Chapter 307
Chapter 307
In the morning, shocking news shook Cernos: the dorm overseer received two death notifications from the family center. Two Grands had committed suicide! After checking the rooms, they found two young men in the prime of their lives, presumably the members of the princess fan club, who had cut themselves and bled to death. The fools must have been so desperately in love with Kara that they decided to take their own lives. Many students and school administration felt sorry for the poor fellows. In the end, they declared a day of mourning in their honor and canceled the lessons.
Kyon could hardly believe his ears. Now he realized what it meant to harvest 30% of darkness in 5 minutes. Anyway, the suicide victims had been taking the most active part in Dick Baker’s persecution, trying to drive him to suicide. Isn’t it ironic?
By lunchtime, ten imperial investigators showed up at school. Many believed that they had arrived to investigate the suicides, but it was not the case! The detectives began to interrogate the students about Princess Kara, getting into details from the first to the last day of her stay in Cernos.
It turned out that the investigators suspected Kara’s and Vlada’s connection to demons. They accused the demonesses of arranging the king’s death and exploiting the kingdom. The school nearly exploded with rage! The demon race was despised in human society. They were caught at the first opportunity and executed by impalement or burning. The demons were thought to be killer maniacs, if not worse. The mere mention of them scared children and agitated adults, and now it turned out that they all adored, revered and loved the vile, despicable demon! The students were dying inside, their hearts and souls going numb. They fell into depression and lost their will to live. Now it came as no surprise that Kara had reciprocated Dick’s feelings! They were cut from the same cloth!
Dick Baker was interrogated about every detail. He was bombarded with thousands of questions about his family, his relationship with Kara, the reason for the wedding, why his parents were absent from the ceremony, whether he had stolen the transformation ring, the reason for his entering Cernos. Finally, they confiscated the visual formation with the recorded intercourse he had recently shown the whole school. Every student was rambling about it. Kyon wondered how it was going to help them in their investigation? Weren’t they fine fellows, doing a great job!
Kyon was perfect in his role of a grief-stricken husband who wasn’t aware of his wife’s demonic origin. He made up a story that his parents hated him (they had dumped him to Cernos and ignored his wedding), that Vlada had set her sights on the huge fortune of the Bakers and decided to marry her daughter off to him. The question why the princess enjoyed fucking the ugly freak did not even arise. It was known that all demons were crazy perverts! The biased attitude towards the enemy race played into Kyon’s hands.
By the way, Kyon would never have done it, hadn’t he bought from the Bakers (not without a loan from the head of the investigation department) a fake identity, history, and formation on the wrist. The Baker family was really a wealthy one, but they lived in another empire, which made interrogating them a very costly task, primarily for diplomatic reasons. Most likely, the authorities would get only superficial facts in the consulate, most of which would be fake.
At the end of the interrogation, the investigators announced that they would contact him and officially take away the no longer legitimate title of Prince of the Iron Throne as soon as the investigation was over. However, Kyon knew too well that it could drag on for several months.
The official version of the case reads as follows: Vladimir obtained the evidence ring with the help of a trusted superior servant from the palace, which the demons almost immediately found out and fled the kingdom before even getting their hands on the Baker’s fortune.
However, Kyon was under no illusions. He understood perfectly well that the authorities, or rather their elite, would sooner or later get to the bottom of this. Anyway, at his own request, Vladimir would report to the high-ranking person from the imperial department about his secret agent Dick, also called Kyon. It was only to be expected. His cooperation with the 0th general was also inevitable. Therefore:
The unofficial (secret) version of the case reads as follows: Kyon Stone, the ingenious investigator and goddess’s messenger, bribed the Bakers, forged his identity, seduced the demons with enormous wealth, arranged a wedding and stole the evidence ring, but due to the slow government reaction (it took them a whole week to get to the Iron Throne) the demons managed to escape.
To sum it up, Kyon did the empire two invaluable favors: he gave them revolutionary firearms and saved the kingdom from demonic parasites. Zeroth General was too rational not to appreciate the good intentions of the goddess’s messenger.
Among other things, the sects were still looking for Kyon, it would take them some time to find out that Dick’s identity was fake. In the coming weeks, Kyon had to close all issues in Cernos (the case of Franz and Marina, for example) and leave the school to find a safer place for his further cultivation. He had no reason to stay there, and more than anything he didn’t want to get involved with persistent and dangerous sects representatives.
When the investigators left, Kyon’s sound transmitter began to ring. As soon as he answered the call, he heard a never-ending stream of curse words from Vladimir. The head of the investigation department had wised up! He must have realized that the stolen transformation ring had provoked the demons’ escape! Vladimir had lost his chance to avenge his father! It took the sorry bunch of tediously slow investigators a whole week to get here! Well, he could put all the blame on the imperial authorities. Kyon had already received a letter of recommendation, and royal knights had replaced the elite security officers. Their one-year contract obliged them to carry out Dick Baker’s orders even if he was deprived of the royal title. Kyon had thought of everything.
Kyon had just lain down when someone knocked on the door. When he opened the door, he saw his mighty knights at either side, closely watching Prince Charles. His Highness looked exhausted. A fake smile was playing upon his lips. Behind his back, a little more than ten witnesses in white uniforms were watching him with interest. All of them were the young Grands, skinny, pale, with bags under their eyes.
There was contempt in Charles’s voice as he spoke to Dick: «How does it feel to be the wretched demon’s husband?»
Kyon mumbled glumly: «It’s not funny, younger brother. Don’t you see? I am grief-stricken!»
{Younger? Me?!} – Charles lost it for a moment, which made his face twitch nervously. The fat freak, who was a couple of years younger with cultivation lagging a whole life behind, dared to him a younger brother?! Did the jerk really think he was more powerful?
The prince blurted out: «I am not your brother! Bas…» – but he stopped short. The two hefty men came close to him and stared straight into his eyes. – «Anyway, your title is no longer valid. It would be a mistake to call you Prince Grand. From now on, you are an ordinary simpleton, while I am almost the king of the Iron Throne. So, my first order to you. Leave the first room at once. It belongs to His Highness!» – Charles proclaimed imperiously, his chin arrogantly raised. A born king, no less.
Dick groaned sadly: «Stupid little brother! First of all, I got a hundred points at the exam and I will legally live here until the end of the year. Do not put pressure on me with authority you do not have! Second, I still have my title. It is not for you to decide whether I am the prince or not. It’s up to the imperial authorities. Anyway, they are unlikely to deprive me of the royal status. I am worthy of the emperor’s title, after all. And third, why do you think that a low-born bastard has a better chance of taking the throne? Anyhow, stop bothering your elders! Stress gives me stomach pain, and I already feel bad…»
The young Grands behind the prince looked at each other in bewilderment.
Furious, Charles pointed his trembling finger at Dick but did not say a word. There was a palpable tension in the air. The prince did his best to curb the urge to finish off the annoying freak on the spot!
Charles hesitated for a while and turned around. As he took a couple of steps, he looked at Dick again and said in a surprisingly calm tone: «There’s a great tournament in three weeks that is held every few years. The strongest students from the best schools in their kingdoms will take part in it. If you consider yourself worthy of being the emperor, you must enroll and show everyone your greatness. Or maybe you’re nothing but a pompous windbag?»
{He decided to finish me off at the tournament?} – Dick knew it at once and answered: «If My Majesty isn’t busy with palace affairs, I will definitely take part.»
«Well, then you should know that you need to be among the top 20 Cernos students to participate in the tournament. Hurry up, the list will be approved soon. Today a few concerned fan club members have challenged you to a duel! Prove to me that you are not lying!» – The prince yelled angrily and quickly disappeared in the hall.
Kyon closed the door, catching a couple of lifeless looks from the fucking zombies (the fan club members). They looked like real psychopaths. Dick was wary of turning his back to them. Their lot could cut his throat in no time.
He flopped down onto the bed and thought about the future. Soon there would be a tournament between the best schools in the kingdoms of Rosarrio. It was well above the tournament of families. Accordingly, the awards were much more valuable. The majority of the participants were of royal origin, wealthy young people who had easily taken the first 20 places in their schools, and therefore in their kingdoms.
Anyway, Lovr could not take part in it for many reasons:
First, each participant would be at least as strong as Timothy. At most, they would be in the powerful lord phase (5), against which he was helpless. By the way, more than 5 weeks had passed since that battle, and he hadn’t made any progress in cultivation. It was logical to assume that the reason was in the breakthrough medicine he had taken the day before the tournament. It had granted him a stage of cultivation, without which he would have definitely lost. According to his sensations, the side effect was almost over. He expected the next upgrade any day now.
Second, taking part in the royal tournament was fraught with risks. If Charles didn’t break his neck, then wild beasts might devour him. The competition took place in the forest, after all.
Third, a low-middle place would get Kyon less benefit than victory in the family tournament, and if by some miracle he took the leading position, he would again attract the unnecessary attention of the sects representatives…
Anyway, he could always refuse to participate even if he got to the top 20 of school. It would never hurt to harvest some extra darkness. The excess of it wouldn’t get lost, it would move on to the next stage of filling up his unique body! Therefore, Kyon decided to put off his experiments with the spatial attribute until later and, with a sly grin, he began to think of another trick.
Half an hour later, Dick entered the arena, accompanied by his two knights.
«Look, the spawn of demons is in the arena!» – Someone yelled loudly.
After yesterday’s erotic recording, the students were tormented with the unbridled envy of the lucky husband all night long. Now that they found out that their beloved princess Kara belonged to the enemy race, they relentlessly reproached themselves for their naivety! The despicable demoness lived among them for three years, and they were completely unaware! Their anger demanded an exit, and the demoness’s husband was the perfect victim!
Hundreds of students rushed to the windows, ready to spew insults at Dick, but then…
The fat freak impassively pointed his finger at the screamer: «Break his legs!»
As soon as the hefty knight received an order, he seemed to vanish into thin air, rushing at lightning speed to the student who had offended the prince.
«Аа-аа-а-аа-ааа-а-аh! MERCY! Gods, my leg! А-а-аа-а-ааh! IT HURTS!» – He screamed in pain, bitterly regretting everything he had said earlier.
All the students immediately bit their tongues. They didn’t want to incur the wrath of the ruthless monster. He must be grief-stricken after the recent news of his wife. They’d better not get on his bad side.
«So, I hear someone has challenged me to a duel?» – Dick shouted, spreading his arms.
A student in the white uniform jumped from the fifth floor. His face was thin, pale, exhausted. He stared blankly somewhere through Kyon, like a maniac fixated on the target only he knew.
«It’s me. Shall we start?» – The boy asked with a predatory threat in his voice and flexed his neck.
Dick nodded towards the arena: «Why not?»