Moonlight settled upon the high spires of Ro Lente Castle.
In the distance, the mansions of the noble district were silent.
One by one, the lights of the streets flickered out.
The royal capital appeared to be fast asleep.
Yet, beneath that silence, a conspiracy was breathing.
The Young Guard were sharpening their blades.
Blue Rose remained unaware of which chessboard they had been placed upon.
Marquis Raeven was preparing his private army.
Terriuss was walking toward power.
Lana was reaching out toward the throne and Climb.
And the capital was still asleep.
Like the slumber before a storm.
---
Young Guard Coalition Headquarters.
The old noble mansion on the outskirts of the capital looked like an ordinary villa on the surface.
A neglected garden.
A quiet fountain.
Stone walls overgrown with ivy.
Old, creaking windows.
But as night fell, it transformed into the heart of a silent rebellion.
Thick curtains obscured the windows.
Private soldiers hired by the Young Guard nobles stood guard at the main gate.
Surveillance teams were stationed in the alleys surrounding the mansion.
Carriages were hidden away in the stables at the rear.
Weapon crates, disguised as wine barrels, were stacked in the underground cellar.
No one raised their voice.
Yet everyone knew.
This night's gathering was no mere meeting of the disgruntled.
In the underground meeting room.
Dozens of Young Guard nobles were gathered there.
Many were young.
Their titles were low, but their desires were great.
Their bloodlines were lacking, but their pride was strong.
Fear and excitement flickered across their faces simultaneously.
One man's fingers trembled.
Another toyed with his wine glass.
Another gripped and released the hilt of his sword repeatedly.
And at the center of it all stood Gracchus, the Commissioner of the Thousand Kingdom.
Terriuss Assis sat beside him.
Terriuss watched the meeting room in silence.
One of the Young Guard nobles spoke up cautiously.
"If we truly take action... will the Commissioner's troops really come?"
Silence fell over the room at that question.
The Commissioner's garrison.
The force the Thousand Kingdom had stationed at the Commissioner's residence following the capital disturbance.
One hundred in number.
Each was an elite Automaton soldier of Level 18.
By the standards of the Thousand Kingdom, they were low-level troops.
But by the Kingdom's standards, they were by no means a force to be taken lightly.
They were on a completely different level than ordinary soldiers or private guards.
Even with only a hundred, they were a force capable of shifting the balance of the battlefield amidst the chaos of the capital.
Gracchus nodded.
"They will come."
It was a short answer.
But with those words, relief and excitement spread across the faces of the Young Guard.
Gracchus raised a hand to quiet them.
"The plan is as follows."
His voice was calm.
It was as if he were explaining an administrative procedure rather than a rebellion.
"First."
Gracchus unfurled a map of Ro Lente Castle.
Blue magical lines floated in the air.
The main passages of the royal castle.
The barracks.
The supply depots.
The ceremonial corridors.
The noble waiting rooms.
The festival banquet hall.
The royal escape route.
The heart of Ro Lente Castle was laid bare upon the map.
Several points were marked in red.
Gracchus spoke.
"We will set fire to Ro Lente Castle using the White Phosphorus Bombs we have prepared."
Several of the Young Guard nobles gasped.
White Phosphorus Bombs.
The fire that never goes out.
A weapon prepared by the Thousand Kingdom, with the result value of 'combustion' itself fixed.
Gracchus continued as if it were nothing.
"Once the fires break out, the capital's forces will be thrown into utter confusion. The Royal Guard will have to handle fire suppression, the protection of His Majesty the King, and the evacuation of the nobles all at once."
His finger moved across the map.
"In this chaos, you will eliminate all gathered nobles—both from the Noble Faction and the Royal Faction."
The room stirred.
"Even the Royal Faction...?"
"You mean it's not just the Noble Faction?"
"Couldn't the Royal Faction become our allies?"
Gracchus looked at them.
"Both the Royal Faction and the Noble Faction represent the Old Order."
Silence descended once more at those words.
The statement was simple.
And because it was simple, it was dangerous.
The Old Order.
The moment they were called that, people ceased to be people and became targets for removal.
The Noble Faction.
The Royal Faction.
Even those they had exchanged greetings with in the same court until yesterday.
All were bundled together under the label of the 'Old Order.'
Terriuss Assis listened to Gracchus's words, lightly tapping the armrest of his chair with his fingertips.
Gracchus pointed to a second location.
"Second. We secure His Majesty the King."
The eyes of the Young Guard widened.
"We aren't killing His Majesty?"
"No."
Gracchus's voice was firm.
"His Majesty the King must remain alive."
He pointed to the royal escape route inside Ro Lente Castle.
"After securing His Majesty, you will inform him that the Noble Faction has staged a rebellion. You will report that key figures of the Royal Faction have either conspired with the Noble Faction or have been caught up in the revolt."
A noble asked in a trembling voice.
"Will His Majesty believe us?"
Gracchus replied.
"At that moment, His Majesty will be in the middle of a burning castle."
He continued calmly.
"The princes and the Great Nobles will be dead or unreachable, and the Royal Guard will have collapsed. What His Majesty will need is not the truth, but a force he can use immediately."
Terriuss murmured to himself as he heard this.
Accurate.
In the midst of chaos, a ruler does not judge the truth.
They grab the hand that is first reached out to them.
Gracchus stated the third step.
"Third. We must obtain a formal request from His Majesty for the intervention of the Commissioner's troops."
He emphasized this part.
"It must be in writing. It must bear the King's seal and signature. A verbal request is insufficient."
The Young Guard nobles looked at one another.
The request.
That was the pretext for the Thousand Kingdom's forces to move within the capital.
The power was already there.
The troops were already there.
But what the Thousand Kingdom wanted was not just the deployment of troops.
Pretext.
Officiality.
Record.
A document that no one could deny in the future.
Gracchus spoke again.
"Once we have the request, our forces will surround Ro Lente Castle. The Commissioner's garrison will move under the pretext of restoring order and suppressing the rebellion at the Kingdom's request."
He pressed his finger on the final point.
"Finally, we will announce that this incident was the work of the Noble Faction."
A strange heat began to circulate in the meeting room.
Someone muttered.
"The Noble Faction burned the royal castle."
Another took up the refrain.
"The Noble Faction tried to harm His Majesty the King."
"The Noble Faction killed the princes and the Royal Faction nobles."
"In that case, we aren't rebels—we're the Salvation Army."
Several people caught their breath at those words.
Rebels.
That word was heavy.
But the Salvation Army.
That word was different.
Even if you hold the same blade, the guilt changes when the name changes.
Even if you shed the same blood, a person sees themselves differently when the pretext changes.
Gracchus nodded.
"After that, we establish a new government."
As those words fell, the Young Guard nobles began to buzz with excitement.
Some turned red in the face.
Some breathed heavily.
Some already seemed to be imagining themselves in ministerial positions in the new regime.
"Finally, our turn has come."
"We can set the Kingdom right."
"This is the day the old men of the Noble Faction meet their end."
"Civilization Enlightenment."
"A new Kingdom will open under the protection of Lord Caesar."
Some shouted in joy.
"For the new era!"
"Long live the Young Guard!"
"For the Civilization Enlightenment of Re-Estize!"
Amidst the enthusiasm, a noble raised his hand again.
His face was paler than the others.
"You are certain you will come, yes?"
The room quieted slightly.
The noble lowered his voice.
"Without the Commissioner's troops... we cannot stop the rebellion of the remaining provincial nobles. Even if we succeed in the capital, we won't be able to hold out on our own if the Great Nobles of the provinces raise their armies."
It was a realistic concern.
Even if the Young Guard seized the capital, the Kingdom would fall into civil war if the provincial lords raised their forces.
Especially if the Great Nobles survived, or if their relatives gathered provincial armies, the Young Guard would not last long.
Gracchus looked the man straight in the eye.
And spoke in a resolute voice.
"This undertaking is not my own will."
He placed a hand over his heart.
"It is the will of my master, Lord Caesar."
That name seized the air in the meeting room once again.
Caesar.
The being who defeated the demons of the capital.
The ruler of the Thousand Kingdom.
The transcendent monarch who had signed a treaty with the Re-Estize Kingdom.
There was nothing better than that name to suppress the anxieties of the Young Guard nobles.
Gracchus continued.
"We will also bear the costs of maintaining the government after its establishment."
The expressions of the Young Guard nobles brightened instantly.
"Then it's possible."
"If we have the war funds secured, the provincial nobles won't be able to move so easily."
"With the Commissioner's troops and the Thousand Kingdom's funds..."
"We can win."
The room was filled with relief and excitement once more.
Gracchus drove the final nail in.
"The most important thing is, after all... the request from His Majesty Ramposa III."
He looked around slowly.
"That is the most important thing."
The nobles nodded at those words.
"Secure His Majesty."
"Obtain the request."
"Call for the Commissioner's troops in the King's name."
"Then suppress the Noble Faction's rebellion."
They repeated the plan to themselves.
Their voices were laced with reassurance.
To them, this plan was no longer a reckless rebellion.
It began to look like a legitimate change of regime.
Setting the Kingdom right.
Civilization Enlightenment.
Salvation of the nation.
Those beautiful names were masking the scent of blood in their hearts.
But in one corner of that meeting room.
Terriuss Assis's gaze was cold.
He looked at the faces of the Young Guard nobles one by one.
The excited ones.
The terrified ones.
Those dreaming of advancement.
Those who believed in Civilization Enlightenment.
Those leaning on Caesar's name.
Those who thought they were saving the Kingdom.
They believed they had become the protagonists of history.
Terriuss found the thought amusing.
The request.
Gracchus said it was important.
He was right.
But Terriuss knew.
What was truly important was what came after that request.
The moment the Royal and Noble factions collapsed.
The moment the Young Guard became rebels.
The moment the Commissioner's troops moved.
The moment Gracchus died.
The moment the Thousand Kingdom gained the pretext to intervene.
From that point on, these Young Guard nobles would no longer be necessary.
Terriuss's finger slowly stopped tapping.
He thought quietly.
You are all just kindling.
Low cheers still echoed within the room.
Gracchus was watching them with an expressionless face.
Terriuss looked at Gracchus's profile.
An Automaton Commissioner prepared to die for Caesar.
That loyalty was still chilling.
And at the same time, it was useful.
Terriuss smiled slowly.
It was a very faint, cold smile.
A drop of wax fell from a candle on the ceiling of the meeting room.
The night in the capital was deepening.
The Young Guard nobles still believed they were going to save the Kingdom.
They did not know.
That the fire that would burn the Kingdom was already in their hands.
They did not know.
That the torches they held would not light the way, but would consume them first.
The capital was asleep.
And near the heart of the sleeping city.
The kindling was waiting for the fire of its own accord.
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