The horse's hooves moved as it pulled a carriage on the road. After one year, Wilhelm had gotten used to the uncomfortable carriage ride, their destination was the Eldoria Academy and since he and Iris were nobles of the highest rank it is no surprise that a ton of knights would escort them. The knights numbered 40 with half being from the Imperial Knights and half the Felles Archduchy Knights.

“But aren’t we lacking in numbers? You said there will be a ton of Thalion Cultists and that there will be some high-ranking members there as well.” Iris said.

“I’ve explained it to you before, right? If we go in like we are preparing a war, they would do the ritual and then flee.”

“But we will drop dead if we go in without any strength.” Iris frowned.

“I’ve also invited some ‘people’ that hid there first…Didn’t I tell you this as well?”

“...Are you sure they will come?”

“Of course they will. They hate the Thalion Cultists the most.” Wilhelm said, but his body betrayed his confident tone, he took deep breaths to calm down his heartbeat, and his fingers drummed against his thigh like it was trying to make a hole on it.

One year of preparation, Wilhelm did everything he could. He had transformed his body and physique into something entirely different, his lean muscles, now strong and bursting with strength and his mana threatening to burst out like an overflowing dam. He had also strengthened the others, schemed, and strategized continually over the course of one year. Yet, there was still doubt inside his mind.

He knew about the type of ritual that the Count will use, as well as some of the monsters due to exploring the ruins of the city as the Main Character. Therefore he was not worried about those, what he was worried about was the ones he didn’t know about.

What are the Count’s powers? How many cultists will he use to kill the Prince, and other matters directly relating to Wilhelm’s death. Those are the things game didn’t reveal and instead it just gave him the fact that Wilhelm died in the Axelane County and allow him to explore the ruins of the Axelane County. With the game’s information and his own investigations, he made countless hypothesis, planned, and prepared for it but he was still worried about the unknown things.

‘I guess this is human psychology.’ Wilhelm smiled bitterly. Still, if he wanted people to trust in him, he had to appear confident.

Iris looked at Wilhelm with narrowed eyes like she was scanning him and sighed before she continued reading her romance novel.

“Don’t you get dizzy reading that in a carriage?”

Even Wilhelm is quite dizzy despite not doing anything.

“I don’t. I rarely get dizzy in the first place.”

“I’m jealous.”

‘She’s really got everything damn it, is it because she is the Hero?’

“By the way, what’s that?”

“Hm?”

Iris pointed at the golden cross necklace Wilhelm was wearing. Even a regular guy could tell that it's a very luxurious item.

“It's a necklace I got from my father.”

Wilhelm eventually decided on this necklace when the Emperor offered him a reward. There were many other useful tools he could’ve gotten, but at the beginning stages, the necklace was without a doubt the most useful one.

“Not bad, makes you look like an actual prince.”

“But I am an actual prince.”

Wilhelm and Iris made some small talk to erase boredom and nerves. Eventually, the carriage stopped. They had arrived, not at their destination but at the place where there will be a great fight in the night.

Count Axelane’s house.

“Your Highness, we have arrived.”

The one opening the door is not Abraham but rather Gaius. It seems like Abraham is training Gaius to do stuff like this so that he can serve Wilhelm well in the Eldoria Academy. Wilhelm didn’t get why he was doing this because Abraham would be following him to the Eldoria Academy as well.

“Thank you, Gaius.” Gaius opened the door for Wilhelm and Wilhelm went down to the carriage. The cool winds of the night brushed through Wilhelm.

“Not at all.”

Iris also went down with the help of Natasha as she looked at the mansion with a stiff and frowning face.

“Don’t look like you are preparing for battle. You will scare them away.”

“But we are though?”

Gaius also seemed nervous when they were going to Count Axelane's territory. Wilhelm had explained just a bit of the plan to Gaius and Abraham, it was to ensure they would be ready when the battle happened. Wilhelm didn’t say anything to the other knights but he did tell them to be constantly on guard.

The knights would get it if he just said that. Abraham and the Royal knights and Felles knights followed behind Wilhelm.

“Welcome, Your Highness, Lady Iris. Thank you for coming all the way here to stop by our mansion.”

Greeting them at the front is Count Axelane bowing his head, he was still the same, and next to him was someone he presumed to be a butler. The butler smiled and bowed, yet Wilhelm could feel an instinctive sense of repulsiveness coming out of him.

‘...How disgusting.’ Wilhelm tried his hardest not to frown and smiled brightly.

“Not at all, I should be the one to thank you for allowing us to stay here.”

“Hahaha! Not at all, Your Highness, it is my honor to have someone like you here.”

The Count gestured towards the butler.

“Since both of you have traveled far, I'm sure you must be tired, I shall immediately guide you to your room.”

“Actually, we shall eat first before we go to sleep.”

“As you wish, Your Highness. I did promise to treat you to the fine delicacies of my County, hahaha!”

The Count chuckled before he turned back and walked towards his mansion. Wilhelm and the others followed. Iris went towards Wilhelm and whispered.

“There are people inside, tons of them. I can bet my house that they are not servants.”

“I see, then let’s not go in.”

Wilhelm stopped all of a sudden, right as he was about to go inside the mansion.

“Your Highness?” The Count tilted his head, yet Wilhelm didn’t respond, he just stood still.

‘It’s about time.’

Wilhelm heard a ding sound coming from his pocket. It was the signal that meant everything was ready. Wilhelm smiled.

“Uh, Your Highness, what was that so-?”

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“It’s nothing, by the way, Count. I want to ask you something.”

“Please ask away.”

Wilhelm sent a signal back using the communicator magic tool. Wilhelm then smiled as he looked at the Count.

“I was wondering, how could a pig stand up on two legs?”

“Pardon?"

“Shouldn’t they be crawling on the ground?” Wilhelm smiled.

Iris, standing beside Wilhelm, swiftly took out her sword from her spatial storage, and unsheathed it. Starlight gathered like a storm onto her sword, and the concentrated stars brightened up the night.

[The Falling Star]

Iris swung the sword with all of her might, and the starlight engulfed the Count, Butler and the mansion like a torrent wave of destruction.

The Count reacted and tried to conjure a barrier of some sort, yet he was too late due to the sudden attack, the Mansion itself, however, managed to conjure a barrier full of dark, murky, and malevolent energy that chills the spine, yet, [The Falling Star] destroyed it effortlessly, the rocks crumbled, the windows cracked, the land blew away, chunks of wood scattered before disappearing into nothing, as everything on the path of the stars are destroyed.

Dust covered the entirety of the battlefield, and when it settled. The Count, emerged, riddled with wounds, like a pig painted in red, he had blood all over his body. His face twisted in anger completely abandoning the clueless Count persona he had. The butler beside him is also not in the best shape, as his back is hunched, coughing in the dust, with a completely mangled up left arm that hung limp by his side.

“...You, how did you know!?” The Count said, while gritting his teeth.

“Did you think i am just going to kindly explain if you just ask? Think with your brain sometimes instead of your belly.” Wilhelm shrugged. The Count’s blood vessels bulged as he screamed out towards his back.

“You fool! Stop standing there and start activating the ritual!”

“Ah, sorry, it's not gonna activate. At least not fully.”

“What?”

“Count, inquisitors are destroying our ritual!” A Thalion Cultist who flew in from somewhere said.

“Inquisitors? How did they-?” The Count looked at Wilhelm with rage. “You!”

Wilhelm smiled.

“Glad you understood.”

“Kill that fucking prince! And activate the ritual even if it's disrupted!”

Disgusting blackish-purple energy began appearing out of nowhere from the sky and began going into the Count, and the butler. Swarms of people wearing pitch-black robes with the symbol of a deformed lion head with goat horns also started appearing from the rubbles of the mansion and blindsides of a building, each of them strengthened by the Demonic Energy that appeared from the sky.

The ritual that The Count intended is a sacrificial ritual that encapsulates the entire city, it makes it so that the more you sacrifice the stronger you get, and the cultists are planning on using that to kill all of the civilians, get strong enough that the knights won’t be able to do anything, kill them all, and escape. However, such a grand spell is easily destroyed to due its intricacies, therefore prior to this, Wilhelm instructed the inquisitors to spread their holy energy toward the ground, and that is enough to destroy the grand demonic spell.

‘I can’t do much about the Core Crystals though.’

The Core Crystals, which serve as the energy source for the ritual, still remained intact even if Wilhelm destroyed the grand spell, and the Count used those energy resources instead to try to strengthen the Cultists as much as possible. As expected of a energy source for a grand ritual, it is extremely immense, enough to strengthen the thousands of cultists.

With that said, it is of no trouble. The knights who had already gotten into a defensive formation began cutting through any of the cultists that dared to approach. As the most excellent knights in the Empire, the low-ranked cultists might as well be thousands of rabbits trying to hunt a group of lions.

‘But damn, there are a lot of people.’ Wilhelm thought as he shouted the plans for the knights.

“The ritual crystals that strengthens them are all located in the 4 cardinal directions of the city and one in the middle of the city. I have sent Inquisitors for the 4 parts, and our job is to destroy the one in the middle! Let’s do this as fast as possible since the Crystals are empowering them with more strength!”

“You think I'm just going to let you do that!?” The Count, perhaps enraged at being called a pig, started casting a spell toward Wilhelm. Just as the knights heard of the plan, the enemy did too, but that wasn’t a problem because they will still defend the core crystals regardless.

“So you are a Thalion Priest, well, I guess that’s obvious. With that body, it is doubtful that you would be a paladin.”

“Shut up! You will regret mocking me!” After the Count finished casting a spell and was about to release it. A bright golden light shined as he turned his attention around towards it, Abraham flew in with a golden colored energy surging from his sword as he swung it toward the Count.

The Count, who was so focused on Wilhelm without considering his surroundings, clicked his tongue as he changed his Demonic Spell into a defensive barrier. Abraham’s eyes widened a bit as his sword crashed into the barrier and a burst of light appeared. The Count’s eyes bulged out as he tried his hardest to defend himself against the powerful attack by Abraham.

Considering the skill of the Count who managed to block Abraham’s strike midway through a completed spell, as well as the surging Demonic Energy rising from him, he would be an opponent that Wilhelm would normally not stand a chance against.

However, Wilhelm smiled as he ran towards the Count, sword in hand. No matter how high level the Count is, he is still a priest with a weak body without his barrier and it just so happens that he is giving his all to barely block Abraham’s strikes.

The other Thalion Cultists noticed him and attacked him with demonic energy-enhanced weapons, yet Wilhelm’s swordsmanship sliced the Cultists effortlessly and pursued the Count in the distance.

He soon arrived near the Count. The Count, belatedly turned around with a shocked look on his face and as Wilhelm swung his sword-.

Clank!

A dagger forcefully intervened and blocked Wilhelm’s strike. It was the butler wielded two daggers. He had already healed himself with potions.

“I hope you didn’t forget about me.” The butler said with a cold voice, as he began a relentless assault on Wilhelm. The dagger swerved around quickly as it danced with power, speed, and precision. Using the Heinberg Imperial Sword Style, Wilhelm tried to defend and deflect against them, yet it was futile.

With superior speed and strength, the dagger relentlessly slashed at Wilhelm, while nulling each of Wilhelm’s counterattacks. Not even being given a chance to breathe, Wilhelm was forced onto the defensive as he continued to move back and back while barely defending himself.

“Tch.”

Light wounds began appearing on Wilhelm as he clicked his tongue, he tried to deflect one of the dagger strikes by meeting it with his sword and then twisting it, yet the dagger just forcefully pushed the sword forward like a charging ox, forcefully knocking it away.

‘Damn it, I expected it but i guess its still to much to fight against the high ranked members.’ Yet despite his thoughts, Wilhelm was smiling.

‘...Why is he so relaxed? Does he have a plan in mind?’

Despite being able to kill Wilhelm in the next 10 moves, he had an ominous feeling before he sensed a spell coming straight at him. The butler instinctively twisted his body as a star passed by with great speed hitting another Cultist, as it exploded, scattering the Cultist’s body.

Iris then moved forward and swung her mana-filled sword in an arc, the Butler, enhanced his dagger with even more Demonic Energy as it surged through the dagger and met with Iris’s sword.

The clash sent out a blast of wind, the Butler smirked seeing Iris.

“Hello, Self Proclaimed Hero. Was the plan to team up against me? You are definitely a top priority to kill, but not now. Move, for I shall kill the prince!”

“What a funny thought for someone about to die.” Iris smiled.

“Hah! Die? To you? What an arrogant bi-.”

The butler couldn’t finish his words. It was because he couldn’t speak, he felt a sudden pain in his neck as his vocal cord disappeared, and his sight gradually moved like he was levitating until eventually he could see a headless body wielding two daggers slowly falling to the ground as well as a unrecognizable women with blood in one of her two daggers.

“? What happene-’

That was the butler’s last thought as his head fell onto the ground with a thud.

Wilhelm walked and sliced the arm of the headless butler’s corpse and stored it in his spatial sotrage ring. It was gruesome yet he needed this arm for later. Wilhelm looked to the side and saw Iris, and a tall woman wielding two daggers, the same as the butler. The woman’s dagger shined with a bright purple light different than the Demonic Energy the cultists uses, it was similar to Abraham’s golden light.

The woman’s name is Natasha, an assassin, and information gatherer that is solely loyal to Iris, and is her personal bodyguard.

As expected of the bodyguard for the Hero, she is extremely strong. If you build her right, she would be able to become the strongest assassin.

She is also the character with the highest status and strength in the early game amongst other recruitable character making her indispensable. Iris and Natasha slaughtered the remaining Thalion Cultist alongside the knights. Abraham swiftly decapitated the Count after the other knights ganged up on him.

After finishing the Thalion Cultists around, they all looked at Wilhelm. After all, although the mastermind which is the Count and the Butler died, this is still the start of the battle. The number of Cultists residing here was much more than expected, with the ones in the mansion merely being a small part of the entire group, after all this is a plot to assassinate the prince and to slaughter every citizen residing in Count Axelane.

Therefore they waited so that their prince can give his orders.

Wilhelm looked towards the eyes gazing at him. The fate of the [A Hero’s Tribulations] game said that he should’ve died right here and then, but he didn’t, and he shall continue breaking the fate given by the game. This was just the start. Wilhelm brought his sword into the sky and stated.

“For the heinous crimes commited, and plans, I, the Crown Prince of the Empire declare, that all Cultists that follow the abominable god of Thalion, shall all-.”

Wilhelm’s sword went down in an arc, marking the start of a battle.

“Be sentenced to death.”