Chapter 108
"Urgent news!! We just received word that soldiers from the Kingdom of Esten have attacked the eastern border guard!!"
“……What?! They finally……!”
The royal palace erupted into chaos with the early-morning soldier’s report.
“Your Highness, the preparations are complete.”
King Forten III hastily summoned his ministers upon hearing the soldier’s report.
“You have arrived. Your Highness.”
The ministers seated around the round table in the conference room rose to their feet simultaneously as they looked at the king.
“You must have heard all the reports that arrived this morning. It appears that fighting is ongoing in the east, and the situation does not seem favorable.”
The king said, sitting down hurriedly.
“Do not be too concerned. Small-scale battles occurring in the Antarian Federation are not uncommon.”
But Prime Minister Neburan appeared rather calm.
“However, a white flag has been brought. You know what the color of the flag signifies, do you not?”
“The commander of the eastern border garrison, Droth, is a man who is overly suspicious. While his suspicions are good for guarding against enemies, it can sometimes lead him to overestimate even small skirmishes.”
“Then, what would be the best course of action?”
“At the very least, since we cannot be sure, it would be good to send a portion of the capital defense force to the border just in case.”
The prime minister answered without hesitation.
“Sending about three hundred would be sufficient.”
“Hmmm……”
“With the Red Knight Order in the capital, there is no need to worry.”
The king nodded at Neburan’s words.
“What are the opinions of the other ministers?”
“We share the same thought.”
The ministers unanimously agreed with his words.
“It is always the case……”
“Do not worry.”
Unlike the initial urgency, the ministers responded with glances at each other due to the prime minister’s leisurely demeanor.
“I see. Then, as you say, we will deploy three hundred defense soldiers.”
‘That’s right. Everyone is just a pawn… If I’m not here, the kingdom won’t run.’
The prime minister’s nose seemed to reach the sky as the king followed his thoughts.
The conference room door suddenly burst open, and a soldier entered panting.
“This bastard……! Which safety are you considering……!”
“Urgent report!!”
The prime minister tried to shout at the soldier,
“The eastern border garrison…… has been completely wiped out.”
“……What?!”
The prime minister stared at the soldier with a dazed expression.
“W-what are you saying?! The border has fallen!!!”
“I don’t know. A red beacon has flared up from the border, and currently, troops in black armor are advancing towards the royal capital!”
It was not something that happened often.
A hiccup——.
With the surprising report, the prime minister couldn’t help but hiccup repeatedly.
‘T-the border has fallen? Then what about the capital? Isn’t it the end here too?’
“E-escape……”
Whenever ignoring the other ministers, when hearing about the enemy, he started thinking about how to flee.
“Black armor? The knights of Esten Kingdom wear blue armor. You wouldn’t be reporting a mistake, would you!!”
The king pushed Neburan aside and shouted at the soldier.
“No. We confirmed that there are exactly the kingdom’s flags in the group. It was definitely the Esten Kingdom.”
“Then have they created a new knight order?!”
“At the moment…… there is nothing we can……”
The king slammed the table.
“Is there no one here!! Go immediately and bring Aswell!!”
“Sir Aswell. We have arrived.”
Current war between Tekan Kingdom and Esten Kingdom. Do you wish to participate in the war?
It was an amazingly timed arrival.
Before Forten III’s shout had even finished, Aswell walked through the corridor and into the conference room.
“Oh oh……!! Sword Emperor!! Did you hear the news just now? It is a report that the eastern border has fallen!”
Seeing Aswell, who rushed out to meet him, Woojin frowned slightly.
‘Is this the king?’
It was a sight like a child throwing a tantrum.
It seemed he understood why a small kingdom could only remain a small kingdom.
‘Now that I think about it, Penril doesn’t seem that important…….’
There were many things he wanted to say, but Woojin knew it wasn’t his place to speak, so he kept quiet.
“I will lead the troops to the eastern border.”
“Great, I trust you!”
Aswell bowed his head with fists clenched in response to the king’s command.
Aswell stood up, and a notification rang out to Woojin.
‘Participating in the war…….’
With the title of [Mad Demon], it might be a perfect opportunity for leveling up.
‘But I don’t want to fight for such a clueless king…….’
“Will you not help me?”
Esten War
📍 Location: Eastern Border
🎁 Reward: Tekan Kingdom’s title
“Uhm……”
‘This is the first quest where the reward doesn’t pull me in.’
Woojin smiled awkwardly.
‘The reward can be revoked, after all.’
It would be a shame to ruin the rapport built with Aswell.
“I understand.”
[Quest accepted.]
“Then let’s prepare right away.”
Aswell said that the war of the small kingdom is not as grand as imagined, because the border garrison was only five hundred to one thousand people.
‘With the military of neighboring countries being weak, the existence of the Sword Emperor alone maintains the national power.’
It was surprising that there was a person like Aswell Balan in such a small kingdom.
“Speed up. We will arrive at the Great Forest soon.”
“Yes!!!”
The soldiers answered with tense expressions to his words.
Originally, the soldiers following him now were not the Red Knight Order, but the capital defense force.
‘Even with the Sword Emperor, they are all trembling.’
Looking at the soldiers’ faces, Woojin felt that the training level of Tekan Kingdom was lower than expected.
‘The Red Knight Order is different…….’
Woojin thought that perhaps Aswell Balan becoming king would be better.
‘Well, it’s not like I have to…….’
The feeling of the powerless small kingdom being shouldered by the Sword Emperor alone.
“Stop!!”
At that moment, Aswell raised his hand, and the defense soldiers stopped simultaneously.
According to the report, black smoke was billowing from the wall where the border garrison had been.
“The battle seems to have ended…… Wait here all of you. I will investigate the wall and return.”
“Wait a moment.”
Aswell was about to mount his horse, but Woojin stopped him.
“Commander, you are scouting. Leave such things to your subordinates.”
“However……”
‘He must be distrustful.’
“I will go.”
Woojin answered first, understanding his heart.
“……Please.”
Woojin nodded, dismounted, and ran quietly towards the wall.
“W-wait! Hurry!!”
The voice came from below the wall.
Woojin hid behind the rubble and slowly looked towards the sound.
Kung—!! Kung—!!!
Below the wall, several people in robes and black-armored soldiers were striking fallen corpses with their weapons.
‘Is this the black armor I saw from the castle?’
But their actions were strange.
Instead of carrying the chopped corpses in bags, they were chopping the fallen corpses into pieces.
“Uwoh……”
Woojin couldn’t help but retch at the horrific scene he couldn’t express in words.
‘What exactly are they doing?’
He couldn’t say anything else, but from what they were doing, they didn’t seem like ordinary soldiers.
What kingdom’s soldiers chop corpses into bags?
[Chui…… Chui…….]
At that moment.
From the black-armored soldiers, strange breathing sounds like scraping metal were heard.
Creak— Creak—.
Their footsteps were also strange.
‘Not human…….’
Although the helmet obscured the view, everything was suspicious.
Especially the smell.
With so many corpses on the battlefield, there was no blood smell.
Instead, there was only a sweet fragrance like burning incense.
“Let’s go.”
The robed ones said, and the black-armored soldiers lifted their bags and followed them.
Lamps in the robed people’s hands.
White smoke was flowing out from them.
‘……Is the source of the smell over there?’
Woojin walked carefully to the place below the wall where they had been collecting the corpses after they all left.
-Master.
Setsuna called him.
“Why?”
-Master, this is the smell of Malfran Leaf.
“What is that?”
-These days we don’t use it much…… but in the past, it was the hypnotic leaf used by monster tamers. By burning the leaf and inhaling the smoke, it induces addiction.
“Then does that mean they used the Malfran Leaf to call the soldiers a little while ago?”
-Yes. But that leaf doesn’t work on humans.
As expected, the soldiers a little while ago were not human.
-And only alchemists know how to refine Malfran Leaf.
‘Alchemists…….’
Aswell had mentioned that alchemists had come in large numbers to Esten Kingdom.
‘Then were those them from earlier?’
Woojin turned to report to Aswell.
“Setsuna, how was it?”
-Hehe, while Master was away at the training ground, I wasn’t just playing around.
She rolled up her sleeves and smiled brightly.
During Woojin’s absence, she had devoured all the experience points from wandering the Balan family library and storerooms.
-Now, if I level up one more, I’ll be at level 20.
It was about learning a new skill.
Woojin was looking forward to what it would be.
“Really, how was it?”
“First, all the enemies have retreated. There were a few left near the wall, but they seemed like alchemists.”
“……Alchemists?”
“Yes. I was about to deal with them, but in case I heard a commotion and the enemy appeared, I just observed.”
“Good job.”
“They seem to be controlling the black armor soldiers with something, but they don’t seem human.”
Aswell frowned slightly at his words.
“When controlling monsters, it seemed like they were using the leaf…… but I couldn’t be sure.”
“Monsters…… Perhaps the reason the border garrison fell was because of that.”
“What should we do? If we want to pursue, we can follow them closely enough.”
“I roughly guess where they are going.”
The area outside the border was just the Great Forest.
“They said they took the chopped corpses, right? We need to find out what those bastards are trying to do.”
And he knew there were alchemist facilities near the Great Forest.
“Everyone listen!!”
Aswell shouted at the soldiers.
“Don’t be afraid. You are with me.”
Waaah——!!!
Waaah——!!!
The defense soldiers erupted in cheers at his one word.
Indeed, the Sword Emperor.
In an instant, he raised the soldiers’ morale.
“To the Great Forest!!”
“……”
But it was strange.
Only Woojin could not hide his uneasy feeling.
“When I was born, it had already been destroyed……”
The strangely worded line from Irurin lingered in his mind.
The other world 50 years from now.
And Irurin, 19 years old.
31 years of time.
At some point during that, the Tekan Kingdom would have fallen.
‘Surely not today.’
Hiiiiing——!!
Woojin pulled the reins and chased after them.