Chapter 16
“All right, all right. You’ve finished unloading, right? Get moving then. Don’t block this place up! If you block this place up, the carts from outside can’t get in!”
“Those of you outside, make way! You’re blocking our patrol horse carriage!”
The Valkyries used their swords to brazenly scatter the crowd blocking up the entrance to the palace. The crowd and their horse carriages had completely blocked up the palace. Those aware would know that it’s due to the annual meeting, while those unaware would misunderstand that civilians have blocked the palace to prepare to launch a revolt here. The sharp blades of the Valkyries forcibly opened a path at the entrance. The coaches with various skin colours, varying clothes and languages rambled on and on as though they were trying to fill up the entire palace.
“Everyone, listen to me. Listen to me. We’re working in the palace to sort out your gifts right now. It’s pointless for you to all be here blocking the entrance up. Come one by one in order. Leave this place for now, and return to where you’re staying. Come one by one according to the arranged order, all right?”
I shouted with all my might from atop my horse. I wasn’t sure if they could understand me or not. What I knew was I was powerless even if they could understand me, because there didn’t seem to be many people could hear me. The chaos that ensued in the crowd made me look as if I was a joke. The most useful tool was the Valkyries’ swords.
“Ptoo…”
Maybe he got sick of waiting. The coach spat on the ground and in the next instant, he had a blade
go from one end of his neck to the other. He looked at the young girl before him with disbelief as blotches of blood gurgled up and he dropped to the ground. The Valkyrie in front of him whipped the blood off her blade, and then coldly kicked his corpse away and exclaimed, “The Royal Palace is the Empress’ resting place. How dare you disrespect it!!”
The crowd roared. Seeing their coach killed, his guards with him swiftly drew their swords, but the Valkyries were faster than them. The Valkyries had already swiftly killed a few before they could strike, and then the Valkyries in the vicinity all came over.
Having witnessed the event, the other guards also drew their swords. The Valkyries showed no mercy. They rushed up to them and cut down all those armed without asking a word.
“Stop!! Stop!”
The entire situation got out of hand. I couldn’t control the Valkyries.
‘From their standpoint, weapons were not permitted to be carried around the vicinity of the Empress’s palace. Not only did this crowd bring weapons, they even drew their swords, which was a clear indication of treason. As Her Majesty’s loyal guards, they killed the guards of the va.s.sal states without regards for the consequences.’
‘They didn’t obey my orders. The order they received was to keep me safe, not obey my orders. If Nier or Shusia was here then it would be easier to control them, but they aren’t here.’
The Valkyries didn’t stop and ignored my shouting. They even waved their swords at my horse as I tried to enter the fray to force my horse to back off. Their overwhelming close-quarters combat prowess essentially turned it into a slaughter at the
the entrance of the palace.’
“Your Majesty it is dangerous here. Please do not approach.”
“Stop! Tell your people to stop!”
I looked at the Valkyrie, who appeared to be the leader here, while she was tugging my horse and shouted. She tilted her head, and then coldly responded, “We are killing traitorous sc.u.m who are desecrating the Royal Palace. There is no point in stopping. Your Majesty, you have no means of ordering us. We are only responsible for your safety. And right now, we must take responsibility for the safety of Her Majesty’s residence!”
I fired six shots into the air, but even that couldn’t stop the rampaging Valkyries. The Valkyries had no intention of listening to my orders. I had no way of charging into them, so I could only hopelessly shout from behind. I watched the Valkyries cut down a person from a va.s.sal state, turning the front of the palace into a sea of blood.
‘I can’t harm either side. If I obstruct the Valkyries, these people will slash me to death without a second thought. There’s no way anyone can reason with this crazy bunch. Without Mommy Elizabeth here, I can’t do anything about this crowd.’
‘I just hope that Freya can make it here soon… Wait, why am I pa.s.sing the credit onto her…?’
“Retreat!!”
The slaughter lasted for an entire half an hour. By the time Freya arrived, corpses littered the ground with dead horses and overturned carriages piled up along with the corpses. Freya blankly watched the Valkyries sheath their swords and retreat with absolute shock. She looked at me with a dumbstruck look and asked, “Onii-sama… this group of Valkyries…”
“Sorry, I couldn’t stop them…”
‘I honestly didn’t think that something
that something like this would happen. I honestly didn’t. Lots of groups from va.s.sal states have come here the last few days since they all wanted to offer up their tributes. It was as though they had planned beforehand to come here all at once and block up the entrance to the Royal Palace with their horse carriages and groups. Large groups of people are not permitted to enter the palace all at once, so we had to restrict it to one carriage at a time. The other carriages, however, gathered together without any order, blocking not only the entrance to the palace but even this street.’
‘It truly was as though all these groups came together at once all of a sudden. There were only one or two horse-carriages that arrived yesterday, but all of a sudden, all of them came around today. I was woken in the morning by the ruckus. I was shocked at first, since I thought there was a military revolt out for me.’
‘I initially planned to clear up the congestion. I never thought such a serious genocide case would take place.’
‘How am I going to explain this to the va.s.sal states? All of their tributes and guard teams were killed right in front of my eyes at the entrance of the Royal Palace. This is comparable one big slap to their face. How am I going to leave a good impression on them after this? My plan might go down the drain before I even get to execute it at this rate.’
‘Mom will be very disappointed, won’t she…?’
‘This crisis seriously came on too suddenly, so suddenly that I didn’t even have time to react before it allbefore it all happened. Moreover, I couldn’t stop it from happening.’
“How did this happen…? The group of Valkyries… did not spare anyone, did they…?”
Freya quickly regained her composure. She didn’t care about what the Valkyries were up to. She, instead, looked at the pile of corpses and pondered to herself. She then picked up a sword from the ground. She looked at me and asked, “Onii-sama, are you afraid of pain?”
“No…”
“Sorry then, Onii-sama.”
Freya walked up to me. I dismounted and looked at her feeling bewildered. Freya took in a deep breath, and then aggressively cut my thigh and arms. I took in a breath of cold air. But it didn’t end there. Freya flipped her grip on the sword and stabbed it into my horse’s neck. My horse neighed as blood sprayed forth from its neck before it finally fell to the ground. It jolted a few times before it stopped moving.
Freya then sighed and explained, “All right. There are no witnesses. Now, we need to get people to spread news that this group of people waited for the chaos to breakout, and then tried to attack you. The Valkyries retaliated, and then decided to kill after determining that it was a deliberate and persistent attack. That will solve it. Onii-sama, you need to bandage your wounds, and pretend you got hurt by them… Then go to the places of all of the va.s.sal states. We must act first to get the whip hand in this situation. We must be the ones who speak the truth, or else, we will be stuck in a pa.s.sive role. Your Majesty, please bandage your wounds and then we will head out immediately.”
“Ah… Oh… Understood.”