Ch.152Seven Territories

“Is that so… 70,000 dead.”

Marcus received the report of Amurtat’s army’s success while seated on his throne.

70,000.

A number that could be considered small or large, depending on perspective.

Considering the total expedition force was 200,000, the number of survivors was 130,000.

However, since not only regular troops but also religious volunteer forces participated in large numbers, if the actual damage was only half, the regular army’s casualties would amount to merely 30,000-40,000.

“A-and we directly confirmed the power of the gunpowder weapons.”

“Indeed. How was it?”

“Tremendous, Your Majesty. A destructive power that catapults or ballistas could never match. And the sound was so loud… I nearly went deaf.”

“To that extent… I understand. You may withdraw now.”

While equipment alone cannot win wars, nothing influences victory or defeat as directly as equipment.

It was common knowledge, learned through thousands of years of warfare, that willpower alone cannot penetrate solid armor.

For this reason, the Fahrenheit army had been deliberately downplaying the lethality and power of gunpowder weapons.

While all national armies tend to praise their own weapons while disparaging those of other countries, the problem was that the Fahrenheit army truly couldn’t compete, so their approach was closer to a desperate measure to prevent their soldiers from panicking.

In the midst of ongoing weapons inflation, they were still fighting wars relying on swords and arrows.

They had to answer Amurtat’s artillery shells with rocks, and Amurtat’s bullets with arrows.

And when that happened, the winner and loser were all too clear—what could only be called, in vulgar terms, a moral victory.

It was utterly pitiful, but Fahrenheit, having poured all its capital into national reconstruction, simply had no resources to invest in its military.

Although the restoration of infrastructure itself was completed twenty years ago, the technical class that could properly utilize it had been depleted, and the national taxes were being spent on training new technicians.

Moreover, all the technical manuals containing accumulated know-how had been taken by Amurtat, effectively severing three hundred years of technical transmission in an instant.

“Aah… I’m afraid! Truly afraid!”

Marcus exclaimed, his hands trembling.

If only Amurtat had plundered like the Allied Nations, they wouldn’t have had to suffer like this. How could they create such a painful situation?

But no matter how much he cursed, he could do nothing about Tiberius, so he could only shed tears and re-examine this year’s budget to see if there were any areas he could divert funds from.

*

The fact that 70,000 out of 200,000 had died meant, by realistic standards, that the expedition had been annihilated.

And in this world too, the meaning of annihilation wasn’t much different, so it wouldn’t have been problematic to say the expeditionary force was annihilated.

However, since the general public understood “annihilation” not as 30 out of 100 dying, but as 90 to 100 all perishing, the newspapers suppressed the information they had obtained before publishing their articles.

[Amurtat’s Expeditionary Force! Obtains Fragment of the Earth Core After Suffering Heavy Losses!]

[Earth Core Fragment Obtained After Fierce Struggle!]

More or less in this manner.

Currently, the fragment of the Earth Core was being transported back under the strict protection of returning soldiers, and I would soon stand tall as a monarch possessing seven territories.

Of course, the loss of 70,000 men was painful, but Amurtat is a great nation with a population of 5.4 million.

It’s not as if 700,000 died—the military’s prestige won’t be shaken by the deaths of a mere 70,000.

“Ah… Finally, I will obtain those plains and that bay.”

“Congratulations in advance, Your Majesty.”

“Haha. It’s nothing new.”

Come to think of it, it was because of those two regions that I decided to kill Marcus, which further led to the formation of the Allied Nations, which further led to war, which further resulted in Fahrenheit being manipulated by heretics.

At this point, one might believe the land is possessed by demons, but what sin could the land have? Wars happen because of human greed.

Of course, my greed was never in vain, and my desires were never wicked.

This was all for Amurtat… for the throne of Amurtat.

*

Before long, the fragment of the Earth Core came into my hands.

For a moment, I stared blankly at the brilliance of the two radiant fragments, then kissed Michaela who brought a mortar and bowl, and began grinding the fragments.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

A sensation like turning a firmly packed lump of flour back into powder transmitted through my hands, and once the fragments were completely ground into fine powder, Michaela began pouring in the alchemical solution.

Glug, glug, glug…

When the solution and powder reached the proper ratio, I began stirring it well with the pestle, and as the solution started to glow, Michaela pushed it into a syringe.

“Phew… Now it begins.”

“Travel safely.”

Plunge!

As I inserted the syringe, I began to feel the Earth Core’s energy seeping through my arm.

And as I closed my eyes, I felt as if I were being dragged by tentacles, gradually sinking into the depths of consciousness.

*

[You have come.]

“Yes… I’ve come again. And this will be the last time.”

I said as I “rose” to my feet.

As always, before me was the blindingly radiant Earth Core.

[You have grown stronger.]

“Well, yes. And you’ve grown weaker.”

[My body is being stretched. Becoming thinner, more vulnerable.]

“But still solid, isn’t it?”

[Indeed. No demon can pass through my barrier.]

“Then that’s fine. The more you expand, the more power I can gain. That’s the ‘contract’ we made.”

[I agree.]

The earth seems stationary but is constantly circulating.

Rain becomes groundwater, corpses and debris sediment, melt, and become strata.

And from this cycle, humanity could not escape either.

“Soon, many people will die.”

[Is that so.]

“Yes. Because of my greed. I will drive those who need not die to their deaths.”

[What is your greed?]

“Grand Monarch. Your Majesty… just to obtain that title.”

[Is a title so important?]

“…”

I couldn’t answer.

Important?

From a human perspective, it is important.

In human society, people die for not using honorifics. Even misusing a sovereign’s title can incur their righteous anger.

Therefore, I answered affirmatively.

“Yes. It’s very important.”

[Then isn’t that reason enough for them to die?]

“It is, for me.”

The Earth Core is not vengeance.

It is not a being that can understand a society built on revenge, like humans do.

Therefore, conversing with it was like running on parallel lines.

But all monarchs made contracts through “dialogue,” and I was no exception.

“…Do you remember when we first made our contract?”

[Yes.]

“Back then, why did you make a contract with me?”

[You said you would protect me. From unfathomable terrors, from countless powers of destruction, you would borrow my power to protect me. And through that, you would save all people under heaven and establish a magnificent kingdom.]

“I see…”

I had no memory of that time, so I couldn’t say anything.

But as long as my spirit dwelled in this body, that contract continued.

[What is a monarch?]

The Earth Core asked.

“A being who rules over all living things on the land.”

[Then do the living things welcome your rule?]

“It depends on the person. There are monarchs like storms, and monarchs like gentle breezes. Just as you dislike winter and prefer spring, people also have monarchs they like and dislike.”

[Then are you a monarch like a storm, or like a gentle breeze?]

The Earth Core asked me again, and I couldn’t answer.

…How could answering what kind of monarch I am be so difficult?

But after contemplation, I was able to answer.

“I am a monarch like a cloud.”

[A cloud?]

“Yes. One who provides shelter from the sun, who bestows the grace of the sky, whom everyone likes but also dislikes—such a cloud-like being.”

[Then do you flow like clouds?]

“In terms of time, yes. Because I don’t wear away.”

Clouds have no boundaries.

Just as fog has no beginning or end.

[If you truly are a cloud-like being, you should rightfully moisten this earth with rain.]

“…I’m sorry, but I cannot promise that. Instead, I can promise one thing.”

[What is it?]

“That I will drench this earth with blood.”