The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 246 ?????? Mogers (16) - The Beast's Banquet Mogers had once evaluated the castle town of Ostern as 'a land where one need not worry about others' opinions'. The barbarian tribes that had once been mortal enemies were already weakened to the point of complete decline. The monsters that had once run rampant had also greatly diminished in number, forming their own food chains among themselves rather than bothering to approach places with castle walls. As a fief of the Sacred State of Hasht, one of the great powers, there was no worry of military threats, and the Sacred State itself had no interest in them whatsoever. Even ordinary bandit groups that cared nothing for international politics would aim for richer and warmer lands rather than bother crawling to such a southern frontier. Therefore, the soldiers of the castle town had long since lost their reason for existence. Though they maintained the form of an army due to systems and structures created in the past, their reality was nothing more than a group of thugs in armor. Military discipline was corrupt, and security was endlessly lax. From Raslro's perspective, having once served as a soldier from the castle town, there could be no easier place to infiltrate. Even catching a single small fox would be more difficult than this. Despite Mogers' repeated warnings, there was not only no proper guard in front of the food storage, but even the locks weren't properly secured. Raslro entered the warehouse and mixed the blood he had prepared into the barrels containing red wine. The fishy smell of beast's blood was buried beneath the intense aroma of alcohol. If drunk with a clear tongue and nose, one might feel somewhat uncomfortable, but those who were constantly soaked in alcohol from daily banquets wouldn't even notice that something had been mixed in. When Raslro finished his work and came outside, a companion who had been keeping watch with an anxious face greeted him. "It's done. Now we just have to wait." "R-really?" The companion, who had been fidgeting with an somehow anxious expression, soon opened his mouth as if he could no longer hold back. "But Raslro, is this really right?" "What are you talking about?" "You said before. That the blood and flesh of living sacrifices are meant to receive the goddess's blessing. But is it right to feed that to those pig bastards?" "Hahaha. I wondered what you were worrying about." Raslro chuckled and said. "A blessing is only a blessing because we receive it. If those who weren't chosen drink blood imbued with the goddess's power, they'll become irrational monsters and go on a mad rampage. It's trash killing trash with their own hands!" He would have liked to conduct the hunt directly with his own and his compatriots' hands, but unfortunately his former comrades had fallen for that outsider's sweet poison. But that would only be temporary. After achieving revenge and restoring freedom to the Belastok, they too would realize which side was truly right. And they would come to him and beg for forgiveness. 'Though I have no intention of accepting it easily.' Especially that outsider who had wounded him and Morana who had acted as his lackey—he intended to kill them by any means necessary. As Raslro's body trembled while dreaming of a future where he would tear flesh with his claws and rip apart entrails with his teeth, another hesitant voice came from beside him. "B-but. That's indiscriminate rampage, isn't it? It's good to overthrow the castle town, but won't our own people also be in danger in the process?" "......" "Ah, no. I'm not saying you're wrong, Raslro. I'm just a bit worried... Raslro?" Haah. Raslro let out a deep sigh. Just as the young man was about to say something again. "How annoying. Such a cowardly bastard." Crack. Raslro's hand seized the young man's neck and lifted him up. "Guk, Ra, Raslro, stop, huk!" "This one and that one, all of you talk too much with your grumbling. It's a fight to regain freedom, isn't it? We already swore together to have bloody revenge, didn't we? But why does everyone have so many concerns!! What if there are sacrifices? What do you mean what!! Just kill that many more! And devour them!!" Raslro's eyes turned red, and fur sprouted wildly from all over his body. His fingertips grew increasingly sharp, and the grip strength in his hands rapidly increased. "Rasl..." Crack! The young man's body, his neck twisted in a grotesque direction, convulsed violently before going completely limp. Raslro clicked his tongue and dropped the young man's body to the ground. "It's your fault. Making me waste my strength before something important." That's right. He had wasted too much strength. Raslro suddenly became aware of an intense hunger. "I'm hungry..." There was no food left. He had been moving frantically from the start, and as for the meat for living sacrifices, he had already devoured everything except the blood that was to be mixed with the wine. He seemed to have eaten quite a lot, but somehow the feeling of fullness didn't last very long. No, he even felt as if the hunger had grown even stronger after eating that meat. Raslro became restless. He felt like he would go mad if he didn't somehow deal with this hunger immediately. Then suddenly. In his field of vision, he saw what had once been his comrade sprawled on the ground. Ah, there's meat here. Raslro smiled. The beast devoured the meat. *** That hell on earth began from the highest and deepest part of the castle. The luxurious banquet hall. Count Palatine, who had been entranced while holding the Emperor's ornament that Mogers had offered as a bribe up to the candlelight, suddenly heard an annoying sound. Munch munch. Smack smack. "P-Patrol Commander? Perhaps you should eat a little more slowly..." "Lord Eltanic. Aren't you overeating too much today?" "Shut up!! Bring more meat right now!!" Throughout the banquet hall, people attending the banquet were greedily chewing and swallowing food. Without any dignity or grace, not even caring that their mouths and clothes were getting dirty, eating wildly. Other participants and servants around them were flustered by their appearance and tried to stop them, but those consumed by gluttony didn't care what anyone around them said and devoted themselves to filling their stomachs. "Tsk tsk. Those fellows, why are they acting like that today?" Count Palatine clicked his tongue in displeasure at the sight. He himself wasn't particularly dignified when eating, but what he did and what others did were different matters. Count Palatine was about to shout at them to show some restraint, but soon his eyes widened and he could only stammer. "Th-th-that, what is..." Fur seemed to grow from the skin of those who had been greedily devouring food, their skeletons twisted and their clothes tore apart. At the sight of them completely transformed into wolves, screams echoed throughout the banquet hall. "Kyaaaaaaah!" "P-people have turned into wolves!!" Indifferent to the reactions around them, the wolves continued their greedy meal with their snouts buried in plates. However, the moment those plates were completely empty, their eyes turned toward the people around them. -Grrr... RAWRRR! Assault. Bloodshed. Predation. The teeth of one who had once been a knight tore at the throat of a noblewoman dressed in finery. A bureaucrat ripped open his colleague's stomach and devoured the entrails, while a priest defiled the religious artifacts with blood and brain matter. Count Palatine screamed out his orders. "K-kill them!! Kill the monsters!!" Shing! Shring! The sound of weapons being drawn echoed from here and there. Whether what was in the hearts of those who charged at the wolves was ambition to look good before their lord or the survival instinct that they would die if they didn't kill them was unclear. But there were quite a few knights in the banquet hall, while the number of those transformed into wolves was less than five. After slaughter that was closer to butchery than battle, the wolves soon fell, unable to overcome their numerical disadvantage. The banquet hall had become soaked in blood. Count Palatine, struggling to suppress his trembling fingertips, suddenly felt a very enchanting scent brush past his nose. "...?" It seemed sweet, yet also seemed to carry a slight pungency, and also seemed ridiculously rich. What was certain, however, was that it was an absurdly alluring scent that made one feel hungry. Drip. Saliva overflowed from Count Palatine's mouth. Not only that, but the others in the banquet hall were the same. Regardless of status or gender, everyone present swallowed their saliva while looking at the corpses of the fallen wolf pack. Logically speaking, feeling appetite for raw meat with no preparation whatsoever, blood and flesh of what had been human just moments before, was abnormal, but no one present realized this. No, the near-madness appetite that had invaded their minds had erased such logical thinking. Someone licked the wolf's blood that had flowed on the floor with their tongue. Someone bit into flesh that still retained warmth with their teeth. Count Palatine too, as if enchanted by something, licked the wolf's blood that had splattered nearby during the battle. The moment his tongue touched the red liquid, extreme ecstasy struck his soul. An extremely primitive and intense satisfaction that overwhelmed all the pleasure and luxury he had enjoyed as master of the castle town. "Oh, ooh, oooooooh...!" Count Palatine rolled his eyes back and uttered praise. From a distant, far-off place, the demon who governs wildness and madness. The beast lord called Gra spoke. (E/N: It's not one of the demon lord/absolute ruler....I think. Unless they have several names) Hunt. Fight. Devour. The moment he accepted that command, Count Palatine was no longer human. His skin was covered with coarse, rough fur, his teeth were sharp, and what leaked from his snout was not human language but bestial growling. Soon, dozens of wolves emerged from the banquet hall to the outside. They roamed throughout the castle engaging in massacre and hunting, and while some were eliminated, the situation did not improve. The scent emanating from the flesh and blood of dead wolves. That maddening magic that completely obliterated human reason enchanted the survivors, and those who thus touched the forbidden with their lips fell once again into beasts. The collapse of the castle town had begun.