Chapter 23 - Volume 3 (1/2)
Chapter 3 – The Mountain Range is Burning (Part 2)<hr>▯The King of Peasants, Rank 71st, Dantalian
Empire Calendar: Year 1506, Month 2, Day 25
The Black Mountains, White Fortress vicinity
Ο
“Your highness, do you truly plan to enter into a ceasefire?”
With our horses’ heads aligned next to one another, Lapis and Iour return, the soldiers in our camp started to lower the prisoners I responded
“Of course not Even the rave will be unable to hold out for more than a couple of days and will soon leap out Since that , he will most likely be unable to withstand a hoodlum such as myself”
“But then why……”
“I can assure you that the rave will raid us within 10 days Is Farnese not already waiting in ambush within the pine forest? All we have to do is pretend to retreat and then proceed to corave”
“This one understands your highness’ plan”
We picked up the speed on our horses Dust of snow arose froid winter wind sed me whole I enjoyed the sensation that felt as ifpartially frozen The winter wind informed hter
“Lapis The hteous individual That sense of justice turns him into a profound character However, that profoundness of his is thus his limitation On the other hand, an unethical person is shallow to no end, and due to that boundless hollowness, they have no lirave hteous fellows in the world handle me? It must be unfortunate for the people who are unable to cope with hness”
Lapis kept our horses close She then spoke
“Is your highness certain that the rave will come out within 10 days?”
“Of course I believe in that righteousness of his”
“If that is so, then 20 prisoners will be sufficient”
“……”
“We do not have a reason to go out of our way to increase the number of prisoners and waste provisions”
With the reins in ht at Lapis Lapis did not blink her eyes even with the winter wind pushi+ng against her
“Lapis”
“Yes, your highness?”
“If you die, then you will certainly go to hell”
“I see That is why this one will not die”
Lapisto a certain someone, they claihness’ Since it is such a valuable life, this one ood care of it”
I couldn’t believe it
I asked
“Do you not feel pity for the lowly prisoners?”
“This one will not co theroup that can, at any tihness Since this one understands and acknowledges their strength, this one shall kill them”
Lapis spoke flatly
“In truth, is it not this one that is sincerely respecting the prisoners?”
Was there a way fora blizzard behind us, we returned to our camp
As soon as we returned to the unit, we beheaded 77 prisoners
Ο
Ο
Ο
Ο
Ο
▯Blood Relative Killer, I
Empire Calendar: Year 1506, Month 2, Day 29
Northern Region of the Habsburg Empire
Ο
— 2nd month, 25th day Eneth approximately 3,000 The commander is Demon Lord Dantalian Our forces are stationed in the White Fortress and are perfectly secured We are abundant in provisions and have a sufficient nu is severe Theperiod of tirave had sent Since I had exa tirave is afraid of , and since he is trying to not reveal anything, he had written inforrave not know that by trying to not disclose anything, he is actually revealing everything in detail? Is he trying to evade the inorance? What was his true intention behind leaving the report to a courier and not a inally sent on the 25th……?
I tore the report apart
These were not words These were the grumbles of an old man Words should have been written on this paper, but since there were no words and only repetition, the piece of parch time habit to turn junk into trash
A cold sweat ran down the nobles’ necks as they watched rave’s report I spoke
“Listen to this The iven rave What do you all think about this ether
Ο
— Do as your highness desires
Ο
They ords that held asat all
A chuckle flowed frohed I was unsure of the reason, but the people around hed It was a bizarre occurrence
“I see that you all are unbeco Each and every one of you has a head and mouth, and yet, how are your words one? Would it be appropriate to call it the great joy of the Eether as one? Would it be appropriate to spare a single person, while taking the lives of the rest, since you all repeat the saood idea since ill be able to save on provisions as well”
The nobles prostrated on the floor
Ο
— Please be discerning!
Ο
These fellows lacked even a grain of sense
The three phrases that I despised the most in the world were ‘Your words are i’ These were not words but hallucinations No , and discerning,it almost difficult to tell hich now Therefore, whenever I heard those three phrases, I interpreted it as a single line
‘Please be quiet’
If they are telling me to shut up then I shall do so What else can I do?
I closed my mouth and walked out of the tent The nobles quickly stood up and chased after me Since the nobles followed after ht subordinates all hastily acco a single person Even though I did not utter a single word
It was a coht, no one was laughing Since everyone would be afraid if I were to laugh, I refrained fro so I wanted to turn around and shout at the 200 people behind h I tell you
There was a time in the past where I had actually spoken these words
In that overnment officials forcefully h Ha, haha, ha, hahaha, ha, haha, ha, ha, all at once they uttered
It was horrible
Occasionally, that would appear in ave the order to laugh ever again It was regretful How could I have possibly hoped that people who could not speak properly could laugh decently?
They were not huhosts They were individuals that lived as phanto to meet their ends as phantoms It was the way of the world for thehosts Because I believed it as so, I had no other choice but to leave them to their own devices To humans, words should exist as a method to release their inner minds, and yet, hu their words to not retain a single portion of their trueor contain the smallest amount of their eroup of 200 people There ooden coluoblins, minotaurs, and other similar demons were bound to the pillars, one demon per column They were the prisoners that our forces had captured
There was even a De them
Rank 68th, De reconnaissance, had encountered the Demon Lord by chance and captured hilared at me I did not use ropes to tie the Demon Lord to the column, instead, I had nailed him to it I had politely pinned his palroaned in the de
“……Curse you Curse you all You plague of the continent, the Goddesses will never forgive all of you Judgment shall fall on your race which has trampled and burned our ho one another behind e Well, they also did not know the Ie properly, so there was no chance that they would know another race’s language
I took out a knife It was a type of blade that was used when butchering ani the blade, Belial opened his eyes wide The Demon Lord muttered more desperately
“Oh Gods, oh Goddesses, please, I beg of you to punish the ones before hteousness and return blood with blood As your weak servant, I humbly pray Oh Goddesses, please……”
“That is useless”
The Demon Lord turned to look at me
“What?”
“I said that is all pointless, oh weak Demon Lord”
“You, what are you…… no How do you know our language……?”
“There is no yours or mine in speech As a flower is still a flower if it were to blooarden, then even if a floere to blossom in yours, it is still a si the floithin es”
Belial glared at me
“What do you plan to do with me, human?
“I will take your life”
I took out a whetstone and sharpened the knife The vibrations that ca sharpened by the stone, were transferred tomy blade in mute bewilder on the other side of the plains? That is the ar deeply in their front lines and wooden fences are set up, so their defenses are not ordinary Rushi+ng in there and crushi+ng them would not be the most profitable tactic for us That is why I plan to lure the enereatest cavalry corps in the demon world He is not someone ould lose to the likes of you”
“Pardon me, Demon Lord Do you knoho I am?”
“What?”
“It seems you do not I assumed that you did since you had said ‘the likes of you’”
“……And who exactly are you to be saying that?”
Good
The blade was sharpened well
I momentarily put the iron of the blade in a fire and heated it
“My na There are a couple of more names in between, but I will omit those Demon Lord Belial, albeit a short time, I will be in your care Over all else, I will be the last person you will see in the final moments of your life, after all”
“……!”
Marbas will most certainly be unable to hold still if hisskinned alive before their very eyes The dee, and unable to restrain that wrath, they will charge They will kick aside their sturdy walls and safe trenches to assault us
It seems Belial understood what le desperately Of course, Belial, whose body was nailed down, could not escape
“No! Sir Marbas, do not come! Please leave me to my demise!”
“Give up No matter how much you cry out, they are unable to hear you”
“No! Aaack! You mustn’t, you bastard! You must not!”
“How troublesos were futile
I pressed ainst the other party’s skin The blade sliced into the Demon Lord’s flesh s for the ue stuck out of his ue Another scream burst out Belial’s cries had now lost its forlanced at a e nodded his head and furtively activated a sound enhancement spell From that moment on, Belial’s screahout the entire plains Every tier or toe was cut off, our soldiers cheered
It was around the time I had started to peel Belial’s cheek, the nobles shouted
Ο
— Your Highness, the ene!
— The enee!
Ο
The nobles blatantly pointed towards the front
They were indeed right The de violently The sound of horns co to charge soon I cleaned the knife with a washcloth
“Listen carefully The eneitated so they will assault us with reckless abandon Do not pit yourselves against the them deep into our territory and envelop them Constantly beat the drums and blow the horns powerfully Move quiescently while ain their co a commotion with the noise Do you understand?”
The nobles pounded their chest with their right arhness!
Ο
The battle continued till the evening
The eneainst our defense line with their bare bodies The cavalry corps led by Marbas was powerful However, their cavalries were exhausted froetting stuck on the wooden fences, were obstructed by the spearmen, and were shot to death by the crossbowe 4, 5, and 6 times and fell to their deaths repeatedly
Finally, the enemy troops retreated It was after they had failed to break through our defenses for the 7th time They were not as fast as they hen they had first charged at us I did not miss that opportunity
“Pursue theht corps rushed forward Since they had sufficient rest, the knights were full of vigor The backs of the enehts The ene portion of the hill Half-corpses fell and tumbled down the hill, and by the time they had reached the base of the hill, they were already complete corpses One after the other, half-dead bodies rolled down the hill The ene fro the battle that had turned into a slaughter akeful eyes With blood clogged in his throat, he wailed
Ο
— Aack Uuuuaaaa……uuaaaah! Uuuuaaaack!
Ο
Later into the evening, sleet started to fall from the sky There wereup at the sky They had died with their eyes and aps Since the corpses had turned cold, the snow did not melt and firmly rested on top of their bodies Snow piled up in the mouths of the corpses
I slashed Belial’s neck and tossed his head into the snow There were so many heads buried in the snow that it was difficult to differentiate the other heads frooblins, centaurs, and humans all had different appearances, the form they all had after death were nearly the same So that was life Lives were not the sale life because they all died the sah lives were supposed to be able to understand each other due to their fear and sympathy for death, since they were unable to experience death in their lifetime, the demons and huht for eternity…… After gazing at the decapitated heads buried in the snow for a period of time, I turned away
On my way back to my tent, nobles and soldiers were lined up on both sides They were all covered in blood While I walked down the path, they knelt down one at a tihness
— You are the victor
Ο
At the end of the pathway,at the entrance to my tent There was no blood on his arhts took a step back I dusted the shoulder of my brother
“It is a relief that you are unscathed, Your Highness the Crown Prince”
My brother trembled
“You…… you, are the Devil”
“I know Is there a problem with that?”
“……”
“I asked if there is a problem”
My brother lowered his head He hadin a low voice, but I could not hear hi pity for that petty pride and rebellious spirit, I disregarded my brother and entered aze at a person unless he had bedded them, anyway
The maids approached to unclothe and cleanmy lower abdohness, a e has arrived from Demon Lord Paimon”
“Put it away I will listen to it later”
The chief maid bowed her head
With my now clean body, I sat down on a bookstand
The winter wind seeped into my now cooled body Since the tent was unable to block the wind, winter was able to coht about the report that the rave was afraid of me It would only be appropriate to respect that fear It was obvious for the weak to be terrified of those they recognized as stronger than themselves But for what reason did he fear me, and yet, choose to not obeycould come from an unhealthy pride? I could not understand Was it stupidity? Did I have to berate the stupidity of an oldconsidered the other party as a senile old man on my own volition? That was most likely it……
I picked up a quill and started to write It was a single word
Ο
— Victory(勝)
Ο
Ο
Ο
Ο
Ο
Ο
▯The Northern Guardian, Margrave of Rosenberg, Georg von Rosenberg
Empire Calendar: Year 1506, Month 3, Day 1
The Black Mountains, White Fortress
Ο
Ο
— Victory(勝)
Ο
I became dumbstruck as if I had been hit on the head
The e of triule word ‘victory’ written on it Unable to figure out what the I to say, I pondered
……Was she tellingme to submit since she had obtained victory? Did it uish who the victor was on my own? Was the Imperial Princess the victor while I was the loser?
This single word contained all theseabout her accomplishment She used her victory to threaten and inti her victory as an exa me to succeed as well If it see me to submit to her The pressure to win pushed my body from behind towards the front where the enemy forces resided, and the advice to submit pulledout The enemy and ally were clearly different, and yet, I could not see the difference between being pushed and being pulled
The rightful ruler of the Ehtful heir to the throne was the Crown Prince, and yet, the Ihed at the Crown Prince’s authority That precession of stepping and laughing was exceedingly i me to join that procession? Was that what victory(勝)to succeed in his late years what triued body would at least not be sullied
I called the captains to ave them an order
“The are victory in their battle Since the news of victory has arrived for us, the ene in the Black Fortress should soon receive a report of defeat Organize the troops in case the enemy attempts to withdraw”
The captains lowered their heads
“Do you plan to pursue the eneht Consider the possibility of being ambushed if ere to chase after them in a hurry Once dawn arrives and the first rooster cries, spread out the scouts and then advance”
“As you coed A young lad assistedmy armor on This lad’s father had always helped hout his entire life, but last autuainst Dantalian The son inherited his father’s job as if it was natural
Different froers were cluear I could not blah this lad considered it e e
“This is fine I shall do the rest ize, your honor”
“What is there to apologize for……? You can leave now”
“Understood”
I firmly equipped the rest of my equipment and sat at the desk
Since the Ienerously written and sent the news of victory, as a vassal of the Iratulations Previously, I was barely able to write a couple of lines, but this tihness the Imperial Princess, please do not kill your father and brother, and do not insult them either I request of you to not throay your filial piety
When I was about to write down those lines, I clenched ht about the Irin was situated there as well My chest pounded The feebleness of my words smoldered into my bones
How difficult this was
Because of in of power left in le sentence
I closed ht about the forreat appeal to the people of the northern region
I atte His Majesty the E repulsed the Demon Lord’s are that came tothe leather of the alligator Just the fingers covered in blood At the edge of her hands, the leather was skinned as if it was fated to be separated fro of time My body trembled because of that fluid hand ator captured from?
Ο
Ο
Ο
Ο
Ο
▯The King of Peasants, Rank 71st, Dantalian
Empire Calendar: Year 1506, Month 3, Day 1
The Black Mountains, White Fortress vicinity
Ο
An urgent ht
There was a code on theinto their crystal balls, the witches took out strokes from the words
I watched as the witches deciphered the report As the strokes gathered together and started to forazes shook Humbaba read the lines out loud
“……2nd month, 29th day Complete defeat Marbas’ 2nd army has been crushed”
The complexion on Humbaba’s face as she turned to look at me was pale I nodded
“Do not stop Continue reading”
“……From the 15,000 chosen elite troops, around 9,000 re Edoth is 40,000 This is the Neris Plains The ene further in Ah! Marbas is a horse-headed bastard I’ll get to the point I will hold out for 13 days Dantalian, you pierce through……”
Huulped
“That is all, master”
I brushed my chin
Coh Barbatos was a girl who disorderly copulated with arly, when the issue at hand was related to war, she becaerate words when it involved war Complete defeat and crushed A bitter taste filled my mouth
“13 days, is it? Did Barbatos say that she will hold out for 13 days?”
“Yes, master”
I felt like I could see Barbatos’ narrowed gaze from the fact that she had informed me of the exact date If it was 13 days, then that was nearly a week, so it would have been fine to write a week
Regardless, Barbatos stated 13 days She had calculated the days she could endure and the days she could not, and concluded it as 13 days However, it was no more or no less than that and was exactly 13
True to their name, Barbatos’ first army and Marbas’ second army were the main attack force of the Demon Lord Allied Forces If they were to collapse then this ould be cofor me to attack the eneh the White Fortress We not only had to capture the White Fortress, but we had to march all the way to the rear of the enemy forces, so the 13 days deadline was barely 13 days While esti in my head, I asked
“Huo north from the mountains and reach the Neris Plains?”
“Uh, well If we move as fast as possible, then four to five days……? That will be a really toughrid of the insufferable things in our path, then around 10 days?”
“Since a day has passed, then by adding a day to that 10, that will make it 11 days If we include the days needed to march, then we must immediately capture the White Fortress within 3, but if possible, 2 days”
“Hii–, two days Isn’t that really rough–……?”
The witchesto conquer the White Fortress over the course of a week Even a as a short ahold Since it had become shorter than that, the witches were at a loss for words Two days from noas the day after tomorrow It was obvious that the witches would be troubled
Despite that, I smiled
The corners of my lips twisted on their own
“—I see the heavens are helping us”
“Pardon?”
“Around this tiht Since we have now received the report that the Derave should have received it sooner The ravated because of what I had done, and since this favorable situation has piled on top as well, the rave’s bottom should itch so much that he will be unable to stay still”
I stood frorave whose botto, but myself Well, as so bad about that? There was no one ould blame me if my sexy derriere were to tre back Farnese from the pine forest We shall have a war council io to the forest That will be faster Will you give me a lift on your broom?”
“Yes This one’s broom will always have a vacant spot for you, iving ht with sleet fluttering around Every tiainst the small sheets of ice, the rays scattered A countless nuht fell down upon the hundreds of thousands of pieces of snow Although it was a dark night, the darkness only looround
The witches set s were still Moonlight could not settle down in this pine grove Since 4 days ago, Farnese had led the cavalry here to lie and wait in a whistle
Ο
— Hwiiiiiiii
Ο
The sound was soon consumed into the blizzard and disappeared into the other side of the forest Shortly after, while leaving a trail of snow dust, a group of centaurs quickly approached us The centaurs were not wearing anything on top so their chests were bare They recognized who I was and lowered their front legs to give their greeting
“Where is the acting general?”
There was no response
I furrowed my brows
An unpleasant chill sank into eneral? Where is Farnese?”
Ο
♦
Ο
There was an icehouse at the location where the centaurs had led loo, I saw Farnese huddled in a corner Even in this forest, where the winter was fierce, Farnese did not wear a fur overcoat She only wore the military uniform made from cloth
Whenever the soldiers saw Farnese like this, they would say that it was because her father and mother had conceived her in the snow The soldiers believed that the cold must have seeped into the mother’s womb and into the child’s bones, so Farnese did not feel cold even during the winter To the soldiers, the general was a girl born in the winter While shutting herself in the icehouse, Farnese mumbled in a voice that could barely be heard