I am the Monarch

Episs was a failure – that’s what everyone said.

‘Even father…’

He was supposed to be a one-off consumable used to train the successful ones but holding tight onto his eager wishes to live, and be acknowledged by his father, he did whatever he could. The arms and legs that were nothing but long were made tough.

Through painful practices, he earned skins, muscles and bones that could fight against aura and thanks to that, he could escape his fate as a consumable.

However, he still could not earn the recognition of his father. Even when the ‘successes’, the other children of father had spread out the continent to carry out important tasks, he was made to stay at home alone.

‘At this rate, I’ll never be able to get father’s recognition.’

Episs left the house while avoiding the eyes of his father and brothers. He picked a spot relatively rural in the east side of the Grain Mountain Range – a place called Eviance district to have it as his area.

He brought in the orcs and dark elves under him to catch humans and offer them as sacrifices. It was faster than other brothers.

‘A bit more and father will acknowledge me.’

Confidence filled him up but it was then that an annoying race showed themselves from the south. Humans that called themselves Manus Persion, Peid Neil and Aerea Britz appeared with an army.

It wasn’t that hard to fight against them. There were countless orcs and dark elves were a lot stronger than normal humans. As he thought, the battle unfolded in a one-sided manner and humans stood no chance, but ones called Manus, Peid and Aerea served a bit more trouble than others.

‘That’s why I came out personally, wearing the Martis Gloves which father had gifted me with.’

After he came out, the slightly more troublesome ones were no longer their opponents and he was planning to make them into puddles of blood after playing around a bit.

But it was then,

‘That guy! That guy appeared!’

His eyes became half-closed as the cold killing intent left from within.

‘After appearing, he not only punched me, he broke the Martis Gloves which father had given me!’

He was angry,

Very angry but…

Paaak!

With a heavy sound, a fist stabbed into the thin stomach.

“Cough!”

Episs bounced off to the back along with a cough as a dent appeared on the tough armour surrounding his stomach.

Kwaaang!

The hill collapsed and he dived straight into a rock.

“Damn! Kwek! Damn! Kwek!”

Episs raised his body up with anger. Every time he moved, a piece of rock or dust fell from his body.

“You’re different from that guy.”

A solid yet small voice entered his ears.

Touching his stomach, Episs looked at the owner of the voice. He looked at the human that had suddenly appeared and punched him, broke the Martis Gloves before throwing a punch at his stomach, Roan Lancephil.

Roan stared at Episs with slight doubt.

‘He’s weaker than Gorg, the General of Great Strength of the Dark Regiments.’

‘Weaker’ wasn’t enough to pinpoint it out. He was somewhat unstable and immature. While throwing out a heavy punch, he would sometimes suddenly show a strange movement.

‘At the start, I thought it was a trick of his.’

But after some fighting, he realised that that wasn’t the case.

‘This guy is weak, and also very unstable.’

If Gorg was like a male adult, Episs was like a baby.

‘Of course, he’s not someone you could relax in front of.’

He would sometimes act immature, but that didn’t mean that he was worse off than Gorg in terms of the power or ability he had.

“D, different from who! Kwek!”

Episs shouted with a flushed expression and Roan replied word by word while staring into his eyes.

“The General of Great Strength of the Dark Regiments, Gorg.”

As soon as he finished saying that,

“Hiik!”

Episs became crazy. He jumped up and down from where he was and swung his long arms however he wanted.

“I’m, I’m no different from my brother, Gorg! W, we’re both from the same father!”

Hearing that, Roan gave a frown.

“Father?”

He asked casually and Episs nodded with a bright smile.

“Kukukukuk! Right, our father! The one who created me and my brothers! He who gave us a new life and mission…”

After being carried away in excitement, he suddenly closed his mouth and used his wide palms to grab his head.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah! Aaaaaak! I’m not supposed to talk about father to anyone! I, I almost went against my father’s words!”

He smashed his head with force in self-blame and appeared to be half insane.

“Kieeeeeek!”

Suddenly, he pulled his head back and let out a strange scream.

Tat!

He then kicked off the ground and charged in at Roan.

“Kill! Kill! There will be no problem after killing him!”

Gruesome killing intent left his body.

“Mhmm.”

With a gulp, Roan moved slightly back.

‘Different’.

He was completely different from his previous movement and aura. It was as if he had broken free from his dead skin, or perhaps an egg but more importantly…

‘He’s gone insane.’

Episs had gone completely insane. Encroached by his thoughts of the existence called father, he had gone crazy and instincts were the only things left inside him. The body that had lost control brought out all the strength laying within.

Kwaaaaang! Kwaang! Kwagagagagagwang!

With every swing of his arms, pillars of dirt would be formed followed by a deafening sound. Roan relied on Kalian’s tears and appeared to be dodging the fierce attacks lightly, but he was in fact extremely focused in every single movement of his body.

That was how sharp and strong his attacks were.

“Kieeeek!”

When Roan slithered through his attacks, Episs became even more crazy as his arms swung confusingly.

Shreeek!

Sharp winds touched the eardrums.

Hung! Hung! Hung!

His arms swayed like windmills and large gusts formed as a result.

Kugugugugung! Kugung!

Broken pieces of rocks and stones followed the gust into the skies. Roan flowed mana into his two legs to keep his balance.

“Die!”

Episs threw his body at Roan with a scream, recklessly as if he wanted both of them to die.

‘Mhmm.’

Roan pulled out the Trivias Spear from his waist and input mana into it.

Clash!

Along with the screeching of steel, the spearhead showed itself with reddish-black light surrounding it. It was right before the flames were about to pick up but it was then.

“Uaaaaaak!”

Episs who had been running in vigorously suddenly screamed with a pale face. He dropped his arms down and took several steps back before trembling his entire body.

“T, t, t, t, that’s…”

He seemed to have regained his mind. His raised long index finger seemed to be pointing at Roan, or rather, his two hands but more specifically, he was pointing at the Trivias Spear that was being carried by Roan.

Then, he made a strange scream.

“F, Felius!”

The scream left through his lips.

“N, no. It’s still Trivias. Right, father said it was Trivias. I, it’s fine.”

Episs appeared very anxious.

“No! That’s Felius! Felius!”

He continued his incomprehensible words and whispered in a small voice without a stop.

“That being is there. That being is here. That being is here. That being is here.”

“Please sit down.”

An old man entering the late years of his life offered Kalian and Swift seats. Kalian sat down without a single hesitation and raised the cup of tea.

Slurp.

He drank with a loud noise while grinning at the old man. On the other hand, Swift didn’t dare to move casually and lowered his head at the old man.

“Duke Edwin Voisa. Long time no see.”

The old man was none other than Edwin Voisa, who had been the duke of the old Rinse Kingdom. Edwin gave a faint smile and lowered his head.

“Viscount Swift Clock. Long time no see.”

His voice was soft, or actually, it was correct to say that it was powerless. Swift asked back with slight surprise.

“Do you know who I am?”

Edwin slowly nodded his head in response.

“How can I not know the Administrator of the Amaranth Kingdom? Of course…”

Light flickered from his old eyes.

“I did have a slight connection with the previous head of the family.”

“Ah! My father…”

Swift was greatly surprised. His deceased father was a baron and a provincial noble at that, so he wasn’t a very well-known person.

‘He passed away quite early as well…’

And yet because a central noble, a bigshot that had represented the kingdom, Edwin talked about his connection with his father, Swift couldn’t hide the surprise in his heart.

“Just met a few times.”

Edwin waved his hands and sat down. He had been using polite language all this time because Swift was currently an official that had total control over the administration of a country. Although it was a painful reality, he wasn’t someone a duke of a fallen country could be casual in front of.

Kalian who had been watching over silently gave a scoff.

“A fox. A fox indeed.”

He shook his head.

“Met a few times? Kuk, you’re pretty skilled at lying.”

With his fingers, he gestured while pointing at him. Seeing that, Swift widened his eyes and stared at Kalian.

“T, this person is Duke Edwin Voisa. You need to watch your…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence, because according to his previous assumptions, Kalian was someone that could scoff at the entirety of the human race let alone dukes, kings and emperors. When Swift couldn’t find the right words to end the sentence,

“What duke… what can the duke of a fallen country do?”

Kalian had an obvious, mocking smile. Swift couldn’t think of what to say but Edwin who had received mocking words front on had a strangely calm expression with the same faint smile. Kalian turned his head slightly to stare at Swift.

“There’s only us three here so I’ll speak casually. This guy here called Edwin knows already.”

“Sorry? W, what does he…?”

Swift looked back and forth between Kalian and Edwin as Kalian replied with a grin.

“The fact that I’m a dragon.”

“Ah…”

Swift collapsed onto the seat with a low mutter. Although he had guessed it already, hearing it directly in person made his body quiver all over.

‘He really was a dragon. I knew it…’

It was surprising that a dragon who had hidden itself hundreds of years ago was right in front of him. But what was more surprising was…

‘How did Duke Edwin know that Sir Kalian was a dragon?’

Even he required quite a long time to find out Kalian’s identity. His eyes full of doubt moved towards Edwin to which Edwin replied with a short sigh.

“Though I’m not boasting, a family like our own would put a lot of effort into teaching history to our kids.”

He stared at Kalian and Swift.

“The extremely rare hair colour and appearance, as well as the amazing magic shown at the entrance of the mansion…”

The smile hanging on his lips deepened.

“They were exactly the same as the descriptions of the Red Dragon, Sir Kalian, that were written in the old books of our household.”

“As expected of a prestigious family.”

Kalian wore a humoured smile and raised his thumb while Swift had admiration on his face.

‘The true power of prestigious families are in these old information, data and wisdom that had been built up over the years.’

Authority, power and money were all trivial things that came and went but the records over the long years and history would never disappear. Kalian crossed his legs and leaned his back onto the chair.

“I’m just a fellow traveller and the one taking care of the actual mission is this person here.”

He pointed at Swift.

“You guys talk it out.”

Swift who had been lost in thought quickly came to himself and straightened his posture as Edwin slowly gave a nod. Even from Edwin’s perspective, Swift was a lot more comfortable to deal with than a dragon, Kalian.

“Have you received the letter?”

“Yes, we have.”

Placing his hand on his right chest, Swift nodded slightly, meaning that the letter was with him. Edwin made a bitter smile, as loneliness flashed through his eyes.

“Please return my son, Mills Voisa.”

Swift didn’t show any response as it was something he had already seen through the letter. Edwin made a tight fist.

“In return…”

His powerless voice quivered viciously.

“I’ll break the Devesis Church into pieces.”

This was also recorded in the letter. Thinking that, Swift let out a short sigh inwardly.

‘From here on is my task.’

If it was before, he would have accepted Edwin’s suggestion but right now, the situation had changed. After knowing about Latio’s cruel, evil plan, there was a need for a bigger plan.

“Duke Voisa.”

He used the title ‘duke’ for a reason as his voice and attitude remained polite.

“According to your will, we will send Sir Mills Voisa back but…”

His eyes flickered brightly in light.

“There’s something more we want from our side.”

“Mhmm.”

Edwin let out a short mutter. Because he thought that his offer was good enough already, he wasn’t expecting the other party to have other conditions. He forcibly suppressed his heart and nodded his head.

“Please continue.”

He said in a low tone. Swift didn’t open his mouth casually and instead stared directly into Edwin’s eyes as silence befell the room.

Gulp.

Edwin gulped. Even he who was an old noble was slightly put off by the aura given by Swift. It was then, that Swift’s lips that had been sealed tight started to move slowly.

“Please requisition the imperial palace.”

The words that finally left were very surprising and at the same time, impossible.

“What do you…”

Edwin made a frown but Swift opened his mouth once again without being deterred.

“I don’t mean destruction or seizing it by power.”

He emphasised it once again with a clear voice.

“But requisition.”

Swift’s bright eyes reflected light.

“Please take over the imperial palace.”

He repeated the same sentence as silence once again found its place.

<A Bloody Battle (4)> End.

PR Note: Thank you, everyone, for reading IatM with us. We have reached Chapter 300. There are officially less than 50 chapters to go until the novel reaches the end. A quick note about the language and writing style is that you are all free to blame the author. The author has a weird writing style that changes every now and then, same thing with military ranks. I and Lunargrasp try to keep it as understandable and clear as much as we can but… yeah.

Translator: Lunargrasp

Proofreader: Deathwing