Morning came, a fleet from the capital was approaching, in it were the three dukes Razel knew.
One of them, Duke Luinberg, approached Razel and Cid for questioning.
They said the same thing they told the professors who had them in custody.
"We came to buy."
The duke looked at them with a face that implied he didn't believe them at all.
Cid presented some documents, in those documents was Casimiro's plan and other things Gerhardt was planning.
Of course, some of it was a forgery as Amy made things up, which happened to be real.
The dukes took Duke Granville prisoner and sent him to the chamber of ministers.
◇◇◇
The chamber of ministers.
A large room where those who are normally at the top of the country were judged.
To the left and right were those with the status of marquis and dukes, even the prime minister and the emperor himself.
A tall, muscular man with long golden hair.
He had his hand on his chin and was looking at him in a disinterested manner.
Next to him was a man similar in appearance to him. He was the prime minister.
The prime minister finished reading the report.
While the emperor said.
"So, Duke Granville, what can you say?"
Casimiro was sweating.
"Your Majesty, that's all a vile lie!"
"I would never do such a thing as that being a duke!"
Then, the emperor laughed.
His disinterested look changed to one of anger.
"You think I care?"
Casimiro was breaking out in a cold sweat.
"What is written there is what was going to happen. I don't need any more proof. You and that guy were conspiring against the empire, which means you were conspiring against the emperor. Against me!"
"What's more! According to the report, there were several nobles linked to the black crows!"
Such a mention caused the nobles who knew about their existence to converse amongst themselves.
The emperor smiled.
"Arrest them!"
Knights ran straight to many ministers and officials present.
The prime minister said.
"They were investigated for a long time, but we did not have enough evidence. Now it is different, we will not allow more rats than there are, take them away."
The ministers and officials were taken by the knights to the torture room.
They were screaming in agony for mercy.
"Now, duke..."
The emperor looked at Casimiro.
"Your end is one not even worth seeing. Both you and your heir will be executed in a public manner, this instant."
"But Your Majesty! If you do that, there will be one duke less in the empire! Our enemies will see that as weakness!"
"We have the sword saints, no matter if there is one or no duke left. The empire will be safe as long as they are here."
The emperor didn't really care about the Granville duchy.
That was because originally the dukes and the imperial family were on bad terms.
But this was also an opportunity to get rid of not only them, but also those who were poisoning his country.
Knights grabbed Casimiro and took him away.
He was crying and pleading.
"Next business."
Once the traitors were led to their execution.
Other people came in.
They were the ones who generated the most mystery.
The emperor's angry face changed to one of interest.
"We meet again, frog-face."
Razel and Cid arrived in fine suits.
They knelt.
The emperor said to Razel something strange to many.
He remembered his face.
Normally, such an event was strange even to the prime minister himself, his twin younger brother.
Not even his own heir, whom he carried as a baby, remembered his face or his name.
The emperor said.
"I received a report of what the witnesses said, and... tell me. What the hell were they doing there?"
Razel and Cid proceeded to tell them what they were doing.
The same thing they told them all.
The emperor just looked at Razel as he spoke, then...
"Right. Let's move on to the rewards."
He went straight to the rewards.
Many didn't understand such a strange act. There were mysteries related to his appearance there that needed to be solved, but the emperor passed on them.
"First you, my son."
"Many saw you climb that tower, so you are the star here of what happened."
"Your reward will be that the destroyed lands of the former Granville Duchy will now be yours. It is your responsibility for repairs."
Cid had a confused look on his face.
"Now you... let's see..."
The emperor tapped his temple as he thought. After a while of doing so, he said with a cheer.
"I got it, a reward worthy of an emperor!"
"You will be promoted to the 6th highest rank. You're a baron aren't you?"
In the game, this was known as imperial court ranks.
Lily was ranked in the unranked category, where commoners and outsiders to the palace came in.
Until a few years ago, Razel's family were a knightly house, so they were in the 7th rank, now that he was a baron, he moved up the ranks by skipping the lower 6th rank.
The ranks served to know who was of use to the empire.
Razel didn't protest. The top 6th rank is in the category of an ordinary civil servant.
Once they had thanked each other, they withdrew.
When everyone left, there were only three people left inside.
The prime minister sighed and said.
"Your Majesty, what was that?"
"What are you talking about, little brother?"
"Why did you give Cid-kun the duchy? If what you wanted is for the empire to take over those lands, you should have sent one of the uninherited princes or officials."
"It is irrelevant to us that territory. At the end of the day, all that mattered was that we were able to uncover those rats."
The emperor was aware of the black crows sneaking limbs into the inner palace.
But they could do nothing. He could order all the ministers killed.
But that would be a nuisance. So he waited for something like this to happen.
The emperor smiled.
"This Cid guy is minuscule to me. I only gave it to him so that no one would notice my true objective."
"True objective?"
Said the prime minister.
The emperor's mouth moved to say...
"The one who truly captured my interest was that boy. The frog-faced one."
The emperor personally read the report of everything the witnesses saw.
One of them was the one who really caught his interest.
A blue glow fought against a red one.
As no one had any idea of the queen of the vampires, they thought it was the night king fighting.
The emperor said with a smile.
"That radiance must surely be remnants of the lightning attribute, which I also possess."
As he raised his hand, sparks manifested.
"But not only that. Remember that years ago I also tried to use electricity to propel myself. Being someone with a great deal of magical power, I couldn't pull it off, but this brat did."
"Is that bad?"
"Of course it is. He beat the emperor! Such an act is impossible for it to happen, that's why I know he's hiding something."
"Is he hiding something bad?"
"I don't think so, just think of all that was involved. Being present at the case of a mysterious murder of the son of a corrupt house, then challenging a prince in the line of succession and other children of important houses."
"Then fighting a giant beast and winning. After that he became 'friends' with the dukes we have the least chats with."
"He paid off the debt on a ruined house and became engaged to the heiress daughter. And now he was in a city which was razed to the ground by a mysterious fight and he said it was just a coincidence."
"Maybe it was one? Cid-kun was there."
The emperor's face was serious, but with a playful look like a child.
"That boy doesn't have the eyes of someone who would do things on his own, as soon as that frog-face averted his eyes to feign fear."
"Such a thing happens almost every time when someone talks to the emperor, but he was doing it to feign fear. Gurarara, this is very exciting, how long has it been since someone last caught my interest?"
"I would say it was more or less decades ago when you took the throne, on that same date, he came with you."
The prime minister's nose pointed at a man in red armour and horns who hadn't moved at all.
"I want to see what that boy is capable of... what was his name?"
"Razel Bartlet, Your Majesty."
"Razel..."
The emperor smiled sinisterly.
"I want you to entertain me much longer, gurarara. Right, what happened to that trouble you've been getting reports of?"
The prime minister sighed.
"No doubt a big problem will occur since it has not been solved peacefully, a war will undoubtedly break out."
The emperor's face showed a mocking smile.
"Younger brother, I want you to do this-"
◇◇◇
"The situation is really disastrous."
A dark room, illuminated by holograms, was the location where the black crows were holding an emergency meeting.
"As you may have heard, the lawless city has fallen."
"..."
The members present fell silent as no one knew what to say.
"Not only did we lose our main lair, we also lost our contacts, the night king, and most importantly the duke."
In a floating magic hologram, the execution of Duke Granville and his heir.
They hung their heads on spears to be seen.
Not only that. The conspirators inside the palace are being tortured right now to release information.
"It is evident that the reason for many of our members not being there is because of fear of being caught or they were silenced."
"Vassago."
A mysterious figure appeared near the central hologram.
"Yes, leader?"
"Take care of the tattletales. Also, I will soon tell you your next orders."
"Understood."
"That's it, go."
The holograms disappeared one by one, minus one...
"Except you."
Minister Olgren.
"Olgren, I hear Clover is dead, and to top it off he sold the special medicine Linhard made for us."
"Yes... I couldn't do anything as I found out too late."
The deceased Viscount Clover sold the medicine used by the executives to rejuvenate and gain strength.
"Those medicines should have been traced. It's unbelievable that for that idiot we had to sacrifice several members and secret bases like this one."
"Yes..."
"It's too soon for apologies, you were a friend of his. You also got him into the crown prince's faction to try to get him on our side."
"But leader, I-"
"No excuses Olgren. We lost a lot in this tragedy, for that reason we won't hold meetings until the prime minister leaves us alone for a while at least."
"Goodbye."
The leader left and only Olgren was left.
He too closed the hologram.
In a room decorated with titles and other important papers.
There stood a thin, short, bald man.
It was the real Minister Olgren who showed an evil expression with his teeth.
-Damn those who razed that city to the ground!
-Yes... they were certainly the most suspicious of those brats. That prince and that idiot Rosenberg.
-I'll make sure to destroy them before the year is out!
◇
Place where the lawless city was left.
We were given a punishment.
We were to help with the repairs.
Thanks to the earth mages, we don't have to spend months or years filling in the foundations.
For some reason, the citizens were helping us.
I think they heard that the Granville family was destroyed and were no longer nobles.
Their allies are lost so they fled and are now being hunted like rats.
Also, since Cid is the new lord, he has the responsibility to improve this place.
Just like the game, or similar to the game.
One of the seven dukes was destroyed, now there are six left.
It scares me to think that such an event happened as Rosenberg Household was also destroyed. Hopefully it won't happen here as well.
I was now picking up debris when I found something strange.
There was something similar to rubble in the shape of crosses which had two guys buried in it.
Their bodies were intact, even though they were dead.
The dead were thrown into a mass grave and burned.
They were those who had no identity, those who were recognised were buried by their relatives and friends.
One of the guys I found was a tall, muscular man, the other was the guy I killed.
I was going to throw them into the pit, but I kept seeing those smiles on their faces and felt a bit sorry for them, so I dragged them in wheelbarrows and buried them in the hills.
Yukihime was also there since she was technically a slave.
Her situation like the other slaves is also.
She was praying at the ninja's grave while Leila, for some reason was throwing flowers at the muscle guy's grave.
She was here since Amy went home upset, but Leila stayed to help me with the cleaning.
Now that they had finished praying, back to work.
◇◇◇
A hooded person was walking through the destroyed lawless city.
He was collecting samples from the battle.
In his hand he held a strange circular device.
"There is no doubt, this is a great amount of magical power. Someone with great power was fighting here. But who?"
Then, he received a call.
In his trousers, something was vibrating.
It was a small device that he placed it to his ear.
"How did it go?"
Said a voice speaking from somewhere.
"No clues or anything to indicate reincarnates. But there is definitely someone strong around here."
"Reincarnates are of no interest. It's just a mania of mine to think of problems that occur by being present."
"Let me guess. Do you have any traumas with them?"
"Yes... and many in fact."
"I'll continue with my research."
"Please. Report back to me if you find anything out of place."
"I will. Since we need strong people and I don't know if the locals would be our allies."
"Goodbye."
The communication cut off and the hooded man continued on his way.
◇
The second school semester was over.
Cid and I ended up in trouble as we not only missed an important day for our academic grades.
They also made us take our exams on a weekend.
My brain wants to get out of my head.
There are a lot of irritating things going on in my life these days.
Like discovering that I have a strange vampire virus in my veins.
Or that right now I'm sitting and being watched with menacing eyes from my girlfriends.
Eli and Lily were looking at me in a terrifying way.
Lily's eyes were black while Eli's eyes were looking at me like I was a small being.
They told them what happened obviously.
And that's why I'm here.
"It's amazing what you did, but beyond that. It's what you told me."
Slaves have no place in this country. I mean, they're just property and not human.
So their lives have no reason to exist anymore.
I felt a little sorry for them and told them that if they wanted to, they could come and work in the Rosenberg territory.
They were happy to hear the word "work" and that they would be paid.
Eli and Lily were really angry about that for sure.
"I'm sure you're thinking we're mad about bringing in slaves."
My shoulders blanched when he said that.
Then they hugged me, it was so weird this.
"We were mad because you went to do something more dangerous than we expected."
"She's right, what do you think we would have done if something happened to you?"
This feeling was confusing.
I had a flashback to my previous life.
From Shishigami Naoto's life.
I would arrive at a dark house and there was no one there. But if there was someone there, it was to criticise me.
But this is different.
"I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
I said to be forgiven.
They stood up and then went into the mansion.
"There's a lot of paperwork to do, so you'll stay there as punishment for misbehaving."
I smiled in a silly way.
Even though they said that.
I couldn't stay here quietly.
Yukihime also came and was waiting for me outside.
She said she wanted to live with me as her savior.
I hated these clichés.
But I didn't care if it happened because if a beautiful girl wants to love me even though it's the first time we met, it didn't matter.
It's my life and no one else's.
As I went outside the mansion, some men were talking to her.
This was bad, she had no papers so they could arrest her.
I rushed to her, but-
"Knight-sama!"
The men dressed as guards looked at me.
I was about to ask what happened.
"Razel Bartlet, right?"
"Eh? Yes, is something wrong?"
"You're registered as an adventurer, right?"
"Yeah..."
I took out my adventurer's credentials and showed them to him.
Nothing bad should happen if they just want to verify that it's me.
"Right. That's him."
"Err... is something wrong?"
"Yes. A war has broken out on our borders and adventurers are being called to duty."
At that moment, I didn't know what to say, as my brain froze.
War.
A frightening word to me.
"There is no time to waste. We must send you quickly to the guild to board the carriage that will send you to your destined place."
"Huh?! Hold on a second! This is very hasty, I-"
"This was also an order from His Majesty, that you be sent immediately to the battlefield."
"Knight-sama!"
Yukihime was following me.
What a good girl.
No!
This is bad.
"I don't want to go to war!"
"Damn you, emperor!"
"Save me, Eli! Lily! Cid! Mooooom!"
And so my peaceful days were short-lived as I was sent to fight in a war that didn't involve me.
But which involved the villainess of a very irritating event.
As a background character, will I survive?
____________________________________
Reincarnated in an Otome game as the ugly background character volume 4 end.
Lawless City Arc, end.