Kingdom Simulator: I, a Fallen Noble, Build a God-Level Kingdom!-Chapter 66: Adventure? I Don’t Understand

However—

That was a lie.

The real reason there were so few people left in Highmount Fortress was because most of those willing to leave had already been evacuated into Thune Territory.

This was a classic "invite the enemy into the trap" scheme.

"You’re telling me," Thomas Nightingale said, biting off each word as his eyes nearly bulged from rage, "that damned brat Romon actually rode right over you and stole my military funds?!"

He’d endured the pain all the way here, riding on horseback to keep up appearances for the ceremonial escort. His thighs were already raw from the journey, and after all this suffering, he was met with this disaster.

Seeing the Lord on the verge of exploding, Mangton immediately dropped to his knees and pleaded, "My Lord, Romon is simply too cunning! Just look at the damage he and his people have done to my town. That’s all from his mage’s spells."

Mangton pointed out the damaged sections of Highmount Fortress. In reality, this destruction had been caused by Magitech Drones, but with a little "creative redecoration," it now looked like Talia’s handiwork.

Presented with physical evidence, Thomas Nightingale had no reason to doubt—especially since he’d experienced Talia’s magic firsthand.

"Damn it!" he cursed, slamming his fist onto the saddle. Even when his knuckles split and bled, it did nothing to quell his fury.

At this moment, Aiken, the priest accompanying him, spoke calmly, "Sir, there’s no need to let this anger you. Useless trash, no matter how much there is, is still just trash. All we need to do now is kill that boy. After that, the rest will be nothing but a mess we can clean up whenever we like."

Aiken’s words snapped Thomas Nightingale back to his senses.

Clenching his jaw, he growled, "What really pisses me off is that brat had the nerve to rob me of my military funds... But fine. As long as I kill him, I’ll get my money back."

"Exactly, sir," Aiken agreed.

"Let’s go, then. I can’t wait to see the look on that brat’s face when he dies!" Thomas Nightingale declared, yanking his horse around.

His eldest son, Shawn Nightingale, quickly asked, "Father, should I come with you?"

Shawn’s original assignment was to command the army here, but now that there was no army, he didn’t know what to do.

"Shawn, stay here and wait."

Thomas still had his wits about him. As furious as he was, he no longer underestimated Romon. If Aiken made his move, the other side would definitely fight back. At that point, Shawn would only be a liability.

"But Father, there’s no army here—"

"I said stay and wait!" Thomas snapped, his tone brooking no argument.

Shawn opened his mouth, but in the end, he just answered meekly, "Yes, sir..."

"Hmph, let’s move out!"

The escort totaled twenty-four people. Aside from Thomas Nightingale and Aiken, the remaining twenty-two were just scapegoats he’d rounded up.

They weren’t needed for anything except, once Aiken killed Romon, to take the blame for whatever happened next.

Flying the royal banner, the escort party could ignore the effects of open warfare. They could swagger right across the Thune Territory border. Anyone who dared to stop them would be considered an enemy of the royal family—and there would be no place for them left in the entire kingdom.

Naturally, Romon had no intention of provoking the king at a time like this.

Through the Simulator Blueprint, he could see clearly that Thomas Nightingale was leading the royal escort right into his territory.

"Angelia, the royal escort has arrived." Romon’s voice echoed softly in the lord’s hall of the castle.

At these words, a look of sorrow crossed Angelia’s face. The arrival of the king’s official escort meant she would have to leave.

"Romon..."

Angelia wanted to say something more, but Romon cut her off directly. "The two conditions we agreed on before—it’s time to fulfill the second one."

Back then, in order to stay in the Thune Territory, Angelia had come up with two plans. The first: get pregnant. The second: kill Thomas Nightingale before the spring of next year.

This month, her period still hadn’t come, even up until today.

And now, Thomas Nightingale, under the banner of the royal escort, was brazenly stepping into Thune Territory—what would soon become his grave.

Hearing this, Angelia’s bright eyes shimmered with a thin layer of tears.

She felt content just knowing Romon cared this much. After all, their opponent was a priest whose power was head and shoulders above the rest.

Priests were never known for their offensive capabilities, but even if you ranked them down by a tier, they were still not opponents ordinary people could hope to handle.

"Romon." Princess Angelia gazed at Romon with deep affection and shook her head. "I can still buy you a bit more time. There’s no need to risk everything on that plan."

"Risk everything? I don’t understand what you mean by ’risk.’"

In his mind, Romon was studying the troop deployment map, and honestly couldn’t see where the risk was—

According to what he saw on the Simulator Blueprint, on both sides of the only road from Stone Town to the small farming village, he’d hidden three hundred third-generation drone operators apiece. With a single command, the Magitech Drones could launch instantly, unleashing concentrated firepower on the main road.

If the third-gen drones’ firepower wasn’t enough to kill them, then nearby, he had the recently promoted Grand Mage Talia, the newly advanced Phantom Assassin Nini, and... Akalaisi, who had just advanced to Dawnstrider Archer.

The next rank after Dawnstrider Archer was King of Archers.

If a priest’s offensive power really had to be counted as a tier lower, then, all things considered, it would be roughly on par with a Dawnstrider Archer.

With all these advantages, and the overwhelming firepower of the third-gen drones, Romon honestly couldn’t imagine how he could possibly lose!

He withdrew his gaze and looked toward Princess Angelia. frёeωebɳovel.com

Avoiding her tender gaze, he suddenly asked, "Your Highness, what crimes are punishable by death for a Lord?"

Angelia assumed Romon was planning to capture Thomas Nightingale alive and hand him over to the king for judgment.

So she pondered for a moment and replied, "High treason, dereliction of duty, severe war crimes..."

Relying on her royal background, she listed off a whole string of crimes.

After listening, Romon turned to the princess and said, "Just pick a few of those and report them to His Majesty the King. The heavier the better—heavy enough to justify executing first and reporting later."

With that, he strode out of the castle.

If the escort wanted to welcome the princess—or, more accurately, if they wanted to try and assassinate him—they would first have to pass through the Misty Forest, then trek all the way to Stone Town, and from there, take the main road to the small rural village.

These days, that once rugged, uneven road had been repaired by the merchant guild and turned into a smooth, wide avenue.

The only thing Romon felt any regret about was the road itself. After all that work, it was about to get bombed the moment it was finished.

He wondered whether Thomas Nightingale was getting impatient, because as soon as they entered Thune Territory, their pace picked up—according to the Simulator Blueprint, they were now moving at least one and a half times faster than before.

"What’s the rush? Are you in such a hurry to kill me, or just eager to get yourself killed?" Romon sneered inwardly.

He walked quietly to the western side of the castle, climbed onto a large boulder, and, while keeping an eye on the Simulator Blueprint, prepared to fire the signal flare.

As soon as his signal lit the sky, six hundred Magitech Drones would spring into action and dump all their energy, just as planned.

On the Blueprint, the escort didn’t spare so much as a glance at Stone Town—they charged straight down the main road towards the small village without so much as a pause.

In the center of the road, marked in red as a warning of danger, was the escort. Romon didn’t even need to guess their intentions; even the simulator knew exactly what they were here to do.

On either side of the road, hidden beneath the trees, blue markers indicated the positions of his own ambushing troops.

When the red escort finally entered the attack zone, Romon didn’t immediately give the command to open fire. Instead, he silently waited.

He needed to make sure that not a single member of the escort escaped—not even so much as a hair. Even if the third-generation drones’ firepower wasn’t enough to wipe them out, the survivors would be forced to retreat toward the small village, not westward.

Chasing them in the other direction would cost too much.

Besides, the ambush lines he’d set up were much longer than the escort’s entire formation to begin with.

There were only a little over twenty people in the enemy party, while Romon had more than six hundred soldiers lying in ambush!

When that red-marked, obviously up-to-no-good group finally entered deep into the kill zone, Romon flipped open his spellbook with his left hand, then flicked his right hand to hurl a plain, unadorned [Blast] spell into the sky.

"Boom!"

A thunderous blast exploded overhead.

The Magitech Drone operators, already waiting in position, instantly launched their third-generation drones. The new models could take off much faster than before—from powering up to reaching sixty meters in the air took only a split second.

An ambush like this didn’t require any complicated maneuvers—just get the drones airborne and fire at the prearranged angles. That was it.

You could say that the moment those machines left the ground, their firepower rained down wildly, no need to even aim!

From where Romon stood, he saw three hundred Magitech Drones burst out from each side of the road, neat as two massive guillotines. Then, both sides opened fire toward the center, the streams of bullets forming perfect 45-degree angles.

With just the first salvo, a huge cloud of dust—ten stories high—erupted over the main road! And then, the ground itself started to tremble.

In broad daylight, Romon could even see a reddish glow rising up from the road—the superheated ground scorched by the intense barrage.

Six hundred Magitech Drones unleashed a storm of bullets on just twenty-some people, and with no need to conserve energy, they simply kept firing until the Magic Crystals ran dry.

Romon glanced back at the Simulator Blueprint. After the first wave of bombardment, only two red dots—two people—were left from the escort.

After a slightly delayed second wave, only one remained. Strangely enough, though, another red dot suddenly flickered back to life. Under the continuing barrage, that dot would go out, then reappear, then disappear again, and so on...

Visually, there was one solid red dot, and another that kept blinking.

"That priest really does have something up his sleeve," Romon remarked with a frown.

The only one who could keep clinging to life like that had to be the priest.

Clearly, the firepower wasn’t enough. Time for the Dawnstrider Archer to make a move.