Chapter 1: We Finally Meet, Empress.
Chapter 1: We Finally Meet, Empress.
Chapter 1
Kuoooooh!
The roar flowing from beyond the Black Rift tore the sky of the Northern Wall Territory to shreds.
Black Iron Fortress.
The northernmost point of the Arcadion Empire.
A massive fortress that had served as the boundary between humans and Demons for hundreds of years.
The walls of that fortress were collapsing.
Kwaaaaang!
A section of the wall was smashed to pieces.
Pitch-black boulders and rebar flew into the air.
Soldiers were swept away by the debris, unable to even scream.
Beyond that, a massive entity with black carapace and red horns was slowly walking out.
Great Duke of the Demon Realm, Balgras.
The pinnacle of the Demon forces that appeared through the Black Rift.
The monster that must be slain to end the 8-year war.
"Haa... haa..."
Ernst von Eisenwald was kneeling on one knee atop the collapsed wall.
Blackened military uniform.
Torn cloak.
Silver-gray hair, a mess of blood and dirt.
And a long, jagged wound from his left shoulder down to his waist.
"Damn it..."
Blood pooled in his mouth and surged up his throat.
"Cough!"
Pitch-black blood splattered onto the ground.
"Huu..."
Ernst barely managed to lift his head.
Burning battlefield.
Collapsed walls.
Soldiers fallen everywhere.
And even the Demons still pouring out of the Black Rift.
It had been a whole 8 years.
He had been dragged into this hell at eighteen and lived in the Northern Wall Territory until he turned twenty-six.
No, "survived" was the more accurate term.
"The front line is collapsing!"
"Left wall! We can't hold any longer!"
"The Demons are pushing through!"
Screams erupted from all sides.
However, Ernst's gaze was fixed on only one thing.
Balgras.
If he couldn't kill that bastard, everything would end.
If the Black Iron Fortress fell, the North would be wide open.
And if the North opened, the Arcadion Empire would burn.
Ernst knew that fact better than anyone.
"Young Duke-nim!"
A sharp voice rang out then.
Eileen Arbanes.
A half-elf, half-human.
Born with blood that was looked down upon, but now the woman called Ernst's right-hand in this battlefield.
She was running toward him, covered in blood.
"You must retreat! You're in no condition for this!"
"Eileen."
"Yes!"
"The troops?"
Eileen's lips tightened.
That single moment of silence was enough.
"I'm pulling the surviving soldiers to the rear... but they won't hold for long..."
"I see."
Ernst laughed lowly.
It was a sound too dry to be called a laugh.
"So, it means I have to do it after all."
"Young Duke-nim!"
"No."
Ernst slowly forced his body up.
"Ugh!"
Crunch.
Every time his broken ribs moved, a terrible pain surged from his lungs.
Blood was still flowing from his torn shoulder.
Just drawing up his Aura felt like his insides were splitting apart.
Still, he couldn't drop his sword.
"Eileen."
"Yes, Young Duke-nim."
"If I die, take the remaining soldiers and retreat."
"I cannot accept such an order."
"Adjutant."
Ernst's black eyes turned toward Eileen.
"Young Duke-nim..."
Eileen gritted her teeth.
Eileen already knew that look.
It was the eyes of someone who had resolved to die.
"I will not disobey..."
"Good. I leave the rest to you."
Ernst slowly raised his sword.
A gray Aura spread over his blade.
At first, it was faint and small like an ember.
Wooooong!
But soon, the battlefield trembled.
Paaaat!
The gray Aura surged up along the sword.
Amidst the blood and ashes on the collapsed wall, Ernst von Eisenwald's Aura tore through the sky of the Northern Wall Territory.
"Swordmaster...?!"
"Impossible! It's a Swordmaster!"
Soldiers shouted one after another.
'I guess I have no choice but to go all out.'
Originally, the Ernst von Eisenwald in the original novel remained a Sword Expert.
He loved the Empress and went to the battlefield for her sake.
A sub-male lead who quietly disappears while wishing for the Empress's happiness.
He was just that kind of character.
But the one who had entered this body now was different.
Seo Jinwoo.
An ordinary reader who read romance fantasy novels on Earth.
And a soldier who survived 8 years in this hell.
'Damn it.'
He still remembered the day he first opened his eyes.
A cold bed inside a military tent.
An unfamiliar body and an unfamiliar name.
Above all, an unfamiliar world.
And even the enlistment order.
Ernst von Eisenwald.
The eldest son of the Eisenwald Grand Duchy.
He enlisted in the northern front on his own for Eleonora Arteria before she became Empress.
That was the beginning of this body.
"Don't make me laugh."
Ernst twisted his blood-soaked lips.
Because of someone's love games.
Because of someone's original narrative.
For the sake of someone's beautiful romance.
He had rolled in hell for 8 years.
This was the result.
Swordmaster.
He swung his sword to not die.
He slew Demons to survive.
He stood up again on top of his comrades' corpses.
That's how he got here.
Kuoooooh!
Balgras roared.
Black Demonic energy surged like a tidal wave.
"All troops!"
Ernst aimed his sword.
"Get down!"
At that single command, the surviving soldiers instinctively threw themselves to the ground.
The next moment.
Paaaaat!
Ernst's figure vanished.
His body, having leaped from the collapsed wall, shot toward Balgras.
"Uaaaaah!"
"Human!"
The gray Aura tore through the night sky.
The black Demonic energy also tried to swallow Ernst.
Slash.
However, a single gray line cut through the darkness.
"Kuaaaa!"
Balgras's scream shook the Northern Wall Territory.
Black blood poured out like a waterfall.
One of the Great Duke's massive arms was severed entirely.
"Not yet."
Ernst twisted his body in mid-air.
"It's not over."
The sword moved again.
Once, twice, and three times.
The gray sword strikes tore through Balgras's carapace.
They shattered the red horns and sliced the black wings.
They smashed the armor protecting his heart.
"Kuaack! I won't die alone!"
Balgras reached out in a final desperate struggle.
"Ugh!"
Crunch!
Those claws tore into Ernst's side.
It was a wound deep enough to expose bone.
But Ernst did not back down.
"It's been 8 years!"
His black eyes met Balgras's red eyes.
"This damn war too."
The gray light on the blade grew even deeper.
"Let's just end it now!"
Stab!
The sword was embedded in Balgras's heart.
Kwaaaaang!
And the gray Aura exploded.
"Kuaaaaack!"
The Great Duke of the Demon Realm, Balgras's massive body, fell backward.
The Demonic energy covering the Black Rift scattered.
The darkness that had been pressing down on the sky split apart.
A moment later.
Thud.
Balgras's corpse fell onto the earth.
The 8-year war.
That long and terrible war had finally ended.
"Long live the Arcadion Empire!"
"Long live the Young Duke of Eisenwald!"
"Long live the war hero Ernst!"
The capital, Luminark, was covered in flower petals.
White flowers, red flowers, and golden paper confetti.
All of them were pouring down from the sky.
"So we've arrived."
Hiss.
As the triumphal train stopped, steam rose thickly.
Through the gray steam, the Northern Army soldiers revealed themselves one by one.
Those who had survived in the Northern Wall Territory for 8 years.
Some were missing an arm.
Some had lost an eye.
Some walked with a limp.
Some had faces that couldn't even believe they had returned alive.
Still, the citizens cheered.
"The war is over!"
"The Northern Army stopped the Demons!"
"It's Ernst-nim! The hero who defeated the Great Duke of the Demon Realm!"
The cheers grew louder and louder.
At the center of it all was Ernst von Eisenwald.
Black military uniform and gray cloak.
The Black Iron emblem of the Northern Army engraved on his chest.
And wounds that hadn't fully healed yet.
"Nothing has changed."
Ernst quietly looked at the streets.
Smiling citizens.
Elderly people shedding tears.
Children throwing flowers.
It was peaceful.
It was so peaceful that it felt alien.
'The smell of blood hasn't even faded from the Northern Wall Territory yet.'
There were many bodies there that hadn't been buried yet.
Was that all?
His comrades' dog tags were also buried in the cold dirt.
The armor of the soldiers that had melted in the final battle with Balgras was still there.
But the capital was a festival.
Because the war was over and the Demons wouldn't come.
Because their lives would be safe now.
"Young Duke-nim."
A low voice came from beside him.
It was Eileen.
She was also in her dress uniform.
Her long, pointed ears, mixed with elf blood, were half-hidden under her military cap.
"Your expression is not good."
"Is there a reason for it to be good?"
"Today is the triumphal ceremony. You must at least pretend to smile. You are the protagonist of today's ceremony, Young Duke-nim."
"You do it, Eileen."
"I am a half-blood. If I smile, the capital nobles will be displeased."
It was a calm statement.
But Ernst didn't like those words.
"Then let them be displeased."
"Young Duke-nim."
"In the Northern Wall Territory, there are thousands of soldiers who survived thanks to your command. If there are bastards who are displeased because you're smiling, then those bastards are wrong."
Eileen was speechless for a moment.
Then she smiled very faintly.
"That's why the soldiers follow you, Young Duke-nim."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Instead of answering, Ernst looked ahead.
The end of Luminark's central boulevard.
On the imperial road leading to the Platinum Palace.
Emperor Julian Arcadion and Empress Eleonora Arteria were standing there.
The Emperor was young and beautiful.
Golden hair and blue eyes.
An overwhelming appearance befitting a tyrant and the male lead in the original novel.
And the Empress beside him.
Eleonora Arteria.
Deep red hair, red eyes, and a soft smile.
A benevolent figure waving to the citizens.
She was certainly beautiful to a terrifying degree.
It was a dazzling beauty befitting the original novel's female lead.
The nobles called her a wise Empress.
The citizens also called her the Saintess of the Empire.
The Emperor had become a man who couldn't do anything without her.
But Ernst, at least, was not smiling.
'So, we finally meet. Empress.'
Ernst's fist was clenched tight before he knew it.
End of Chapter 1.