A Treacherous Courtier Manages the Empire Well

84 – Military Rebellion

“Can the contents of the will be changed?”

The top sorcerers of the execution unit, who had deactivated various alarm sorceries installed in the secret vault, were unmatched in their skills. Amir presented his father’s will to them, and after confirming the sorcery cast on the will, the sorcerers shook their heads.

“It’s impossible. It’s a very strong sorcery. At least three or more of the top sorcerers from the execution unit must gather to make any changes.”

The execution unit was directly under the Sultan’s command. Over the years, Amir had managed to covertly bring a few people here to his side, but he had not yet fully made the execution unit his own.

Amir clenched his fist at those words, making a creaking sound.

“Your Highness, even creating a gap in the alarm sorceries has its limits. You must leave this place within 2 minutes. Otherwise, everyone in the palace will know.”

Unable to do anything else, Amir reluctantly put the will back in the vault and had no choice but to leave. But his eyes were filled with a sinister gleam. After coming out of the vault.

He secretly summoned the generals who sympathized with him to his residence.

“What’s going on, Your Highness?”

Looking exhausted, Amir lowered his voice as he looked at the gathered generals.

“If my father passes away, Rashd will become the next Sultan.”

At that single phrase, the expressions of the gathered generals all stiffened.

“How… How can you be so sure?”

“I checked my father’s will.”

The meaning contained in those words was by no means small. As the generals remained silent, they began to exchange secretive glances. After confirming the exchange of glances among those generals, Amir calmly continued speaking.

“At this rate, Rashid will take over everything from Karamba. I will be in a position where I must wait for his disposal.”

“What do you intend to do?”

One of the generals boldly threw the question.

“I have no intention of leaving my fate in my brother’s hands like this. Never.”

Amir’s voice grew firmer. Whatever was so amusing, he continued firmly.

“Rebellion is inevitable.”

He glared with a sinister look.

“Our father has fallen, and my brother is waiting for the outcome in the imperial palace. If we strike now, it will be an unexpected blow to anyone.”

The generals scrutinized the situation.

It was a call for a coup.

However, no one voiced opposition. If Prince Amir failed, it was obvious what fate awaited the military generals who openly supported him here.

“Now… is the time?”

“Yes. Now is the time. If not now, there may never be another chance.”

“What do you plan to do?”

Amir pointed to one of the generals.

“General Ali, the closest to the palace. Wasn’t that your army?”

“Yes.”

“Send a messenger immediately. By early dawn today, your army must enter the palace. I can also move the palace guards.”

“What about the execution unit?”

The empire’s most powerful sorcerers. Amir had put a lot of effort into persuading and coaxing a few of them, but the vast majority remained loyal only to the emperor.

The possibility of persuading them was close to zero.

So how were they to be removed?

“Don’t the palace guards manage the anti-sorcery barrier?”

“Anti-sorcery barrier?”

A powerful suppression that rendered any sorcery unusable. Generally, it prevented any sorcerer, except those registered in the execution unit, from using sorcery within the palace. If the blood information was removed, it could also prevent the execution unit from using sorcery.

Without sorcery, sorcerers were no different from ordinary people.

“I have a few sorcerers in the execution unit who are loyal to me. By altering the blood information to exclude them, no one else in the palace will be able to use sorcery. In that case, the sorcerers of the execution unit will be mere civilians. The palace guards can take care of them.”

“And what about Prince Rashid?”

“He must be killed. Along with all the wily chieftains and sub-chieftains loyal to him.”

Amir replied in a grim tone. The generals’ hands clenched tightly. It was a coup. If it failed, there would be no turning back.

“We will follow your orders.”

“Please give us your instructions.”

However, for the generals gathered here, handing over the throne to Prince Rashid was also a situation with no way out. They desired riches and high positions. That’s why they decided to participate in this dirty act of treason.

And so, the desperate act of treason was planned.

But as desperate as it was.

It was a treason that would undoubtedly be a surprising blow that the other side would never see coming.

The worst event in Karamba’s history, which would later be named the “Dawn Secret Military Rebellion,” was beginning in this manner.

7:30 in the morning.

At the crescent moon triangle of Karamba’s capital, a faint mist rose.

The spectacle of the mist slowly rising as the intense heat of the western continent mingled with the vapors emitted by the plants of the crescent moon triangle was one that the people of Karamba could easily witness.

Prince Rashid was in the chambers of the palace, just waking up when the coup d’état erupted. At that moment, as he was washing his face and observing the rising mist,

“Hmm? What’s happening with the palace guards here?”

Prince Rashid’s personal guards, who were protecting the prince as he washed his face, furrowed their brows upon seeing the palace guards rushing towards them fully armed.

The palace guards were guards in the truest sense.

What they were supposed to guard were the outer walls and main entrances of the palace, not the interior.

Guarding the palace’s interior was the responsibility of the emperor’s execution unit.

“What in the world is happening inside here…”

A scimitar, elegantly curved at the waist of a palace guard, was drawn out. Rashid’s personal guards, caught off guard and not thinking this was a coup d’état, were taken by surprise as a blade suddenly flew towards them, cutting one of their throats.

“W-What’s this!… Agh!!!”

Hearing screams from outside, Rashid flinched, not bothering to wipe his face with the towel.

Sounds that should not be heard from within the palace were all too audible.

The sound of swords being unsheathed.

The clashing of metal against metal.

The sound of human flesh being cut by blades and screams, and more.

“Prince Rashid! You must escape!!!”

In a desperate voice, one of the guards who had been guarding the door until the end made Rashid start to look around in alarm.

The only door leading out of the personal chambers was now blocked.

There was no way out except through the window.

Rashid quickly locked the door and rushed towards the window.

“It’s locked! Damn it! Break it open!!”

A thunderous noise began to erupt from the door. The wooden door looked like it would break at any moment.

Rashid had to make a choice.

Whether to jump from the two-story terrace or be caught hesitating.

He chose to jump.

And he had no concept of parachuting, having received no physical training whatsoever.

As he hit the ground, a cracking sound came from his ankle.

“aaargh!!!”

Agony surged through him.

Looking down, he saw his ankle twisted in a direction it should not have been. He couldn’t walk at all.

“Someone… Someone please help…”

As he writhed in pain on the floor, the carnage unfolding in the palace was reflected in his eyes.

Screams. The execution unit being massacred helplessly due to the operation of the anti-magic barrier. The sight of tribal chiefs and leaders from various tribes gruesomely losing their lives.

And the scene of the palace guards breaking in and seeing Rashid writhing on the floor, while from the terrace, shouts rang out:

“There he is! Rashid is there! Capture him!!”

Arrows were aimed at him. Rashid began crawling desperately, but he couldn’t avoid the well-trained archer’s arrow. Sheltered behind the wall of another building, Rashid had narrowly avoided the arrow, but one had already pierced his left arm.

“Agh!”

In order to crawl, he needed both arms, but with an arrow lodged in one arm, crawling became nearly impossible. Trying to move somehow with only his right arm, he couldn’t muster the speed needed.

“Separate and catch him! We must not let him escape!!!”

Well-trained soldiers skillfully employed grappling techniques, the sound of bodies falling from the terrace to the ground echoed. Rashid tightly shut his eyes at the sound of them approaching.

There was no way to avoid it.

Was he going to die like this?

At that moment of despair.

“Protect the Prince!!”

There were members of the palace guard and those who started fighting for the Prince.

Upon closer inspection, they were the bodyguards of other tribal chiefs who supported him.

The bodyguards of other tribal chiefs supporting Rashid rushed to protect him, pushing back the palace guards who almost caught him with arrows and swords.

“Prince Rashid! Come this way!”

A soldier lifted Rashid up. They took Rashid to the eastern area of the palace. It was a place mainly reserved for receiving dignitaries, where tribal chiefs and chieftains of the Rashid tribe gathered to confirm the Sultan’s life or death.

And it was also the most intense battleground.

“We can’t win this! Curse it all!!”

“We need reinforcements! We need reinforcements!!”

The bodyguards of tribal chiefs and chieftains were joining forces to put up a desperate resistance, but the situation was far from favorable.

The palace guards were relentlessly advancing, and some traitor sorcerers who sided with Prince Amir were using magic to press the attack.

The tribal chiefs and chieftains, who were anxiously observing a defense line that could collapse at any moment, rushed towards Rashid in a frenzy.

“Prince Rashid!”

“What should we do!!”

In response to the urgent question, Rashid began to desperately wrack his brain.

And he could come to the best conclusion.

“The teleport tower for broadcasting in Arilam!!!”

Being close to the palace and operated by the people of Arilam, it was a place where even the palace guards of Amir would find it difficult to enter.

Everyone’s faces lit up at Rashid’s words.

This was the right answer.

“Everyone gather! We must leave the palace!”

The chieftains urgently gathered their forces.

They abandoned the defense line that seemed on the verge of collapse and mobilized all their forces to head towards the eastern gate.

“They are trying to leave the palace! Stop them! Stop them by any means necessary! Stop them!!!!”

The palace guards, together with the troops of General Ali who had just reached near the palace, desperately surrounded the palace, but it turned out to be a mistake.

Due to the hastily planned coup, the actions of the palace guards and General Ali’s troops did not align, creating a gap as the two forces clashed. The bodyguards persistently exploited this gap, ultimately breaking through.

As a result of breaking through, most of the bodyguards perished, but thanks to them, the tribal chiefs and Prince Rashid managed to barely escape.

They arrived at the broadcasting teleport tower in Crescent Moon Triangle in a battered state.

“Prince Rashid? What is this…….?”

“We need to escape from Crescent Moon Triangle! I want to use the teleportation magic circle!”

Rashid approached the tower manager and made the request. He was confident. No matter how rebellious they were, they wouldn’t dare touch the people of Arilam. He intended to use the teleportation to escape from Crescent Moon Triangle.

“Teleportation is not possible! The teleport tower in Karamba does not have material transmission capabilities at all!……”

“T-Tower Manager!!!!! Enemy troops are coming up!”

However, Rashid’s judgment was wrong. Teleportation was impossible from the start, and the rebels turned out to be crazier than expected.

“General Ali orders us to suppress them!!”

“There are Eilam people here!”

“Let’s kill them together! Capturing Rashid is a priority!!”

The rebel forces began to push into the broadcasting tower, brandishing blood-stained knives and spears.

It was only natural that Rashid and the tribal chiefs turned pale.