“Baron Denver. You said both the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Central Army are coming?”
“Both are en route. The Imperial Guard and Central Army units near the fortress have mobilized to protect Your Highness the Prince. In particular, although the Imperial Guard contingent is small, they were already waiting nearby, so it won’t take long.”
Baron Denver answered Kain’s question.
Kain nodded slightly and spoke again.
“It would be best to prepare a defensive posture.”
“In that case, we should deploy our remaining forces along the inner citadel walls.”
Even calling it “forces” was generous; most of the soldiers had fallen, and even the knights were all wounded.
Though he had been branded a wastrel, every one of them had fought to the utmost to protect the last surviving prince of the Felberg bloodline.
It was already too late, but Kain wondered what might have happened if he had manifested the Sigil just a little earlier.
Of course, before knowing the enemy’s scale and strength, it had been impossible to gamble his life recklessly; it couldn’t be helped.
“Rodolfo! Schweissen!”
At Baron Heinrich Denver’s summons, two sturdy knights nearby ran over and saluted in perfect knightly fashion.
“You called, my lord?”
“Your orders, my lord.”
Even in this desperate situation, fire burned in their eyes.
“Hold the walls! The moment you sight the enemy, report it at once and prevent them from breaching the inner keep!”
At Denver’s urgent command, the two knights revealed their resolve.
“We will protect His Highness the Prince with our lives.”
“We will fight for Felberg until our final breath!”
There were not many troops left, but under the influence of the Sigil their morale was sky-high, and they brimmed with pride at guarding the imperial bloodline.
Kain knew it would be difficult to manifest the Sigil again so soon after the backlash, but the boost to allied morale was nevertheless a blessing.
Yet barely any time had passed after the two knights headed to the walls with the others.
While Baron Heinrich Denver scanned the plain for approaching enemies and reviewed future plans, he suddenly sensed dozens of presences from the cliffs behind the fortress and whirled around.
What met his eyes as he rushed toward the rear…
“…This is insane!”
Dozens of knights clad in heavy plate were charging down an almost vertical cliff, kicking up clouds of dust—an overwhelming sight.
Seeing this, Baron Denver shouted in horror.
“Battle stations! Whatever they are, they’re coming this way! Protect His Highness the Prince!”
Yet upon recognizing the newcomers, Kain’s expression remained calm.
The reason was simple: none of them were enemies of the Felberg imperial house.
A modern game developer now possessing Kain’s body, he immediately recognized the golden aura enveloping them and the crest embroidered on the surcoats over their armor.
I never expected the Emperor’s Cult to be here.
The Emperor’s Cult.
Fanatics who offered blind loyalty to the Emperor of the Felberg Empire and lived only for the imperial family.
At the same time, those who pushed their bodies to the limit to protect the bloodline of the Star Thrones that had continued since the ancient mythic age.
The holy knights of the Emperor’s Cult threatening the Felberg bloodline was unthinkable.
They must have been hiding nearby, sensed the danger to a royal, and—in a mad decision—leapt down the cliff to rescue the wastrel prince.
“Baron Denver. No need to worry; withdraw your aura. Don’t you see the golden mana wrapped around them?”
“C-could they be…”
At Kain’s words, Denver’s face filled with shock.
“The Emperor’s Cult?”
“Exactly.”
When Kain confirmed it, Baron Denver immediately retracted his aura.
As a traditional loyalist noble, he had both heard of and seen the golden aura of the Emperor’s Cult before.
Still, he did not sheathe his sword.
There was always the slim chance they were rebels disguised as holy knights.
Soon, having finished crossing the cliff, the Emperor’s Cult holy knights landed in the inner courtyard and strode forward.
Their eyes glowed gold.
But those eyes were fixed not on the Third Prince struggling to stand, but on the Sigil engraved on the back of his hand.
After briefly exchanging glances among themselves, the dozens of holy knights dropped to one knee before Kain without the slightest hesitation.
“Aaron Valerian and forty-nine holy knights of the Emperor’s Cult have come to defend the name of Felberg. Please grant us the honor of serving Your Highness the Prince until our final day.”
A solemn resolve radiated from them.
For long years they had been used and discarded by the declining imperial house, yet their loyalty had never wavered since the founding of the Empire.
They would remain loyal to Kain until their dying breath—so long as he did not lose the power of the Star Thrones as a descendant of Felberg. Forever.
“Baron Denver.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Brief them on the current situation.”
“But… this is highly confidential.”
“If we cannot trust them now, whom can we trust? And if they meant us harm, do you think we would still be breathing? Let us not waste time unnecessarily, Baron.”
“…As you command.”
Baron Heinrich Denver relayed the situation to the Emperor’s Cult holy knights.
Their commander, Aaron Valerian, immediately made his decision.
“We will hold this place. No vile enemy shall dare threaten the Felberg imperial house. Any who approach will have their skulls shattered long before they breach the sacred shield wall.”
The powerfully built holy knights headed for the walls.
Not long afterward, the Imperial Guard arrived from the capital.
The commander leading roughly five hundred Imperial Guard troops was a young Chevalier-class knight, Baron Eren Piliard.
His face was dark—likely from news of the massacre at the grand banquet—but upon hearing reports en route and seeing the Sigil on Kain’s hand, his expression turned to astonishment.
He too came from a noble house that had served the Empire for generations.
He could not possibly misunderstand what it meant for the wastrel Third Prince Kain to have manifested a Sigil.
His shock at the Sigil engraved on the former wastrel’s hand lasted only a moment.
Baron Piliard quickly composed himself and made a proposal to Kain and the Emperor’s Cult knights.
“We should leave this place at once. I will send a runner to the Central Army so we can join them en route. There is no time—our destination must be the capital.”
Kain, Denver, and the others agreed with Baron Piliard’s suggestion.
Soon they began marching toward the capital.
The moment they left the region around Canossa Fortress, Imperial Guard and Central Army units gathered from all over to protect Kain began joining them.
Everyone now recognized that Kain was the sole surviving imperial grandson of Felberg.
One week after departing Canossa Fortress, the force escorting Kain to the capital had grown to over two thousand.
Two weeks after leaving the fortress.
From afar, Kain spotted the banners of an Imperial Guard knight order departing the capital and approaching.
Baron Denver, riding beside him, explained.
“That is the banner of Count Steiner Landerck, leader of the Third Imperial Knight Order, the White-Winged Charge.”
“There seem to be far too many following him.”
“After the catastrophe at the grand banquet, it appears he brought the maximum possible force to ensure Your Highness’s absolute safety.”
“Still… that’s excessive.”
“I was thinking the same. This is nearly an entire legion.”
Denver’s description was no exaggeration.
The banners and soldiers following Count Steiner Landerck easily surpassed several thousand and approached almost ten thousand.
Kain gazed at the closing Imperial Guard army, then shifted his eyes to the back of his hand.
Where the Sigil had once blazed, nothing now appeared to remain.
Yet if he rotated his still-small and meager circle and released mana, the Sigil would soon shine again and proclaim its existence.
As long as there was no problem reawakening the Sigil, proving the “inheritance” itself would not be difficult.
That Star Throne from before, the Crimson Archduke Rydel, probably wouldn’t answer his call kindly again, but if he mastered the breathing technique and continued training, one day he would be able to manifest the authority of other Star Thrones he knew.
This time not through tricks or loopholes, but truly as a prince of Felberg.
While Kain organized his thoughts, Count Landerck left the main army behind and approached with only a few knights.
When they were close enough, they all dismounted in unison and paid their respects to Kain.
“Count Landerck pays his respects. I often saw Your Highness in the palace when you were still a boy.”
“I remember you as well, Count Landerck. It is truly regrettable that we meet again under such circumstances.”
Denver had always served Kain personally and spoke casually because Kain himself had done so first.
In the Empire, addressing a count or higher with informal speech was normally considered extremely rude.
Moreover, since the character Steiner Landerck was known to value courtesy highly, Kain showed respect by using formal language.
When Kain replied thus, Count Landerck took a deep breath and spoke—before the two thousand troops following Kain and the entire Imperial Guard knight order.
“Your Highness, this will be bewildering, but the neutral nobles are being absorbed one by one by the Empire’s Five Pillars. Moreover, now that every direct imperial bloodline has perished in the incident, even the existing loyalists may splinter at any moment. To set all of this right, Your Highness must make a decision.”
He declared firmly.
“You must ascend the throne at once. The coronation is already prepared. The moment we reach the capital, it can proceed immediately.”
The last surviving imperial grandson of Felberg, Kain Felberg.
You must become the Emperor of this Empire.
Count Landerck was characterized as calm and composed by nature, yet here he was rushing things.
The situation must be far graver than Kain had imagined.