Emperor of Steel

“Uhh…”

“W, what is happening? What the hell is going on?!”

The Western army who were coming out of the canyon listening to the news of Duke Butler being attacked by the Emperor was confused.

Suddenly, the gunpowder which had been installed at the entrance of the canyon burst at once, and the only way out had been blocked.

The thing which planned to halt the Emperor’s advance to their estates had backfired.

“Uhh! Who was that idiot? There are a lot of allies who haven’t escaped yet!”

Count Stark who barely made it out of his grave looked around and asked.

Towards such a confused man, Count Voltas came while humming a song.

“Here is the commander…”

“Keuk, you…!”

Listening to the words of Voltas, Stark understood the situation.

The previous explosion wasn’t a mistake, but the act of Count Voltas.

“You, bastard!”

With rage boiling in him, Stark rushed over towards Count Voltas.

He tried to kill the man with a single slash, but the arrow which came out of Voltas’s prosthetic arm pierced Stark’s neck much faster.

“Kuak!”

“Tch, my bad. You were the only smartest one of all.”

As his consciousness faded, Count Stark saw the knights and wizards appearing from the fog, killing off all the surviving soldiers.

When he saw the emblem embroidered on their chest, he was shocked, making him gain back his fading senses.

‘I, I can’t die here! I need to let the Duke know…’

Stark used all his might to get up.

However, Voltas who noticed it fired another arrow from his prosthetic and took down the man completely.

“This is useful. After all, there are a lot of talented men in the Imperial Magic Tower.”

With a bitter smile, Voltas recalled the situation where he had to let go of his right arm.

Shortly after the bloody ceremony in the Imperial Parliament in the capital, Voltas was arrested by the Knights of Guard and placed in prison.

He had already noticed the situation unfolding in the capital and was ready to escape out of the capital with his family, however, the Emperor wasn’t blind enough to let the man leave in the mayhem.

“Huh, to fall like this.”

Voltas, whose right arm had to been taken for being a sinner, sighed.

‘What kind of punishment will I get? Is it going to be a death penalty? It would be nice to get an exile because of my merit and title, but the Emperor might not let me.’

Voltas knew Rudolf’s character much better than anyone else, so he knew better than anyone how dark his future was.

‘What will happen to my wife and daughter? I should have never brought in this trouble… that Lazlie, he couldn’t even!’

“Are you worried about your wife and daughter?”

He heard a voice.

Voltas was surprised to find the owner of the voice.

It was because the voice was very familiar to him.

“Y, Your Majesty?”

The man who had entered the cell in his black uniform was clearly Emperor Rudolf.

“Don’t worry about your family. I am taking good care of them, in the Imperial Palace.”

“Uh, is it?”

That only made Voltas more anxious.

Though it was meant to be an assurance, it only made him feel threatened.

“By the way, where were you planning to escape? Volga Republic? Or, was it the Holy Empire? This is very disappointing and terrible.”

“Your Majesty, I was just…”

“What if I gave you a chance to make up for the failure?”

Voltas’s eyes went wide when he listened to the proposal of the Emperor.

Rudolf continued to speak by looking at him with cold eyes.

“I want to slash your throat with a single strike, but I can’t disregard your achievements. Besides, you have a close relationship with the nobles on our side.”

Srrrng.

At the end of his words, the Emperor pulled his sword.

Voltas understood what happened, seeing the blood around the blade.

He placed his head on the floor while Rudolf was still watching.

“Please let me be. I will never lead you down again.”

Listening to Voltas’s oath, Rudolf had a smile return to his face.

He saw the determination in Voltas’s eyes which were dedicated to saving his family.

“Nice. And if you do things well, I’ll make your daughter into an Empress.”

“My, my daughter into an Empress?”

“Yeah, isn’t she going to be sixteen this year? She is a little young, but pretty and unique for me.”

He heard that the Emperor had gotten insane ever since the death of his kids and the Empress and queens.

However, he never thought that he would benefit for it.

“You must do very well to become the grandfather of the next emperor. So, let me take your right arm.”

“UH? What do…?”

Before Voltas could even know, Rudolf cut the right arm.

A clean-cut with a sharp blade and aura.

“Uahhhhh!”

Realizing what happened, Voltas held his arm and screamed in pain.

Rudolf who was holding his sword looked at Voltas who was in pain.

“Stop being pitiful and follow me. I will tell you what to do in the future.”

Clenching the bleeding arm, he got up and chased the Emperor.

And so he got a chance to walk out once again.

Recalling that, Count Voltas sighed for a long time.

“Phew, Your Majesty is being too much. Even though it is hard to fool a human, to make my body like this for that sake…”

As if it wasn’t just enough to cut down the right arm of Voltas, Rudolf left Voltas to his men.

And made sure that Voltas had a body that no one could sympathize with.

The torture marks were needed to deceive the enemy.

It was a warning to Voltas to never betray or give any disappointing results in the future.

“Well, this is something we need to pay for our family to earn merit.”

Voltas, determined, looked at the canyon he had blocked.

The shocked cries and screams from the other side were like sweet songs to his ears.