Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: 60. Stoking the Flames (4)
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I sprang up from my seat.
The Wyvern Knights would eventually find their way here if I just waited, but I had no intention of sitting around like some fool, twiddling my thumbs until they did.
"Guide me to them. I'll go to them myself."
I strode out of the conference room with the messenger leading the way.
"What was their condition like?"
"They'd clearly flown without rest—both wyverns and riders showed signs of exhaustion—but the knights' expressions weren't grim or anything."
I let out a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like they'd suffered a defeat or any major setback.
"Did they say anything about His Majesty or the Eastern Fleet?"
"They rushed straight here to report to Your Highness before even fully dismounting..."
The messenger replied with an apologetic look.
"We'll know soon enough once we meet them. No need to look so sorry."
I quickened my pace.
It wasn't long before we reached the open courtyard of the fortress.
"Ah..."
Mighty wyverns lay sprawled out, tongues lolling long and limp. Beside them, the Sky Knights leaned against their mounts, eyes tightly shut.
Among them was Jin Katrin, the young vice-captain of the Sky Knights.
Riders and wyverns alike looked utterly spent.
"Your High—"
Shh.
I pressed a finger to my lips as the soldiers who'd spotted me tried to salute.
"Don't make a fuss."
I murmured that, then quietly observed the Wyvern Knights.
They're completely wiped out.
These proud knights, sprawled so carelessly in front of foreign soldiers who weren't even from their own nation—it must've taken real exhaustion to let them drop their guard like that.
"They said they'd rest a bit and then report to Your Highness, but they've been like that ever since."
The fortress guard captain made a troubled face, saying he couldn't bring himself to scold them in that state.
"Can't blame them. They must've flown damn near across the continent."
I gave a small nod and glanced once more at Jin Katrin and the knights before turning away.
"Send them to me once they wake up."
"You've come all this way—why not wait a little and hear the report firsthand...?"
"If it were urgent, down to the minute, they'd have collapsed mid-report right in front of me rather than lounging like that."
Of course, I wouldn't have shown such consideration if they'd looked like routed remnants.
But the Wyvern Knights were exhausted to the point of collapse, yet their demeanor wasn't all that bad.
The anxiety that had gnawed at me nonstop since our forces departed for the Empire's heartland had finally eased quite a bit.
There was no reason I couldn't wait a little longer.
I returned to the conference room and waited for the Sky Knights to stir.
Jin Katrin came looking for me not long after I'd left the courtyard.
"Your Highness."
She still hadn't shaken off her fatigue entirely, but her expression was bright.
Seeing that face washed away the last traces of my unease and impatience.
I felt a profound sense of ease wash over me.
"Passing out without even noticing who came and went? You must've pushed awfully hard."
"I wasn't passed out. I just closed my eyes for a moment to organize my report for you."
"With you snoring to beat the band."
"No such thing. I've never heard anyone say I snore in my life."
"Wipe the drool from your mouth first, then talk."
At my words, Jin Katrin made a show of wiping her mouth before clearing her throat.
Then she straightened up, her face turning serious.
"Jin Katrin of the Dotrin Kingdom's Sky Knights. I come bearing tidings from our allied forces."
I straightened as well, bracing for what came next.
"I'll start with the conclusion."
She said, looking at me.
"We achieved a victory beyond all expectations."
My fist clenched tight.
But instead of cheering, I just worked my lips while staring at Jin Katrin.
There was something I wanted to hear even more than the victory report.
Yet the words wouldn't come easily.
Seeing that, Jin Katrin smiled softly and added,
"Your kingdom's sovereign is safe as well."
"Ah..."
A vague sound escaped me—not quite a groan, not quite a cheer.
I'd thought the last of my anxiety was gone, but apparently not.
All tension drained from my body in an instant.
"Tell me the details."
I said, forcing strength into my voice to hide my inner relief.
I ignored Jin Katrin's knowing smile.
"The fleet proceeded south as planned and made port at our kingdom's harbor. There, they joined up with our three legions, finished preparations, and set off for the Empire's mainland."
Jin Katrin began recounting the fleet's movements—things I hadn't known.
I listened quietly.
I had a ton of questions, but I wasn't about to interrupt and break her flow.
"Originally, they planned to land at one of the old Dotrin fortress ruins beyond the floodplains and advance westward. But during the voyage, the two sovereigns held repeated councils and revised the plan."
I intended to hear her out fully first.
But that resolve crumbled quickly.
"They pushed two weeks farther west than planned and made landfall in the Empire's south."
The decision from the two rulers far exceeded my expectations.
"Right next to the Fire Dragon's territory."
"Why the hell would they take such a insane risk...?"
"First reason: the Empire had already lost control over much of the areas bordering the Fire Dragon's domain, making it easier for our forces to operate. Second: advancing north from there to neutralize strongholds would extend the Empire's loss of control from just the south into parts of the center and even the east."
Reasonable enough, and solid advantages too.
But the Fire Dragon's presence was too overwhelming a threat to prioritize logic over.
Benefits like evading enemy eyes or eroding imperial influence paled in comparison.
The Fire Dragon's domain didn't have neat borders like human nations.
One wrong step into its territory, and the kingdom and Dotrin armies could've been annihilated before even properly striking the Empire's core.
When I pointed that out, Jin Katrin countered as if she'd been waiting.
"The first time we encountered the Fire Dragon, our wyverns refused to fly in its presence. Over time, they recovered, but they haven't forgotten that ingrained scent. As long as they remember, there's no chance of accidentally stepping into its territory."
With my concerns dispelled, Jin Katrin continued.
"Anyway, they landed and immediately began pushing north."
Toppling a noble house bordering the south in a single night. Destroying key strongholds of several families, torching warehouses. Crushing scattered enemy resistance in successive victories.
All good news.
Thanks to the Fire Dragon's rampage, many major lords who could've rallied defenses were already gone. The Empire crumbled helplessly without mounting any real resistance.
Of course, the Empire hadn't just sat idle while two nations' armies pierced deep into its homeland.
Major lords from the center, under imperial orders, led their own forces south to contain the mess.
The mobilized imperial troops alone numbered over twenty legions—a force that even gave me chills, and I'd fought the Empire countless times.
Yet the kingdom and Dotrin forces hadn't been defeated.
"If things got dicey, they could just pull back toward the Fire Dragon's territory."
It was a perfect match: the Wyvern Knights' far-sighted prowess and the imperial troops hamstrung by orders not to provoke the Fire Dragon.
In the end, despite their overwhelming might, the Empire couldn't deal with five legions raiding their homeland and could only scramble defensively.
Great for our side, but it didn't exactly thrill me.
"If the enemy pretends to go mad and steps into the Fire Dragon's turf, that wrath won't stop at just imperial troops."
The Fire Dragon didn't care about army banners.
Trespass its land, and it'd burn everything. Anything that caught its eye in the process? Obliterated.
That was the Fire Dragon.
"That's why our forces split into smaller groups. To minimize damage if the Fire Dragon ever goes berserk."
The two kings had anticipated that scenario, which left me unsure whether to call it bold or reckless.
"In that process, your kingdom's nobles showed such resolve that our knights and soldiers were all deeply impressed."
What the hell? I looked at Jin Katrin.
"Several times, enraged imperial forces defied court orders and pursued us. Each time, your nobles stepped up. If things went south and the Fire Dragon charged out, they'd pitched camp at chokepoints to the imperial heartland and openly provoked the enemy."
Blatant taunts that forced even the bloodthirsty imperials to turn back.
"The kingdom's nobles did that?"
"Yes. Even the Empire's armies lost momentum when your nobles provoked them with mutual destruction on the table."
I couldn't help but laugh.
Now I got how things had played out.
The king's innermost circle and the Silver Lions aside, the kingdom's loyalists had all stayed behind. The nobles who'd followed the king had barely escaped execution—not exactly prime material.
No guts to sell out the kingdom, no resolve to die for it. Nothing.
No way those types would've held risky spots expecting mutual destruction with the enemy.
They probably had no clue what was happening. Seeing the imperials retreat without a real fight every time, they got cocky, thinking they could handle it.
All while a lava burst could've erupted right beside them.
Now I understood why the king had dragged them all along.
He'd ranted to me about not amputating tumors lest the kingdom collapse, and how saddling their direct heirs—who wanted to rededicate themselves—with the sin of rebellion against their fathers would undermine their loyalty.
Truth was, he'd never planned to let them live from the start.
Otherwise, why haul along useless baggage?
Probably meant to abandon them on imperial soil.
Smart move.
If they were doomed anyway, better to leave their sons pride in fathers who died fighting for the kingdom than the stigma of traitors or rebels.
"In any case, after those battles, we reaped achievements beyond expectations."
Jin Katrin took a breath and proudly listed the feats of the two nations' armies.
Five major lords of count rank or higher.
Twenty-four minor lords below that.
Over thirty strongholds and castles burned, eleven enemy legions shattered or annihilated.
Even accounting for the Empire's devastation from the Fire Dragon, it was terrifying for just five legions deep in a superpower's core.
But in a way, it made sense.
I couldn't imagine that monster—the Lord of the Blue Sky's heir—losing.
He'd fully attained the realm of [Hero], and with luck, he could stack transcendent feats toward [Myth].
Knowing that, I actually thought the achievements were modest for a monster like him joining the fray.
Too hasty a judgment.
Among the slain imperial lords weren't just counts.
Marquis d'Ibstr. Enemy of Montpellier, and someone with bad blood toward me too—a top imperial noble.
He was one of the major lords felled by Dotrin's king.
"Montpellier's gonna love hearing that."
As I marveled at the unexpected heavyweight's fall, Jin Katrin grinned.
Her face said the surprise was premature.
"Did they take down a duke too?"
She shook her head.
She said they'd slain someone far bigger.
My eyes went wide.
Bigger than a duke? Only one possibility.
Imperial royalty.
A direct descendant with succession rights, no less.
"When they took Marquis d'Ibstr's head, the Empire's First Imperial Prince was there too."
Not just any prince—the firstborn.
Even I was stunned this time.
"Of course, it wasn't easy. Paladins and magisters guarded him like a fortress, and the First Prince himself wasn't weak."
Jin Katrin recounted the trials of slaying the First Prince like an epic tale.
Ultimately, it was boasting.
About how mighty their king was. How elite the Sky Knights were.
I didn't deny it.
The First Prince's head was worth that much.
The Burgundy imperial house didn't strictly follow primogeniture, but the eldest's symbolism and authority outshone the rest.
Even after the Third Prince built his war credentials as top contender, the First remained the strongest candidate.
And now that strongest claimant was dead.
I laughed.
When I'd headed to the Empire, there were five princes. Now only the two weakest survived.
And the lamest of them was now closest to the throne.
"At this rate, that idiot might actually become emperor."
Of course, it was still just a likely future, not set in stone.
The surviving Fifth Prince was no slouch, and if he hadn't wasted time while the Third roamed the fronts, he'd have built serious power in the capital by now.
He might've even absorbed the First Prince's entire faction.
Even if not, the emperor—whom I'd assumed wouldn't care who succeeded next—might back the Fifth, contrary to my expectations.
Whatever the outcome, it was distant for now.
For the moment, I had to hope our forces, flush with major gains in the imperial heartland, returned safely. That the kingdom's borders held firm until then.
And that the Empire's repeated blunders emboldened the minor nations to rise up fiercely.
But sometimes, the world throws the sequence of events into chaos unexpectedly.
And it just had to be now.