Chapter 247
Chapter 247
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 247
Chapter Title: 71. Virtues of the Crown Prince (3)
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"Your Highness!"
"Lower your visor!"
After laughing uproariously for a good while, I finally lowered my visor at the knights' insistent urging.
Clank.
My wide field of vision narrowed in an instant.
The sharp tang of iron stung my nostrils. The thunderous pounding of hooves shook the earth, battering my eardrums.
Rawr!
The enraged roars of the centaurs sent prickles racing across my skin.
"Tighten ranks!"
"They're just gonna trample right over us!"
The knights' frantic shouts from all directions set my heart pounding wildly.
Through the narrow slit in my helmet, I glared at the ferocious enemies charging straight at us.
A hero of the centaur tribe was barreling toward me, his blue eyes gleaming with savage light.
His extraordinary presence stabbed at my heart like an invisible spear.
"Hoo."
I let out a deep breath. The heat surging from within filled the inside of my helmet.
My face burned as if swept by flames.
The heat made my lips twitch. My eyelids quivered.
Every inch of my body screamed that I was on the battlefield.
The thoughts cluttering my mind gradually faded. The indigestion squeezing my chest vanished like a lie.
For the first time, I truly felt alive, breathing.
But it still wasn't enough.
My mouth was parched. My throat burned.
I knew exactly how to quench this thirst.
Only by slicing through enemy flesh and drenching myself in their blood would this burning thirst finally subside.
At that moment, a rider and her mount leaped out in front of me.
A woman whose inner thirst and hunger matched mine, but whose patience far surpassed it.
Adelia Bayern, bearer of the Slaughterer and War Maniac traits.
With her now quite skilled horsemanship, Adelia raised her sword.
Golden aura gathered at the tip of her blade.
Seeing that, I dug my heels into my horse's flanks.
I intended to swing my sword before she could touch the feast prepared for me.
I gripped Dusk tightly. I spurred my horse onward without cease.
Finally, the once-vague faces of the centaurs sharpened into focus—the veins bulging on their bronze torsos now vivid.
"Snow-capped mountains, frozen valleys, blood-soaked walls stand silent," "Only the dawn horns of the advance echo through." "Birds that fled the biting winds return along the ravaged path." "The fortress, its icy shroud worn thin, finally awakens from slumber and stretches."
⟨ War Poem ⟩
I recited the war poem, singing of spring finally come to the knights of winter.
Woooom.
A majestic wave erupted simultaneously from a hundred knights, spreading in all directions.
Whoosh.
Morale soared. Fighting spirit sharpened like blades.
I gathered that wild energy from every direction into one.
Roooar.
The flames of soulfire clinging to my sword blazed fiercer.
Gripping the searing blade of fire, I charged on.
Just as the centaur prince's features came into sharp relief, I released the reins and seized Dusk with both hands.
"Hup."
I drew a short breath and angled the sword obliquely.
And as I swung it down—
Grrroooowl.
At that instant, the centaur prince let out a low rumble from his throat.
Rawr!
The centaurs bellowed long and split to either side.
"They're aiming for the flanks!"
"Flank knights, brace for impact!"
The knights bellowed.
But the expected flank attack never came.
The centaurs simply swept past our lines.
"Loose!"
A ranger's shout rang out.
Swish swish swish.
Bolts launched from crossbows whistled through the air.
I twisted in the saddle to glance back.
The centaurs were charging straight at the rangers.
Ballerhard's rangers dropped their crossbows and hurled caltrops from pouches at their waists.
"Aim for the legs first!"
Veteran rangers drew swords and surged to the front.
Seeing that, I leaned forward.
I planned a wide turn to hit the centaurs from behind.
But no chance came.
The centaurs deftly avoided the scattered caltrops and slipped past the rangers' flanks.
Without so much as thrusting their firmly gripped spears.
"Huh?"
Dazed atop my galloping horse, I stared at the centaurs' retreating backs.
They galloped far without looking back, then halted at a distance and wheeled around to face us.
Their spear tips dragged low, the bloodlust prickling my skin utterly gone.
Thud.
Then the centaur tribe's prince drove his spear deep into the ground.
Spreading his arms wide, he stepped forward and haltingly spoke.
"...!"
His pronunciation and accent were a mangled mess, and he bellowed it at the top of his lungs, making it hard to understand.
"......! Ba... Bayern... knight!"
Only the words "Bayern knight" rang clear in my ears.
Flustered by the sudden shift, I still asked him,
"What about Bayern?"
In response, he mangled more words at me.
This time, I understood.
"We didn't know it was Bayern lands! We have no desire whatsoever to covet them—please don't misunderstand!"
"Bayern lands?"
"Yes!"
He thundered, then poured out words in rapid fire.
His clumsy human tongue tripped over itself so fast I couldn't follow.
But amid it, one thing was clear: he no longer wished to fight.
The echoes of the war poem still lingered. The gathered sword light still flickered hungrily.
The fire was just kindled, yet nothing left to burn.
It chafed at me.
I wanted to charge him right then. Even now, his heroic aura goaded me relentlessly.
But I couldn't hurl myself alone at an enemy showing no will to fight, so I forcibly sheathed Dusk.
"Damn it. What the hell is going on."
Frustrated, I kicked idly at the dirt.
**
Afterward, the centaur prince ranted on for quite some time.
Listening to his garbled speech—sentences he couldn't even string together properly—was torture enough, but his voice boomed like swallowed thunder, making it utter agony.
Yet he kept shouting, heedless of my grimaces or my eardrums bursting.
Through that noise masquerading as language, I pieced together the gist.
For starters, his name was Eurofe, as expected—the prince of centaurs, king among the half-man half-horse tribe.
And he was utterly bewildered.
"So we followed the guidance of the gale...!"
"Guidance my ass. You were just wandering lost."
He'd poked around trying to figure things out, only to stumble on unfamiliar human castles and cities.
He didn't even know where this was, let alone that centuries had passed since the Great War ended.
"For god's sake, speak softer. Softer. Anyway, let's sum it up. You were battling some weirdos—not mages, not knights—losing numbers, then suddenly the world flipped, and you woke up here. You thought we were with them and attacked, but spotted Bayern's light and realized the mistake."
"Exactly!"
I confirmed, and he bellowed unnecessarily loud in reply.
I scowled.
A bit more chatter with him, and my eardrums wouldn't survive. But my hearing wasn't the real issue.
I mentally sorted through my talk with Eurofe.
Figuring out who attacked the centaur tribe first was easy.
Those neither-mage-nor-knight freaks were surely Ring Knights.
Having woken after 400 years myself and described them the same way to Eurofe back then, the term didn't sound foreign.
The question was which Ring Knights, and why they attacked.
Centaurs were among the rare non-hostile异種 alongside dwarves.
No reason to pick a fight with peaceful ones.
Besides, they wandered like the wind—no land to plunder, no valuables to loot.
Yet masters of combat, tough foes; touching them meant loss with no gain.
After much thought, I had my answer.
"Burgundians."
It hid in Eurofe's ramblings.
The knights' colors matched Burgundy Empire knights perfectly.
But that solved the smallest mystery.
Why they attacked centaurs remained murky, and bigger questions loomed.
"Opened my eyes to a strange world..."
Most baffling: their sudden appearance, like dropped from the sky.
As if time and space were cut and pasted back wrong.
They weren't the first.
The Fire Dragon had returned abruptly like the centaurs; the orc great lord had leaped centuries to face me.
No answers came despite brooding, so I tabled it.
"Come with me for now."
He didn't refuse.
He needed time to adjust to this alien world too—natural, really.
Yet after my courtesy, he thanked the wrong party.
"Grateful for your kindness! Knight of Bayern!"
Adelia flinched at the unexpected gratitude, glancing at me.
"This isn't Bayern territory..."
She looked uncomfortable, as if she'd committed grave sacrilege.
Eurofe's eyes widened at her words.
"Welcome to Leonberger. Children of the gale."
Late welcome from me, half-hearted even to my ears.
"We've delayed too long."
I raised a hand before he could thunder a question.
"To avoid seeing Count Branburt flip out and send search parties, we hurry."
Honestly, more that I had no reason to keep roaming this windy plain than fear of searchers.
But no need to explain that.
"Pack up quick and head to the count's castle!"
The knights rushed preparations; rangers scurried picking up scattered caltrops.
Watching, I grumbled softly.
"Should've sent Vincent and come myself."
Then I'd be swinging my sword merrily now.
My mutter drew Kals shaking his head.
I shrugged and trudged toward the count's castle regardless.
Two days' march brought us there.
I entered with Eurofe and a few centaurs.
"Your Highness. What in the world happened... and who are they..."
Count Branburt eyed the centaurs sidelong as we entered.
I'd sent a ranger ahead with a rough explanation, but he clearly wanted details from me.
"Someone else'll explain. I need rest."
Drained of all motivation, I dumped reports on others and headed straight to my quarters.
As I shut the door and aimed for bed, I froze.
An inexplicable unease swept over me.
I scanned the room. The lavish guest chamber prepared specially for me.
Then, in one corner, unnaturally deep shadow—I gripped Dusk.
"Come out."
No reply.
"Won't come, I'll drag you."
I aimed my sword at the darkness.
That instant, it rippled.
And from pitch black emerged a stark white face.