Chapter 184 - The Embers Become Flames Again (1)

Arwen suddenly looked back.

The kingdom's army, whose morale had reached the sky from consecutive victories just a while ago, was now running their horses with anxious faces as if they were being chased.

No one opened their mouths.

In heavy silence, they merely spurred their innocent horses on.

As only the sound of hooves echoed across the desolate wasteland, the Wyvern Rider who had disappeared returned.

The Wyvern Rider spoke in an urgent tone, stating that the enemy's commander-in-chief and three legions that were heading north had turned around and begun moving south, and that their target was likely the moving allied forces.

In a situation where they needed to return to the border fortress as quickly as possible, they had encountered an unexpected obstacle.

That was not the only tragic news.

The Imperial legions that had disappeared without a trace suddenly revealed themselves all at once. And it was said that their target was the moving allied forces.

"What will you do?"

At Count Branbrut's question, the prince looked at the Wyvern Rider and spoke as if chewing his words.

"While the enemy's encirclement is still loose is the only chance to slip out."

"Our Azure Sky Knights will guide the way."

The Wyvern Rider soared high into the sky and volunteered to be the allied forces' guide.

"Let's go."

From then on, they ran their horses like crazy. Their only rest was when the Wyvern Rider temporarily disappeared from view to scout the surroundings. Both the horses and the riders quickly grew exhausted.

The military discipline that had been greatly elevated by the last four great victories plummeted, and the suppressed fatigue rushed in all at once.

"What's this? Anyone looking would think we're defeated soldiers."

As if belatedly sensing the atmosphere, the First Prince forced a bright smile and joked with the knights and soldiers.

"It seems the northern country bumpkins have heavy hearts at the thought of returning after comfortably sightseeing on horseback."

"It was quite a fiery sightseeing trip."

The veteran Rangers of Ballorhard chatted cheerfully and played along.

The atmosphere became much lighter.

Perhaps gaining courage from that atmosphere, Count Branbrut, the master of the Iron Hawk archers, asked the First Prince.

"The Capital should be fine, right?"

The air that had been forcefully refreshed sank in an instant.

Count Branbrut had a face full of regret for his thoughtlessness, but the water had already been spilled.

The First Prince looked around the sunken atmosphere and replied calmly.

"Even if the main force left with His Majesty, The Capital still has the Capital Defense Force and the one thousand elites of the Central Army. There are also dozens of royal knights, who could be called the kingdom's finest elites, along with one hundred Capital knights. If they just hold out for a few days, the Iron Lions, who are two days away, will come to their rescue, so there's no way they won't last those few days."

It was an extremely reasonable statement.

In reality, The Capital's defense strategy dictated that if the enemy approached, the troops of the Iron Lion Citadel would intercept them first.

Even if things went wrong and the enemies reached The Capital avoiding the Iron Lions' surveillance network, the Capital Defense Force and the Central Army had more than enough capability to buy time until the troops from the Iron Lion Citadel arrived in The Capital.

"Unless the enemy mobilizes a force of at least three legions, The Capital will never be breached."

Immediately after the Empire's declaration of war, the kingdom reinforced the defense and surveillance of its borders, and the Southern Army was not so incompetent as to fail to detect the movement of a large-scale legion.

"The Empire's goal is likely the assassination of key figures, or just enough to make the rear unstable to agitate the soldiers on the front lines. Either way, they will not achieve their goal."

Of the First Prince's words, there was not a single detail that wasn't reasonable.

Nevertheless, Arwen still could not shake off her anxiety. And she belatedly realized the reason why she couldn't brush off her nervousness.

The First Prince's expression caught her eye.

On the prince's seemingly calm but subtly stiffened face, there was none of his usual composure.

He was a prince who never lost his composure even in the middle of a battlefield.

Upon realizing that fact, Arwen became even more anxious.

However, she was the only one who noticed such signs.

The others were nodding their heads with considerably relieved faces at the prince's words.

Arwen struggled to control her expression.

There was no need to deliberately create conflict with uncertain guesses. Even if her guess was right, it would do no good at all in the current situation.

She kept her mouth shut.

The Wyvern Rider, who had disappeared to scout the vicinity, revealed himself in the azure sky once again.

The short rest ended, and the unit began moving again.

And so, they crossed the border.

Now, they were in a situation with only a day's distance left until they arrived at the Silver Lion Citadel.

SCREEEECH!

The wyvern that was flying far ahead suddenly roared out a warning. Then it flew in two large circles in place.

It was a signal that two enemy legions had been spotted ahead.

"We will push through just like this."

Rather than taking a detour, the prince chose to force a breakthrough.

His reasoning was that even if they turned their horses around here, it would be impossible to escape the already tightening encirclement without a battle, so it was better to forcefully push through while the enemy's numbers were not yet large.

There was no opposition.

Their anxiety had mostly been relieved, but the knights were also quite exhausted and wanted to return to the fortress as quickly as possible.

"I will stand at the vanguard."

The prince stepped forward to the front, drawing his beloved sword. Behind him, the Black Lancers and the Northern knight orders lined up.

"Do not fall from your horses under any circumstances. Especially the Rangers. Why does your horsemanship never improve, no matter how much time passes?"

The fiercely tense troops giggled upon seeing the Rangers pouting at the prince's unexpected scolding.

"If you lack confidence, just hold on tight and focus on riding. Our goal is a breakthrough, not annihilation."

At the prince's instruction, the Rangers replied that they would hold on like they were grabbing a runaway debtor by the hair. Once again, the knights and soldiers burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, the unit reached the hill. Far in the distance, exactly as the Wyvern Rider had signaled, were two enemy legions.

"Then let's go."

The prince lowered the visor of his helmet.

CLACK.

He slowly began to ride his horse forward.

Arwen also pressed her helmet down firmly and steadied her breathing.

The initially relaxed vibrations of the horse's back gradually sped up until, at a certain point, they became a violent up-and-down motion.

THUD-THUD-THUD!

The sound of hooves shaking the earth echoed across the wasteland.

The Imperial Army, belatedly discovering the allied forces that suddenly appeared from behind the hill, panicked and scrambled to form battle formations.

The spearmen, hurriedly forming their lines, angled their anti-cavalry spears upward. Right behind them, archers were busy moving back and forth to set up their firing formations.

Before the spearmen could even densely narrow the gaps between their angled spears, and before the archers could nock their first arrows...

"Charge!"

The prince gave the order to charge.

The cavalry that passed over the hill began to gallop like crazy. Amidst the earth-shaking sound of hooves, the prince's unique chanting flowed out.

WOOONG.

At the same time, his rings began to resonate madly.

It was the now-familiar wavelength of the War Poem.

At that exact moment, the prince at the vanguard plunged into the middle of the anti-cavalry formation made by the spearmen.

And the prince swung his sword.

The long spears exposed to the sword light scattered by the prince exploded down to their shafts, and the soldiers beyond them fell over like cornstalks.

Arwen also tore her gaze away from the prince and poured out sword strikes toward the anti-cavalry formation.

Starlight-like sword light poured down like a meteor shower, piercing through the spearmen.

A step later, golden fighting spirit and pale sword light erupted and fell squarely into the middle of the archers' formation beyond the spearmen.

Like that, making a mockery of their painstakingly prepared anti-cavalry formation, the Imperial Army collapsed without lasting even a moment.

The prince did not trample the broken ranks to maximize his battle results, nor did he circle back to completely destroy the enemy's formation.

He merely continued to ride forward, scattering his dim sword light.

Arwen also rode her horse, following the prince. The young lord of the Eli family and Adelia Bayern, who had helped completely collapse the front lines, stood by her side and opened the way.

The prince was already riding far ahead.

"...!"

Just then, a knight wearing splendid armor stepped forward, blocking the prince's path.

Seeing the brilliant flash blazing at the tip of his sword, he was undoubtedly a Paladin, the pride of the Empire.

The Paladin roared grandly and thrust his sword.

However, he didn't even have a chance to properly display those great martial arts of his.

The prince chanted quietly and thrust his sword. CRACKLE, a spine-chilling sound rang out, and the Paladin who had stepped forward with such great momentum was split into two just like that.

Even after achieving the feat of cleaving a Paladin in two with a single strike, the prince didn't even let out a roar of victory.

"Move. I have no time for this."

He just spoke irritably and consecutively crushed the enemies.

Overwhelmed by his momentum, the enemies scrambled to back away. The prince rode down the path they had opened without looking back.

Then, when the enemy blocked the front, he scattered his sword light again and charged.

A charge that never slowed down for even a moment.

Arwen and the Sword Masters darted left and right, front and back, cutting down enemies to ensure the allied forces wouldn't be isolated by the prince's excessively fast breakthrough.

"We broke through the enemy!"

Then, at some point, someone shouted.

The time it took to break through a staggering two enemy legions was far too short.

However, there was no time to celebrate that incredible achievement.

The prince was still galloping, and the knights kicked their horses' sides to follow behind him.

Arwen, who had briefly fallen to the rear to gather stragglers, looked at the Imperial Army.

The Imperial Army couldn't even think to reorganize their broken ranks; they were just staring blankly as the allied forces disappeared.

They looked completely dumbfounded by the allied forces' insane breakthrough.

Watching that sight for a moment, Arwen gathered a few Rangers who had been left behind and departed the battlefield.

That evening, they were able to arrive at the Silver Lion Citadel.

"Good work."

The King, who had personally opened the citadel gates and come out, welcomed them.

On the spot, the King offered words of praise for their four overwhelming victories and their hard work.

Since the war was not yet over, there was no distribution of rewards, and it was a modest reception compared to the incredible achievements they had accomplished.

However, no one complained about this.

The King's complexion was far too poor for that.

Perhaps because he had poured out all his energy working for the kingdom over the past few years, the King, who had already been frail for his age, had now become a complete old man.

Looking at his wrinkle-filled face and rough skin, it was impossible to think that the King was a middle-aged man in his forties.

The prince also seemed quite shocked to see the aged King; impudently, he couldn't even offer a word of thanks even though the King had offered his praises.

The King led them inside.

Even then, the prince didn't ask a single word about The Capital. The King also didn't seem to have any intention of bringing up news of The Capital first.

It was as if both father and son were consciously avoiding bringing up The Capital.

However, the safety of The Capital was a matter of grave importance, and it couldn't be put off forever.

Arwen quietly steadied her breathing.

And when she felt she was sufficiently mentally prepared, she cautiously stepped forward and asked the King.

If there was no news regarding The Capital.

The prince flinched and trembled, and the King looked back at her with dry eyes.

"Not yet."

At the calmer-than-expected answer, Arwen forced herself to be comforted.

If anything had happened, the news would have arrived already. Just as the prince had said, a disaster couldn't have occurred so easily in The Capital.

She repeated that to herself countless times.

"Hmm?"

As she walked for a long time following the King, she suddenly stopped her steps.

Looking up at the sky, her eyes caught sight of snowflakes starting to fall one by one.

The King and the prince also stopped walking and looked up at the sky.

"Is it winter again?"

The King spoke in a dry voice.

Snow landed on the King's shoulders. The observing knights stepped forward and draped thick furs over the King's shoulders.

"Let us head inside."

At the Commander of the Royal Knights' words, the King began to move his steps again.

However, the King couldn't even take a few steps before he stopped in place again and looked at the northern sky. As if they had made a promise, the prince also stopped walking and stared at the distant sky the King was looking at.

Arwen also raised her head, following their gaze.

In the heavily overcast sky, amidst the gradually intensifying snowfall, a small dot appeared in the distance.

And the dot quickly turned into a large shadow, which then became a wyvern again.

Until the wyvern finally landed in the citadel's clearing, the King and the prince did not speak a single word. It was as if they had frozen solid the moment the wyvern appeared.

THUD.

From atop the wyvern that landed in the clearing, the Prince of Dotrin, whom Arwen had seen a few times, appeared.

The King, who normally would have warmly welcomed the prince of an allied nation, and the First Prince, who would have casually tossed a joke upon seeing a familiar face, both kept their mouths completely shut.

Even the Prince of Dotrin was silent, as if his lips were glued together.

"Your Majesty."

After a long while, the Prince of Dotrin finally opened his mouth.

"Currently, the Empire's military forces have occupied the outer walls and certain areas of your nation's capital and are holding out, but your nation's knights and troops have retaken 70% of the outer walls. Also, according to information confirmed so far, right before the outer walls fell, several royals and the majority of the military's command staff managed to escape safely."

The Prince of Dotrin, who had delivered the gist of the news, closed his mouth for a moment.

The voice he barely brought out again was incredibly devastating.

"However, it has been confirmed that the Queen of your nation was not included among those who safely escaped the area."

It was a painful voice, as if he were forcefully pulling apart lips that wouldn't part and squeezing out words that wouldn't come out.

"I will say it again. The Queen of your nation drew the enemy's attention and resisted until the very end, and at the last moment, she threw herself off the wall."

Arwen's heart sank with a THUD.

Pale with shock, she looked at the prince and the King.

The father and son were expressionless.

Or so it seemed.