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Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes
Sound the Retreat
「A-Are you okay, Lavi— Star Face?!」
Lavia appeared, staggering. Paula quickly caught her in her arms and rubbed her back.
Drake emerged from his scarf form.『I don’t think she’s fine.』
「Drake! You’re awake— Wait, why is she like this? Did she run out of mana?」
『Nah. Just exhausted from running.』
「I-I see. Then you should rest…」
Lavia was panting heavily. Even though she worked actively as an adventurer, her stamina was still far from an average person’s level. It made sense, then, that she was completely exhausted after working all night and running a long distance as dawn broke.
「Wh-Where’s… S-Silver Face…?」Lavia asked in ragged breaths.
「He just arrived a few moments ago.」Paula pointed at the top of the wall where Hikaru was aiming his revolver.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
It looked as though he just pulled the trigger randomly. Massive balls of flames appeared out of nowhere and burned the area below the wall. The firepower was so strong that a wall of flame rose up, surprising even Hikaru, forcing him to lean back.
『Wh-Wh-What is that?!』Ludend said with a trembling voice.
『That’s the power of magic.』Lavia replied.
『What?! That’s unfair!』
It was the Almighty Barrel that was unfair, not Spirit magic.
『Now you know. Even if the monsters did not attack, the chances of your revolt being a success was extremely low as long as we were on the king’s side.』
『But if we used all our blast cannons—』
『You would’ve destroyed the whole country and there would’ve been nothing left but ruins.』
Although the scale differed, this battle was similar to a nuclear war. Both sides had their own devastating weapon, that when used, would leave nothing in their wake.
That is why countries instead fought through diplomatic means. They would use economics and sense of values, not weapons, to elicit concessions from the enemy.
『So we should’ve been discussing matters, not staging a revolt.』
It didn’t take long for Ludend to realize that. After all, he was a smart man.
But while Lavia was able to learn from books and Hikaru’s knowledge from Japan, there were far too few precedents in this country.
Ludend dropped to his knees. He really thought that he could have changed this nation if time was on their side. He believed what he did was right and the monsters attacking was simply bad luck. But he finally came to his senses.
When he woke up from his fevered dream, he realized that what he was trying to do was satisfy his own desires. If he really cared about his country, he should’ve settled matters through negotiation and consultation.
『Star Face…』Paula said.
『Let’s leave him be. He needs some time.』Lavia decided to leave Ludend alone for now.
Duinkler, who noticed her, approached them.『Lady Star Face! You’re all right.』
『We need to retreat. Bring the injured to the top of the wall with us.』
『Retreat, you say?』
『Of course. His Majesty knows about it.』
『Yes.』Doriachi nodded.『Holding out until Silver Face returned. Him mowing down the enemy with magic. And the following retreat is all part of the plan.』
『What?!』
『You can be surprised later. I didn’t think things would go this well.』
With a strained smile, Doriachi gave orders.
『Recover the injured! After that, we’ll retreat, leaving only the minimum number of people to man the blast cannons.』
Feeling pain all over his body, Gorja woke up to see the hazy blue sky. The sound of soldiers running around indicated they were still in the middle of battle. He lost consciousness after Silver Face knocked him off the dragon.
『Damn it…』
His side hurt, and he couldn’t move his left arm well. He had cracked or broken bones in a few places. Still he managed to straighten up. A little farther away he spotted the dragon, now on the ground, breathing heavily, its wings torn. It couldn’t get up, let alone fly.
『So you’re still alive.』A man came to Gorja’s side.
『Tch. Don’t get too cocky now. Killing me won’t change this country’s fate, Ludend.』
『Why are you working with monsters? How did you do it?』
『Because Lord Koukimaru told me to.』
Ludend—like Hikaru, Gin, and Wakamaru—also knew that Koukimaru, who was exiled from the city, was still alive. But he didn’t care much about it. For him the most important thing was to make sure the revolt was a success.
『I see… Koukimaru is still alive.』
『You’re not gonna blame us for your revolt’s failure, are you? We didn’t really care about your coup from the start. It’s just a small matter. We were planning to destroy the whole of Dream Maker anyway.』
『Why would you do that? You can’t live in lands crawling with monsters.』
『You guys really are thick-headed. Of course you can. Just use monsters like I did.』
『What?』
Ludend knew that Koukimaru criticized the monarchy and plotted a coup. But when his plan was discovered, he was exiled—rather, he left on his own accord. How did his plan change from the abolition of the monarchy to destroying the whole city?
『I haven’t heard of anyone using monsters.』
『Of course, you haven’t. Lord Koukimaru broke new grounds when he left the city. Thanks to that, we can use monsters like this!』
『But you lost.』
『Not yet! If only that bastard Silver Face wasn’t around…』
『You’ve been to Vireocean, yet you underestimated Silver Face and the power of magic. It’s not even funny.』
There were things he should’ve been wary about from the start. However, Gorja launched an attack, blinded by the power of the dragon. He bit his lips in frustration, fully aware of his mistake.
『So… did you come here to kill me?』
Ludend shook his head silently. He then took out a knife from his pocket and tossed it to Gorja, who stared at the blade on the ground.
『I’ll let you die as a citizen of this nation. Use the knife to take your own life.』
『What…?』
Ludend, a rebel, and Gorja, who brought the monsters. Although they were similar, Gorja’s actions were way worse. After all, he targeted not only soldiers, but civilians as well—the whole country, in fact.
Gorja grabbed the knife and burst into laughter.『Are you fucking stupid?! I don’t feel proud at all for being a citizen of this shitty country! How about you die instead?!』
He still had the strength left to stand. Ludend watched Gorja blankly as the man stepped forward, thrusting the knife at the him.
Something’s wrong, Gorja thought, but all he had to do was kill Ludend. He doubted from the start that he’d survive the monster invasion that he himself led. If he could bring Ludend down with him, he’d be more than happy.
『Ugh…』
A pained grunt came from Gorja. The dragon, stretching its neck out from behind, sunk its teeth into his side. Ludend’s eyes grew wide open in surprise.
『Y-You s-stupid…』The light disappeared from Gorja’s eyes.
Following its instincts, the dragon started devouring his body.
『Using monsters, huh? I wonder who used who.』Ignoring the dragon, Ludend walked away. His job here was done. He was fully prepared to die from Gorja’s blade. He believed his life was worthless; he would die during or after the battle anyway.
But he wanted to ask why Gorja did all this. In the end, Ludend didn’t know how he used the monsters as well.
『Our goals were similar yet quite different.』
Ludend turned around to see soldiers rushing to the dragon, stabbing it with their spears, abruptly killing it.
The soldiers on top of the wall had started retreating. Silver Face was nowhere in sight.
『I will use my power to ensure the survival of this nation.』
The retreat had already begun.