The news of the events that befell Lustburg swiftly spread to the closest kingdoms.
Even though the exact details were not known, the show of might of Lilith and the large-scale usage of the holy territory followed by it being broken by another angel with scarlet wings.
-----
[Wratharis Republic; Throne’s room.]
“Damn you! Camelia!”
*Biribiribir*
In the throne room of Wratharis, a heavy atmosphere weighed on all those present as they kneeled down in dogeza, their forehead against the ground.
Even though their face was covered in sweat, no one even dared to move in order to wipe it out.
They knew that with the current news, it wouldn’t be surprising if the king decided to take the head of everyone currently present.
It hasn’t been long since he had managed to convince the council and the preparations for war were already underway.
But now, no matter what happened, their lord had been completely humiliated.
After all, the entire premise of this war rested on the fact that Camelia Castitas was incapacitated. But now...
Just thinking about the shame or the extent of his current wrath and shame was enough to make them lower their heads even more.
They even wished they could completely bury their heads in the ground.
“Who was the fool who told me that that bitch was now powerless!?”
None of them dared to step forward.
“I said… Who!?”
*ROAR*
The heaviness in the air became almost physical as the ground itself began to crack and splinter.
The roar was so loud, that some of the servants had their eardrums burst and blood flow from their ears. Despite this, neither the servants nor the officials kneeling in front of the king complained.
Finally, one of them, a samurai, raised his head and advanced toward the king while still kneeling before lowering his head once again.
“I am terribly sorry, your majesty! This whole situation is my fault!”
“I see. Then, how will you repent?”
At this question, the samurai once again raised the upper part of his body and said with a quivering face.
“I beseech you, your majesty, bestow death to me. But on account of all the service I accomplished, spare my family!!”
“Oh? Are you giving me orders?”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
“I see. Then do not worry. I am a man of parole. Your family will be safe.”
“I sincerely thank you for your benevolence.”
Once he said so, he stretched his right hand and received a long katana from the hand of a servant before placing the edge of the blade against the left side of his neck.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, then using his other left hand, he hit the blade with all his strength.
*Splash*
Blood spurted as his head fell, followed by his powerless body.
All the retainers shivered, but none moved. They were already used to such scenes.
Looking expressionlessly at the blood staining the ground, Lupus finally spoke,
“The war will continue. I refuse to be even more shamed by stopping it. I will make women understand that in front of absolute power, all tricks are useless.”
Saying so, he stood from his throne and waved the sleeve of his kimono.
“You are dismissed. And someone! Come take this corpse away and clean this filthy blood.”
Leaving with a dark face, his fur bristling with sparks of lightning, he looked like a beast ready to shred everything to pieces.
----
[Wratharis; Temple]
“Kukuku! Hahaha! I knew it. That cunning woman would never weaken herself so obviously. Ha~! I really wish I could see the face that stupid bastard and those guys from the council must be making.”
While the atmosphere in the castle was dark and oppressive, in the depth of the temple of Patientia, the atmosphere was the complete opposite.
Sitting with her log crossed on the Tatami, Kiku Patientia was happily chugging down the alcohol in the bottle she held as if it was water.
Even though she was worried about the actions of the Wings of Freedom, it wasn’t as if it was their first time to attack a kingdom. What’s more, from the information she received, they had been perfectly repelled.
“Puwa~! Sake definitely feels better when you are in a good mood. Don’t you think so as well, Shuten?”
Saying so she looked at the small girl wearing so little clothes she might as well be naked. The only thing really covering her being a large kimono.
“Umu. Your Sake is really the best. Even the Monkey wine of the stone monkey clan barely compares. Kakaka~!”
Narrowing her eyes at the nonchalance the small Oni was showing, Kiku decided to stop beating around the bush.
“Tell me, why did you come? I thought that you were on that pup side?”
“*Sigh* Kiku, dear Kiku, this is why despite all your power, your clan is on a steady decline. You are too straightforward. On his side? Please, in this world, there are neither eternal enemies, nor allies. One must always fight for their best interests.”
“So? You understand me well, right? All those machinations are indeed not my things and I thought you were like me...Seems like I was wrong. If you came here to mock me, then please get out, you are making my sake go bad.”
Even though those words quite hurt her, Shuten showed no sign on the exterior.
In the past, about two hundred years ago, the Oni clan's position in Envilya was extremely bad. After all, their leaders, Ibuki-Douji, had spearheaded a large-scale rebellion against the Demon Queen of then and failed miserably.
Because of this, the young Shuten had to pick the slack of her mother and become the leader of the Oni while they fled toward their neighbors, Wratharis.
She could never forget that, back then, if not because Kiku, who was only a holy daughter, pleaded for them, they would have never been allowed to settle down in Wratharis.
Even when she fought the Tortoise clan leader to take his place as one of the four great leaders of Wratharis, this would have been impossible for outsiders like them without the support of Kiku.
It wouldn’t be a mistake to say that everything she had now was thanks to the fuming woman in front of her.
Sadly, when she took the mantle of the leader of the Oni clan back then, she swore that she would protect this clan with all her might.
No matter how dirty she had to become, no matter how many obstacles she had to overcome. Even if she had to lose all her honor.
“Kiku, listen to me.”
Still, if she could help her friend and protect her clan at the same time, wouldn’t it be better?
Thinking so, a slight smile formed on her face. It seemed that it was time to repay all the kindness she received.
----
[Greed Dike; Council room]
“This is unacceptable!”
*Bam*
One short stout man hit the armchair while screaming, his face flushed and his breath hurried.
“Exactly! How could they fight like this on our borders?”
“They must pay!”
“We need to ask for a settlement!”
Sitting on the highest and most majestic chair in the room, a bearded middle-aged man with golden hair and blue eyes looked at all those councilmen shouting like immature children.
Tired of their whining, he asked, “What settlement do you even want? All the damages vanished.”
At this, the councilmen fell silent.
The fight between the three witches had been of epic proportion.
Even though Greed Dike was extremely large, the capital wasn’t that far from the borders between them and Lustburg.
After all, the other border they shared was with Gluttony foss, they had no choice but to push their capital as far away as possible from that Kingdom.
Because of this, they had the first seat to feel the shockwave of the fights. Even the King, in all his life, had never felt so terrified.
He had thought that by reaching the king level thanks to his blessing he was standing at the top, but he was once again reminded how small he was both literally and figuratively.
What was even more frightening was how all the destruction they had wreaked havoc vanished in the span of a night.
It was only later, after receiving a report about the situation in Lustburg that he understood what was happening.
Now, despite this clear display of might, those dimwits wanted to extort money from Lustburg? For damages that didn’t exist anymore?
Did they take him for an idiot? How could he not see what was their true goal?
Sighing at how he was surrounded by backstabbing greedy cunts, he continued,
“Lustburg has always been one of our best clients and we can’t mess around with them. Still, we should show some dissatisfaction. As such we will only slightly increase the price of refined dwarf steel, while we will lower the price for Wratharis. Opinions?”
The councilmen looked at each other before nodding. In the first place, they all understood that they had to take measures to not lose the hearts of the citizens and show that they weren’t pushovers.
At the same time, none of them wanted to be responsible for a decision that could worsen the relationship between the kingdoms.
This was why they had been spouting all this bullshit. Now though,
“Hahaha! Your majesty is really a wise man! I can only bow at your decisions.”
“Of course. King Eridina is the mightest. I will respect your decision.”
“Same for me.”
“I cannot express my awe!”
A river of sickening sugar-coated words flowed towards him now that he had taken all responsibility, but all he could do was smile and accept it.
‘I need to contact Theresa. Those Wings of Freedom are dangerous. Even though that woman is even more dangerous, at least she wouldn’t stab me in the back. She would just stab me from the front with a sweet smile.’
He could only chuckle bitterly at his situation.
Even though he was king, he hated this country where love and friendship were nothing more than fantasy.
This was the country of Greed. A country where a child killing his parents for money, or parents selling their children for money was nothing eye catching.
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