Chapter 178 - Splendid as a Flame (6)

After a brief mourning for the fallen, we headed straight for our next destination.

Perhaps because the heightened excitement had not yet faded, not a single person complained of hardship despite the forced march without any time to rest after the battle.

However, that did not mean fatigue was not accumulating at all, so I stopped our movement and ordered a rest right about when that excitement subsided.

THUD.

As I lay sprawled on my back watching the bustling soldiers, I heard footsteps.

While still lying down, I tilted my head back and rolled my eyes.

A woman who had just taken off her helmet, her sweat-drenched hair clinging to her cheeks and forehead, yet looking as beautiful as a painting even in that state.

Arwen Kirgayen was looking down at me.

"Your Highness."

When I simply looked at her without a word, she called out to me.

But her voice was somehow stiff.

I abruptly sat up.

Looking at her like this, her expression was definitely different from usual.

Not only was her face subtly tense, but her gloomy eyes were also unsuited to her usual self.

"It seems you have something to say."

I fixed my posture and waited for her to speak.

"Did it really have to be done that way?"

After hesitating for a long time, she finally opened her mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"They were people who had given up their resistance. They were those who had thrown away their swords and spears just to preserve their lives."

Her voice was too somber to be called a rebuke, and too dry to be called pity.

It was closer to self-deprecation.

"I can understand beheading defeated commanders to hold them accountable, but was it not excessive to deal such merciless deaths even to the soldiers who were merely following orders?"

No wonder she had been unusually quiet; she must have been dwelling on the past battle the entire way here.

"I believe we could have shown a little more clemency as the victors."

I let out a sigh at her somber words.

If she had acted aloof on her own, standing with her hands behind her back claiming she could not cut down unresisting enemies, I would have scolded her even if it was Arwen.

But I knew she had fought her hardest more than anyone else. I had even seen her drive her sword into the backs of fleeing enemies to uphold my command.

Her anguish deserved to be respected.

I quietly examined her face.

Her eyes, which used to sparkle like stars, were completely dry. Those pitch-black, lifeless eyes were filled with guilt and skepticism.

Lingering feelings that would inevitably develop into an Inner Demon if left alone.

"Tsk."

I clicked my tongue without realizing it.

Under my clear gaze, Arwen spoke in a strained voice.

That it was no longer a battle, but a massacre.

I stood up and faced her.

"Arwen."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"The victor's clemency, you say. You speak as if we have already won the war."

She flinched and trembled.

"The four victories must have felt quite grand to you. Cutting down those indolent fools must have made them feel like the weak. You felt pity seeing them beg for their lives."

Arwen did not deny my words.

"So, are they truly the weak?"

And she did not answer my question either.

"We have been victorious so far. I hope it will continue to be this way. But we cannot assume that the future will be the same as today. There may come a day when we must drink the bitter cup of defeat."

I, too, did not wait for an answer.

"We are different from the Empire. A single defeat will surely put our nation in peril. This is because this war is a fight between those who seek to protect and those who seek to trample, and also because we are the weak."

She bit her lip.

"Clemency is something the strong bestow upon the weak. The clemency of the weak is nothing more than momentary foolhardiness."

"I am not speaking of the knights and commanders. I am merely speaking about the treatment of the powerless soldiers."

"Powerless soldiers, you say..."

I laughed coldly at her words.

"Then I ask you. Are these powerless imperial soldiers you speak of more powerless than the people of our kingdom?"

I threw another question before Arwen could answer.

"If we were to show them clemency, how should we go about it? Would you be satisfied if we considered taking their swords and spears as enough and set them free? Or would you be satisfied if we spared their lives and took them as prisoners?"

If we let them go, they would simply be absorbed into other legions and point their spears and swords at the kingdom once again, and if we took them as prisoners, they would become a burden that slows our pace and weighs down our shoulders.

"Do you think we have the strength to afford that?"

Either way was a burden the current kingdom could not bear.

"My pathetic mercy, your petty clemency, or someone's clumsy chivalry could lead them straight into the kingdom. And when that happens, do you believe they will be grateful for our clemency and take pity on our forces and the kingdom's people?"

I have seen countless times what happens to fortresses and citadels that fall to the Imperial Army in the past. I have witnessed time and time again the fates suffered by adjacent territories and villages.

The powerless soldiers the righteous Arwen spoke of were not there. There were only pillagers and destroyers drunk on madness. And there was only the grief and resentment of those who were trampled and butchered by them.

"Keep this in mind, Arwen."

I grabbed Arwen's cheeks as she averted her gaze and forced her to look at me.

"Our fight is the desperate struggle of those backed to a cliff, like the perilous steps of one walking a tightrope."

Staring straight into her wandering, wavering eyes, I told her over and over.

To look at me. To look into my eyes.

Her lusterless eyes barely found their place.

"If only we can win this war."

Looking straight into those eyes, I said.

"I will gladly become a demon."

I let go of Arwen and looked around.

At some point, the knights and soldiers had started listening in on my conversation with Arwen.

There must be those among them who shared the same thoughts as Arwen.

I wondered why there were so many upright people in a country I thought was rotten to the core, making the corners of my mouth twitch repeatedly.

"Therefore, you all need only follow my orders. If anyone rebukes you, just tell them you were merely following the orders of a demon."

If there ever comes a day when someone must pay the price of blood and the sins of today, that someone will be me.

This would merely be a handful of blood added to the countless karma I accumulated while living as the Demonic sword.

No one opened their mouths. Only silence lingered in the encampment.

I glanced at Arwen and the knights before lying back down.

Then, as I pulled the blanket over myself and tried to sleep, a sharp voice pierced my ears.

"I will become a demon too."

It was Quern, the captain of the Black Lancers.

"Well, being called a demon by the enemy is a compliment, isn't it?"

That Eli bastard suddenly interjected.

"What a coincidence. I may not look it, but I was once known as the disaster of the Orcs and the demon of Winter Castle."

"You were a disaster to your allies, and called a demon by your subordinates."

"Shut up! Who cares who calls me that, as long as I'm called a demon!"

A certain Ranger Company Commander and platoon leaders giggled.

Starting with this, the knights and soldiers began shouting that they would gladly become demons to the Imperial Army.

"Then I will too..."

Adelia timidly chimed in.

"I think you are already more than enough."

I playfully replied while looking at her.

On the battlefield, she was already a more magnificent demon than anyone else.

And a demon crazy for blood and obsessed with war at that.

Before I knew it, I was giggling and exchanging empty banter with the veteran Rangers.

The unique cheerfulness of the Ballorhard people, which they had never lost even in Winter Castle where death and war were everyday occurrences.

Swept up in that atmosphere, the knights and soldiers from the Central region also shed their heavy expressions and simply shouted.

That they would become a disaster to the Imperial Army. That they would gladly become demons for the kingdom.

"Did we just get a name for our legion?"

"What?"

I habitually frowned at that Eli bastard's out-of-the-blue remark.

"How about the Demon Legion of Winter? It means a demon-like army that emerged from the freezing North..."

Seeing the bastard blathering on so proudly, likely thinking it sounded plausible to himself, made my warmed heart turn cold.

I immediately looked away from him.

"I."

At that moment, a voice so faint it wouldn't be heard unless paying close attention pierced my ears.

It was Arwen.

"Am Your Highness's sword."

She spoke to me as if reaffirming a vassal's oath.

"If Your Highness is a demon, then I am the Demonic sword."

Her eyes were no longer wavering.

I was so proud of her for shaking off the seeds of her Inner Demon in such a short time.

When I unconsciously ruffled her hair, she lowered her head with a flushed red face.

Adelia, who had appeared out of nowhere, watched the scene with a somewhat envious look, while that Eli bastard sneaked his hand out only to get his palm slapped.

Looking at their consistent behavior that was no different from how they were at Winter Castle, I simply smiled.

Thus the night passed, and when dawn broke once more, we spurred our horses in search of the enemy.

* * *

Four days passed.

However, there was not a single sign of the Imperial Army that the Wyvern Rider said was four days away.

Since the Wyvern Riders' intelligence had never been wrong before, the knights murmured in agitation.

"Rangers, search the vicinity, and the rest stand by in your positions."

After waiting a moment, the Rangers who had gone out to search returned and reported that they had found traces of a large-scale legion's encampment.

"The Imperial Army left heading north at least two days ago."

I frowned.

The fact that the Imperial Army was moving faster than expected was definitely not a good sign.

"There's a Wyvern Rider!"

A sharp-eyed Ranger managed to spot a small dot flying in from beyond the horizon and shouted.

Sure enough, just as the Ranger said, the small dot in the sky rapidly grew larger, revealing the form of a wyvern.

SWOOSH!

Landing while stirring up an intense dust wind, the Wyvern Rider urgently shouted at me without even dismounting from the wyvern.

"The situation has changed! The targeted legion is rapidly heading north, and half of the Imperial legions that were spread wide across the frontlines have disappeared without a trace! Currently, the entirety of the Azure Sky Knights have scattered to search for the missing imperial legions!"

"Why the sudden change?"

"As of now, the reason, route, and their objective are all unknown!"

I forcefully suppressed my sense of foreboding and asked for the exact location of the targeted enemy legion. Fortunately, the Wyvern Riders had not lost track of them as well.

"The targeted legion is currently three days away from this location and is rapidly advancing north."

The Ranger had clearly said the Imperial Army left this place two days ago.

Yet the fact that the Imperial Army, which departed two days ago, was three days away meant that their marching speed was beyond common sense.

"The number of stragglers is extremely small."

They said there weren't even many stragglers despite their forced march at an insane speed.

That meant they were true elites, unlike the imperial troops we had fought against so far.

The situation was bad.

An elite enemy legion was rapidly heading north from three days away. Even if we diligently spurred our horses from now on, catching up to them before they crossed the border would not be an easy task.

Even if we somehow managed to catch up to them before they crossed the border, we could not fight the enemy while exhausted from a forced march.

Especially since our forces had already torn through enemy lines and fought four battles, it was a situation where we needed to conserve our stamina.

"Hmm."

I briefly assessed the situation and tried to gauge the Imperial Army's objective.

Even after putting my head together with the command staff to share opinions, no answer emerged.

The Wyvern Rider asked for my opinion on what to do, stating that it would take two days at most to gather the missing information and figure out the enemy's objective.

The answer had been decided from the very beginning.

"We will head north as we are and catch up to the enemy."

Time was of the essence.

Until now, only the Imperial Army had been our enemy, but from now on, time was also our enemy.

Before the elite enemy legion could attack the Silver Lion Citadel. Before the missing imperial legions could reveal themselves in the kingdom's vulnerable areas.

We had to hurry to the border before the kingdom suffered heavy damage because of them.

I requested the Wyvern Rider to inform me immediately once they grasped the locations of the missing imperial legions or the reason why the enemy's Commander-in-Chief suddenly increased their marching speed, and then we immediately began to head north.

After three days of hurried movement, we were able to arrive at a place not far from the kingdom's border.

"The Empire had no intention of attacking the border with orthodox tactics from the beginning! The Imperial Army advancing to the border and the imperial legions on the move were merely bait; their objective was elsewhere!"

It was right around that time that the Wyvern Rider returned.

"What they were targeting from the start was your country's capital!"

Through him, we finally learned the answer regarding the Imperial Army's sudden change, but I could not be happy in the slightest.

"Currently, your country's capital is under fierce attack by the Imperial Army's detached force and their knights, and in response, your country's monarch has ordered Your Highness's swift return!"

Because that was an answer several times more horrific than I had expected.