Chapter 562

"Your Majesty, you haven't slept for days. Why don't you go get some rest..."

Hearing the voice beside him, Jircniv, whose eyes were bloodshot and whose spirit was withered, slowly lifted his head.

"Baziwood, did you not leave like that guy, Leinas?"

After seeing the Empire's "bleak" future, Jircniv had issued a decree allowing knights who wanted to leave to retire and depart.

And for this, the Baharuth Empire would not hold them accountable for any dereliction of duty.

Of the original Four Knights of the Empire, Undying was killed by Ma Xiu with an Earth Split.

Heavy Explosion Leinas, the only female member of the Four Knights, had simply chosen to leave the Empire.

"Your Majesty underestimates me too much. Although my strength cannot compare to the Kingdom's Warrior Captain, and I cannot win against those adamantite-ranked adventurers, or even reach the human Heroic Realm..."

"But I am a soldier of the Empire, so I cannot do something like deserting in the face of battle."

"Nippul is the same. We have already sent our families to other safe places. As for us, we will certainly fight alongside Your Majesty until the very last moment!"

"After all, if it weren't for Your Majesty's exceptional promotion of us back then, we probably wouldn't be who we are today."

Hearing the words of Thunder Baziwood, Jircniv pulled a bitter smile.

"As the Emperor of the Empire, I have the duty to perish with the Baharuth Empire."

"But you, Baziwood, do not have such an obligation. You should still go with your families."

"After all, when I promoted you 'Four Knights' back then, I already said it."

"What I value is your ability. As for loyalty and background, I don't care. If you want to leave, you can do so at any time, just like Leinas."

Looking at Jircniv, who was so depressed, Baziwood, who usually seemed quite honest, suddenly became angry.

"Emperor Jircniv! You should go look in a mirror and see what you look like right now!"

"If a monarch has the duty to be buried with his country, then as knights, we naturally have the duty to die with our monarch!"

"You used to be high-spirited, and no matter what you did, you had a confident posture."

"Why have you chosen to give up on yourself now! I know the enemy is powerful, even despairingly powerful."

"But you should open your eyes and look; the people and knights of the Baharuth Empire all believe in you, yet what have you done for our trust!"

Facing the angry Baziwood, the pressure Jircniv had suppressed for so long exploded in an instant!

"Do you think I want to give up? Do you think I am willing to be a monarch of a fallen nation! But every method has already been tried!"

"Those monsters are not just powerful, they are also quite clever. Every step of my planning was within Ainz Ooal Gown's calculations."

"The Baharuth Empire now has no power to resist the Sorcerer Kingdom's attack..."

Before Jircniv could finish speaking, Baziwood drew his broad-bladed knight sword and used the blade as a mirror, handing it to Jircniv.

"Emperor, look at yourself now. Are you still that proud and confident Bloody Emperor from before?"

"Fearing battle before it begins, wallowing in degradation—even if the Baharuth Empire really loses, so what? At least we fought a bloody battle."

"Or are you saying that the great Emperor from before now intends to raise the white flag and kneel before the enemy, waiting to be slaughtered!"

Jircniv looked at his reflection in Baziwood's blade: his hair was messy, his eyes were bloodshot, and his spirit was withered to the extreme.

"Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap—!"

Looking at himself in the blade's reflection, Jircniv's eyes gradually cleared. Just as he was about to say something, a rhythmic sound of applause suddenly echoed in the ears of Jircniv and Baziwood.

Seeing a man standing by the window of the Emperor's study, Baziwood hurriedly snatched the sword from Jircniv's hand and fulfilled his duty as a knight, shielding the Emperor behind him.

"Who are you! An assassin sent by Ainz Ooal Gown? Or a killer sent by those imperial nobles who kick people when they're down?"

"But no matter who you are, as long as I, Thunder Baziwood, am alive, I will not let you harm a single hair on His Majesty the Emperor."

Hearing Baziwood's threatening words, the man who had been sitting on the window frame didn't care; instead, he jumped down.

He then looked at Jircniv and Baziwood and said, "I am very sorry for accidentally overhearing your conversation just now."

"You must be one of the Empire's famous 'Four Knights', right?"

"Setting aside your strength for a moment, your words and actions just now were worthy of the name of a knight."

"The more famous Bloody Emperor, however, makes me a bit disappointed. Although we have never met, I have long admired the Emperor of the Empire."

"By the way, I've said so much, I forgot to introduce myself."

"My name is Shengzai Trans Ignar Lail Vancelf, the Third Prince of the Re-Estize Kingdom. Please forgive my rude intrusion, Your Majesty."

Hearing Shengzai's introduction, both Jircniv and Baziwood were stunned.

Jircniv and his people naturally knew of the Kingdom's Third Prince; in fact, they had heard of him long ago.

After all, among the surrounding nations, this Third Prince of the Kingdom and the Empire's Emperor Jircniv had always been called the "Twin Heroes" among the most outstanding young people on the continent.

It was just that for various reasons, although Shengzai and Jircniv had heard various rumors about each other, this was their first formal meeting.

"The famous Third Prince of the Kingdom, coming to the Baharuth Empire in this manner, what is your business?"

"Is Your Highness Shengzai here to mock our Empire? Or do you intend to see me, a monarch of a fallen nation, before the Empire is destroyed?"

Because there was an outsider present, and the other party was a Kingdom Third Prince whose reputation was on par with his own, Jircniv swept away his previous decadence and showed the bearing a monarch should have in front of his "competitor."

"Although I have been curious about the Bloody Emperor for a long time and have always wanted to meet you."

"But Your Majesty is not some beauty of a prosperous age, and I am not so bored as to run all this way to mock you."

"The reason I am here is naturally to respond to Your Majesty's 'conference of nations'."

"What, does Your Majesty not welcome me?"

"Stop joking! There should be a limit to playing with others! Hasn't your Kingdom already decided to establish a friendly alliance with the Sorcerer Kingdom?"

"At this point, you are still talking about participating in the 'conference of nations'. Do you think I really have no temper!"

Facing Jircniv's angry outburst, Shengzai didn't care, but said indifferently: "The Kingdom establishing a friendly alliance with the Sorcerer Kingdom, what does that have to do with me, Shengzai, King of the Demi-human Nation?"

(End of chapter)