Dungeon Defense (WN)

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“There is a mastermind.”

Queen Henrietta declared.

One of the generals seated in the room questioned her.

“A mastermind……? Your Highness?”

“I mean what I said. This situation is so splendidly damned, that I can only laugh.”

The young, scarlet-haired queen let out a snort. Her tone was colder than usual.

“I am fine with being tricked. It is not like you are only tricked once or twice throughout your entire life. What is there to grieve about if that number goes up by one? An unexpected enemy coming in as reinforcements? Well, that is fine as well. Life has always been a struggle between people. However, men. However…….”

Queen Henrietta slammed her fist down on the table. A loud ‘thud’ resonated throughout the room.

“I cannot forgive both of these things happening at the same time. That is a damned situation that can never be tolerated!”

The generals went silent. Talking while their ruler was angry was like walking to a rampaging boar boldly.

Henrietta breathed heavily for a moment before breaking out into a small laugh. The generals gave each other troubled looks. Their ruler was angry at first, but now she was laughing. They had no idea what was going on.

“Men, think about it. Did those republicans not move abnormally fast?”

The Queen pointed at the map on the table.

“From Batavia’s position, the Demon Lord army is to their east while Frankia is to their west. Batavia should have naturally gathered their troops at the east since the war with the Crescent Alliance is still ongoing. Despite this, what actually happened? Those republicans crossed the border when not even a month has passed since we started this war.”

Queen Henrietta continued. Of course, it’s possible for the Republic to move their troops from the east to the west within a month. The republicans within Frankia could be communicating with Batavia in secret. However, that premise wouldn’t work…….

“The premise, Your Highness?”

“In order for this to be the case, that would mean Batavia had figured out our objective since a month ago.”

Queen Henrietta’s gaze became still. It had the same tranquility of a blue flame.

“Brittany had attacked Frankia. What is the problem with this? We could have simply been invading Frankia. We have done so many times already. Nothing was disclosed a month ago. ……How could those harlots from Batavia have known so precisely that ‘we invaded to wipe out the republicans’?!”

“……! A traitor!?”

The generals gasped.

That’s right. Even if Batavia noticed that Brittany was rallying their troops, they shouldn’t have known the precise reason. How did they figure out that the Emperor of Frankia had even given the order to subjugate the nobles of his own nation so quickly?

Someone had leaked the information. In other words, there was a traitor.

The air became cold. It was obvious, but only the commanding members of their group knew about their objective. Someone who was currently sitting in the room with them had betrayed them…….

Henrietta smiled pleasantly.

“What are you worried about? I do not know when the brave men of Brittany had become as cowardly as a child.”

“But, Your Highness. Having a traitor within our midst is not a matter we can take lightly.”

“There is no reason for the traitor to be amongst us.”

The generals looked perplexed due to Henrietta’s confusing words. Henrietta let out another snort.

“There is also a chance that someone on the Frank Emperor’s side had leaked the information.”

The faces of the generals contorted.

“That idiotic and bratty Emperor!”

“Not only did he pull us in here, but he called for those republican pigs as well, that detestable bastard!”

“Your Highness, please give us the order! We will turn Parisiorum into a sea of flames.”

The generals stood up and shouted. They cried out loudly at the thought of having been fooled and also for the sake of proving their innocence to the queen.

Henrietta smiled widely.

“Men, I understand how you must feel, but do not make such a fuss. Have I ever doubted your loyalty before? It is troubling since you are all so easy to read. You all receive failing marks as gentlemen to make a mademoiselle feel troubled.”

“…….”

The atmosphere became awkward due to the queen’s response.

The generals cleared their throats as they sat back down. Her Highness really knows how to embarrass us, the generals gave each other looks that said this.

However, it wasn’t a bad feeling. Their lord didn’t doubt their loyalty. There was nothing more reassuring than this.

Queen Henrietta definitely had a valid reason to doubt them for treason just now. She could’ve demoralized them. This would’ve strengthened the Queen’s commanding power even further. Despite this, the Queen told her men that she trusted them…….

It was this demeanor of hers that made the nobles under her serve her willingly. Queen Henrietta’s military and social skills were supporting her.

“Men, before you get upset, think calmly about this for a moment. Is this not an opportunity?”

“An opportunity, Your Highness?”

“There is no way that Emperor of ours could have leaked the information himself. As you all stated, His Excellency is incompetent and an absolute fool.”

The generals chuckled. Even the common soldiers within Brittany’s army treated the Emperor as an utter idiot.

“Then who could have leaked the information?”

“Could it have been the Empress Dowager or the Emperor’s close aide?”

“Indeed. And the republicans.”

Queen Henrietta continued.

“Men, it does not matter who had actually leaked the information. The important fact is the circumstantial evidence that proves ‘a republican had betrayed His Excellency the Emperor’. This should be enough for our Emperor of Frankia.”

There was something ambiguous about the Queen’s words. While the generals were busy thinking, Jacqueline Longwy, the saintess who had dedicated herself to the army spoke up. She was furrowing her pretty brows.

“Do not tell me……. Is Your Highness aiming for a purge?”

“Correct.”

Henrietta smiled.

“Men, inform the Emperor that the republicans had leaked information. Are you not curious to see how the Emperor, who gets upset just by mentioning their names, will react to this? This is a chance to snuff out every single republican that resides in Parisiorum.”

On that day, the sound of the Emperor’s wrath resonated throughout his entire castle.

The royalists and republicans have always hated each other. There were extremist nobles among them who fully supported the royalists. The Emperor called them in secret and told them about the ‘traitor’. The royalists realized that now was the opportunity to wipe out the cockroaches from the capital. 

Four days later, the slaughter began in the middle of the night.

The royalists split Parisiorum into multiple parts and assigned them to each member. They shouted “Kill the traitors! Kill the ones who shamed Frankia!” as they carried out their assault. Their slaughter was planned out thoroughly. A majority of the citizens in Parisiorum were royalists, so it was easy to incite them.

Slaughters may be difficult to start, but once they do begin, they are destined to run rampant. Once you’ve gone from one to three people, it is only a matter of time before that number skyrockets to ten or twenty. The mob was dyed by madness as they ran rampant through narrow alleyways and wide roads. 

“Execute the traitors who sold our nation out!”

“Rise up for Frankia! Do not hesitate! The Goddess has blessed us!”

“Kill them all. Kill them indiscriminately. The God of Death will sort the good and evil out!”

Even the normal citizens became mad with bloodlust. From partisan interests, personal revenge and hatred, simply becoming intoxicated by the bloodlust caused by the slaughter, and finally, for the sake of stealing from the republican nobles, the reason for joining the mob was various.

A portion of the republicans noticed something sinister was happening a day or two before the slaughter.

“How strange. The mood is abnormal…….”

“Hurry and back your things. Do not ask questions! Take only the hard currency and get on the carriage!”

They packed up their money and escaped the capital. Most of them had devoted their lives to republicanism and had vowed to keep their ideologies even if they were to face the Emperor. However, it was only a small portion that had escaped.

Most of the republican nobles and the commoners who were particularly rich like the merchants remained at the capital.

“Mm, His Excellency may favor the royalists, but…….”

“Have we not been paying our taxes properly until now? Even if something were to happen, it will only be for a moment.”

“This is my hometown, so where else could I go?”

There was no way the Emperor would personally harm them, right? They remained optimistic as they continued with their lives.

The price for their optimism was immense.

The wealth of the rich merchants excited the rioters more. As the night went on, rather than settling down, the slaughter spread more violently like a wildfire. Even the merchants who weren’t republicans were attacked. Men, women, elderly people, and children were all stabbed through the chest with spears by the rioters.

The rumor had become completely distorted somewhere along the line. The republicans tried to assassinate His Excellency the Emperor, the Emperor was so filled with anger and fear that he had no other choice but to reach out to Brittany, let us protect His Excellency the Emperor and Frankia ourselves…….

A tragedy was unfolding. The Empress Dowager, Catherine de’ Medici, woke up in the middle of the night and got up from her bed in surprise. The extremely strict Empress Dowager of the empire didn’t even have the time to change into her usual clothes as she ran through the castle in her sleepwear while shouting.

“Ooh! Dear Gods, what is happening!? Why is there screaming coming from the city!? Guards! Where is the royal guard!?”

The Empress Dowager entered the throne room along with some maids who were also in sleepwear as they had to follow the Empress Dowager in a hurry. She pleaded to her son to end the slaughter.

“Your Excellency! You are the Emperor of Frankia! They are your sons and daughters. In other words, they are the people whom you must nurture and care for!”

The Emperor, Henry III, scoffed.

“I have never raised a child who points their spear at their father, Mother.”

“Your Excellency, this will curse the empire! There is no future for a nation where the father kills his children and the children despise their father! Your Excellency, I beg of you……it is not too late, please show mercy to the people…….”

The Empress Dowager fell to her knees as she pleaded to the Emperor. The mother who was in her fifties was weeping in her sleepwear that revealed her aged skin. Even the royal guard couldn’t help but sympathize with the Empress Dowager. Regardless, the young Emperor remained firm.

“There can not be two governments within a single nation!”

Henry III roared as he stood up.

“You are truly detestable, the mother who had given birth to me! The very person who brought down my power and allowed the nation to be divided was none other than you, Mother. How could I consider those congressmen who dare state to be above the Emperor as members of the empire?”

“Henry……My Henry. Please, be merciful…….”

“You were the one who snatched away my mercy, Mother.”

The Empress Dowager had reached her right hand out while kneeling on the ground. The Emperor cast his mother’s hand aside.

“From this day forth, Frankia will have only a single sovereign power.”

“Dear Lord!”

The Empress Dowager’s face became red as she got up. Her entire body was trembling with rage.

“It would have been better if I had given birth to a bunch of venomous snakes instead of an embarrassment like this! I loathe that night of pleasure where I received that sinful seed inside of me! Dear Gods! Oh, dear Gods!”

“Take her away.”

The Emperor gestured to the royal guard. The soldiers hesitated as they approached the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager spat out all sorts of curses as she was dragged out of the throne room.

The Emperor laughed as he watched her get dragged away.

“Confine the maids separately. The traitor’s daughter may be among them. Thoughtless generosity will only lead to further troubles. The Gods will only accept this night to be perfect.”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Almost every single emperor we’ve seen so far have been really dumb, huh? I wonder if the author just has something against emperors. Welp, nothing else to say. See you guys in the next chapter.

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