Chapter 188
Chapter 188
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: 59. Requiem for Her (1)
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Not long after the funeral, some members of the Sky Dragon Knights, who had left to aid in recapturing the capital, returned to the Silver Lion Fortress.
Through them, I learned the full details.
By the time the Iron Lion Knight Order arrived at the capital, the enemy had already fully seized the outer walls and was preparing to defend them. Facing formidable defenses, the Iron Lions had braced for a prolonged siege and begun their assault.
Yet those ironclad defenses proved futile as the enemy crumbled all too easily. An unexpected internal uprising played a major role in their downfall.
The citizens inside the capital had risen en masse, launching a fierce attack on the gates held by the imperial forces.
Of course, these poorly equipped and untrained civilians couldn't hope to retake the gates from elite knights.
But the Iron Lions seized the chaos they created. With the order's captain—York Willoden, the kingdom's silver lion—stepping forward, they ultimately opened the south gate out of the four main ones.
The enemies desperately holding the outer walls eventually abandoned their defense, retreating into the outer city's streets to resist. Even that was quelled thanks to the citizens' active support.
It later emerged that the Grand Marshal, before departing the capital, had left his aides and knights from his office to lead the citizens.
Yet no matter how well the Grand Marshal had prepared, without the Queen's death awakening the people, such a massive revolt would never have happened.
As the Sky Dragon Knight's report continued, every knight and officer in the fortress who heard of the Queen's death grieved deeply.
But the King ordered them to harbor rage over sorrow, and they swallowed their grief, steeling their resolve.
The Sky Dragon Knight relayed the citizens' testimonies of how the Queen fought and upheld her dignity to the end.
He also didn't omit how the imperial forces had tried to desecrate her final moments.
The imperials found her body, mutilated it, severed the head and limbs, and displayed them separately on the walls. They even slandered her death as that of a cowardly fugitive, fabricating her heroic last stand.
But too many had witnessed her resisting from the walls until the end. One righteous soul stepped forward, battling the imperials to retrieve and escape with her body.
The moment I heard of this righteous figure, I knew who it was.
The half-elf Gionne—arms severed, body slashed to ribbons—had somehow brought the Queen's body back to the fortress. She had to be the one the Sky Dragon Knight meant.
I could vividly picture Gionne, surrounded and fighting desperately alone. Her quiet passing in my arms felt all too real.
I steadied my breathing. I forced down the boiling fury in my gut.
By then, the Sky Dragon Knight had finished his tale.
The King praised the knight's tireless efforts in traveling from afar to bring the news.
His demeanor was utterly calm, showing no hint of agitation.
Once the Sky Dragon Knight departed, the King ordered a detailed record of the capital's events to be disseminated across the kingdom.
He even personally penned letters urging all nobles to join the fray.
It was a full mobilization order.
The King's mounted messengers departed the fortress as couriers.
Soon after, the entire kingdom began to stir.
The cries of outraged nobles demanding vengeance upon hearing of the capital echoed even to the Silver Lion Fortress, alongside the quiet sharpening of blades by hermits and swordsmen who learned of the Queen's end.
Not long after the King issued the mobilization, lords near the border arrived at the fortress with their retainers and some conscripts.
They brought word that other lords were hastily gathering forces to head here.
From the rear lines, news came that the Grand Marshal was arming civilians. Volunteers numbered in the thousands, straining organization and supplies.
Mostly capital citizens who had witnessed the Queen's final moments, their training and arms fell short of regulars, but their morale and will to fight matched any army.
As the King had said, her death had sparked a fire that spread across the kingdom.
The change wasn't limited to nobles and capital citizens.
Before long, civilians began flocking to the fortress.
All from villages and domains near the border.
Lacking the courage for frontline combat, they sought to help in their own ways.
"Here... it's not much, but for the soldiers when they're hungry..."
A middle-aged man brought a basket brimming with grain and food he'd saved for winter.
"I may not know much else, but I'm good at odd jobs. Assign me anything, and I'll work hard."
A young man arrived empty-handed, volunteering for menial labor.
"I'm a plump old lady now, but back in my youth, the village lads fought over me day in and day out. Couldn't just watch those fools crack skulls and split flesh for my sake, could I? Nursing the reckless boys behind the scenes honed my hands for tending the wounded."
A chatty woman, who once cared for battered village youths, tended the fortress's injured.
The fortress's tense atmosphere, ready to burst at any moment, softened slightly with their presence.
Knights and soldiers still clamored for bloody revenge, but the civilians gave them pause, lost in thought.
They seemed to rediscover those they must protect, beyond the royal call for independence.
As knights and soldiers embraced this new sense of duty, more civilians kept arriving.
Not all stayed to aid soldiers directly.
Most came just to relay a few words.
"Saw a suspicious group on the plains—something off about them."
"Hunter chasing game found tracks I'd never seen before."
"That man who moved to the village recently—his speech and manners aren't kingdom folk."
Most tales from their lips were baseless rumors amid wartime chaos. But some were too detailed and consistent to dismiss outright; they warranted checking.
The King dispatched fortress cavalry to investigate the leads and rumors. Astonishingly, they uncovered numerous spies.
Even with the King's guard and border forces on high alert, right under our noses.
Over a hundred spies were killed resisting on the spot; another sixty captured fleeing.
The fortress commanders were stunned—no one imagined imperial spies operating so brazenly.
But I wasn't surprised at all.
It was recent history that nobles, meant to be the kingdom's eyes, had sided with the empire. Holes in our intelligence network would have been the real shock.
The royals swiftly sent officials to seize those domains, but grasping and managing them efficiently—after generations of noble rule—would take time.
The traitors' depredations left too great a wake to sort out quickly.
Exhausted by plunder and abuses, the people were hostile even to crown officials, uncooperative.
No one reporting spies shouting in imperial tongue midday in a domain square? Hardly surprising.
Indeed, imperial troops had hidden in kingdom lands for years undetected.
Had nobles fulfilled duties and the crown retained public trust, it never would have happened.
But what could be done? It was done. The past couldn't be undone.
For now, I was grateful for this small change sparked by the Queen's death.
Without her, civilians wouldn't have come sharing even rumors.
Weeks had passed since the King declared vengeance and mobilization.
The kingdom's army, massed at the border poised to strike, never crossed the line.
But everyone knew.
This standoff wouldn't last forever.
The kingdom was merely catching its breath.
Waiting to forge late-arriving nobles and troops into legions.
Waiting for the long-peacetime eastern and western legions to complete war preparations.
Just waiting.
A month and a half after the Queen's funeral, as all silver lions gathered at the fortress.
The kingdom finished catching its breath.
"Hold the border."
Unlike his fiery vow of blood revenge before the troops, the King left me only those brief words.
So much I wanted to say, but only prayers for his fortune escaped my lips.
The King smiled softly at me, quietly patting my shoulder.
Then slipped quietly from the fortress.
Part of the central army and finally organized noble retainers boarded with the King for the eastern fleet front. Dotrin's Sky Dragon Knights, who had served as messengers across the kingdom, followed them.
"Don't worry too much. His Majesty is with them—what's there to fear? Telling you this only: even our whole Sky Dragon Knights couldn't take him. He's a real monster."
"I know he's a monster."
"Not like you think. So don't worry."
Doris, last Sky Dragon Knight remaining after her comrades left, comforted me thus.
But soon after, she too departed, leading belatedly returned knights.
A few days after everyone headed for imperial soil, defying harsh winter, the imperials launched a massive offensive.
I led the fortress garrison, repelling them time and again.
Awake, sword in hand, atop the walls, cleaving all in sight.
When assaults slackened, I'd fling open the gates, charge out, and upend the border line.
We razed the empire's forward fortress half a day and night away, annihilating several legions.
Back at the fortress, I reorganized newly arrived kingdom reinforcements, deploying them across the border.
Arwen took two legions plus Silver Fox and Iron Lion Knights for the east. Ilai got two legions, Raging Wind, and Dawn Knights for the west.
The battlefield was no longer just Silver Lion Fortress; skirmishes erupted everywhere along the border.
Masters and I held the line without retreat.
Sleepless nights, irregular meals—frantic days.
Amid it, my eyes fell on prisoners idling, just consuming rations.
Among them, the adjutant to a young legion commander caught my eye.
Even captive, his bearing exuded leisure; gaunt from meager fare, yet sharp aura leaked subtly.
"Ho."
I let out an exclamation.
He was a paladin.
Not some middling imperial one—I'd devour him easily; his realm was profound.
Yet his face seemed familiar. Racking my memory, I abruptly checked his status window.
Clear info floated above his head.
My eyes widened in shock.
Back when my friend was no king yet—called Northern Lion or Sword Saint—a strange hybrid, neither pure knight nor mage, had visited.
「Mana Chain Fundamentals, written by Bruno Burdorf, 8th successor of Werner Ratzel, 16th disciple of Mana Chain creator Ernest Altringen, compiled by Gregory Hessler」
Only later, seeing "Altringen" on the sword manual from my uncle, did I realize that hybrid created Mana Chain, obsoleting Mana Heart.
And this young paladin before me bore the surname Altringen.
"Are you of House Altringen?"
Asking to confirm, the man's constant smirk froze stone-hard.
Explosive killing intent surged from him.
I chuckled softly, gazing at him calmly.
Releasing fully my pent-up presence and aura.
The Altringen scion glared with icy eyes, face rigid against my pressure.
Futile.
Resisting, he vomited a bowlful of blood, staggering back.
Just like his ancestors.
"First time I've seen a Percival driven back by aura alone."
A low voice came from right beside me.
The young legion commander.
I turned my head to him. He stared back intently.
His expression irked me.
Heard he'd surrendered without a real fight, yet he looked at me like amusing spectacle, lips curled in odd sneer.
Superiority and mockery he half-hid still grated.
After repeated battles sharpening my mind like a blade, anxious for the King and army away with the fleet—nerves frayed.
Normal me would've dragged him out for a beating.
But I couldn't.
The activated [Appraisal Authority], confirming the Altringen, whispered to me.
He was an unrecognized gem. Finder's keepers.
"Such a noble guest in this humble place."
I couldn't help grinning.