chapter_0023

23 – Dreyhart Siege

23 – Dreyhart Siege

As Zeras faced a crisis from the assassins, Hadem’s situation began to turn dangerous as well.

Although Hadem was captured by Jarha, the Lion Knights were strong enough without him.

The reason they found themselves in such peril was this.

“Throw it!!!”

Whoosh—! Whoosh, whoosh—!

As the fight turned chaotic, the slave soldiers began throwing something at the Lion Knights.

At first, the knights thought it was just a simple projectile attack, but they were horrified when they realized what it was.

What they threw was none other than…

“Purple chains!!”

“The slave soldiers are throwing purple chains!!!”

It was the magical tool, the ‘Purple Chains,’ created to suppress the power of slaves.

The knights bound by the purple chains thrown by the slave soldiers lost their strength and began to collapse under the weight of their own armor.

“It’s! It’s heavy!!”

“Quick! Quickly, get this off me!!”

The knights, weakened by the purple chains, became prey for the slave soldiers.

The fallen knights were pounced upon by groups of three slave soldiers, hunting them down.

“Uwahaha!!! The knights have fallen!!! Let’s send them to the other world quickly!!”

Thud—! Thud—!!

“Graaah!!!”

The Lion Knights could not regain their composure due to the attack with the purple chains.

They never imagined that the very chains used by the slaves to bind them would be used as projectile magical tools.

Caught up in a tactic that could only be used here in Dreyhart, the knights of the Lion Family began to falter against the slave soldiers.

As Hadem found his feet bound and his subordinates hunted by the chains of the slave soldiers, his aide, Ragos, who was essentially leading the knights, despaired with a calm expression.

“Hmm… I think this is a failure.”

Ragos had predicted the current situation to some extent the moment he first clashed swords with the slave soldiers.

The strength of the slave soldiers, who had extensive combat experience as duelists, was stronger than he had imagined.

However, he thought there would be no one to face Lord Hadem over there, and he didn’t believe his well-trained subordinates would crumble easily, so he hadn’t considered defeat.

But now, Hadem was preoccupied with fighting that dragon-headed creature, and his subordinates were caught up in the chain-throwing chaos.

Thinking that they could suffer near-total annihilation if things went wrong, Ragos began to contemplate retreat.

However, he worried that if he ordered a retreat, that mad lion lord would cause a ruckus, claiming his fun had been ruined, so Ragos pondered how and when to retreat.

At that moment, an angel descended from the sky to resolve Ragos’s dilemma.

“Serpens Ignis!”

With the incantation of the magician echoing in the air, hundreds of fire serpents began to rain down from the sky.

The serpents latched onto the slave soldiers, and the startled slave soldiers retreated as the hot flames flew at them like snakes.

As Ragos caught his breath, a red-haired magician flew beside him, and Ragos expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you for your help, beautiful magician. But which faction do you belong to?”

“I have come to assist in the name of Lord Calix. I am Red Mage Sharen.”

“Sharen! You are the one from the rumors…”

Ragos was astonished at Sharen’s introduction.

Having heard various legendary tales about her, he had assumed she was an old hunchbacked witch.

But to see her as this beautiful elven woman… Ragos wished he could pursue her if it weren’t for the war.

Sensing Ragos’s impolite thoughts, Sharen replied curtly.

“Let’s save the small talk for later. An order to retreat has been issued for the entire army. It’s time to withdraw now.”

Just moments ago, Raq, the overall commander, had judged the situation to be unfavorable and issued a retreat order.

Calix, thinking it would be difficult to retreat with ordinary people on Hadem’s side, had asked Sharen for assistance.

Upon hearing Sharen’s words, Ragos responded without hesitation.

“That’s good news. Everyone, retreat!!!”

“Retreat!!!”

The knights of the Lion Family began to withdraw, and at the same time, the signal for an official retreat was fired.

Seeing that light, Hadem gradually regained his senses, and Jarha also began to loosen his transformation back into a human.

“A meddler has intervened. Let’s settle this next time, warrior Jarha.”

“Hmph! Next time, I’ll crush your neck.”

“Khahaha! Go ahead and try if you can!!”

Hadem wished he could finish this once and for all.

But he wasn’t foolish enough to overlook the unfavorable situation.

Hoping that in the next battle, he could finally split the head of his long-time rival, Hadem turned to leave.

“It’s our victory!!! Brothers!!!!”

“Uoooooooh!!!!”

As the suppression forces retreated, Jarha and the slave soldiers shouted in triumph.

Thus, the first official suppression of the Dreyhart rebellion ended in failure.

After the retreat, the camp of the suppression forces was in chaos.

There were numerous injured, and countless doctors treated them endlessly, yet the number of people did not decrease.

“Uaaah!!!! Mother!!!”

“My eyes!!! My eyes!!”

Watching that horrific scene, I felt like a complete scoundrel for having enjoyed the monster battle just moments ago.

As I silently apologized to all the wounded, Lord Zelas passed by.

He said he had been safely rescued by Ricain.

Carried on a stretcher, Zelas looked at me and said.

“Lord Calix! Thanks to you, I survived. The Silla Family will never forget this grace! Hoho, ayaya!”

He had saved his life, but he had been thoroughly dealt with by the assassins and was diagnosed to be unable to fight for the time being.

Hadem was still vigorous, but now he had a troublesome opponent named Jarha, while Zelas had become a patient… could we really not suppress this?

As I pondered this, Raq, the overall commander, approached me.

“Lord Calix, do you have a moment?”

“Yes, I’m fine, Raq.”

Raq said he had something secretive to discuss and called me to the tent.

There, Raq spoke about the current situation.

“There is another force on this battlefield that we do not know about.”

The appearance of the purple chains, which had been thought to be inactive due to the absence of the assassin and magician who had turned Zelas into a rag.

Putting all this together, it seemed Raq felt there was something behind the rebels that we did not know.

I felt it too, and I thought I knew who that force was. It was almost 100% likely to be the Blood Clan.

“So, the Platinum Council has decided to change our strategy to a long-term engagement.”

“A long-term engagement?”

Judging that it would not be easy to suppress with just the two families, the Platinum Council planned to surround Dreyhart, gather information, and prepare several times the troops for a proper slaughter.

“Therefore, until then, we would like the Crones Family to take on the task of surrounding Dreyhart.”

“Surrounding, huh…”

I understood what he was saying.

Currently, the strength of our knights, who had been in the rear, was intact.

So it seemed the plan was for us to surround while the two knight orders would recover in the rear and join with additional suppression forces to prepare for the next suppression.

Honestly, I didn’t like the idea of doing this against slaves.

But if I retreated carelessly from here, I could end up being a beheaded lord before becoming a beloved lord, so I reluctantly nodded.

Thus, the ‘Siege of Dreyhart’ began.

Honestly, I had underestimated the siege.

I thought it would be easy to just surround and keep watch!

But… the actual experience of a siege was truly hell.

“Our supply line has been attacked again!!”

“Again!?”

Day after day, slave soldiers crawled out of Dreyhart to raid the supply lines and plunder food.

No matter how much we changed the supply route, they somehow managed to steal food, and even…

“What about this child?”

“This one is among the attackers. It seems he got left behind because he’s so young.”

Among the attackers was a child, barely thirteen, who still looked very young.

With blue horns, the child glared at me with a face full of hatred and shouted.

“Go ahead and kill me! Nobles!! I will never become your slave again!”

The child was covered in wounds, as if whipped all over.

I looked at the boy, who seemed ready to kill me, and asked.

“Kid… what’s your name?”

“I’m not a kid! I’m Rakan Regon! A warrior!”

In the child’s eyes, I saw endless hatred.

Just that alone made me realize what kind of abuse this child had endured.

“Do you hate me?”

“I hate you!! I hate all of you who tormented us!!”

“How dare you speak to the lord like that!!”

“Enough!!”

It was simply sad that my young relative had become a warrior filled with such hatred for the world.

It would mean nothing, but… I apologized to the boy.

“I’m sorry. My apology won’t change anything, but still… I’m sorry.”

“Uh…”

This was hypocrisy.

It was a self-justifying hypocrisy, thinking that I had apologized to just one child.

But right now, I wanted to say that.

“Give this child some food and take him to the guest tent, and if possible, send him back to his family.”

“Yes! Understood, my lord.”

Thus, I sent the boy away, unable to hide my troubled heart, and I walked out of the tent.

I wanted to end this war and save those slaves.

Not to become a beloved lord, but simply as a human being.

But I saw no way.

I couldn’t see a future where the war ended, the slaves were freed, and I remained safe.

As I berated my inadequate mind, a beautiful voice came from behind.

“My lord? What are you doing?”

There stood a white-haired beauty who had not lost her charm even in the desert.

It was Noah.

A word from the author (author’s note)

Noah’s turn, which has been long overdue, begins now.

??? : Ore no turn!!!