I looked at the Queen, whose face was so caked in white powder she looked like a marble statue of Greed (or Greece!?)…
I looked at Mixie, whose arrogance was so thick it was a wonder she could see past her own nose…
Finally, I looked at the "Minotaur" minister, who was still puffing his chest out as if he expected me to apologize for my existence…
I sighed again…
It was a long, weary sound that echoed off the gilded gargoyles…
"Clara-Chan..."
I said, my voice cutting through the tension like a cold scalpel…
"Why do you even bother???
Why do you try to reason with donkeys???
Don't you feel tired???"
The words didn't just fall; they exploded…
For a heartbeat, the room was so still you could hear the clinking of the Queen's jewelry…
Then, the dam burst…
"WHAT???!!!
DONKEYS???!!!"
The round Minister shrieked, his face transitioning from mottled purple to a deep, bruised crimson…
Like a loyal dog desperate for merit…
He immediately launched his Gatling Gun…
"You...
You insolent, backwater, sac-wearing trash!!!
To compare the Royal Council to beasts???!!!
Guards!!!
Execute him!!!
Strip the flesh from his bones!!!"
Princess Mixie rose from her seat, her voice a shrill, glass-shattering scream…
"How dare you???!!!
Captain Voltrex, kill him!!!
Cut out his tongue!!!
Take him to the Dungeon…
No matter what he's still a Pretty Boy…"
My Eyes squinted in disgust at the Last comment as I could practically see Drool escaping from her lips making my temper boil…
Minerva didn't speak, but her eyes narrowed into slits of pure, icy venom…
Her gloved hand gripped the arm of her golden throne so hard the metal groaned ( or at least it tried to but couldn't since she was too weak to do so)…
The air shifted…
Before the first guard could even take a step, before the Ministers could finish their indignation, I released it…
A slight burst of Killing Intent…
It wasn't a roar…
It was a silent, absolute command from the Apex Predator…
The temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees in an instant…
The air became heavy, like liquid lead, forcing the air out of the nobles' lungs…
The fat Minister collapsed into his chair, his eyes rolling back as a cold sweat broke out over his entire body…
The younger nobles fell to their knees, their ostrich-feather fans dropping to the floor like dead birds…
Even Mixie stumbled back, her arrogance replaced by a primal, shaking terror she couldn't understand…
'Seriously, do they understand who I am???
I have got 200 years' worth of Killing intent…
Millions of lives on my Hands…
Hundreds of Millions of Monsters…
I don't even need to release it all…
Although…'
I thought as I raised my eyebrows…
One person managed to move…
Captain Voltrex blurred into action…
With a metallic shring that sounded like a scream, he drew his massive broadsword…
But he didn't charge…
He didn't even take a step forward…
He froze on the dais, his feet planted firmly in front of the Queen, his blade held in a trembling defensive posture…
His eyes—the only part of him that seemed alive—tracked me with a terrifying focus…
He didn't attack not because of orders, but because every instinct in his A-Rank body was screaming a singular, deafening message: Danger... Absolute, unsettling danger…
I didn't move an inch…
I kept my hand on Clara's shoulder, my expression as casual as if I were watching a poorly acted play…
'Well at least he has the guts…
Although I only used a small amount of Killing intent for a little while…
A person who has seen the battlefield???'
I thought casually…
"Reasoning with donkeys is a waste of time, Clara-Chan," I repeated…
I looked at the Queen…
"I don't understand...
Why don't you all ask why a Hero wasn't sent before???
Why didn't you wonder why the Goddesses waited twenty years to only send one now???
How many of your so called worthless Royal families were decimated by the Black Calamity in their arrogance and Futility???"
I took a step forward…
The sound of my sneaker hitting the carpet was like a drum in the silence as I merely glanced at everyone indifferently…
"Think for a bloody second okay," I said, my voice gaining a sharp, authoritative edge as I became fiercer the more I spoke…
"Julian is a Calamity...
One of his first and one of a kind…
He is a monster that literally eats souls and turns the Land and the World into a Death Zone…
The Goddesses didn't send a Hero before because there was no Hero strong enough to stop him…
Not one..."
I looked at the Minister who had called me a tool and then the laughable Queen…
"So, tell me, O 'Light of the West'...
Why do you think a Hero was sent now???
Do you think the Goddesses just suddenly decided they liked your powder filled faces or Jumbo Zinger Burger sized Bellies???
Do you think I was sent here to simply be a sacrifice to buy you another week of continuing your pathetic lives???"
I leaned forward, with a wide bloodthirsty grin…
"Have some General IQ for God's sake…
If a Hero is sent after twenty years of silence, it means the variable has changed…
It means I am not like Julian…
It means I am the one who can actually do it…
And you think you can talk to me about etiquette???
You think you can talk to me about being a 'tool'???
Just you weak Garbage???"
I said in full arrogance of speaking like a Young Master and then turned my gaze toward Voltrex…
"You…
You seem rather decent…
So why do you mingle with this corrupt Trash???
Why do you protect a Queen who is already planning her escape route before her people even finish dying???"
Voltrex didn't lower his sword…
His jaw was set, his eyes fixed on me with a grim, unwavering resolve...
"I am the loyal guardian of this Kingdom," Voltrex answered, his voice deep and gravelly…
"For many generations, my family has stood as the shield of Valroy…
My father...
He couldn't save the original King during the Fall of The Fortress of Erenzil…
He died in the ash, failing his duty…
I will not repeat his mistake…
I must at least save the rest of the Royal Family…
It is my honor…
It is my duty…"
I looked at him for a long moment…
It was the answer of a man trapped by his own history…
A good man serving a bad cause…
I nodded slowly…
"I see…
You're a man of your word…
That's rare…
But your 'honor' is just a shackle, a Burden…
And the drivel of the weak…
Is just mere drivel in the end…"
I said as I snapped my fingers…
From several small, circular black void portals emerged, which was actually my inventory, manifested in the air, a set of shimmering chains erupted…
[Item: Chains of Heaven (Modified - Mana Restraint Type)]
[Rank: S]
[Effect: Let's restraint Everyone]
[BDSM Hurrah!!!]