Chapter 276. Fleeing Princes

Chapter 276: 276. Fleeing Princes

Basically, Bors had managed to gather the disorganized bunch of soldiers who’d fled from the collapsed western wall. With them, he even caused quite a bit of casualties among the noble cavalries.

Thankfully, Lady Pristina ’arrived’ there in time and managed to fatally injure him.

"Go! You must follow the lead of Lord Jones! Sir Jaquavious and his men have already infiltrated the royal palace."

"But- Milady, what about that dragon?!" A baron pointed at the sky and the others nodded.

"She- uh..." Pristina paused before replying. "It is a pet of Sir Jacquavious. The dragon is on our side!"

While she was speaking, Bors launched a ’ferocious counterattack’ on her, causing the gothic woman to step back.

"Um, gah! You... I shall chop your head off!"

The pirate woman shouted, sounding a bit uninterested. Fortunately, the excitement of participating in a coup made the nobles disregard her lack of enthusiasm.

In the sky, Yvonne found that some unintelligent monsters were still hiding so she roared again.

This caused some of the weak-willed nobles to shudder. They were only here to reap the benefits.

"Let’s move, we have a dragon on our side. What’s there to fear?" Jones Oliver raised his sword, deflecting the arrows from above as he broke through the poorly defended entrance.

The other nobles were still hesitating until Countess Margaret tapped her warhorse.

"Hyah!"

As the armored noble lady and her forces entered the city, the rest followed in tandem.

On the other hand, the royal soldiers became martyrs, outnumbered and butchered by the aristocratic forces.

This bunch of nobles from Ardin province numbered fourteen, including Marquis Jones. The lowest barons had brought 500-700 men, while viscounts and counts alike had brought nearly 2000 strong men each. Some of them had even inflated the numbers by adding young cadets.

After Bors chipped away a few thousand, there were still more than 15k remaining. Such a force would be impressive, but not anything substantial in the face of a robust royal army.

However, if one were to add up all the nobles who still had their fief and retained a private regiment, the army wouldn’t be something the royals could handle.

Thus, even if a subject was conferred a noble title, it was rare for him or her to obtain a fief alongside it. Without a fief, it would be much harder to create a private force.

Such was the reason why Baron Leo’s promotion to the Count was faced with such scrutiny. Prince Splennar had given him too many benefits at that time.

Speaking of the third prince, he and those who still supported him were at a small town about five kilometres northeast of Ulford.

"Your Highness, the kingdom is lost. I can see the banners of the rebels entering from the north gate. They must’ve led the monsters to the city!" A 2nd Circle mage standing on a watchtower relayed while using a farsight spell.

"Those darn monsters... I... I will-"

"You must calm your anger, your highness. Now is not the right time!" A minister stepped forward and said.

"The sun is about to set, we must be alert for any stray monsters that come our way."

"I’m not your highness anymore!" Splennar drooped his shoulders in profound dismay.

"Father, mother, my sisters... You are still trapped there while I hide here. One day, I shall avenge you..." He added as he stretched a hand toward Ulford.

A few maids standing beside him couldn’t help but roll their eyes even as they appeared subservient.

’Such a shameless man... He ran away at the sight of a goblin mob and now talks about vengeance!’

’Tch, Tch, no wonder Prince Roland is still favored even though he’s so old.’

The others also had similar feelings but they didn’t speak up. No matter what, Splennar still had the royal blood flowing through him.

If the kingdom could be restored one day, he had a chance at the throne. And compared to his stepbrother, this boy was much easier to manipulate.

Except for a few loyalists, such was the thinking process of the officials and military men who had followed Splennar.

"Do you still trust me?" He turned toward them.

"Your Highness!" Those from the loyalist faction immediately kneeled and the others followed to not stand out.

"Hah, I told you not to call me that..." Splennar sighed.

"But you’re right, I must persevere!"

"Yes, your highness. Not all hope is lost. Wherever you go, we shall follow your lead."

Hearing those words, Splennar took one last look at Ulford as he said,

"I remember my elder sister Shirley is engaged to the 8th Prince of Auximore. We have good relations with the empire, we shall seek asylum there."

...

Meanwhile, about fifteen kilometers southwest from Ulford, a small caravan hastily diverted from the main highway, going down a much narrower path.

"Are you sure nobody is following us, Vice-chancellor Fidel?"

"You can definitely put your mind at rest, your highness. We’re quite far from the city and our scouts haven’t spotted any monsters in the vicinity."

"Well, what about those with unique magical signatures?" Prince Roland turned to another man sitting quietly inside the luxurious carriage.

"I don’t sense any threats." the hooded mage replied nonchalantly.

"Thank you, Sir Ivan!" Roland heaved a long sigh before cursing.

"All this still feels like a nightmare... It must be because of that jinx of a brother I have!" Everybody inside the carriage knew whom Roland was referring to.

"That’s right, if he didn’t leak the kingdom’s secrets, none of this might’ve happened in the first place!"

"To save himself, he even framed Sir Ivan when in fact he was the corrupt one!"

The ministers chattered, raging with their potbellies. As the carriage bumped on a tree stump, some of them nearly fell off.

"Forgive me, your highness!" The coachman hurriedly apologised, "This road hasn’t been used in a long time."

"It’s fine. At least, going this way will throw off our pursuers." Prince Roland dismissed the man as he looked outside the window.

"Your Highness, we have enough food and wine, right?" The vice-chancellor expressed his concern, having never faced such hardship before.

"You don’t have to worry. My private squad is more than capable of hunting wild animals even if we run out of food. As for alcohol, you’ll have to wait until we cross the border."

Just as he spoke, a horse trotted beside the carriage, prompting one of the ministers to open the window.

The cavalry knight outside raised his visor and reported, "Your Highness, there’s a ruined town up ahead. The captain recommends resting there for the night."

"No." Roland lightly shook his head, "The rebels are still busy taking over the kingdom and haven’t secured the borders yet. This is the best chance to escape!"

"Understood." The knight firmly nodded before pulling ahead of the carriage.

Inside, one of the ministers asked, "Where exactly are we headed, your highness?"

"Sicax Kingdom," Prince Roland folded his arms and closed his eyes.

"But isn’t Sicax an enemy of Grimbow?"

"Only the royal faction." Leaning back comfortably, he allowed a maid to massage him while speaking,

"The Duke of Pentbury is a friend of mine. He’s the leader of neutral aristocrats. He’ll help us."

The others inside the carriage looked at each other and could see slight relief in their eyes. It was indeed a good choice to follow the second prince.

Still, the hospitality these ministers would receive after they reach Sicax would obviously be worse than here. This fact caused some to worry and one couldn’t help but ask.

"Your Highness, does this mean you’re giving up on Grimbow?"

"Nonsense." Roland opened his eyes which had a calculative glint in them.

"Once news about the kingdom’s fall reaches the surrounding powers, the usurpers will have to face a new round of power checks."

The ministers nodded in understanding and while the prince added, "My Uncle had reached an agreement with the various forces. This will have to be renewed. Also, the sighting of two adult dragons will surely attract S-Rank Adventurers."

"Not only that," The vice-chancellor stroked his sparse beard, "The cathedral has been hit. Since this breaks the Holy Pact, the East Theocracy will not take it lightly."

"Tens of thousands of monsters stormed the capital. The esteemed Luminaries will have to personally purge them!"

Once this was said, the ministers finally relaxed. If it was just a normal rebellion by humans, the church would never get involved. But in this case, they will have to act.

So what if there were dragons and demons? If a Luminary’s attention was drawn to this matter, evil would be thoroughly cleansed. Not just the monsters, but those behind them as well!

Perhaps, next month, they would be returning to Grimbow again. The potbellied men couldn’t help but smile a little.

At this moment, the hooded court mage sharply turned his head toward the passengers and stood up. This immediately put them in a tense mood.

"What happened, Sir Ivan?"

"Trouble."

"But... didn’t you say there were no threats earlier?" Roland worriedly asked.

"Right, I forgot to mention..." Ivan took off his hood, revealing his twisted expression.

"I am the threat."