Chapter 161

“Then I’ll be on my way. I won’t be gone too long, so don’t worry, and please take good care of things until then.”

Yuwon had finished all preparations to visit Marquis Carson and was about to depart after leaving his final greetings to the leadership of the Great Jungle Alliance, when Kahaad stopped him.

“Hey, Emperor.”

“Hm?”

“Take this one with you too.”

“This one?”

The only person Kahaad could reasonably be referring to was Bernid, who stood beside him. Sounding surprised, Yuwon asked back.

“Weren’t you planning to keep him at your side for at least two months? You even said two months would be too short.”

“…If you take him, he’ll help. He won’t hold you back.”

At Kahaad’s reply, Yuwon wondered what kind of wind had blown his way and turned his gaze toward his half-brother, Bernid.

“For me… it would be convenient to take a magician along, sure, but… are you really okay with that?”

Bernid, who had spoken far less lately—perhaps due to the recent harsh training—quietly nodded as he answered.

“It’s already been discussed and settled between my master and me. If you’re fine with it, I’d like to go with you.”

“Really? Then… that’s good. It’ll shorten the time on the way back too.”

From the very beginning, when Yuwon and his party first set foot in the Great Jungle, Bernid had been the one in charge of transportation. By now, having grown much stronger, performing movement magic should be no great challenge for him.

And so, somewhat abruptly, Bernid joined the party. Soon after, the three of them prepared to depart with Kahaad’s assistance.

“Then go. I won’t see you off any farther.”

Woooom—!

Without a single incantation, at a mere glance from Kahaad, the pre-prepared teleportation magic circle activated. Mana surged violently around the circle.

Sssrlk—

As Yuwon and his companions stepped onto the teleportation circle—narrow if called narrow, wide if called wide—they vanished in an instant, as if they had never been there in the first place.

Kahaad kept his gaze fixed on the spot where Yuwon and the others had disappeared through the teleportation circle.

“I thought I was raising a tiger… but it’s not a tiger, it’s a dragon.”

He had boasted that at least two more months were needed, that even two months would be too short, yet already there was nothing left to teach. As a teacher, that was hardly something he could say with dignity.

“Hah… I should at least organize something to teach him before he comes back. If that brat had learned shamanism before magic… this seat of mine might not even be mine.”

Kahaad could say this with confidence. No matter how Yuwon had trained Terrien and Hastings, among them now, Bernid was clearly the strongest right after Yuwon himself.

—

Pwooo—!

A horn trumpet, carved from the horn of a colossal monstrous beast once slain by the great general Geiorn in ages past, sounded its cry far and wide, announcing the imperial army’s departure.

“Soldiers! Rise in the name of Aphahiel!”

“Waaaargh—! Let’s go! Let’s go and kill them all!”

“Long live Aphahiel! Long live Gion Tindal!”

Following the opening shout of Marquis Carson, the Supreme Commander, the imperial forces—stretched out long like an endless swarm of ants—raised their voices together in a thunderous roar.

Though the marquis had mentioned only Aphahiel, the voices praising Gion and exalting his family, leaking out from among the troops, grew louder than the cries chanting Aphahiel’s name.

‘Even now, Gion Tindal….’

At that sight, which plainly revealed the current state of Aphahiel, the expression of Marquis Carson, standing upon the platform, hardened.

The real Emperor was alive and well down in the South, yet a fake Emperor strutted about as if he were genuine—an utterly absurd situation. The marquis’s bitter gaze turned toward the troops under his command.

‘More than eighty percent of these soldiers were borrowed through Gion’s connections. It’s not strange at all….’

The troops looked less like people and more like a swarm of ants. Though his eyes were on the soldiers, the marquis’s thoughts soon drifted elsewhere.

‘Now that the moment has actually come, I hesitate. Do I still have regrets…?’

What held his feet in place was his family.

When he had informed them that he had been appointed Supreme Commander of the imperial army, he could hardly describe how delighted his family had been. They had thought he would be deeply resented for having once stood with the Fifth Prince and had kept their heads down in silence, yet instead of persecution, he was entrusted with such a heavy responsibility. How could they not be overjoyed?

‘They must have thought they were finally safe.’

His wife, who had grown old alongside him through the long years, let out a sigh of relief. His children and grandchildren, unable to contain their joy, nearly forgot all decorum and broke into song. Even now, the image of his family’s happiness remained vivid before his eyes.

Yet in the end, the marquis chose not to be a good father, but to live as Astasil Carson. Firm resolve rose clearly in his once-wandering gaze.

‘I’m sorry. Because of the choice of this father… this grandfather, who has lived long enough, you will be forced onto a difficult path.’

His wavering gaze returned once more to the massed troops below.

‘With this many, it should be enough to accompany me and the Carson family on our road to the underworld….’

His intent was to hurl himself directly into a blazing inferno while carrying tens of thousands of soldiers with him. Of course, the price would not be light. The marquis had already wagered everything on this—his own life, and the fate of his family included.

‘This is the last way I can repay my homeland.’

Turning his eyes away from the soldiers, the marquis looked toward the distant southern sky.

‘It’s as clear as the day I first met His Majesty the Former Emperor….’

Unlike the turmoil in his heart, the sky was exceptionally clear, without a single cloud. The sunlight pouring down from that pristine sky burned away even the last remnants of hesitation within him.

‘Yes… I came this far by the grace of His Majesty the Former Emperor and of Aphahiel. Even on the final road of this old body, I will devote my loyalty to Aphahiel.’

In that white, blank-canvas sky, the marquis saw the empire’s new beginning.

‘Your Majesty Emperor Yurion. Please forgive me for not being able to walk with you to the very end.’

Shing—

From Marquis Carson’s scabbard, his sword was drawn and pointed straight toward the southern sky. Then, so softly that no one could hear, the marquis moved his lips and whispered.

“…Let us go. For Aphahiel—and for him.”

Amid tens of thousands of troops, a lone, dignified radiance of loyal patriotism shone forth. Unaware of the marquis’s resolve, the soldiers under his command were busy, brimming with morale, loudly chanting the names of the marquis, Aphahiel, and Gion in turn.

—

The departure of a grand army of fifty thousand! News that such a massive force—rare even in the empire’s long history—was marching south spread across the entire continent faster than any rumor ever could.

“Oh dear… what are we to do… I feared it, and yet it’s truly come to this. A civil war at last….”

Unlike the South, which had already begun evacuating early on, even people in distant lands—who had thought the war had nothing to do with them—could no longer avoid feeling that war had begun. Of course, their anxiety could not compare to that of the South.

“My lord! Reports confirm that the imperial army has officially declared war on our territory and is marching south!”

It was news he had already heard more than twenty times since yesterday. The booming report from his subordinate was enough to make the count’s temples throb.

“That will do. It was all as expected. Nothing more than what was already foreseen. Do not be shaken. Nothing changes. Return and reinforce the defenses further. That is the best we can do for now.”

“…Yes. Then I shall take my leave.”

Click—

The sound of the door opening and closing echoed once more, leaving the count alone in his study. Though he had told his subordinate not to waver, deep worry was etched clearly across the count’s face as well.

‘Marquis Carson… why you of all people….’

Rumors and informants had long since reported that Marquis Carson had been designated as Supreme Commander of the imperial army. It was only that the count had refused to believe it. Now, what he had desperately wished not to be true had become reality.

‘What could we possibly do against Marquis Carson and the fifty-thousand-strong army he commands…?’

Valaris’s standing forces numbered roughly ten thousand. Even counting all those who had gathered from neighboring territories to stand with the count, the total did not reach fifteen thousand.

‘Conscription is unthinkable. In these chaotic times, the territorial citizens who chose Valaris instead of fleeing… If so, fifteen thousand against fifty thousand—no, their numbers will continue to swell as they march south. Fifteen thousand against seventy, eighty, even a hundred thousand would not be an exaggeration. No matter how naturally fortified Valaris Castle is, such a disparity in numbers….’

If it were a horde of monstrous beasts instead, the situation might have been different. But they were human, and the commander leading them was the famed battle-hardened veteran of old—Astasil Carson.

‘Thinking calmly… there is no chance of victory.’

He had not begun this path with victory in mind, but he had never imagined such an overwhelming difference in strength from the very start. The situation was nothing short of bleak.

And so the count remained alone, trapped in unanswerable worries, for some thirty minutes.

Sssrlk—

“…!”

A strange sound, like a shadow gliding through the air, broke the count’s concentration.

“Who goes there!”

Clang—!

The count immediately drew the sword at his waist and aimed it toward the source of the hostile presence. Had the intruder given up upon being discovered? The mysterious trespasser revealed himself readily, as though he had never intended to hide his presence in the first place.

From head to toe, the man was clad in black, with no opening anywhere except for the eyeholes—a thoroughly suspicious appearance.

‘What is this…? So compliant…? Is he trying to lower my guard and strike once I relax?’

Despite the odd situation, the count tightened his grip on his sword, prepared for a sudden ambush. Then the intruder spoke.

“Count, you have grown quite a bit. With this level of stealth, I thought you wouldn’t notice me. I was clearly mistaken. You must have been busy inside and out, with little time to focus on personal training… yet your effort shows.”

“What nonsense—! Stop spouting—.”

Just as the count was about to demand that he stop talking nonsense and reveal his identity, the masked man removed his mask of his own accord.

Srrk—

With the soft rustle of cloth, the face hidden beneath the mask was revealed, capturing the count’s gaze. Sharply defined features, as if carved from stone, flawless white skin rare even in the South, and an immaculate appearance formed by the harmony of it all.

“…Y-Your Highness?”

As far as the count knew, there was only one person in the world with such an appearance. Yurion Aphahiel! The one standing before him was unmistakably Yurion Aphahiel, the sole Emperor of Aphahiel whom he served.

Before going to see Marquis Carson, Yuwon had come to visit a nearby count.

“Th-that hair… why so suddenly….”

After undergoing rebirth through bone cleansing in the Great Jungle, Yuwon had been reborn with jet-black hair like that of the Former Emperor.

Given how deeply Yuwon had been associated with white—White Dragon this and that—it was no wonder the count was shocked to see him transformed into raven-black hair in the meantime. Of course, that was not what mattered now.

A faint smile formed at the corner of Yuwon’s lips as he appeared without warning.

“It’s been a while, Count.”

After a long absence from imperial lands, Yuwon once more set foot upon the empire’s soil.

War had begun, and the Emperor had returned—

to reclaim what had once been stolen from him.

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