Chapter 148 - Alternative Palace Exit
"I was never Lacilet's man but simply joined his side to protect my family and fief from the force of those powerful people lurking in his shadow." explained Yanosh to Vlad and Argash.
"Who are those people defending Lacilet?" asked the young knight to Yanosh, who still didn't lower his guard against Vlad.
Yanosh looked at Vlad and the young knight directly at their expressions and remained silent. However, in this silence, the one to respond to Argash was Vlad, who said in a cold tone.
"Who are the people lurking in the shadows, you ask, young man? They are an elite organisation of trained assassins called Dark Union, and another person I heard supported Lacilet with arms is called Joker."
When Yanosh heard Vlad's response, he looked surprised at him and could figure how to approach Vlad since he didn't want to fight against him, fully knowing how powerful he was compared to him, by only fighting his puppet.
Vlad smirked when he saw the change in Yanosh and patted Argash's head like he was some puppy, saying to the surprised knight.
"Do you guys really view me so lowly? I know most of the story of what happened 18 years ago and how Old Nius couldn't win against the assassins. I know every single player who dared to mess with Vermilion House, from the two leading assassins, Cronfon Oliver and Allestar Wincester, to the nobles who openly defied my grandfather. Only that person called Joker, someone from the underworld market and network, still remains unfound by the spies that I sent to check."
"So you know everything, Prince Vermilion. This changes everything." replied Yanosh while lowering his guard a bit.
At that moment, Argash felt a strong wind blowing next to him, and looking to his left, he failed to see Vlad, but then he saw up ahead where Yanosh was standing, Vlad appearing from nowhere clocked by a shadowy veil. His appearance was cold as he held Nemesis at Yanosh's neck.
"Never lower your guard, knight."
"Prince Vermilion, while you killing those five guards of mine created a base for a conflict between us, I will be open with you. I know you are powerful enough to take my head even if I go all out on you, pressuring you with the equivalent of 10 elephants on you. So, I surrender here and now. Guys, drop your weapons right now!"
"Lord, what is the meaning of this?!" questioned some knights at his back, unwilling to surrender so easily.
There were some knights whose eyes turned cold and followed along screaming, trying to make the other knights revolt and fight back. Something that Vlad noticed from the feeling of their shouts, they were fake without substance.
Hearing enough of their cries, Yanosh screamed at them, unleashing his powers that spread around Vlad and the knights who tried to revolt.
"ENOUGH! I AM YOUR LORD AND COMMANDER! YOU SHALL DO AS I SAY IF YOU WANT TO LIVE AND SEE YOUR SONS, DAUGHTERS AND WIVES!"
As he screamed at them, all of the knights dropped on their knees, pinned down by an invisible pressure that pressed them downward. Even, Argash got himself caught in Yanosh pressure power and looked up from where he was pinned.
Seeing Vlad standing there without any facial showing of being pushed, he breathed at ease, fully understanding that Yanosh was genuine when he said that even he couldn't win against him.
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Vlad, who had half of his attention on the suspicious knights, reminded Yanosh while keeping Nemesis at his throat.
"You got some rats inside your numbers. Do you need me to finish them, or will you do it?"
"So they were really fully loyal to Lacilet. No need. I will do it myself." replied Yanosh, aware of what Vlad was referring to when mentioning rats.
Nodding his head at Yanosh, he lowered his sword and turned to look at the knights, gazing coldly at six specific guys placed at the middle of the gathering of knights.
Then Yanosh, who got himself released, turned to walk at the knights and with heavy pressure blasting all around, he extended his hand from where the temperature of the air started intensifying.
Suddenly he unleashed the first airwave at one of the 6 guys Vlad was staring at, shocking the onlookers that got pinned by his Devil Fruit power.
"LORD!!! We are not Duke Lacilet spies. These are that cursed bastard lies!" cried out two out of the remaining five informants.
"You take me for a fool? I welcomed you with open arms in my family and barony, and you still try to lie to me? Prince Vermilion could have killed all of you without even telling me something. This world is only ruled by the strong, and us weaklings could only try to survive respecting his rules!"
Ending saying that, he unleashed in quick succession another 5 airwaves that blasted the bodies of Lacilet's informants into pieces.
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Yanosh began to withdraw his pressure and let his knights get up, who remained silent with their weapons in hand.
Seconds passed, and the knights seemed to contemplate something, but with the led of one knight, all of them at once started dropping their weapons and bowing their heads at Yanosh.
"We serve only you, Lord Yanosh!"
"It seems you still view me the same as when you arrived at my mansion requesting to join my guard. Now, keep quiet since I have to talk with His Highness."
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"Talk about what? You don't have much choices, so to speak, Baron. You either serve Vermilion House or suffer the consequences." said Vlad directly after walking to Argash without caring much of the hateful stares on his back.
"I see." sighed Yanosh before facing Vlad and asking him. "Will you be any different from that tyrant Lacilet? Will the Vermilion House, keep to their oath taken hundreds of years in the past to rule all the citizens dutifully?"
Vlad began laughing at this question, which made the knights who surrendered look hatefully at Vlad, but soon they heard him say something surprising.
"If you start worrying from the start about how my rule would be, this is a bad start to our already heated relation. For now, I will only be the Prince of Kaysang and let my grandfather, Opheltius, rule until I feel like taking over when all my reforms are progressing smoothly.
I will not repeat the same mistake as my predecessors to only focus on some classes, primarily the nobility and bourgeoisie."
Yanosh was all ears when Vlad starting talking, looking for any sign that he might be a tyrant like Lacilet, but he failed to pick up anything.
"Prince, I have only two questions for you."
"Go ahead, I am ahead of my schedule since things haven't started over the capital." said Vlad after he took a pocket watch from his noble clothes, staring at it while speaking.
'You want to say, your soldiers haven't started their siege over the city?' thought Yanosh when hearing his calm tone, following up with the questions he had in mind.
"Prince Vermilion, I heard a lot of good things from the merchants travelling from Valent and the other cities on the western side of the kingdom you overlooked for three years. Especially the part of Sagletius you control, Sol. Will you take Kaysang in that direction, the same way you ruled Sol?"
Vlad just smiled at this question and started patting the young knights head, saying to Yanosh.
"The next question?"
"Will you follow and hunt down any noble who sided with Lacilet only in name?"
Not even taking his time to respond, Vlad responded to Yanosh as simple as possible, so even the knights beside him could understand what he was talking about.
"For the first question, my answer is simple. I will move forward with my reforms and do the same transformation I did to Sol with the entire kingdom. I shall add this, there might be dissatisfaction between the nobility because you will not enjoy those reforms if you are the power-hungry type. However, in the long run, they are aimed at stabilizing the entire society.
Concerning me hunting down nobles? At first, I wanted to do that, but after listening to a deeper view from your lower nobles, I decided to change my approach. You will not be banished or imprisoned or be prosecuted in any form, as long not guilty of something that harmed Vermilion House."
Yanosh and the knights kept their quiet and processed the information brought from the primary source.
Yanosh, after a minute, nodded his head and open his mouth to say something, but from nowhere, a large earthquake started being felt inside the [Blood World], balancing most of the knights to drop on the floor.
"What is this?! The floor is shaking, is Blood's doing?" asked one knight, visible holding some hatred for Vlad.
"Calm down, guys. Look at Blood's face. He is also surprised." replied another knight, trying to calm down the rest.
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Vlad, who felt that earthquake, turned serious immediately, saying to Yanosh.
"I shall withdraw my [Blood World] and let you guys free. This will be your test to prove your loyalty to the Vermilion House."
Then he raised his right hand and began withdrawing the cage at a rapid rate, which instead amplified the effect of the earthquake, being felt stronger when the [Blood World] was removed.
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After Vlad removed the cage, he placed his hand on Argash and said to him with a severe tone.
"Kid, you will move with the baron. Follow his lead. I will go to Lacilet and keep him busy before he escapes."
Ending saying that he turned at Yanosh and created a small blood eagle that he later tossed at him.
"Use the blood eagle to be recognised by my soldiers holding high command of the army."
"Lord, what happened?" asked the young knight when he saw Vlad turn to walk off.
"War happened, boy. Don't shit yourself once you get out of the palace, and always remember this notion. You are the master of the power inside you, not the other way around."
With that said, Argash and the other onlookers saw Vlad move with an incredible speed toward the stairway, disappearing from their sight in just seconds. This only made them more confused and awaiting a response from Yanosh.
"Lord Yanosh, what will we do? We'll really be fighting against Duke Lacilet and the army he gathered?"
"Sigh, you guys make it sound like we are going for our death. Listen, we are the only one inside this camp on the Prince's side. The other ones are still blinded. We can move freely to the gate of the fortress and open it for the Prince's army. Let's move since things will get murky if we stand here."
Following his speech, Yanosh started climbing down, and when they got to the third floor, they felt another strong shake that unbalanced them.
Yet another shake passed by their feet, making the decorations on the walls drop on the ground. On their way down, the chandeliers began dropping down, and when they got to the second floor, everyone except Yanosh and Argash felt they couldn't breathe.
"Keep it together, boys. I will help you fight the pressure of those crazy guys, but you have to do the walking." said Yanosh, barely believing the heavy pressure he felt.
He extended his devil powers to move upward and push on the pressure coming from the throne room with his own.
"Let's move, guys. Fast!"
The knights finally felt their breath coming back, and with an adrenaline rush that was boosted by the shaking voices of Duke Lacilet and Vlad's, they saw two naked, unconscious women being sent flying toward their directions from the throne room sealed by Vlad's powers.
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"Argash, you take them!" ordered Yanosh when he noticed those two girls sent flying.
"Do I even have a choice, Lord Yanosh?" asked the young knight, that turned himself into his hybrid form, which granted him great agility and strength, later successfully rescuing them from hitting the wall.
Then the knights who began descending kept in mind Lacilet's and Vlad's conversation, who got imprinted in their minds.
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"YOU FINALLY ARRIVED, CURSED SPAWN! I WAS AWAITING YOU ON THIS THRONE OF MINE FOR SO LONG THAT YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND MY BOREDOM. YOU EVEN MADE MY LIFE EASIER BY KILLING THOSE INCOMPETENT NOBLES. ALL THEIR ARMIES AND TERRITORY WILL BE UNDER MY COMMAND, THE KING OF KAYSANG, I, LACILET VESTIOS."
"Heh, you had the power to cure their poison, but you never even bothered to help them?"
"Why should I? I noticed your presence from the moment you began fighting those traitorous knights. However, I choose to enjoy those lowly whores for a while. I see no problem in this."
"Impressive. You are ruthless and decisive with your actions. Greedy to extremes in matters of interest. It makes me remember a brother of mine saying something along the lines. "With such traits, you could be the perfect general."
"Fits the description, don't you think Betrayer? However, it seems you bit more than you could chew."
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The knights didn't waste time listening to what those two monsters had to say. Instead, with Yanosh in charge, they got to the base floor, now flooded by people trying to flee the palace because of the initial earthquake, and still ongoing ones.
Out of nowhere, when they got to the base floor, from the shadows of some corners, Aslak and his people arrived at their sides, with daggers in hand, ready to attack in this disturbance. However, they stopped when seeing the two unconscious girls covered in some clothes, in the beastly man, growling at them."
"You are working for Prince Vermilion?" asked Aslak with a cold tone, having his dagger at the throat of one knight.
"Hey man, give us a break. We barely got away from those monsters. Can't you see I got those beauties that I need to save?" said Argash, with an annoyed tone.
"Indeed, young man. We are under Prince Vermilion. This is his mark." said Yanosh in a calm manner, bringing the blood eagle from his pocket, tossing it to Aslak.
Catching the eagle, he noticed that it looked like the eagle old Nius described to him when he instructed him to help Vlad's soldiers to take over the fortress.
"Phew, you are indeed one of us. You, the dog guy, give those two to me." said Aslak in a cold tone.
Argash was of another mindset. When he was holding those covered girls close to his body, he growled at Aslak and said to him coldly.
"If those two were so close to you, why have you abandoned them? Can't you see the state they are, bruised and all? Piss off, I will take care of them until we get to a safe spot. Now bring me to a safe location where someone can look after them."
Aslak frowned at what the young knight said but calmed himself after exhaling some air harder. He turned to Yanosh and said to him.
"Follow me. We can't move and exit using the front hallway. It will lead directly to the massive army of knights stationed outside. They should have been gathered by now and placed around the fortress defensive spots."
"Do you know an alternative exit?"
"Yes, there is an exit in the kitchen of the palace, leading to the underground tunnel system." replied Aslak, after signalling his men to lower their weapons.
He continued by saying to the knights. "Follow me."
"Lord, should we trust this person?" asked one knight close to Yanosh, skeptical of Aslak's intentions.
"No worries, knight. As long as I am with you, nothing bad will befall you. Lead the way."
Aslak didn't linger too much on the hallway and doing another signal to his men, he began walking to another hallway on the base floor with fast movements, followed by the knights, later turning toward a door and entering inside.
Once inside, people were hiding under the tables of what seemed to be a large kitchen. He whistles, and the men under him moved around the hiding ones, hitting them under their heads, rendering them unconscious.
"Let's see where the exit mechanism was put. Spread out guys and search according to my instructions."
"Yes, Boss." replied the guys, moving fast around different parts of the kitchen and starting to push their palms on the bricks.
They waited for one minute, where the palace was constantly assaulted by quakes, point where the young knight asked Aslak.
"Are you sure there is an exit here? I only see kitchen equipment and a lot of food."
"Shut up and have patience."
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Another minute, they heard the voice of one of Aslak subordinates. "I found the exit boss."
"Perfect. Now follow me carefully, especially you dog person."
*Growl* "Motherfucker. Are you looking for a fight? I even survived against His Highness. You will be dead meat."
Aslak turned his cold eyes on Argash and spit on the floor, later scoffing at what he just heard. No longer bothering with the young knight, he entered the opening of a wall inside the kitchen, where the other knights followed suit.
Waiting for everyone to enter and move a bit forward following his men, he pushed a series of bricks close to the entrance, activating another mechanism that closed the door.
The tunnel turned dark, but one of Aslak subordinates took a torch from his pack and lit it up, moving to an extinguished lamp on one side of the tunnel wall and setting it on fire.
From the first lamp that was lighted, other lamps magically followed suit without anyone having to do a single thing.
"This is crazy. Have you seen it? All the lamps started burning after that guy lit just one." said one knight, amazed by this mysterious feat.
Then, Aslak took the lead, followed by Yanosh, who was close by, looking calmly at the young man and the path ahead of himself. He could only think in those moments quietly, masking his surprise.
'So these are the tunnel systems that only the Royal Family are aware of. This person is genuine. Otherwise, how could he even know about a tunnel being hidden in the kitchen? I wonder at what point inside the fortress will it stop?'
