Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Reinforcements
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In war, what matters most is the quality of superhumans.
But in a defensive war, quantity matters too.
No single person can guard every direction—east, west, south, and north—so at least four are needed.
Linevald, Sneria's senior knight, had believed this at least until today.
But right now, his common sense was shifting.
"We've repelled the enemy commander."
It was Duke's declaration, just five minutes after leaping from the ramparts.
Like pulling candy from a snack bag, he'd dragged the lord from the heart of the enemy lines right to his feet and cleaved him in two before making it.
He'd beheaded the enemy commander before a single arrow could fly.
The enemy lost their composure, and so did their allies.
"Wha? Huh?"
While everyone struggled to process it, Duke sliced through the enemy banners fluttering high in the sky with sword qi and posed a question.
"Shall we continue?"
Clang.
The army dropped their weapons and knelt before one man.
*
In the fortnight that followed, there were five invasions.
Each time, Duke used telekinesis to yank the lord straight to him and personally bisected him.
Once five lords lay halved, peace settled over the eastern front.
The guards yawned luxuriously to fend off boredom during the first full week of peace since the war began.
Considering it had been war just a week prior, their attitude was nothing short of complacent.
Duke, who had effectively ended half the war in a mere fortnight, shared tea and conversation with the front-line commander.
"Wars are declared by those safest from war itself."
So, to stop a war, make its advocates unsafe.
Duke had relayed this utterly obvious logic from Rex and put it into immediate action.
Of course, Rex had envisioned a slightly different approach.
[Assassinate the lords as soon as war breaks out.]
As a thoroughly rational strategist, Rex had demanded a special forces unit centered on Duke to infiltrate like assassins and take out the commanders.
That was how hero units operated in games, after all.
But one thing Rex had overlooked: games impose balance restrictions even on powerful units, forbidding certain techniques. Reality has no such limits.
Before that, neither Rex nor most ordinary folk knew the true extent of what a 7th-tier superhuman or higher could do.
This gap in common sense led Duke to interpret Rex's orders differently.
'Aha! Strike right at the start and seize the commander's neck!'
It was the one thing Duke hated most.
Bosses needed to be fair; spamming unavoidable instakills from the jump just invited hate.
But he wasn't here for boss cosplay—he was here to halt a war.
As a tax-funded knight, Duke set his hobbies aside and dutifully carried out the orders.
'Gotta earn my keep.'
So he dragged the lords in with telekinesis.
Right from the enemy ranks to his feet, like a claw machine grab.
And he cleaved them in half with one strike, right where everyone could see.
The fifth lord, fearing death, hunkered down in his territory and sent only troops, so Duke raided his mansion at dawn and took his head.
After that, no more lords invaded.
Thanks to Duke's exploits, the eastern region successfully regained peace.
The commander overseeing the east couldn't believe this reality.
'I must've studied tactics all wrong.'
One superhuman can't stop a war?
That's just an excuse for the weak.
This is strategy. This is tactics.
The commander embraced one firm conviction.
'Tricks like that are for the weak, like me.'
If Rex, who was racking his brains with such "tricks," heard that, he'd clutch his neck and collapse.
In any case, the eastern front had entered a lull.
But the war wasn't over.
"Most of the lords have headed south."
The north was blocked by the blind swordsman guarding the canyons.
The east saw invasions dwindle because Duke cherry-picked and killed the lords.
So the alliance turned toward the south, which looked far safer and easier by comparison.
Toward the direction guarded by just one man.
The commander eyed Duke, who sipped his tea in silence with a stern expression.
"Now that things are stable here, could you possibly help my liege..."
"If that were feasible, Duke Peter would've already headed south."
Duke disliked honoring the old man with titles, but this was an official setting, so he observed decorum.
At Duke's words, the commander gave a wry smile, as if he'd known all along.
"Of course."
The northern front was also entering a lull, much like Duke's east.
A mad blind old man appeared at every pass leading to his territory, claiming lords' heads, so those who valued their necks had no choice but to back off.
It was slower than Duke but similar to the eastern front.
Yet neither Peter nor Duke could leave their posts.
The moment they headed south and vacated, the lords would sense it like ghosts and resume their advance.
That was the problem.
Of course, the commander knew this rationally.
He'd only cautiously asked on the off chance Duke could manage it.
Regrettably, reality crushed his hopes mercilessly.
"Haa..."
Once this winter ended, Duke would have to return to his own territory anyway.
Allies or not, one's own land came first.
In this grim reality, darkness seemed to close in before the commander's eyes.
Then he remembered he was sharing tea with an honored guest and forced a bright smile, straightening his expression.
"My apologies. After all your help, what was I thinking..."
"I cannot go south."
"Pardon?"
"I've never once left this fortress."
"What do you..."
Duke set down his tea and jerked his chin at the commander.
"Follow me."
Linevald was nominally the commander on site, but deep down he'd already accepted Duke as his superior, so he followed without protest.
Exiting the tent, they found night had fallen outside.
In the dead of night when all slept, Duke led the commander along like a squire, heading naturally toward the barracks where the soldiers rested.
At the barracks gate, the sentries on duty leaned against spears or walls, fast asleep.
The commander's face soured at the sight.
'You mad bastards.'
Deep in war, and they slept soundly with peaceful faces.
In front of a high noble from another territory, no less.
'You're ruining the territory's reputation.'
Then Duke spoke in a voice only the commander could hear.
"Doesn't that mean the soldiers trust me that much? Proof I fulfilled my duty, so don't reprimand them too harshly."
The commander once more admired Duke's character.
But war or not, those sentries were headed for the brig.
Duke ignored them and pressed into the sleeping soldiers' barracks.
The commander hung back from Duke a bit and cracked one sentry's knee joint.
Crack.
"Agh! Who..."
"Wake the lads. And you lot, report to the commander's office tomorrow morning."
"Uh..."
It took less than a second for the soldier's sweet dream to turn nightmarish.
After rousing the sentries, the commander hurried to close the gap with Duke.
Duke entered the barracks without hesitation.
He stepped into an engineer unit's camp and pointed.
"That one's perfect."
He indicated a massive, bear-like man sprawled on his bunk, belly up.
A few days after the eastern front entered its lull.
A rumor spread on the southern front.
"They say a knight named Duke came down from the east to the south?"
As proof, Sneria's lord and his retinue, who had been barely holding, suddenly charged like they had no rear guard worries.
As if someone had their backs.
The southern lords, spooked, pulled their armies back to observe the situation.
Conversely, the eastern lords seized the opening of Duke's absence to advance once more.
"Now's our chance without that bastard!"
The count who'd been hiding in his territory, biding his time, boldly flew his banner and charged.
A vassal rushed up to the count in a panic.
"My lord! Intel says Duke was spotted atop the eastern walls! We should turn back now..."
"Fool!"
The count bellowed at his terrified vassal.
"It's obviously a fake! No one even knows his face! They're just slapping some scarecrow in robes and bluffing!"
Of course, the count had no idea if the Duke in question was a dummy or real.
But humans are creatures who must justify their actions to survive.
He'd already mobilized his army; slinking back now would cost him face.
He also refused to admit he'd cowered in his territory out of fear of Duke all this time.
Thus, the scales in the count's mind tipped toward "fake Duke."
Not that he thought Duke was fake—but that he had to be.
And so the count pressed on toward the eastern fortress without halting.
Concentrating mana in his eyes, he spotted the knight in helm and fluttering cloak, just as his vassal said.
But the knight stood with arms crossed, staring outward from the walls, making no move.
'Just as I thought.'
The count shouted to his vassals.
"Look at that! That lifeless puppet! That knight's definitely a fak—"
But the count couldn't finish.
Suddenly yanked from his horse, he was dragged toward the fortress as if seized by some force.
His vassals went pale.
"N-No way..."
Scraping tracks in the dirt, the count soon hurtled airborne toward Duke atop the walls.
"Save—!"
Before the count could do anything, Duke uncrossed his arms and swung his greatsword.
Slash!
True to the rumors, the lord was bisected.
His corpse painted the walls red before thudding limply to the ground.
Duke cast an amplification spell and addressed the army in a calm tone.
"Shall we continue?"
Surrender was declared on the spot.
Having dispatched the count so easily, Duke turned to the commander.
"Now it's your turn."
Duke eyed the man trembling behind the commander, clad in clothes identical to his own.
"I'll lend you my name. From this moment, you're the knight guarding the eastern fortress."
The soldier inside the shaking helm couldn't respond.
Too terrified to nod, too terrified to shake his head.
That soldier now recalled the night a few days back.
— "Me?"
— "Insolent. Mind your tongue before Sir Duke."
— "Forgive me! It's far too grand for the likes of me..."
— "You dare refuse my request? Do you truly wish to die?"
The hero Duke had appeared out of nowhere one night.
And asked him to impersonate Duke.
Solely because their builds matched.
For an ordinary grunt, it was a spine-chilling request.
If the enemy didn't buy it and fired magic: death.
If he did anything weird in Duke's guise: death.
Refuse? Commander's blade: death.
No good options, so he'd ended up here.
"Then I'll head south for real now. You haven't forgotten the instructions."
"Yes. You've never once left the east."
"Good. I entrust it to you, Commander. Soldier. Yours is a grave responsibility."
Duke left those words and departed the fortress.
The soldier wearing Duke's helm whimpered inside.
'Ah... I need the bathroom...'
And a few days later.
Despite rumors of Duke appearing in the south, the east remained peaceful.
Many lords sent scouts just in case, but reports only confirmed a tree-like Duke standing arms-crossed on the walls.
Spotting him sapped any will to head east; the lords began hiding away again.
Hearing this while probing midway between south and east, Duke nodded in satisfaction.
'Dead Zhuge chased off whom... some Dal guy?'
Su Dal? Sang Dal? He remembered it was some Dal...
And was it even Zhuge...?
Anyway, the key point was Rex's plan had worked perfectly.
Duke relaxed and set off properly for the south.
'I'm too dumb to avert tragedies, but Rex has the brains.'
If they survived this one, he'd at least treat him like a superior.
With that thought, Duke quickened his pace.