Chapter 272 – Chapter 272 ― Like a Shotgun (1)
Episode 272 ― Like a shotgun (1)
“Your majesty.”
As soon as Roan arrived at Hazark, he set a waypoint, joined Grunent and Urtellia who had been waiting in advance, and entered Hazark again.
Roan stormed into the outskirts of the castle, not Hazark Castle, with several witch beasts and women on board. Strangely, is it because of the mood that the monsters are in vain and look dizzy? While the knights and soldiers were a little puzzled, the wires turned upside down anyway.
Of course, I was told in advance.
But really, he never thought he’d be this fast.
“Where is the Grand Duke?”
“You’re still tidying up the wires, Your Majesty.”
“Explain the current situation.”
When he appeared in a hurry, the lord of Kryung fell down in front of Roan without even taking off his armor and replied.
“Yesterday, on the 12th, from early dawn, Merde’s troops gathered across the border. About 10 territories, including the Shulzer cavalry that invaded across the border last time, have united.”
The surroundings of the emperor’s barracks, which had been prepared in advance, suddenly became noisy.
It was a scolding made by those who were assigned to attend on the emperor and the lords who had returned from the battlefield.
However, the lord of Hajak, who had been summoned before Roan not long after returning from clearing the battlefield, clad in layers of his armor, seemed unconcerned with the noise.
He was struggling to remember the battles of yesterday and today’s dawn without hesitation.
“Unlike the previous raid on private houses and farmland, the enemy attacked the Hajak Castle area at dawn on the 13th with 500 cavalry and 4,000 infantry including archers and spearmen.
As Your Majesty said, the Grand Duke, including Hazark, and the lords of the Southern Dark Spirit prepared in advance, but the enemy’s surprise attack failed and they immediately retreated. This battle ended with the victory of our Evirgio army.”
“The thoughts of the enemy and the friend.”
“Ah.”
For a moment, the lord was dazed, but soon came to his senses. The young emperor had ordered them to investigate how many people had been killed and injured since last year.
After that, the number of things to write down when writing a report increased, and one more topic that the lord and knights talked about increased.
It’s not how many you killed, but how many allies you lost.
But I’ve never reported it to anyone.
The great lord served by Lord Hazark is the great lord of the Southern Dark Spirit, the Grand Duke of Darkness. He was the most conservative of the four dukes and did not like change very much.
Originally, a lower person knows how to save themselves while looking at the notice of the upper person. So, while the lord of Hazark constantly surveyed the number of friendly casualties, he had never reported it out of his mouth.
Because of that, he stuttered for a while, but anyway, he is also a lord who rules important points in the border, and he occasionally attends meetings in the palace.
His words soon became smooth again.
“Captured over 100, the enemy killed about 300 people in total. The casualties of the allies are light. It was around noon, about five hours ago, that the battle was over, and we hadn’t yet completed our survey of the battlefield. We will report back as soon as it is confirmed.”
Doesn’t matter if the death that opens the gap doesn’t matter whether it’s human or demonic.
Roan was disgusted by Schlaner’s attitude. What is the need to summon the devil? What he does is already demonic.
Lost in thought for a moment, Roan noticed that the lord of Hazzak was lowering his head, waiting for Roan’s next order.
“I get it. It was a great response. You retreat, and send someone to gather the relevant information and explain. I will congratulate you later.”
“All right. Your majesty.”
After defeating the lord who smiled at the praise, Roan looked back at Grunent, Helen, Aina, and Urtellia.
“It looks like we attacked from the top and bottom of the Dark Forest at the same time, Your Majesty.”
Those were the words of Grunent.
Helen’s face darkened. Aina also heard Grunent’s words and slightly bit her lip.
Because Aina and Helen saw what death here really creates.
Grünent and Urtellia listened to Roan’s explanation while moving through the waypoint, but it is difficult to realize the malice in the Dark Forest unless you experience it yourself.
“Merde doesn’t seem to know specifically where the ‘gap’ is yet.”
“I think so. No matter where you are, you know that the magic of the Dark Forest has gone awry, so you might think that the power will be transmitted somehow.”
“Or it might be collecting and sending power.”
Urtellia made a supplementary opinion.
“You said forest magic was ancient, but there is something similar in current magic. A method of using objects connected to the opposite side to send power in and out of the magic circle.”
“There is a possibility of that. According to the words of the Northern Baekryongju, after the Grand Duke of Darkness cleaned up the battlefield, it is said that he left behind signs like by-products of that ‘gap’. We can check today to see if he really has anything to do with the ‘niche’.”
“If there is… , What are you planning to do?”
Grünent asked.
“For now, we have no choice but to focus on confirmation. I can’t reveal the story behind it to everyone, and the most important thing is to stop the war with humans first.”
I talked to Aranya and told her to contact me first to see what the human king wants and if there is a way to stop the war if possible, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect as the humans are moving like this.
“Your majesty. He is the leader of the Hazard Knights. I have come to report.”
The voice of an attendant who had been seated outside was heard.
“Stop by.”
It was dark inside the tent.
The one who removed the screen and entered half-bent was a huge owl bear. Grünent opened his mouth involuntarily, then closed it.
It was rare to see an owl bear like Kaa, the librarian of the imperial castle, but I had never seen an owl bear this big. He was so big that he could not be defeated by Minoreus, who was nearly 3 meters tall.
The white feathered owlbear, with black stripes, knelt in front of Roan and politely held out an absurdly small wad of paper in his hand. He bent over, but because of his size, Roan had to look up at him slightly.
“Long live His Majesty the Iron-blooded Emperor. My belief is Kama, who is serving as the leader of the Hazard Knights. It is an honor to meet Your Majesty’s John.”
Grünent and Roan faced each other.
“Do you know Kaa, the librarian of the imperial castle?”
Owl Bear’s eyelids rose from the bottom to cover his eyes and then lowered again. In other words, it was terrifying.
“How does His Majesty know him? With all due respect, I am a brother of my conviction.”
‘It must have been blood.’
Grünent smiled lightly.
“It looks like it.”
“Yes. Actually, I joined the Knights under the influence of my older brother, but my older brother prefers magic and books…”
Huh? You’re talking about the librarian we know, right? Grünent blinked his eyes.
He gave the impression that he was quite timid, and looking at his current size, he seems to be 1.5 times bigger than his younger brother, the knight commander. It seems that he has a hidden secret.
Roan, who refreshed the atmosphere with a light topic for a moment, quickly looked over the report and handed it over to Grünent. Handed over the paper, Grunent fixed his gaze on the front page.
“Check the sentences of 11 territories. If it’s 11, you’ve gathered all the territories east of Sprouse.”
Flicking through the paper, Grunent confirmed the Merdegun’s information that his knights had confirmed.
“Stein, Grünfeld, Schulzer, Eller… Most of the small and medium territories belonging to the Osten Great Manor in the east. Perhaps the territories that did not participate in the war were purged, or the situation was not good enough to disobey the king.”
“Compared to that, the size of the army is small. Even if you add up the knights who attacked last time, it won’t be 5,000. Is the condition of the estate not good enough?”
“Yes, it could be. There may be other reasons politically, but it will be difficult to go against the king’s order just because the route is different.”
“If it was difficult to feed the knights, the backlash to the request to send soldiers to war would have been enormous.”
“It’s strange that they somehow subdued it… I don’t know if I really used magic like Count Hilfe said. But brainwashing is a magic that dissolves in a day or two, so what the hell did Schlaner do?”
‘Ummm, um… ‘ While Grunent puffed her cheeks, Helen and Jurtellia also stood beside Grunent, peering at the paper she was looking at.
While playing the game, the hero roams around. So Roan knew where the territory they were talking about was and what their specialties were, but he didn’t know much about their forces or political factors like lords. Roan listened to their conversation in silence.
“Actually, the great lord of Osten didn’t come.”
“Then who was their leader?”
After hearing Helen’s words, Urtellia asked Owl Bear. Then Kama, who was sitting on the floor with her huge body crouched on the corner of the table, answered.
He had seen humans a few times in Basel, where he accompanied the lord to escort him, but it was the first time he had ever had a conversation like this. But he was able to hide his trembling and answer quite calmly.
“… It was a mix of red and blue stripes. The captain of that side did not appear, and I only saw the flag of the one commanding from the rear.”
“I am the lord of Stein. It deserves it.”
Grünent pointed to one of the lists.
“It’s the closest to Hajak, the largest among the participating territories, and the lord of Stein is the great lord Osten and his cousin. He is the oldest among the lords, and he himself was a knight.”
Grünent recited the abilities of the expected enemy general. Expecting him to give information about the lords of Merde, he kept him by the Lord of the West Blood, which was beyond expectations. He must have been useful to the Grand Duke of Jeokru.
The owl bear who was listening opened its beak a little more. In Owl Bear’s eyes, human age is difficult information to guess. And after hearing Grunent’s words, his beak widened further.
“The lord of Stein is belligerent, but not impatient. He’s not very smart, so it’s hard to say he’s a hindrance, but he doesn’t rush into the battlefield. Such prudence kept him alive for a long time. Even though he was given an estate right on the border.”
“From the point of view of us demons, you would have said he was a coward.”
Grünent laughed lightly.
“He thinks he’s fighting against humans, so he can’t stand it when dealing with demons. Maybe it’s because he’s been fighting against demons near the border, so he’s got that way of fighting.”
“Hmm, maybe so.”
“I have also talked to the lord of Stein. He does not come forward because he thinks that the battle is over when the lord is captured. Even at the cost of soldiers, the nobles say that standing back is closer to victory in the end.”
“How old is he?”
“It must be in the late 50s. It’s amazing that he’s out on the battlefield.”
The cure of this world is soon connected with wealth. The treatment of a priest cures diseases that cannot be cured even in modern times, but poor people can die from a cold.
In that respect, human nobles can live into their 80s and 90s, just like the world Roan originally lived in. So, aristocrats in their 50s do not belong to the very old axis.
But no matter how young it is, it’s hard to see it at an age. In Merde, is it because he was a knight before he went to the battlefield at an age where he could have had a grandson?
That’s why he must have a great meaning in the command center where many lords gathered. Even if it weren’t for that, there would be people who didn’t want to gather together, but how much comfort the other nobles and soldiers would have been a knight-turned-warlord.
You must break your will.
“What if I catch him at once?”
At Roan’s words, Grunent’s eyes widened.
“Assassination?”
“There should be no more fighting. The best thing would be an assassination.”
“There will be wizards and knights. You are also a person whose head is spinning enough to prepare for his invasion.”
Roan’s eyes narrowed.
“Then no later. Shall we get closer with a diversionary operation and kidnap you?”
“What will you draw attention to? Shall we make an illusion of a giant dragon?”
Roan pointed somewhere without a word at Urtellia’s question.
“… Me?”
Grunent blinked again.
