Declaration of War

I carefully opened the princess's door and poked my head out. Despite being royalty, she seemed to have no protection.

“You weren’t kidding about your lack of company. There’s not even a guard keeping watch.”

“I used to have some, but with my father's sudden change in attitude and Duke Wiscard’s requests, not even the maids attend to me anymore.”

“That’s terrible. A notorious pirate could sneak in here, and nobody would even know.”

She laughed, her hand covering her mouth with royal poise.

“Perhaps such a pirate would have to snatch me up.”

I turned back to face her one last time.

“Well, whoever that pirate is would be a very lucky man.”

I gave a final wave before exiting and running down the spiral stairwell. The castle should’ve been swarming with soldiers, but I didn’t see a single one. The princess had given me directions to the duke’s office, but this place was like a labyrinth.

As I made my way towards the room, I passed the throne room, which had its door ajar. Like everywhere else, the throne room was eerily unguarded. However, looming over a corpse stood Duke Wiscard.

“Just the person I was looking for,” I commented, using my foot to close the door behind me.

The duke jumped, startled, and glanced over. His face was red with anger.

“I told the guards to go to the front entrance and not allow anyone in. What were they doing?”

I slowly approached the duke, my blade levelled at his chest.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn’t come through the standard entrance.”

He let out a sigh.

“You are a persistent bunch, but you should all just give up.”

I looked down at the body lying at his feet.

“I see you’ve already killed the king.”

“Oh no, I had nothing to do with it this time. I was on my way to do it and found him like this.”

He bit his thumbnail.

“Wait… how did you know I planned to do this?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Administrator N.”

The duke's eyes widened, and his face turned pale.

“How?”

“How what, Dukeypoos?” I taunted.

He waved his hand in front of him.

“System! Who is this insolent man?”

His gaze fixated on what seemed like blank space for a moment, his eyes widened before looking back up.

“What did the system say about me?” I asked with a smirk.

A cruel smile crept up his face.

“So you are the Otherworlder, the Error that I’ve read about. The System was very clear; it wants you dead.”

Unlike before, his expression was calm, almost cold.

“Well, how about telling the system no?”

“I’m sorry.” He shrugged and shook his head. “I’m just a low-level administrator. Maybe if I were higher, but since I’m not, I have to do what the system asks.”

There were different levels of administrators. I almost wanted to keep him alive as my information source. He already gave me much more than X ever did.

“Well, if you have to kill me, then bring it on.”

He sighed once more.

“Even if you are without stats and skills, my skills are not suited to dealing with you.”

“All the more reason I would love to fight you.”

At that moment, the doors to the throne room burst open, showering the room with wooden shrapnel. Through the pulverised wood chips, the masked man stepped into the room.

“Duke Wiscard, I have come for your head,” he called.

The duke let out a frustrated sigh and stomped his foot several times.

“I have heard you say it all before. Can this be the last time?”

“I don’t believe we have ever met before, but I can assure you this will be the last.”

The masked man glanced over at me with my cutlass drawn and then back at the duke.

“It appears you have several enemies, Duke Wiscard.”

The duke clicked his tongue and bit his thumbnail further. More blood dripped down his hand.

“Why must this be so difficult?”

“Prepare to die, Duke Wiscard.”

The man readied his blade, and I instinctively moved out of the way.

“I won’t allow you to harm the royal family intruder!” screamed the voice of Sir Branwell.

He clashed with the masked man. The strike of the two blades sent shockwaves through the room that made me stagger.

How could two people be so strong?

The two lurched back from one another.

“Oh? I was hoping to avoid you, Sir Branwell,” the masked man commented. “I was hoping to avoid fighting anyone as tough as you.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Sir Branwell replied. “But what I want to know is why a Holy Knight of the church of Luminous is attacking the castle.”

“I suppose this disguise is useless then.”

The masked man removed his mask and hood to reveal his golden hair.

“Is this an order of the Supreme Pontiff?” Sir Branwell asked.

“Of course not. His Holiness did not need to know about this.”

“I see, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” I added sarcastically, nodding my head.

I was completely ignored as Sir Branwell and the Holy Knight swung their blades at one another again.

“I see, so you are acting under someone else's orders,” Sir Branwell commented.

“A Holy Knight, I see why the masked man seemed so strong,” the duke mused. “But it doesn’t matter. Now I know the masked man is a holy knight, I’ll just summon Sir Branwell straight away.”

“So what if you know his identity? He was never your biggest threat.” I paused to sheath my cutlass. I knew that it was meaningless to try to attack him with it. The moment I got close, he would reset time again. I looked him dead in the eye. “I am!”

The duke burst into hysterical laughter.

“Don’t you all get it? It’s impossible to defeat me.”

“No skill is without flaws,” I snapped back.

“My power is like a bookmark in the book of time. I can update my bookmark, and I can travel back to that page as many times as I want until I move the bookmark. You can’t win.”

He pointed his finger at me, laughing hysterically.

“Is that so?”

I ran my hook through the back of his hand. He screamed in pain and tried to pull back, but my hook was holding him in place.

His power began to take effect.

I locked eyes with him, who had a look of sheer terror on his face.

“Don’t underestimate me, Administrator. I’ll find your weakness, and when I do, your skill, your life, your everything, will be mine.”

He and everyone else vanished into the darkness as time reset once more.

▪──── X ────▪

End of chapter 44