Padilla and I together walked inside the Palace of Kara. She followed walking behind me in silence while still blushing because of last night.
I cleared my throat a few times and then hugged Padillaâs waist around. There were some female servants nearby but I didnât care.
A lot of people were in the palace so this kind of scuttlebutt usually spread very quickly. Trying to keep our relationship secret was a meaningless effort. Thus, I didnât even try.
By the way, there were some kind of strings attached.
âWell, do I really have to sign this?â
I took a folded piece of paper out of my pocket.
It was a contract.
She told me that she had the responsibility to preserve her bloodline because sheâs the only mainline of descent. Thus, she must have as many children as possible. On our contract, it was written that we should have sex at least once a week. Also, once every month, we should have sex three days in a row. If I didnât keep my duty, I must do the double later. It was definitely a very difficult but quite exciting task.
At that moment, Armida came to me while making a fuss. We lent our detective agency office to refugees lately so we were staying at the palace, including Shura as well. Â
âHey, little bro! Iâm in huge trouble. What should I do?â
Padilla distanced herself from me a little bit and said hello to Armida in a polite manner.
âHello, sister-in-law.â
Armida looked at Padilla with strange eyes.
âWhy is she acting like this?â
âSister-in-law, I will be really nice to you from now on. After this war, I will also find a good husband for you. So, donât worry about your future too much.â
Padilla already started to get wary about her sister-in-law. It seemed she was trying to get Armida married as soon as possible so only the two of us could spend time together.
I poked Padillaâs waist.
âSheâs not my real sister.â
âOh, really?â
âIn my family, I am the oldest child. I donât have any older brothers or sisters.â
âOh, I see⊠Then howâŠâ
âWhat?âÂ
Padilla whispered in my ears.Â
âHow should I treat her? I know Shura is my friend but what about Armida? Sheâs older than me butâŠâ
âJust treat her like your older sister. Thatâs better for you.â
âI see~.â
Armida narrowed her eyes and looked at us one after another.
âWhat did you guys just talk about?â
âItâs nothing. By the way, wassup?âÂ
With a pale face, she started jumping in fear.Â
âOh! Iâm in big trouble.â
âWhy?â
âEuroa just told me that the queen got really pissed off because I got involved in this war. What should I do now?âÂ
She seemed to be talking about the Valkyrie Queen. I snorted and pretended as if it wasnât a big deal.
âWhy is she pissed off? Youâre just protecting Shura.â
âI am supposed to find Savondia but now I am doing other things. Thatâs why sheâs pissed off.â
âItâs not totally irrelevant. You might be able to get some information about Savondia during this war.â
Her eyes got wide open.Â
âReally? How?â
âWhich continent Savondia is right now?â
âI have no idea.â
âThen it means thereâs a chance that Savondia is here in the Great Desert, right?
âYeah, maybe.â
âSo if Padilla becomes the queen of the Great Desert after winning this war, she can put a bounty on Savondia over the entire Great Desert.â
Armida glanced at Padilla who was nodding her head. Padilla didnât know what we were talking about but she would still do anything for me.
âSo?â
âYou still donât get it? Then you will find Savondia in no time.â
âReally?â
âAnyways, I just canât understand your queen and superiors. Why do they keep asking you to go the hard way? Tell them to just sit by and watch. They donât even pay you a dime for this and why are they complaining too much?â
Armida waved her hands strongly to tell me that it was not true.
âActually, she gives me something.â
âWhat?â
âIndulgence.â
I bit my lips.Â
âThatâs not something special anyway. And you told me if we find Savondia, humanity will be saved, right?â
âYeah, I did.â
âSo, how can a guy who saves humanity be sent to hell? If he goes to hell, every human should go to hell as well.â
âWellâŠâ
I shook my head and left the place with Padilla. It was very simple. Indulgence was nothing because it was useless anyway.
Padilla stared at me with curious eyes.
âYour highness, what were you guys talking about?â
âItâs not a big deal. Her superiors at work are kind of crooks.â
âBut you talked about heaven and hell, didnât you?â
âYeah. Thatâs why they are crooks. Heaven and hell are not real. People just made up those kinds of stories.â
âBut everyone says they are real.â
I looked at Padilla straight in the eye.
âPadilla, what kind of place is heaven?â
âThe place where nobody is unhappy and everyone is happy?â
âBut people feel unhappy when they are with other people. Also, they feel unhappy when theyâre alone. What kind of a world can make these kinds of people happy all the time?â
Padilla couldnât say anything because I was right. If people got unhappy when they were together and also when they were alone, they would be unhappy wherever they went. Even if they lived in heaven, they wouldnât be happy.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the âNovel Multiverse dot comâ website @ novelmultiverse.com]
âWellâŠâ
âIt goes the same for hell. People find a little bit of happiness no matter how painful or unfortunate a situation they are in. Just as those who fall in love during a horrible wartime. Thereâs no hell where only pain and suffering exist. Thereâs always a little bit of joy in life.â
âThatâsâŠâ
âDonât get obsessed with heaven and hell. All we gotta do is to enjoy our life. So, shall we go inside and enjoy?â
âWhat do you mean?â
I gave her a sly look and then hugged around her waist. She flinched a little bit but she still walked inside the room with me acquiescently.Â
* * *Â
After the first battle, three days of ceasefire passed quickly. Yet, the Robros army didnât start their attack again right away. They probably came to a lull due to a huge defeat in the first battle.
In our record, the Robros troops lost 600 soldiers with another 2000 injured soldiers during the first battle. It was not an unusually huge number of casualties but the battle lasted for a very short period of time. Thus, the Robros commanders must have felt that something was wrong.
And it meant that our defense was very strong.Â
âHey human, whatâs up.â
I went up a castle turret and Zenbe welcomed me. His Orc mercenary unit was in charge of guarding the west wall tonight.
âSo why did you call me?â
âI think they are trying to do something.âÂ
With a serious face, Zenbe pointed at a barrack of the Robros troops. It was located far from their headquarters yet the security was very strict. Also, it was very close to our castle.
Somehow, it was very quiet and dark. There was almost no light. I couldnât hear any noise from the Robros soldiers.
âI think theyâre trying to dig an underground tunnel.â
âAn underground tunnel?â
âYeah. They are trying to attack us through the tunnel in surprise.â
âBut I canât see anybody digging the ground.â
âOf course, you canât. If we find out, their plan will fail right away.â
âThen how do you know it?âÂ
âBecause itâs too quiet. There are not many siege strategies which must be done in secret.â
Zenbe started at me.
âThen we must prepare a countermeasure, right?â
âYeah, donât worry. Iâve already got a countermeasure.â
If the enemies were digging a tunnel, we could just bury a bunch of pots under the ground and put soldiers with good hearing above those places. When the enemiesâ tunnel almost reached our place, we would hear the sound of pots cracking under the ground. Then we could just dig down that place and counterattack them.
âWell, thatâs pretty easy.â
âI also have another plan which might be better.â
I cupped my chin in my hand and made a subtle face. The Robros barrack was within the range of our Magic Cannons. Since it was located far from its headquarters, we might be able to attack them in surprise.
In fact, only defending our castle was not the best strategy. Sometimes, we must attack to make it more difficult for them to figure out our strategy.
First, I asked magicians in Kara to do some magic fireworks for several days in a row. I would attack them in surprise a few days later and my plan was to trick the Robros troops by disguising the sound of Magic Cannon as fireworks.
* * *Â
Late at night, I deployed the 5th Army led by Kasim in front of the castle gate. They were from the Great Desert bandits so they were good at attacking enemies during night time.
I was on my Jet-Black Crescent Horse and Kasim came close to me.
âHahaha. Master. Thank you for giving us an opportunity.â
While staring at him with serious eyes, I warned him.Â
âDonât do stupid things. Donât get over-excited. Otherwise, all of us will be dead in an instant.â
âSir, donât worry. Itâs just a construction site. We can get our job done for sure.â
âAlright. I will trust you.â
âSir, we will be surely rewarded if we accomplish our job, right?â
âOf course. Just get your job done.âÂ
âYes, sir!â
I stood up in front of the castle gate after getting his assurance. Shortly after, the gate was open and I shouted towards the center turret.
âFire!â
Immediately, all our soldiers above the castle started firing cannons. Then I took the lead and headed to the Robros barrack.
Bang! Thud! Thud!Â
A number of Magic Cannons were fired at once. My unit and I waited until they stopped firing. Each cannon could fire nine shots. If we went inside too early, we would get hurt as well.
Not long after, our soldiers above the castle stopped firing cannons and we rushed into the Robros barrack.
âItâs a surprise attack!âÂ
âWhat the hell is happening?âÂ
The Robros barrack was in total chaos. Their tents and supplies were destroyed by our Magic Cannons. Their corpses were rolling on the ground.
Magic Cannons by themselves couldnât completely destroy the barrack but still, they were very effective because they put the Robros soldiers in panic.
I lifted up my Yojo high and then sliced off one Robros soldierâs head. It rolled on the ground while scattering blood everywhere. Without a moment of hesitation, I continued to slice off the heads of the Robros soldiers.
Shortly after, Kasim divided his 5th Army into small units and then joined the fight. His soldiers fought pretty well as I expected.
âItâs the White⊠White Mask!â
As soon as he shouted his words, he was burnt and died in flames of my Jet-Black Crescent Horse who kept fuming out the fire and burning all the stuff in the Robros barrack. Many Robros soldiers in fire jumped out of their tents which were also burning in fire.
âArrrgh!
Riding my horse very fast, I slaughtered all the Robros soldiers in my sight. Blood was everywhere and their screams echoed through my ears. Some of them begged for their lives but I showed no mercy.
We were in the middle of the Robros barrack. If we showed our mercy, we would be killed.
âKill all the enemies!âÂ
Upon my order, Kasimâs 5th Army shot their arrows and killed the Robros soldiers who only kept running away. Some of them tried to fight but their efforts were meaningless because the arrows shot by our archers were pouring down. At last, they collapsed down one by one.
Yet, some of the Robros troops kept fighting bravely. Their fighting skills were good and their movements were nimble. Many of our soldiers were killed by them. Although they couldnât wear their armors due to our surprise attack, they were still strong. They must be the Robros knights.
After covering Yojo with Aura Blade, I rushed towards them.
âHey! I will take care of you guys!â
As I wielded my Yojo, an arm of a knight flew away and scattered blood in the air. I got off my horse and ran towards those knights.
âWhite MaskâŠ?â
The Robros knights just found out who I was. With a loud shout, they started counter-attacking me. They all wielded their swords with bravery as if they had no fear against a Master-level swordsman.
Clang. Clang.
After several rounds of attack and defense, one of the knights was beheaded by my Yojo. Other knights became a little bit hesitant for a brief moment. But soon, they made furious faces and started attacking me again to avenge the death of their fellow knights.
They certainly deserved to be called the best knights in the Robros army. Yet, that was it for them.
One by one, they were slain by my merciless Yojo.
Once I killed all the knights, I got back on my horse and looked around.Â
âI think this operation is successful.â
The Robros soldiers were all very busy running away. Most of them already lost their will to fight and ran away towards their headquarters. Also, many of them were raising their hands as a sign of surrender.
However, Kasimâs soldiers shot arrows towards them without any mercy. We didnât have much time left and must give damage to the Robros troops as much as possible before their supporting troops would arrive. Thus, we couldnât capture surrendering Robros soldiers as prisoners of war.
At that moment, the Robros headquarters were lightened up. They were probably ready to send supporting troops to the barrack in fire. Itâs time for us to retreat.
I took out my horn and blew it three times to give our troops a signal of retreat.
âAll retreat! Everyone, retreat!â
Before retreating, I threw flames of my Jet-Black Crescent Horse once again at the Robros barrack. Then I headed back to our castle with Kasimâs troops.
The Robros cavalry unit from their headquarters quickly chased after us but that was a meaningless effort because a large number of archers on top of our castle were shooting arrows towards them.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the âNovel Multiverse dot comâ website @ novelmultiverse.com]