Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Commander's Debut
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After that, Dale broke through the floor guardians one after another, focusing on the ‘completion of the 3rd Circle.’
He tested new magic, added improved formulas based on the knowledge from his past life, and combined various forms of equations, as if freely exploring the new realm the 3rd Circle had opened for him.
He was refining and honing the three interlocked circles with greater precision, assessing his own capabilities without holding back.
When he reached the 20th floor, leaving behind opponents who fell like autumn leaves, an adversary worthy of Dale’s caliber finally appeared.
The Headless Knight.
It wore pitch-black armor and wielded a massive greatsword.
It was a formidable enemy, incomparable to any he had faced so far, and the matchup between a knight and a ‘normal mage’ was, needless to say, a poor one.
‘It’s no fun when things go exactly as expected.’
Dale smiled and extended his arm toward the Headless Knight.
*Fwoosh!*
From his fingertips, refined dark magic raged through the chamber like a storm.
However, the bloody battle the audience held their breath for never came to pass. No, the fight itself never even began.
Instead…
*Thud!*
“W-What’s happening?”
“Look at that!”
Ignoring the murmurs from the audience, the Headless Knight knelt before Dale. It did so of its own volition.
The guardian, meant to protect the floor, had abandoned its duty and opened the path it was ordered to defend.
It was as if it were swearing an oath of fealty before the true master it was meant to serve.
It simply knelt, planting its greatsword vertically into the ground.
Absolute submission.
Watching the scene, Dale muttered coldly.
“Kill yourself.”
His voice was devoid of any emotion.
As if on command, the Headless Knight gripped its greatsword in a reverse hold and plunged it downward with all its might.
Straight into its own chest plate, without a hint of hesitation.
The bones and flesh protected by the armor shattered, and it collapsed limply.
For the audience, who had been expecting a bloody duel, it was a rather anticlimactic end.
But here, in the Black Magic Tower, the astonishment of those who understood its meaning was beyond words.
The elders of the Black Magic Tower… the Black Guard, who had been watching Dale’s progress with relative composure, were no exception.
No, they were the ones who were most profoundly shocked.
To make a creature of darkness submit, one needs a greater power of darkness.
And the fact that a creation of a Black Magic Tower elder had betrayed its creator to pledge loyalty to Dale meant one thing. Dale’s refined dark magic was already on par with that of a Black Magic Tower elder.
A young mage of only the 3rd Circle!
And from the hands of a child not yet ten years old, one who wielded the dual attributes of Water and Darkness.
‘Impossible.’
Yet, that very impossibility was unfolding before the eyes of everyone in the Black Magic Tower.
Every mage possesses their own ‘world,’ and the path of a mage is the process of completing that world.
They could never have imagined it.
The source of Dale’s magic, a world of void filled with chilling cold and ash-gray.
Embedded in Dale’s magic was the darkness of that winter night, and before that darkness, the Headless Knight had bowed and offered its submission.
To make a creature of darkness submit, one needs a ‘greater darkness.’
A world filled with a chilling cold and darkness that even an elder of the Black Magic Tower could not dare approach.
That was Dale’s true power as a mage.
‘Did I go a little too far?’
After subduing the Headless Knight, Dale inwardly winced. This was no longer on the level of proving himself.
‘…Perhaps I should stop here for this year and head back.’
He had achieved all his initial goals. The test he needed to pass ended here. Thus, turning his back on the path the Headless Knight had opened for him, Dale turned away.
“H-Huh? Why?”
“Why is he turning back?”
With the murmurs of the audience at his back, he walked toward the edge of the arena, signaling his forfeiture of the test.
Even for the current Dale, there were lines that must not be crossed.
To prove himself by climbing any higher would be to become something unknown, something that transcended even the realm of monsters.
A realm that could not be explained even by the reputation of being the Black Prince’s son, the greatest genius in the empire.
***
A short while later, Dale’s test ended, and soon after, the Tower’s test concluded as well.
The Great Hall of the Black Magic Tower.
“The Master of the Tower arrives!”
There, the Black Prince made his entrance.
As the one who reigned at the pinnacle of the Black Magic Tower, he was an object of endless dignity and awe.
Dale, the ‘heir to the Black Prince,’ who had similarly proven himself in the test, followed behind him.
Reigning in a fear that none could defy.
That was the way of the House of Duke Sachsen, and Dale and his father were no exception. Thus, the elders of the Black Magic Tower, the Black Guard, paid their respects to the father and son.
Following them, all the mages of the Black Magic Tower filling the hall bowed their heads.
It was a display of loyalty from the entire Black Magic Tower, reminiscent of a military inspection.
It was Dale’s official debut, a consolidation of the succession system by House Sachsen.
Unlike the inheritance of a noble house, in the meritocratic world of magic, such a position could never be obtained by bloodline alone.
Yet, no one dared to harbor thoughts of defiance before the Black Prince and Dale.
In a way, it was remarkably similar to the Red Magic Tower’s pursuit of order through power.
***
He had reached the 3rd Circle at the age of ten and, on top of that, had broken through the 20th floor in the ‘Tower’s Test.’
The tale of Dale’s overwhelming prowess demonstrated during the test also spread rapidly throughout the empire.
The most legitimate heir to the Black Prince. The greatest genius in the empire.
The people of the duchy spoke of ‘Lord Dale’ as if boasting of their own son.
Furthermore, the loyalty of the Sachsen vassals and fief knights toward Dale was beyond measure.
Dale’s achievements, which seemed to grow without end, slowly began to unite the entire North.
***
Sometime after he had successfully completed the Tower’s test.
In the northern empire, within the vast duchy of Duke Sachsen.
*Neigh!*
Across the pure white horizon, knights clad in pitch-black armor and ash-gray surcoats stood in formation.
A cavalry battalion composed of fifty men.
Right now, Dale was commanding that very unit under his own name.
He was on the eve of a battle against a small orc band within the duchy, an order from his father, Duke Sachsen.
This was different from past battles, where he had merely tagged along to gain experience. This was a battle where he staked his own name, where he alone would bear responsibility for its successes and failures.
Of course, leading soldiers and commanding a unit was an essential virtue for the heir of a noble house. But it was an absurdly heavy responsibility for a mere ten-year-old child.
Nevertheless, not a single knight here dared to doubt Dale’s competence as a ‘commander.’
For ‘Dale of Sachsen,’ age was literally just a number.
Rather, the pride Dale instilled in his knights and the loyalty they offered in return were unparalleled.
The trust the knights of House Sachsen had in Dale was already beyond imagination.
He was the heir to the ducal house who crossed swords with them from early dawn, seeking their teachings. He was the one who had thrown himself into the fray to save his knight from a band of orcs.
How many high-born sons of noble houses could act so ‘nobly’?
He was another lord, truly worthy of them laying down their lives.
Earning the trust of one’s subordinates is one of the greatest virtues of a commander.
For that reason, Dale’s knights all raised their cavalry lances. Facing the orc band with its spear phalanx, their fighting spirit burned brighter than ever.
“For Lord Dale!”
“For House Sachsen!”
“Charge!”
Dale’s cavalry began its charge toward the orc phalanx.
Spears and shields clashed, and shields shattered. The screams of orcs echoed as green blood splattered in all directions.
Before the black cavalry that charged like war machines… it was a one-sided slaughter that could not even be called a battle.
The knights of House Sachsen were not people for Dale to protect, but swords to be wielded solely for his sake.
***
“Lord Dale has returned!”
Sachsen City.
The knights of Duke Sachsen were riding through the city.
As a token of their subjugation, they proudly displayed the severed heads of the orcs, strung together in a line.
“His Lordship has cleared out the monsters in the territory again!”
As Dale and his cavalry returned to the ducal castle, the people of the duchy began to raise their voices.
He had already led his personal knights to suppress monsters within the domain several times. With Dale’s steadily accumulating military achievements, the people of the duchy began to speak of him endlessly.
“That’s Lord Dale for you!”
The heir of the ducal house, taking the lead in exterminating the monsters that plagued the domain.
While it was a duty a noble should rightly bear, in this world, the concept of a ‘duty a noble should rightly bear’ was not exactly common sense. No, would it be much different in any world?
In that respect, it was needless to say how Dale’s proactive fulfillment of his ‘noble duty’ would be perceived.
***
Sachsen Ducal Castle.
The Duke’s office.
“I report to Your Grace the Duke that we have taken the heads of one hundred and forty-five orcs.”
“And the casualties among our cavalry?”
“Three with minor injuries. There were no other casualties.”
Dale reported the results calmly, and Duke Sachsen questioned him with a cold demeanor.
“Did you use magic to protect them?”
“It was purely the result of the prowess of Sachsen’s swords.”
As Dale quietly shook his head, a faint smile finally touched Duke Sachsen’s lips.
“Well done, Dale.”
“My lord, you seem to have grown accustomed to commanding a battalion-sized cavalry unit already!”
After the father and son’s conversation ended, Lord Helmut Blackbear, who had been standing by, finally spoke up.
“It’s all thanks to your teachings, Lord Helmut.”
Lord Helmut taught more than just swordsmanship.
He was Dale’s sword master and, at the same time, his teacher in strategy and tactics… the art of war.
The way to lead an army and win a war.
For instance, handling a single battalion of fifty cavalrymen is not that difficult. Orders are transmitted quickly, and the choices to be made are not that numerous.
However, when multiple cavalry battalions gather to form a single cavalry regiment, and two or three regiments gather to form a cavalry division…
Commanding a large force of over a thousand knights becomes an entirely different kind of task.
Furthermore, the number of cavalry the greatest archduke of the North would mobilize for an all-out war would not end at a mere thousand.
Besides, war is never fought with a single type of soldier like knights.
“Truly, the speed at which you learn, my lord, is unbelievable.”
Despite all this, the speed at which Dale absorbed this world’s art of war was still incredible.
In truth, Dale’s ‘strategic eye’ was not something that had been formed overnight.
Himself as a commander. His ability to handle an army.
He considered the synergy that would arise when his strategy and tactics were combined with the power of necromancy.
“At this rate, the day you conduct a territorial war is not far off!”
Just then, Lord Helmut laughed heartily and continued.
‘A territorial war.’
At the unexpected words, Dale did not let his thoughts show, merely smiling faintly. He always welcomed a new stage on which to prove himself.