Chapter 86
"Hah! Me, plotting treason after protecting this border city for generations? Not even a stray dog would believe that," Leandro barked indignantly, meeting Caron and Revelio in the middle.
"That doesn't seem like the attitude of a man here to clear up a misunderstanding, Marquis Leandro," Revelio pointed out.
Leandro bit his lip, clearly frustrated. He said, "...Your Highness, I don't know what stories you've been fed in the city, but I assure you, I'm innocent. All I've done my entire life is defend the empire's borders, nothing more."
Revelio, seizing the moment, began to press Leandro. "If you've been so diligent in guarding the borders, then why is Reben so corrupt? Slave trading, which is outlawed by the empire, has been flourishing there. And on top of that, Marquis Leandro, you personally ordered your men to capture non-humans."
"Your Highness, that's—" Leandro tried to protest, but Revelio cut him off.
"I don't want to hear excuses. I've already obtained testimonies from your own people, and we've found records of slave trade payments in your mansion," Revelio said, adding a touch of truth to his lie. He added, "Additionally, your men have also testified to evidence of your treasonous activities. Do you still intend to deny your crimes?"
Revelio's fierce interrogation left Leandro with no doubt that the Sixth Prince was in league with Caron. The political backing behind the Sixth Prince was none other than House Leston. It all made sense to Leandro. This was a conspiracy orchestrated by the Leston Duchy to take down Duke Salmon, his patron. From the moment Caron had entered Reben, this entire scheme had been set in motion.
A dirty trick of House Leston! I have to hold it in... Leandro thought bitterly.
He wanted nothing more than to punish these two young upstarts who had stirred up trouble in his city. But retaliating here would only play into their hands. The evidence against him was likely fabricated, but for now, he had no choice but to comply. His only hope lay in going to the capital and clearing his name there.
Clang.
Leandro made his decision. He unbuckled his sword, still sheathed, and placed it on the ground. Then, kneeling, he bowed his head and shouted, "Someone is framing me with vile lies! I, Marquis Leandro, will head to the capital and prove my innocence. Please, Your Highness, understand my sincerity!"
It was humiliating, but the most prudent and politically expedient choice. As long as he made it to the capital, he could disprove the baseless charge of treason. After all, they had no real evidence of such a crime. He had never even considered treason.
Once I get to the capital... I will have to admit to the slave dealing, though, Leandro thought grimly. His main source of wealth would dry up, but that was as far as the damage would go. He could escape the ridiculous accusation of treason and plan his revenge once his name was cleared.
"Hmph," Caron scoffed, watching Leandro surrender so readily.
For someone who looked like an intimidating bear, Leandro was acting more like a cunning fox. Caron had expected Leandro to snap when provoked, but instead, this fox had immediately looked for a way to save himself. For someone who commanded a much stronger army, such a quick surrender was almost disappointing.
"This is no fun," Caron muttered, crouching slightly to meet Leandro's gaze. Then, with a bright grin, he asked, "You're seriously not going to fight?"
Leandro grimaced at the taunt, his face contorting in anger. He sneered. "You think I'd fall so easily for the schemes of House Leston?"
"Tsk. Talking as if you know anything," Caron replied dismissively. "Why would we even bother plotting against you?"
"...You're just looking for a reason to attack Duke Salmon—-" Leandro muttered, but Caron interrupted him.
"Why would our house need to fabricate a reason to push out someone like Duke Salmon? I think you've misunderstood something. This isn't about our house. This is personal," Caron said, his grin widening.
"Surrendering... That's a smart decision," he continued. "You believe that once you reach the capital, you'll prove your innocence, right?"
"I was innocent from the start, Caron Leston," Leandro declared firmly.
"Of course I know that," Caron said smoothly. "But you know something? Guilt can sometimes be created."
"What are you talking about?" Leandro asked, a chill creeping up his spine.
"It's the same with those slaves you sold. The moment their owners said, 'You are guilty,' that was it. They became criminals. It's just the fate of slaves, isn't it?" Caron's voice dripped with amusement.
A cold sweat broke out across Leandro's body. This lunatic's words were unsettling, and suddenly, Leandro felt as though he had missed something crucial. He wondered why Caron was laughing like this, as if he had already won.
But Leandro quickly calmed himself. There was nothing Caron could do now. With so many witnesses around, surely the latter wouldn't dare harm him after surrendering.
"Whether I'm guilty or not will be decided in the capital's court," Leandro said confidently.
Caron leaned in close to Leandro's ear, his voice barely louder than a whisper. "I bet my life that you'll never make it to the capital."
"What can you possibly—" Leandro began.
"Watch carefully," Caron interrupted, his voice ominous.
Whoosh.
An arrow cut through the air from the direction of Leandro's soldiers.
Thud.
"Urgh!" A gasp of pain escaped Revelio's mouth as the arrow embedded itself in his shoulder, sending him crashing to the ground.
Caron rushed to his side, shouting in a panicked tone, "Revelio! Revelio!"
He kneeled while cradling Revelio, glaring daggers at Leandro. As Leandro stood frozen, his mind went blank. A prince had been shot. And worse, it had been one of his own soldiers who fired the arrow. The arrow had already left its bow; the damage was done.
"No... no! I didn't give that order, I swear..." Leandro stuttered, tripping over his own words as he tried to process what had just happened. His eyes fell on Caron; despite the chaos, the latter had his head slightly lowered with a faint, unsettling smile.
Something was also wrong with Prince Revelio. Despite being hit by the arrow, there was no blood. And that wasn't the only strange thing. Behind them stood Sir Mason Paul, the prince's personal guard, an 8-Star knight. Given his skills, there was no way an ordinary arrow could have slipped past him from that distance.
No way, was it... Leandro thought, his suspicions swirling into a terrible realization.
The phrase "self-incrimination" suddenly popped into Leandro's mind, but before he could even voice his thoughts, Caron shouted, "The traitor has shown his true colors! Treason! Leandro, the Marquis of the Border, has tried to assassinate Prince Revelio!"
It was too late by the time Leandro realized that everything had been a trap. He had been pulled deep into a pit from which there was no easy escape. He didn't know if he could even explain things. He wondered how he could possibly explain what had happened in this moment, when the prince lay on the ground with an arrow embedded in his shoulder.
No... No way, Leandro thought. That left him with only one option.
"All troops, prepare for battle!" he ordered.
The only thing he could do was buy time to escape this place. Leandro mounted his horse in one swift motion and spurred it into a gallop. As he rode toward his men, he shouted, "If you want to survive, pick up your weapons! They intend to brand all of us as traitors and kill us!"
In the heat of the moment, Leandro didn't realize that Caron and Sir Mason had intentionally let him escape. His mind was entirely focused on survival.
"Look at him running away," Caron said with a satisfied nod as he watched Leandro flee in desperation.
"You're quite the actor," he said to Revelio, whose eyes were still shut tight from the so-called injury.
"And now I've added staging self-incrimination to my criminal resume," Revelio added with a sigh.
"It suits you," Caron replied, grinning. "It fits the second-in-command of the criminal syndicate Caligo."
The arrow, of course, had been an illusion crafted by Revelio. But the situation was so dire and chaotic that the illusion had effectively swayed reality. Their plan had worked perfectly. Framing Leandro for an assassination attempt had always been part of their scheme.
Caron dusted his hands off and stood up, then said, "I'll be off. Get some rest."
"You're going alone?" Revelio asked.
"Going alone is more than enough," Caron replied, his grin widening. "How often do you get a chance to take on two thousand people all by yourself?"
"You're insane," Revelio muttered.
Caron had never felt better, watching that scum who'd been selling off slaves flee in disgrace as a branded traitor. It felt as if a weight that had been pressing down on his chest for a hundred years had finally lifted.
The grand finale of this elaborate con was drawing near.
"There should be a great ending to a great play," Caron said, unsheathing his sword, Guillotine. Without hesitation, he charged forward, ready to finish what he had started.
***
"Stop him! Block him with your lives if you must!" Leandro screamed at the top of his lungs, veins bulging in his neck as he watched Caron charging toward him. It seemed to him that Caron didn't value his own life.
There were two thousand soldiers. Two thousand well-trained, elite troops. These men had been enough to push back even the armies of the Zion Kingdom with sheer force of will. Yet here was a lone knight, hurling himself at them like a moth to a flame.
Leandro's original plan had been simple. He was going to escape before Caron and Prince Revelio could rally the city's forces. Leandro thought gathering such an army would take time, which was why he had counted on that. But Caron, this madman, had defied all logic. He wasn't waiting for reinforcements; he was charging into the midst of two thousand soldiers by himself.
Boom!
A fireball launched by one of the army's mages, cast reluctantly, was sliced cleanly in half by Caron's sword.
"He's just one man! Even if he's a knight, if we give our lives, we can stop him!" Leandro shouted.
One against two thousand. It was a gap no hero could ever overcome. They were soldiers who had trained relentlessly and prepared to face any foe, no matter how strong. And yet those same soldiers now backed away, their faces pale as they stumbled backward to retreat from Caron.
Even the commanders, who were supposed to be rallying their men, were frozen; their eyes were filled with helplessness as they looked toward Leandro. They, too, understood. There was no glory to be had in this battle. Even if they managed to kill Caron, the only reward awaiting them was the title of traitor. They would be remembered not as heroes, but as rebels who had taken part in treason.
"...We're dead men," someone muttered as they fell back.
The formation began to crumble, the chain of command shattered. In the midst of that confusion, Guillotine radiated a chilling bloodlust. The soldiers in Caron's path instinctively stepped aside, parting like waves before him. The army split in two, opening a path directly toward Leandro.
Without a second of hesitation, Caron dashed down the newly-formed path, not showing a trace of fear. Leandro, watching in horror, screamed, "You worthless scum!"
Fear of the unknown gripped all humans, and to the soldiers, Caron had become the embodiment of that unknown. Not a single one dared raise a weapon against him. Every time they thought of attacking, the image of their heads flying off their bodies flashed before their eyes.
"Knights of Reben! If I get captured as a traitor, you will all be branded traitors too!" Leandro shouted desperately.
The knights of Reben stirred uneasily, their expression hardening. They knew Leandro wasn't wrong. Unlike the soldiers, the knights had never had a choice. From the beginning, their fate had been tied to their lord. A knight's duty was to stand and fight alongside their commander to the bitter end.
Positioning the knights in front of him, Leandro drew his sword from its sheath. There were only twelve knights here. They were hardly enough to deal with the situation. If the entire Reben Knight Order had been present, perhaps they would have had a chance to subdue Caron, but now, they had little choice.
Leandro could sense that Caron had surpassed 6-Star. At such a young age, the man had already reached the power of a 6-Star knight. Perhaps, in the near future, Caron would stand among the strongest in the land. But none of that mattered to Leandro now. His only concern was finding a way to survive.
"...Overload your mana cores. We must use everything we have," Leandro ordered, his voice tight with urgency.
Without hesitation, the knights pushed their cores to the limit, overloading their mana. They knew as well as their commander that if they couldn't stop Caron, they were all dead anyway.
"Kill him, and we'll escape the empire. We must survive until Duke Salmon can clear our names!" Leandro yelled.
The knights' mana surged violently, swirling around them like a storm. Caron had closed the distance and was now only steps away; the knights braced themselves for the coming clash.
But suddenly, Caron stopped in his tracks. He looked directly at Leandro with a smile and asked, "Are you going to throw your men at me as a sacrifice and run away? Sorry, but it's not going to happen that way."
Thud!
With all his strength, Caron drove Guillotine deep into the ground. Dark, ominous energy spread from the blade, turning the earth beneath it a sinister shade of blackish-blue.
Moments later—
Boom!
The corrupted ground erupted with violent bursts of mana, swirling upward like deadly whirlpools. It was Oceanwolf Sword Art Form 6: Maelstrom.
"Leandro, Marquis of the Border," Caron said coldly. "You die here as a traitor."
The final stage for this traitor had been set.