Episode 578
Chapter 150. When the Price Must Be Paid (Part 1)
The next day, Dante did not immediately announce that he had become regent. There was a matter that needed to be settled first.
Central region of the empire, an underground villa.
A man paced aimlessly through the living room. His pale, drawn face and trembling shoulders betrayed his anxiety.
This was Tion Hailan, the second son of Ron Hailan and the captain of the Hailan knights.
He was the first to betray Hailan and join the emperor’s campaign to brand him a traitor. Even before the Battle of the Sword Emperor ended, he had fled to this underground villa, accompanied by about fifty imperial knights loyal to him.
“Damn it… how did it come to this…?”
There were many reasons why he betrayed Hailan. Despite being a captain, he had never satisfied Ron, and was always overshadowed by his nephew, Dante, never once stepping into the spotlight.
Tion believed all of this was due to a difference in talent. Even though he knew full well how Dante, born a frail child consumed by chaos, had struggled and persevered, he chose to ignore it. It was easier to chalk it up to talent.
He had long harbored resentment toward the family. Then, when Ron—who seemed destined to hold his position for the next twenty years—collapsed from internal injuries, the emperor made Tion a tempting offer.
“There is an item called the ‘White Stone.’ If you testify falsely about it before the people, when the Hailan family is destroyed, you will be made the head of the family.”
At that time, the emperor had spoken as if Tion’s potential was truly coveted. So Tion accepted the offer without hesitation.
He had no idea that the family had known about his betrayal and disloyalty all along, silently waiting for him to return to the right path.
“I thought the empire’s army would never lose because Ziphl would step in if things got tough. But the King of the Black Sea? Why the hell did that bastard show up now?!”
Bang!
Tion slammed his fist down, shattering the table and sending splinters flying. The knights who had been watching him nervously coughed awkwardly.
“L-Lord Tion… have you received any word from His Majesty?”
One knight asked cautiously.
“Do you think so? And you, fool, His Majesty is finished. Our only chance to survive now depends not on him, but on the royal family.”
“But His Majesty still seems to be holding on. From what I’ve heard outside, Dante Hailan is about to declare himself regent…”
“Hah! Not only the family, but he wants to swallow the entire empire? The world belongs to my nephew now. If only my father were still alive… but that bastard!”
Tion shouted, stomping his feet in frustration.
“Lord Tion, the royal family has already ignored our messages three times. Shouldn’t we try to contact His Majesty somehow?”
“How many times do I have to say it? His Majesty is finished! Why are you acting like this too?”
“Perhaps the reason His Majesty hasn’t been captured yet is because the royal family is protecting him. Maybe they haven’t given up on him yet. He might still hold a trump card that could turn the tide. We have to try to talk to him.”
“If you say one more word about finding His Majesty, I’ll smash your skull…”
Tion’s voice trailed off as he suddenly locked eyes with the knight.
A chilling premonition gripped his mind. None of the knights who followed him had ever dared to talk back like this.
“You… what are you? Why do you keep asking about His Majesty? Are you some kind of spy sent by the royal family?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Take off your helmet.”
“Lord Tion?”
“I said, take it off! Your obsession with His Majesty is suspicious. Guards! Seize him! He won’t confess if we’re gentle!”
The other knights cautiously closed in on the man. The knight hesitated, then sighed and spoke.
“This is quite inconvenient.”
He reached out into the air, grasping at something invisible. Suddenly, three knights approaching him were sliced apart like fish being filleted.
Screech!
What he had pulled was a thread-like hidden weapon. Blood sprayed like a fountain, and in an instant, Tion’s face was stained bright red. When he blinked, the knight had vanished from his sight.
“What… what is this…?”
The knight was now standing behind Tion, a dagger pressed to his throat. His helmet was off, but his face was hidden behind a milky-white mask.
This was Bizen, the empire’s most notorious nameless assassin. He had infiltrated Tion’s underground villa a week ago.
During that week, Bizen had more than ten chances to kill Tion outright. Yet he had held back for two reasons.
First, to find out the emperor Amir Biment’s whereabouts through Tion, if any secret line of communication still existed.
Second, because of a request from his client.
—Observe him for a few days. If there’s any sign of remorse, capture him alive. As a lesson to the family, he should be given a chance to repent.
This did not mean sparing Tion’s life. It only meant allowing him to die with some measure of repentance.
Tion had just thrown that chance away completely.
“Mu… Nameless…!”
“Looks like you really have no contact with Amir Biment. I was patient, hoping to make things easier for our princess.”
“W-Wait. If I can just contact His Majesty, he’ll spare me, right? Then I’ll contact him right now…”
“Unfortunately, the carriage has already left. It’ll take some time to find him, but he will die. The empire’s deadliest assassin is on the case.”
Swish!
The dagger pierced Tion’s neck swiftly and smoothly.
Tion Hailan died on the spot. The remaining knights, too terrified to resist Bizen, scrambled to flee.
But when Bizen pulled another invisible thread in the air, they were mercilessly cut down.
“Ugh! Aah!”
“Please, spare me!”
Within ten seconds, not a single knight remained alive.
When Bizen finished his mission, not a drop of their blood stained his body.
Similar scenes were unfolding at the main houses, villas, and secret shelters of the families who sided with the emperor during the first battle of the Sword Emperor War.
“L-Lord Acting Head! It seems Dante Hailan has already begun purging. The family’s knights at the main house are being assassinated…!”
At the Hollow family’s shelter.
They had sent knights like Scott Hollow of the Central Knights to fight against Hailan on the emperor’s side.
Those killing the Hollow family were also nameless assassins, tasked with sparing only the most capable few and eliminating the rest.
“Heh heh… so this is how it ends. Losing everything, it’s no wonder they become vengeful ghosts.”
At the Chendler family’s main house.
They had also sent Gloria Chendler of the White Spear Knights to fight Hailan.
In this way, families who sided with the emperor—like the Lilista family, the Lilista Mage Corps, and the Panga family—were paying a near-total price for their betrayal.
The nameless assassins took their lives without hesitation.
“The world is truly unpredictable. I heard Dante Hailan turned into a demon during the war, but I didn’t expect him to act this swiftly.”
The acting head of the Henserk family spoke with resignation. Standing before him was another nameless assassin, An.
“You’re mistaken.”
An’s dry voice met the acting head’s gaze.
“The one who ordered your deaths is not Dante Hailan.”
“What?”
“That’s all I’m saying. It’s a story you don’t need to hear, but I say it so you won’t blame the wrong people after you die.”
An’s sword sliced through the Henserk acting head’s neck. Behind him lay the bodies of dead Henserk mages, their milky-white robes spotless, not a single drop of blood staining them.
Dante had no intention of killing them immediately. Just as he had tried to give Tion a chance to repent before death, he wanted to allow these families a chance to contribute to restoring the empire before their end.
It was not Dante who had ordered the extermination of the families who sided with the emperor—it was the royal family.
They were cutting off the tail to minimize damage and create a pretext. Those disgusting mystics cared more about their own survival than the empire’s restoration from chaos.
The royal family truly believed that the empire could only be restored if they remained in power. They still thought they had the strength to do so.
The nameless assassin was a neutral blade.
Anyone with the right qualifications and enough payment could hire the nameless sword.
If the umbrella of ‘Ron Hailan’ still existed in the empire, the nameless assassin would never have accepted the royal family’s request. The fact that the nameless assassin accepted this mission, which could upset the empire’s balance, was solely because Ron was gone.
However, the nameless assassin did not accept all the royal family’s requests this time.
Among those who sided with the emperor, there was one family.
The nameless assassin refused the royal family’s request to assassinate the remaining leaders of the Peralga family.
More precisely, it wasn’t a refusal—it was a scheduling conflict. The nameless assassin had already received a prior request to protect Peralga from assassination for the time being, which took precedence over the royal family’s order.
“Kevin Farrell was a despicable man, but Sir John Cena Farrell ultimately sided with the Emperor’s forces for the sake of the people. Though that choice proved to be a mistake in the end… as a knight and a warrior, I want to honor Sir John Cena’s life. For now, protect them from assassination.”
And so, the Farrell family was able to preserve their name through an unknown swordsman.
Fortunately, most of those who remained in the Farrell line bore a strong resemblance to John Cena Farrell.
It was four days later that the deadliest assassin in the land finally found Emperor Amir Biment.
Amir Biment was hiding in an unnamed forest in southern Biment, with not a single member of his imperial guard or escort left by his side.
“Hello.”
Yona Runkandel.
The Emperor looked up at her, a sly smile playing on her lips, and in that moment, he instinctively knew.
Death had come for him at last.