Chapter 136 - On the Day the Cuckoo Calls (2)

Deep in the night, when everyone was asleep.

Alicia was climbing the hill behind the mansion alone, holding a lamp.

"Phew..."

A heavy sigh that did not suit her light attire.

Perhaps she had been tossing and turning in bed until just now, for she was dressed only in a fluttering garment with a shawl draped over it.

In any case, she likely could not fall asleep easily.

Because even now, the tense air flowing from every corner was holding on to her and refusing to let go.

"Ah."

The moment she set foot at the entrance to the hill, a summer night wind suddenly began to blow.

Alicia ended up closing her eyes against the wind that dug into them.

At the unexpected sudden gust, Alicia's water-colored hair began to stream up into the night sky.

"Ugh. This keeps happening lately."

Rubbing her eyes against the fierce wind, strong enough to feel mischievous, Alicia grumbled with a deeply furrowed face.

Lately, whenever Alicia climbed up the hill, winds unsuited to the season had kept blowing.

Since the other servants said they had never felt such a wind even once, Alicia could only think that she was simply unlucky.

"Hm?"

Perhaps it was her imagination, but once she met the wind, the scenery atop the hill seemed somehow different from before.

Within the surrounding landscape, bright to a strange degree no matter how bright the moon in the night sky was, a familiar-looking head of blond hair began to enter her sight.

"Hmph. How very outrageous."

After confirming Vlad sitting with his back against the tree, Alicia primly pursed her lips and clutched the hem of her skirt.

"It is all talk, and none of it ever reaches me."

Vlad was now coming up here without concern, as if it were his own place.

Looking at him, Alicia grumbled in a small voice.

What good was saying he was Lady Alicia's knight, when he barely came to see her even once unless she called for him?

In such a small mansion, Vlad somehow hid himself so well that not even a trace of him could be seen wherever she went.

"..."

Alicia had hurried up the hill as much as she felt hurt, but waiting for her there was only Vlad with his head bowed, leaning against the base of the tree.

He looked as if he were sleeping, but at the sight of him somehow still hugging his sword, Alicia could not help but smile.

"How carefree you are."

It was night, so of course he would be sleepy.

But did ordinary knights fall so deeply asleep that they lost all awareness like this?

Seeing Vlad not move at all even when she made her presence known, Alicia furrowed her brows as if troubled.

"... You sleep so well. Are you not even nervous?"

In a few days, a fierce war would begin.

Yet in the peacefully sleeping Vlad, there was no sign of any anguish or worry.

However, the sight of Vlad sleeping so unconcernedly gave Alicia a small measure of peace.

"What an outrageous knight, not even recognizing his lady."

Though she was calling him outrageous, Alicia quietly sat down beside Vlad, as if worried he might wake.

The fluttering fireflies rising into the air scattered in all directions with her landing.

A single blue moon rose over the quiet summer night.

After looking up at the moon beside Vlad for a long while, Alicia soon moved her lips quietly, as if she had made up her mind.

Judging by the way he was asleep now, it seemed he would not wake easily no matter what she did.

"... Vlad is Lady Alicia's knight."

Alicia's voice quietly rang beside the sleeping Vlad's ear.

"So from now on, he comes to see Alicia often."

Though there were only the two of them, Alicia still raised her hand and covered her lips, as if afraid someone might hear.

Only the winds circling above the hill understood her voice.

"He comes to see Alicia more often than Lord Joseph. Understood?"

Alicia began repeating the words again and again, as if putting him under hypnosis.

She knew Vlad would not move as she wished just because she did this, but even so, Alicia's murmuring showed no sign of stopping.

Words she could deliver comfortably precisely because he could not hear them.

However, her words were sinking deeper into Vlad's mind than ever before.

"... He is not listening to this, is he?"

It might have been something she did only as a joke, but Alicia probably did not know.

The fact that Vlad was not sleeping right now, but looking into his own world through deep meditation.

"Why are his ears twitching?"

Alicia's murmuring was slipping into Vlad's world, which he had left wide open because he had needed to go deep.

Vlad had been organizing his world through meditation in preparation for the coming battle.

Because it was delicate work, he had repeatedly asked them to wake him if anyone came, but the white snake and young spirits on the hill who had received that request were merely playing innocent, as if they knew nothing about it.

* * *

"Hmm."

The next morning.

Joseph climbed onto the wall and confirmed Gaidar's army approaching from far away.

"It seems he somehow had few deserters."

Count Gaidar had somehow kept his army from scattering despite countless acts of sabotage.

The western army he was leading began to appear at the far end of Deirmar's blue grasslands.

"The soldiers are wavering, Lord Joseph."

"... It was good that we raised their morale in advance."

The air of the battlefield could be felt without looking.

Five thousand against one thousand three hundred.

No matter that they were inside the castle, if a force more than twice their own was approaching, it would be difficult for anyone to keep calm.

Even so, though the Heinal army's morale was wavering, it was not shaking greatly.

"Of course, you did it because you foresaw even this situation, did you not?"

"... Probably."

Vlad quickly nodded to Joseph, who was looking at him impassively.

In a way, it had been a fierce provocation no different from striking the first blow.

The soldiers of the Heinal army were feeling no small sense of relief from the knight named Vlad, along with the existence of the Bayezid army that would arrive later.

"I heard you paid your respects to the Baroness this morning."

"Yes."

Joseph folded his telescope and began walking slowly along the wall.

The Bayezid knights following him began to stretch out in a long line.

"That was well done. No matter that it is nominal, Lady Alicia is the commander of this war, so raising her standing is important."

Anyone inside the castle would know.

No matter that Alicia was the commander of this defensive battle, it was only in name.

Because the ones actually moving this war were Gaidar and Bayezid, and the one actually commanding the troops here was Joseph.

In such a situation, the respect Vlad showed Alicia was certainly bound to become an element that raised the morale of the Heinal army.

A knight cherished by Bayezid, yet one who did not mind bowing his head to their lord.

Vlad's attitude of respecting her could certainly be called a high-level political act.

"Now you do well on your own even without being told."

"..."

Seeing Joseph smile as if satisfied, Vlad could only scratch the back of his head.

It was just that, for some reason, he had felt as if he should do it today, and now it had led this far.

After hearing Joseph's words, he felt as if he understood why Alicia and Duncan had been so greatly pleased, even though it had only been a simple greeting.

"Look carefully. From here to here is the section you will be responsible for."

Gregory, Cade, and Maksim each left one by one according to Joseph's instructions.

And now it was Vlad's turn.

After carefully assigning each person their section, Joseph finally told Vlad the section he would be in charge of and opened his mouth.

It was something he could have simply told him through a meeting, but it was also a special consideration for Vlad, who was experiencing war for the first time.

"We received intelligence that Gaidar's army is coming with siege weapons as well. They will certainly try to scale the walls."

The walls of Deirmar had been firmly repaired, but because of its scale, they could not help being small.

Sigmund judged that he could break through those walls, and he was showing how serious he was about it through the siege weapons he was bringing.

"It will be fierce. It will be a moment when your judgment is needed more than ever."

"..."

In countless clashes, which side was being pushed back, which side was being breached.

Judging all of that would now be Vlad's responsibility.

It was a section of wall that could be called short if one wished, but from now on, Vlad had become a man no different from the master of this place.

"Always keep an eye on the enemy knights. Just like you, they are people who can create variables at any time."

"Understood."

Only knights could face knights.

Inexperienced Vlad would always have to be careful of those as sharp as himself.

"..."

There were more things to say, but Joseph decided to hold his tongue here.

Because his knight was already looking at the enemy.

"Be careful."

"Understood."

The two parted with a brief farewell.

As Joseph descended the narrow staircase, he thought back to a cold winter day.

"Will the two of them clash?"

"If there is an opportunity, they probably will."

"... I see."

Though he had been a boy from the wretched back alleys, he was the one who had boldly said he would shatter the moon of the West.

Back then, it had been only a faint possibility, but now it had become a meaningful possibility.

"Can Vlad win?"

"... Not yet."

Joseph had promised that audacious boy.

That if he could create a chance for him to take revenge, he would.

Those words from then had not been empty talk, but a condition spoken with Gaidar, whom he might one day face, in mind.

"It was good that I planted his position on the opposite side from mine."

However, it had not been a promise to send him up in a situation where certain defeat was guaranteed like now.

Godin of Gaidar and Vlad of Soara were a bond that must not yet meet.

Even if they were on the same battlefield, Joseph intended to separate the two in thoroughly divided spaces.

"It would be good if things went as planned..."

However, no matter how clever a commander was, it was impossible to control every variable on the battlefield.

Looking at Gaidar's army approaching with the twilight from far away, Joseph quietly let out a sigh.

For some reason, the shadow approaching from the west seemed especially long today.

* * *

The northern grasslands, where summer had now fully arrived.

In a place where countless tents fluttered, there was a man confidently pushing through the soldiers and advancing.

"Move."

A man who did not lose his force even before the countless knights glaring at him.

Under a pressure that would have left an ordinary person unable even to breathe, Timur the Iron Duke and the northern knights were simply opening the path calmly.

"Duke. You have arrived?"

Though his intense presence could be felt even outside the tent, Radu of the dragon killer knights came out only now, calmly scratching his head as if he had just noticed.

"It seemed things were being delayed too much, so I came in person. As expected, it must have been too heavy a burden?"

Timur the Iron Duke.

He, who could be called the ruler of the North, had decided not to accept any further checks.

"I came to lighten the load a little. Looking at things now, I should have come sooner."

It was an expedition that had continued for half a year.

And yet, the central army had not so much as set foot in the Barony of Uthman, so the intention was obvious to anyone.

So he would no longer be dragged around.

Despite the Vatican's recommendation, Timur had come here intending to lead his troops himself and strike the Barony of Uthman.

There would be resistance in one way or another, but his intention was to eliminate the root of the pretext altogether and drive out the dragon killer knights.

"Ha ha! To think you were worried about this incompetent junior all this time, I hardly know where to put myself, Duke."

However, the knight Radu, the actual commander of this expedition, was simply calm.

It was likely not only Timur who felt that his smile seemed deep.

"I was just about to report that we would be leaving this place soon anyway."

"... Leaving?"

At Radu's unexpected words, Timur's brow began to twitch.

An unknowable sense of frustration conveyed from his smile began to seep into Timur's feet.

"Since we completed the mission, we must move now."

Recognizing the faint bewilderment hovering over Timur, Radu gestured to the knights with exaggerated motions.

Wagons began moving according to Radu's hand signal.

The unidentified things swaying atop them began to approach Timur little by little.

"It was fortunate. It was not an easy battle, but as expected, God was watching over us."

"..."

Ignoring Radu's jeering, Timur quietly looked at the things loaded on the wagons.

Faint gazes met his eyes without pause along the path of his sight.

Countless heads, having lost their bodies, were packed densely atop the wagons like luggage.

"If you look here, they will probably seem familiar. Baron Uthman is here as well, and his wife and knights..."

"What is this."

Having understood the situation from the traces alone, Timur did not hide his anger.

The air around them suddenly began to grow heavy.

A knight among knights.

At the rough force Timur Baranoff radiated, everyone around him stopped breathing.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The grass was being crushed down though there was no substance.

Looking at the heads with no traces of resistance and the soldiers with no signs of ever having sortied, Timur could realize that this situation was not a natural result.

"... Please calm yourself, Duke."

Only now did Radu wipe away his fishy smile at Timur's ominous force.

However, though he had wiped away the smile, he had not lost his composure.

Because the force of the oldest dragon he had faced for so long was far stickier and sharper than this.

"Baron Uthman confessed his crimes in his final moments."

Yet though he did not bend, he handed over an object with fingertips that could not help trembling.

"What is this?"

"It is Apsilon. It is an item that has been the subject of much talk in the central region lately."

When Timur opened the box, there was a refreshing scent.

It was Apsilon, the elves' tea that had not yet been distributed in the North.

"It is a narcotic. He said he intended to use this to make the North ill. He said a wicked being demanded it."

It was not, and it was not.

However, truth was like shattered fragments before those with power.

Those who moved the world were people skilled at arranging scattered fragments however they wished.

"And do you know who in the North first received that tea?"

From the fragments arranged in that way, the message of the oldest dragon began to flow toward the Iron Duke.

"They say it was Countess Oksana of Bayezid."

"..."

Hand over the dragon's fragments at once.

If you do not, I will break your North.

"It does seem suspicious, does it not?"

The dragon and the lion glared fiercely at each other.

Timur could feel that the dragon's claws had reached him far earlier than he had expected.

The dragon killer knights and the central army were slowly withdrawing their formation.

Their banners were slowly turning toward Bayezid's capital city.

Toward Sturma.

A Letter to Soara

Ravens were flying in from every direction.

Even Dorothea's magic sphere was still flashing continuously.

Ominous news was flying in one after another toward Bayezid's army as it headed for Deirmar.

"It is an urgent telegram from Bayezid."

Dorothea, her pointed beastkin ears twitching, looked at Rutiger without hiding her worried expression.

"They say summons documents from the Vatican have just arrived for Lady Oksana..."

It had been a mother's effort for her sickly son, but in someone's eyes, it had appeared only as a wicked act.

By those who saw only what they wanted to see, the person called Oksana had been arbitrarily judged in that way.

Even though she was someone who should not have been treated that way.

"Father."

"..."

Deirmar was now close at hand.

It was a distance where they could reach the battlefield if they walked half a day, but ominous news was still continuing to fly in.

The agents they had scattered everywhere, the Vatican baring its teeth, and even the surrounding lords whose domains bordered theirs.

All of them were warning with one voice that a great calamity would now occur in Sturma.

"We must return."

After receiving even the raven sent from the far northern edge, Peter hardened his expression solemnly and opened his mouth.

"But Count. If we return now, Joseph, who is alone, will be isolated."

Hearing Peter say they had to return, Rutiger began to strongly oppose him, saying this could not stand.

"Even if not Deirmar, we must at least draw Joseph out. If you give me troops..."

Perhaps because the situation was urgent.

It was only very slight, but there was sincerity spreading from Rutiger.

They were brothers who, from birth, had no choice but to be fated to fight, but at least now, they were the same Bayezid.

"Do not worry. I will not leave Joseph alone."

"Pardon?"

After confirming that a faint smile had appeared on Peter's face, Rutiger's eyes widened.

With the mistress of the count's house summoned by the Vatican and the central army threatening Sturma, Peter only looked composed.

"War is, at its root, about obstructing what the enemy wishes to do."

Victory in war depended, to the end, on how many resources one pushed into the formed front.

That was why Sigmund and Dragulia had played this kind of trick now, to separate Bayezid's main army and the Heinal army.

By using a grave threat that could not possibly be ignored.

"Now that we know the enemy's intentions for certain, it has become easier to respond."

Peter crumpled the final letter sent by the Iron Duke.

From his black eyes, the anger he had quietly contained until now began to rise.

"We will have to take a wide detour. We may be a little late."

When he finished speaking, Peter's gaze was looking into the distance.

It was a direction slightly askew from the direction they had been advancing until now.

* * *

"... For these reasons, Joseph of Bayezid must come out at once and apologize for all his rudeness until now! And Baroness Alicia should show respect toward the West through this marriage!"

A western knight was running around in front of the wall, shouting loudly while holding a white flag that signified a messenger.

Though Vlad did not know his name, he thought that the courage to proudly spout bullshit in front of countless enemies was worth high praise.

"Why? What?"

However, the soldiers around him did not seem to think so.

The Heinal soldiers began looking at Vlad one by one with dissatisfied expressions.

Their faces seemed to say that if it was here, he should step up and say at least a word.

"... Ahem. That bastard deserves to die. What is that bastard's name?"

It was not only because of the strange pressure approaching him.

It was something he said because, now that he was a commander, he had to think about the soldiers' morale too.

"How dare you insult the Baroness! State your name! You rude bastard!"

"Lord Vlad is asking for your name!"

The words that began from Vlad's quiet mutter became a wave, riding through the soldiers and beginning to echo over the wall.

"He is watching! Lady Alicia's knight! Watching you!"

"If we meet on the battlefield, I will tear your five limbs apart!"

At the soldiers' curses suddenly bursting out as if they had been waiting, not only the knight who had come to deliver the declaration of war, but even Vlad was flustered.

He had not thought it would catch fire to this extent.

Perhaps it was his imagination, but he felt as if he could sense Joseph's gaze from far away.

"Ugh!"

Perhaps thinking this would not do after seeing Deirmar's soldiers enraged, someone suddenly fired an arrow.

It had not aimed for his life, but the arrow that stuck into the horse's rump was more than enough to fluster the messenger.

"That worthless bastard fell!"

"Go out and kill him!"

Gaidar's intention to pressure the opponent through a declaration of war had been shattered to pieces.

The Gaidar knight ran toward the horse that had fled first in confusion.

His back, twitching as if he had injured something when he fell from the horse, merely looked ridiculous.

"... This has stirred them up thoroughly."

Under the most splendid banner, Joseph, who had been observing the battlefield from atop the wall, scratched his forehead as if troubled while watching Gaidar's army begin to move at the far end.

"No matter how I look at it, that is talent. He moved five thousand men with a single word."

"... I will say a word to him later."

Gaidar's army began approaching little by little from the far end of the grassland.

At a glance, a siege tower assembled as high as the wall shimmered in their vision.

"They prepared thoroughly."

There seemed to be dozens of siege weapons.

Perhaps the only slight comfort was that, because this was a place without stones, they could not use catapults.

"Set the arrows aflame."

However, Gaidar was not the only one who had prepared thoroughly.

The archers began bringing arrows to torches and setting them on fire.

The arrows of the Heinal army were raised toward the sun that had only now risen.

"Not yet."

Joseph coolly measured the distance and confirmed the range.

Joseph knew well that for the side defending a castle, there was no attack as certain as the first volley of arrows.

The most precious opportunity had to be made the most certain.

"They are coming."

"Not yet."

From ahead came the shouts of Gaidar's army.

The western plunderers were running, each lifting their shields.

Some of the faster ones had already reached just below the wall.

"Now!"

The end of the siege tower suddenly tilted.

Seeing that, Joseph, realizing the time had come, shouted loudly and gave the signal.

It's a trap! The enemy dug traps!

This is insane! We crossed over them just moments ago!

Traps that activated according to weight.

The traps, dug deep like moats, now revealed their true form and were swallowing Gaidar's siege weapons in one bite.

From the sky, red-hot flaming arrows began to fall like rain.

* * *

"... What did you say that bastard's name was?"

"They call him Joseph. He is Bayezid's second son."

Sigmund sat on his horse, looked at the battlefield, and ended up smiling.

"That bastard was out of his mind too."

Aaaaargh! Arrows!

The siege tower is burning! Put out the fire first!

Countless traps dug everywhere, enough to make one think the man was not in his right mind.

Looking at the traps packed in so densely it drew a hollow laugh, Sigmund let out a dry laugh.

The method itself was one a coward might use, but if one had holed up this earnestly to such an extent, he now had no choice but to acknowledge it.

"Now I see. He covered our eyes."

Peter releasing detached troops to disrupt the rear had not only been to cut off supplies.

Scouts, who served as the eyes on the battlefield.

The countless western scouts who should have spied out the battlefield long ago had been chasing detached troops like Vlad's and had failed to discover the current situation in time.

"Send them again, avoiding only the collapsed spots. In any case, it is only a delaying tactic."

"Understood, Count."

However, though the damage was greater than expected, Sigmund did not lose his composure.

In any case, in a siege, the attacking side's losses were bound to be forced.

Sigmund decided to focus on the result rather than be pressured by the process.

"In the end, we only need to cross the wall."

Deirmar's walls were low, and there was no terrain in particular blocking the way.

On top of that, the difference in troops was nearly fivefold, one thousand three hundred to five thousand.

Moreover, his soldiers were strong troops who had accumulated experience through countless battles, so this battle was merely a question of time.

The traps they had rammed in like mad were instead clearly revealing the anxiety of the defending side.

"No matter how long you wait, the father you are waiting for will not come. How truly pitiful."

Any lord would try to prevent his capital city from being taken, above all else.

He would not abandon Sturma merely to defend Deirmar, someone else's land.

"The first siege tower has reached the wall."

"Yes. I saw it."

As Godin reported, one blackened siege tower had somehow managed to stick itself right in front of Deirmar's wall.

Seeing the top of the wall begin to buzz as if flustered, Sigmund merely stroked his thick chin and smiled.

* * *

The siege tower is coming!

Shoot arrows! Kill them before they come over!

"Hoo..."

Vlad calmly took a deep breath and looked at the siege tower approaching right in front of him.

A massive body that did not stop though it was burning.

Atop the siege tower, filled with malice, were Gaidar's soldiers huddled tight with their shields raised high.

"Lord Vlad!"

"I know."

Mercenary captain Stefan was making full use of his experience to assist Vlad.

"Other than those bastards, no one else is clinging nearby, right?"

"Y-Yes! There is no one!"

However, his superior, who was certainly inexperienced, was maintaining a far calmer appearance than expected.

'... He was born for this.'

There were such people from time to time.

People whose inborn blood suited the battlefield.

There existed in this world people who were too suited to the battlefield to simply say they were strong in real combat.

"The siege tower has reached us!"

"You sons of bitches! Die, all of you!"

At last, a Gaidar knight kicked open the burning wooden door of the siege tower as it reached the wall and leaped out.

"I am Hommel of Gaidar... Urk!"

The Gaidar knight had shouted like a roar, bursting with the anger he had been holding tightly crouched.

However, before he could even say his own name, he was shoved back into the tower by a rough kick.

"Stefan."

"Yes!"

"Close the door."

"Pardon?"

The knight was pushed back into the siege tower with a loud crash and clatter.

Soon, following him, Vlad's blue eyes leaped into the red-hot tower.

"The siege tower door. Bolt it shut."

Toward the siege tower filled with screams, shouts, and cries, Vlad stepped without hesitation.

"So, what did that bastard from earlier say his name was?"

Before the unwanted guests could even arrive, Vlad chose to become the enemy's unwanted guest first.

Inside the siege tower filled with flames, Vlad's left eye was burning white.

* * *

Rose's Smiles in Soara.

The red-haired Madam there had just picked up a letter that had been handed to her and was smiling without being able to hide it.

"No, that bastard insisted on writing it on a rocking ship. Said he had been too busy all this time to write."

"As if Vlad would ever say that."

At Zemina's sharp jab, Haven scratched his head and sat down in a chair.

A table on the fourth floor, where only honored guests could sit.

There, a glass of fragrant liquor had already been placed for the captain who had brought welcome news.

"In any case, he is the one who wrote it."

"... Hmph. What do I care?"

Unlike her words, Zemina tore open the letter Vlad had sent with trembling fingertips.

The hair ornament glittering beneath the chandelier was splendid.

So much so that no one would be able to look at Zemina now and recall her former self.

Before Rose's Smiles, beautifully brought into bloom, a knight's letter addressed to Lady Zemina began to unfold.

Within the crooked handwriting, traces of someone she had longed for had been inscribed.

* * *

To Zemina.

I am doing well.

-What the hell is that crazy bastard!

-Kill him! Kill him!

It is a little dizzying on this rocking ship, but it is still bearable.

-The siege tower is shaking!

-That lunatic is breaking the ladders!

There were some missions and such, but they were all trivial, and there will be a war before long, but you do not need to worry much.

In any case, I am something like Lord Joseph's guard knight, so I do not think I will be going too deep inside.

I mean I am safe.

-Lord Vlad! You need to come out now!

-The siege tower is collapsing!

So do not worry too much, and I will see you later in Soara.

Then that is all.

* * *

It was daytime, but a cold wind circled over the field.

Among the flags fallen here and there, corpses were piled in layers.

While both the living and the dead were silent, there was only one man letting out groans.

"Urgh! Cough!"

"I will ask once more. Where is this place?"

A knight with striking red hair.

However, Radu's hair had become an even deeper, messier red than its original color.

"The North... It is the North."

"Yes. This place is the North."

Hair of a faint color fitting his age.

Yet the expression he wore was full of life, the lion of the North, Timur the Iron Duke.

"Then why did you ignore me in the North? Did I look laughable to you?"

"Ghk!"

By a rough hand, Radu was once again slammed down into the damp mire.

Unable to draw breath, his paling nape began to convulse urgently.

"Listen well, you red bastard who was born with dragon's blood yet inherited only half of it."

"Ghk! Ghhk!"

Timur's arm stood firm even against the aura bursting out fiercely in his attempt to survive.

From the face of the lion presenting a puppy with the boundary of death, a cruel smile began to form.

"I already knew that the emperor lying there wheezing had already become a corpse."

"...!"

At Timur's words, Radu's hand began to clutch violently at the mud.

His hand, flailing roughly, was announcing that he was gradually reaching his limit.

"Puah! Cough!"

When the heavy pressure crushing his head disappeared, Radu finally managed to pull himself out of the mire.

"Hah, hah."

Around his urgently lifted head were flags of different shapes and colors.

Flags representing the lords of the North.

In the eyes of the lords coldly looking down at the dragon, there was no such thing as mercy.

"Since when on earth..."

Timur's white teeth began to sneer at the dragon who had only now grasped the situation.

But regret was late no matter how early it came.

The corpses of the countless soldiers who had been heading toward Sturma would never rise again, despite Radu's belated regret.

"I will spare your life. So go to your father and tell him."

"Aaaaaaargh!"

Timur's sword was drawn so quickly that one would not dare notice it.

The tip of that sword pierced Radu's palm and drove deep into the ground.

"Tell him that we will no longer swear loyalty to an empire without a rightful emperor."

A dragon weeping before the threat of death.

And the lion of the North laughing as he watched him.

The smile he had hidden for so long was shining brightly.

This place, filled only with suppressed sobs and cold silence, was the North.

A land of their own, where the laws of the empire no longer held sway.