novelraw Vol 3. Chapter 668: The One Who Assassinated the Crown Prince
Vol 3. Chapter 668: The One Who Assassinated the Crown Prince
“That’s impossible...”
Without question, the one most shocked by what he was seeing was Lord Rowon.
If one had to describe his state, utter stupefaction would be the best possible answer.
“If it were magic, I would understand. As I did, you could bring it under your control and then shatter it. But this was an ice prison created through alchemy. Impossible...”
Lord Rowon repeated impossible again and again.
He had devoted most of his life to magic and alchemy, and as a man reputed to be the finest in Darwei, he understood what could be done and what could not.
He had the pride of one who understood that boundary more deeply than anyone.
From the standpoint of that experience and that knowledge, this was impossible.
“Yes. If this had been before, I would have said the same thing. I would have called it impossible too. But before, someone said this to me. They said there might also be a way for me to be frozen through alchemy.”
Right after the battle with Fan, Abel had said it.
“If alchemy can do it, then that means even Ryo could be frozen solid, doesn’t it?”
The moment he heard that question, Ryo had gone still.
A freezing created through alchemy that even Fan could not escape.
Naturally, Ryo himself would not be able to escape it either.
He could not say that such a thing would absolutely never happen in the future.
So he had realized he needed to think of a way to counter it.
And that was what proved useful here today.
“That was... advice of remarkable foresight...”
Even while praising it, frustration bled into Lord Rowon’s words.
That was only natural. He had thought he had caught him perfectly, only to have it broken through.
“Yes. A splendid partner. That is the difference between you and me, Lord Rowon.”
Ryo said it plainly.
But...
“It was impressive that you broke through the ‘Sudden Rain Ice Prison.’ I acknowledge that. But I have not lost yet.”
“That’s true. I haven’t won yet either.”
Ryo nodded at Lord Rowon’s words.
“But this will no longer be the same kind of battle as before.”
“What do you mean?”
“To begin with, why was I able to break out of an ice prison made through alchemy? Of course I had prepared a countermeasure... but what exactly was that countermeasure? It wasn’t something that could be prepared all that easily, was it?”
“You had prepared a countermeasure... true, it would not be easy to prepare. Your alchemy is magnificent, Duke Rondo, I admit that. But I myself am hardly so inferior. And yet in reality you broke through... why?”
Lord Rowon thought.
He must have arrived at a possibility.
His expression turning shocked, he chanted to confirm it.
“‘Celestial Cycle Ring.’”
It was the alchemy that created countless aerial batteries and made them fire plunging shots from above...
but nothing was generated.
And with that, he understood.
“You... rewrote the magic formulas of my alchemy...”
“Yes.”
Lord Rowon stared in stunned disbelief.
Ryo smiled brightly.
In alchemy, one inscribes a magic formula or a magic circle onto something.
That inscribed object is called an alchemical tool.
For example, in Ryo’s case, the magic formula that generates the submarine Neil Andersen was inscribed onto Murasame’s scabbard.
In that case, Murasame’s scabbard itself was the alchemical tool.
As for how it had been inscribed, he drew the magic formula or magic circle on a sheet of ice, shrank it down, and transferred it onto Murasame’s scabbard.
There was no size limit on alchemical magic formulas or magic circles.
Which was why larger ones were easier to write.
But they took up space.
So they were often reduced and then copied over.
While Ryo had been taking Lord Rowon’s magical bombardment, and even after he had been imprisoned in ice, what he had been probing for was the location where Lord Rowon’s magic formulas were inscribed.
In other words, which object was the alchemical tool equivalent to Murasame’s scabbard in Lord Rowon’s case...?
Lord Rowon had made frequent use of alchemy during the battle, but Ryo had not seen that faint glow appear from any part of his body when he activated it.
That was why it had taken so long to locate it.
A man not even five feet three tall.
Wearing a deep blue eastern robe, leaning on a staff, with very long white hair and beard...
it had to be somewhere among all that.
“I thought maybe he was wearing something on his wrists or ankles, but he wasn’t. And of course, a stretchable thing like clothing is not suited to having a magic circle or magic formula inscribed onto it. As far as I could see, I really couldn’t tell.”
“...”
“To think it was that staff.”
Of course, the staff had not glowed either.
“The staff was hollow, and the magic formulas were inscribed on the inside of the hollow section. That kept the alchemical light from leaking out.”
“Mm. Splendid.”
Lord Rowon nodded at Ryo’s observation.
“But even if you discovered that... rewriting the magic formulas of alchemy cannot be done. I have placed
“Yes. I took control of that
“What?”
“Just as Lord Rowon seized control of my
“What...”
He stole control of the
Into alchemy that Lord Rowon could not use, and only Ryo could.
By doing that, he made Ryo the master of the alchemically created Sudden Rain Ice Prison and released it.
And on top of that, he had also rewritten the other magic formulas inscribed inside the staff so that they would become Ryo’s as well...
Ryo heard a deep sigh.
“To be utterly defeated in alchemy...”
Lord Rowon muttered.
“But... I still have magic.”
Clang!
Lord Rowon closed the ten-meter distance between them in an instant.
Ryo received the blow from the staff with Murasame.
“You did not think that because I am a magician and an alchemist, I would be incapable of close combat, did you?”
“Of course not. Lord Rowon is said to have belonged to the Ministry of War and crossed battlefields for years. Enemies must often have tried to take your life through close combat. If so, then ‘it’s over the moment they get close’ could never possibly have been acceptable for you, could it?”
Lord Rowon smiled even though his blow had been blocked.
Ryo received it with Murasame as though it were exactly within his expectations.
“So then, Duke Rondo, what will you do? Will you show this old man your alchemy once again?”
“Very well.”
Ryo said that, then swept Murasame wide once, took a large backstep, and opened the distance.
Then he chanted.
“
Two Ryos appeared.
“That is... the fusion of alchemy and magic...”
No one heard Lord Rowon’s mutter.
“
From the three Ryos, including the real Ryo, countless minuscule ice lances were fired at Lord Rowon.
At the same time, from the backs of those three Ryos, streams of water so fine they could barely be seen burst out, propelling them forward at the same speed as the ice lances.
The impact of the ice lances and the slashes of the three Ryos took place in an instant and converged all at once.
What remained afterward was Lord Rowon, both arms and both legs pierced by countless ice lances, with three swords stopped just short at both sides of his neck and at his chest.
“Splendid. My loss.”
Lord Rowon said that with the faintest smile.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to be frozen.
Ryo said that and froze Lord Rowon solid.
And then—
“I win.”
Ryo’s declaration of victory was not directed at the collapsed and frozen Lord Rowon.
It was hurled at Prince Kouri.
Prince Kouri met Ryo’s gaze head-on.
But he shook his head and said,
“I do not accept it.”
Slowly, clearly.
“You refuse to admit defeat?”
“That’s right. I do not.”
Ryo confirmed it, and Prince Kouri nodded.
“I understand.
Ryo froze the entire Kouri royal fleet solid, together with Prince Kouri and all the crew aboard.
“Hey, Ryo.”
“What is it, Abel?”
“Why did you freeze everyone?”
“Because Prince Kouri didn’t surrender.”
Ryo answered Abel’s question with a tilt of his head.
“No, I get that it couldn’t be helped, but...”
“What I really wanted was to seek His Majesty the Emperor’s ruling. I thought about having you fly over and bring His Majesty here.”
“Oh... right...”
Even Abel was startled by that unexpected line of thought from Ryo.
“But then I considered the possibility of something going wrong.”
“Something going wrong?”
“What if you crashed while carrying His Majesty the Emperor?”
“Crashed...”
“There are all kinds of possibilities, right? Running out of magic, a sudden Phantomkin attack, things like that?”
“Well... sure...”
If one was only talking about possibilities, then yes, many things could happen.
“If the King of Knightley crashed while carrying the Emperor of Darwei, that would absolutely become an international incident.”
“It definitely would.”
“To prevent that in advance, there was no choice but to freeze everyone. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were sacrificed for your sake, Abel. You should be grateful for the sacrifice of the Kouri royal fleet’s crew.”
“Yeah, that last part took way too much of a logical leap.”
Abel was not deceived by Ryo’s nonsense.
“You got tired of thinking about all the possibilities, so you froze everyone.”
“I-I’d appreciate it if you’d stop making baseless assumptions.”
“So I’m wrong?”
“I don’t not feel like you might not be wrong... or maybe you are... or maybe you aren’t after all...”
“Yeah, I understand perfectly.”
Frozen because frozen was easier.
“But still, there really was a need to keep Lord Rowon frozen.”
“You’ve already knocked him unconscious, haven’t you?”
“Yes. He has no consciousness.”
“Because there’s a chance he could still use magic even without a trigger word?”
Abel remembered the reason Ryo had once frozen Phantomkin after stealing their consciousness.
“That too, but in a sense, it’s also to protect Lord Rowon himself.”
“Protect him? From who?”
“Probably... His Majesty the Emperor and Prince Kouri?”
“...What?”
Protecting him from Emperor Tsuin was not impossible to understand.
But Prince Kouri was, so to speak, Lord Rowon’s employer.
Of course, he was currently frozen.
But to protect him from that man?
Abel had no idea what that meant.
“I really should have drawn the information out during the battle if possible... but there was no opening for that.”
“Yeah.”
“They’ll probably interrogate him eventually, so let’s confirm it then.”
That was all Ryo said.
It was two days later that the Emperor’s land force and the allied fleet under Kabui Somal joined up.
Emperor Tsuin, who had entered port first, was astonished by the sight of many masses of ice floating farther out beyond the allied fleet anchored offshore.
Ships, entire ships, were floating on the sea frozen solid.
And there were two hundred of them.
Of course, he had received the report.
But the impact of reading it in writing and the shock of seeing the actual sight were entirely different things...
“So that is Duke Rondo’s magical power. Extraordinary.”
At that murmur, Count Barrow Fu Ten, standing beside him, could do nothing but nod in silence.
“Lord Kabui Somal, you have done well. It seems Duke Rondo was put through all manner of trouble as well.”
“Your words are too generous.”
“I wish I could have handled it a little better.”
Emperor Tsuin praised him, Kabui Somal bowed his head, and Ryo scratched his own.
“Ryun, it has been a long time.”
“Your Majesty... no, Father. I am only relieved that you are safe.”
Emperor Tsuin happily spoke to Prince Ryun, who had been rescued from the Kouri royal fleet, and Prince Ryun in turn rejoiced that his father, Emperor Tsuin, was unharmed.
And only then...
were Prince Kouri and Lord Rowon, still frozen solid, brought over from the Kouri royal fleet.
“Kouri...”
“Your Majesty, I merely did what was necessary.”
Prince Kouri answered Emperor Tsuin, whose expression was sorrowful, in a composed and resolute tone.
“With respect, Father is incapable of steering Darwei.”
Prince Kouri said it clearly.
There was none of his usual ease in his expression.
He was desperately, unwillingly yet desperately, making his appeal...
it was a kind of impeachment.
“That may be so.”
Though being impeached, Emperor Tsuin accepted it with an almost gentle expression.
“If Jun... if the Crown Prince had lived, that would have been best.”
When Emperor Tsuin said that, his gaze was distant, as if he were looking at a memory that could now never be recovered.
“Why did Brother Jun have to die...”
The words that spilled from Prince Kouri’s mouth were not directed at anyone in particular.
And though Emperor Tsuin heard them, he had no answer either.
But in truth, there was one person here who possessed what might be the answer.
That person, uncertain whether he should speak or not, had lowered his head as if deciding not to say it here and instead tell only the Emperor later...
but Emperor Tsuin noticed that strange behavior.
“Duke Rondo, is there something on your mind?”
“Huh?”
Ryo was genuinely startled when asked.
He had lowered his head precisely because he had decided not to say anything here, only to be asked suddenly.
“N-No, Your Majesty, nothing...”
This was the first time Ryo had ended up like this in front of Emperor Tsuin.
Naturally, that only made Emperor Tsuin more suspicious.
“I swear that no matter what I hear, I will not be angered. Duke Rondo, would you tell me what you know?”
His tone was very gentle.
Once the highest ruler in Darwei had said that much, Ryo could no longer evade it.
“Your Majesty, this is only speculation. So after a careful investigation...”
“Yes. I very much wish to hear it.”
Emperor Tsuin cut straight through Ryo’s attempt to dodge around the matter.
As expected of the Emperor of a great nation.
Ryo took a deep breath.
He could tell he was more nervous than when fighting demons.
“Your Majesty, I believe it was Lord Rowon who killed His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“...”
In a single stroke, without hesitation, Ryo said it outright.
The reaction to those words was complete speechlessness.
And it was not only Emperor Tsuin.
Prince Kouri, of course, and everyone else present was struck silent as well.
For Ryo, it was astonishingly uncomfortable.
Even so, once it had been said, there was nothing to be done about it, and it was equally obvious that keeping silent under those circumstances would leave trouble festering later.
In the end, now that he had reached the answer, he could not avoid saying it.
“Duke Rondo... no, I understand that you would not make such an accusation lightly. I do understand that, and yet... even so...”
Even Emperor Tsuin, choosing his words carefully, trailed off in the end.
Prince Kouri could say nothing at all.
There was another person here who had been dealt a devastating blow as well.
Someone close to the accused man.
Lord Rowon’s disciple...
“Lu Yao, if you are feeling ill, you may sit over there.”
Prince Ryun gently spoke to Captain Lu Yao, whose face had gone pale.
“No, Your Highness. Let me hear this here as well. If my master truly has strayed from the path, then as his disciple... I must not look away.”
A truthful accusation grieves many people.
And yet, considering what would happen if it were not made...
there was no helping it.
“If Lord Rowon... took Brother Jun’s life, then I want to hear the grounds for that.”
The one who said it was Prince Kouri, who until then had remained silent, and who was likely the most deeply shaken person here.
At those words, Ryo looked to Emperor Tsuin.
Emperor Tsuin nodded as well.
“The first time I found it strange was when water-attribute magic worked even inside the Imperial Palace.”
“That was when the Phantomkin attacked, was it not? At that time there was a malfunction in the Starry Veil, so...”
“No, Your Majesty. The truth is, even after that, I was still able to use water-attribute magic.”
“What...”
“At the time, I considered all kinds of possibilities. That maybe I was the strange one, or that my magic itself was somehow special.”
Ryo paused there once, then began speaking again.
“But when I asked around, I found that within the Ministry of War inside the Imperial Palace... among its high-ranking officials, there were no water-attribute magicians other than Lord Rowon. And among the high-level adventurers, who would likely often take requests from the Imperial Palace, there were no water-attribute magicians either. ...Which made me wonder whether, under normal circumstances, the Imperial Palace had been ‘set’ so that only water-attribute magic could be used within it.”
“But I cannot believe the imperial alchemists who manage the Starry Veil would fail to notice such a thing...”
“They may well be excellent too, but they are not the finest alchemist in Darwei, are they?”
“You can’t mean...”
“The finest alchemist in Darwei, and a water-attribute magician... and the only one who could make it so that only water-attribute magic functioned within the Imperial Palace... and do so in a way that even the imperial alchemists would not detect. There is only one such person.”
As he said that, Ryo looked at the Ice Coffin.
The transparency had been adjusted so that Lord Rowon could be seen inside.
Lord Rowon’s eyes were closed, and he was still unconscious.
“I see.”
Emperor Tsuin nodded once.
“When we return to the Imperial Capital, I will order a detailed investigation. Duke Rondo, do you believe Lord Rowon was connected to the Choouchi Empire?”
At that question from Emperor Tsuin, many people were startled enough to lift their heads.
Certainly, the timing fit far too perfectly.
But Ryo shook his head.
“Your Majesty, I do not believe so.”
“Why?”
“If that were the case, then the Choouchi Empire would not have gone to the trouble of having General Yun captured here in order to gather information on the Starry Veil. They would have been able to obtain even more detailed information directly from Lord Rowon.”
“I see.”
Emperor Tsuin nodded at Ryo’s explanation.
“Before we return to the Imperial Capital, there is something I wish to ask the man himself, here and now. Duke Rondo, is that possible?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. It is possible.”
Ryo said that and chanted.
“
First, he built a wall of ice outside the Ice Coffin.
So that even if Lord Rowon took some reckless action, the damage would be limited.
Then—
“
He released only the head portion.
Lord Rowon slowly opened his eyes.
He looked around, confirmed that everything below his neck was frozen in ice, and then sighed.
“Your Majesty the Emperor, it has been a long time.”
“Lord Rowon, there is something I wish to ask.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Anything you wish.”
Emperor Tsuin asked in a voice deliberately kept calm.
Lord Rowon was exactly as usual.
“Was it you who assassinated Crown Prince Jun?”
There did not seem to be even the slightest anger in that question.
His expression and voice were as though all anger had vanished.
But that was an illusion.
When anger reaches its peak and grows too large, it bursts apart.
What comes after is emptiness.
That was what Emperor Tsuin wore around himself—emptiness.
Lord Rowon seemed startled for an instant when asked.
Then he looked around.
He looked at Prince Kouri, then Prince Ryun, and then at his disciple, Captain Lu Yao.
Finally, he looked at Ryo.
In that instant, he seemed to understand everything.
“I see. So quite a bit has come to light.”
Lord Rowon muttered with a bitter smile.
At that moment, rage exploded upward.
“You bastard!”
That was Count Barrow Fu Ten.
The man who had been responsible for guarding Crown Prince Jun’s Eastern Palace at the time.
He had been stripped of his post, and his territory confiscated.
Without question, he too could be called one of the victims.
But even more than that, the person he had revered and wanted from the bottom of his heart to protect had been killed...
if the culprit stood before him, anger was only natural.
“Stand down, Fu Ten.”
But at Emperor Tsuin’s words, he restrained that anger.
“There is only one thing I wish to ask. Why did you kill the Crown Prince?”
The moment Emperor Tsuin asked, every eye turned to Lord Rowon.
Yes, that was what they all wanted to know.
The Crown Prince had been the hope of many.
To assassinate him had been a tremendous loss to Darwei.
It was an act of betrayal against the nation.
And yet Lord Rowon was a magician who, for half a century under the Ministry of War, had defended Darwei on the front lines.
One could even call him a hero.
So why...?
“For the past twenty years, Darwei’s strength had been weakening and weakening without stop.”
Lord Rowon began to speak.
“Then, ten years ago, His Highness the Crown Prince was installed, and he began moving Darwei as the political center of the nation. At first, I too had expectations for His Highness the Crown Prince. I thought he might restore Darwei into the strong nation it once was. But that was not the case.”
No one interrupted him.
“Even under His Highness the Crown Prince’s rule, Darwei’s military strength continued only to decline. I spoke frankly to His Highness. I said our military strength had to be reinforced. That at this rate, when the decisive moment came, vast Darwei would be unable to defend itself precisely because of its vastness, and would perish. But His Highness the Crown Prince answered me thus: there was no great power around us capable of threatening Darwei. What government should do now was enrich the lives of the people. Rather, he would reduce excessive military strength and reallocate it toward improving the people’s lives.”
“...”
“How foolish! Can this be called rulership? Men in the field were saying we did not have enough strength! Why ignore that? Worse, why cut it still further? It was beyond foolish—it was beyond saving!”
Lord Rowon’s furious words struck at the now-dead Crown Prince.
“Look at this exhausted Darwei, unable to stand against the Choouchi Empire! It is attacked because it is nothing but a hulking body, and is thought easy to knock down! Even the Imperial Palace is assaulted! A nation no one had even heard of five years ago now dares challenge Darwei! This! This was what I feared! A newly born nation has momentum. But a vast old state like Darwei cannot turn its helm quickly. It is a common thing in history for the blow of a newly born state to destroy an old giant nation. But to watch my homeland perish in that way... I could not bear it. That is why I placed my hopes on Prince Kouri, but...”
Lord Rowon had been excited at first, but by the time he finished his final words, he was instead wearing a sorrowful expression, shaking his head faintly.
No one said anything.
Lord Rowon likely had not expected an answer from anyone either.
He turned toward Ryo and said,
“Duke Rondo, I have said all that I needed to say. I will accept whatever punishment comes. So would you put me back inside the ice once more?”
He had said all he needed to say, and would accept all the punishment he ought to receive...
and with that resolve, Lord Rowon’s voice had returned to its usual calmness.
Ryo could not decide on his own and looked at Emperor Tsuin.
Emperor Tsuin gave a small nod.
“
Once again, ice covered Lord Rowon’s entire body.
Beginning the next day, the party resumed its march northward.
Ryo and Abel had also returned to the allied fleet and were on the deck of the Lone Dark.
Lord Rowon’s Ice Coffin was there as well.
The other crew members of the Kouri royal fleet had been released after swearing to obey Emperor Tsuin.
Prince Kouri himself, in a dazed state, was now following Emperor Tsuin as well.
But Lord Rowon alone had refused, so he was being transported in the Ice Coffin.
Ever since then, Ryo had turned Lord Rowon’s words over in his mind again and again.
In 1205, Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes, and only six years later, in 1211, he invaded the Jin Dynasty, which at the time ruled northern China.
For two years he ravaged Jin territory, and in the end Jin was forced into a humiliating peace.
And even after ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) that, the peace collapsed anyway, and by 1215 the Mongols had besieged and taken Yanjing, the former Jin capital.
Because Ryo had studied history, he knew how powerful a newly born nation with momentum could be.
And so he could not deny Lord Rowon’s words.
“Abel, politics is hard.”
“Hm? Is this about Lord Rowon yesterday?”
“Yes. Everyone wants peace. No one wants war, no one wants to be dragged into war, everyone wants things to remain peaceful, and yet unhappiness arises because the roads people take to reach that end are different.”
“Yeah. It really is hard. But, Ryo, no matter what road you take, there are methods you must never choose.”
“What are they?”
“The method of killing people.”
“Ah...”
Yes. Lord Rowon had assassinated the Crown Prince for the sake of his beliefs.
“I do not believe that a path won through killing people can be the right path.”
Abel said it clearly.
That was truly the figure of a king.
“Lord Rowon may have thought that it was better for one person to be sacrificed than for tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, to die in war. But even so.”
“Abel... you’re strong.”
Ryo looked at Abel with an expression almost like admiration as he praised him.
“No. I’m not that strong either.”
Abel gave a bitter smile.
“It’s painful to tell people to go to the battlefield, to fight, and to die. I’ll probably never get used to that until the day I die. But all of that is for the sake of the people. Things that must be done for the happiness of the people. I’m only carrying that out in their place. That’s what I believe a king’s role is.”
“Politics is nothing but a pain no matter who does it... and yet kings still shoulder it on purpose. That really does make kings wonderful.”
“I think the First Duke could handle it in my place too.”
“I humbly decline.”
Both Abel and Ryo, though still carrying sorrow over Lord Rowon, had managed to face forward.
At times like this, perhaps having a partner beside you really did save you.
But at that moment, urgent news reached the Emperor’s land force as it continued north toward the Imperial Capital.
“The Choouchi Imperial Army has crossed the North River and occupied Shuntai Fortress on the south bank of the North River!”