I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 533

“I won’t step aside.”

Ignoring Rosetta’s warning with ease, I planted my feet firmly on the ground.

“No, I won’t step aside, Rosetta.”

“……”

Rosetta’s gaze turned cold. I scoffed.

“It seems you’re the one who’s mistaken about something.”

“Mistaken, you say?”

“This place, Crossroad, the monster front, and the World Protection Front, are completely independent entities, not bound by any country in the world.”

“……So?”

“In other words, this place isn’t governed by any national laws.”

I raised my fist, pointing my thumb at myself.

“The only law that applies here is the military law I’ve established. Neither your Order’s doctrines nor the Imperial Court’s criminal law can infringe upon my city.”

“You are arrogant. There is no land in this world that is not blessed by the Goddess.”

“I am always indebted to the Goddess.”

Every time a [Dark Event] from the monster side occurs, it’s countered with [Goddess Blessing]. I am always grateful to the Goddess.

“But that is a different matter.”

I declared.

“This place is land governed by humans, and I am its ruler. In my land, I forbid any private sanctions other than the punishments I have approved.”

“……”

“Even the Goddess cannot violate this rule on my land.”

Rosetta narrowed her eyes behind her silver-rimmed glasses. Her pale gold eyelashes, the same color as her hair, fluttered slightly.

“Rosetta. You were able to take over the Central Order after Fernandez disappeared, right?”

I put my hands in my pockets, deliberately adopting a nonchalant tone.

“Then you should think more carefully. Now that Fernandez is gone, who will sit on the next throne? Who is the person you need to impress for the future of your Order?”

“……Ha.”

Rosetta chuckled.

“It seems you have the wrong idea about me, Your Highness. Did I look like the kind of person who would be swayed by such threats?”

“No. Of course not. You’re a psycho martyr.”

She is the kind of crazy person who would whip her own stepbrother to death for the principles she has decided to follow.

But she is no longer just an individual.

“And now, you are also the representative of your Order, aren’t you?”

“……”

Rosetta was originally the commander of the Holy Knight Order.

But she has now eliminated all her political rivals within the Order and is the newly appointed representative of the Goddess Order.

Rosetta, as an individual, is not someone who would be swayed by such threats. However.

As the newly appointed representative of the Order, Rosetta would not be able to act recklessly in the face of such threats.

This is the weight that those who bear the lives of others—kings—must bear, and she has also become one of those kings.

“……Really.”

After a moment of silence, Rosetta let out a long breath and closed her eyes.

“The more I live, the more complicated the world seems. Don’t you think so, Your Highness?”

Her murderous intent faded. I slowly nodded in agreement.

“The higher you climb, the farther you see, and the farther you see, the more you have to consider.”

“Even the world seen by a mere mortal like me is so difficult, how much more must the Goddess, who sees everything from the heavens, have to worry about.”

She still speaks like a religious person to the end.

Anyway, Rosetta slowly retracted her iron whip, folded it neatly, and fastened it to her waist.

Her touch was as gentle as if she were handling a newly bought accessory, not a whip.

“I understand Your Highness’s intentions clearly. The execution of punishment for Janice will be postponed for a bit…”

“I appreciate your understanding.”

“However, Janice. As of this moment, I am stripping you of your position as temporary priest in Crossroad.”

Rosetta issued a cruel order in a calm yet sharp voice.

“I am also ordering you to leave the Crossroad Temple.”

“……”

“A priest who has lost their affiliation must leave the area within fifteen days and return to the capital within three months. You haven’t forgotten that rule, have you?”

Janice silently bowed his head.

I was so dumbfounded that I asked.

“What happens if you break that rule?”

“Excommunication.”

Rosetta answered simply. But the content was far from light.

“As a priest, all of Janice’s life up to this point will be deleted from the records, and she must not use divine power or sell the name of God in the future. Also, a supervisor will follow her for the rest of her life.”

She would lose her entire life as a priest and either live like a mouse in Crossroad for the rest of her life.

Or, as a priest, she would return to the capital on her own and be beaten to death by the honorable whips of her former colleagues…

Janice had only two paths left.

To even give her a choice, should I call this merciful?

“I’ll give you one hour to leave. Then.”

Rosetta said that to Janice, gave me a light bow as a last gesture, and then turned around and left.

Standing blankly in the middle of the ruined priest’s office, I turned sharply to Janice.

“Hey, Mr. Janice. Explain it to me. What happened?”

“……”

Janice, who was also in a daze, opened his mouth in a hollow voice, as if he was just as bewildered.

“It’s as you know it. I have nothing more or less to say.”

“So, you really had that big accident with a foreign princess in the past, and your stepsister, who thinks that the Order’s honor was tarnished because of that accident, is trying to kill you?”

“……That’s right.”

Oh, my head. How do I solve this? No, can it even be solved?

I was groaning with a headache when Janice carefully bowed his head.

“Your Highness, I am truly sorry, but I have a request.”

“Tell me.”

I wondered what kind of request he would make, but Janice was rummaging through his pockets for a pen and paper. I was startled without realizing it.

“Are you also accumulating heresy points?”

“……The only person in the world who does such crazy things is my sister.”

What Janice wrote was not heresy points, but an address somewhere.

Janice carefully handed it to me.

“Could you send all of my assets to this address?”

I took the address and examined it.

It was the address of an orphanage run by the Goddess Order near the capital.

“I’ve been sending all my priest’s salary there, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do that anymore. Well, it’s not much of a fortune anyway…”

“Who lives in this orphanage?”

“……My son.”

I was so flustered that my hand holding the address trembled.

Janice muttered bitterly, his gaze fixed on the floor.

“My son, born to a foreign princess.”

***

Lake Kingdom Sub-Dungeon. Base Camp.

“Haaaah~”

I sat crouched next to the central bonfire, clutching my head and making such a sound.

Then, Kellybay, who was hammering nearby, yelled in anger.

“Why are you sighing like that again, you’ll chase away all your luck!”

“……Kellybay sometimes seems like an old Korean man.”

I muttered in disbelief. Sighing chases away luck. What kind of old superstition is that?

At my muttering, Kellybay raised his thick eyebrows.

“Korea? Where is that? Is it a place with precious metals? Are there many mines?”

“I’m not particularly interested in mineral resources, so I don’t know much…”

By the way, is this old man’s brain filled with metal? What’s with his standards for asking?

“Is that unheard-of foreign land called Korea the cause of your worries? Hey! Just say the word! I’ll go and smash it all with my hammer!”

No… if you smash it, it’ll be a disaster… Please don’t…

I tapped my forehead with my fingertips and muttered.

“If it’s a problem from a foreign land, it’s a problem… and it’s also something that happened 14 years ago. Oh, my.”

“14 years ago? In a foreign land? Yanma! What kind of trouble have you been causing since you were so young!”

“No, I’m telling you, it wasn’t my fault!”

There was no one else around, and Kellybay was one of the few people I completely trusted.

I told Kellybay about Janice’s situation and problems, including what he had done 14 years ago.

After hearing the whole story, Kellybay clicked his tongue.

“I didn’t think that guy was so… quite something.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“But it’s admirable that he’s still trying to send child support until the end, isn’t it?”

“……Should I call this admirable?”

I was lost in thought. Is this admirable? Or is it shameless?

And how did that child, born between a foreign princess and Janice, end up growing up in an orphanage in the Empire?

The more I think about it, the more strange things there are in this story…

“Hey, that’s admirable enough! I’ve never even given my children pocket money, let alone proper meals. Hahaha!”

“Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“What’s too much? That’s how dwarves grow up. They get their own personal cave as soon as they’re born and grow up digging it.”

What is dwarven parenting…?

Right now, Kellybay’s son, Kellyson, is here in Crossroad, leading his dwarf legion.

They are remodeling and repairing the Crossroad Fortress, and they are always eager to get their hands on Kellybay whenever they see him.

Kellybay is an excellent blacksmith, but he might not be so good at raising children…

“Anyway, parent-child relationships are difficult enough as it is. Janice and his son… they must have a really difficult relationship.”

“I agree. It must be no joke.”

We were chatting like this when I suddenly felt a blatant gaze. Huh?

When I turned my head, I saw Hannibal hiding in the corner of the smithy, listening to our conversation.

The spirit mage and enchanter assistant blacksmith was looking at us with wide eyes.

“Hannibal? What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, no! It’s nothing!”

Hannibal, startled by my call, jumped up from his spot. The boy’s shaggy hair rippled in the air.

Kellybay waved his hand at Hannibal.

“You finished the finishing touches, kid? Then get your head in the game and bring the finished ‘thing’ here!”

“Yes, sir!”

Hannibal hurried into the smithy.

Kellybay, chuckling as he watched him, glanced at me and asked in a subtle voice.

“And, what’s the other problem?”

“……”

“You seem to have other worries. Just tell me. Sometimes just talking about it can help, you know?”

After hesitating for a moment, I slowly opened my mouth.

Mikhail’s injuries and the annihilation of the Sky Knights.

The increasing fatigue problem on the front lines…

Faced with these various problems, how should I manage the front lines in the future?

As I talked, Kellybay listened quietly to everything, then,

“Well! I’m not the strategist type, so I don’t know the solutions to such difficult problems!”

He threw up his hands as if he didn’t know what to do, then grinned, raising his beard.

“When your mind is so complicated, the best thing to do is to handle a newly made, awesome weapon!”

“But that doesn’t solve anything…”

“But it makes you feel better! Here!”

Hannibal brought the newly made equipment from the workshop, wrapped in dark cloth.

Kellybay took the equipment, estimated its weight one last time, and handed it to me.

“Besides! This time, it’s equipment for you!”

“……”

I slowly took the equipment Kellybay handed me.

As I carefully unwrapped the dark cloth covering the equipment, Kellybay shrugged his shoulders as if he was more excited than I was.

“This is the Nightmare Slayer I’ve newly made! Equipment that has never existed before! I designed the gimmicks according to the client’s taste, and reflected the grip, weight, and even their habits! A completely order-made weapon!”

The dark cloth fell away, and what was revealed was-

“It’s called, [Light & Shadow]!”

-A magnificent ceremonial longsword.

A magnificent longsword, so white that its entire body, from the blade to the guard to the handle, was almost transparent, and.

A jet-black scabbard that housed the longsword, with no patterns or decorations, as if it were absorbing light.

A ceremonial longsword for commanders, [Light].

And its scabbard, [Shadow].

The twin magic cores obtained after defeating the 3rd-ranked Nightmare Legion Commander, the Great Magic Emperor Byakuya.

A custom-made equipment made with those two, just for me.

The Nightmare Slayer, [Light & Shadow].