I got into school for nothing - 353
I got into school for nothing (353)
Lesson 69. Conquest of Clarent - 3
Ban Yuwon, who had launched a new satellite over the planet governed by one of the Ten Great Families, followed the Sword King's guidance to find the Clarent family's main castle, located in the planet's most mana-dense region.
Like other Ten Great Families, Clarent was also an imperial family, but now, with all its important figures dead, the system was in disarray, and everything was going to hell.
This, too, was a phenomenon common among the other Ten Great Families, arising because all power on the planet was concentrated in the hands of those within the family who wielded it.
"Who has the highest succession rank in the current situation?"
Ban Yuwon, who had frozen all of Clarent's economic and military activities with a single colossal sword suspended in the sky, led his companions, strolling through the castle, and asked the Sword King.
The Sword King silently pointed to himself.
"...Anyone besides you?"
"We can just make the future again from now on. So, there really isn't anyone else?"
The Sword King flinched at the mention of "making again" and gnashed his teeth, but in the end, he could not refuse Ban Yuwon's command and confessed honestly.
"There is one daughter who inherited the Family Head's blood. But she's not even an adult yet!"
"No, if there is, there is. Why are you shouting like that? ...What's with that look?"
As Ban Yuwon was bewildered by the Sword King, who, despite having been so thoroughly defeated by him, seemed not to have come to his senses and was suddenly glaring at him as if to kill him, a message appeared.
—Death's Pupil says you should probably take an objective look at yourself for once.
'Objectively?'
Borrowing Tikke's gaze, which floated in the sky following him, he looked down at himself from above.
He himself had Asha and Aire arm-in-arm, while behind them, Rucell, Heukseol, and Anneri maintained a strange standoff. Ulrike and Ban Yumi followed, snarling at each other.
Hecate and Yumina, at least, seemed to be maturely standing a step back, but their eyes were always fixed on Ban Yuwon.
Luisha was struggling to find an opening to break through, as the existing members' encirclement was too strong, and Lusein was watching his cousin with an expression like he was watching a pitiful squirrel walking into a trap.
What is this?
'What is this trashy bastard? When did it get this bad?'
—Death's Pupil responds with a very regretful expression that it is indeed you, as you are now.
Indeed, it was a sight that would make any woman feel a threat to her safety just by approaching.
Only then did Ban Yuwon feel he could understand the Sword King's feelings, gnashing his teeth as he mentioned the daughter who remained in the family... but still, he couldn't help but feel wronged.
'No, all these people came to me first because they liked me. The only person I tried to approach first was Yeon...'
—Death's Pupil blushes, clears her throat, and turns her head as if she hadn't heard. However, she cannot hide the smile playing on her lips.
But then again, if he were to say that fact aloud, those who heard it wouldn't feel too good either.
Ban Yuwon, who thought that men had to bear all responsibility in such situations, might indeed have an outdated perspective.
Anyway, he merely glared hard at the Sword King and said,
"I only like people who like me, okay? Don't worry unnecessarily and just guide me."
"You must keep that promise... Otherwise, I'll definitely die with that child."
The Sword King guided him with a tragic and resolute demeanor, full of loyalty, like Nongae, who resolved to embrace a Japanese general and leap to her death. RANOBeS
No, if you're going to die, you should die with me. Why kill an innocent child?
"...This is it."
The group arrived at a place that seemed to be designed for escape in an emergency.
It was where a teleportation gate was installed, allowing direct spatial transfer into a spaceship constantly waiting near the dimensional wall, enabling escape to the outside. But since Ban Yuwon had personally invaded Clarent and prohibited all spatial movement, even if they had tried to escape, they would have been stuck here.
Indeed, a woman dressed in luxurious clothes and swordsmen armed as if to guard her were there.
"Definitely a direct descendant."
"Ugh...!"
Ban Yuwon observed the concepts within the woman's body, who merely glared at him without a word, and nodded.
The ease with which he could read her was, of course, due to Ban Yuwon's evolved Authority and the woman's weakness, making her easy to read. But more significantly, it was because the Clarent bloodline, already defined as 'traitors' and 'slaves' by the ancestor's Codeword, was now submitting to his Authority.
"Just kill me!"
At that moment.
Perhaps misunderstanding Ban Yuwon's direct gaze, the woman, drawing a sword from a guard knight's waist and pointing it at her own throat, cried out in a tragic voice.
Ban Yuwon asked the Sword King with a serious expression,
"Is she perhaps your daughter? Why is her way of thinking so similar?"
"Do not insult my uncle! I am Doretta Clarent, the direct daughter of the Clarent Family Head!"
"Know that I am the Family Head now. And you will become the acting Family Head."
"I told you to just kill me!"
Ban Yuwon wiggled his finger, and the sword the woman held plunged directly towards her throat.
Startled, the woman let go of the sword.
The sword, which had merely grazed her skin without inflicting a major wound, floated up and aimed directly at her forehead.
Ban Yuwon asked,
"Do you really want me to kill you?"
"Ah, ahhh..."
She must have felt the sword's murderous intent, growing stronger in real-time under Ban Yuwon's control. The woman lost her strength and collapsed on the spot.
As expected, it seemed it had just been a show.
It was a common occurrence.
What hostages did to increase their value.
A fabricated attitude, purely for negotiation.
Ban Yuwon snorted, then plunged the sword into the ground and said,
"Don't delude yourself into thinking your value is extraordinarily high. I'm only keeping this family around because it's less troublesome that way. Understand?"
"Ugh..."
"If you understand, gather all Clarent personnel. My schedule is quite tight if I want to finish everything by the weekend and return to the Academy."
While Codeword alone might have been enough, Ban Yuwon decided to impose a pact on all Clarent personnel, including the Sword King and Doretta, the direct daughter of the Family Head.
Relying solely on the ancestor's Codeword felt somewhat unpleasant, and he thought it better to bind them with a pact that, while unyielding, could be considered somewhat fair, rather than having to come and smash them with Codeword every time something displeased him.
"If it ends quickly, we might even have a day to relax on this planet!"
"Thanks to that sword, it ended much faster than I expected. Originally, I would've had to put on a power show against the entire planet."
"Aargh...!"
The Final Sword protecting Clarent had been easily stolen, and even at this moment, that ultimate weapon, which should be protecting Clarent, was ominously targeting the ground. Those who took pride in the name Clarent felt as if their chests would burst at Ban Yuwon's words.
But what could they do? If they had even a shred of care for this planet, they had no choice but to meekly follow Ban Yuwon's words.
The common people loyal to the Clarent family were trembling and bowing just by seeing the Final Sword floating in the sky, so Ban Yuwon might be able to claim this dimension without any trouble, even if the Clarent family were utterly destroyed.
"Doesn't Prominence have ultimate weapons like that?"
"We used to have a lot, but you, Ban Yuwon, took them all last time."
"Oh, right. I did."
While exchanging banter with Ban Yumi, Clarent's remaining forces gathered.
The power of the Ten Great Families was truly immense; even though Ban Yuwon had swiftly killed many elites with the clear intention of uprooting the family, many powerful individuals still remained.
Secretly thinking that their condition was better than Prominence's, Ban Yuwon, activating the pact, immediately appointed Doretta Clarent as the acting Family Head, firmly impressing upon all those of Clarent blood that he was their sovereign.
In return, once Clarent's resistance became utterly impossible, he removed the colossal sword that had been orbiting and targeting the planet, and only then could everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
"Soon, we might have to fight Fides or Amore. For now, just keep that in mind."
In truth, if Codeword worked as effectively on Fides and Amore as it did on these people, military force might not even be necessary.
However, Ban Yuwon had a feeling things wouldn't progress that easily.
Perhaps the Melodia Family Head was meeting with Fides and Amore right now...
'That man would certainly have a deep understanding of Codeword as well. Moreover, he's a human who inherited the will of the True Dragons who opposed the Tower Lord. It's natural to assume he's holding some kind of solution.'
This was also why Ban Yuwon had hastened the conquest of Clarent.
He wanted to personally resolve the situation before Melodia's hand could reach Clarent and give birth to a powerful force seeking revenge against him.
"Nothing is easy. I just wanted to focus on the Tower now."
"It's a good thing, Master Yuwon. Didn't you want external forces you could freely command anyway?"
Anneri said, extending a freshly poured teacup to Ban Yuwon, who had taken his seat in the Family Head's office.
As Heukseol gnashed her teeth, having her turn stolen again, Anneri snorted at her.
Sorry, but it's not either of you two.
"Now, you'll be able to conduct investigations without caring what others think. Seldon will be surprised."
"Who would have known that the situation would progress so rapidly?"
Ban Yuwon tilted the teacup, took a sip, and set it down.
All the incidents related to Clarent had somehow been sealed off, and the current time was 7 PM on Saturday.
He had been frantically moving around, not even realizing when he had pulled an all-nighter.
"Tikke, is it uploaded?"
—Whirrr, click
Seeing him look for new tasks even after finishing everything, Ban Yuwon might already be a workaholic.
When he accessed UniTube, naturally, he saw the Rebellion channel's video, which was #1 in real-time. A colossal sword flying towards the planet was the thumbnail.
...He had thought the part where he posed coolly would be the thumbnail.
Then why had Tikke cheered earlier?
"As for attention... of course it couldn't not get it."
Of course, he hadn't recorded the Ten Great Families' conference, and the video started from the scene where he approached the Clarent family.
The scene where he calmly broke through the barrage of fire from the Clarent family's fleet, finally snatching the Final Sword and sending it flying towards the planet, was breathtaking even to Ban Yuwon.
Of course, the comment section was a feast of question marks and exclamation points.
Naturally, anyone who saw a Union Academy student conquering one of the Ten Great Families would feel that way.
—Clarent? Why Clarent?
—He wouldn't do this without a reason, and if you look at the footage inside the spaceship, surprisingly, some people from the Ten Great Families are seen together. Most are Academy personnel, but...
—The rumor about a close relationship with Prominence seems to have been true. No, it's not just that.
—Professor Yumina... that's the family crest. My goodness, what on earth happened before this?
—So why is Clarent being conquered by a single student? Others are there, but it's practically Ban Yuwon's one-man show?
—The fact that the other Ten Great Families didn't move means this was already an agreed-upon matter. My goodness, what really happened at the conference?
—Conference? There was a Ten Great Families' conference?!
—One thing is certain: Ban Yuwon is no longer just an extraordinary individual; he has become a ruler who has devoured the Ten Great Families whole.
Had Fides and Amore seen this video?
Of course they had.
He could only hope they would react wisely.
Ban Yuwon had no more time to bother dealing with others.
The answer lay in the Tower, and perhaps on Earth.
"Master Yuwon, do you have some free time today? If so, perhaps this is an opportunity for me to give you a massage, one passed down through generations only to ninjas..."
"Don't think that just slapping 'ninja' on anything makes it work. Just call Aire. She's probably exploring the castle with Asha right now."
"Ah, are you going to check her condition? She seemed more stable earlier."
"No, it's not because of that."
Now that Aire had completely come over to his side, Ban Yuwon tried to guess what the Melodia Family Head might be thinking, and then spoke.
"It seems it's about time to prepare to face the True Dragons as well."
Unless he could somehow bring down both the Tower and the True Dragons at once, He would still need to devise a way to contend with them.
The next evening, Team Rebellion returned to Union, just barely making it back before the deadline.
As expected, the Academy was in an uproar over the Rebellion channel's video.
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