Crown of Thorns

CHAPTER 46

Translator : Cuties ––– Editor : WilsonWilson

“I’m telling you, I haven’t even heard of such a situation before. No, does it even make sense for them to disappear in just one night?”

“I know! The building and the food are all the same, but only the people are gone. What a surprise!”

All the people in Garrence’s Marquisate disappeared overnight. The clothes they wore, the food they ate, and even the pots they were cooking in were untouched, but there were no people.

The imperial palace was turned upside down. Not only that, but the whole world also began to rattle. People were stuck at home in a terrible atmosphere that smelled of blood. It was under investigation at the palace to find out the whole story, but there was still no answer. So everyone only made one guess or another.

At times like this, mercenaries who could smell money chatted over drinks at bars. I overheard people’s conversations at the tavern. I needed to know what they thought.

“You know, the Marquess Tyran covets the Garrence estate. Did he perhaps send someone?”

“What kind of person would do all that in such a brief span of time? Can you do it?”

“No, of course not, but…”

“If there were a war, then I’d understand, but this is not the answer. Did they find any trace of poison?”

“Then there must have been corpses at least. No matter how much poison they used, even if they’re all killed, is it even possible to clean up all those bodies overnight?”

“This really doesn’t make sense!”

Some raised their voices in excitement. In contrast, others were afraid of whether the dead bodies would suddenly appear again, or whether it was the act of monsters. Everyone flinched at the word “monsters.” They have been dealing with a number of monsters so far, but they have not seen one that has the ability to make all the people in a large mansion disappear in such a short amount of time, not even leaving a trace.

“Maybe a new monster has emerged?”

The words whitened the faces of the people in the pub. Some tried hard to laugh and said it couldn’t be, but their voices were not very sure. That’s because everyone thinks that it might be the truth.

Then, a man came up. While laying his glass on the table, he whispered.

“Perhaps not a monster.”

The mercenaries who heard him asked with a suspicious look.

“How can you be so sure?”

Then the man who brought the drink pulled a chair from around him and said,

“I overheard what my guests were saying. They said that there’s no way for monsters to be at the Marquisate of Garrence. And that they found something that shouldn’t have been there.”

“What, what is it?”

He bent down to narrow his distance from the mercenaries. Then he looked around and whispered.

“It’s a sword. A sword with blood on it.”

“Swo- sword?”

“Are you saying that it was really done by a human?”

“And it was not just an ordinary sword. There were two snakes tangled on the handle of the sword.”

“Two snakes…!”

“Isn’t that the emblem of the Marquess of Tyran?!”

As the mercenaries roared loudly, the man looked around hurriedly and shushed them by bringing his index finger to his mouth. The mercenaries also fell silent at his warning, but they still could not erase their expressions of surprise.

“Did the Marquis of Tyran really send someone?”

“Also, if you say they had a patterned sword… Then they couldn’t have been mercenaries like us.”

“Ey, that’s ridiculous. No matter how talented they are, they can’t get rid of everyone in that big mansion, can they?”

“That is correct. In addition, the Marquisate of Garrence had hired a lot of mercenaries to keep the Tyran Marquisate in check.”

“That’s right. There was also a rumor that there were far more guards in the mansion than we knew. And you’re saying that this was really the work of ordinary people? What have they done with all the bodies if it were true? Besides, there’s a rumor going around that not a drop of blood has been found!”

“And it’s strange that the sword was found. They hid the body, but left the sword with their emblem? Did they purposely want to show that they’re from the Tyran Marquisate or what?”

The mercenaries seemed to dismiss it more and more, but the man’s expression remained serious. He hesitated a little and said with a deep sigh.

“I don’t know if I can say this…”

“What else is there?”

“Hurry and tell us.”

The frustrated mercenaries continued to pester him as he dragged on without speaking. Then, he continued, as if he had no other choice.

“I heard rumors that the Marquess of Tyran has joined hands with the Death God.”

The mercenaries gave a blank look at his words. But soon, they giggled. They had considered his words to be fake news. The man muttered with a look of despair as if he didn’t care about their reactions.

“I’m very afraid. Afraid of the unexplained circumstances, and of the rumors speaking about the Death God that had suddenly appeared out of the blue. Besides, I feel uneasy for some reason. I think this is only the beginning.”

His heartfelt lamentation stopped the mercenaries from laughing and looked at each other. They tried to put on a sullen smile, but panic spread to their eyes. The people in the mansion that disappeared overnight, the sword which was found there, and the rumors saying that the Death God was involved in something that could not have been done without the help of monsters; all of these things were extraordinary and fear-inducing.

The man, who was the one who planted seeds of anxiety and fear in the mercenary’s hearts, stood up from his seat, shaking his head with a sigh. Then he returned to his seat. His name was Kato, a believer in Umbra, the ruler of Shadows, and one of the members of the group who joined hands with the witch to shake the world.

He smiled secretly, looking at where I was hiding.

*

At a time when the outside world was agitated by wild rumors, the atmosphere in the Imperial Palace was no different. I teleported into the Central Palace’s Conference Hall and observed the nobles. Everyone was gathering for a meeting, but they had no answer to the mystery of the sword laid in the middle of the table. The sword’s hilt, which looked even more ominous due to the blood still clinging to it, was engraved with two snakes tangled together, symbolizing the Marquisate of Tyran.

Out of nowhere, the Marquess of Tyran, who had been given suspicious looks, was running wild and screaming his innocence.

“This must be slander! Otherwise, why would my sword be found there?”

Everyone avoided his gaze. Then the Marquess of Tyran went wild and shouted, again and again, screaming that he was not the criminal. In fact, it didn’t seem necessary. I thought that since the Marquess of Tyran isn’t being captured thrown in the dungeons and is instead sitting safe and sound in this meeting, then that proves that they believe in what he says.

No, no one would believe in the sword in front of their eyes. Not only is it impossible to exterminate all the people inside the mansion overnight—without even leaving a drop of blood. But even if there was a way to make it possible, then the man who did such a feat wouldn’t have made the mistake of leaving the sword behind.

That’s why, instead of locking the Marquess of Tyran up in prison, everyone chose to hold an emergency meeting instead. Who had hated the Marquess of Garrence so much and left the sword of the Marquis Tyran? How is that possible? And why?

“I doubt that Marquess Garrence really died.”

“Did he perhaps go and went into hiding to throw us into a state of chaos?”

“It’s also true that it’s unbelievable. How do you hide all those people overnight? There is no way to do it while avoiding the eyes of others. Besides, what the hell is this sword…”

“I really don’t understand that, either. That sword has definitely been hanging on the wall. It’s a sword that was personally bestowed by the Son of Heaven to me in the past. I think someone was determined to steal it to frame me as the criminal. I’ve had my men check it out, and the sword is gone without a trace. I’m investigating everyone in the mansion, so I’m sure something will come up soon.”

No, nothing was going to come up. The person who stole the sword would have vanished.

Margarita, a knight in the Tyran Marquisate and a person of the witch’s, was ordered to show themselves or hide depending on the situation. If necessary, they would make a statement about all this with his position as a Knight of the Tyran Marquisate. Otherwise, they would hide and only show up when their power was needed.

“It’s amazing in itself for there to be a man great enough to be able to steal from the mansion.”

“If they were that capable don’t you think they could also raid Garrence’s mansion?”

“So you really think Marquess Garrence was killed? Is that so?”

“But you don’t have a body, do you? I think he ran away rather than that. Of course, there’s no way to know why.”

The conversation swirled in place. It was because the most important “why?” was unknown. The most likely culprit to find the reason was by far the Marquess of Tyran. His relationship with Marquess Garrence was not very cordial, and he had always coveted his estate. He knew that they tried to pressure him and swallow him somehow whenever they had time, so they doubted him. But, on the other hand, they were not any more suspicious of him, since they could not believe him to be this competent.

The problem was that there were people who were trying to check and swallow the Marquis of Tyran, just as the Marquess of Tyran had tried to keep the Marquess of Garrence in check and swallow him. They don’t want to miss this great opportunity. As I expected, they secretly led the conversation to frame Marquess Tyran as the culprit.

“From what I hear, a new monster has appeared, and rumors have been circulating about the Death God’s emergence.”

“I agree with the idea that being able to do this is bound to be beyond the human category. Whether they ran away or were killed overnight, this cannot be done by humans.”

“In the past, there’s been this story. A man who sells his soul to the devil possesses the power of the devil. Maybe that’s what the rumors meant by Death God…”

When he looked at the Marquess of Tyran at the end of his speech, the latter shouted with an angry face.

“What are you saying to me now? You don’t believe in fairy tales that only kids can read, do you? Were you always such a short-thinking man?”

“Oho, you’re going too far!”

“Why are you so restless? Does your conscience prickle?”

The Marquess of Tyran’s lips trembled. With anger and anxiety, he was at a loss for what to do. The atmosphere was unusual. They would simply not believe that he was innocent if they didn’t want him to be. They are all willing to kill their own children to fill their stomachs. They knew each other well.

And I knew what the Marquess of Tyran was most afraid of. It was the Son of Heaven who was not present in this gathering. He valued his life the most and killed everyone who threatened him. And the Marquess of Tyran, rumored to have sold his soul to the devil, must be a great source of anxiousness for him.

The Marquess of Tyran hurriedly turned the arrow.

“The Count of Dyne who says so has more reason to be doubted! What is the reason you went to the Marquisate of Garrence so early in the morning for? Why did you kick a door that no one would open to make sure that it was empty?!”

“That, that’s…”

Then Count Lothuria, who had often complained from Count Dyne, interfered and helped out.

“Oh, come to think of it, Count Dyne had enough reason to do so. It’s an open fact that you have a relationship with the Marchioness of Garrence. For you to go this far and do something like this, did something go wrong with the Marchioness?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Hmmm, I suspect Count Lothuria, who did this out of spite for losing farmland to Marquess Garrence before. If it weren’t for that…”

“All, all of a sudden, why would you drag me in?”

Eventually, the Conference Hall became a mess. It was because of the aristocrats who didn’t miss the opportunity and kept on biting each other out. They dug up reasons by mentioning the past, and those who were offended mentioned things that had nothing to do with the incident to attack the others.

I watched the conversation, which was going in circles for a while, and stepped out of there. In the end, they all pointed fingers at each other in their belief that even if they were to go down, they would not do so without a fight. Or without dragging the others down with them.

The witch only wants one thing; Fear to be planted in their minds. Fear of beings unknown. Fear of beings that they have long forgotten.

I wanted them to fear that everything they’ve been taking for granted might fall apart.

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