Under the cover of night, atop the peak of a high mountain, three figures stood facing one another.
"So this is what that man said?"
One of the tall figures finished reading the note in his hand, then looked toward another shadow standing in front of him.
"Yes. Those were his exact words."
"Is that so…"
Hearing the reply, the tall figure raised his head and looked up at the sky. At the same time, a gust of wind swept through, blowing away the clouds that had been covering the night sky and revealing a resolute and valiant face. If Duanmu Huai had been here, he would certainly have recognized this man as the King of the Kingdom of Seth whom he had met before—Ragnarok Aku·Super·Gandhi.
"Objective reality and political goals, huh… I had already guessed he wouldn't be a simple man, but I didn't expect him to see through the root of my country's internal problems at a glance. As expected of the hero who eliminated the former Demon King—not only overwhelmingly powerful, but astonishingly wise as well."
After sighing with emotion, the King of Seth lowered his head and looked at the figure kneeling at his feet—a slender girl with beautiful black hair, wearing a kimono. Needless to say, she was the resistance member named Kaoru.
Of course, now it seemed this had merely been her disguise.
"Kaoru, do you think he's a spy sent by Leazas?"
"I don't think so."
After thinking for a moment, Kaoru shook her head.
"From what I can see so far, that lord initially approached Iceflame due to a misunderstanding, and he did indeed mention that, as a representative of Leazas, it was inappropriate for him to have contact with the resistance of the Kingdom of Seth. However, on the other hand, he didn't mind taking action on behalf of the resistance and eliminating some particularly vile individuals."
"Like Zeruki's son… ah, tomorrow is probably going to be chaos again."
"..."
"But there's no need to worry about such a small matter."
The king waved his hand.
"Continue your mission. Perhaps… this man is the only choice to save this country."
As the wind swept past, the shadows of the dark night once again emerged, enveloping everything.
At the same time, in a dimly lit room, a completely different scene was unfolding.
"Ugh… ah…!!"
Kanami let out a muffled groan and collapsed onto Duanmu Huai's muscular chest.
"Feeling better now?"
Duanmu Huai reached out and gently stroked Kanami, who gave a slight nod in response.
"Yes…"
"That's good. But speaking of which, you want to learn the Dark Crow Guard's techniques, huh…"
"Yes!"
At this, Kanami raised her head and stared intently at Duanmu Huai.
"Please, my lord, you must teach me. As a ninja, I know I'm not very competent, but… I want to go further!"
"Teaching you isn't really a problem."
Duanmu Huai shrugged. After obtaining the Dark Crow Guard gene, the relevant knowledge naturally existed in his mind. The question was how much someone like Kanami, who wasn't an Astartes, could actually learn.
"Thank you, my lord."
Hearing Duanmu Huai agree, Kanami let out a breath of relief and lay back down again. Just as Duanmu Huai thought she had fallen asleep, her voice sounded once more.
"My lord, do you think the current situation in Seth… can be improved?"
"That's hard to say. Of course, there are ways."
Duanmu Huai spoke as he gently stroked Kanami, who clung to him like a kitten.
Just as Duanmu Huai had said, the problems in Seth were deeply rooted. The rift and division between first-tier and second-tier citizens had grown so vast that it was almost impossible to resolve. First-tier citizens believed they bore greater obligations and therefore naturally enjoyed privileges, while second-tier citizens were unwilling to continue being oppressed and wanted to rise up in resistance.
However, the crux of the issue lay at the center—the political objective Duanmu Huai had mentioned to Uruze.
Any revolutionary movement had to have its own political platform and goals. This wasn't about casually shouting lofty, empty slogans at a meeting. You had to clearly state what your goal was and how you intended to act, so that you could attract like-minded people. Otherwise, like the current situation, it was no different from bandits—recruiting anyone they came across.
If Duanmu Huai were to solve this problem himself, he was actually quite confident, because the Inquisition had experience dealing with similar situations.
After all, within the Inquisition, there were no instructions beyond principles.
In other words, the official creed of the Inquisition was—at any cost, by any means, protect the Imperium.
There were no principles, no bottom line. As long as this goal could be achieved, anything was permissible.
As a result, the Inquisition's inquisitors had split into several factions.
And after learning about the current situation in the Kingdom of Seth, Duanmu Huai immediately thought of the faction best at solving such problems—the Istvanite faction.
The core ideology of this Inquisitorial school could be summed up in four words:
Hardship breeds prosperity.
They believed that humanity's greatest achievements were all accomplished after eras of conflict. No conflict or war would eliminate humanity; instead, after being tempered by iron and blood, humanity would become tougher and more resilient. Thus, the Istvanite faction preferred to let humanity grow stronger through suffering, in accordance with the principle of "survival of the fittest."
Therefore, what Istvanite inquisitors most often did was create conflict, then control it. Large-scale wars, in particular, were their favorite targets. In their view, only after being tempered by sufficiently brutal wars could humanity move forward, and every war would become fuel and wheels driving human history onward.
Like a blade—it had to be quenched to become hard and sharp.
Thus, when Uruze asked Duanmu Huai, the first solution that came to his mind was the Istvanite approach.
First, provoke a war between first-tier and second-tier citizens. Then, while both sides were locked in mutual conflict, introduce a demon invasion. Force the originally hostile factions to join hands under an overwhelming external threat and resist the demons together. If successful, the internal opposition that had plagued the Kingdom of Seth for hundreds of years could be resolved in one stroke.
A perfect solution. The only problem was that people would die.
And many would die.
Of course, this lay entirely outside the scope of concern of the Istvanite inquisitors. What they cared about was the evolution of humanity as a whole, not the life or death of individuals.
If asked, Istvanite inquisitors would certainly say that if it could completely resolve the kind of internal opposition seen in the Kingdom of Seth, then even the deaths of several million people would be worth it.
Of course, if Duanmu Huai had to choose, he would lean toward another method.
Considering the severe internal contradictions in this country and the fact that oppression of second-tier citizens by first-tier citizens had already reached a critical point, second-tier citizens were highly likely to be tempted and corrupted by Warp demons.
So, in order to purge corruption within the Imperium, to be on the safe side… issuing an Exterminatus order might be better.
If everyone died, the world would be peaceful, and there would be no risk of corruption or degeneration.
Simple and efficient.
"Umm…"
When Duanmu Huai came back to his senses, he saw that Kanami had already fallen into a deep sleep.
"Sigh… how should I put this… it's just…"
Duanmu Huai scratched his head helplessly. He had to admit that after experiencing it personally, he finally understood why there were sayings in the past about emperors skipping morning court. Even he himself was thoroughly enjoying it. The only thing that dissatisfied him was that he had discovered one of his own shortcomings.
That was—his stamina was too excessive.
Even now, Duanmu Huai still didn't feel satisfied. If expressed numerically, it was probably only around 40%.
But he couldn't just indulge himself recklessly, otherwise there was a high chance Kanami wouldn't live to see the next day.
Having too much stamina wasn't necessarily a good thing…
Duanmu Huai scratched his head again, then yawned.
Forget it, sleep…
For Duanmu Huai, this was just a peaceful night, but for Seth, it was not.
Early the next morning, in a park within the first-tier citizen district of the royal capital of Seth, the corpse of the son of the Minister of Finance, Zeruki Clavin—Hasam Clavin—was discovered.
The news immediately shocked the entire royal capital.
"We must capture the murderer immediately!!"
At the early morning council meeting in the royal capital, Minister of Finance Zeruki shook his fat cheeks, his eyes bloodshot, roaring like a crazed wild boar.
"Indeed, this is a provocation against the entire ruling apparatus of Seth."
Minister of Education Radon Arnu stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes.
"Hasam's head was torn off alive and even mounted on a pillar. This is an intolerable atrocity. We must find the culprit and execute them!"
"That may be so, but we currently don't have a single clue about the murderer."
Looking at the ministers below who were engaged in heated discussion, a woman seated above them—dressed flamboyantly like a peacock displaying its feathers and wearing glasses—adjusted them and spoke coldly. She was Yamada Chizuko, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Seth, the kingdom's highest ruling body.
"Do we even need to ask?!"
Facing Chizuko's questioning, Zeruki slammed the table in rage and glared at her viciously.
"It was definitely done by those despicable second-tier citizens! I propose we immediately deploy the army and kill all second-tier citizens! Only then can I vent the hatred in my heart!"
"Are you serious, Zeruki?!"
Hearing such an absurd proposal, Chizuko couldn't help raising her voice.
"Do you know what kind of chaos that would cause?"
"They're nothing but filthy, lowly beasts anyway! They dared to harm my son—unforgivable!"
"Yes, yes…"
As Zeruki vented his fury, several other high officials nodded along.
"These second-tier citizens are useless anyway. We might as well kill them all and then raise a new batch that's more obedient. I think it's a good idea."
"I agree. Allowing them to exist in Seth is already an immense mercy. Yet these lowlifes not only failed to be grateful, they even dared to lay hands on a first-tier citizen—and the son of Lord Zeruki no less. It just proves that beasts are beasts, with no sense of gratitude. Keeping them serves no purpose. We should kill them all."
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Chizuko's expression darkened as she coldly stared at the ministers.
"Of course I won't agree to such a foolish request. And I advise you all not to get carried away. The next head mounted on a pole might be yours."
"..."
Faced with Chizuko's words, the ministers who had just been eagerly discussing fell silent, like ducks with their throats grabbed.
Soon, another person coughed.
"No matter what, we must respond. If the citizens see something like this happen and we do nothing, that would be a dereliction of duty. I propose increasing patrols, sealing off all entrances and exits of the second-tier citizen district, and strictly investigating all suspicious individuals!"
"..."
Hearing this, Chizuko frowned slightly, but seeing the aggressive looks of the other high officials, she knew that if she didn't agree, things would spiral out of control.
"Fine."
In the end, Chizuko made her decision.
It had to be said that these officials acted quickly. They immediately dispatched security patrols, completely sealed off the second-tier citizen district, and began searching house by house for suspects in Hasam's murder.
Iceflame naturally received the intelligence as well.
"Looks like this really caused a huge problem…"
After reading the report, Uruze sighed. Duanmu Huai didn't even bother to look at it.
"As expected. No need to worry about it. So next… should we kill that Amy?"
"You're still going to kill someone?"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Uruze looked at him in surprise. Duanmu Huai shrugged.
"Of course. We all heard it last night—Hasam personally admitted that the mastermind behind everything was Miss Amy, and he was just an accomplice. In other words, in the entire Saber Knight incident, that woman named Amy was the real culprit. Hasam was at most a helper. If we don't deal with Amy, she'll just create a second and third Saber Knight in the future. Are we supposed to keep chasing after her? That doesn't fit my style."
"But now the entire district is sealed off. Ordinary people can't get in or out at all…"
"That's not a problem."
Duanmu Huai waved his hand, cutting off Uruze.
"Just tell me Amy's address, and I'll handle it alone."
After all, he had the Dark Crow Guard gene. If he didn't pull off a stealth massacre, wouldn't that be letting the Raven King down?
(The chapter ends)