Raid of Argyle Manor

The Raid of Argyle Manor is an event that took place 1 year before the arrival of Natsuki Subaru into the world, and it is the primary conflict of The Dream the Lion King Saw.

Following rumors of a strange visitor meeting with Biehn Argyle in his manor, the Duchess Crusch Karsten personally investigated the fallen House Argyle, who were being suspected of trading in slavery and human trafficking. This led to the discovery of Biehn’s deal with an Imperial soldier from Vollachia and her own capture. In response, an armed raid led by Fourth Prince Fourier Lugunica was carried out on the manor.

In the end, the fallen House Argyle fell for good after Felix Argyle, Biehn’s son, raised Hannah Argyle's body from the dead and let her kill Biehn, while the Sword Saint made sure to slay the imperial soldier, preventing him from spilling the secrets of the Kingdom. While the raid was successful, however, this was a prelude to a coming tragedy, as the Lugunican Royal Family all fell ill.

Background

Fall of House Argyle

House Argyle was the house entrusted with the tome for the spell Sacrament of the Immortal King. One day, Felix Argyle was born, bearing the traits of a demi-human due to atavism. Suspecting this to be a result of infidelity rather than bloodline, Felix was locked away in a cell, and he was barely kept alive. This lasted until one day, House Karsten heard disturbing rumors surrounding House Argyle, and as a result, when they went to their manor to confirm these suspicions, they discovered the malnourished Felix and unofficially adopted him into House Karsten. As punishment for his treatment, House Argyle was effectively stripped of their nobility and their territory, leaving them with nothing but their manor and a patch of uncultivated land. Years later, Biehn killed his wife, Hannah Argyle, following an argument. Because of all of this and learning of the fact that Ferris was his son after witnessing his inherited and unprecedented skill with water magic, Biehn became mentally unstable, and he set his sights on reviving his wife, gaining a twisted care for his son.

Treason

One day, Biehn met with the Imperial soldier, Miles, leading to a deal in which Biehn would buy corpses to practice the forbidden Sacrament of the Immortal King, which raised the dead back to life as undead, so that he could revive his wife. As he practiced, Miles would secretly take notes so as to bring the information back to the Empire.

Eventually, rumors of possible slave trading were picked up by the members of House Karsten. Crusch, deciding to wait until the trader appeared at Argyle Manor, decided to wait until the man returned to catch both him and Biehn at once to arrest him. In that time, the manor’s maid, Hannah Regret, fed Crusch information. Choosing to handle things internally so that the repercussions did not affect Ferris, who had joined the Royal Guard, she spoke with Fourier and entrusted him to the prince.

When the trader arrived, she arranged a meeting with Biehn, who willingly agreed with no resistance. According to himself, only he, his wife, who he claimed was sick and in bed, and one maid who remained out of affection, Hannah, resided in his manor. Stating that she had business with his visitor, she had Biehn lead her to him, and he introduced Miles as a merchant to her. Having Hannah bring Crusch tea, they spoke about the rumors of slave trading surrounding them. Throughout her conversation with the two, despite her Divine Protection of Wind Reading not picking up on deception, she found that she still did not trust their words. Afterward, given her tea, though she did not drink it, unaware that it was, in fact, the antidote to the drug, she still found herself drugged and was imprisoned in the basement, Biehn claiming that he needed Ferris.

The Duchess’s Disappearance

While Ferris was adapting to his time in the Royal Guard, he and Julius Juukulius were invited to a meeting with Fourier. Meanwhile, Reinhard was sent on a mission regarding matters related to the Vollachia Empire. During the conversation, he claimed that there were bad tidings surrounding House Argyle and that Crusch had gone there by herself to handle the matter. Afterward, they spoke with an official of House Karsten. Though they learned of their countermeasures and witnessed Fourier’s recent coughing fits, another official informed everyone that Crusch had not left the manor, and the soldiers outside the manor were facing corpse soldiers. Because of this, Fourier took Ferris and Julius to the manor while Badak started arranging for reinforcements to be sent to Argyle Manor.

Battle

Confrontation Outside the Manor

Shortly after Crusch was locked up, Biehn wasted no time in using Sacrament of the Immortal King to set off numerous corpse soldiers to deal with the soldiers awaiting outside, and Biehn gave them his demands for Ferris to be brought to the manor. Eventually, Fourier’s group arrived at the manor, intent on buying time for the reinforcements. They also received a missive from Biehn claiming that Crusch was being held hostage and that Ferris was to be brought to him, which Ferris accepted. Once he left, Julius remained to protect Fourier.

After some time, with reinforcements to handle the undead, Fourier sent Julius inside upon seeing the mansion starting to burn. Eventually, Crusch, Ferris, and Julius escape the manor, and everyone watched as all of the undead rushed to burn alongside the manor.

Negotiations

Once inside, Ferris met Hannah Regret, who led him to Biehn, passing many targetless undead along the way. After meeting with Biehn again, who was making a fuss over him, Biehn revealed that he wanted for Ferris to use his water magic to help him use the Sacrament of the Immortal King in exchange for Crusch. Ordering Hannah to take them to the master bedroom, she led them away, informing Ferris that Crusch was unharmed, and after arriving, Ferris witnessed the corpse of Hannah Argyle, who Biehn wanted Ferris to help bring back with his magic.

Despite revolting against the idea, to prevent Crusch from coming to harm, Ferris decided to use the spell on the man’s wife, learning how she died, Ferris’s gaze drawing out a crazed confession. Because of his craze threatening Crusch’s life, Ferris used his magic to animate her corpse, after which she strangled Biehn to death. Afterward, the corpse smiled at Ferris before turning to dust. After a short conversation with the maid, Ferris decided to go to Crusch, whose location Hannah had told him, and he claimed he would talk to Crusch about leniency for Hannah in regards to her punishment.

Shortly after entering the hall, however, Hannah shut and locked the door after telling Ferris goodbye, after which she set fire to the mansion, herself locked in the room with Biehn’s corpse, much to Ferris’s frustration and rage. Afterward, he ran to find Crusch.

The Valkyrie’s Escape

In the basement, after speaking with Biehn, Hannah appeared and freed her from her manacles. However, instead of escaping, she used her position to potentially glean information from her enemy. Several hours later, she spoke again with Miles, where she learned about the use of the Sacrament of the Immortal King’s usage and that Miles was not truly in league with Biehn, wanting her assistance later on to smuggle him back into Vollachia. However, she not only refused, but she even stood and readied to defend herself from the corpse soldiers. After freeing her hands, she swiftly used her One Blow, One Hundred Felled to take care of the undead, as well as wound Miles, who played dead to avoid being killed.

Immediately after, Julius appeared and assisted her, informing her that they needed to escape since the manor was burning. It didn’t take long for her and Julius to meet up with an emotional Ferris, and they quickly made their escape, pushing through the undead. Soon, they made it outside, where they witnessed all of the undead rush to the burning mansion.

The Rat’s Escape

Having survived the Crusch’s attack, Miles used the undead’s mass suicide by fire as a distraction so that he could escape with a copy of Biehn’s spell book via his flying dragon, Gaius. However, he was left with a deep bleeding gash that still threatened his life. Soon, he found himself confronted with Reinhard, who insisted that he land so he could be taken in alive. However, he refused and intended to kill him and escape, knocking him off of Gaius. Reinhard, beneath the two, let out a single attack, completely erasing both Miles and Gaius, as well as the copy of the spell book.

Aftermath

Following the manor’s burning, Crusch explained to Ferris that they had Hannah giving them information and that she was the one to free her from her manacles. Later on, it was revealed that Ferris had taken the spell book for Sacrament of the Immortal King, and he kept it hidden. Julius returned to Fourier’s side and swore his loyalty to him anew, yet as soon as Fourier stepped out of his carriage, he collapsed, having succumbed to his illness, and Julius rushed to retrieve Ferris.

This marked the prelude to the complete destruction of the Royal Family of Lugunica, including the king and Fourier. Following their deaths, the Royal Selection officially began, with Crusch being its first candidate and taking on Ferris as her personal knight.