Chapter 215: Amaranth (15)
T/N Note: I’m finally back. And as an offering, please accept this 5 chapter release. As for the good news, I finally made some headway preparing stock chapters. This means the patrons will get to read further ahead (as soon as I transfer the chapters from translating folder to the editing folder, though I would like to ask you to wait until PR-ing is done), and that the public weekly releases will actually be regular from now on, on Sundays at UTC-5:00 noon +/- 1 hour (at least, until I figure out how to work the timer function on wordpress. Then, it’ll be exactly at noon).
It was an abruptly unfolded battle.
Furthermore, the enemies weren’t humans nor monsters.
The existences that were called the Legion of Dark in the last life.
A legion of dolls that gained new energy through hex.
They were clearly different than ordinary undead.
“Kkuuaaaah!”
Taat!
The hex dolls that kicked off the ground and rushed were very agile.
The Taemusas, who stood at the vanguard and were leading the Lancephil Fief Regiment, creased their brows as they cut down the dolls.
“These guys are fast!”
“They’re more troublesome than undead!”
Most undeads, while hard to kill and strong, had their joints and muscles congealed and their movements in contrast were significantly slow and unnatural.
But compared to them, the hex dolls moved at the same speed as living humans.
No, because they had lost their reason and emotions, they instead showed a much faster appearances in extreme situations than living humans.
Soldiers that did not fear death.
They definitely were troubling existences.
“Kuuk.”
“Damn it!”
Few Teamusas whose level of mana were low were pushed back.
A hex doll’s sword flew towards one Taemusa’s chest.
At that moment.
Puuk!
A long spear cut through the air and shattered the hex doll’s skull.
A black spear.
It was the Travias Spear.
The spear’s owner was of course Roan.
“Taemusas whose mana is exhausted move back!”
A quick order.
Simultaneously.
“Harrison!”
At the voice that rang through the battlefield, a young man jumped up from the rear.
He was the two-thousand man commander and the chief commander of the Lancephil Fief Regiment archers, Harrison.
He, holding the longbow that they had made at the end of last months of research, quickly pulled the bowstring.
He too was one of the Taemusas who had learned the Lancephil Mana Technique newly reborn through augmentation after augmentation.
Tudung!
With a heavy sound, three arrows simultaneously cut through the air.
Pububuck!
The arrows infallibly pierced the hex dolls’ heads.
Roan, penetrating the gap that opened up in front of his eyes, longly swung the Travias Spear.
The hex dolls’ bodies, at the sharp force, were split from top to bottom.
“Spread!”
Sequentially, a new order fell.
Harrison, who got down onto the ground as if he had been waiting, quickly sent a hand signal.
The archers, who were located at the rear, widely spread to the sides and drew their bowstrings.
The weren’t aiming at the enemies while standing still.
The Lancephil Fief Regiment’s archers did not halt for even a moment.
They moved like the wind and shot arrows like lightning.
Pubububububuck!
The arrows that flew and covered the sky skewered the hex dolls.
Their vanguards that had fiercely rushed crumbled at once.
Roan drew up the heat within his body and kicked off the ground.
“Brian!”
A sonorous voice once again rang the battlefield.
Suddenly, bright lights flashed from between the Taemusas who had retreated.
Simultaneously, blinding balls of light advanced through the soldiers and stepped up to the vanguard.
The Troop of Light Vende including Brian Miles cut through the air and charged towards the hex dolls, the Legion of Dark.
“All army charge!”
“Follow their backs!”
“Left wing detour! Right wing attack the enemy’s flank!”
The commands of thousand-man rank and above commanders were rapidly passed down.
Dududududu!
Sounds of horse hooves noisily rang and an extensive offense began.
Lights flashed and metallic sounds noisily rang.
Blood splattered and screams poured down.
The battle instantly raced towards its peak.
And Roan was there at that peak.
Kkwaaaang!
Roan experienced a large change since the Conquest of the Capital, Miller.
No, to be exact, there was groundbreaking development in his level and control of mana since meeting Flamdor and Travias in the Vertex.
It was as if.
‘A feeling like I’m finally starting to properly learn the Flamdor Mana Technique and the Travias Spear.’
There was no large change looking from the outside.
Since Roan still created fire and freely controlled the spear’s length and width.
But internally, he was able to create fire and freely control the spear’s length and width much faster and smoother than before with much smaller amount of mana than before.
Even.
“You dare!”
Together with a shout, Roan slightly crouched.
Suddenly, flames soared from his body and his hair was dyed with a scarlet light.
Pabababababat!
Simultaneously, his image trailed long and pierced between the hex dolls.
Along his steps, a path of flame was created on the earth.
Boom!
The Travias Spear thickened as much as Roan’s body and soon powerfully struck the ground.
Instantly, a man-sized flames jumped around it.
“Kkuhaaaaahk!
“Khiieeekk!”
The hex dolls, together with odd screams, turned into mushes or became balls of flame and fell.
“Huu.”
Roan exhaled a long sigh.
The hair color that had dyed with a scarlet light returned to its original color.
He was now able to consciously control, for a very short amount of time, the appearance during rampage, the state so-called Crimson War God.
Roan looked at the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s soldiers that rolled towards him like the tide and raised the Travias Spear up high.
“Wipe out the enemy!”
A voice that shook the sky and earth.
“Yes sir!”
The Taemusas and the soldiers answered in one voice and kicked off the ground.
“Kkuuuuh.”
“Kkuhaaah!”
The hex dolls that had no reason or emotion mindlessly stepped up in counteroffensive.
But they were no different than a candlelight before a wind, a mantis before a cartwheel.
Boom!
With a boom, the two armies clashed.
The battle was one-sided.
The Lancephil Fief Regiment, the Crimson Legion became a raging wave and swept the battlefield.
*****
“The after-battle cleanup is proceeding without issue, sir.”
Austin combined each troop-commander’s report and passed it.
Roan, staring at the soldiers doing the after-battle cleanup, nodded his head.
“Once the agents out in the Longfort Castle Region return, draft the related report and announce its contents to the soldiers without hiding any.”
Roan planned to fully reveal the identity of the hex dolls the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s soldiers fought just before.
He was taking steps to avoid unnecessary confusion from arising from monopolizing the information alone.
“Huu.”
Roan exhaled a long sigh.
The act of leading a group exhausted much more mental strength than he had thought.
At that moment, Austin, who was guarding his side, asked with a cautious expression.
“But my lord……”
He glanced around for a moment, then added on with a much quieter voice.
“Even though it’s because of the throne succession war, I worry if we aren’t leaving the fief empty for too long.”
Roan instantly grasp the meaning behind Austin’s words.
“Are you worried about Clay?”
Austin, with an unnecessarily guilty look, nodded his head.
“Yes, my lord. Although we did entrust the monitoring to sir and lady elves, I can’t help but feel worried.”
An awkward smile followed behind.
Roan faintly smiled and shook his head.
“There’s no need to worry too much. Since we haven’t left it only to the elves.”
“I know that we’ve set two, three layers of traps. But I wonder if there’s really a need to watch while doing so much. Instead, wouldn’t revealing the numerous proofs and arresting him now……”
Austin blurred the end of his words.
His face was full of worried look.
Rather than using the head, he preferred solving with the body.
“That……”
Roan smiled as if he understood Austin’s such feelings.
His gaze headed towards beyond Austin’s back.
“Should be good to ask that man coming here.”
“Eh?”
Austin turned his head with a puzzled expression.
From far away, a young man stepped through soldiers and approached.
The young man, while seemingly looking glamorous, somehow exuded a frugal impression.
“That man is……”
Although it was a common face, he was a young man even Austin knew well of.
He was certainly one of the six young men that Lancephil Human Resources Director Onil highly praised.
Roan nodded his head.
“The fief’s administrator Swfit.”
Swift.
The representative of the six young men who later became called the Lancephil’s Six Brain.
He had left the fief and had appeared in the Kingdom’s West, in the Infec Region.
“Greetings to my lord.”
Swift bowed at his back with a polite posture.
Roan shortly nodded his head.
“Good work.”
A short recognition.
Swift shook his head.
“It isn’t so, my lord. Compared to the Fief Regiment’s soldiers who are personally experiencing big and small battles at the frontlines, this much can’t be called a good work.”
A humble manner and voice.
Roan, same as before, asked shortly.
“The mission?”
“It has safely finished. It seems my lord can be relieved about the South’s Viscount Potter.”
“That’s good.”
Incomprehensible words.
Roan nodded his head with a satisfied expression.
His gaze turned towards Austin.
“Swift. It seems Austin here is wondering about something.”
At those words, Swift looked at Austin.
“What do you wonder of, sir?”
An expression faintly smiling as if he would answer anything.
Austin twitched his nose and directly asked.
“I wonder of the reason why we are leaving Clay quietly alone even when we know of what he’s scheming.”
“That……”
Swift cheerfully smiled and added on.
“Has three reasons.”
“Three?”
Austin asked back with a slightly surprised face.
Swift, with a calm and composed expression, spoke on.
“First. To start, majority of our Lancephil Fief Regiment, besides the few who are tasked with border guard work, is fighting in the throne succession war. There is no room to separately create a frontline at our rear.”
“That isn’t a very big problem. Although Clay may be a druid, his rank is merely an administrator. We can take him down in a single raid with just one Taemusa Troop.”
Austin was overflowing with confidence.
But Swift shook his head.
“That isn’t so, sir. Since Clay isn’t alone.”
“I know that there are few factions that sympathize with him. But shouldn’t it not be that big of a problem?”
Austin tilted his head.
Swift formed a bitter smile.
“We can’t tell until we directly clash against it. Furthermore, since the opponent isn’t anyone else, but Clay.”
That was the truth.
If it was Clay whom everyone knew of, there was no way that he would be that easily caught.
Austin creased his brows.
“Then the second amongst the reason why we are leaving him alone is……?”
The answer this time flowed not from Swift but from Roan’s mouth.
“The second reason is because of our Lancephil County’s large weakness and infection.”
Swift again continued the following words.
“Our fief achieved an incredible expansion of strength in a short amount of time. The barony that began with the Tale Region as basis has now developed to a county that includes all of the kingdom’s Northeast Region. During that process, countless number of people has mixed in.”
Austin nodded his head.
Swift’s words were true.
Even when observing simply, the original Baron Tale House’s retainers and citizens and the old Count Lancephil House’s retainers and citizens had combined into one.
On top of that, the countless talented individuals and kingdom’s citizens who have migrated searching for a good place to live from all over the kingdom.
Currently, the Lancephil County was overflowing with immigrants.
“It looks like everyone is satisfied and are living happily from the outside. It seems there is no problem at all. But would that really be true?”
A lightly thrown question.
Austin creased his forehead.
“That’s……”
He couldn’t easily answer.
Just from looking at Clay alone, he was clearly showing a black heart.
Swift exhaled a long sigh.
“My friends and I have been commissioned somewhat late. Thanks to that, we can instead look at the Count House and the County objectively from inside and outside. The Lancephil County is definitely and slowly, very slowly rotting away. According to the Agens and the Tenebra, they say quite a large number of individuals are already sympathizing with Clay.”
A bitter smile hanged on his mouth.
“Brighter and brighter a light is, the shadow naturally becomes darker. My friends and I wished to cut out all of our fief’s rotted parts through Clay. Thus, we have gave a suggestion to our lord to set up a trap so that Clay may liquidate the wealth as he wish and intentionally watch him still. In truth, fully entrusting Clay to the elves who were inside the forests for hundreds of years was apprehensive too. Anyhow, our lord has checked our suggestion and……”
Swift’s gaze turned towards Roan.
Roan faintly smiled and nodded his head.
“Approved of it.”
The two people’s gazes once again turned towards Austin.
“Hmm.”
Austin leaked a quiet groan.
Swift’s story was a point that he too was aware of to a certain degree.
But at the same time, it was also a part that he had effortfully ignored.
Because the Lancephil County and the fief was developing greatly, he had tried to leave uncovered the small problems that arose at the bottom.
If the ability was outstanding, he had closed his eyes to small greeds and mistakes.
Because of a worry that it might unnecessarily become a petty trouble.
But Roan, Swift, and his friends did not do so.
Although somewhat painful, they intended to cut out all the parts that were sickened.
“If one’s ability is excellent, should we close our eyes even if slightly corrupt?”
Swift asked with a composed voice.
It wasn’t a question that wanted an answer.
A rhetorical question.
He soon shook his head.
“Then there is no use. Since one would use that ability to fill not the stomachs of the kingdom’s citizens but one’s own stomach.”
Roan nodded his head.
‘I don’t need such trash.’
They were unneeded talents in the world he dreamt of.
No, to be exact, they were sores that he had to cut and pull out.
“Lastly……”
Swift cheerfully smiled and opened three fingers.
“The third reason. We didn’t wish to be satisfied from simply taking out Clay. We planned to use him and shake the throne succession war. And with a very proper method at that……”
“What does that……?”
Austin couldn’t easily understand.
Swift, with a quiet voice, answered as if whispering.
“Clay was holding hands with Duke Bradley Webster since before. But that Duke Webster has ended up dead on Simon’s hand.”
“I know well of that.”
Austin nodded his head.
Swift cheerfully smiled and spoke up as if to lightly throw the words.
“If it was Clay, what do you think he would do now?”
“If it was Clay, than obviously……”
Instantly, a shocked look floated up on Austin’s face.
With a slightly flustered looking expression, he added on.
“It’s a pretext. We’re going to make a justification to attack the Webster Duchy. Isn’t that right?”
If it was Clay, he would try to take over Webster Duchy that had became ownerless.
The Count Lancephil House, with the pretext that they are punishing Clay who had liquidate the fief’s wealth and move them out without permission, was planning to attack the Webster Duchy.
Roan and Swift cheerfully smiled and nodded their heads.
Austin dryly swallowed.
“But would Clay move as we wish?”
Even if Agens and the Tenebra performed maneuvers, there being limits was the norm.
Swift faintly smiled and nodded his head.
“We have inserted the final piece in order to complete the puzzle.”
“The final piece?”
Austin asked with a cautious expression.
Swift, rather than answering, looked at Roan.
Austin’s gaze too naturally turned towards Roan.
Roan nodded his head and shortly answered.
“Pichio. That guy is the last puzzle piece.”
< Amaranth (15) > End.