Ch.138138. Joy? Anger? Sadness?

BOOOOOM-!

Flames burst out in abundance.

Standing alone on the mountainside, I made frenzied gestures as if I had become a conductor.

“Fireball, Flame Explosion!”

Bang-! BOOOOOM-!

While only unintelligible screams filled the air, the knights of House Cardrian were mercilessly blown apart by my hand.

Euphoria? Anger? Sadness?

I don’t know.

A distinctly different emotion from the monster wave swept over me.

The act of a person killing another person.

With just one word from me, dozens of lives scatter like pieces of paper.

“Flame Explosion!”

The time I’ve lived in this world is merely two years.

I can feel instinctively that I’ve fully adapted.

Clearly, it’s a choice for survival, but why do I feel my emotions withering away?

Even so, my skills didn’t rest.

“Flame Explosion!”

BOOOOOM-!

The knights of House Cardrian scattered in confusion and panic under the magical bombardment.

That’s to be expected.

After all, the magic flying from the mountainside should have been aimed at the knights of House Parseche, not themselves.

Meanwhile, the knights of House Parseche seemed equally confused by the unidentifiable magic at first, but gradually their momentum began to build.

Despite their numerical advantage, House Cardrian’s knights were starting to be pushed back.

Yet, they didn’t shout the word ‘retreat.’

Because this was supposed to be a war they couldn’t possibly lose.

‘This is the punishment for having an incompetent leader.’

If they had recognized something was wrong when the magic from the mountainside first targeted them and retreated, the damage wouldn’t have been so great.

A disaster brought on by carelessness had begun.

-Th-there!!

-There’s a mage over there!!

Before I knew it, about twenty knights had surrounded me.

They had come to deal with the mage on the mountainside.

Still, thinking they weren’t complete fools, I smirked and drew my sword.

-Wh-why is a mage drawing a sword?

Facing the bewildered knights of House Cardrian, I leaned forward and leaped with all my might.

Swoosh-!

-Ugh, gah!!

-Arrrgh!!

The merciless slaughter continued.

Unable to even react, they were cut down one after another by my sword.

Come to think of it, these people aren’t necessarily bad.

They’re just victims indoctrinated into a hierarchical system of “do as you’re told.”

But a sword shows no mercy.

Don’t I know it?

The fact that if I don’t kill them, I’ll be the one to die.

-Wh-who the hell are you—gack!

I returned to my original position, stepping over the bodies strewn across the ground.

The battlefield had been pushed back again, just because I had stopped providing magical support for a moment.

It was the moment my prediction proved correct—if I hadn’t intervened, House Cardrian’s victory would have been inevitable.

After catching my ragged breath, I spread my palm once more and spoke.

“The fireworks show begins again.”

*

CRASH-!

“Is that really true?”

Baron Ricardo Cardrian’s rage made butler Alex wipe away cold sweat.

“Yes, they’ve just issued a retreat order and are regrouping. The fortunate thing is that House Parseche isn’t pursuing them.”

“Fortunate…?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Baron Ricardo suppressed his anger and squeezed his eyes shut.

Where had it all gone wrong?

It was supposed to be a hundred percent certain victory.

House Parseche had devoted much time to nursing Baron Roden’s wife and her funeral.

Moreover.

House Cardrian, unlike House Parseche, had prepared solely for war and was desperate to establish justification.

All that remained was to plant the flag of victory in Parseche territory before the imperial response arrived.

But.

The unthinkable situation of House Cardrian’s knights retreating from the battlefield had occurred.

Baron Ricardo’s face turned crimson as his eyebrows twitched.

“What’s the reason? Wasn’t our plan perfect?”

“W-well, about that…”

“Unless we fell into some trap, and even if we did, our victory shouldn’t have changed, right?”

“…The operation didn’t go according to plan, they say.”

“What operation are you talking about?”

“Didn’t we bring mages with us?”

Ricardo tilted his head at Alex’s words.

“Yes, we did. But what about the mages?”

“They say the mages have completely disappeared.”

“…The mages disappeared? What nonsense is that?”

“It seems they were ambushed after our plan was discovered.”

“Only a few among the leadership knew about hiring mages as mercenaries. Are you saying there’s a spy?”

Alex carefully continued while wiping the cold sweat from his forehead again.

“I don’t know about that, but for some reason, the magical attacks seem to be targeting our forces.”

“Surely you’re not spouting nonsense about our mages betraying us?”

“It’s absolutely not betrayal by our mages!!”

“What’s your evidence?”

“They say it was high-level magic that our mages couldn’t even imitate.”

That would mean…

Did House Parseche also hire mages?

That’s impossible.

To begin with, dealings with mages require some connection to the Tower of Sages.

How much money had they poured into maintaining that relationship?

Although House Parseche had financially recovered, the timeframe was too short for them to establish such connections.

Besides, the Tower of Sages, which values business ethics, would never help both sides.

Whatever it was, the situation was certainly giving him a headache.

“So, the magic that should have been directed at the Parseche forces was aimed at us instead?”

“That’s right. Since it’s the only path to House Parseche, we’re currently in a situation where we can neither advance nor retreat.”

“Then why not change the route and go up through the mountainside?”

“As you know, that area is infested with monsters. If our knights enter, the casualties would be substantial.”

“…And if House Parseche climbs the mountainside and blocks us, we’ll suffer even greater losses.”

“…Regrettably, you’re correct.”

Baron Ricardo clutched his head as a throbbing headache assailed him.

“Is there any evidence of other houses helping them?”

“None.”

“Mercenaries?”

“About ten mercenaries provided support. The rest were all knights of House Parseche.”

“This is enough to make ghosts weep.”

“The problem is the unidentified mage. According to our spy in House Parseche, even they don’t seem to understand what’s happening.”

Baron Ricardo ground his molars.

“Of course they wouldn’t. If they brought in a mage of that caliber, it would be information beyond a mere spy’s reach.”

“It seems our priority should be to regroup and devise a strategy to deal with the mage first.”

“…No, by then the imperial response will have already arrived.”

“What choice do we have? Even if we push through, the casualties will be beyond imagination.”

Preparing for war consumes enormous funds.

Moreover, Ricardo had to make a decision, anticipating that the damage would be tremendous if they achieved no results.

“…Now other houses will look down on us.”

“We can rebuild our image. Besides, we’ve only retreated temporarily, not been defeated, right?”

Baron Ricardo closed his eyes tightly and fell into thought.

Eventually, as if having made a decision, he opened his eyes and spoke.

“It seems retreating is the right choice for now.”

“An excellent decision.”

“But that doesn’t mean the war is over. We’ve just stepped back temporarily.”

“Exactly. We haven’t been defeated.”

Just then, there was a commotion outside.

A knight who had remained in the mansion rushed into the study where Baron Ricardo was.

“What’s happening?”

“M-monsters are attacking the mansion without warning!”

Even though House Cardrian’s elite knights had been dispatched to the battlefield, some personnel should have remained.

Baron Ricardo responded with indifference, as if it were nothing.

“Just deal with the monsters. Why such a fuss?”

“Th-that’s because it’s an incredible monster we’ve never seen before! It’s already taken the lives of dozens of knights.”

“Wh-what!?”

“You need to evacuate quickly. It’s a monster we simply cannot defeat.”

“Are you saying a monster wave has come!?”

“No. It’s just one monster.”

A single monster took the lives of dozens of knights?

What kind of monster could it be?

Just as Baron Ricardo was about to say another word, the mansion suddenly darkened.

Then, a knight pointed toward the window.

“I-it’s already at the front of the mansion!”

What kind of monster could be so enormous that it blocks the mansion?

As Baron Ricardo swallowed dryly and looked out the window—

CRASH-!

With a tremendous sound, the mansion of House Cardrian began to collapse.

Baron Ricardo, who had barely escaped with his life, struggled to open his eyes amidst the rubble of the destroyed building.

Grrrr-!

A massive roar.

Baron Ricardo saw the monster’s true form with his own eyes and expressed a look of shock.

“A d-dragon…?”