since Duke Ocleang’s quick maneuvers have already thrown many plans awry, we’ll have to deal with the consequences…”

“…sigh…”

The ‘revolutionary warriors’ were trying hard to find a breakthrough.

However, listening to their conversation left me feeling utterly exasperated.

At this point, it was akin to them drawing their swords first.

Naturally, we shouldn’t just stand around doing nothing either.

Seeing those naïve souls worrying about justifying themselves or securing the King’s favor in this situation only added to my frustration.

Well, there were limits, like General Rafael, who valued principles above everything else.

Though he was a remarkable soldier, he had a tendency to overly cling to justification, which was a flaw.

She thought that the revolution required a bolder approach.

While the exact method wasn’t clear, it was her belief that they needed to act more decisively in the current situation.

But not a single person there had the courage to claim that.

Although they might be experts in their respective fields, they collectively knew little about the act of revolution…

In this sense, what could be deemed treason was a situation none of them knew how to handle.

Even if they wanted to strongly assert something, they hardly knew what steps to take, so perhaps that’s why they hesitated to speak.

At that moment…

“I simply can’t accept this!”

“!”

A voice suddenly reached her ears.

With strength and authority ringing through it, the presence behind it felt ever clear, prompting Napoleona to turn her gaze…

Towards the Pirate King.