Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 308: Only Two on This Continent

Chapter 308: Only Two on This Continent

WARNING: NSFW CONTENT.

Please be advised that the following chapter has 18+ sexual material and should be exclusively reserved for a mature audience. It happens near the end of this chapter, so please keep that in mind.

You have been warned.

* * *

Earl Bercy was up to his neck with work.

His rank had gone up from baron to earl. Adding to this, he was also appointed as the legal advisor of the Empire. In the Empire, the position of legal advisor was right below that of the emperor and the prime minister. He had instantly become a big shot.

Moreover, Frankia currently lacked both an emperor and a prime minister. Emperor Henry the Third had died. The position of prime minister was temporarily taken by Henrietta de Brittany. Both of these individuals were gone now.

Her Excellency the Empress Dowager was present, but she was a strawman and mostly only had a symbolic value. She was also old now. No matter how anyone looked at it, Earl Bercy was the head of the government now. 

Promoted from a mere baronet to the one responsible for Frankia’s administration as a whole……. It should probably be acceptable to say that he brought glory to his family’s name. However, Earl Bercy was honestly not that happy about it.

“How is this an empire……?”

Earl Bercy pressed his hand against his forehead as he flipped through some documents.

The current state of Frankia was written in the documents. Their current state went beyond being simply bad. Their financial, judicial, and military affairs were all equally a mess. The worst. These two words glimmered in the Earl’s brain.

“This cannot go on.”

Earl Bercy dropped the documents that were in his hands.

He felt like his skull might explode if he read any more than this. How many days has it been since he was only able to get three hours of sleep every day? Four, five, six days……. Earl Bercy stopped counting after half a month.

“What am I doing?”

The Earl scorned himself. It seems that even his head had gone strange…….

Earl Bercy buried his back into the backrest of his chair which was immediately followed by a wave of exhaustion. Let’s get some rest, he thought to himself as he closed his eyes. How much time had passed? The attendant outside his office spoke up.

“Your Excellency, Her Excellency the Empress Dowager has arrived.”

“Mm.”

Earl Bercy’s eyes shot open.

He promptly wiped his face with a handkerchief before standing up to adjust the buttons of his shirt and straighten his clothes. All of this happened within the span of 5 seconds. Another 2 seconds were used to clear his throat.

“Hurry and show her in.”

His movements were quite literally perfect.

The door opened and an old lady entered the office. Earl Bercy was about to approach her and get down on one knee, but the woman waved him off with a smile.

“Let us skip the formalities, Earl. Things are already exhausting.”

“My apologies.”

The Empress Dowager stepped forward and sat down before Earl Bercy could even pull out her chair. Ladies of royal birth tended to become stricter about formalities as they grew older, but the Empress Dowager was an exception. She was probably an Amazon in her past life.

“How is the situation?”

Straight to the point, huh? Earl Bercy smiled wryly.

“To be honest, it is incredibly bad.”

“Hah. You are a man who does not know how to be reserved.”

“My apologies.”

The Empress Dowager furrowed her brow in annoyance, but she wasn’t genuinely annoyed. The proof of that was the cozy atmosphere spreading throughout the office.

Throughout this past month, the Earl has been able to figure out the Empress Dowager’s personality. She despises needless formalities and has great pride despite her crude words……. This was the Empress Dowager who gave birth to 3 emperors, Catherine ‘de Medici.

“Your Excellency, how are the nobles?”

“Do not even mention them. Please get back the land I lost, please reinstate my family……. The pigs that were quiet when Brittany was around are acting quite boldly now!”

Earl Bercy couldn’t help but laugh. The way she spoke was elegant and perfectly courteous, but the actual words she was using were like that of a wild fellow. Her words were crude, but they strangely suited her. The Empress Dowager was a more entertaining conversation partner than what he imagined a long time ago.

The Empress Dowager furrowed her brows.

“Do my words sound like lies? I am not joking. Every day, I receive more than seventy audience requests from every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Earl, this is elderly abuse.”

“That just means there are that many families that were broken up due to Brittany’s involvement, Your Excellency.”

“Even I know that.”

Her eyes became serious.

“Regardless, Earl, I have no intention to reinstate the families of all those riffraff. They turned a blind eye when the nation’s imperial family was in peril.”

“Then…….”

“Prestige and land are unmerited for those who disregarded their duties. Do you not agree?”

Earl Bercy gulped.

Brittany had forcefully dissolved the land of numerous nobles. A large amount of land became the property of the imperial family. The nobles naturally revolted, but they were crushed under the Brittan army’s boots.

Now with this new Parisiorum government in place, the surviving nobles have been constantly pestering the imperial family to restore their past honors. The Empress Dowager was refusing to do this.

“I did not think you would make such a serious face. I was under the impression that you were republican.”

“……Your Excellency, I apologize, but we do not have the spare manpower to handle a rebellion if the nobles were to revolt.”

Even a portion of Parisiorum’s security was being handled by the Republic of Batavia. They did promise to stand guard free of charge for a year, but it was unlikely that they would actively get involved if a rebellion were to occur.

“It has not been long since the civil war ended either. The people of Frankia all wish for peace. The nobles are necessary for the sake of reconstructing our nation.”

 “I will rob them of their private fortune.”

The Empress Dowager answered firmly.

“The Republic army would more than gladly join if we toss them some additional pay.”

“…….”

The Empress Dowager appeared resolute.

“Earl, if you look at this from a different perspective, this is a chance.”

“A chance, is it?”

“Frankia currently does not have even a single duke. They were all massacred by Brittany’s queen. The current number of earls and barons is abysmal compared to before. Has there ever been a time where the noble faction was this weak?”

It felt like the Empress Dowager had some other ulterior motives besides her republican way of thinking. Earl Bercy decided to listen carefully.

“No, Your Excellency. The nobles are certainly weak right now.”

“What would happen if we decided to reinstate those nobles now? They will try to regain the wealth that was taken from them by Brittany, and there is only one source they can squeeze money out of.”

“……They will cruelly exploit the people.”

The Empress Dowager nodded.

“Do you understand, Earl? It is good to wish for peace. However, if we cooperate with the nobles, then the people would only suffer. If that happens, then the people would start a rebellion instead.”

“Either the nobles start a rebellion or the farmers do……. Is that the only difference?”

Earl Bercy groaned.

It was definitely a rational train of thought. Be it nobles or commoners, the past few years have been incredibly difficult. They were all at their bursting points. A rebellion was unavoidable at this point.

“If a rebellion is going to happen anyway, then we should at least consider Frankia’s future.”

“…….”

“I will not leave our future to a bunch of pigs who do not know loyalty.”

There was a sharp look in the eyes of this old lady who was in her sixties. A curtain of silence fell over them. Shortly later, the Empress Dowager turned away and muttered quietly.

“It is my fault for letting the Empire fall this far.”

“Your Excellency?”

“I was confident when I was sent here from Sardinia to be wed. I was going to give birth to a splendid emperor and create a nation and castle envied by all……but I ended up as a failure of a mother.”

The Empress Dowager sounded so miserable that Earl Bercy didn’t dare to open his mouth.

“I thought you had to be strict with your son in order to raise a wise ruler. And yet, my children all grew up to be timid. It was because I was too strict……. Ultimately, Frankia fell into misfortune because of my poor teachings.”

“…….”

“The imperial family can no longer support the country. The same goes for most of the nobles. I believe that my final mission is to hand this nation off to someone else and not the foolish imperial family or the faulty nobles.”

Earl Bercy lowered his head.

Why did the woman before him have to suffer this much? The Earl felt frustrated. It didn’t make sense. She was an individual who should’ve had a happy family and competent vassals by her side. She was a noble enough individual to have deserved that much.

It was at this moment that Earl Bercy resolved himself to start a civil war. In the past, he was angry at the Emperor and the Queen of Brittany for starting a civil war, but it was now his turn to start one.

It was as Priest Jean Bole had said. Remaining as a bystander was impossible now. For the sake of Frankia and the people, he had to sacrifice himself.

History will probably remember him as the person who started another war after peace had finally arrived. Nobles will resent him with tears of blood while the people will call him a tyrant. There would be no honor in this…….

Nonetheless, he couldn’t keep his head down forever. He had a voice guiding him.

“Earl, will you join me in my last remaining duty?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. I will devote my life to it.”

* * *

“Haa, hggh……haa.”

The sound of rough breathing could occasionally be heard. It was Ivar Lodbrok.

Ivar and I were in the nude and rolling about in the bedroom that was prepared at the headquarters of the Keuncuska Firm. The first act had just ended.

Despite being a vampire, Ivar was incredibly weak at night business. She had only climaxed about thirty times now, but her eyes had already become unfocused. A thin trail of saliva flowed down the side of her light pink lips. Was it because it had been a while since I last did this? The sensation felt especially good today.

“Your……Highness. No more, hggh. I can’t.”

“What is wrong, Ivar? Are you surrendering already? Your moniker as a creature of the night will cry.”

I said jokingly to her as I bit her earlobe.

“Huah!”

Ivar’s small body shuddered. She had reached a small orgasm.

The wrinkles inside her folds tightened around my member. It felt like each and every wrinkle had become a sucker and were latching on to me. Kuh, I unintentionally let out a gasp. An exquisite instrument. Ivar’s body had the ability to beg for more regardless of its owner’s intentions.

I held Ivar in my arms as I pressed my hips forward. We were seated on the bed and I was holding Ivar’s body from the front. Ivar’s small body moved up and down weakly every time I thrusted.

“Your Highness……Your Highness, hgh, Your Highness…….”

Ivar shed tears as she hugged me stronger. She was acting as if she wouldn’t be able to endure if she didn’t hold on to something. Ivar’s legs wrapped around my waist. It was rather cute.

Did she know that my member would go deeper inside her the more she clung to me? I smiled mischievously.

“Chief Lodbrok, are you going to cum?”

“Hggh, yes……I am……uuugh, I-I already have, several times……!”

“If you answer my question properly, then I will go slow. It seems that Frankia’s new government has resolved themselves to fight the nobles.”

Ivar looked at me with teary eyes. Hot and frivolous breaths kept flowing out of her mouth.

“Yes, hnng……hgh!”

“Moreover, that new government lacks money. Handling their war funds will most likely be quite the burden on them. How about it? How about lending money to Frankia through the Republic of Batavia?”

“Ah, hau……Your Highness, wait, hgggh! Again, hgh, I already came a second ago……!”

I raised my speed and Ivar let out a moan. She pulled her head back, revealing her pale, white neck.

“Ah, ah, ah! No, huaaah! Why, are you……!”

“We will put their empire in debt. We should be able to take advantage of this at a pivotal moment. Do you not think so as well, Lodbrok?”

“Uuh, hah, hgggh……ah……!”

Ivar convulsed. Her entire body trembled as if electricity was coursing through her body.

I decided to experiment by releasing her from my arms. The blonde girl fell to the ground like a doll whose strings were cut. She laid splayed out on the ground.

“…….”

Ivar looked at nothing with unfocused eyes. Even now, her body was still spasming due to the remnants of the overwhelming pleasure she had just felt.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It’s been a while since we last had an NSFW chapter. Although it didn’t really last long. Uh, I hope everyone’s been doing all right? Work is the same as usual for me. Just a lot of repetitive UI string translating at the moment. God, please free me. At least it’s the weekend now.