TGS - Chapter 52
Chapter 52: Death of the City Lord
Dark red bloodstains soaked the thick wool carpet. The City Lord's guards lay scattered in pools of blood, their faces frozen with the shock, terror, numbness, or pain of their final moments.
The Lord of Wash City collapsed to the ground, not daring to move.
He had practiced martial arts, learning archery and swordsmanship like other men of noble birth, but he had never put them to practical use. At best, his skills were for show.
When the guards around him were defeated one after another, the City Lord had no strength left to resist. The Princess's sword tip rested at his throat; a slight push forward was all it would take to pierce his flesh.
When Kopal stepped into the banquet hall, a spark of hope for survival suddenly ignited in the Lord of Wash City's eyes. He didn't dare speak, pleading for help with his gaze alone.
Quick, Kopal!
Go call the guards, or take up your sword and rescue your father!
The desire to live overwhelmed everything else, but the Lord of Wash City soon discovered that Kopal's expression was very strange. There was no trace of the horror one would expect upon witnessing a scene of slaughter. She was perfectly calm, even suppressing a smile.
The Lord of Wash City was no fool. He thought of the Royal Guard that had suddenly appeared during his operation, and of the Princess's calm, prepared demeanor.
In a flash, all the details connected. He gritted his teeth and forced out the words, "It was you... Kopal, you betrayed me..."
As he spoke, his throat moved and was pricked by the sword tip. A trickle of blood ran down the blade, and the Lord of Wash City immediately froze.
He shut his mouth, glaring at Kopal with hateful eyes.
Alyuin's sword hand was steady. She nodded to Kopal. "Everything went smoothly. It's time to end this."
Kopal looked down at her helpless father, her expression momentarily dazed. Then, she said solemnly, "Thank you, Your Highness."
Alyuin raised an eyebrow.
She was quite satisfied with the outcome and, in a rare show of kindness, asked, "Is there anything else you need to ask him? If not, I can send him on his way for you."
Harming a blood relative was already a grave crime; patricide was utterly unforgivable by law. But Kopal said, "I'll do it."
Alyuin was not surprised. She sheathed her sword, made a "please" gesture, and stepped aside.
Kopal walked step by step until she stood before the Lord of Wash City. She looked down at the middle-aged man who, even without the threat of a sword, was so paralyzed he couldn't even crawl away. Suddenly, she found it laughable.
This was the man she had once feared and avoided.
The Lord of Wash City was used to giving orders from behind the scenes. Facing real bloodshed for the first time, he felt dizzy and nauseous.
He blustered, "Don't be a fool, Kopal. Do you really intend to kill your own father? You'll be executed! You'll be struck down by the gods' punishment!"
Realizing his predicament, he changed his tune. "I can give you anything you want. My position as City Lord will be yours one day... Your Highness, Princess, I had no choice before. I didn't dare defy Horst's will! If you spare me, I will surely become your greatest asset..."
Amidst his incoherent rambling, Kopal asked in a low voice, "Do you remember my mother?"
The Lord of Wash City's pleading came to an abrupt halt.
"She begged you just like this, pleaded with you to spare her. But you ignored her and ordered the whipping to continue, simply because you were in a bad mood and needed to vent."
The City Lord opened his mouth, but not a single word came out.
Kopal stared him down. "She was carried back with only a breath of life left in her. I went to you to beg for medicine. Even a little might have saved her. But what did you do?"
"Oh, that's right. You kicked me aside and told me not to bother you."
Kopal would never forget that day. Her mother, covered in blood, had been carried back to their leaky shack by other slaves, her breathing faint.
Terrified, she had run out into the rain to find medicine. Medicine was precious, and no one would waste it on a slave. She had no choice but to run to the front courtyard to find the City Lord.
The Lord of Wash City was talking to someone. "...Why did the Princess have to pass through our Wash City? This is so troublesome. If we kill her, we'll have problems later. If we don't, what if the new king is displeased? Forget it. Let's just ignore her and let the next few cities worry about it."
Kopal was stopped at the door by a guard. She shouted, incoherently begging the father she had barely met to save her mother.
The City Lord heard the commotion, walked over impatiently, and kicked her down several steps.
"If a slave dies, she dies. Don't bother me."
Kopal was thrown back into the rear courtyard by the guards. The spot where she'd been kicked ached terribly. She dragged herself back to the shack, step by step, and held her mother's hand.
Her mother barely had the strength to move, but she still murmured for Kopal to be careful. She was young now, and her disguise as a boy wasn't obvious, but how would she hide it as she grew older? What should she pay attention to?
She repeated every point she could think of, over and over. Kopal answered through her tears, until the hand she held grew cold.
Her mother's last words were halting and so faint they were almost inaudible.
"I'm sorry, Kopal... Mama has made things so hard for you..."
If only she weren't a slave.
If only Kopal were really a boy.
Then she wouldn't have to live in constant fear of her true identity being exposed, of being disposed of at the City Lord's whim—sold to a passing merchant or simply killed.
She had died filled with endless worry for her daughter.
"From that day on, I thought constantly about how to make you die." Kopal hefted her shortsword, as if testing its feel. "I didn't expect this day to come so soon. Don't worry. Since we're in Her Highness's presence, I won't make your death too unsightly."
The Lord of Wash City propped himself up on his elbows and scrambled backward until he was pressed against a low table with nowhere left to go.
His pupils, dilated with fear, reflected the approaching blade, but the shortsword suddenly stopped.
"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you something."
Kopal bent down and whispered something in his ear.
The Lord of Wash City's expression instantly became frantic. He stared at her in disbelief, his mouth opening to rasp, "Impossible—"
Before he could finish, the shortsword plunged into his heart and twisted mercilessly.
Kopal pulled the blade out, and blood gushed like a fountain.
"You killed my mother. I kill you. That's fair."
"If the gods despise me for this, then let them."
The City Lord didn't struggle for long before he stopped moving completely.
Kopal stared at the Lord of Wash City's corpse for a moment, then turned to the Princess. "Your Highness."
Alyuin was standing with Lotus. She looked up at Kopal's words. "Is it done?"
"Yes, he's dead."
"Then we can clean up the banquet hall now." Alyuin glanced around at the utter mess. "This will be a hassle to clean. If it's too much, we can call in the men waiting outside to help."
With the Lord of Wash City dead, the guards outside had no choice but to obey Kopal. They weren't the City Lord's confidants; there was no reason for them to cross their future lord for the sake of their dead former superior.
Kopal thought for a moment. "Let's just burn it all."
Alyuin replied, "An accidental fire at the City Lord's manor, the old lord perishes in the flames? That works."
Kopal said, "He did plenty of filthy things here. Letting this banquet hall be his tomb is a fitting end."
After a quick search, a fire was lit in the center of the banquet hall. The Royal Guard had already withdrawn through a small door. The Princess and the others calmly walked out the main entrance before the flames reached them.
Before leaving, Lotus glanced back at a few bodies piled together.
The battle had been chaotic, and Alyuin had never left her side. Some had noticed this and, thinking the unarmed female official behind the Princess was a weak point, had swarmed forward to attack her.
Lotus remained calm, her hand behind her back quietly gripping a dinner knife.
She just wanted to conduct an experiment. If it worked, the knife would be unnecessary. If it failed, she wouldn't be harmed anyway—what kind of god could be killed by a few mortals?
One of the City Lord's guards swung his longsword. Just as he was about to strike, his entire body abruptly froze in place.
His eyes widened in terror as the veins on his face suddenly bulged, contorting his features. Then, due to some inexplicable reaction, the blood vessels burst, as if his own blood had destroyed him from within.
The guard collapsed without a sound.
As he fell, the tip of the Princess's sword whistled past, just grazing the guard's body.
Alyuin paused in surprise. She glanced at the motionless body on the floor and, in that instant, seemed to realize something. She simply smiled at the goddess before rejoining the fray.
Lotus stood safely behind, watching as other guards, who also thought she was a weak point, rushed forward one after another, only to die bizarrely before their attacks could land—their blood vessels bursting or their bodies shriveling.
Yet, even knowing they would die, the Princess's sword always arrived in time. If anyone had happened to glance over, they would have assumed all these men had died by Alyuin's blade.
Why blood?
It wasn't strange.
The people of Solancia believed that the life of all living beings came from three things.
Water, light, and air. Without any one of them, life could not exist.
Therefore, in Solancian mythology, the God of Sky and Wind, the twin Sun and Moon Gods, and the River Goddess were known as the four ancestral gods who protected life.
The spirit, flesh, bone, and blood of all living things in the world came from the generosity of these ancestral gods. The spirit was bestowed by the God of Sky and Wind; flesh and bone were born from the radiance of the twin Sun and Moon Gods; and the blood flowing in the veins of humans and animals, as well as the sap within plants, was the gift of the River Goddess.
This was the beginning of life, the myth of humanity's birth.
And for those who dared to try and kill the Goddess of the Yilu River, their blood would naturally undergo a change—it might be taken from them, or it might riot as if driven mad.
Lotus frowned imperceptibly and withdrew her gaze.
This place would soon be destroyed by fire, and the strangely disfigured corpses would not be discovered by others.
The moment the door opened, the spears of the City Lord's guards were all pointed at them.
But then they saw the fire spreading from within the room and froze. Someone instinctively started to call for help to put out the fire, but the captain of the guard stopped him with a raised hand.
Kopal looked up at the captain and said calmly, "Something has happened to my father. The fire was too fierce. I couldn't save him."
"Do you want to go in and save him now?"
The captain was silent for a moment. Then he tossed his spear aside and knelt on one knee. "I swear to follow you to the death, Lord Kopal."
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