The Players and the Protagonist Want to Kill Me – Chapter 581

Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)

“Yes,” the soldier replied and left.

He jogged all the way to the castle gate.

A valiant knight was already waiting there.

The knight before him exuded an overwhelming presence. Even without a horse, he towered over the soldier by three to four heads. He wore silver-gray armor, and his breastplate featured a brilliant golden crystal, from which a faint dragon’s roar could be heard.

The soldier had never encountered someone like him. In his eyes, even Duke Matte’s aura paled in comparison to this knight’s. Standing before him, the soldier felt a tremor of unease and nervousness, his whole body shaking, making the words “The Duke told you to get lost” impossible to utter.

They remained in silence for a moment, facing each other.

The soldier looked up at the knight. His visor obscured his face, revealing only a pair of sharp eyes that sent a chill down the soldier’s spine. The soldier quickly lowered his head, a trembling hand wiping the cold sweat from his brow. He carefully chose his words and said to the knight,

“Duke Matte says that you did not receive an invitation, so you cannot enter. Therefore… therefore, please, please leave.”

The knight remained motionless.

The soldier, head lowered, suddenly saw the knight’s hand fall onto his sword hilt. Terrified, he trembled and immediately knelt on the ground, begging for mercy.

“Lord, I… I’m just a mere messenger soldier. This has nothing to do with me, Lord… please spare me…”

“Ching—” the sound of a sword being drawn echoed.

A strong gust of wind swept by, almost knocking him to the ground.

The soldier shuddered, his eyes shut in fear. He experienced a brief period of deafness, his snot and tears mixing, smearing his face. Yet, after a long while, he felt no pain.

“Click, clack…”

The sound of knight boots on the stone path gradually faded into the distance.

The knight seemed to have left.

Only after the footsteps had completely disappeared did the pounding in the soldier’s heart begin to subside.

He cautiously opened his eyes and found that the knight had indeed departed.

“Plop—” a stone fell at his feet.

The soldier looked down.

He saw that the stone appeared to be a corner of the castle’s tower.

“Rumble…”

The sounds of falling bricks and stones became more frequent until they merged into a continuous roar. Mixed with these were the creaking sounds of wood snapping and the thunderous clash of metal.

He turned around and saw the grand Markledo Castle gradually tilting. A colossal crack diagonally bisected Markledo Castle, with a part of the castle collapsing along the fissure and plummeting into the nearby cliff.

In the banquet hall, servants screamed and ran in all directions. Knights scrambled to find sturdy pillars to steady themselves. Furniture tumbled across the tilting floor, and the food and wine on the tables spilled everywhere, ignored.

Only Duke Matte remained seated at the head. He stared blankly at the entrance to the banquet hall, his eyes wide, his mouth agape. His grizzled white beard slowly began to accumulate droplets of crimson blood, like pomegranate fruits forming on white roots. The bloodstains grew more numerous, and a line of blood gradually appeared on his aged face, starting from his forehead and extending all the way to his lower abdomen…

Meanwhile, in the Medon Empire, Duke Gritz’s territory, Gritz Castle.

Clemon wiped the blood splattered on his face with his hand. Then, he lifted his leg, his icy knight boots stepping on the still-warm chest of Duke Gritz as he slowly drew his long sword from the wound. He flicked the blood off his blade and lightly wiped it on the Duke’s armor until not a single drop remained. Sheathing his sword, he turned and left. Behind him, the castle hall was strewn with corpses, not a single survivor.

Karari Empire, Iron Peak City.

Duke Walner, the youngest Sky Knight of the Karari Empire, had his personal maid bring him coffee to his room. Shortly after she left, a woman emerged from a golden light and impaled him with a sword as he sat in his chair. When the maid returned, Duke Walner was slumped over his desk, the map before him soaked a deep crimson with his blood. In his hand, he still clutched the cup of coffee he hadn’t yet brought to his lips.

Greenstone City.

Duke Krosol’s castle was suddenly struck by a torrent of violent electrical currents. Every living thing in the castle, down to the mice stealing scraps from the dining table, was electrocuted into charcoal. The magnificent Krosol family was annihilated. Outside the castle, people only saw a colossal Thunder Bird soar overhead.

Snowpeak City.

Duke Sherman, having attended a banquet, alighted from his carriage. He waved goodbye to his old friends and watched their carriage gradually depart. Turning around, he was met by his own castle. The surroundings gradually fell silent. The wind stopped, and the chirping of insects abruptly ceased.

“Who’s there!?”

Suddenly, he drew his long sword, his gaze locking onto the bushes not far away.

There was no reply.

But a pair of emerald eyes emerged from the bushes. It was a massive black cat, completely shrouded in gray mist. What surprised Duke Sherman even more was a beautiful demi-human girl sitting atop the cat. Moonlight slanted down, casting an ethereal silver-gray halo around the girl, making her appear even more mysterious.

“Who are you?” Duke Sherman’s Qi surged, his body bristling with energy. He sensed a deadly threat from the girl, a feeling he hadn’t encountered often since reaching the Knight Rank.

The girl offered no answer. She simply gazed at Duke Sherman. Abruptly, her rosy lips parted.

“Whoosh—”

A gust of wind blinded Duke Sherman. When he recovered and forced his eyes open, his vision was filled only with the black cat’s rapidly approaching gaping maw and its gleaming, sharp claws and fangs.

“Screech—”

Blood splattered from a tree trunk. Duke Sherman fell to the ground, his face hitting the dirt. The sound of insects chirping resumed.

In a single night, all the ducal territories in the Karari Empire and the Medon Empire fell. Not a single Duke survived. Those who had been relatively low-key were spared, their children safe. Those who had been flamboyant and oppressed the common people saw their entire families wiped out.

The next day, the Princess of the Medon Empire ascended the throne under the escort of a giant dragon. She became the first Empress in Medon Empire history, proclaiming herself Queen of Dragon Kin and declaring Medon an affiliated state of the Wintery Empire.

At the same time, in the Karari Empire, the aging Old King abdicated, and the youngest Prince ascended the throne, declaring the Karari Empire an affiliated state of the Wintery Empire. The common people of both empires were astonished by these events. However, the normally arrogant nobles uncharacteristically sealed their castle gates, with no one voicing any objection to these national policies.

The war had finally ended. Rakuri and Kumela, two special envoy brothers, had drunk together all night, singing and dancing until dawn, celebrating the unification of Medon and Karari and the end of conflict in the Emerald Frontier. Soldiers from both empires returning from the Emerald Fortress were bestowed with commendations by the new Kings. They shed their armor, returned to their farms, and reunited with their families.

On a ridge, an old soldier puffed on his pipe, seeking shade under a tree. He watched his eldest son toil in the field with a satisfied expression on his tanned face.

“Father, I heard people in the tavern saying that everything that happened to the Medon and Karari Empires is King of Winter’s scheme!”

His younger son sat with his father under the tree, wanting to strike up a conversation with his father, who had seen battle at the Emerald Fortress.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” The old soldier glared with his bull-like eyes and kicked his younger son in the backside. “Who the hell taught you to say such things? How dare you speak ill of a hero like King of Winter? Go get your brother to do the plowing. If the fields aren’t done today, I’ll teach you a lesson!”

“No, Father, I won’t dare again…”

The storyline for the Emerald Frontier concludes.