Chapter 84

The battle ended in an instant.

There was no need for Otto to step in.

The five swordsmen of the Kuntachi family subdued the Margrit Kingdom's Royal Guard in the blink of an eye.

There were no fatalities.

The skill gap was so severe that even severe injuries were kept to a minimum.

“Grr.”

“Aaaaaah.”

“My arm… My aaaaarm….”

The Margrit Kingdom's Royal Guard lay on the ground, groaning.

“These incompetent fools! Stop them! Stop them, I say! Why are you lying there?!”

The king, rendered combat-ineffective, bellowed at the fallen Royal Guard.

“Like a fat goose.”

Otto sneered at the king's behavior.

“Indeed.”

Ellis nodded in agreement with Otto's words.

“You! You are Helmut's daughter! You wench! I cherished you so much! You whore! Are you mocking me by siding with that pimp-like fellow?!”

The king, recognizing Ellis, spewed venomous words in a fit of rage.

“Your father also rebelled! Father and daughter, both traitors! I will surely deal with you both… Argh!”

The king was kicked to the ground by Otto.

“Shut up, scum.”

“Grr….”

“Damn, you're noisy.”

Otto, with a face full of irritation, spoke harshly and then ordered the knights.

“Disarm the injured Royal Guard, put them in handcuffs, and treat them well.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“And take him, gag his mouth, strip him down to his underwear, and put a leash around his neck and drag him along.”

“Like a dog?”

“An insult to dogs.”

“Yes…?”

“Like a boar, then.”

“Ah, yes….”

“Proceed.”

“Proceed!”

Meanwhile, the commander of the Margrit Kingdom's Royal Guard was somewhat moved by Otto's intentions.

He could have killed them all, but he showed mercy….

“Now that we've captured the king… let's shape the situation as we please.”

“How?”

“What do you mean, how? We need to shape it well. Just so….”

Otto glanced at the fat goose, gagged and bound in a humiliating position, and said,

“He has laid the groundwork so well.”

“Laid the groundwork?”

“This fool, in his desperate attempt to hold onto power, arrested and imprisoned the crown prince and other royal family members with his own hands.”

“No way….”

Ellis, a genius who studied at the Royal Academy, was not a fool.

She could fully understand the political machinations behind the king's actions.

“That's right.”

“Ah!”

Ellis gasped.

“So that's why you said he laid the groundwork? Because the returning kingdom army can't depose the captured king and establish a new one?”

“Now you're getting it.”

“What a selfish man.”

Ellis said this because the king's foolish actions had effectively handed the entire Margrit Kingdom over to Otto.

“Let's go, then.”

Otto moved towards the entrance of the secret passage from which the king and the Royal Guard had escaped.

Using the same route to enter the palace would have taken a long detour, so he decided to use the secret passage.

* * *

The Margrit Kingdom's army, having received the king's urgent order to defend the capital, hurriedly returned, but it was too late.

The city gates were firmly closed, and the walls were lined with an unknown army.

“Oh.”

The commander confirmed that the capital had already been occupied and sighed.

After giving up a battle they had almost won and rushing back, the capital was already occupied, leaving him in a state of despair.

‘Damn. What do I do now?’

The commander, thinking this, asked his subordinates,

“What happened to His Majesty the King? Is there any news that he escaped safely?”

“There is no information yet.”

“Damn.”

At that moment,

“Commander! Something terrible has happened!”

A subordinate ran up to the commander and reported.

“H-His Majesty… His Majesty….”

“Report quickly!”

“It… It….”

“Why can't you speak clearly! Can't you give a proper report?!”

“See for yourself….”

“…?”

“Since it's difficult to describe in words… it seems you need to see it for yourself, Commander… Yes….”

“I'll see it with my own eyes.”

The commander, giving a fierce look to the subordinate, advanced to the front line.

‘Hmm?’

Before seeing it with his own eyes, the commander sensed that something was seriously wrong.

Rustle, rustle!

“Oh, oh!”

“My God.”

“A….”

“Ugh! My eyes…!”

The knights and soldiers at the front line were greatly agitated and chattering.

“Everyone, be quiet! What are you doing? The situation is serious! How can you lose your discipline like this!”

The commander bellowed, and the surroundings fell silent.

However, the expressions and trembling pupils of the knights and soldiers told a story that couldn't be solved by a mere reprimand.

‘What could have happened…?’

The commander, thinking this, raised his binoculars to observe the wall.

Exactly 3 seconds later.

Thud!

The binoculars the commander was holding fell to the ground.

What the commander saw was as follows.

On the wall.

“H-H-Honey…!!!”

The naked king was crawling on all fours, with a leash around his neck, like a boar.

* * *

Upon seeing the king's pitiful state, the commander immediately led the knights and charged towards the wall.

There was no time to think.

This was a major event that would be recorded in history.

While it was not uncommon for a king to be executed in a terrible manner historically, there had never been a case of such an unspeakable humiliation.

The commander and the Margrit Kingdom's knights fearlessly approached the wall.

Despite the risk of arrows, they did not flinch because the situation was so dire that it needed to be resolved.

They needed to talk to the leader of the enemy who had the king.

Right now.

“I am the commander of the Margrit Kingdom's army! Who are you to insult our king? I demand that you stop this atrocity immediately!”

From the wall, Otto, holding the leash, grinned and replied,

“Come closer! I can't hear you!”

“Understood!”

The commander, without hesitation, approached the base of the wall, close enough to see Otto's face.

Even if an arrow were to fly from the wall, he was prepared to die.

“Who are you?”

“Otto de Scuderi.”

“I've never heard of that name.”

“You just did.”

“…?”

“I am the king of Iota Kingdom.”

“Iota Kingdom…?”

“Just understand it. Asking again will be boring.”

Otto, frowning, showed his displeasure to the commander.

“…I understand.”

The commander, knowing not to provoke Otto, decided to go along with it.

“What reason do you have for committing such a terrible atrocity? If you have any demands, I ask you to maintain the dignity and honor befitting a king. No matter how much you are the enemy, do you have to resort to such a terrible character assassination?”

“Dignity and honor, huh. F*ck.”

Otto, like a third-rate thug, spat out a crude curse.

“Do you like dignity and honor so much that you held the Balder family, loyal servants, and their families as hostages and treated them like slaves?”

“That… That is….”

“Anyway, these guys are so hypocritical, it's like breathing for them.”

“Hypocritical? What do you mean?”

“What I do is romance, what you do is adultery. Get it?”

“Quite an apt… metaphor. I understand what you mean.”

“Now that you understand, do as I say from now on. If not….”

Otto pulled out a large fork from his pocket and stabbed the king's buttocks.

“Squeal!!!”

The king let out a pig-like squeal, writhing in pain.

“His ass won't be left intact. It's a fork now, but I don't know what it will be later, so behave yourself.”

“No, no!”

The commander, startled, shouted.

“Please stop! I beg you! His Majesty the King of Margrit Kingdom! Even if he is a prisoner, please treat him with the dignity befitting a king!”

“No.”

“Do you have no sense of right and wrong?”

“I already said, that's not for you to say.”

“…”

“My demands are simple. Lead your army to help the Konyrat tribe in the Haber Plain. Destroy the Kereit tribe in alliance with the Konyrat tribe.”

At that moment,

“Ah!”

Ellis gasped.

Otto's strategy was so brilliant that it left her in awe.

With the king, crown prince, and royal family all in Otto's hands, the Margrit Kingdom's army had no choice but to do as they were told.

Otto was using this to achieve his goals.

Without spilling the blood of the Iota Kingdom's army, he was using the Margrit Kingdom's army to achieve his ends without lifting a finger.

“Are you trying to use us like slaves?”

“So what?”

“Do you think the Margrit Kingdom will fall into your hands just because you captured the king? If you think you can swallow the entire country by capturing the king….”

“Of course I can.”

Otto smirked and cut off the commander's words.

“Look closely.”

Otto, saying this, nodded slightly to signal his subordinates.

The subordinates then brought the imprisoned crown prince and royal family and lined them up on the wall for all to see.

“What do you think of this?”

Otto asked the commander again.

“Don't even think about deposing this one and establishing a new king with some royal family member you find.”

“…!”

“You know, right? This guy is so suspicious that he made all the surviving royal family members live in the capital and kept them under surveillance.”

“C-Cough!”

“Fortunately, this guy, in his escape, kindly captured and imprisoned all the royal family members, even his own son. It's a favor to me.”

“Ah.”

A sigh escaped the commander's lips.

‘This damn king… he sold the entire country to save himself.’

For the commander, it was a situation where there was no answer, and he felt like hanging himself.

As Otto said, if it came to it, they could have abandoned the king, established a new one, and fought, but with the crown prince and royal family all captured, there was no choice left.

In the world of the high and mighty, legitimacy is the most important.

If they did not follow the king's orders without the royal bloodline, they would be just another rebel army.

They would be in the same position as Duke Helmut, who officially rebelled.

‘Damn. This is a perfect trap. Hehehe.’

Otto, seeing the commander, who was now speechless and just stood there, smiled wickedly.

Trapping the other party in a situation from which they could not escape and watching them struggle was a hobby of the devil, but Otto found it enjoyable.

Because the