The Extra Wants To Live

Carl ran without hesitation, slowing down only when he reached the castle gate and changing formation.

"Jaren, take the lead. Catherine on the left, Billford on the right."

"Yes!"

Master Jaren took the lead, with the more skilled Catherine on the vulnerable left. Carl led his soldiers right behind Jaren.

"Chuck! Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!"

The soldiers walked in unison, maintaining a rectangular formation with an empty center.

Milton, standing alone in the center, suppressed his anxiety and walked silently.

As they passed through the outer wall and entered, they came across a village inside the castle where people lived.

The cold silence of the night in Ishul created an eerie sense of alienation; there were no people around, even though there were still traces of them. It felt like a neatly organized ruin, a strange space.

"We are heading to the main palace of Naeseong like this," Carl said, not even thinking to look around.

They moved silently through the outer courtyard towards the inner castle.

As they advanced, the entrance to the lord's hall appeared beyond the southern gate of the inner castle.

The main attack was expected to come from the north, so the vulnerable entrance to the lord's residence faced south.

While the enemy circled around and headed south, they could rain down arrows and magic from their square tower-shaped residence.

Since Ishul was a castle built for war, the courtyard was not very large, and there were buildings around the lord's residence that appeared to have been used as residences for nobles and soldiers.

The exhibition route to invade the lord's hall was made of wood, which could be set on fire to protect the residence if the inner castle fell. All the buildings around the lord's hall were intact now, allowing entry from any direction.

As all the troops passed through the inner gate and entered the courtyard, the inner gate suddenly closed with a clang.

"Prepare for battle!"

"Understood!"

At Carl's shout, the soldiers formed a square formation.

The silence was overwhelming, and the faint light of the moon cast eerie shadows on the walls, making it impossible to see the enemy in the darkness.

Who closed the gates?

Perhaps it was a mistake to enter Ishul at this time. A faint sense of anxiety passed through everyone's hearts, but Carl's choice was not wrong.

"How dare you come in so recklessly. I don't know if you're brave or stupid."

At the entrance to the residence, a man appeared on the stairs and spoke with a smiling voice.

"I was starting to get bored, and you came in at just the right time. Really, the noble royal family is so good at even clowning that they don't give me time to get bored."

A man in white robes, Garten, the prophet of the Church of Universal Equality, laughed, shaking his shoulders.

If Carl hadn't moved after the sun had set, Garten would have moved without waiting any longer. Darkness was not on the side of man.

So if Carl hadn't moved until the sun set, it meant he'd wait until the next sunrise. That is, he would have had to wait until tomorrow morning to catch the prey right in front of him.

Carl stepped forward, past Jaren, his voice ringing out strangely clear even though it was blocked by his visor.

"A priest? No, there was no such thing in the first place."

Garten spoke confidently, like a detective who had figured out all the secrets and was digging for the truth.

"4th Prince, Grand Duke, Carl Feldt Hardion. It was all just a trap prepared to capture you. There was no such thing as heresy or universal equality from the beginning."

Carl remained motionless, his face hidden behind his visor. On the outside, it appeared as if he was shocked.

'It's exactly as I expected. I'm worried there might be something else,' Carl thought.

He suspected a double trap at Garten's childish level of acting exactly as he thought. There might be a trap prepared for him that he did not expect.

"Do you understand, Your Highness? You may have thought that you were making your own choices, but you were all just playing along according to my will."

Garten chattered happily, wanting to see Carl frustrated.

He wished the noble royal family would miserably collapse and scream like mere slaves and commoners, proving that in the end, they were all the same.

"What did the people of Ishul do?"

Carl asked in a faint, trembling voice, trying to buy time.

If Carl had been in the opposite position, he would have attacked instead of rambling, but it seemed his opponent wanted to enjoy the feeling of superiority at this moment.

So, Carl decided to play along.

"Oh, those stupid pigs? Haha..." Garten laughed derisively.

"Are you curious? You care about the insignificant, and you are truly merciful."

"They are called heretics, but aren't they the ones who believed in and followed the Church of Universal Equality?"

"So, I'm saying there was no such thing from the beginning?"

Garten waved his hand at Carl's words, who seemed unable to accept the situation.

"Those fools are simply given the duty of obeying. Isn't that right, Your Highness? A lowly commoner..."

Garten's soft voice flowed as if pressuring Carl.

"You despise royalty and nobles, but despise commoners. Are you different from them? You are consumed by an inferiority complex to the core."

Carl looked down on the commoners, wanting them to play the role of 'incompetent, lowly royalty who gained power through bloodline alone' that Garten wanted.

Should he mix this up or tear it down? Carl opened his mouth, anticipating Garten's reaction.

"Even if they fell for the heresy, they were still citizens of the Empire. You have pushed those who gathered under the Empire's scales into the pit of evil."

Carl spoke confidently, aiming his spear.

His majestic voice was filled with anger but also with an unquenchable fighting spirit.

His words sharply changed the mood of the Laurel Unit. It felt like a hot heat rising from their chests, enveloping their entire bodies. Garten, on the other hand, seemed offended.

"Ha, really? You're going to come out like that? Do you think you've become a real hero since you've been playing the hero?"

There was a script for the play that Garten had decided on, but he couldn't help but get angry when Carl ignored his assigned role and acted however he wanted.

"No matter how much they talk, when their lives are at stake, they ultimately reveal their true colors. It's the same for everyone. Slaves, royalty, there are no exceptions."

Garten spoke as if to himself. And as if he had been waiting, Carl dug into that gap, following Garten's words in a truly vile manner.

"You were of humble origins, weren't you? A slave?"

Garten's mouth suddenly stopped, and the corners of his mouth trembled.

It was so sudden, so painful, so horrible, and so frightening that he couldn't even utter a word of denial.

"Even if you kill me, a member of the royal family, your past as a slave will not disappear."

"No! I'm not a slave!"

"Yeah, no. Not now."

Carl spoke with confidence at Garten's sensitive reaction.

"But since you are revealing your own miserable and sordid past, you still consider yourself a slave."