Chapter 282: Conclusion (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 282: Conclusion (2)
That day, the man named Lucas visited the Drake family and introduced himself as Roman Dmitry’s representative.
"So, what brings you to me?" Marquis Drake asked.
As the symbol of the Umberto military, he scrutinized Lucas with a sharp gaze befitting his formidable reputation. Standing right beside him was his eldest son, Calderon Drake. Having lived on the battlefield alongside his father since childhood, Calderon was a swordsmanship genius who had awakened a 3-Star Aura in his early thirties. Although the Umberto Kingdom had always suffered under Kronos's oppression, this father and son were such iconic figures that a common saying had emerged: If you want to know the future of Umberto, you only need to look at the Drakes.
The pressure exuding from them was immense.
An ordinary person would have crumbled under their heavy gazes, but Lucas had already experienced the overwhelming presence of Roman Dmitry.
Therefore, Lucas remained perfectly composed.
Taking a sip of the tea offered by the Drake family, he calmly addressed the situation.
"The aroma is wonderful," Lucas began. "Since you asked directly, I won't beat around the bush. I believe you are well aware that the Kronos Empire publicly declared they would assassinate my liege, Roman Dmitry. While dealing with the forces sent to carry out that assassination, my lord secured a document explicitly labeled as the '1st-Class Assassination List.'"
"Are you saying my name is on that list?"
"No. There were only two names on it. One was Count Rondon of the Redford Kingdom, and the other was..."
Lucas shifted his gaze.
His eyes drifted past Marquis Drake and settled heavily on Calderon Drake. Realizing the implication, the Marquis slammed his hand down on the table.
Crash!
"Those bastards deserve to be torn to shreds! They targeted my son? How dare they even think of touching the eldest son of the Drake family?!"
"Yes. They planned to assassinate your son and frame it as the work of traitors within the Umberto Kingdom. What they want is internal strife. If Marquis Drake, the symbol of the military, were consumed by rage, Umberto would lose the capacity to deal with Kronos, the external enemy. That is why I came in person—to warn you of the impending assassination attempt."
"Is that all?" Marquis Drake asked, his eyes narrowing. "While I am deeply grateful for the warning, you wouldn't have sought me out in person if that was your only purpose."
He was a battle-hardened veteran. Marquis Drake could easily read the board.
He deduced there had to be another reason why Roman Dmitry had headed to Redford, and why Lucas had sought him out here.
Lucas smiled.
"You are correct. From this point on, I would like to tell the Drake family exactly what is about to unfold. After finishing his business in Redford, my lord will head to the Valhalla Empire. Once he concludes everything there, it is highly likely that a full-scale war with the Kronos Empire will become a reality. When that time comes, I hope the Umberto Kingdom makes a realistic decision. The Kingdom Alliance will sway like reeds between Kronos and Dmitry, but if you choose Kronos again this time, the opportunity to reshape the continent's landscape will be gone forever."
"Are you suggesting... Dmitry intends to wage a total war against Kronos?"
"Yes. If things escalate to the extreme, Dmitry will not back down."
Marquis Drake was struck with awe.
Dmitry.
They are completely insane.
Though they had made incredible moves recently, he had never imagined they were actually prepared to go to war with Kronos. Lucas's words sowed a seed of chaos in his mind. Marquis Drake was a man of strong resolve, but a total war with Kronos was not something to be taken lightly. It was entirely different from simply defending against enemy skirmishes at the border. Declaring war on a monster like Kronos meant that a single wrong choice could lead the entire Umberto Kingdom down the path of ruin.
He sank into deep thought.
Just then, Calderon Drake spoke up.
"Father. May I say something?"
"Speak."
"Looking back at Roman Dmitry's actions, nothing he has ever done was a coincidence. He created his own opportunities and elevated Dmitry to where it is today. I believe this is no different. If Roman Dmitry has resolved to go to war and is offering us an opportunity like this, it is only logical to assume he has secured a way to deal with Kronos."
He looked at Lucas. As a fellow swordsman, Calderon Drake held a sincere respect for the path Roman Dmitry walked.
"I will not give you a definitive answer about our future right here and now. However, if the day comes when Roman Dmitry truly proves his war against Kronos through action... the Drakes will not let that opportunity slip away."
That day, the father and son shared a long conversation.
And later, when Roman Dmitry finally declared war, they contacted Dmitry to promise a new future.
* * *
Click.
The communication cut off.
The King of Odelia sat utterly dazed. The revelation that the Drakes had been aligned with Roman Dmitry from the very beginning struck him with an indescribable shock.
"...Roman Dmitry did not wage a reckless war. From the very start, he had already secured the support of the majority of the continent's kingdoms—Hector, Redford, Umberto, and Cairo. He set the stage to prove that he could bring down the Kronos Empire with Dmitry's power alone. And without even realizing that, I made such a foolish decision."
Goosebumps broke out over his skin.
Roman Dmitry was bold, but he was not a man who ignored reality. He had secured Cairo and Hector as allies from the beginning, and won the favor of the Redford Kingdom through the matter with Count Rondon. And in Umberto—instead of trying to win over their weak king, he had bypassed the throne entirely and approached the Drake family, the true pillar of the Umberto Kingdom, to paint a picture of a new era.
In the end, Dmitry had never needed the support of the Kingdom Alliance.
Rather than wasting effort trying to win over Frank and Odelia, Roman had simply tested the sincerity of the two kingdoms through his unprecedented actions. The King of Frank had been quick-witted. As the situation shifted rapidly, Frank chose to go with the flow. But the King of Odelia, after agonizing over the decision, had chosen to cling to the Kronos Empire.
It was a despairing realization.
He wanted to rip his own mouth apart in regret, but even if he could turn back time, he doubted he would have made a different choice.
"...Father. Why did you make me so weak?"
The Former King. When passing down the crown, the King of Odelia's father had left him with these words:
"The throne is not a place of pure joy. Remember the pain of our ancestors. Not a single one who held their heads high against powerhouses like the Kronos Empire and the Valhalla Empire escaped a despairing end. One king had to visit the Empire and bow his head dozens of times, while another had his head severed and hung on the castle walls. That is the reality of Odelia. The king of a weak nation must be content with the power and life that befits a weak nation."
He had looked at his son with a pitying expression. The days he had lived were devoid of joy, because his own father, and his grandfather before him, had desperately drilled into him how the king of a weak nation must behave to survive. He had passed down this teaching for the sake of his son's survival. He truly believed there would never be a way to escape Kronos's clutches.
And those memories had become shackles.
Even when a counterweight like Dmitry appeared, the King of Odelia could not bring himself to envision a new future. The despair and pain of Odelia's ancestors were engraved too deeply into his bones.
...If Father had told me even slightly different words, would I have been able to make a different choice?
No. It was impossible.
He had lived his entire life that way; he wasn't even permitted to imagine a new future.
It was then.
Slam!
"The—the gates! The castle gates have been breached!" a subordinate cried out as he burst into the room.
Seeing the despair written all over the man's face, the King of Odelia squeezed his eyes shut.
The Odelia Kingdom, and his own fate, ended here.
* * *
It was a stark contrast.
Unlike Odelia, which had stepped onto the path of ruin, the King of Frank strode into his conference room with majestic confidence.
"His Majesty the King is entering!"
At the knight's booming voice, the high-ranking officials immediately rose from their seats and bowed. Stepping inside, the King of Frank took his seat at the head of the table, bathed in the reverent gazes of his leadership.
"Your Majesty's choice was absolutely correct. With Dmitry defeating Kronos, we have finally escaped the Empire's clutches."
"How could you possess such incredible foresight? We always knew Your Majesty's vision was far beyond that of ordinary men, but watching you lead the Frank Kingdom with such bold decisiveness has filled us with genuine admiration. We take this opportunity to pledge our loyalty to Your Majesty once more!"
"Long live His Majesty the King of Frank!"
The room erupted in cheers. At the news of Dmitry's victory, they rejoiced more than anyone else on the continent.
"Hahaha! You all flatter me too much," the King laughed. "I merely observed the flow of events and decided I could no longer stand by and watch the Kronos Empire's atrocities. The truly remarkable one is Roman Dmitry. I figured he had prepared thoroughly since he was the one who declared war first, but I never expected him to defeat Kronos through sheer force."
"No one on the continent could have anticipated that, Your Majesty."
"Is that so? Hahahaha!"
He laughed heartily. The King of Frank did not hide his joy, laughing so widely that his uvula was visible.
It had been a binary choice.
At the crossroads, the Frank Kingdom had chosen Dmitry after much agonizing deliberation. And yet, hearing that the Odelia Kingdom had been attacked by the Kronos Empire, and then that Dmitry had subsequently defeated Kronos, sent shivers down his spine. Odelia's end could have easily been Frank's future. If they had rashly accepted the Kronos Empire's proposal, Frank would not have been safe either.
His judgment had been flawless.
From now on, he had to make sure to capitalize on this advantageous situation. The King of Frank spoke up, his tone shifting to business.
"By attacking the Odelia Kingdom, the Kronos Empire has proven that they cannot coexist with the other kingdoms of the continent. Now is our chance. With Dmitry having repelled Kronos, we must press the advantage and secure favorable terms for ourselves. Gather our forces immediately. Tomorrow, right after our meeting with the new Kingdom Alliance, we will take our revenge on the Kronos Empire, which has despised and oppressed Frank for so long!"
He had made his decision.
At the King of Frank's command, the leadership reacted enthusiastically, praising it as a wise and bold judgment.
But the very next day, the King of Frank received baffling news.
"What? Kronos wants a ceasefire?!"
It was a completely unexpected development—one he hadn't imagined in the slightest.
* * *
The representative of Kronos was Baron Charlton.
Having arrived in Kairos, he looked at the King of Cairo sitting at the head of the hall and spoke.
"This war began from a minor conflict. While we fully understand the anger that drove Dmitry and Cairo to declare war, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Kronos wishes to bring this conflict to an end. Therefore, how about we declare a ceasefire? This decision is not born out of our defeat on the Western Front. The Kronos Empire has already completed all preparations for a follow-up offensive, but His Imperial Majesty does not wish for any more senseless bloodshed and has thus made this merciful choice."
He was incredibly arrogant.
Even though they had lost the war, and even though they were the ones proposing a ceasefire, he held his head high as if he had absolutely nothing to lose.
He was surrounded by enemies. Dmitry's people glared at him, but having lived his life as a representative of Kronos, he had never once felt fear. The simple fact that his backing was the Kronos Empire gave him boundless confidence.
"I believe this ceasefire is not a bad deal for Dmitry and Cairo. If you fight Kronos to the bitter end, do you truly believe the combined strength of your two kingdoms can handle us? Do not judge everything based on a single victory. Furthermore, as a special gesture, if you accept this ceasefire, we will spare the King of Odelia as a sign of peace. Although Odelia's capital is currently occupied by Kronos, we will guarantee Odelia's safety to prove our sincerity. Please, make a wise choice."
This was by no means the plea of a loser.
Kronos's "proposal" carried such a coercive tone that the word itself felt entirely meaningless.
It was then.
"Lord Roman Dmitry. What are your thoughts on Kronos's proposal?"
The King of Cairo passed the floor to him. Knowing that Roman Dmitry held the true authority, everyone's eyes naturally converged on him.
Then, Roman Dmitry spoke.
"Baron Charlton. Who decided on the custom that messengers are not to be killed during war?"
He was speaking down to the Baron with blatant disrespect. At the way Roman casually dismissed him even in such a formal setting, Baron Charlton's face flushed red.
"Mind your manners!" he shouted in protest.
"Continental Law dictates the duty to protect a 'messenger.' I, too, acknowledge that fact," Roman continued coolly. "However, did you follow the proper procedures of a messenger? You did not seek our permission beforehand, nor did you raise a white flag first. The Kronos Empire simply, and arrogantly, notified us of a messenger's warp. According to the procedures specified in Continental Law, you cannot be defined as a messenger."
"...What on earth do you mean by—"
In an instant, Baron Charlton panicked. He had not expected Roman Dmitry to react this way.
"We are still at war, Baron Charlton."
Roman unleashed his killing intent. Even without drawing his sword, his gaze alone was enough to suffocate the man's very existence.
"If you wish to exist as a messenger in the heart of enemy territory, then kneel as a sign of your white flag."