Throne of the North.

Chapter 651 The Knight in the Nightmare (Part 3)

Overnight, Viscount Keton and his entire family were wiped out.

Viscount Keton's castle, once a magnificent, snow-white structure, was burned black, and the vast fields owned by Viscount Keton, once a golden world, were also reduced to ashes.

The skies over much of the Volga province were filled with the ashes of wheat, and it seemed unlikely that clear skies would appear for the next few days.

This horrific scene was infuriating and shocking, and it terrified the nobles. An entire viscount family had been wiped out overnight, not only the viscount himself and his bloodline, but also all the servants in the castle—not a single one survived.

Most of the corpses had turned into charred black charcoal, and a few of them had extremely gruesome deaths. A supernatural being passed by and guessed that their deaths took up to three minutes.

Some people were puzzled and asked for clarification, only to be told that it meant someone who was certain to die three minutes ago struggled for three minutes before losing consciousness.

That's even more frightening.

Moreover, as more details were revealed, more aspects of the Keton massacre caused panic.

“The name Meyers appeared in their hearts. This is a curse, a terrible curse.”

Some people were horrified, wondering how it was possible for everyone's heart to have the same surname; it was simply unbelievable.

"Even the most powerful magician cannot use magic to carve names into the hearts of so many people, unless he has enough time and control over magic."

In an instant, the nobles' gazes once again fell upon the recently rising Grand Duke Meyers' family.

The Viscount Keton family was wiped out, so the name Meyers wouldn't appear out of nowhere.

There must be a reason for this.

In other words, the massacre of the Viscount Keton family must be related to Meyers.

What exactly is their relationship?

This is the extermination of an entire noble family.

"Could it be that Meyers wanted to kill me, and thus suffered divine punishment? The immortal god of light was angered by Grand Duke Meyers' murderous intent towards another nobleman, and thus unleashed divine punishment."

Baron Ryan immediately expressed his opinion and wrote a letter to the capital to question him.

"An absolute setup."

Of course, Meyers would not admit it. They did not believe that the massacre of Viscount Keton's family was related to Meyers; they believed it must be a shameless frame-up.

As a result, some people turned their attention to Baron Ryan, since Baron Ryan was the one who had the biggest conflict with Meyers recently.

"Perhaps it was me. I destroyed Viscount Keton across three provinces. Could it be because Viscountess Keton was one of the daughters of Grand Duke Meyers?"

"Perhaps I am worthy to be called Earl Ryan."

The nobles were also unwilling to believe that the baron of the North was indeed powerful, but so powerful that it was still impossible to associate him with the title of baron.

Few nobles had ever seen what the tundra territory looked like.

If it wasn't Baron Ryan, then who could it be?
It couldn't possibly be Freud, the elector of the world, could it?

This conjecture is a bit dangerous, but fortunately, Freud never said anything from beginning to end, so ignoring him was indeed the best option.

Regardless, the massacre of Viscount Keton's entire family is too horrifying. His Majesty the Emperor and Grand Duke Meyers only wrote to the Frozen Territory, inquiring whether Baron Ryan knew any further clues.

Ryan, of course, said no, and believed that...

"This must be the work of the demons of the abyss. Didn't Grand Duke Meyers say last time that a nightmare from the abyss had invaded the continent of Norris? Grand Duke Meyers commands the Nightmare Knight Legion. Perhaps it's because the nightmare demon was angry that Grand Duke Meyers had stolen its authority, and thus cast a curse."

"It's all the fault of the Dawn Church; they couldn't suppress the monsters of the abyss within it."

Ryan's description created a delicate atmosphere among the nobles, who were both horrified and terrified by the massacre of Viscount Keton's family, and filled with doubt.

Is that really the case?
If authority is divided, then power will decrease, and the nightmare demons of the abyss may truly be angered by the power wielded by Grand Duke Meyers.

Then, would they retaliate against Archduke Meyers?

But why not directly retaliate against the Grand Duke Meyers' family, instead of dealing with Viscount Keton?

Viscount Keton's death suddenly became bizarre. Ryan used the reasons given by Meyers to explain everything. If the latter were to explain, he would need to overturn his original reasoning about Ryan being attacked by the Nightmare Force.

However, it was clear that the empire would not stand idly by while a noble family was wiped out, and a legendary figure from the capital city led a team to investigate.

However, before the investigation team even reached Viscount Keton's territory, the news of another noble family being wiped out came to light.

"The Earl of Ferguson is dead?!"

"That's an earl!"

“Count Ferguson has two Saint-level experts under his command, an army of 30,000, and he even maintains a mage corps of 30 people!”

How could he have died?

"His death was extremely gruesome; he was torn to pieces in his castle, and the body parts were charred by the flames and stuck to the walls, forming the pattern of the Meyers surname."

"It is said that Countess Ferguson was so frightened by this scene that she died."

"Only the Earl died at the Earl's Castle, but the manner of his death... was even more horrific than that of Viscount Keton."

The nobles were filled with apprehension. If only the Viscount Keton's family were to perish, they would be anxious, but if a second noble died in the same way, everything would be different.

This is war, or perhaps divine punishment.

His Majesty the Emperor in the capital, the enraged Columbus III, could only be thankful that the Black Swan assassins' attacks over the past six months had increased the nobility's resilience. The Black Swan assassins had already killed many nobles; these two massacres...

"It was done by a black swan!"

"The Dawn Church shamelessly signed the Treaty of Nantes, which prohibited military warfare, yet it sent Black Swan assassins to try to kill the nobles of the Empire."

"This is absolutely unforgivable!"

The young Archduke Russell and the young Archduke Fleming spoke out in anger, as they needed to seize the opportunity to enhance their prestige amidst this panic and rage.

At the same time, this is also His Majesty the Emperor's will; Columbus III does not want such chaos to occur on the day of the Feast of Grace next year, when the Pope of Dawn arrives in the Empire.

"Whether it's a black swan or a nightmare curse, it must be resolved as quickly as possible!"

The legendary investigation team immediately turned and headed to Earl Ferguson's castle, determined to give all the nobles an answer.

Ryan remained unchanged, sending a letter to inquire why the tragic deaths of the two nobles were both linked to Meyers.

"Has Grand Duke Meyers done something that has angered both heaven and man? Or is the great god punishing Meyers?"

“It seems that Earl Ferguson did not marry a daughter of the Meyers family. No, Earl Ferguson’s family has half Meyers blood.”

Ryan's doubts were also the doubts of the imperial nobles.

What exactly is the connection between these events and Archduke Meyers?
More and more letters arrived in the capital, and the nobles all wanted to know what role Grand Duke Meyers played in all of this.

Is it divine punishment?

"It's the Black Swan assassin."

"Baron Ryan's reasons are too far-fetched; he just wants to pin the blame for these two deaths on Grand Duke Meyers."

"That's right, there's no reason why. Viscount Keton is only half royal, while Earl Ferguson's bloodline is ancient and no less than that of the Grand Duke. His ancestors even had William's surname."

“Without evidence, Baron Ryan’s accusations are meaningless.” However, a few days later, the investigation team had its findings.

"It's an assassin!"

"But not the Black Swan assassin!"

Such is the power of the legendary investigation team; in just a few days, they achieved results and captured more than a dozen Shadow Vanguard members.

"It's a pity that the legendary Lord Brena went deep into the North, otherwise, with his legendary soul mage skills, he could have easily found out who these assassins belonged to from their souls."

"These people are very strange. Their souls and spirits seem to be frozen, so cold and terrifying that it is impossible to interrogate them by ordinary means."

"Where is the space mage?"

"Can spatial mages trace the spatial fluctuations of their journey?"

"This requires very special magic, and it takes time to invite it."

With the consent of all the nobles, the Empire invited the legendary [Eternal Void], a legendary space mage whom Ryan was somewhat familiar with, who indeed possessed many special space magic powers.

"They came from the north. The space left its mark on me, but I don't know exactly where. The north is too vast."

The legendary mage gave a definitive answer, and all the nobles fell silent, looking towards the North, where the most active baron of the North resided.

Ryan Clayton.

Yes, he did it?

The nobles were terrified; they could neither believe nor were willing to believe that a baron could have done such a thing.

Since no one openly or proactively suspected Ryan, Ryan pretended not to know.

“The North, the Northern Frontier, indeed harbors even greater terror. I was right to build that fortress.”

"However, I can issue a mission to the Northern Heroes Guild, asking all adventurers to help find the monster slayer in the North, if... Duke Meyers is willing to support the Northern Heroes Guild."

"After all, this matter seems to have an unclear and ambiguous relationship with the Grand Duke Meyers' family."

"Perhaps in the future, when nobles think of the name Meyers, they will remember those nobles who have died."

These words were written privately by Ryan to Grand Duke Meyers and were not made public.

"Ryan!!!"

Grand Duke Meyers, the elderly nobleman, was also furious at this moment, clutching Ryan's letter tightly.

"Father."

Chrysus stood before him with his head bowed.

"He's trying to tarnish Meyers' name!"

"As expected of the devil of the North, the baron who seeks an eye for an eye."

“We previously tried to use Shaya and Queen Letta to ruin his reputation, and now he’s turning around and trying to destroy the honor that belongs to the Meyers family!”

"If Meyers gets associated with the tragic deaths of nobles, it will be a problem for life."

"Can you bear the consequences when the nobles talk about Meyers, they will always think of those nobles who died?"

Chrysus shuddered; he couldn't bear to imagine the outcome.

"But...did Baron Ryan really do this?"

Like many nobles, Chrysus remained skeptical, after all, the answer was rather shocking—just a baron, after all.

"You still have doubts?"

"The prophetic witch told you about what Ryan did, yet you still doubt Ryan's power. He can influence the voice of two of the nine kingdoms on the continent of Norris, including the Kingdom of Andara, the Gerald noble territory, and the Kingdom of Coran. He is no weaker than any of the great nobles of the empire."

"He must have done this; he has a terrifying legion of assassins under his command."

"Do you still remember Count Weiss?"

"The count who was stripped of his title."

"It is said that he had this group of assassins under his command, which were later divided up by Ryan, Winter, and Count Sauron."

"This...this is impossible."

“This is just a clue. You can make the nobles believe this clue and make them suspect Ryan.”

Grand Duke Meyers looked at his successor, Ryan, who was far superior to Chrysus.

“After all, Chrysus, you must understand that we cannot use Ryan’s methods against Ryan.”

"He doesn't even have children!"

Yes, Ryan can use this method to throw excrement at Meyers, but he can't do the other way around.

Because Ryan was the founder of his own family and the first ancestor of the Ryan family, he had no children, so he had no marriage alliances and no relatives or allies like Viscount Keton or Viscount Ferguson.

The surname Ryan is still in its early stages; it's not an ancient or long-standing surname.

He does indeed have Clayton blood, but that's also a problem. If they attacked someone with the Clayton surname instead of the Ryan surname, they wouldn't be facing Ryan.

It was the Dragon Knight, Leon Clayton.

Bloodline and surname have little effect on Ryan.

"Then what should we do? Even if the nobles have suspicions, it's useless. Ryan will definitely find a way to pin those assassination attempts on Black Swan."

"After all... given that we all know the Black Swan Assassins belong to the Dawn Church, we can't let the Dawn Church acknowledge this dark power."

"What you need to do is not to get the nobles to admit it, but to give them absolute reason to doubt it."

"Crysus, you have disappointed me greatly."

Chrysus looked up abruptly. His father used to praise him every time, but now he was saying such things.

Fear and trembling appeared on the Grand Duke's heir; he was at a loss.

"Is hereditary power truly inferior to that of the founder?"

Grand Duke Meyers was also helpless; he was somewhat at a loss as to how to retaliate. It was conceivable that Ryan would kill even more nobles in the future, unless evidence could be found to prove that Ryan was the one who did it.

"Go, arrange a group of slaves from another world to dress up as those assassins, then capture them, purify their souls, and make them confess that it was Ryan who ordered them."

"Besides, didn't Ryan invite our help?"

"Dispatch a contingent of extraordinary warriors and knights to the Northwind Province, and, in the manner of the Northern Heroes... slaughter those damned adventurers!!!"

"Finally, kill all those from the Frozen Territory who dare to appear in the southern lands."

The Grand Duke retaliated, and the power of the Grand Duke Meyers' family was clearly terrifying.

(End of this chapter)