Chapter 156 - I Have Finally Returned (1)

When she stepped outside after ending her seclusion that spanned a full year, Arwen Kirgayen heard a piece of news that felt like a bolt out of the blue.

"Why! Why didn't you tell me in advance!"

Her nature was originally not easily shaken, and having attained an unmoving mind after reaching her current state, she was uncharacteristically furious.

She had no choice but to be.

While she was cooped up in her family's castle, the First Prince had left for the battlefield. Leading only a single Sword Maiden and five knights, he had gone to the Dotrin Kingdom, which was in the midst of a war with the Empire.

"And if I had told you? If I had told you, you would have abandoned all the potential you needed to grasp with your own hands and rushed out."

Her father told her that everything he did was for her sake.

"His Highness the Prince did not wish for it."

He also said it was the Prince's will.

She could argue no further.

Because, in truth, she also knew what the right thing to do was.

It was just a profound sense of regret.

Someone needed to be by the First Prince's side. Someone had to stop the First Prince, who didn't know the meaning of moderation, from doing something reckless once again. If he couldn't be stopped, at least someone had to lighten his burden by his side.

So that the Prince wouldn't end up battered and fighting alone on the battlefield all over again.

"I will tell you everything that has happened in the meantime."

She forcefully calmed her heart and listened to her father's story.

From start to finish, her expression remained calm.

But that wasn't the case on the inside.

When she heard the story of how the First Prince, who had disappeared leaving behind a letter that was practically a will, was found looking no different than a corpse, her heart completely collapsed.

"The Sword Maidens who followed as escorts were annihilated. The only survivor was their leader, but her injuries were also critical."

It was already over, and she knew it was already in the past.

He must have blamed himself again for the deaths of the Sword Maidens.

Just like that time when he acted as if all the deaths in Winter Castle were his fault.

Just like when he couldn't even shed a tear over his maternal uncle's death and suffered silently within.

He must have pretended that nothing was wrong and agonized alone where no one could see.

Without even feeling the pain of the wounds etched onto his own body.

The emotions the Prince must have felt were drawn out so vividly she could almost grasp them.

"Fortunately, there were no aftereffects to worry about. As soon as His Highness recovered, he immediately headed for the Dotrin Kingdom."

Even during this, her father's words continued.

How the war between Dotrin and the Empire, and the battles the young Prince participated in, progressed and ended. Because it was something that happened in a faraway foreign land, she could only hear a rough outline.

The First Prince's name was not in that story.

There was only the name of Ian, the Commander of the Vale Mercenaries. Even that was only mentioned in vague terms, saying he put on an amazing performance and made great contributions.

But Arwen could tell.

She could picture exactly how the young Prince must have fought under the guise of a mercenary, as clearly as if she had seen it with her own eyes.

It was obvious he would have put his life on the line fighting on the front lines.

He surely made many contributions. And he would have suffered just as many injuries.

Because the Prince she knew was someone who never cared for his own body.

Her father's story came to an end. She stood up from her seat.

"I am leaving."

At her words, her father tried to stop her.

"What are you going to do going to Dotrin alone now?"

"I am not going to Dotrin."

She added one more sentence.

"I am going to Winter Castle."

A strange phenomenon, far too ominous to be called a mere eclipse, had occurred not long ago. The darkness quickly lifted, but the ominous feeling remained settling in her chest like sediment.

Something was going to happen in this world. Or perhaps, it already had.

And if something were to happen in this country, it would undoubtedly start at Winter Castle.

That was what she thought.

Her father did not stop her.

"I heard that the atmosphere of the mountain range beyond the walls has been unusual lately, so the lord of Winter Castle has issued a draft order to the Northern lords using his authority as Margrave just in case. It will certainly be a great help to them if you go."

Saying that the North, his most reliable supporter, needed to remain robust for the First Prince to handle matters smoothly, her father offered to support her with the family's troops.

But she was not heading to Winter Castle for such political reasons.

She did not want to see the First Prince grieving when he returned.

Leading fifty of her family's cavalry, she rode towards the North.

And when she finally reached the North, Winter Castle was in the midst of a war.

BWOOOOM!

The sound of horn flutes blaring incessantly.

"Fire! Shoot them!"

The Rangers screaming at the top of their lungs.

Winter Castle was fighting as fiercely as it did during the height of the war with the previous Warlord.

CRASH! CRASH!

If there was anything different, it was only the unfamiliar sounds of explosions echoing intermittently.

She was immediately guided to the lord of Winter Castle.

The lord, as always, was up on the castle walls.

"I heard the news. They say you became a Silver Lion? Congratulations, even if it is a bit late."

The lord of Winter Castle welcomed her with eyes that, though full of fatigue, still shone piercingly.

"The situation doesn't look very good."

"Well, yes. The number of monsters is so vast. We're having quite a hard time. Yikes. Cover your ears."

As he spoke, the lord of Winter Castle abruptly covered his ears with both hands.

"Fire!"

A beat later, a Ranger's shout rang out.

CRASH! CRASH!

In that instant, the roaring sound she had heard in front of the South Gate resonated atop the walls.

Arwen was momentarily dazed by the deafening roar that threatened to tear off her eardrums.

"..."

The lord of Winter Castle kept babbling something to her in that state.

RIIIIIING.

But all she could hear was an uncomfortable ringing in her ears.

The lord pointed his finger toward a spot on the wall.

There, a hunk of metal the likes of which she had never seen before was spewing smoke. The Rangers next to it were groaning as they shoved a pitch-black iron ball into the metal hunk's muzzle.

The moment she saw its bizarre shape, she recalled the weapon of the non-humans that the Prince had praised so endlessly it hurt his mouth.

"... The Dwarves' iron cannons!"

Right. That was the name, she thought as she circulated her mana once to relieve the shock of the roaring sound.

And then she looked over the wall.

She saw the corpses of monsters sprawling around with arrows stuck in them. She saw the corpses of monsters crushed by the iron balls fired from the cannons and shredded to pieces by the subsequent explosions.

And she saw far, far more living monsters.

From right below the walls to the other side of the snowfield, it was packed with monsters, leaving no room to even step.

Even at a quick glance, it was a massive army numbering in the thousands.

The variety was also diverse.

Among the ones standing on two legs were beings she was well-acquainted with, such as Orcs, goblins, gnolls, kobolds, ogres, and Trolls, while among the ones standing on four legs were all sorts of creatures she didn't know, starting with one that looked like a mix of an owl and a bear.

"How long has this been going on?"

The lord of Winter Castle answered her abrupt question that cut out the context.

"It's been about a month now."

Arwen frowned.

The timing was far too coincidental. A month ago was right after that ominous eclipse had occurred.

"Since that day, the monsters have been running wild like crazy."

The lord of Winter Castle seemed to share her thoughts as he said that.

"The large ones are not eating the small ones, and the small ones do not fear the large ones. Do you perhaps know what that means?"

At the lord's question, she replied in a stiff, rigid voice.

"Either fear has dominated them to their very marrow, or someone is controlling them."

"Or perhaps it's both."

She looked down below the wall.

An ogre and a Troll were standing shoulder to shoulder, crazily pounding against the castle gates.

CRASH! CRASH!

The gates vomited roars from the punches of the massive monsters.

"Do not worry. Beating on the gates reinforced by the Dwarves will only make it exhausting for those bastards."

The lord of Winter Castle spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"Fortunately, we have plenty of war supplies. We have been steadily stockpiling supplies, making arrows our top priority, and the Dwarves have been regularly supplying us with ammunition for the iron cannons."

It was exactly as the lord said.

Winter Castle's soldiers were fending off the monsters exceptionally well.

She had thought a decline in the quality of the troops was unavoidable since the veteran soldiers had all died and the knights were nearly annihilated in the last war, but that was all a baseless worry.

But despite that, the lord of Winter Castle's expression was not bright.

"I have a feeling this is only the beginning."

He said he couldn't erase the thought that even those countless monsters were nothing more than an omen.

Arwen also sympathized with that thought.

"Relieve your travel fatigue first. I feel the time will soon come when your sword is needed."

At the lord of Winter Castle's words, she took a rest along with her family's cavalry.

But the rest was not long.

BWOOOOOOM!

At the urgent sound of the horn flute, she immediately headed for the walls.

"It's Harpies!"

"Damn it! There are Griffins too!"

As soon as she climbed the walls, the Rangers' urgent shouts could be heard.

"All archers, nock your arrows and hold your positions!"

"Do not fire until you are given the order!"

"Then what about the ones climbing up!"

"Ignore them! The knights will handle them!"

Listening to the Rangers' shouts, Arwen looked up at the sky.

Hundreds of pitch-black dots—when she focused her eyes, their forms faintly revealed themselves.

Women with bird legs and wings were swarming in a dark mass. There were also dozens of monsters with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.

"Can we stop them?"

"We have to."

She found the lord of Winter Castle and asked, and the lord replied with a rigid face. He himself was holding the North's strong bow instead of a sword.

"They're coming!"

"Fire!"

"Loose!"

When the winged monsters closed in on the airspace above Winter Castle, the Ranger commanders shouted in unison.

At the same time, up to a thousand arrows flew into the sky.

KREEEAAAK!

The Harpies struck by the arrows plummeted down screaming.

However, the number of Harpies that fell like that was not large. The majority of the Harpies dodged the arrows by flying acrobatically. Occasionally, those with nowhere to dodge hid their bodies behind the massive Griffins.

The arrows didn't even pierce the Griffins.

"Don't stop, keep firing!"

The Rangers, having quickly finished reloading, fired their arrows again.

But this time as well, the results were entirely unimpressive.

It was the moment when the inexperienced Rangers' lack of practice, which hadn't been very apparent until now, was exposed.

If it had been the Rangers from before the war, they would never have missed targets several times larger than birds like this.

SWOOOOOSH!

At that moment, an ear-piercing sound of tearing the air accompanied a black trajectory soaring into the sky.

KYEEAAAK!

A Griffin struck by the black something screamed and crashed down.

"It's the Bow Demon!"

The Rangers cheered. At the end of their gazes stood a woman gripping an unusually massive longbow.

Arwen also remembered the woman.

A pair of a man and a woman who had visited Winter Castle when the recruitment of new soldiers was in full swing; the Prince took them in, shoved the man into the Black Lancers, and had the woman roam the mountains with the Rangers.

The man's name was Gallahan, and the woman...

"Dame Boris! Please prioritize taking care of the Griffins!"

...was called Boris.

"That last one was just lucky! Even with luck on my side, I can take five at most! You'll have to take care of the remaining thirty yourselves!"

The woman called Boris replied sharply and shot down another Griffin.

Even during that time, the Rangers were diligently firing arrows and hitting the Harpies.

But it was still not enough.

The Harpies still numbered near the hundreds.

"Damn it! Prepare for the rock drops!"

Finally, the Harpies that had broken through the Rangers' volley and reached the airspace above Winter Castle dropped the boulders they were gripping with their bird claws.

Arwen drew her sword and stood in the middle of the wall.

No matter how much she was a Quad Chain knight who wielded the Aura Blade, she could not block every single boulder falling from the sky.

At best, she could maybe cover an area of ten meters around her.

Still, she resolved to do her best.

The Aura Blade gathered at the tip of her sword. Just as she was about to shoot the accumulated flash into the sky, a bizarre wave spread out across the wall.

THUD! THUD!

The boulders dropped by the Harpies bounced off the translucent barrier that had appeared above the wall.

"They are the Mages of the White Night!"

At someone's shout that popped out a step late, she looked toward a corner of the wall.

Dozens of figures clad in robes were standing there.

They were undoubtedly the Mages of the newly established Magic Tower.

Arwen frowned. It was because she knew they hadn't been given enough training time to participate in actual combat.

In reality, they were so exhausted they collapsed onto the ground after using just a single spell.

But that was enough.

The boulders the Harpies had brought were at most one or two in both of their claws.

The subsequent rock-dropping attacks would be weaker than the first.

Right then, the lord of Winter Castle shouted.

"Knights, draw your swords!"

At that moment, countless occurrences of Sword Resonance rang out across the wall.

"Ah..."

Arwen unconsciously let out an exclamation.

Flashes of light filled the top of the wall.

All of them were the light of Sword Aura.

Even at a rough estimate, knights equivalent to nearly seven orders were positioned on the wall.

The sword light they bloomed blocked every single boulder pouring down from the sky.

Arwen stared blankly at the sight.

The seeds the young Prince had sown before he left had sprouted without her knowing and grown to this extent.

Her heart swelled with so much emotion.