Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 94

Olphus Battle

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“Livestock?”

King Christian of Germania frowned.

Edar, on horseback in the middle of the field, declared,

“You are livestock,” he proclaimed, amplifying his voice with magic.

“What nonsense is this?”

“Livestock, you say?”

The reaction of the royal army was no different from Christian’s.

Bewilderment, ridicule, anger—a mixture of emotions stirred into a commotion.

Turmoil erupted throughout the ranks of the royal army.

“You must be wondering now how you could possibly be livestock,” Edar continued.

“What is livestock? It refers to animals raised at home. I ask you, does the land you possess truly belong to you?”

The nobles furrowed their brows.

They were lords, great and small, with fiefs [land granted by a lord in return for service].

If asked who owned their fiefs, they would naturally say it was theirs, but if pressed on whether they were truly the masters of their fiefs, they would answer in hushed tones.

The true owners of this land are the great race [referring to non-human entities with power over the land].

“And are you truly free? Is there no being above you, other than humans, who claims ownership?”

The voices of discontent gradually subsided.

“Behold, you have masters, and what you possess is merely borrowed from them. How can you deny being livestock? How are you any different from the slaves you despise, whom you deem livestock rather than human?”

Edar placed his raised hand on his chest.

“Some might say, how can slaves live in such wealth? But wasn’t Thirdrett, the late Duke, the wealthiest of slaves?”

He nodded.

“Indeed, Thirdrett was the finest breed among the livestock. But look at what Thirdrett’s master has done. Despite such unwavering loyalty, the master inflicted punishment upon the slave in an instant. Why? What did Thirdrett do to deserve this?”

Those who had been frowning narrowed their eyes.

Why was the young Duke Thirdrett branded a heretic?

Why did Horbid [likely a religious figure or entity] seek to annihilate the great city of Kiruna?

These were unresolved questions in the back of their minds.

“Because he knew the truth.”

The truth?

The listeners tilted their heads.

“The Emperor’s Curse is not a disease, and the priests of Horbid instill fear in you to gain your faith. To conceal this truth, punishment was inflicted upon Thirdrett.”

“Lies!”

“You wretch! There’s no limit to what you’ll say with that mouth!”

Curses erupted.

Some threw stones,

Some shot arrows,

And some tried to charge forward on horseback.

Their faith was deep, and even those whose faith wasn’t deep pretended it was to avoid being branded as heretics.

The commotion did not subside but continued to grow.

“If you desire proof…”

A wagon approached Edar’s side.

On the wagon were four oak barrels.

He pointed to the barrels.

“What’s inside is the Emperor’s Curse.”

Pasimea reached out and levitated the oak barrels with magic.

The four oak barrels floated high in the air, spaced widely apart.

“You say you cannot believe it. Then experience it. This is the Emperor’s Curse, the reward Horbid bestows upon you.”

Edar raised his ringed right hand.

The ring, imbued with Vlad’s soul, stirred with magic.

The parasites inside the oak barrels reacted to their master’s magic.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The oak barrels exploded, and clots of blood burst forth.

It was the same situation the bishop had created in the Margraviate of Rozenne [a region or territory].

“W-what is that…?”

Blood clots, parasites known as the Emperor’s Curse.

The swarm of parasites, smaller than fingernails, flew towards the royal army.

They looked like locusts attacking crops.

The royal army was horrified and tried to flee in all directions.

“They’re coming this way!”

“Evade! It’s an attack!”

But where could soldiers in tight formation escape?

The blood clots clung to the skin of soldiers jostling among their comrades, and before they could even reach out to remove them, they seeped in.

“Get off! Get off me!”

The pain was immediate.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

The royal army was filled with soldiers collapsing and screaming.

Each oak barrel contained enough parasites to destroy a small city.

The result of bursting four barrels was that the entire royal army was cursed.

“What is inside you is the Emperor’s Curse.”

Edar stirred Vlad’s magic once more.

Then, the blood clots that had seeped into the royal army flowed back out, turning into white crystals and crumbling away.

Needless to say, the pain that had afflicted them also vanished.

“H-huh…”

The pain vanished as if they had awakened from a dream.

Those who had been scratching at the dirt and screaming rose to their feet with dazed expressions and trembling eyes.

“The ones spreading this throughout the country are the priests of the Wolf Cult and the servants of the Blood Clan.”

The royal army saw the light emanating from Edar’s body.

A light brighter than the sunlight, even though the sun was high in the sky.

That light was reaching them.

“What, what is this…?”

Some soldiers groped their bodies.

Because the pain that had tormented them had disappeared.

They groped their bodies because they felt that not only the pain that had tormented them a moment ago but also the chronic illnesses that had plagued them their entire lives had vanished.

“The great race and the gods you believe in will never alleviate your suffering. They must make you suffer so that you seek and cling to them.”

“Shut your mouth! Apostate!”

A priest shouted at him.

“It is you who showed us the sight of manipulating worms as a curse! How dare you attribute your evil deeds to Horbid— Ack!”

The body of the priest who had been shouting floated into the air.

Edar reached out towards the priest.

The moment the magic from Vlad’s ring touched the priest,

his body turned into white crystals and crumbled away.

The same death as the parasites that caused the curse.

Everyone who saw this gasped.

“No matter how excellent a breed you remain, you are still just livestock. You are slaughtered for contracting the disease called truth. Does this sight evoke no thoughts in you?”

Pasimea amplified Edar’s voice even further.

“Even if you maintain loyalty for generations, you are livestock. Just as your father was livestock, and your grandfather was livestock, there is no escape from being livestock. You can be slaughtered at any time according to the master’s will. Are you content with such a life?”

Edar paused and scanned the royal army.

“Humans possess dignity in themselves. From the moment they are born.”

He raised his hand high again.

Screams erupted throughout the royal army.
The sight of the priest’s body crumbling.

“How can humans be treated in such a way!”

Not all priests turned into white crystals, but the fact that priests met a death like worms was shocking to everyone in the royal army.

And before that shock could dissipate, Edar declared,

“I will not become livestock. I stand here to avoid becoming livestock. What does that have to do with the throne? I will seize the throne of Germania and become Emperor.”

Emperor.

Just as the retainers had gasped in Thirdrett’s mansion hall.

Those who heard his declaration gasped and trembled.

The commotion from a moment ago died down at the word “Emperor.”

“That position that the alien races do not allow humans to occupy. I will sit in that position and prove that humans can stand on their own without obeying their commands. I will conquer Germania, Wallachia, the Theocracy, the Republic, and all the small nations, leaving only one human nation.”

Numerous emotions were mixed in countless eyes.

Those emotions were now beginning to converge into one.

Terror.

“If humanity can unite and gather its strength, alien races will not be able to look down on humans. Who would dare to consider humans as livestock then?”

From horseback, he looked down at the terrified eyes.

Even though he was far away, those who met his gaze flinched.

“The history of humanity so far has been the history of slaves, the history of livestock. I stand here to correct that. Not just for Germania, but to save humanity.”

The light emanating from his body grew stronger.

The soldiers raised their hands to shield their eyes from the blinding light,

and the priests desperately hid behind the soldiers, groaning.

Because they felt the pain of their flesh melting away as darkness melts before light.

“Therefore, my fight is a racial struggle. A human struggle to create a sole empire of humanity, by humanity, for humanity. The previous history of humanity will disappear, and the future history will be the history of racial struggle. I dedicate myself to that great mission.”

He stretched out his right hand and pointed behind him.

“I declared in Kiruna. Will you live under the Emperor, or will you live under the Duke? You know what answer I received there.”

The attention that had been directed at him turned to his rear.

The soldiers of Thirdrett, quietly forming ranks.

They knew his intentions and agreed with them.

That is why they followed him despite the Theocracy’s declaration of heresy.

“Now, I will change the words I spoke there and say to you. Will you live as livestock, or will you live as humans?”

Silence fell over the field, and his light gradually faded.

As the light subsided, so did the priests’ groans.

“…”

Now they knew the answer.

Why he sought the throne.

Why the Theocracy opposed him.

That this battle was not a simple rebellion.

That it was not a simple rise of heresy.

Everyone in the royal army realized it.

Thud!

The sound of a drum echoed.

Thud—! Thud—!

Boo———!

Edar’s army began to advance.

As if no answer was needed, they moved their feet.