Chapter 79 - Revealed Only After the Fall (2)

Four hundred years ago, I scattered countless seeds so that humans could settle down in this barren land.

I passed down a high-grade Mana Heart to those with outstanding aptitude and character, and to those who fell short, I passed down a Mana Heart that suited their own vessel.

And they grew splendidly, far beyond my expectations.

It was they who carved through the great army of monsters to open a path for me to reach the mad dragon, and it was they who repeatedly defeated the imperial armies that constantly sought opportunities to strike the kingdom.

Because they were there, I was able to fall asleep without any worries.

But they were gone.

When I woke up from my sleep after 400 years, no one was left.

So I thought they had all fallen to ruin. I thought that all those who worshiped the Poem of Martial Deeds in the face of the mana of the rings had declined, leaving not even a trace behind.

I was certain they had completely perished like that.

"But I guess they hadn't."

Their descendants came to the fortress.

* * *

While wandering around the castle to avoid Vincent, who kept piling work on me, I unknowingly stopped in my tracks when I reached the empty lot in front of the castle gates.

In the distance, there was a ragged crowd huddled around a brazier, warming themselves by the fire.

Realizing that the lords could no longer protect them, an increasing number of Northerners were volunteering for service. They were among them.

And within that crowd, there was a pair of a man and a woman who had made me stop walking.

Their appearance was shabby, and their armaments were terrible. Even mixed in among the beggar-like volunteer recruits, they looked so awful that there wasn't a single hair of incongruity.

Nevertheless, I was certain they were the descendants of the old knights who had vanished. There was no need for me to use my authority to confirm it.

Because a very familiar and nostalgic scent was wafting from them.

"Salute!"

A Ranger, discovering me belatedly, gave a disciplined military salute.

He was someone I was acquainted with.

He was one of the few remaining veteran Rangers who had often carried out patrol missions with me.

"It's cold today, what brings you here?"

"I'm inspecting."

"His Excellency the Count has been looking for you for a while."

"Are they volunteer recruits? Don't mind me and do your job."

When I changed the subject, the Ranger grinned knowingly.

But that was only for a moment; the Ranger quickly put on a wolf-like face and began to press the volunteer recruits.

"Anyone who can't endure this much cold can't even climb the castle walls! And a soldier who can't climb the walls isn't needed in this castle!"

The volunteer recruits simply stared blankly at the Ranger.

"You lot are damn slow on the uptake. Stop warming yourselves and line up in front of me!"

How did one mean the other? It was ridiculous nitpicking.

But instead of picking a fight, I took a seat by the fire in place of the recruits who quickly lined up in front of the Ranger.

And then I leisurely watched the screening.

"Fail! Next!"

"Fail!"

The enlistment screening proceeded with an almost excessive coldness. He didn't even ask for their names, let alone their backgrounds. He simply checked their skills and talents, and if he felt they were below standard, he mercilessly failed them.

Though somewhat harsh, it wasn't hard to understand.

In terms of quantity alone, Ballorhard's forces had expanded beyond their pre-war levels against the Warlord. Increasing the troop numbers any further was something Ballorhard's finances couldn't handle.

Although there was the massive compensation extorted from the lords of the Central region, thinking about the future, it was time to elite-train the troops rather than recruit more of them.

Given the circumstances, there was no reason to accept them as soldiers unless they had truly exceptional talents.

It was just a waste of effort for those who had traveled from afar to become soldiers without knowing the situation.

Thanks to that, I was able to save time, though.

"Next!"

The line quickly shrank, and it was the turn of the man and woman I had been keeping an eye on. The man stepped forward first.

The Ranger jerked his chin with a face that showed he was too bothered to even speak now.

The man grabbed his spear.

"Hap!"

With a grandiose shout, a deep scent of mana spread out in all directions.

I breathed in deeply that strong smell of mana.

VOOOONG.

The spear trembled and emitted a faint light.

The Ranger, who had been conducting the screening with an apathetic face, froze right on the spot.

"W-Were you a knight?"

The man shook his head and introduced himself as a wandering mercenary.

Whether a knight or a mercenary, he was still a skilled fighter capable of using Aura.

The Ranger, who had berated him like a regular applicant without knowing his true skill, looked at me with a tearful face.

"Name."

I brushed off my rear, stood up, and asked him for his name.

"Gallahan."

The man replied in an arrogant tone.

"Do you know who this person is..."

I gestured to the Ranger, who belatedly tried to step forward with a stern expression. At my signal, the Ranger shut his mouth, visibly suppressing his anger.

"Last name?"

At my question, the man who had revealed his name as Gallahan shook his head.

"I'm a commoner, so I don't have a last name."

Perhaps the Ranger's warning had worked, as he used polite language for now. But his tone was incredibly arrogant.

He seemed quite confident in his own skills.

Moreover, a lie?

Gallahan claimed he was a commoner without a last name. That wasn't the truth.

Even if others didn't know, I knew.

In the past, I had selected twelve knights with outstanding character and aptitude and passed down a high-grade Mana Heart to them.

And of those, I sent the five who had a talent for defending to the southern border to serve as a shield holding back the great imperial army, and I sent the seven who had a talent for advancing to the North to serve as a sword carving through the great monster armies.

The shield was called the 「Silver Lion (銀獨子)」, and the sword was called the 「Blood Lion (血獨子)」.

Even today, the Silver Lion remained an honorable name bestowed upon master swordsmen who wove four rings, but the name of the Blood Lion had vanished without a trace.

The man before my eyes was undoubtedly someone who inherited the blood of those forgotten seven Blood Lions.

I subtly used my authority to check Gallahan's status window.

As expected, his aptitude and traits were just as I had anticipated.

I ordered Gallahan to stand by for now.

"I will conduct the next screening."

At my words, the Ranger bowed his head and stepped back. When I gave a signal, the woman who had been with the man stepped forward, carrying a longbow as tall as she was.

"I am Boris. I don't have a last name."

An unprompted self-introduction, and a lie once again, but I knew the truth.

This time, there was no need to check the characteristics of her mana. The large longbow she brought out was an item I was well acquainted with.

Its appearance was unsightly, but despite looking like that, it was the very item used by a Blood Lion known as the 「Divine Bow」.

An exclusive bow of the Divine Bow that most knights couldn't even pull the string halfway back, I immediately shouted she passed upon seeing her properly draw the bowstring all the way to the end.

Boris, who was just about to release the bowstring, looked at me with a deeply scowling face.

"Is there a problem?"

She didn't answer. But her face showed clear dissatisfaction at having passed the screening before even displaying her skills.

"Then finish up your business here. I'll be going."

I said that to the Ranger and then called Gallahan and Boris out separately.

"Now. Tell me honestly."

Upon reaching an empty warehouse, I urged them to tell the truth.

"What truth do you mean?"

They played innocent. They wore faces that seemed to say they had no idea what I was talking about.

It was truly insolent behavior. But I didn't get angry at them.

Because I knew the reason why they had to live in hiding, concealing even their last names.

In the past, after the war with the mad dragon ended, the Blood Lions released from the northern front were deployed to the southern border.

And befitting the kingdom's swords, they were not satisfied with merely defending the border, and they attacked the imperial mainland.

Before a strong army led by superhumans who were not just knights but Sword Masters, and not just Sword Masters but those possessing a [Heroic Poem], the imperial army collapsed helplessly. The Empire had to endure the humiliation of relocating its capital, which had been situated toward the east up until then, far away to the west.

It was perhaps natural that the Empire hated the Blood Lions more than the Silver Lions.

When the kingdom was steadfast, that hatred would not have been able to cross the border's fortresses and walls, but the current kingdom could not even serve as a fence, let alone a wall.

In a way, it was a wise choice for the descendants of the Blood Lions to live buried in obscurity, unable to even reveal their own names as they were now.

If there was a sin, the sinners would be the weak monarch and the weak kingdom, not them.

"By the way, who are you..."

Boris asked with a face full of wariness.

Instead of answering, I drew up my mana.

Seeing their wariness intensify at my sudden action, I asked them.

"If you lived hiding your family name, you should at least know the origin of the power you possess."

The Mana Heart they possessed originated from me, who had been a sword.

Also, the [Heroic Poem] they must have inherited was derived from the verses of the [Myth] achieved by the Dragon Slayer.

If they had fully inherited both the heart and the poem, there was no way they wouldn't know which family's energy I was raising right now.

For the Dragon Slayer's heart was a refinement method unique to the Royal House of Leonberk.

"Gallahan greets His Highness the Prince of the kingdom!"

"Boris greets His Highness the Prince!"

Just as expected, Boris and Gallahan immediately dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

I looked at them with a highly satisfied face. It truly felt like treasures had walked right into my embrace on their own two feet.

All that remained was how to roll them around to make them useful.

* * *

Boris and Gallahan recognized me, but they still did not reveal their family name to the end. It seemed that even the superficial status of royalty was insufficient to earn their trust.

A monarch and his bloodline who couldn't even be trusted by the talents of their own country.

The state of the country was an absolute mess.

The only reason they had decided to step out into the world now was thanks to me wiping out anyone who could serve as the Empire's eyes and ears during the last war.

I decided to take my time gaining their trust and, for now, assigned them to places where they could grow best.

In truth, Gallahan's talent was at a level that didn't even reach Arwen, let alone Adelia.

There was no need to be disappointed. To begin with, his ancestor, the Knight of Advance, also possessed the lowest weapon skills among the Blood Lions.

But he had a special talent that didn't exist in the other Blood Lions.

Almost godlike horsemanship, a man who couldn't even defeat the Blood Lion whose main weapon was the bow while on the ground would trample his comrades the moment he got on a horse.

Such a talent had also been passed down to his descendant, Gallahan, so Gallahan's true talent was S-rank horsemanship.

Fortunately, there was a place in Winter Castle that suited Gallahan exceedingly well.

"The Lancers are quite short on personnel these days, aren't they? Take this guy and raise him. He'll be quite useful."

I pawned Gallahan off on the captain of the Black Lancers, who had achieved distinguished merits in the battle against the Warlord.

I threw in a request to roll him hard, mentioning that he seemed to have a bit of a bluffing streak.

A few days passed, and rumors reached me that Quern Liechtheim, taking my request a bit too far, was rolling Gallahan to a horrific degree, but I didn't mind.

Hardship makes a man strong, and a person becomes sharper the more you roll them.

That same philosophy applied to Boris as well.

Just like her ancestor, she was a born sniper and a born Ranger. I shoved her into the mountain patrol unit and made her run endless laps.

In a way, I rolled her even more harshly than Gallahan.

From my standpoint, it was only natural.

The mana of the heart gets crushed by the mana of the rings only when their energies clash directly. And since she was an archer, she would never have to clash energies with Knights of the Ring.

She was a capable talent whose skills worked even in this current world where rings dominated.

Of course, she didn't have the ability to snipe knights from an unseen location like her ancestor did, but this was because she lacked faith in the [Heroic Poem], not because she lacked talent.

And when it comes to poems, if you grapple with monsters in the mountains, you are bound to naturally develop one of your own, even if it isn't of a high grade.

"Arwen, Bernardo. Hunt the large monsters in the mountains with her."

Arwen replied that she understood, while Bernardo Eli grumbled. And naturally, I lightly ignored Bernardo's complaints.

Thus, Boris was assigned the mission of hunting large monsters in the mountains with the knights.

It wouldn't be easy.

Because ogres and Trolls were not opponents to be taken lightly.

But it wasn't an impossible mission either. The Poems of Martial Deeds she inherited were all born from hunting the monsters under the mad dragon's control.

With luck, even if a [Heroic Poem] was impossible, she'd at least be able to use other poems.

I also intended to make Gallahan experience real combat by having him patrol the entrance of the mountains as soon as the Black Lancers were ready.

In just one year, Gallahan and Boris would become unrecognizably strong.

Because Winter Castle was the optimal place for those building their karma.

"Your Highness. A messenger from the royal family has arrived."

While I was working so hard rolling the lucky charms that had practically rolled into my lap, a royal messenger came to Winter Castle.

"Again?"

It was undoubtedly an order to return.

I had already expressed my refusal several times, but the king was persistently relentless to a sickening degree.

Intending to settle it properly and send him back this time, I met with the royal messenger.

"Your Highness, His Majesty the King says he is well aware of your hard work in the North, and he requests your prompt return to The Capital so that your achievements may be widely known and a fitting reward bestowed."

Through the messenger's mouth, a message flowed out in a much softer tone than before.

"As if."

Of course, I wasn't fooled.

The moment I returned to The Capital now, my wings would be clipped and I would lose everything I had accomplished in the North. The king, who hated me more than necessary, was fully capable of doing exactly that.

I didn't have the slightest intention of falling for sweet words and returning to The Capital.

"Tell him I'll return on my own when the time comes, and to stop nagging."

The messenger turned pale white at my harsh words.

Anyone watching would think I'd just handed down a death sentence.

Of course, from the perspective of a messenger obligated to report exactly what he heard, relaying my words verbatim held the possibility of drawing the king's wrath.

"Tsk."

Taking pity on the innocent messenger's position, I suitably sanitized my response and stated my intentions again. Of course, only the tone was different; the conclusion that I wouldn't return remained exactly the same.

"You must be exhausted from the long journey, so go rest now."

As the dejected messenger slumped his shoulders, a man who had been standing blankly off to the side pulled back his cloak's hood and stepped in front of me.

However, the face that was revealed belonged to someone I had absolutely no desire to associate with.

"Your Highness. It has truly been a long time."

At that voice, which was just as endlessly unpleasant as his mug, my face naturally scowled.

"You don't know how relieved I am to see with my own eyes that you are doing so well."

Looking at me like that, the imperial dog wore a ridiculously gentle smile.