Chapter 740: Chaos (1)
About five kilometers from the royal palace, in a secluded safehouse...
Inside this abandoned space, where no one was watching, a strange occurrence took place. The empty air trembled as if shivering, then mirage-like waves appeared, and from within, three human figures suddenly emerged.
One of them was plump, another large and muscular, and the last, small and slight. These distinct figures belonged to none other than Edith Rock, the gambler; Lieutenant General Philip Roar of the kingdom's army; and Albert, prince of the United Kingdom.
Though there were differences in their ranks, they were all considered part of the kingdom’s upper echelon.
Prince Albert of the United Kingdom was the highest-ranking of the three, and Lieutenant General Philip held similar prestige. Aside from his rank as a lieutenant general in the kingdom’s army, he was also head of the distinguished Roar family, a clan of military mages, an honorary Grand Master of the Tower of Magic, principal of the Royal Magic Academy, and director of the Royal Magic Research Department.
In contrast, Edith’s status was relatively mundane. His only claim to nobility was his wealth from gambling and the noblewoman he married with that fortune. Still, he had permission to visit the royal palace, so he, too, could be considered part of the upper class.
Despite their high status, these three had fled the royal palace using a teleportation magic artifact.
Not metaphorically—they had literally escaped. The reason was...
“Now, tell me. Just what is my brother—the crown prince of this nation—planning with that puppet master?”
Gasping for breath, Prince Albert asked, his voice thick with urgency, as he looked at Edith and Philip, who had helped him narrowly escape.
Philip stepped in, his gentle demeanor contrasting with his lion-like appearance. “Your Highness, perhaps you should rest for a moment?”
However, Albert shook his head. “Sir Philip, I am deeply grateful for your help, but I must know the truth.”
Philip hesitated but could not deny the prince’s resolve. Though there was a youthful defiance in Albert’s eyes, there was also a sense of duty and responsibility—qualities that had been part of the reason Philip had sought to save him in the first place.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this, Your Highness?” Edith, excessively obese to the point of deformity, stepped forward toward an old wooden crate in the corner. He took a crowbar, opened the sealed crate, and began arming himself with weapons, including an ax, a gun, and grenades, which he stashed without issue, hidden by his ample frame.
Albert frowned. “What do you mean? Didn’t you agree to explain?”
“I thought you might ask him instead.” Edith pointed to Philip, his polar opposite in physique. “Why not ask this gentleman? I’m sure he’ll be more... thorough. Not that I’m avoiding it or anything.”
The arrogance in Edith’s tone was brazen, bordering on outright insolence.
Philip interjected. “Edith... While I may tolerate your insolent speech, His Highness is the prince.”
“And that’s why I said he should ask you. You’ll explain it better, won’t you?”
Philip was silent, considering Edith’s words, which, as annoying as they were, weren’t entirely wrong.
“Enough!” Albert said with as much authority as he could muster. He needed to uphold his dignity, especially now when the world he knew was crumbling.
After a brief silence, he spoke again. “Sir Edith.”
“You needn’t call me ‘sir,’ Your Highness. I’m not actually a noble. I simply bought a noble’s daughter with my money. Besides, I wouldn’t know what makes nobles so different.”
“Very well, then. I’ll call you simply Edith... So, tell me what’s going on.”
“Oh? Why me?”
“Because you’re rude.”
“Huh...?”
“Which means you’ll be more honest.”
Edith blinked in surprise, his eyes widening slightly. “Well, well, I may have misjudged you, Your Highness. I thought you were a child pretending to be an adult, but you might actually have some maturity. You’re absolutely right. Insolence and irreverence are often the clearest lens through which to see the truth. Love and admiration, on the other hand, only obscure it... Very well.”
Reluctantly, Edith turned on an old, worn radio, letting it play softly as background noise, and stepped closer to Albert.
“I’ll tell you what you wish to know, Your Highness. But I have one condition.”
“And what is that?”
“Let me speak freely. I’m loath to address a kid half my age formally, especially a royal.”
“Are you... serious?”
“Absolutely. When else would a fat, low-born swindler get the chance to speak to royalty without formalities? I nearly died for this, after all; I deserve my pay. But if you refuse, so be it.”
Under normal circumstances, Albert would have been furious, but given the situation, he felt no anger.
“Speak as you please.”
“See, kid? That’s why I like you. Let’s get straight to it, then. Time is money, after all. Little prince... Your damned brother is working hand-in-hand with that puppet master to bring about the end of days.”
“What...? What do you mean? End of days?”
Albert looked at Philip, who nodded in confirmation. Edith also nodded.
“Yes, the end. That unpleasant rumor that’s been going around lately. What’s wrong with that?”
“How could it not be wrong? Why would my brother...?”
Albert’s confusion was genuine. According to Edith, his brother Edward and the leaders of the kingdom had allied with the puppet master to bring about some kind of apocalypse—a notion utterly incomprehensible to him.
After all, they already had everything anyone could want in this world: wealth, power, honor...
What could possibly compel them to join forces with the puppet master and bring about destruction?
The answer, surprisingly, was simple.
“Little prince, human greed knows no bounds.”
Albert looked at Edith as if he were seeing some strange creature. Edith, unbothered, smirked with the amusement of an adult teasing a child.
“Whether you become king or not, remember this: human greed never ends. Even if someone has everything, it’s still not enough because they want more than others. It’s just human nature.”
Edith’s words carried an air of conviction.
“This isn’t a joke. There are countless people who would throw everything away just for the sake of having more than everyone else. Even if they already have more, they want it forever. I know because I’m one of them.”
“Then—”
“Yes, little prince. Your esteemed brother and the other leaders of this United Kingdom are behaving like pigs, consumed by greed. It’s a pitifully simple motive, devoid of any nobility.”
It was difficult for Albert to accept, but it was this very absurdity that made it easier to believe in the bizarre situation unfolding before him.
“Hold on... While I don’t understand much of this, there’s one thing I just can’t grasp.”
“That’s understandable.”
“If the end truly comes, how would anyone gain anything? Isn’t the end... well, the end?”
“It depends on how you view the end.”
“View it?”
Philip interjected, “Some see the apocalypse as the result of accumulated sins.”
Before Albert could ask whose sins, Edith added, “Human sins, to be precise.”
“Human... sins?”
“Yes. Humanity has grown so wretched that our Father in Heaven plans to wipe us out.”
Hearing those words, Albert recalled the moment the sacred laws vanished and staggered slightly. Could it be...?
Seeing Albert falter, Philip quickly moved to steady him, while Edith laughed heartily.
“Hahaha! I never thought I’d live to see a prince collapse before my eyes!”
“Why are you helping me instead of joining them?”
Edith looked up, startled by the directness of the question. “What? Why ask that all of a sudden?”
“It’s not sudden... Supporting them would seem far more beneficial than helping me escape. Sir Philip has loyalty and duty to the royal family, which I understand, but you… you’re different, aren’t you?”
Albert’s tone was tinged with suspicion. It was a fair question—while the Roar family had served the royal line for generations, Edith was hardly known for loyalty, nor did he seem inclined toward such a trait.
Edith gave a small shrug. “Not wrong there. Loyalty and duty aren’t really my thing. But I trust my instincts.”
“Instincts?”
“That’s right. You think I’d have survived in the underground gambling scene if I didn’t have a sharp gut? I can just feel that your brother is headed for disaster.”
“You have... proof?”
“My in-laws told me, for one.” Edith smirked. Though he had married a young noblewoman from a prestigious family, it had clearly been a business arrangement. “They despise me, but they love my money. When I sold off my shares in Prometheus Corporation at triple the value and converted to cash, they came to me with a juicy tip. Miserable beggars…”
“…”
“The problem is, they’re so miserably poor at business that the best way to profit from their advice is often to do the opposite.”
With a dismissive grunt, Edith pulled out a pill bottle from his coat, filled with capsules so dark red they looked almost black. Without hesitation, he downed one of the pills.
“Besides,” he continued, exhaling, “it amuses me to save a royal who’s had it all by myself. Now that is entertaining.”
It was an answer both twisted and darkly satisfying. And for some reason, this caused Albert to trust Edith’s intentions all the more.
“Hold on.”
“Hmm?”
“There’s another reason, isn’t there?”
“What? Oh?”
“Yes. You have some sad story behind all this, don’t you?”
Edith gave a chuckle and waved his hand. “Oh, you remember that? Just something I said... but you actually believed it?”
Edith’s offhand manner didn’t fool Albert. He was sure he’d caught a glimpse of something genuine beneath Edith’s façade—a hint that perhaps he’d done this for someone he once cared about.
As Albert was about to probe further, the air wavered again, shimmering like a mirage, before two more figures stumbled into the safehouse, disheveled as if they’d just narrowly escaped a chase. One was a tall man with slicked-back hair, and beside him stood a striking woman with pink hair.
Upon seeing them, Philip’s face lit up with relief.
“As expected! Terrence, I had faith you’d come through!”
Terrence nodded, still catching his breath. “I’d rather not do that again… but we barely managed.”
It seemed that Philip’s trusted lieutenant, Terrence Roar, had gone to retrieve the woman in question.
Albert turned his gaze to the newcomer, wondering who this woman might be. As their eyes met, she spoke with surprise.
“Your Highness?”
Though Albert had never met her before, she recognized him instantly, her keen observation evident.
Just as he was about to greet her, she turned in shock to Edith. “...Edith?”
The sight of him seemed to unnerve her, causing a reaction that suggested they had a history—a tense, perhaps unpleasant one.
Edith scoffed, his expression scornful. “Oh, you idiot... So you managed to crawl all the way here just to bother me.”
...
A flash of contempt, disgust, and loathing colored Edith’s tone, hinting at the depth of their estrangement.
Clap!
Before the hostile air between them could thicken, Philip clapped his hands, taking charge of the situation.
“Alright, everyone’s here. Let’s make our escape.”
“Understood,” Terrence said.
“I’m in,” Edith added.
The pink-haired woman was still too shaken by Edith’s presence to speak, and Albert himself was at a loss for words but managed to stammer, “What... what do you mean, Sir Philip?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. We’re leaving the capital.”
“The capital?!”
Albert’s shock was palpable. While they had fled the royal palace, he hadn’t considered leaving the capital entirely. After all, what kind of prince abandons his capital in times of crisis?
“Oh, please. I take back what I said before; you really are just a kid. What did you think we’d be doing?” Edith sneered.
Both Terrence and the pink-haired woman flinched at his tone, but Philip quickly intervened to calm them.
“I thought... I thought Sir Philip would have something prepared,” Albert said, his voice trailing off in doubt. Now that he’d spoken, he realized how naïve his hope had sounded.
Philip’s expression softened. “Your Highness, I understand your reluctance. But as prince, you have a duty to preserve the royal line—even if you are not the immediate heir. We cannot remain here while the capital faces catastrophe. Even Her Majesty the Queen would agree with this.”
Albert hesitated, glancing at Philip and then back toward the others. He felt torn between duty to his people and his position as a prince. “Is there really no other way, Sir Philip? Can’t we summon the military mages of the Roar family?”
Philip’s face grew solemn as he shook his head. “I am afraid not, Your Highness. Even among our family, there are those we cannot trust.”
“What…?”
Philip lowered his head in apology. “The puppet master’s influence has seeped even into our family ranks. As it stands, Terrence is the only one I can trust implicitly.”
Albert was speechless. It was a grim reminder of just how far the rot had spread.
“It’s safest to leave the capital for now,” Philip continued, urging Albert. “The capital is swarming with compromised troops, not to mention the puppet master’s disciples and other enemies. This place has become an enemy stronghold. My decision to rescue you was precisely to preserve a future for the royal family.”
Before Albert could protest further, Edith cut in. “Are we going, or not? They’ve likely started searching for us already.”
Philip gently laid a hand on Albert’s shoulder. “Please, Your Highness, show strength in this moment.”
Albert sighed, feeling the weight of his decision, “But where would we go from here?”
Philip’s expression remained calm. “To Landa.”
“Landa?”
“Yes. I have a trusted friend there.”
A glimmer of recognition sparked in Albert’s eyes as he remembered a certain man—a savior who had once pulled him from the clutches of death.
Just then, Terrence urgently whispered to Philip. “Sir, may I have a word? It’s urgent.”
“If it can wait—”
“It can’t.”
Philip’s expression turned serious as he moved to speak with Terrence, who was preparing a teleportation artifact to facilitate their escape from the capital.
A sense of dread filled Philip’s eyes as Terrence gave his report. “It seems... the teleportation artifact has stopped working.”
“What?”
“More specifically, all artifacts connected to locations outside the capital are now blocked. None are functioning. This has never happened before.”
Just as the gravity of the situation sank in, the radio crackled to life, interrupting their discussion. It seemed they were about to hear news of the prince’s escape—but instead, an announcement more shocking than anyone expected came through.
Both Edith and Philip, men of stone-cold resolve, could not hide their astonishment at the broadcast that followed.
The voice on the radio declared: “This is true. At this very moment, Crown Prince Edward X, in pursuit of eternal life, wealth, and glory, has made a pact with a dark mage to sacrifice the entire capital. Let me repeat: everything you are hearing is true…”
As silence fell, the only sound that remained was a low, furious curse muttered under someone’s breath.
“Damn it…”