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Helmut stepped out of the assembly hall with an exhausted look on his face. The steps he took along the hallway were heavy but busy. He was rather relieved that things had worked out unexpectedly well.
Barth Baltic and Helmut were rivals who had maintained a hostile, yet symbiotic relationship ever since the start of the Eternal Rule—Helmut served as the spiritual anchor to unite the empire under the Church, while Barth succeeded in uniting and leading the army that could have become a threat to the empire.
Without either one of them, the empire would have been torn apart with bloodshed. Thus, Helmut acknowledged and admired Barth Baltic’s abilities, despite hating him.
So, Helmut was glad that this incident was resolved quite smoothly, unlike what he had expected. After all, the Barth Baltic that Helmut knew was a man who could have easily turned the Capital into a sea of blood.
At the same time, Helmut wondered why Barth Baltic acted in such a way.
‘Did he really just do what he had to do as a soldier?’
Helmut shook his head. Both Helmut and Barth had seen each other’s weaknesses. Helmut was very well aware that he was not an innocent man, and the same was true of Barth Baltic. They were both covered in the same filth.
Helmut sometimes thought that perhaps the reason why they couldn’t stand each other was that they smelled the same.
‘Whatever he is up to… I wish the returning emperor could just disappear along with Barth Baltic.’
Barth Baltic was already done for. The people of the empire had completely turned their backs on Barth Baltic, and this expedition would be his last—whether he killed the returning emperor or rather got killed by the returning emperor.
“Your Holiness.”
Helmut stopped upon hearing the voice coming from behind him. The voice belonged to Imill Ilde, the head of the Ilde family who had been silently sitting at a corner of the assembly hall the entire time. Not only was he the head of the religious faction, he was also the heir to a wealthy business. However, it was said that he suffered a huge loss recently when Hiveden, his largest source of income, was suddenly overturned.
“Mr. Ilde,” Helmut greeted him briefly. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ll put aside the complicated and unnecessary words, considering the situation we are in. What are you going to do with the Church?”
Helmut was wary that Imill might petition to help Barth Baltic out of his desire for revenge. Helmut couldn’t afford to do so now, but Imill Ilde was making too many donations to the Church for Helmut to simply ignore him.
“...The holy city of Torra is so loud and messy that I’ll have to clean up on the inside first,” Helmut said.
“I think that’s a marvelous idea.”
Helmut became even more wary when he heard Imill say something completely unexpected.
“But looking at the current situation and how you behaved when the Regent showed up at the assembly hall earlier, you don’t seem to have any specific plans to take care of the situation.”
“What are you trying to say?” Helmut’s face became distorted; after all, no one enjoyed their mistakes being pointed out.
“The Church is being too indulgent, Your Holiness. A mere soldier, a noble from an apostolic background, and even morons are insulting the Church. This is all because the Church has failed to gain enough authority,” Imill said with a determined face.
“...That I can’t deny. I admit that I was complacent. But things will be different from now on.”
“That’s not enough, Your Holiness. We need the powerful authority of the Church that you showed during the early days of the Eternal Rule. Didn’t Your Holiness show us His Majesty’s will through a proxy back then?”
“...We are living in a different time compared to the bloody era when…”
“It’s not different, Your Holiness. If the Regent is defeated and the rebel’s army reaches Torra, both the authority of His Majesty and the authority of the Church will be completely destroyed.”
Helmut didn’t think of himself to be a good man. He also knew well that Imill Ilde’s words were crazy. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but think that Imill Ilde’s crazy words were quite tempting.
“Are you telling me to show the authority of His Majesty by exerting my power?” Helmut asked.
“There’s no need to shed too much blood, is there? Power enough to unite the holy city of Torra is more than enough. If the Regent gets defeated, the army will eventually become nothing but a sword without an owner. Your Holiness needs to show everyone that you’re qualified to wield that sword.”
‘A pope who is also the commander of the armed forces, huh?’
Imill Ilde’s suggestion didn’t sound too bad in Helmut’s ears.
“If you are capable of uniting the power left behind by His Majesty in the form of Grace and the power of the empire into one… then, it won’t be too difficult to defeat the traitors. It would be an honor, almost as if the emperor had returned.”
‘The emperor…’
“Don’t say anything that might cause people to misunderstand,” Helmut said.
“I have made a slip of the tongue, Your Holiness. I am just a faithful believer who has dedicated my wealth as well as my youngest son to the Church. Please don’t misunderstand my loyalty.”
Helmut inadvertently remembered that Imill Ilde’s youngest son used to be a Templar, and that he made a huge donation so that he could join the Order of the White Crow, but was then killed by the devil of Tantil.
The returning emperor who was now running toward the Capital was the same devil of Tantil.
‘Is he seeking revenge?’
Imill’s words weren’t wrong. What the empire needed at this time of foreign invasion was a commander who could unite them all under a single banner. Barth Baltic wasn’t an adequate candidate for that, since he was from a heterogenous race. On the other hand, Helmut himself was able to exert the power of His Majesty in the form of Grace.
“Mr. Ilde,” Helmut whispered to Imill in a low voice. “Do you have anything in mind?”
“Why don’t we try to learn from the history of glory that the Church has walked through? Hasn’t Your Holiness shown the non-believers that His Majesty’s power remains undiminished in the western Cabragh?”
‘Cabragh.’
Helmut’s face hardened. But Imill kept whispering to Helmut.
“Your Holiness, the people are foolish and are constantly looking for targets to blame. Your Holiness will become their next target after the Regent gets defeated. That’s when Your Holiness needs to show that His Majesty’s justice lies in your hands. Then the people will finally know who they should be serving.”
***
“Honestly, I feel like I’ll be the person with the least sway on the result among those who have expressed their intention to participate in this war.”
Hela said to Horhell with a grin. Horhell looked back upon hearing Hela’s words.
They were climbing the Yult Mountains, which separated the east and the capital—the road was crowded with soldiers and mercenaries from the east. They still had to march for two more days before they could reach the Magic Tower. The thin red light now seemed to have gotten quite a lot thicker.
“We have the Fourth Division of the Imperial Army that has been strengthened through battle, the United Mercenary Unit, the Punishment Unit that was trained by His Majesty himself—no, they are called the Special Duty Guerrilla Unit, right? Anyway, we also have a dragon on our side.”
“It’s better to emphasize only one of our biggest strengths rather than emphasizing several of our small strengths. Well, it’s not like we are going to fight a war to show off our strengths, but…”
Horhell calmly brushed the neck of the dragon he was riding, Orca. Orca had already been scouting the surroundings for nearly half a day and had come down to rest its wings. Ever since Juan had removed all the restraints placed on it, Orca has been growing much faster and was now able to travel longer and longer distances day by day.
“But I don’t think our army will be any weaker than the others.”
“Yeah, well… We do have the highest number of soldiers, so we’ll definitely play our part. Though, I’m planning to focus more on politics rather than on the military. It’s stupid to think that we are stronger just because we have larger numbers. But, we might be able to shake things up once the balance of power gets tilted.”
Only very few among the eastern troops felt uneasy about the fact that they were marching toward the Capital. The rumors about the appearance of the dragon that swept the eastern territory of the empire, the annihilation of the Arbalde rebels, and the ‘emperor’ who led them were rampant.
It was rather encouraging and thrilling that they were marching to help His Majesty make history once again—although Hela was happier about the fact that she could finally punch the bastards at the Capital in the nose.
“To be honest, I bet that there must be some among our men who are against the fact that we are rebelling against the Capital. There will also be some who’ll run away as soon as the battle begins, and that’s inevitable. There might even be a few who think that there’s no need for us to go all the way to the Capital when the north and the south are already pressuring them,” Hela said.
“Such is a war. We have no choice but to lead even those people,” Horhell answered.
“You idiot. We are doing this to avoid war.”
“Pardon?”
“We need to give the impression that the north, east, and south are going against the Capital all at once. That way, the west will be shaken up as well. I don’t actually think that the fanatics would be shaken by whatever we do, but at least they will get the message.”
Horhell had good swordsmanship skills, but lacked the brain needed for strategy and tactics. Hela always thought that to be quite a shame.
Hela chuckled unconsciously before she said one last thing to Horhell.
“And even if the Capital gets occupied, wouldn’t they be more willing to surrender to human-like people rather than the fanatic warriors from the north or the Order of Huginn?”
This was the reason why they gathered as many troops as they could, despite the fact that they ended up looking like a group of riff-raff who was assembled in a hurry.
“I just hope that our men don’t run into the rest of our allies first and run away due to being scared…”
Then Hela suddenly stopped talking. Her eyes were fixed on the slope of the mountains.
“Your Grace?” Horhell asked with curious eyes.
“No, it can’t be… The guards patrolling the mountain range have already been bought, and the Capital Army probably hasn’t even left yet…”
Hela hastily ordered Horhell.
“Horhell! Fly up right now and start scouting around!”
Horhell immediately signaled Orca without asking Hela what she meant again.
The moment Orca flapped its wings, something glistened on one side of the mountain.
Crunch!
At that moment, one of Orca’s legs was pierced by a huge arrow with a terrible crunching sound.
“Orca!”
Orca’s body convulsed with a painful roar. The arrow pierced its leg accurately, but there was no problem for it to fly up into the sky.
When Orca soared into the sky, a huge ballista was dragged out using the chain. At the same time, the Capital Army soldiers who were hiding in the snow and fallen leaves stood up all at once.
“It’s an ambush! Everyone, get ready for combat!”
Hela hurriedly gave her orders, but there was already a scream coming from the back. At the same time, an arrow passed right by Hela’s face. Before she knew it, the adjutant who was walking right beside her screamed and collapsed to the ground.
“Damn it, how did they get here so quickly?”
It was only yesterday that Hela heard the news of Barth Baltic’s decision to lead the subjugation himself. Hela couldn’t believe that Barth Baltic had been waiting for her, who was farther away from him compared to the Northern Army or the Order of Huginn, in a meticulous ambush.
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Then Hela found a familiar silhouette standing on the hillside of the Yult Mountains. Hela’s eyes burned with rage.
“Pavan!”
Pavan Peltere, the Captain of the Order of the Capital, was quietly looking down at the Eastern Army as they were being slaughtered. Pavan was born in the east, raised in the east, and taught by the lord of the east, but he didn’t have the slightest shred of mercy.
Instead of answering Hela’s roar, Pavan silently knocked an arrow on his bow. The arrow narrowly passed by Hela’s face again.
Hela grit her teeth as she saw Orca frustratedly hovering in the air, not knowing what to do. Orca had already breathed out flames toward the hillside several times, but its flames were not very threatening to the soldiers that were hiding under the snow-covered trees.
Hela realized that the Capital Army’s ambush attack was not as intense as she had thought. In fact, the screams were mainly coming from only the back.
Then Hela noticed Pavan’s plan—he had come in and cut the Eastern Army’s line like a snake, since he noticed just how long it was due to the many soldiers. Not only was Pavan’s goal to stop Hela, but it was also to pause the movement of the Eastern Army itself.
This was Barth Baltic’s first strategy. He made it seem like he was only going to war because he was pressured by the Capital, but that was a trick—Barth Baltic had sent his troops with Pavan Peltere before anything even happened.
“Horhell! Head toward the Magic Tower!” Hela shouted, hoping that Horhell could hear her amidst all the chaos. “Damn it, Pavan, that asshole, is planning to stop the Eastern Army from getting to the Magic Tower! If the Eastern Army fails to fill the void, the rest of the allies will be defeated by Barth Baltic one by one! Go ahead and deliver this message!”
Horhell couldn’t leave the scene easily and hovered in the air upon seeing the Eastern Army getting slaughtered, but soon got Orca to flap its wings, since he couldn’t help but follow Hela’s order.
Seeing this, Pavan aimed his bow at Horhell. At that moment, Orca breathed out flames on the chain hanging from the bridge, causing a ballista larger than a human to fall only an arm’s length away from Pavan.
Despite the loud sound, shock and snow falling over him, Pavan remained focused.
However, he couldn’t dodge the blade that flew into his face.
A silver flash penetrated Horhell on Orca’s back.
Red blood splashed.