At the time the explosion sounded in the forest.
âHey hey hey⦠what kind of joke is this!?â
Towards the man standing before his eyes, Jade, Regin let out a fl.u.s.tered voice.[1]
Cornelia was also still bewildered by the turn of events.
While marching in the forest, many arrows were aimed at the knights both in the front and the back of the line. Taken by surprise, they were fell, covered in arrows.[2]
Unable to cope with the suddenness, in front of their dumbfounded selves, soldiers armed with bows and spears, and armoured knights appeared from between the trees..
Among those knights, they saw some familiar faces.
They were the knights leading the first group, which should have marched along a different route from the second group.
However, the only student was Jade.
She wasnât sure how many of them there were, due to the trees blocking her view, but there were definitely more knights than those who had set off from the fort.
Of course, at the time the soldiers set off, there was no campaign.
They were armed with bows and spears.
They were clearly equipment meant for fighting humans.
âWhat are you planning, Jade van Cliffdorf? Are you starting a rebellion?â
âRebellion, is it?â¦â[3]
Jade let out a scornful laugh at Reginâs question.
âThe ones starting a coup dâétat, are the dead insects there. Have you not received the news from the Reinhardt house?â
âWhat!?â
âThanks to them, it was simple to proceed. I thank the fools who organized the coup dâétat.â
âWhat do you mean?â
âIt seems that I can push the blame all onto them.â[?1?]
Jade slowly raised his sword, and the surrounding soldiers led by Jade raised their spears.
Killing intent surged.
It was clear that they intended to kill Regin and the others.
âInstead of the colleagues of those who caused the coup dâétat, I will get rid of you.â
Reginâs gaze quickly moved through his surroundings.
âThe students in the second group are still stunned by the sudden turn of events and the killing intent. They probably wonât be helpful.â
âWhile they are my lackeys, it canât be helped that theyâre helpless in this situation.â
âIn the first place, even if they could fight, they wouldnât be able to overcome the difference in power.â
âI cannot see the whole group, so I cannot grasp the strength of the force Jade led, but there are at least one hundred people.â
They were outnumbered by at least twenty times.
âAs for running, there was only one way to escape.ââ
Regin focused on Jade.
There was a distance of approximately ten steps between them.
âIf he somehow managed to take Jade hostage, then he could flee from this place.â
âHowever, what should I do after I escape this place?â
His gaze fell on the bodies of the knights.
âThey were knights a.s.signed to the fort.â
âIf Jadeâs words are true, the fort is most likely occupied by insurgents.â
âReturning to the capital through the forest and reporting the information to the Knight Orderâs top bra.s.s sounds like a good idea.â
Fortunately, the Reinhardt Marquis House had a large voice in the Knight Order.
âAn appropriate countermeasure would be taken.â
âBesidesââ
Reginâs gaze moved to Cornelia, who was standing near him.
âDespite being exposed to life-threatening danger, it must take a strong will to not scream or cry.â
Unlike Reginâs followers, who had let out quivering voices, she had not even let out a gulp.
Regin once again looked at Jade.
âThough this is a pinch, it is also a chance.â
âIf I can to move freely from here, I will have achieved a tremendous feat.â
âFar from a full-fledged knight, I might even become one of the knight orderâs top bra.s.s.â
âRather, even the path to becoming an emperor isâ¦â
Regin thought out his plan.
âIt canât be helped. I wouldnât win if I tried to fight. I surrender.â
âThat was easier than I thought⦠even if you surrender, I will make use of you, butâ¦â[?2?]
âI am the eldest son of the Reinhardt house. If we join forces, can you imagine the things we could do?â
He walked towards Jade with both hands in the air.
âOne step, two steps, three steps⦠If I could just get a little bit closerâ¦â
Regin was confident in his hand to hand combat skills.
He didnât become the previous yearâs head of the cla.s.s by chance.
In reality, he could boast of strength equal to or surpa.s.sing a knight order captain.
âIf I can hold Jade hostage until I reach the capital, then report the circ.u.mstances, I will become an instant hero.â[4]
While gloating in his heart, he advanced. Four steps, five stepsâ¦Â [5]
âThen, I will jump at this guyâ¦â
âAll the people of the capital will hear of my name.â[6]
âThen beside me, Cornelia will be dressed up beautifullyââ
Imagining his future bliss, his sixth step was the end.
An arrow sunk into his foreheadâ
Piercing through his skull, the arrow head stuck out the back of his head.
Regin fell backwards, wide-eyed.
It was instant death.[7]
The students didnât let out a sound.
They only stared at the scene, their legs soundlessly quivered.
âHow splendid!â
Holding a bow, a middle-aged knight beside Jade stepped forward and called out to Jade.
The knight pounded his chest, saluting Jade.
âI am very sorry. For Jade-sama to have to act as the decoy.â
âI was prepared. I had faith in your skill.â
âSuch words are too generous. However, now that I think about it, in the unlikely event that i missed, the results would not have been good.â
âYou are forgetting who you are talking to, even if I somehow became a hostage, I would make a plan to escape. Besides, being captured might be entertaining.â
âThat is honestly the reason we were troubled. I humbly beg for forgiveness.â
Grimacing, the frank old knight flashed a good-humoured smile at Jade.
âThat being said, what was that explosion sound just now?â
âJudging by the compa.s.s, that was in the direction of the fourth group.â
âTchâ¦â
At that news, Jade clicked his tongue.
âIt seems those fools who started the coup dâétat moved first.â
âThe fourth group is the one with the eyesore of a plebeian.â
âI thought that I could use that plebeian who is close to the Brave to obtain her, butâ¦â
When he received information about the plan, Jade immediately removed his underlings from the list of those partic.i.p.ating.
Furthermore, he gradually increased the amount of people at the fortress who served the Cliffdorf Marquis House.
Jade personally made it so that those knights were a.s.signed to the first group with him.
Then, Jade arranged for those who were the Cliffdorf houseâs rivals to partic.i.p.ate on the mission, so he could deal with them.
Using this chance, after ma.s.sacring them, all the blame would be placed on the nincomp.o.o.ps who planned the coup.
For n.o.bles, losing the heir is a large blow to their standing.
It often leads to the extinction of the lineage.
Naturally, other than the eldest son, there were the second and third sons, but it would still deal a lot of damage to the House.
This would greatly benefit to the Cliffdorf house.
He was now unable to disregard the commoner to whom the Brave was close. [?3?]
Somebody reached Jadeâs side, and tried to curry favor.
âFumu, so things arenât going completely as plannedâ¦â (Jade)
âIt is good that we have taken care of the Reinhardt here.â
At his subordinateâs words, he nodded calmly.
Regin van Reinhardt was the eldest son of the Marquis Reinhardtâs house.
Since Jade was the eldest son of the Cliffdorf house, and he was also in the same year as Regin, they frequently competed with each other.
Certainly, he was a rival for the position of next generationâs Knight Order Captain, but Jade wouldnât be troubled by his absence.
Though he was unable to obtain the Brave as his own, he still l.u.s.ted for this desire.
âIf thatâs the case, let us modify the beginning of the plan.â
Jade moved his attention to the students, who stood still, s.h.i.+vering in fear.
âYou wouldnât believe that these unsightly people are n.o.bles. I should also get rid of them.â
âEither way, the blame will be placed on those guys.â
âIâll just take out the trash ahead of time.â
âWhat of Father and the rest?â
âThey have already left the capital, and are headed towards our territory.â
âAlright then. Let us proceed with our plan!â
ââYes sir!!ââ
At Jadeâs order, raising their weapons into the sky, the hundred knights before him chanted.[?4?]
Then, they promptly moved to exterminate the isolated people there.
âHelp us!â
âP-please donât kill usâ¦.â
Pretending not to see the extermination of the students by his subordinates, Jade slowly walked towards Cornelia.
Motionless, she merely stared straight at Jade.
âWell then, if you donât resist, we will not harm you. You will serve as our figurehead.â[?5?]
Originally, he would have that girlâs death blamed on the insurrectionists, but the situation changed.
After Jadeâs subordinates finished ma.s.sacring the students, they gathered behind him, their leader.
Pompously, Jade slowly knelt down on one knee and bowed down towards Cornelia.
âIf by chance you would like to join us, we of the Cliffdorf house will receive you in our territory. It is negotiable. Would you like to come with us? Your Highness.?
Cornelia Raul Lute Remuls.h.i.+l. [8]
Being the first princess of the empire, she was second in line to the throne. While superficially paying respects to her, Jade smiled coldly.
Translator notes
Â
Translator needs help
Jadeâs diabolical plans, as revealed in Chap 20 is really demotivating (which means I have a lot of translator snark in itâ¦). Luckily, I got through that quarter of the chapter already, so I just have to cover Locke and Leticiaâs POV. Wynn will reappear by the end of the chapter, it seems (not sure, just skimming the j.a.panese raw). In all, I have Ch 20 about 30% done out of almost 30 pages of the raw, when copy-pasted into a Google Docâ¦
I am feeling like translating another KuroKis.h.i.+ chapter to clean out Jadeâs dirty plots, so expect it sometime soonâ¦
Question of the week: I kinda feel like I should download the raws just in case weird things happen⦠But I donât want to do it manually. Anybody know of a program or software that will let me do that? I did hear about wget, but Iâm not sure how to use it. Tips/crash course on wget welcome, or alternative⦠ I will be doing my own research too, but slowlyâ¦
P.S. Anybody know how to get rid of the slightly annoying pingback notification in WP whenever I link to other previous posts?