Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Law of the Jungle (1)
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The nobles of the kingdom who surrendered to the empire were mostly allowed to keep their titles.
This was only natural. If they stripped away titles, who would ever surrender to the empire?
That said, some among them had been assigned key positions in the Leinheim territory by Cain himself.
Belguard was a prime example. His loyalty and competence had earned him an appointment as the commander of the garrison at Berg Fortress.
He was a mid-level Sword Expert and had experience helping Earl Sandwy manage the territory.
As such, he was the perfect fit to defend Berg Fortress.
And indeed, Belguard had lived up to Cain's expectations. At least until the sun rose this morning...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A deafening explosion that tore at his eardrums.
And raging flames.
Belguard tilted his head to the right. His left ear could no longer hear a thing.
Soon after, what reached him were the horrific screams ripping through his chest.
There was no time to question it.
He was a knight who had taken up the sword for honor.
Even if the nation and lord he served had changed, he had never once forgotten his duty from the very start.
Gritting his teeth, he barely managed to stand. What entered his eyes were beastmen in human form slaughtering his soldiers.
"...Insolent beasts, how dare you!!"
Spitting out his rage, Belguard charged back into the fray in an instant. His sword effortlessly severed the beastmen's necks.
The gap between beastmen and humans was clear. But a seasoned knight possessed the skill and power to bridge that gap.
Belguard in particular was a loyal vassal of Earl Sandwy and a veteran knight who had reached the mid-level Sword Expert realm.
He had more than enough skill to cut down mere ordinary beastmen with ease.
"Not bad swordsmanship."
"...".
"What's wrong? Weren't you going to keep fighting?"
But that was as far as it went. Unfortunately, he lacked the power to turn the tide of battle.
To reverse the situation, he would need to overpower the boy who now appeared leisurely, clapping before him.
The moment their eyes met, Belguard sensed an insurmountable wall in the boy.
This feeling... He had experienced it before. It was the same sensation he'd felt facing the empire's Masters.
Only then did Belguard realize how the fortress had fallen...
The boy had breached it single-handedly—a fortress that had boasted an ironclad defense as usual. Crumbling walls and a burning stronghold.
There was only one being capable of that.
"Who the hell are you?"
His body felt paralyzed, refusing to move. Just standing there before him was enough to wear down his very soul.
Squeezing out every ounce of courage for that single question was the limit of what he could manage.
Yet even after dragging a human to his knees in an instant, the boy spoke as if he understood.
"I see. Completely overwhelmed, huh? What a pity. You're strong enough to glimpse a fragment of it, only to crumble..."
"...".
"But as a reward for not fleeing to the end, I'll gladly tell you. I am the King of Beasts, leader of the Seven Beast Kings... Khan."
"King of Beasts... You don't mean the Beast King?"
"That's right. Are your doubts resolved now?"
Beast King Khan.
The King of Beasts who had formed the Seven Beast Kings. Who could have imagined he would appear here?
But what needed to be done hadn't changed. Belguard raised his trembling sword, pointing its tip at the Beast King.
His arm shook from the terror of recognizing the overwhelming gap... but his eyes no longer wavered.
"Impressive."
"Haaah!!"
A short roar infused with resolve. It was more like a whip cracking to awaken his fear-stricken self.
So far away. A distance a knight's body could cross in an instant felt endlessly distant today.
Every movement felt heavy and sluggish, as if he were moving underwater.
Yet piercing through his maddened senses, Belguard finally closed the gap and swung his sword with all his might.
"Well done."
"...".
"I've committed your bravery to memory. So now, you may rest."
His desperate swing cleaved only empty air. Before he knew it, the Beast King had walked past him and patted his shoulder.
Furious at the words that sounded like encouragement for a child, Belguard tried to move—
Then blood erupted.
Blood. Unceasing blood. His vision dyed red with warm blood. And that was the last sight he beheld.
"Cough."
Khan's condition wasn't great either. He'd only used his power for a brief moment, yet the backlash was already hitting him.
No regrets. If not for that choice in the past, he couldn't have protected his kin.
But if death was near...
At the very least, he would die true to himself.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Cain hadn't overlooked the Beast King's existence from the start. In fact, the Beast King was the one he had been especially wary of.
Though information was scarce... according to Wyvern's testimony, the moment the Beast King ascended, they had become equals in battle.
At the very least, the Beast King's martial prowess had closed the gap with his natural predator, Wyvern, in one go.
However, for some reason, the Beast King hadn't shown himself once in the past 90 days.
The war was clearly in the empire's favor.
The beastmen couldn't breach the fortresses, and their casualties mounted with each passing day.
In that situation, their greatest asset, the Beast King, hadn't joined the fray? Morgana had proposed a plausible hypothesis.
"The Beast King must be unable to move for some reason."
"But we can't say that for certain, can we?"
"If he's simply sat by and watched casualties pile up for personal reasons over the last three months, that would be the truly strange thing."
Morgana had gone so far as to declare him utterly unqualified as a king, and her argument wasn't without merit.
Waging sieges without siege weapons had inflicted far more losses on the beastmen than imagined.
People had even joked that the war would soon end as the exhausted beastmen withdrew.
But the messenger who had just arrived made those jokes vanish in an instant.
"Berg Fortress has fallen?! I-In just one day?!"
"It has to be a ruse! How could a perfectly fine fortress fall overnight?!"
"...".
The nobles, Viscount Harban included, reacted with disbelief, but three individuals couldn't afford to.
Cain and Princess Morgana.
And Master Grandel.
As the most authoritative and wise among them fell silent, it was the nobles who grew anxious.
"Your Highness."
"...Generally speaking, it's not easy for a fully operational fortress to fall in a single day."
"Y-Yes. This must be a deception to fool us..."
"But there's exactly one being among the beastmen capable of it."
The nobles fell silent at Morgana's firm words. Only Anna raised her hand to speak.
"Do you mean the Beast King, by chance?"
"Precisely."
"He seemed unable to move for some reason before. What changed suddenly?"
"It seems a shift in his mindset occurred. Though I don't know the exact reason yet."
Thanks to Anna's timely support, the meeting transitioned smoothly into countermeasures without further confusion.
In truth, the plan was already in place. If the Beast King took the field aggressively, they would immediately request reinforcements from the empire.
No need for a messenger. They could use the necklace locket the emperor had given the princess just in case.
Morgana opened the locket. A pure white flash sparkled briefly before dissipating into the air.
"This will prompt His Majesty the Emperor to send a Master right away."
"Did you not have that locket during the kingdom invasion?"
"We probably had it, but I wouldn't have used it. Of course, I never dreamed we'd lose like that."
Cain thought it fortunate inwardly and moved to action. The next stronghold after Berg Fortress was Sword Cliff.
It was essentially the final bastion. If it fell, the path to the territory's heart would open wide.
Thus, they had to stop the beastmen at Sword Cliff.
To that end, Cain led 30,000 troops—excluding minimal garrisons—toward Sword Cliff.
A true all-out force, including not just Wyvern but even the Red Hammer dwarves' troops.
"Assemble all the tribes of the Seven Beast Kings. We stake the fate of the beastmen on this battle and will emerge victorious."
Perhaps sensing the empire's movements, Khan had gathered the full might of the Seven Beast Kings at the fallen fortress.
For just this one clash.