Return of the Unrivaled Spear Knight

Side Story Chapter 282

In the Killian residence, Haron came running with a pale face. “Your Grace!”

Aaron del Killian, who had been lost in thoughts, looked up. “What is it?”

“We and all the other noble families received an order to send all available troops to the palace.”

Aaron’s eyes widened. The last imperial order summond all of the heads of the noble families, but now it was a call for all of their troops.

“The capital guards have also been asked to gather at the palace. Everyone has been warned not to leave any men behind because the personnel in the palace are going to cross-check the troops against the reports that they’ve received before.”

“They’re really going to start a war, huh? Who gave the order?”

“It’s from Her Majesty.”

“…The Fox Master must have done a very good job getting Anna under her control,” Aaron grumbled. He still believed that the plan to strike Hubalt had been suggested by Arash. “It seems we need to speed up our plan.”

“What shall we do about the imperial order? Nobles in the central region have been commanded to send their troops to the palace within three days.”

“In other words, we have three more days,” Aaron answered before resuming his contemplation. “…It’ll be better to kill him, after all.”

“Kill who?”

“I’m talking about Kireua Sanders.”

Haron gasped. “Y-You want to kill Kireua Sanders?”

“It looks like he’s the reason why I keep hearing this nonsense about attacking Hubalt.”

“B-But he’s the Martial God’s—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Aaron interrupted. “Avalon will be too busy dealing with Hubalt anyway.”

Haron still looked grim. “Isn’t that too risky? Kireua came all the way over here to rescue Thran’s king on his own, which earned him the respect of much of Thran’s populace. If we were to harm such a man, everyone we’ve built up favor with will turn their backs on us…”

“So we need someone else to take the fall.”

Aaron had already thought it through. He had been called a genius since he was a boy for a reason.

“One of the nobles on Voltaire’s side would be good. They didn’t hesitate to show how much they dislike him, so they’ll be the perfect culprit.”

Haron considered the way Voltaire’s allies had reacted to Kireua and nodded in agreement.

“Come to think of it… there is a rumor that Her Majesty and Kireua Sanders are lovers. Do you think it’s true?” Haron asked.

“That would be a problem if it’s true—that means that Avalon’s prince could acquire the entirety of Swallow.”

However, Aaron obviously wasn’t going to hand over Swallow on a silver platter after all the hard work he’d put into his bid to seize control.

“Anna used to be a Killian, so she needs to be our family’s puppet. She shouldn’t be able to think for herself nor be swayed by nobles other than us,” Aaron firmly said. “She’s just a bridge that we’re going to use to get to the Palace, and we’re going to burn that bridge behind us soon enough.”

Aaron stood up from his chair. “Summon the White Pillars.”

“D-Did you say the White Pillars?!” Haron sputtered.

The Killian family was divided into five factions: the Blue, Red, Yellow, Black, and White Pillars. Of those five Pillars, the White and Black Pillars held the most power within the family—but considering that there were only ten people in the Black Pillar due to the special nature of their tasks, the White Pillar was considered the strongest in the family.

There was another reason why the Black and White Pillars were called the Killian family’s aces. Those two Pillars were made up from elites whom the Killian Family had been training in secret using every resource they had. In fact, people outside the Killian family didn’t even know that the White and Black Pillars existed—which also meant that they weren’t recorded in the troop reports sent to the palace.

“They don’t have to answer to the imperial order and are quite skilled, so there’s no better people for the job. To be honest, I would like to send in the Black Pillar too, but they’re on a different mission...”

“Th-That would be overkill. There are one hundred people in the White Pillar alone and every one of them has an authority, so sending all of them to kill one prince is too much…”

“This is my plan: I will pretend to obey the imperial order, so I want you to lead the White Pillar, Haron.” Aaron looked at Haron, who was both his aide and his brother, and grabbed his brother’s hand. “You must kill Kireua Sanders before he gets out of Swallow.”

Haron looked around to see if there was anyone around them and then nodded resolutely.

“Okay, brother.”

***

“Thank you for telling me the truth.”

Kireua now looked at Arash with an amicable expression; he was deeply grateful that he was able to hear his teacher’s story.

Although she had finished telling the story some time ago, Arash remained seated in her chair.

“Why are you zoning out like that? Are you going to stay here with me all night?” Kireua joked.

“…There is one more thing you should know, Prince Kireua,” Arash said in a serious voice.

“What is it?” Kireua tilted his head curiously

Arash nodded to herself as if she had decided something. “All of Swallow’s nobles and their troops will arrive in the capital in two weeks. It’ll take around two days to install a teleportation gate, so you’ll be long gone by then.”

That was enough for Kireua to deduce what Arash was going to say.

“You think Duke Killian will start something before I leave?”

“Yes, I’m certain of it, since Swallow started a fire in the hearts of Thran’s people.”

“I assume you already have a plan in mind? I’m sure you didn’t put in all that effort just to hand over the empire to the Killians.”

Arash shook her head. “That’s my problem to take care of, and it’s not what I’m talking about right now.”

“Huh?”

“If I’m right, Duke Killian will probably…” Arash looked straight into Kireua’s eyes. “…try to kill you, Prince Kireua.”

“What? Kill me?” Kireua was perplexed. “Why?”

“It’s the best way to make Swallow give up on attacking Hubalt.”

Even though he wasn’t a genius, Kireua was quite clever, so he quickly understood what was going on.

“Duke Killian wants to prevent Swallow from making another enemy by worsening its relationship with Avalon.”

“Exactly so.”

Kireua was silent for a moment.

“…Duke Killian doesn’t consider Avalon a threat at all, huh?” he mused with a wry smile.

“The Martial God is away from Avalon, but Hubalt still has their Battle God. It is true that Hubalt is the much trickier opponent to deal with right now—but of course, all of this is just speculation on my part…”

“Yes, but it’s also the speculation made by Swallow’s best strategist.”

Arash’s expression changed subtly because she hadn’t thought that Kireua had such a high opinion of her.

“I didn’t think you’d praise me like that. Does that mean my chances are getting higher?”

“…Huh? Chances of what?”

“Don’t you remember the proposal I made before?”

“Ah, your marriage proposal.” Kireua flicked his finger in realization. “You must be pretty confident about winning this fight against Duke Killian if you’re joking around.”

“…I’m not joking.” Arash pouted, somewhat uncharacteristically.

“In any case,” Kireua said, ignoring her reaction, “it’d be quite a problem for you and Swallow if I die.”

“Her Majesty would be in most trouble.”

“Anna? Why?”

“Most people know that you and she have been friends for a long time, so if such an incident occurs right after her ascension to the throne, she’ll have to take all the responsibility. Power comes with great responsibility.”

The Killian family would be killing two birds with one stone: Swallow would give up on the already risky invasion, and the empress’s standing would plummet.

“But first they have to kill me,” Kireua said with a shrug.

“Don’t worry too much. We’ve predicted his next move, so I’ll ask Her Majesty to increase your security detail.”

“I heard that the Killian Family’s knights are the strongest in Swallow, so is that enough to stop them?”

“Like you said, it will be difficult, but we will succeed no matter what it costs us. Once we capture the assailants and make them confess who is behind them, it’ll be a great chance for Her Majesty to gain more power—”

“Speaking of which, I have a good idea,” Kireua interrupted.

“...What is it?”

“If we succeed, we'll eliminate both the Killian and Voltaire families from the picture. They lead the emerging aristocratic faction and the traditional aristocratic faction respectively, so it’ll significantly weaken the nobles’ power.”

Arash's eyes widened. For results like that, she was ready to kneel, never mind just listening.

“Wh-What’s your plan?”