The discovery of the assassin corpses was a big deal in many ways. Who killed the assassins wasn't actually the major issue. There were some likely suspects, and everyone believed I had killed them with a paring knife while asleep. The problem was ‘Who sent the assassins?’ No matter how much killing was a daily occurrence in the medieval world, there was a line. Assassination was, among them, the most over-the-line act, abhorred by all Lords, and if a Lord was caught attempting assassination, they would become a common enemy, attacked by surrounding Lords, and ultimately destroyed. Assassination was such a dangerous act, and even the ‘Black Rose Family,’ the family most specialized in assassination, had committed a countable number of assassinations in the original story, and they were never caught until the very end. Given that situation, naturally, the castle was turned upside down, and Hart, furious to the tips of his hair, shouted. “It must be the work of those damned lions! Those crazy lion bastards have finally crossed the line!!!” “Calm down, Hart.” Hart, who most suspected the Lion Family due to recent bad incidents, yelled. While I could understand Hart’s feelings, it wasn't the Lion Family, so I calmed him down. Hadem of the Lion Family was ‘trash,’ but he was a ‘warrior.’ He enjoyed killing enemies with his own hands, so he wouldn't do something as uninteresting as sending assassins to deal with me. As I was calming Hart down, Noah also chimed in. I thought the calm Noah would speak to calm him. But... “I don’t know what bastards dared to aim for your Lordship’s life, but I’ll chase them to the ends of hell and deal with them. So please don’t worry, My Lord.” “Th-Thank you, Noah.” Noah spoke with a terrifying glint in her eyes, as if she were about to kill someone, and for the first time, I was scared of Noah and avoided her gaze. And so, at some point, I found myself calming down my vassals, and I quickly wanted to get out of there. Just then, like a savior, the door opened. “My Lord.” “Sharen! Yes, is the autopsy finished?” I had called Sharen to investigate the assassins’ bodies. I thought Sharen’s knowledge might find more information from the assassins’ bodies. Sharen was wearing a black autopsy suit that covered her mouth, not her usual robe, and she spoke to me with a very serious expression, as if she had seen something. “I think your Lordship should see this directly.” “Me?” My vassals and I headed to the autopsy room together. There lay the dead assassins. Externally, they looked like able-bodied men in their 30s or 40s. Looking at them like this, their rugged appearance did make them seem like people from the Lion Family. “At first, they looked like ordinary corpses. But the residual magic was so alien that when I traced it back...” Sharen placed her hand on their corpses and chanted something. Then a red light emanated, and changes began to appear on the assassins’ bodies. And... “This is!?” Their human appearance vanished, and a different form was revealed. Black skin and long ears – an appearance like a Dark Elf, and I knew a race from World Archive with this appearance. “Blood Clan...” 『Blood Clan』 A race that serves the Demon God Dantalian, said to be sealed at the northern end, and positioned like demons in this world. I hadn't seen the ending where their purpose was revealed, so while I don't know their exact objective, I do know their goal. Their goal is to ‘weaken the Empire,’ and to achieve that, they relentlessly cause a wide variety of problems, including assassination, espionage, and terrorism. But why are they targeting me? Why me, when there are imperial princes, princesses, and many other Lords? As I was getting confused, Lana suddenly interjected. “I felt something about their touch... no, their strange appearance must have been because they were Blood Clan.” “You startled me!” “La-Lana! When did you get here?” “I’ve been behind you all along, Lady Noah.” We were all startled by Lana suddenly appearing without a sound. She was behind us all along? I didn’t feel her at all! “More importantly, Lady Sharen, I learned that the Blood Clan are a fanatical group sealed by a barrier in the Abandoned Land to the north. Why would such people come all the way to our territory?” “I don’t know either. There was no word from the Magic Tower about a Blood Clan infiltration.” The Blood Clan are sealed by a barrier in a place called the Abandoned Land at the northernmost tip. So, until the event where part of the barrier opens in the mid-to-late game, they don't appear. Honestly, I hadn't been paying attention to them. Amidst such questions, Noah opened her mouth. “Come to think of it, there was news recently that a part of the barrier in the north opened and there was a clash.” “Part of the barrier opened!?” This is crazy! Why is it opening already!? Noah looked at me with a truly apologetic expression and said. “Yes, I heard it wasn’t a large opening and was immediately suppressed, so it wasn't publicly announced, but to think that Blood Clan members who infiltrated from there would come to assassinate your Lordship... I was too careless.” “This isn’t your fault, Noah.” Right, this wasn’t Noah’s fault. If a sinkhole appeared in the neighboring town, who would think I’d be assassinated the next day? It was that kind of story. After the autopsy was finished, the situation was summarized as follows. First, Hart decided to inform the Imperial Capital about the appearance of the Blood Clan assassins. I was lucky to survive, but other Lords, nobles, and members of the Imperial Family could become targets. Then, the castle guard would be strengthened, and Noah would procure magic ingredients so Sharen could set up a detection barrier comparable to the one at the Imperial Palace in the Imperial Capital. It was magic that constantly monitored key figures in crisis situations. I objected because I thought even my "happy time" would be detected, but Noah and Hart pushed for it so vehemently that I had no choice but to accept. “Phew... What in the world is going on...” When I was finally left alone in my office, a sigh escaped me. It was because the timing of the Blood Clan’s appearance was so different from what I knew. For the Blood Clan, who should have emerged years later, to already be coming for my head, just thinking about it made my knees tremble. The bigger problem is that this is likely just the beginning. The Blood Clan instigates various kinds of chaos to weaken the Empire. Among their methods were not just simple assassinations, but also cases where assassinations were used to incite political conflict. It’s a method like Borrowing a Knife to Kill, where they make a specific faction benefit from an assassination, then sow discord between them to make them fight each other to mutual destruction.[TL] 차도살인(借刀殺人) is one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, meaning to achieve one's goal by using a third party to attack an enemy, or to cause an enemy to attack another. [/TL] When I first experienced that strategy, I cursed up a storm. Hoping I wouldn't have to experience that this time, I fell asleep. * The territory located in the southeastern part of the Empire, 『Drayhart』. It was the most heterogeneous city in the Empire. The proportion of slaves in a typical territory was at most around 20%. But this territory was different. In the territory of Drayhart, a staggering 80% of the population was slaves. It became like this because of the 『Colosseum (Slave Arena)』. Drayhart was a city with no special products. Because of that, it was very poor, and the first Lord of Drayhart, pondering over how to solve this, came up with an idea. It was a way to utilize the war slaves, which were the only thing Drayhart had in abundance at the time. The Lord of Drayhart knew that people liked to show off their slaves. So he built an arena and provided a stage for masters to prove the strength of their slaves through duels in a ‘Slave Dueling Tournament.’ Masters eagerly entered their slaves into the tournament, and people craving stimulating attractions flocked there. In an instant, Drayhart became the most famous slave dueling spot in the Empire and earned a lot of money from the enormous number of spectators. The problem began then. The Lord of Drayhart, having tasted the profits from slaves, began to foster and intensively manage the slave industry. To circumvent the Empire's law that if even one parent was a freeman, the child would be a freeman, he ensured slaves married only other slaves and forced them to have many children. Furthermore, he began to breed slaves like dogs or cattle for improving the stock, creating an army of superior slaves and even starting a mercenary business, dispatching them to other territories for money. After 300 years of this, 80% of Drayhart’s population had become slaves. That 20% of Freemen could control 80% of slaves was thanks to a magic tool. The first Lord of Drayhart also knew that if the number of slaves became too large, the risk of rebellion would increase. So he made a special request to the Magic Tower, resulting in the creation of the 『Purple Iron Chain』, a magic tool that weakened the wearer’s strength to that of a child when the master wished, and it became a symbol of slavery in the Empire. Using this magic tool, the nobles of Drayhart oppressed the slaves and thought they could continue to do so. Until now, that is. It happened suddenly one day. “Huh? Who’s there!” Swish-! “Huh?” Assassins who infiltrated the city under the cover of darkness began to kill the mages managing the ‘Purple Iron Chain.’ Since the Purple Iron Chain consumed magic power and required management by mages, dozens of mages were spread throughout Drayhart. But all those mages were killed overnight. With all the mages supplying magic power dead, the Purple Iron Chain lost its power, and the slaves regained their strength. “Wh-What’s this?” “Even with the chains on, my strength isn’t disappearing!!” Once the slaves realized their strength hadn’t disappeared even with the chains on, a catastrophe immediately began. The slaves who regained their strength easily destroyed their prisons and began to kill the freemen soldiers who had oppressed them. And at their forefront was him. “Stop them! Stop the slaves!!” “Stop me? Don’t make me laugh!!” With a physique 1.5 times that of an ordinary person, bursting muscles, and blue horns sprouting from his head, he charged towards the freemen soldiers trying to subdue them. The soldiers tried to stop him with spears, but ordinary spears couldn't pierce his skin, and instead were sent flying by his charge. His name was 『Zarha Regon』, A descendant of the Dragonkin, said to have been born between dragons and humans in the distant past, and a monster who had never once been defeated in the slave arena due to his overwhelming strength. He advanced, slaughtering the soldiers trying to stop him and his fellow slaves with his bare hands, and finally arrived there. Bang-! “Heeik!!” Breaking down the door and entering, he found him there. Soran Drayhart, the current Lord of Drayhart, unable to flee due to the sudden rebellion, had locked himself in his room and was hiding. But even the sturdiest door was like cotton to Zarha. Zarha entered the Lord’s room. It was a room of dazzling gold and silver, and the slaves who entered with Zarha, seeing such a splendid room for the first time in their lives, didn’t know where to look. “H-How audacious! Wh-Where do you think you are, barging in like this!!” Soran shouted loudly, facing them. At his words, Zarha didn’t bat an eye and approached him. “Hey, Lord. Before you say such things, don’t you have something to say to us?” “S-Something to say!?” Zarha recalled his life. Separated from his parents before he could even speak, he received hellish training and abuse. After that, he was forced to participate in the unwanted slave arena. And there, he had survived by killing his comrades, who were like his friends, with his own hands. The reason he had endured all that and lived was for this very moment. “Apologize. To me, to everyone here, and to my dead friends!” “A-Apology!? Ha! Don’t be ridiculous! An apology is something a human gives to another human.” Lord Soran had been taught this since childhood. Slaves are not human like them. The position of Lord of Drayhart was a god to the slaves. He had learned such teachings from his father and lived by them. To him, Zarha’s words sounded so absurd that they made him forget even the fear of death. “I am your god! A god does not apologize for such things!” And his words were also enough to make Zarha lose what little reason he had left. Zarha approached the Lord and said. “If you’re a god, then try to stop this.” Zarha swung his fist at the Lord. Zarha’s fist, filled with 30 years of pent-up fury, was like a meteorite as it descended upon the ordinary man. Such force hitting a human body, what happened next was obvious. Bang-! Crunch!! With a single punch from Zarha, Soran was smashed against the wall and turned into minced meat. Seeing this, Zarha made a remark filled with his accumulated resentment. “Hmph! A weakling god.” Thus, that day, a rebellion broke out in the slave city of Drayhart.

The Blood Clan Makes Its Move