Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 645 - 644: Human Nature

Outside the small chapel, the crowd had already gathered. A piece of news that suddenly spread shook everyone. The aristocrats and soldiers were all in shock, even those who had faintly sensed some truth beforehand were dumbfounded upon learning the details—

The King, in order to eliminate the noblemen who had once opposed him, to falsely accuse Duke Gawain Cecil, to secure his own royal authority, and to prevent the Cecil Clan from returning to the center of power of the kingdoms, orchestrated the horrifying massacre on the Raven Plateau.

This was not a rumor, but there was solid evidence and witnesses—a secret letter that should have been destroyed was found, and several unwilling-to-remain-silent inner court attendants came forward to testify against the King’s crimes. Outside the chapel, the corpulent Earl Balin waved a piece of the letter in his hand angrily: "This is a conspiracy! The King used false information to deceive Duke Cecil, making the Duke mistakenly believe the Raven Plateau was overtaken by monsters. The King killed over a hundred nobles and their Knights just because these people had opposed him!!"

The Knights around the chapel began to stir, and the restlessness gradually evolved into louder and louder shouting. A faction of shocked and frightened noble court members quickly joined in the wave of condemnation. In the crowd, only a scant few maintained an eerie silence, while another small group of aristocrats were bewildered, as if suddenly unsure of where the world’s errors lay.

More people were stirred up and a sense of betrayal’s anger began to spread among the crowd.

"The King we supported turns out to be a tyrant?!"

"If he can kill a hundred nobles who opposed him today, he can kill us tomorrow!!"

"He was crowned on a foundation of blood from the start! We should have known!"

Someone in the crowd shouted hoarsely. Initially, only a small number were shouting, but somehow it rapidly infected almost the entire crowd. Some shouted for the King to come out of the chapel, while others who felt betrayed stared angrily at the door. If it weren’t for a final guard stationed at the chapel door, they might even have rushed into the chapel.

Then, the door to the chapel was pushed open, and Wales Moen appeared before them.

"The King is out!" "He’s out..."

The crowd couldn’t help but step back half a step amidst the commotion, but immediately surged forward again. A cacophony of voices demanded the King explain the letter’s content. Earl Balin stood at the forefront, waving the letter in his hand, loudly exclaiming: "Your Majesty! Please explain all this—why did you write a letter to Duke Cecil, saying the Raven Plateau was overtaken by monsters?!"

The face of the portly Earl was flushed red, seeming to use up all his strength with every word he spoke.

Wales stared silently at Earl Balin for a few seconds, and only after the crowd quieted down did he clearly say: "I merely cleansed the kingdom of parasites."

This was a disguised admission, and the crowd was instantly in uproar.

Just as the uproar reached its peak, the crowd suddenly fell silent once more.

A tall figure emerged from the shadows of the chapel, and Gawain walked out the door, standing beside Wales without expression.

"To be honest, from the day I walked out of the grave, I’ve met many people in this era. Some tried to be my adversaries, some assumed they could be, some were my allies, and others believed themselves to be," Gawain glanced at the King beside him, "but only you, neither an adversary nor an ally, have truly astonished me thus far, and even caught me a bit off guard."

"That must be my greatest honor," Wales smiled faintly and said softly, "Now, all you need to do is one thing—condemn me."

No one heard the low conversation between Gawain and Wales, but everyone could see the two were communicating. A nobleman dressed in a sapphire blue coat shouted: "Duke Cecil, you have been deceived by this ’King’! He wants to place you in a position of injustice!"

Gawain glanced at the shouting nobleman and whispered to Wales: "This man is quite loyal to you."

And then, before Wales could respond, he added, "Too bad the stage you’ve set doesn’t quite suit my style."

A hint of astonishment finally showed on Wales’s face, but before he could say anything, Gawain stepped forward and addressed the gathered nobles and soldiers: "There is no need to doubt. I know what lies on the Raven Plateau."

In front of the small chapel, the plaza instantly fell silent. Everyone was so stunned they forgot to speak, and some couldn’t help sucking in cold breaths after a moment’s pause, while others instinctively cast their gazes around—

Cecil Legion soldiers and chariots were gathered around the open space. These cold war machines watched all this indifferently, with no sorrow or joy, disciplined impeccably.

"The letter is real, and my bombing of the Raven Plateau is also real. But before we discuss the righteousness of this matter, there are some things I want to show you."

As Gawain spoke, he stretched his hand to the side, and only then did people notice a short half-elf in black, skintight leather armor standing there at some point—this remarkable stealth technique first surprised the Transcendent present, and then they saw the half-elf hand a stack of papers printed with text and images to Gawain.

Gawain accepted the prints handed over by Amber, casually flipped through them, and then read aloud: "Earl Uriel, nobleman directly enfeoffed by the royal family, whose territory is in the western part of St. Soniel, planned to defect last month on the 58th, packing a dozen carriages worth of goods, including three carriages and several horses of city defense materials embezzled through his position... later canceled the escape upon perceiving the unusual movements of the Order of Knights.

"Viscount Hodickor, noble court member, similarly planned to defect and transferred a large amount of royal property by bribing guardians... likewise canceled the escape due to informed intelligence, and then actively pledged allegiance to the new King to cover up past crimes.

"Baron Balger and his brother attempted to defect through the North Gate, even killing an upright Knight who opposed the escape and intended to report to Silver Castle, and disguised it as an accidental fall.

"This document is even more impactful, with the attempted defection of Countess Hopkina. I even have a Magic image of her speeding toward the North Gate in her carriage—"

Gawain raised a sheet of paper, upon which was vividly displayed the image of a noble carriage, with its emblem erased, heading toward the city gate. In the image, a long-faced woman is nervously peering out at the street, while the background behind the carriage is the well-known northern wall of St. Soniel.

"I still have a lot of information here, a lot."

Gawain’s voice brought many people in the square out of their stupor, and upon awakening, almost everyone suddenly felt a pervasive chill spreading from the depths of their hearts.

The Duke observed everyone—even though he was far in the southern borders, his gaze had long covered the northern royal capital.

This information, these texts and pictures, the perspectives they presented were unsettling, the details they contained were terrifying, and for a brief moment, the nobles in the square even felt an illusion—as if they lived completely under the watchful eyes of the Cecil Clan, with every guest at every banquet, every guardian under every porch, every passerby on the roadside, every corner, and every moment being watched by a pair of eyes belonging to the Cecil Clan.

But Gawain himself knew he hadn’t achieved that, although after more than two years of management, the Intelligence Agency had indeed set up many stations and spies within St. Soniel, his "surveillance" of the royal capital was still quite limited. It was just that those nobles attempting to defect were truly unlucky, or perhaps they only cared about the attention of Silver Castle and overlooked the ubiquitous commoners on the roadside and the gazes behind the windows of the alleys, resulting in many being exposed.

On the other hand, the information in his hand was half-true, half-false—but at times like this, who would care?

"In times of national crisis, attempting to defect while taking military supplies, sabotaging city defense arrangements, even murdering city guards, is a severe act of treason," Gawain set down the information in his hand, speaking calmly, "What happened on Raven Plateau was merely an act of law enforcement."

This was Gawain’s style—it was he who ordered the bombardment of Raven Plateau, and there was nothing bad about admitting it, he wanted to eradicate those nobles, and there was nothing bad about admitting that either, just like the things he did in the southern borders. In matters concerning traditional nobles, he was neither evasive nor camouflaged.

After all, the order he advocated and the old aristocratic order were not in mere "deviation," but were direct confrontations. Since from the very beginning they were destined to be irreconcilable, it would be better to be straightforward.

After all, he did not need to leave a "back door" for himself in the group of old nobles, instead, he had to be cautious that if he cooperated with this charade today, this hypocrisy would become a stain in the eyes of the people someday in the future.

"I’m done," he said indifferently, "who wishes to speak?"

The chapel square was silent, but this silence was not only due to tension and fear, but also from a conflicting and tangled mindset troubling everyone. Aside from those soldiers and low-ranking Knights with possibly simpler positions, those nobles with even slight titles present realized the difficulty of this issue:

Treason was utterly detestable, there was no doubt about that. Those standing here now were basically the true defenders of the royal capital who felt disdain for the defectors, the main battle faction, and after seeing that evidence, they certainly had a certain degree of approval of what happened on Raven Plateau.

But the methods of Gawain Cecil made them uneasy, that cannon fire instilled a deep dread in everyone.

The King indeed purged the "parasites" from the kingdoms, yet it was undeniable that the King also used this method to eliminate dissidents, regardless of whether Duke Cecil knew the truth on Raven Plateau. The King’s letter was genuine, and the motive was real...

The massive sense of contradiction and almost absurd sense of division left everyone at a loss for words for a moment. It seemed none of them should be supported, yet they had to support one...

This unbearable silence continued for several minutes before it was suddenly broken by someone.

The people gathered in front of the small chapel suddenly parted ways, and Duke Baldwin Franklin, wearing a ducal cloak and possessing an elegant demeanor, stepped forward.

The Duke held in his hands something that appeared inexplicable to others—it was a metal plate made of Mithril.

Upon seeing the metal plate, Gawain’s face showed no trace of surprise; he merely turned slightly to glance at Victoria by his side. In the Northern Duchess’s complex gaze, he saw a hint of seriousness, followed by relief.

Baldwin Franklin, holding the Mithril Plate, came before Gawain and Wales, exchanged a profound glance with Wales, then turned to look at the crowd in the square:

"Regardless, the King’s act of using Duke Cecil to eliminate dissidents is indisputable. His motives harbored significant selfishness and dreadful abuse of power. This undeniable fact proves one thing: Wales Moen is no longer suitable to continue as our King; he should step down and abdicate.

"Duke Cecil’s bombardment of Raven Plateau was a thunderous measure to eradicate traitors. He is far from the power center of the royal capital, with no motive to eliminate those with differing political views. Though the decision might seem overly cruel, it is a normal decision in a state of national crisis—this is my judgment."

Behind Gawain, Amber, hidden from view, muttered softly, "This is really absurd..."

Gawain responded quietly, "Yes, it’s very absurd."

Baldwin’s words contained too many points for debate, as if deliberately magnifying one side’s fault while intentionally ignoring the dreadful act itself by the other side. Clearly, it was Gawain who truly fired the cannons, yet in the end, everyone was expected to overlook this fact.

But the most absurd part was, after Baldwin finished speaking, not a single person in the square voiced opposition.

People were briefly silent, then exchanged glances with one another, and under a kind of silent understanding, they nodded one after another.

Baldwin turned back, looked into Wales’s eyes: "Your Majesty, do you have any objections to this conclusion?"

Wales showed a relaxed smile, things finally returned to the direction he had planned.

"I have no objections."

"Then please abdicate, Your Majesty."