Tyrant? No, I am the Villain
Chapter 26: Hunt for the traitors

Chapter 26: Hunt for the traitors

The stench of blood still lingered in the courtyard long after the last scream faded.

Frejlurd stood alone on the balcony above, staring down at the butchered remnants of what once were his comrades. The sunlight reflected off puddles of red and corpses split into multiple parts, while the faint light coming through the clouds cast long shadows over lifeless faces. No one spoke as even the breeze had gone quiet and if the city itself was mourning the massacre which just took place.

Behind him, soldiers waited in silence, their armor damp with sweat and gore. "You’ve done well." Frejlurd said, his voice calm but heavy. "But it isn’t over."

He turned to face his loyalists. "Eighty-one guards are still out there, scattered, unaccounted for. Some may be ignorant of what happened. Others may already be plotting for their escape but it doesn’t matter. They were not here to prove their loyalty. That alone is enough."

One of them stepped forward, hesitant. "Commander, some of them may have families. Children." He tried to prevent more massacres by creating excuses to spare them.

Frejlurd didn’t blink. "So do the people of this city. And those children are raised in fear because their protectors chose greed over duty." He stepped past them, descending from the balcony. "Find them... Capture them if possible... and kill them because that is a necessity. No more shadows in this City’s Guardians. We shall uphold justice and fight for our home now onwards.."

By evening, the sound of boots against cobblestone filled the air. The Guards were marching across the City’s central region where the 81 were present since it’s the part where they have the strongest presence and control making it safer for them and the people.

The hunt for them began as Frejlurd had organized the loyal guards into squads; they were disciplined and armed. Each was given names, locations and former patrol routes of the 81 of the remaining traitors. Most of them were veterans, trusted by the previous commander. That alone made them suspicious.

One by one, the targets began to fall. In the Slum Quarters, a Guard named Beran was found hiding in a brothel attic. When the loyalist forces arrived, he claimed he had been off duty due to illness.

He even presented forged medical papers. But one look at his trembling hands and sweat-soaked uniform betrayed the truth.

"I didn’t know." He swore. "I swear I didn’t know what was happening!"

"You knew enough to hide." His former subordinate replied coldly before slitting his throat. There was no trial nor any mercy shown to them.

By nightfall, twenty were already dead. Hunted down like rabid dogs. A team cornered three guards drinking in a tavern. The moment they recognised that the tavern was surrounded, they drew their blades.

One tried to escape through the kitchen and was run through with a spear. The other two fought viciously, nearly killing two loyalists before being brought down with arrows to the back.

"Traitors don’t get clean deaths." One soldier muttered, retrieving his arrow from the bodies he shot down.

Another group was harder to find as a former elite guard named Andros had barricaded himself inside his estate with five other guards. Loyalists surrounded the building by midnight, demanding surrender.

Andros stood on the balcony, blood on his sleeves. "I fought for this city when that little tyrant was still suckling off his nursemaid! I will not kneel!" He openly berated the Baron.

"You already lost." Came the reply but Andros refused to come down, this reached the ears of Estefan who ordered a trebuchet brought from the old fortress. One flaming boulder later, the estate became ash.

Back in the palace, Estefan was briefed constantly on the progress. He was lying inside a large pool built inside the palace which was his bath, he laid back in the water while staring at the ceiling.

"Thirty-two confirmed dead, twenty-one captured, rest still at large." Galliard read the reports for Estefan to hear.

Estefan scratched his head. "Capture rate is disappointing. I would’ve expected better."

"The remaining ones are clever. Some of them have access to the old tunnels in the City which were built for better movement of the force in case a siege occurred so they know the tunnels well enough to use them for an escape." Galliard nodded solemnly

Estefan smirked. "Then burn the tunnels."

"My lord?" Galliard was stunned with that response.

"You heard me. Collapse the exits, flood the tunnel with alchemical poison smoke and choke them. I want no rat slipping through the cracks." Estefan commanded.

"As you command." Galliard responded while keeping his head bowed without a rather scared reaction because Estefan appeared to be rather a cruel monster without remorse.

Estefan splashed the warm water on his face, smoke slowly rising from the water as it was a warm bath. "They will curse me, you know." He said. "The people are fools, they will not understand the reason as to why I am doing this. They will only judge me for these events unfolding now and conclude that I am evil.."

"Yes, my lord." Galliard replied. "Maybe there will be some who would understand why you have done it since many do despise those corrupt officials."

"Those are a rarity so it may not happen the way you say but the people will obey due to fear for now and behave." Estefan nodded while raising his hands towards the ceiling. "One day, when the filth is gone and the sun shines on clean stone... they’ll thank me.. oh they will definitely thank me."

Time passed quickly as Dawn slowly appeared, only fourteen guards remained as they had grouped up in a warehouse which was at the outskirts, the plan was to flee the city by bribing passing merchants. Word had reached them of the executions. Some wept. Others sharpened blades. All of them knew what was coming.

Suddenly the doors were broken and pushed inward. Followed by loyalist squads entering and surrounding the building on the outside. Those who ran out were shot by arrows immediately, those who fought were overwhelmed.

The last survivor, a woman named Kaelia, crawled through the back alley, coughing blood. A spear had pierced her side, but she kept moving. It was Frejlurd who found her as she was under a collapsed cart.

She looked up at him, barely breathing. "You... you killed them all."

Frejlurd knelt beside her. "They made their choice." He said, drawing his dagger.

"You... monster, you never gave us the chance to choose.. you simply hunted us down..." She spat at him.

He didn’t respond. He only whispered, "For the Baron.." And then it ended.

Soon dawn arrived, the streets woke up quiet again. Posters were nailed across every wall of the city. The poster was titled as "The Bloody Baron" but it was no longer an insult due to all the blood people saw on the ground when they exited their homes.

[To be Continued]