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Duke Eima stood atop the half-burnt fortress, looking down at the ground. Thousands—no, tens of thousands of people were kneeling down in a line, tied up with thick rope.
“What are the casualties?” Eima asked.
His aide shrugged. “They’re minimal.”
“Do we not have the exact number yet?” Eima’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s because there’s not much to say… We have only one severely wounded and a few dozen lightly injured.”
Eima tilted his head in confusion. “Severely wounded?”
“One of the soldiers fell from his horse when it threw a tantrum and he lost control…”
“Ah, that guy.” Eima chuckled and nodded. “Then we barely shed blood to enter the castle.”
“You’re right, sir.” The aide also nodded.
“It’s all…” Eima trailed off for a moment and looked behind him. “...thanks to you, Count Theord.”
“I did what I had to do,” Theord replied. The middle-aged man bowed, displaying the perfectly centered parting of his white hair.
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
“I’ll surely report this to the Grand Duke. No one can deny that our casualties would have been greater if you hadn’t opened up the castle gate in advance,” Eima said.
“…Thank you for the gesture,” Theord bitterly replied.
“Of course, it’s only natural.” Eima shook his head. “But… may I ask why you did so? You’re the man who has been stopping our Empire’s attack for at least twenty years. Even we admire your uprightness and loyalty. Such a man had a change of heart overnight…?”
Theord’s expression turned slightly grim.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Eima quickly added. “I was genuinely curious, so if you don’t want to…”
“No, it’s okay.” Theord shook his head. “I’ve spent quite a lot of time on the battlefield. In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve spent most of my life on the battlefield.”
Eima nodded. “Yes, I’m well aware of it.”
“Just like how you can read the opponent’s next move if you keep on playing chess, I was able to see a bigger picture on some level after spending all that time on the battlefield.” Theord looked at the sky.
“Yes, there is a saying that even a dog living in the academy on the eastern continent can recite writings,[1]” Eima said.
Theord, who had been compared to a dog just now, bitterly smiled.
“…In that regard, the current Avalon Empire is like a sinking ship.”
“A sinking ship…” Eima repeated.
“The fight between the foolish princes weakened the country, and the Empire is no longer one of the three most powerful empires on the continent. It made me doubt myself. I was no longer sure why I’d been protecting this land for the past twenty years.” Theord shook his head. “In fact, I even regretted my time on the battlefield.”
Eima merely hummed in response.
“I just don’t want to lose my dear family that I’ve spent my entire life with,” Theord said.
After Theord finished speaking, Eima’s expression changed slightly. “I understand your reasons.”
He turned his head.
“Trukang.”
“Yes, commander.” Trukang, Eima’s aide, stepped forward.
“Let them go,” Eima commanded.
Trukang’s eyes widened. Eima was clearly pointing at the tens of thousands of war prisoners that were kneeling on the ground.
“But…” Trukang trailed off hesitantly.
“Are you going to make me a liar?” Eima’s eyes turned cold.
“N-no, sir. I’ll follow your order.” Trukang immediately saluted and quickly ran down.
Eima turned back to Theord and looked straight into his eyes.
“I’ll also keep my promise.”
For a moment, Theord’s eyes lost focus.
“…Again, thank you very much, Your Grace.”
“To be honest, I want to recruit you. Since you’ve decided to abandon your country, why don’t you also become my man?” Eima suggested.
“Umm…” Theord became visibly conflicted for a moment, but anyone would be in a situation like this. After all, Theord was about to start a brand new life.
“Please give me a moment…” he told the Duke. However, Theord didn’t get the chance to finish.
“Co-commander!” Trukang shouted as he bolted back over to them.
Theord and Eima simultaneously turned to look at him.
“What’s wrong?” Eima asked.
“W-we received… a report from our scouts,” Trukang said.
“Our scouts?” Eima wondered. He couldn’t understand the fuss.
“They’re the ones who reconnoitered the route to the mainland Avalon Empire,” Trukang added.
“That means…” Eima trailed off, narrowing his eyes.
“The enemy is sending reinforcement!”
Eima and Theord’s expressions were the polar opposites of one another: Eima was quite surprised while Theord’s face darkened.
“Isn’t it too early?” Eima frowned slightly. “If reinforcements are coming right now, then it means Avalon responded as soon as we made a move.”
Trukang nodded. “I also thought I was mistaken at first…”
“So how big are the reinforcements?” Eima asked.
“Well, they…” Trukang hesitated for a moment then carefully answered, “It’s one person.”
“…What?” Eima blankly asked. He had to stop to process Trukang’s words for a moment.
Theord couldn’t understand what he had just heard either.
“On-one man…?” he repeated.
Trukang bitterly noted their reactions before he finished his report.
“Yes, the report says there’s one person… moving unbelievably quickly toward here, Einberg.”
* * *
The news of Einberg’s downfall was enough to make the princes and nobles move quicker. In only half a day, the grand army of one-hundred thousand soldiers gathered in front of the palace, but there was a problem.
“Is this it?” Icarus, who had regrouped with Joshua, Cain, and Charles, dumbfoundedly murmured. “The enemies’ advance army consists of over two-hundred thousand soldiers, but we have less than half of their numbers.”
“I know.” Cain nodded.
“It’s going to take a while for the soldiers from the Pontier Family to arrive…” Icarus frowned.
“I know. Why did Lady Charles come here on her own? She could have at least brought her guards,” Cain said.
Icarus swiftly turned her head to glare at Cain.
“Are you kidding me?” she shouted.
“Oh…” Cain raised his hands. “Let’s not take out our anger on somebody else.”
“You’re the one that made me do it!” Icarus growled.
Cain shrugged. “I’m just stating a fact.”
“What do you mean ‘fact’? Then are you seriously saying that Lady Charles should have led seventy thousand soldiers here?!” Icarus gave Cain a death glare.
He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “I’m not saying that…”
“It’s fine,” Charles interrupted at the perfect time. “Stop it, Icarus.”
“Lady Charles?” Icarus turned her head to look at her.
Charles nodded. “It’s only natural he’d raise such a question.”
“Don’t say that. No matter how quickly you all ride your horses, it would have taken at least two weeks since you can’t use the warp gate to teleport seventy thousand people. This wasn’t something you could have done.” Icarus finished by scowling at Cain again.
“Haha… If I knew Einberg was going to fall this quickly… I would have at least thought of a Plan B…” Cain scratched his head guiltily and quickly changed the topic. “By the way, where is my master?”
“How should I know?” Icarus grumbled.
“I wasn’t exactly asking you…” Cain’s expression gradually turned gloomy.
“He’s there,” Charles answered instead.
“…Huh?” Cain tilted his head in confusion.
“There.” Charles pointed.
Cain turned to look and his jaw immediately dropped.
“Wait, he’s with those unsalvageable messes…?”
Charles was pointing her finger at the front of the high palace, where numerous people had gathered. However, even in a time like this a quarrel was taking place.
“Viscount Muntra! Our country is in a crisis, and you’ve only brought a thousand soldiers?” VIscount Romeno shouted.
“It’s funny to hear that from you when you’ve only brought one thousand five hundred soldiers,” Muntra scoffed.
“That’s not important,” Romeno snorted. “You definitely had men to spare.”
“What?” Muntra narrowed his eyes.
“Do you think I wouldn’t know that you decreased the number of the soldiers you were going to dispatch at the last minute after you found out about the number of my soldiers!?” Romeno shouted.
“Don’t slander me if you can’t take responsibility for your own words!” Muntra yelled back at the top of his lungs.
“Responsibility?” Romeno growled. “Well, I can definitely do that!”
“And let me get this straight! If we compare the overall numbers, we, the nobles on His Highness Kiser’s side, brought more soldiers than the nobles on His Highness Kaizen’s side!” Muntra added, pompously raising his chin.
Even in a national crisis, meaningless disputes like such were taking place here and there. The two men that were basically in charge of this army weren’t exceptions.
“The higher-ups still haven’t decided who the commander-in-chief is going to be, so what are you going to do, Marquess Arie?” Marquess Demir asked.
“I have zero interest in the seat, but as you can see, I’m not sure how the other nobles are going to react… Kekeke…” Marquess Arie chuckled.
Demir shrugged. “I think things will easily be sorted out if you refuse the seat.”
“You know what? I don’t want to do that.” Arie grinned.
Demir had been planning to talk the matter out. He raised one of his eyebrows in annoyance.
“By the way,” he said, “you keep talking to me like I’m a friend of yours, so why don’t we show—”
“Well, there is a way.” Arie pointed behind him with his chin. “If the great hero over there agrees on you being the commander-in-chief, I might say yes… keke.”
“Great hero?” Demir repeated, unsure of what Arie was talking about. He turned to look and frowned slightly. “That boy is… You’re talking about Joshua Sander?”
“Kekeke, are you not sure if you can win?” Arie asked provokingly.
“…So you mean you’ll willingly hand over the seat of the commander-in-chief if I earn that boy’s recognition?” Demir summarized.
“Exactly.” Arie chuckled ominously. He kept his true plan hidden.
‘I’m taking care of him even without getting my hands dirty, kekeke,’ Arie thought.
Of course, there was no way for Demir to know Arie’s scheme, so he reluctantly walked toward Joshua. The clock was ticking, after all.
The nearby nobles became quiet and watched Demir intently as he approached.
“I’m Marquess Demir. I’ve heard a lot about you, so I also know you’re skilled. But the ability to command an army and your fighting skills are completely different things,” Demir told Joshua. The man himself, however, just stared back at Demir with his unreadable, deep blue eyes.
After clearing his throat, Demir continued, “I heard the Pontier Family has supplied you with seventy thousand soldiers. Since you must have made some promises to the Pontiers, it’ll be better for you to move separately from us and back us up… hmm?”
Demir raised an eyebrow in annoyance. His one-sided conversation was cut short because Joshua turned away before Demir could finish speaking.
“How rude…” Demir clenched his teeth.
“Do as you wish,” Joshua quietly said.
“…What?”
“I wasn’t interested in leading soldiers who won’t listen to my commands in the first place. Just like you said, I’m going to fight this war only with the soldiers from the Pontier Family and my colleagues,” Joshua declared.
As soon as Joshua finished speaking, one hundred knights wearing full armor came forward. Of course, all of those men were knights of the Auxiliary Battalion that had trickled in one by one.
“I knew it… Kekeke!” Arie, who had been watching the whole situation, burst into laughter.
Joshua looked straight into Demir’s eyes.
“Keep in mind that we’re going to depart first as the advanced army, not as the backup army.”
“You mean…?” Demir narrowed his eyes.
“Did you forget?” Joshua calmly asked.
Demir tilted his head in confusion.
“I’m Joshua Sanders,” Joshua said.
Even the people who had been watching the conversation from the sides widened their eyes. A suffocating silence descended as they were finally reminded of some memories they hadn’t recalled for a long time: Joshua was the youngest Master on the continent, the king of Reinhardt that had earned the Wilhelm, and the great hero that defeated numerous Superhumans.
“These one hundred men are more than enough people for me,” Joshua boldly stated. Then he immediately walked away. His knights trembled faintly, goosebumps running down their skin. Yes, that was how great their commander was.
“We’ll depart immediately!” Cazes shouted.
“Yes, sir!” the Auxiliary Battalion knights shouted at the top of their lungs.
1. This line came from an Korean idiom ‘서당 개 삼 년이면 풍월을 읊는다(A dog that spent three years in the school can read)’. It emphasizes the importance of practice. ☜