177. For victory (4)
It rains arrows. The demons who had been punished while carrying dirt were left confused and confused, and a group of knights rode out on horseback through the slightly opened castle gate.
The horse’s hooves rush towards the defenseless demons, shaking up the dirt that has not yet been compacted. Even though the opponents were not humans but demons, they charged in fiercely without any hesitation, like wild beasts with their leashes released, aiming for their
prey. Suddenly.
The results were consistent with my confidence.
The head of a demon rolled on the dirt.
….
After leaving the Demon King’s Castle, I started having nightmares again. Because of that, I began to lack even more sleep.
‘Maybe that’s why I rarely coughed up blood.’
The frequency has decreased to the point where it can almost be said to not be done anymore.
‘I thought lack of sleep was the culprit, so I tried to rest for a while.’
He leisurely folded the black handkerchief, put it in his arms, and raised his head. Deon folded his arms and laughed as if he was taken aback by the newly gruesome scene.
“If you take your eyes off it for a moment, it looks like this and you won’t be able to rest properly.”
“…sorry.”
“What did the guard do? “You would have seen the sight of an arrow being aimed from the castle wall even if you didn’t have to pay close attention.”
“He did his job.”
The guards steadily reported that the enemies were aiming arrows from the castle walls. The problem was the subsequent response.
Deon sighed after hearing the whole story.
“I don’t know where to start.”
I know that it is awkward because it is my first time building a mountain, and I understand that those who move to build it will be defenseless, so I understand some level of damage.
Even after listening to the explanation, the knights who came out for the surprise attack seemed like the knights of Stigma Primiro. It’s not that strange for them to be attacked, but…
‘Still, I told you to place guards around those who build the mountain to prepare for such a surprise attack.’
There are a lot of things to point out, but Deon decided to point out the most important one.
“There is no need to build the mountain yourself.”
“yes?”
“We have prisoners.”
If shooting arrows and attacking people is a problem, just stop them from doing so.
Coincidentally, we have a prisoner captured by a man-eating plant. As expected of those who were shooting in the forest, they seemed to be in very good physical condition.
How about using those guys to build a mountain?
‘Will I really be able to shoot an arrow at my colleagues? Or, before that, could Tender Amiable give an order to kill his men?’
Deon remembered the Margrave Amiable who had a war of words with Stigma during the hunting competition. I was quite impressed by the fact that they defended the Barbai people by saying that they were also human beings. Could such a person really kill people from the same empire?
‘Even if we kill or not kill, this side has nothing to lose.’
If you kill it, you can use it as it is. If you don’t kill it, you can use it as is.
‘It may take some time to complete the mountain, but…’
I can’t think of a better way than this, so what can I do?
Well, it’s okay. It was nothing new for him as he had been living with limitations since he was born. Instead of lamenting the limitations of his brain, Deon gave an order.
***
Soil is piled up in front of the castle wall.
Unlike before, the person who built it was not a demon.
“They…”
Those who were once colleagues are there. Someone groaned. Those who had predicted the move to build a mountain again and were preparing with their bows in hand raised their eyes in confusion and saw their commander.
Margrave Amiable gritted his teeth at the earnest gaze directed at him as if waiting for an answer.
‘Damn you.’
How can you think like that and put it into practice?
I saw people being pushed onto their backs to build a mountain. I know that I have no choice but to move when my life is threatened. In a world where there are many people who have committed sins, it may be embarrassing to even call it a sin, but…
‘It must be killed.’
You can’t just open your eyes and watch the mountains pile up. There is no other way to stop it. He had a duty to carry out the orders given by His Majesty.
The hesitation was short. Although he was soft, he was a strict margrave in charge of the border, so he suppressed his bleeding emotions and calmly issued orders.
Ordering his subordinates to kill those who were once his colleagues.
“Raise your bow.”
“…!”
There was a stir.
Most people look back at the owner of the voice as if in shock, and some look down with trembling eyes. Very few people hesitated and raised their bows.
Tender Amiable saw this and raised his voice.
“Raise your bow!”
Some of those who were looking at the commander turned their heads and looked down. The voice continued as anyone could see hesitation.
“If we don’t kill them, the demons will eventually overtake this castle! Then your spouses, children, and other precious people will be trampled and trampled by those bastards!”
The gazes towards the commander disappeared one by one. The number of people looking down increased, and more people than before took up bows.
“If we collapse, countless people will die! It’s not just the people of this territory who die. His Majesty designated this place as the final gateway to the capital! “If the demons cross this area, so many people will die that they cannot even be compared to those you are afraid to aim your bows at!”
Now almost everyone has a bow. The eyes of the soldiers holding bows and arrows hardened.
“We must hold out here! Even if you can’t do it, you have to take as much time as possible! Pick up your bow and aim at them. Protest!”
The confusion subsides and a sense of solemnity lingers. The soldiers, who had made up their minds, hung arrows and marched. There were still some whose hands trembled as they aimed in the direction, but there were many who did not.
The moment the arrow was aimed at the colleagues who were once together, a loud sound of laughter rang out.
Tender Amiable kept his mouth shut.
‘…Because there is a jinn, it would be impossible to use magic near the castle walls.’
Were there exceptions to tools that could only be used directly and had magic engraved on them? Well, I guess that means you can use the communication seat.
Nervous eyes were focused on one place.
In the demon camp, a white-haired man was laughing maniacally, holding a magic stone in his hand that seemed to have been enchanted with a loudspeaker spell. As a result, the tension became even tighter, and he gradually stopped laughing. He rolled his red eyes as if he was going crazy with joy and brought the magic stone close to his mouth.
– I knew that would happen. You hypocrite.
“….”
– Isn’t it a bit much to abandon your hard-fought subordinates who aren’t ordinary citizens of the empire?
How should I explain this feeling? I think I was a little disappointed.
I expected a little because he was a person who raised his voice against the stigma and stood up for other tribes just because he was a fellow human being. In the end, the choice is to abandon them.
Of course, when you think about it rationally, it is true that it is the right decision. He is truly an example of a great commander who does not lose his cool in this situation and chooses the best option.
‘But do they think that way too?’
I glanced at the people who couldn’t resist the pressure and were building a mountain.
An expression that clearly shows shock. Deon made an immediate decision. We need to let the soldiers on that wall move in to them.
Before I could think about how best to say it, a voice broke through the silence.
– From the moment they build a mountain, they are already traitors.
Although he didn’t shout, and although the distance was considerable, the surroundings were abnormally quiet, so the sound was clearly transmitted to Deon.
‘That’s it.’
Wrong. The corners of his mouth went up.
‘Instead of belittling him as a traitor, he should have been praised for dying with honor.’
What harm would there be in praising one’s reputation?
I just laughed. In fact, I have never been in a happy mood until now, but I had to laugh to be more effective.
A voice filled with laughter grabbed the Margrave, who was a fairly trustworthy commander, by the collar and dragged him to the floor.
– There’s no way he wouldn’t know that he didn’t do it because he wanted to. Not only are you trying to kill your subordinates, but now you are throwing your honor into the mud.
“…!”
At this rate, who would risk their life to fight?
The soldiers on the castle wall slowly lower their bows one by one. Margrave Amiable, who belatedly realized his mistake, frowned.
‘So what do we do now?’
Due to his nature, could he make an example of someone by disobeying orders? Even if possible, you can’t cut off everyone’s heads, so being so forceful isn’t good in the long run.
Deon observed behavior that would lead to an interesting mind.
….
Funny enough, the crack was enough to collapse a castle.
If you look at it in black and white terms, Tender Amiable was a good type of person. This may be an advantage as an individual, but it can be seen as a disadvantage as a commander.
Even he himself was reluctant to aim arrows at his subordinates, but what could he do when even the soldiers under his command felt repulsed and showed signs of not wanting to follow him?
‘Still, it was quite refreshing for a soft commander.’
Tender Amiable never collapsed into incompetence without being able to do this or that.
Instead of changing direction and preventing the earthen mountain from being built at all, he watched the earthen mountain being piled up, and when it was almost completely piled up, he connected the planks he had prepared in advance to the earthen mountain and went over to the station to attack.
The moment I thought I could do just a little more, boom! I was so surprised when I heard the soldiers coming over to this camp with a loud sound.
When I saw the Primiro Knights coming from the front, defeating the demons, I thought it was a dream.
‘I almost got the reverse.’
Because they were prisoners, they were unable to actively resist, so their passive movements were taken for granted. Moreover, who would have known that planks were being prepared behind the invisible walls of the castle?
When the castle was being completed, there were troops gathered on the nearby wall, but most of them were lowered and out of sight, and those who were not paid much attention because it seemed that they were only there to defend and keep in check the demons that would soon push in. didn’t
‘I would have been more suspicious if the troops had not gathered and it had been as usual.’
By subtly increasing the number of troops on standby.
If it had been a human-to-human fight, he would have definitely suffered even if the 0th Corps had not existed here.
At the very least, even if the soldiers who were not prisoners had been building the soil themselves, they would have definitely suffered. It must have been a surprise attack when his stamina was low.
Therefore, I salute you. I was held back here for a considerable amount of time, following your mindset that if you can’t stop it, you have to take the time.
‘Now I know why I was trying to waste time.’
When I entered the castle, there were no ordinary people other than soldiers. It was probably to buy them time to evacuate to another territory.
Deon held his sword without even closing his eyes and looked down at the dead Margrave’s body as if it were engraved in his mind, then raised his head and walked away.
Every time I took a step, someone’s body was kicked by my feet.
‘The Primiro Knights… I’m sure you’ll understand, too.’
Now it was time to move again.
***
“Don’t you like the food?”
The Emperor, who had been quietly looking down at the meat on his plate, raised his head at the soft voice. I made eye contact with the crown prince, who had worried eyes.
“I have no appetite. “Didn’t I tell you to eat together with Alethea?”
I put down the silverware I was holding on the table. The prince’s eyes followed the gesture and moved to the untouched meat.
The princess, who was cutting meat across from the prince, also glanced at the emperor’s plate and looked worried, but when she noticed the emperor’s appearance of wanting to ignore it, she pretended not to notice anything and fixed her eyes on her plate.
However, the crown prince did not just let it go. A stiff voice filled the wide space where there were only three people.
“…I heard you haven’t been eating well lately.”
“….”
“You’re almost starving.”
It was a question that was close to an interrogation, but the emperor was not angry.
In the end, I knew that he was acting because he was worried about me, so he just lowered his eyes lazily and pretended like nothing was wrong, thinking that he was glad that all the employees were left behind.
Usually, when things like this happen, I act adamantly and shake my head as if I can’t win, but this time it was different.
“Are your hallucinations getting worse?”
The princess raised her head in shock at the bold statement and heavy content. The knife that was supposed to cut the meat scratched the plate and made an unpleasant noise.
The Emperor, sensing that it was inevitable, slowly moved his lips.
“…No way.”
The black ghosts that were disturbing his vision actually got better. Instead—
the emperor glanced down.
“It’s just….”
“….”
“I just have no appetite because the bloody smell is lingering in my nose.”
