Chapter 96 - The Alliance and the Empire (2)

The Kingdom of Barkat was thrown into an uproar when its Crown Prince returned covered in wounds.

"The imperial bastards seized the mana stone mine first and ambushed His Highness the Crown Prince!"

The Philerium Mountains were a natural border owned by no one, yet claimed by everyone. It was absurd enough that the Empire had declared such a place its own, but they had even dared to wound the Crown Prince.

It was tantamount to a declaration of war. Or perhaps they simply held the alliance in that much contempt.

"We cannot let those imperial bastards take the mana stone mine!"

The Kingdom of Barkat rushed out its knights and mage corps while sending envoys to every nation in the alliance. In an instant, the alliance began to stir.

'Just you wait, you masked imperial sons of bitches...!'

He would tear them apart with his own two hands.

Racing toward the mine with the knights, Pablo Barkat steeled his resolve.

* * *

Pryan, a knight of the Jespine Empire's Blue Griffin Knights, shouted at his companion, who had gone into the bushes.

"Hurry up!"

"Coming."

His fellow knight came running.

"You didn't even take your helmet off to go to the toilet?"

"I put it back on."

"How's your stomach?"

"A little better."

"Huh? Your voice sounds a little..."

"Assemble! Quickly! We haven't got time!"

"Yes, sir!"

Pryan hurried over, still tilting his head in puzzlement. The advance party of knights, mages, miners, and mining experts had already finished its brief rest and was ready to set out again.

He found his place in the ranks. His companion with the upset stomach stood beside him.

"Don't dawdle. Don't let your guard down, either. This is Philerium. Do that one more time and you'll be doing punishment drills."

"Yes, sir!"

Pryan nodded under the deputy commander's glare. Being scolded because of his fellow knight made him irritated for no good reason.

The imperial advance party set off again. Monsters drawn by the scent of humans swarmed in, baring their ravenous teeth.

But the knights and mages in the search party were the Empire's elite.

FWOOSH!

Magical wind sliced through an ogre's body. A knight's aura carved out a troll's heart.

Monster corpses piled into heaps, attracting still more monsters. Even so, the search party marched steadily onward. Following the bloody path they had carved, they finally reached the cave.

'What the hell? Has that bastard Pillai suddenly gotten better?'

Through the many battles, Pryan marveled at his companion's fluid movements. Pillai effortlessly dodged a lizardman's spear and beheaded it in a single stroke. He all but toyed with a troll before killing it, and held his own against an ogre.

'He was definitely about as good as me until recently...'

He had not shown everything he could do, but there was a new ease to his movements.

'Has he made a breakthrough?'

Strangely, his energy seemed purer, too.

It was odd, but Pryan could hardly say he was not Pillai. The swordsmanship he used was the Empire's Lesser Dragon Swordsmanship—a secret art taught only to its higher-ranking knightly orders, which had never once been leaked.

"What, have you been training alone every night?"

"You've suddenly gotten better."

Perhaps that was why the other knights merely expressed surprise at Pillai's performance and said no more.

'No, something's wrong. It's like he's become someone else...'

"A cave!"

"Quiet, everyone! We'll enter slowly! Stay alert!"

The suspicion that had begun to rear its head vanished without a trace in the face of mounting tension.

The imperial troops entered the cave and encountered a colony of over a hundred kobolds in a small cavern.

"Knights to the front!"

"No fire magic!"

The knights formed a wall of shields. The kobolds' poisoned darts could not penetrate the mages' barriers, and their rusty weapons were stopped by armor and shields. A one-sided slaughter followed.

"Advance."

They moved forward, then stopped, over and over. Monsters poured out every hour, living up to Philerium's reputation.

Pryan swallowed, his mouth sweet with exhaustion.

'Damn it, when does this cave end?'

Their leader had not even told them why they had come to this godforsaken place. Irritation mounted at the seemingly endless fighting. The sight of search party members dying left Pryan's lips parched.

"Halt."

That was when they discovered an enormous cavern and the sources of purple light filling it.

Mana stones. Stones of such extraordinary purity that their beauty was obvious at a glance.

"... So it was true."

The search party's leader murmured. Pryan realized the mana stones were their objective.

'A mana stone mine?'

That was insane.

"Set up camp."

The imperial troops busied themselves erecting tents and fortifying their defenses. Then it happened.

They sensed a large number of people in the passage opposite them. As the newcomers entered the cavern with a faint air of murderous intent, every imperial soldier instinctively drew a weapon.

"Those little southern ants?"

"Imperial sons of bitches!"

'My God, that man is...'

The raging bull at their head was unmistakably Pablo Barkat. One of the Great Stars, and the spiritual pillar of the southern alliance.

Why was he here?

As the tension reached its peak, the search party's leader stepped forward.

"It has been some time, Prince Pablo Barkat."

"Austin Kroin?"

Austin, commander of the Blue Griffin Knights, slowly lowered his raised sword. At his gesture, Pablo also eased his threatening presence.

"Prince Pablo, what brings you here?"

"That's my question, bastard. What are you sons of bitches doing here?"

"Is it strange for the Empire to be on imperial soil?"

"Who decided this was imperial soil?"

Pablo's shout shook the cavern.

"The Philerium Mountains are indisputably within the southern alliance's territory. Therefore, this place belongs to the alliance."

"Nonsense. Philerium has long belonged to the Empire, and it will continue to do so."

"So you want to fight?"

"Think carefully. The moment you swing that sword, it means war. Can you stand against the Empire?"

"Standing against the Empire is why the southern alliance was formed, you son of a bitch."

"Do you think a handful of paltry ants can withstand the Empire's wrath?"

Pablo snorted at Austin's confidence.

"Is that why you ambushed me?"

"Ambushed?"

"Are you going to deny that the scum you sent ambushed me and made a fool of me? Swinging my sword means war? You're the ones who chose war first!"

Pablo's suppressed menace flared again.

"No, wait. We never sent anyone separately."

"Then did I fight ghosts?"

Austin looked at the search party's officers, but they knew nothing either.

"We are the advance party. We haven't planned anything separately, either."

"There you have it. That is also my understanding."

"Bullshit!"

Pablo growled.

"There's a limit to how many times I'll fall for your imperial lies."

"Why would we ambush you, Prince?"

"Because you wanted this mine, obviously. I discovered it first, and you tried to take it."

"An ant bastard through and through. Even your bullshit is remarkably inventive."

The voice came from behind Austin, from the ranks of the Blue Griffin Knights standing there.

"Pillai?"

Pryan was startled by his companion's sudden behavior. Pillai broke ranks and strode up beside the commander.

"My companions and I discovered this place first, on the commander's orders. You swung your sword to steal it, lost to us, and ended up buried in the ground. You only survived because you were a prince. The commander ordered us to avoid any possible clash with the southern alliance as far as possible."

"You bastard...!"

Pablo's eyes widened. The helmet hid the man's face, but he could never forget the eyes visible through its gaps, or that voice.

"Yet after we spared your life, you have the gall to act like this."

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

The knight drew his sword.

"Commander! As an imperial knight, I will teach that ungrateful brute the greatness of the Empire!"

"... No, wait. When did I ever send you..."

Before Austin could stop him, the knight charged at Pablo. His sword, wreathed in red energy, unleashed the Empire's Lesser Dragon Swordsmanship.

"In the afterlife, reflect on your mistakes as you contemplate the Empire's greatness."

CLANG!

The red flash was blocked before it could reach its target. It failed to leave so much as a scratch on the prince. But those actions were enough to ignite the royal army's fury.

"Imperial scum ambushed His Highness!"

"Protect His Highness!"

The blades of Barkat's royal army rained down on the knight.

"They're attacking one of ours!"

"Show those ant bastards who's superior!"

The imperial troops rushed forward, each trying to be first to protect the knight.

They had been bitter enemies from the start. Once the floodgates opened, the desire to kill one another filled the entire cavern.

A battle broke out. War erupted.

Amid the aftermath of blood and corpses, screams and fury, it was the imperial army that remained standing.

Barkat's hastily assembled royal army faced imperial troops who had arrived fully prepared. In truth, the outcome had been decided from the outset.

Pablo's fierce resistance inflicted heavy losses on the Empire, but the southern alliance's forces collapsed faster.

"You haven't heard the last of this, you sons of bitches!"

Grinding his teeth, Pablo rallied the royal troops and retreated.

"Damn it..."

Austin pressed a hand to his forehead.

Though the imperial army had won, the unexpected battle had caused considerable losses.

This would not end as a mere battle. A mana stone mine was at stake. A prince of the alliance was involved, and both royal and imperial soldiers had been killed.

It would hardly be strange if war broke out. No—now that matters had gone this far, the alliance would never back down.

"... That knight."

Austin ground his teeth.

"Who was that damned knight?"

"I don't know, sir. I'd never heard that voice before."

"He knew imperial swordsmanship and was standing in the Blue Griffin Knights' ranks. How can you not know him?"

"Pillai! It was Pillai!"

Pryan shouted.

"Pillai?"

'That energy was different from Pillai's...'

It had been hot and pure, like flame.

Austin was commander of the Blue Griffin Knights. He knew his knights well, and the Pillai he knew did not possess aura that pure.

'... It can't be.'

A foreboding chill ran down his back. His throat prickled as though a thorn had lodged in it.

"Bring him here!"

But...

"He's not here!"

"Pillai has disappeared!"

"There's no body, either!"

"...!"

The search party members turned deathly pale.

* * *

"I think you're a better actor than I am, my lord."

"Don't talk nonsense."

Truthfully, Berge had been on edge. He had no talent for acting and had kept his mouth shut as much as possible. There had been moments when he nearly got caught, but luck had been on his side each time.

And in the end, he had achieved his goal.

'Now they won't be able to resist going to war.'

The mana stone mine alone was reason enough for a war, and now their armies had clashed head-on. What country would let that slide?

The Empire might be another matter. Whatever else had happened, they occupied the mana stone vein and had won the battle. They would want to sweep the affair under the rug somehow.

But would Barkat and the southern alliance feel the same?

Would they meekly let their hated imperial enemies swallow up a mana stone vein in what they considered their own territory? Especially when the Empire had struck first and inflicted heavy losses?

This would not end with a brief skirmish as it had before.

"It was fortunate that you knew Lesser Dragon Swordsmanship."

"Lady Kaede knows it, not me. I only memorized the movements."

Kaede had practiced several imperial sword styles, and a bored Ernyan had almost always watched her.

Watching someone else's training was rude, but Kaede did not mind. In return, Ernyan had promised to call her over if she ever contracted a new high-ranking spirit.

That did not mean Ernyan had mastered Lesser Dragon Swordsmanship. She knew only its outward form, an empty shell without substance.

Swordsmanship without substance was incomplete and could injure its user, but that did not matter. It was only for show, and unless they could look inside him, there was no way those knights could discern how he was actually using it.

"I'm more impressed that you could copy it so naturally after seeing it just a few times, my lord."

"Of course. I'm a Demon King. They didn't call me the greatest top graduate of all time for nothing."

"Of all time? They called you that?"

He had said too much.

"... Mind your own business."

"The greatest top graduate of all time?"

"Do you want to die?"

"Elena would be sad if I died."

"And?"

"Lady Kaede would be sad, too."

"You've gotten that close already?"

"Of course. We're both Four Heavenly Kings. The Dark Spirit Summoner and the Dark Knight."

"Does Kaede think so, too?"

"... Shall I summon Lady Nairuniel for you?"

"So I can sit here listening to nonsense?"

"Lady Nairuniel likes you, my lord."

"She likes her idiotic fantasies, you mean."

"She is a little like a hungry wolf."

"That's an insult to wolves."

A hellhound that had starved for a year, perhaps.

Berge snorted.

Rather than repeat Nairuniel's voice buzzing inside her head, Ernyan simply smiled.