Chapter 317: Prisoners of War (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 317: Prisoners of War (2)
One day ago.
While Carol was being dragged into a torture chamber to endure horrific torment, a meeting convened over a report brought by Knight Commander Jonathan.
"...This is indeed a troubling matter," Viscount Conrad murmured.
Prisoners of war.
The moment he read the contents of the report, he realized exactly how sensitive this issue was.
'Dmitry is finally regaining its stability after the war. If we attack the Kronos Empire now over the existence of prisoners of war, we might plunge into even greater chaos than before. Besides, the existence of these prisoners is merely an assumption based on a brief magical communication. There is no physical evidence. If we raise an issue with only this much proof, the Kronos Empire will simply kill all the prisoners and destroy the evidence.'
A headache was already throbbing at his temples.
If they raised the issue on the international stage and failed to prove the prisoners existed, Dmitry could end up at a severe disadvantage—even though Kronos was clearly in the wrong. The continent's two great pillars, Kronos and Valhalla, still stood strong.
Any rashness on Dmitry's part could give those two empires an excuse to ally. Unlike the previous war, facing a simultaneous attack from both would be incredibly difficult to fend off. The real problem was that even having evidence wouldn't guarantee an optimistic outcome. The sheer chaos that would ensue if the ceasefire was nullified made his head spin.
'The number of prisoners is a few hundred at most. Lord Roman Dmitry might not even want to uncover this truth.'
He racked his brain. Dmitry needed a villain—someone to play the bad guy. If Roman Dmitry needed a scapegoat to voice the ugly truth, Viscount Conrad was more than willing to take on that role.
Viscount Conrad raised his voice.
"This is not a matter to be decided hastily. The brief communication merely hinted at the possibility of prisoners of war. However, if we question the Kronos Empire about them without clear evidence, they will undoubtedly destroy all proof to prevent their wrongdoing from being exposed. Once that happens, there is no turning back. Dmitry will look ridiculous for clamoring about non-existent prisoners, and Kronos might even secure Valhalla's support to attack us."
"Indeed. We must handle this matter with extreme caution," the nobles aligned with Conrad chimed in.
A mere few hundred. Compared to the entirety of Dmitry's population, it was a negligible number. They could not throw the entire nation into chaos just to save them.
Viscount Conrad knew he was being selfish and acting like absolute trash, but in the process of running a nation, not everyone could remain clean and righteous. He willingly accepted the role of the villain. If Roman Dmitry needed to make a ruthless decision, Conrad believed that speaking up first would ease his lord's burden.
Furthermore, he had already witnessed Roman Dmitry's priorities on the battlefield.
Roman's act of slaughtering all of the Kronos Empire's prisoners had proven that he would not allow the majority to be endangered for the sake of captives. It was no different now. They could not put Dmitry at risk for prisoners whose very existence was uncertain.
It was then.
Thud.
"Read this."
Roman Dmitry tossed a stack of documents onto the table. It was not the report Knight Commander Jonathan had brought.
Looking puzzled, Viscount Conrad carefully examined the papers. As he read further, his eyelids twitched. The silent nobles swallowed hard, watching the situation unfold.
Finally, he let out a long breath. "Haa..."
He set the documents down. Exhaling deeply, Viscount Conrad looked up at Roman Dmitry with a shocked expression.
"Could it be... you already knew about the existence of the prisoners?"
* * *
Right after the war ended, Roman Dmitry had given several orders to Lucas. Among them were specific instructions regarding the prisoners.
"The Kronos Empire claims to have released all prisoners, but they may have maliciously hidden them in retaliation for my actions. Lucas, deploy our informants to verify if there are any Dmitry prisoners left in the Kronos Empire. If there are, do not approach them first under any circumstances. Instead, secure irrefutable evidence that can prove their existence."
Lucas had already made his move two months ago.
Finding the prisoners was no easy task. Knowing how sensitive the issue was, the Kronos Empire had thoroughly hidden them, disguising the prisoners working in the quarries as ordinary convicts. Furthermore, the war had made it exceptionally difficult for informants to operate inside Kronos. The empire conducted rigorous background checks, filtering out anyone even slightly suspicious, which had severely weakened Dmitry's intelligence network within their borders.
Thus, even before Carol sent the magical communication a few days ago, Lucas had already secured the list of prisoners and concrete evidence.
The stage was set. Just as Roman Dmitry finished his preparations, Carol's message arrived at the perfect moment.
Roman Dmitry spoke.
"Viscount Conrad. I fully understand why you say that. On the battlefield, in front of everyone, I made my stance clear by slaughtering all of the Kronos Empire's prisoners. I believed it was the right thing to do then, and my values have not changed. However, the situation then and the situation now are fundamentally different."
Prisoners of war were like a flickering candle in the wind. To save lives that could be snuffed out at any moment, one had no choice but to endure great sacrifices.
"I ask you all. Why do you think I pushed the enemy so hard while excluding any possibility of a prisoner exchange?"
"..."
Everyone remained silent. The reason was obvious. Though it might sound harsh, allies who had already been captured were nothing more than a burden hindering victory.
Roman Dmitry did not take sacrifice lightly—he had even introduced the National Merit System—but he was not a man to be swayed by mere sentiment. Everyone had supported his judgment. After all, wasn't that exactly how Dmitry had brought down the Kronos Empire? They had hoped he would not needlessly poke at the sensitive issue of prisoners and throw the people into confusion.
If they brought up the prisoners but failed to save them, it could cause massive internal rifts.
Amidst their silent stares, Roman Dmitry looked over his leadership.
"During a war, we cannot be swayed by the existence of prisoners. Every single one of us prepared to die with the sole focus of achieving victory. Demanding further sacrifices just to save captives is a foolish decision that loses sight of our ultimate goal. However, that does not mean we ignore their existence. The reason we must seize victory at all costs is because the words of the victor carry weight. Once we win the war, we occupy the high ground, giving us the power to bring our prisoners back safely."
Had they lost, far from getting the prisoners back, most of their citizens might have been dragged off to forced labor. That was why they had to win. At the negotiating table, the Kronos Empire had claimed to have released the prisoners even before Dmitry brought it up.
That was the difference.
Roman Dmitry understood the absolute advantage of being the victor. Only by holding the upper hand could they, paradoxically, increase the chances of saving the very prisoners they had once seemingly abandoned.
"We became victors by using sacrifice as our stepping stone. From now on, the situation is different. Though we turned a blind eye to the prisoners during the war, now that the war is over, I will exercise the victor's right to bring my people back. That is why we won. Dmitry no longer has any reason to stand by and watch Kronos commit atrocities."
He spoke fiercely. The leadership stirred.
Only then did they realize that Roman Dmitry's reason for killing Kronos's prisoners was not merely a cold calculation to eliminate a burden.
"Assemble the troops. To bring back Dmitry's people from beyond the Western Front, I am more than willing to wage war."
It was paradoxical. He had abandoned the prisoners to win the war, yet once the war was over, he resolved to go to war for them.
However, at his declaration that he would never turn his back on the prisoners of war—on the people of Dmitry—the leadership shouted in unison:
"We will follow your command!"
"We will follow your command!"
Among them was Viscount Conrad, shouting with passionate fervor.
* * *
Sacrifice. It was a truly complex issue.
However, the experiences of his past life had given Roman Dmitry a firm standard.
'When I crawled up from the very bottom, my life was a precarious existence, protected by no one.'
It was not simply a matter of the survival of the fittest. The Demonic Cult of that era was exceptionally cruel.
Baek Joong-hyuk had once been deployed on a highly dangerous mission under his father's orders. Although he achieved the objective, his life was endangered as a horde of enemies pursued him. Yet, the Demonic Cult offered no assistance whatsoever. Because they had to publicly deny any involvement, they did not care in the slightest whether Baek Joong-hyuk lived or died.
An arrow pierced his arm, and his back was slashed open. The Mad Demon, who was still young at the time, took multiple arrows just to protect him.
They were on the brink of death. Pushed to the absolute edge, the Mad Demon gritted his teeth and spoke.
"My Lord! You must not die! Survive no matter what, wipe out all those trashy higher-ups, and make sure you take the throne of the Demonic Cult! Sacrificing ourselves for the Cult? We don't resent that. But to deny our existence and turn their backs on us like this... I absolutely cannot tolerate it!"
Those words had left him deep in thought.
The Demonic Cult was a world where only the strong survived. But in a world where the strong monopolized everything, what on earth was that strength even for?
It was laughable. Baek Joong-hyuk's father acted as if he were the strongest in the Murim, yet in the end, he showed the baseness of denying the existence of those who had bled for him. It was a shameful thing.
It was entirely different from the strength Baek Joong-hyuk desired. To live the life he wanted, Baek Joong-hyuk sought a level of strength that no one could ever hope to match. If he gained power, he refused to be despicable. Even if the path to victory was stained with blood and dirt, he would not become a power-drunk fool once he reached the summit.
And so, he had spoken to the Mad Demon, making a solemn vow.
"The day I take the throne of the Demonic Cult, even if we decide everything by the law of the jungle, I will never turn my back on those who sacrifice themselves for me. Some might call it selfish to only look after my own people. But to live selfishly, I will become so overwhelmingly strong that no one will ever dare approach me."
A selfish life. That was Baek Joong-hyuk's goal.
In a world revolving around himself, he wished to build his own empire without a single compromise. The Demonic Cult, the Evil Faction Murim, and the Righteous Faction Murim—all had eventually knelt before Baek Joong-hyuk.
And now, whether it was the Kronos Empire, the Valhalla Empire, or some entity from beyond the Abyss, he would not compromise in the slightest for his selfish life in this current world either.
* * *
They crossed the border.
Dmitry's sudden mobilization threw the Kronos Empire into a state of emergency.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"Enemy attack!"
"The enemy has crossed the border!"
The Kronos frontline defense post was thrown into utter chaos. In an instant, soldiers took their positions atop the castle walls. The commander, Count Munez, hurriedly tried to assess the situation, recalling his orders.
[…It seems Roman Dmitry has confirmed the existence of the prisoners of war. For now, try to lead them to negotiations. If he takes extreme measures, we will kill all the prisoners and completely destroy the evidence.]
"Damn it!" Count Munez grimaced.
The prisoners of war. When they were first smuggling them away to the quarries, Count Munez had suggested that it might be better to just send them back to Dmitry. There was no grand strategic reason—he was simply terrified of Roman Dmitry. He wanted to avoid giving that monster any excuse to cause trouble, preventing things from going awry later.
But the damage was already done.
Count Munez dispatched a messenger to de-escalate the situation.
Screeech. Thud.
The heavy iron gates opened. A messenger bearing a white flag rode out on horseback, galloping toward the advancing Dmitry army.
However, before long, a shocking scene unfolded.
Slash!
A round object soared into the sky. The moment the messenger approached to attempt a dialogue, Roman Dmitry severed his head with a single strike.
Blood splattered like rain. As the crimson pooled on the ground, the horse neighed in terror and fled back toward the castle.
Count Munez was left speechless. He had never imagined Roman would kill a messenger carrying a white flag of truce.
Thud, thud.
The Dmitry army halted its march. Roman Dmitry stepped forward, raising his voice as he looked up at Count Munez on the castle wall.
"The ceasefire negotiations are null and void. If you wish to resolve this situation, do not open your filthy mouths to propose negotiations. Bring Dmitry's soldiers before me right this instant. I will give you exactly two hours. If you do not bring every single prisoner out here by any means necessary, I promise you, I will not let you die a peaceful death."
It was a chilling threat. He continued.
"Do not even think about killing the prisoners or destroying the evidence. We have already secured all proof regarding this matter. If even a single person is missing, I will take it as a declaration of war against Dmitry."
This was not a conversation. It was a one-sided ultimatum.
As Roman Dmitry turned his horse and withdrew, Count Munez was thrown into a desperate, suffocating panic.