“Feel free to dismiss us if you so wish,” added the castle lord of Camlahi Two. “As of this moment, we will all alight from our ships and hand over our insignia—to the Demon King Academy.”
“Wha...”
Kaltinas fell speechless. I could just picture him losing his composure.
“You... Do you realize what that means?” he asked slowly.
In response, Zaimon broke his silence. “Defeat in the Silverwater Skirmish Ranking, and expulsion from the academic alliance. Are you sure you want that?”
Kaltinas ground his teeth. “Zaimon... Of course. This is your doing.”
“For so long we have committed dishonorable sneak attacks in the name of Balandias. But that ends now. Stealing firedew like a petty thief may crown a king of bandits, but it’ll never crown a true conqueror!” Zaimon said without masking his words. “Answer me, Immovable King. Will you dismiss us or not?”
Kaltinas didn’t answer immediately—he couldn’t. Doing so would ruin everything he had built up until now. That was not something he could admit easily.
When he eventually spoke, his voice was trembling.
“Good grief. Why are you all so worthless? Nothing pleases you. In the Silverwater Ranking Skirmish, we cannot lay your hands on you, for we wish to remain in Pablohetra. But what do you all intend to do now?” Kaltinas asked the rebelling castle lords sharply. “Don’t forget. We are the ruler of this world, chosen by the Royal Tiger Maytilen. Even if every vassal rebels, Balandias is still under our control. If you still think you shall remain a castle lord after this skirmish is concluded, think again—for your treasonous words we shall have each and every member of your families put to death!”
Kaltinas, in response to this sudden mutiny, did an about face and threatened Zaimon’s weaknesses instead. The ruler of Balandias had absolute power—that was why the castle demons had been forced to be so careful with their words for so long.
“Got it now? We’ll give you three seconds for all of you to get on your knees and beg us for mercy, and we’ll deign to use you for the rest of your lives,” Kaltinas said with a mocking laugh. He believed Zaimon and the castle lords had no choice but to obey—that they would choose to save their families over preserving their pride.
“Three.”
None of the castle demons moved. They all held their silence, as though they’d known this would happen from the moment they planned their rebellion, and accepted it. They hadn’t defied the Immovable King in the middle of a Silverwater Ranking Skirmish without giving it much thought.
The Immovable King had ordered the Leaks channel to stay open, but I doubt he would have chosen to leave it open for broadcast once their channel revealed such clear internal conflict. Zaimon’s faction was almost certainly sending it to us on purpose, to inform us of the situation and keep us quiet while they resolved it. They seemed to have a plan.
“Two.”
The castle demons didn’t move. It was like their non-reaction was a declaration of their firm resolution.
“One.”
They didn’t say a word, and didn’t move their castles at all. It was like they were waiting for something—someone.
“Gah! You—” Kaltinas suddenly cried out in agony. “Urk... Maytilen... Why...”
The sound of a magic circle deploying could be heard. Several seconds of silence later—
“Rest assured, everyone,” Farris’s voice echoed through Leaks. “The Evil King Kaltinas has been defeated. Balandias now rests safely in our hands.”
The Tigrisfort Academy immediately burst into a chorus of deafening cheers. Voices could be heard from the five ships even without the Leaks connection, shaking even the air. For them to react like this over the death of their ruler was a clear sign of how oppressed they had felt serving him.
The castle lords yelled in unison, cheering among themselves.
“He did it! The Silvercastle Creator did it!”
“Our hope, our wings!”
“I believed in Farris all along. I knew he’d pick up his sword for us!”
“We’re finally freed from Kaltinas’s tyranny!”
“We’re free again!”
“Yes! Finally, finally! Balandias has returned to us!”
“It’s the birth of Ruler Farris! He will lead Balandias down the right path!”
“Hooray for Ruler Farris! Hooray!”
“Hooray!”
“Ruler Farris!”
“Hooray!”
“Whoooooooooooo!”
The castle lords were so jubilant in their celebration that they had forgotten completely about the Silverwater Ranking Skirmish.
Everything was proceeding according to Zaimon’s plan. During the Silverwater Ranking Skirmish, Kaltinas was bound to be on board Zeridheavens. There was a limit to the number of insignias that could be present during the skirmish, so the surroundings were guaranteed to be filled with castle demons. With the insignias hostage, Kaltinas could neither run nor flee. Farris, who piloted Zeridheavens, was guaranteed to be near Kaltinas.
Though Kaltinas had been wary of rebellion, he hadn’t expected the chief god to betray him as well. The entire time, he had believed Maytilen’s barrier would protect him, allowing Farris to catch him off guard.
Judging from the conversation I’d overheard earlier, Zaimon had taken a gamble with Farris. If Farris hadn’t joined them in their rebellion, all of them would have been murdered along with their families. Zaimon had shown his resolve, just like he said he would.
“Farris,” Zaimon said. “I knew you had it in you, comrade.”
“It’s still too early to celebrate, Zaimon,” Farris said calmly.
“Yes, you’re right. We’re still in the middle of the ranking skirmish after all.”
With Zeridheavens in the center and the four Camlahi ships flanking it, five sky fortresses then flew towards us. Their morale was clearly different from before—so different, in fact, it could be felt from the deluge of magic power being emitted from Zeridheavens and the four Camlahi ships.
“Here we go, Militia’s World! Even if your ruler can rival a true Demon King, we no longer have anything to fear! Witness the true worth of Balandias!” Zaimon shouted in triumph, consequently inspiring his brothers-in-arms.