Prologue - False Saint

The place was the Royal Palace of Altfode Kingdom.

To be more precise, the basement.

There were three floors that served as dungeons for prisoners.

For years there had been no criminals there, with the exception of only one.

On the third floor, the dirtiest and darkest part of all.

There was a man. He was naked.

His body was very toned.

He had old and new scars from battles due to being tortured since he arrived.

The cell was the only occupied cell in that place.

That man, Bandel, was sitting on a steel bed.

His "room" was a cave with steel bars impregnated with reinforcement magic and magic shields to prevent him from escaping.

Three men in uniform, two looked like generals and one a captain.

From left to right they were; Clavis van Reinfield, Heinkel van Nightray and Sven van Arses.

Clavis, was a tall, stocky, but pot-bellied man. His hair was orange with four highlights.

Heinkel, was a thin, very tall man with long sapphire green hair the same color as his eyes.

Sven, unlike the other two, was burly in muscles, with a zigzag scar on his face, red hair with black roots.

One of them had requested permission from the palace to bring his two companions to interrogate the man in front of them.

Bandel, he was sitting with his legs open showing his whole body because they feared he had a hidden weapon.

The only odd thing on his body were two things; the first was on his left arm, almost above his shoulder, was a tattoo of a black snake eating its own tail. It represented his mercenary group, the Black Ouroboros.

Some time ago they had been asked to test a new type of weapon and to kill a certain girl. Their plan went wrong as a boy of dubious reputation had humiliated and defeated them.

The other characteristic of him was his face, his left cheek.

When one of the men outside called out to him.

Bandel raised his head, his jagged black hair was dazzled by what little light was there.

His lightning-shaped eyebrows twitched in disgust to see the men in front of him.

His black eyes watched with displeasure at others looking down on him with superiority.

He clicked his tongue, moving it across his lips from right to left. Which touched the acrylic sheet that stretched from the end of his lips almost to his ear and under his sideburn.

The skin was not there, only the flesh of muscle and teeth showed.

He spoke to them in disgust.

"What the fuck do you want from me now? The interrogation was from six in the morning until a few minutes ago."

"My ass hurts more sitting here than the whipping and burning of yours."

"The only place I have to shit is this bucket that's already overflowed the rim."

"You bastards feed me a slimy paste that may even be your own ground up shit."

"I have to drink water from the stalactite up there since you don't even grant me that."

"They're the worst hosts I've ever had, guhahaha."

He laughed as if his punishment was just lousy hotel service.

Sven spoke to the man who was laughing like a winner.

"Shut up criminal, can't you see that you have finally received your punishment? You are in the hands of the kingdom, your era of tyranny and horror is over."

Bandel stopped laughing and looked at the man who told him that.

"You think so?"

Heinkel heard him and asked very curiously.

"What do you mean, don't you see that you have lost? You have been caught and now you will pay for your crimes. No one will save you-"

"Defeat happens when you admit it, did you hear that?"

The three men were astonished by the great optimism of the imprisoned man.

This time it was Clavis who spoke.

"Stop talking lies!!! His Highness, Crown Prince Liam, was the one who defeated you!!!"

"Admit defeat like a man!!!"

"You're wrong." Bandel said in a very serious and cold manner.

"Liam, that brat Altfode didn't defeat me. Who defeated me was someone who would never have crossed their minds."

The three men were even more perplexed.

"Black hair, a black armed unit, a jerk face that indicates he's a buffoon and not a warrior."

He clenched his fists tightly as he remembered that someone.

"Not even the man who did this to my face has earned my desire for revenge like that boy...his name, tell me!!!"

Hearing his request, as if in humiliation, Heinkel replied.

"Viscount and knight of middle rank, Rudel van Bradford. That is the man's name, no, the boy you wish to know?"

Bandel stopped clenching his fists at the sound of that name, instead, he made a terrified smile.

"Rudel. Even his name is that of a buffoon."

Not caring what he was saying, Heinkel pulled out a notebook containing a plethora of questions they wanted to ask him.

Their punishment would never end nor would they ever receive forgiveness, they could only reduce the lashes from 100 to 99.

"Answer. what exactly were you and your group doing in the Talis Commonwealth?"

"Why did the Kingsfort come up in the letter we received?"

"Where did you get that technology?"

The questions continued to go on and on until a man came rushing downstairs.

He was a gentleman with no rank, just an average soldier.

"Lord Nightray there is trouble in your territory!!!"

The three turned to the man who called out to one of them.

"What do you mean?" he replied as the airless man told him.

"It's the commoners!!! We received report that it's not only your territory, also other territories report that commoners have risen up and cause revolts!!!"

None of them knew what to reply, but Bandel who heard that said in a low voice.

"The first phase of the plan has begun. Finally, the end of Altfode has come."

"Next will follow you two, Bismarck and Rudel, guhahahaha!!!"

◇◇◇

At the same time, at the top of the palace was Liam, he was sad as he was walking down one of the corridors.

He had been called by someone according to a servant.

Normally, it would be the other way around the situation, but this person was very important and required Liam personally to go to the right place.

As he walked his thoughts conveyed sadness.

(I don't understand. I said it was Bradford who defeated that man.)

(I thought that because of what happened, he would stop treating me like a fool. I was glad when he asked me to guard that man and take care of his gun as it was very heavy).

(I thought there might finally be a tiny shred that he and I could erase the past).

(I was ready to forgive him for Klein, but when I got to the kingdom he told me to stand in front of that knight and when I came back he would bring a surprise).

(I thought he would bring a gift of apology, but he came with a group of ministers and told everyone that it was me who defeated him and even the evidence was in his hands).

(Everyone is praising me for it when I only defended my life, but it was he who defeated him along with the enemy fleet).

After much walking he had finally arrived at the room where he had been summoned.

(Neither my mother nor my father believe me, why doesn't anyone believe that he put that "hero" charge on me to make fun of me?)

"I want to rest, let's get this over with."

He knocked on the door and after opening it, the room was dark.

He didn't notice it until after he entered.

A light came on from the front.

He covered his eyes and after getting used to the brightness.

He noticed three individuals sitting on some furniture.

The one on the left had minister's robes.

The one on the right wore white robes with the temple crest.

While the person in the middle....

"Welcome, Your Highness Liam."

It was a girl.

When Liam heard that voice, his words were unimaginable.

"Erselica-san? What are you doing here? What's going on?"

For some reason, the protagonist knew a girl who was a background mob/character in this world.

This RPG-themed fantasy world where a villain, a reincarnated one, was disrupting the game line for her peaceful life.

Erselica van Reinfield, a reincarnate, stood up and in her hands held an item that was not hers, but the main heroine's.

It was a staff of white color with a gem of a beautiful blue whose surrounding was a heart where it was embedded.

The girl, she was occupying one of the lines that did not belong to her.

"Your Highness, Liam, I have come to help you."

"Help me, you say?" He didn't understand what Erselica was saying.

She gave a charming smile.

But that smile conveyed another feeling.

Erselica...

"I am, the new Saint and I have come to save our country."

She was forcibly sticking her hand into history in order to destroy Rudel once and for all.

The birth of the Saint had begun in the wrong way.