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Translator: M.S
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Ultimatum
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It took a mere ten minutes.
“Here, your commander. Still want to fight?”
The time it took for Lansen to cross the outer wall and reappear holding Kesseres’s head.
“I-Impossible…”
The commander of the outer wall garrison trembled.
“If you’re going to keep fighting, I’ll kill you all here.”
Meeting Lansen’s deadpan eyes, the garrison commander unknowingly raised his voice.
“N-No, sir!”
In truth, what truly frightened him wasn't Lansen's gaze, nor was it the head of Kesseres in his hand.
‘His clothes…!’
It was Lansen’s attire.
‘Not a single drop of… blood!’
The commander knew. He knew what kind of preparations had been made inside.
Kesseres was a meticulous man.
Of course, the greatest trick he had prepared was the Gale King's banner, but he hadn't relied on that alone.
Whether Lansen, unable to contain his anger, would rush in with his forces, or whether he would attack with a small elite unit like when he killed Drukashu in the past—Kesseres had created every possible scenario and prepared countermeasures for each.
So why did it turn out like this?
‘Expert-level warriors… berserkers… He broke through them all alone in ten minutes? Without getting a single drop of blood on his clothes?’
The garrison commander was terrified.
This man before his eyes.
A being possessing overwhelming martial power that could never be contained by the simple title of Sword Master.
Resisting would only lead to a meaningless death.
In the end, there was only one choice he could make.
“What are you all doing! Drop your weapons and open the gate!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
*Clang! Clatter!*
The clatter of spears and swords being thrown down rang out from all around, like the sound of rain.
*Creeeak!*
The wooden gate of the outer wall swung open.
It was the moment Lansen single-handedly captured Kashu City.
* * *
“The soldiers are saying something.”
As I was taking a short break on the sofa in the lord’s office, Kalserik spoke to me.
“What are they saying?”
“They’re asking if you’re actually a ghost, Captain.”
“What are you talking about?”
Kalserik looked at me as if he genuinely couldn't understand.
“Honestly, I don’t get it either. How on earth did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“The blood. There are bodies of Experts scattered all over the main street, and here in the lord’s castle, there’s a mountain of berserker corpses… So why isn’t there a single drop of blood on your clothes, Captain?”
“You cut cleanly so the blood doesn't splatter, and if it does, you just raise your aura and push it away.”
“…”
“…Don’t you know? When you draw aura to your sword, a wind whips up, right? So you use that to… push away the blood drops.”
“I know! Of course, I do! I’m a high-level Expert myself. But is it really as easy as you make it sound?! I mean, to calculate and deal with all the blood splattering from every direction like that…!”
“It was easy for me.”
“…Ah, yes…”
“It was nothing special.”
To be honest, I couldn't do this kind of thing before learning ancient swordsmanship.
But for now, I decided to act smug.
Heh, this is why you get strong.
“You can’t do it, Kalserik?”
While I was at it, I decided to poke at Kalserik a bit.
“…I can’t.”
“Really? It’s easy.”
“Ah, seriously!”
Kalserik’s face flushed.
I chuckled.
I feel like we’ve gotten a bit closer now.
Stretching, I stepped out onto the terrace.
As expected of a lord’s castle, the city spread out below in a single glance.
“Everyone’s working hard, aren’t they?”
I could see them clearly from here.
The administrators from Kushan City who had followed the 1st Regiment were moving busily, taking control of various parts of Kashu City.
The courthouse, the tax office, the barracks, and even this lord’s castle.
They were combing through all the documents, identifying, acquiring, and classifying all of Kashu's assets and personnel.
I had only brought the sharpest ones from Kushan City, so they would have everything here under control within three days.
“I can finally relax a bit. We took Kashu before the Gale King. In the end.”
Kalserik challenged my words.
“Did we really take it first? …It was a city with his banner clearly displayed. This is going to be a problem.”
“So what if it is? We were bound to clash with him at some point anyway.”
“Um… You do know that our forces are still much weaker, right?”
“It’s fine. That’s why we rushed to capture Kushan. As long as Kinalo is there, Harun can’t strike us directly yet. Even if he could, a full-scale offensive would be difficult because of the Zapar in the south.”
“That may be true, but…”
“Don’t be so scared.”
“How can I not be scared? Our opponent is one of the Five Kings!”
Kalserik. At first, I thought he was a serious mercenary captain, but now I see he's just a nag.
‘Wait, was he ever serious to begin with?’
Our first meeting was him kneeling and begging for his life…
“Huh? Huh? I feel like you’re thinking something incredibly rude and unpleasant right now?”
“No, no.”
For the sake of my subordinate’s pride, I told a little white lie and fixed my expression.
As I was bickering with Kalserik, a soldier knocked and entered.
“Count!”
“Yes?”
“I think we’ve found it! The bizarre chapel you mentioned, sir.”
Ah, they actually found it.
I straightened my posture.
Just as Sea had foreseen, there was a heretical chapel here as well.
“A chapel? Right. Come to think of it, why did you order us to look for something like that? I’m not a fan of religious nuts…”
“Religion, my ass. I’m trying to time travel.”
“What?”
Kalserik’s eyes went wide, but I just smiled.
I'd have to tell him someday, but it felt a bit premature, and frankly, I couldn’t be bothered.
‘Still, it’s probably not a good idea to check it out right now, is it?’
If I had my way, I’d take the Book of Fate and go there immediately, but… if I was forced to time travel like last time, the situation would become very difficult.
Especially since I had just cut down the Gale King’s banner.
I would have to at least see how the Gale King would react and feel confident that I could keep him in check before I could afford to go.
“Preserve the chapel as it is. Forbid anyone from entering.”
“Yes! Understood.”
After dismissing the soldier, I turned my gaze back to the view from the terrace.
Kalserik kept pestering me, whining, “What do you mean, time travel?!” but I ignored him.
‘Now I need to establish contact with Kinalo City as quickly as possible.’
Kushan was stabilized, and Kashu was sorted out.
Next was Kinalo.
We would have to take it someday, but for now, an alliance would do. If we combined our strength with the mages there, we would become a respectable force capable of checking the Gale King.
That was the plan.
Just two days later, I had to scrap it all and start from scratch.
* * *
At dawn two days later.
The Gale King's messengers looked down upon Kashu City.
They sat atop white horses with exceptionally long and lush manes.
“He’s a madman.”
Pirje, a high-level Expert from the Gale Cavalry, clicked her tongue as she gazed at the distant Kashu City.
“Ignoring Lord Harun’s banner and capturing Kashu? I knew he was a madman… but does he have ten lives or something?”
She was displeased.
By their ignorance.
“Someone who doesn’t know any better might think that way. That since he’s also a Sword Master, he can stand against Lord Harun. That his army can face the Gale Cavalry. They might delude themselves like that.”
Their ignorance was pathetic and laughable.
Those who live outside Ailun are nothing but clueless country bumpkins.
They had no idea how vast the gap was between the Ailun region, ruled by the Gale King, and all other territories.
That the quality and number of their troops, not to mention their economic power, were on a completely different level.
“Even the Empire wouldn't dare be so arrogant with us.”
Pirje truly believed this.
Lansen would have snorted if he’d heard her, but she genuinely believed it.
“Let’s go. Let’s bestow our lord’s final mercy upon those ignorant fools.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Leading the nine members who answered as sharply as a blade,
“Hiyah!”
She spurred her horse.
*Neigh!*
The finest horses in all of Roverland.
The Ailun white horses, which the people of Ailun believed without a doubt to be the best in the world.
The choicest steeds from among them let out long cries as they kicked off the ground.
*Thudududu-!*
The wind whipped past Pirje’s cheeks.
As the captain of the cavalry, she always loved this moment.
This overwhelming speed that seemed to shatter even the wind.
The five-meter-high wooden palisade, once distant, was upon them in an instant.
Lansen’s soldiers, standing guard atop it, spotted her and her subordinates charging and, startled, began firing arrows.
*Fwing- Fwing-!*
“Not bad. Their reaction is quick. Are those Imperial black bows?”
She was slightly impressed.
Their reactions were swift, and their aim was true.
However,
Not a single arrow reached them.
Accelerate once more, and then again, and the arrows would always fall behind.
“W-What horses are those!”
“They’re getting even faster from there?!”
Voices of shock could be heard.
They must be astonished. That no faster horse exists under the heavens.
“L-Look out! They’re going to crash!”
The soldiers on the palisade panicked at the sight of Pirje’s party charging toward them without slowing down at all.
But,
*THUMP—!*
*Thud!*
The horses never crashed into the palisade.
Instead, something even more unbelievable happened.
“A-Are they flying?”
The white horses kicked off the ground and leaped, landing atop the palisade in a single bound.
Horses that could clear a five-meter palisade in one jump.
Could you even call them horses?
*Hee-heeeigh!*
“Hiiiek!”
The horses neighed, standing atop the palisade, while the cavalrymen atop them stared down coolly at the soldiers.
The soldiers were too stunned to even raise their spears, taking a step back in sheer shock.
“The Ailun white horses…”
“The Gale Cavalry!”
They too were warriors who made their living in Norverge.
They had all heard the various terrifying tales about the Ailun white horses at least once.
Most had dismissed them as exaggerated rumors… but they never imagined they would actually leap over a five-meter palisade.
A smirk touched Pirje’s lips.
The ignorant only come to their senses when a hoof is shown right before their eyes…
“Everyone, listen!!”
Her voice, saturated with aura, rang out, shattering the dawn of Kashu City.
An overwhelming volume that washed like a wave past the outer wall, through the inner wall, and beyond the lord’s castle.
“A message from the Gale King in Kinalo! The Gale King looks upon Lansen with favor and makes one final offer! If you cast aside your stubborn heart even now and come to share a cup of wine with me, I shall treat you as a brother and a friend!”
Pirje paused for a moment, sweeping her gaze over the pale-faced soldiers nearby.
Then, she shouted again, putting more force into each and every word.
“However! If you refuse this final offer! Then next time, you and your friends will be treated as my captured prisoners! As unjust criminals! Think carefully!”
The ultimatum, tearing through the dawn, woke everyone in the city.
Not a single person missed this declaration.
And they saw.
The ten white horses standing atop the wall, and the ten cavalrymen sitting atop them like diM.S generals.
At that moment, Kalserik was on duty near the outer wall.
The instant he realized something was wrong, he ran with all his might.
‘Damn it… This is bad! Morale will be shattered if we just let this happen! I absolutely can’t let them get away!’
While the nearby soldiers and Experts were frozen, he alone moved. To salvage even a little of this damned situation.
So he stepped forward.
From below the palisade to the top, he leaped in a single bound, aiming for a blind spot where he wouldn’t be easily seen.
“You bastard!!!!”
He roared with a voice that rivaled Pirje’s and swung his sword at her neck.
Even if he couldn't cut her, he intended to at least disgrace her…
*Fwing—*
His sword didn’t connect.
Pirje remained perfectly still, sitting haughtily as she looked down at Kalserik.
‘What kind of horse is that…!’
It was the horse she rode that had dodged the blade.
The Ailun white horse had nullified Kalserik’s attack by taking a single step back.
And then,
*KRAAANG!*
As soon as it stepped back, the horse lunged forward again.
Timed with that movement, Pirje’s shield swung out. *Whoosh!*
“Ugh!”
Unable to dodge, Kalserik was struck by the shield and fell from the palisade.
“Hmph.”
With a sneer, Pirje shouted one last time.
“The deadline is one month! I will await a favorable answer! Lansen!”
She immediately turned her horse.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes, ma’am! Hiyah!”
Just as quickly as they had appeared, the cavalry leaped off the wall and vanished over the hill.
* * *
“…They certainly put on a loud show.”
Amidst all the chaos, I arrived late.
I had been far away at the lord’s castle and ran as fast as I could, but I was a step too slow.
“Everyone looks devastated.”
The soldiers' faces, which had been shining just moments ago, were now dark and lifeless.
To think that such high morale could be broken in a single moment…
“The Gale Cavalry…”
I cast my gaze into the distance, but they were already gone.
They had spouted a lot of grandiose nonsense, but there was some noteworthy information mixed in.
‘Kinalo has already fallen?’
*Grind.*
My teeth clenched on their own.
If that was true…
No, it probably was.
“So you’ve finally grabbed us by the leash, have you?”
A battle was now unavoidable.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
Since they were coming at me like this,
I had to show them.
Just how well that damn Five King can fight.
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