Ch.157Chapter 157

Darius decided to get revenge on Dencan, who had driven him to his death in his final moments, but in truth, finding Dencan would have been quite easy even without Darius’s intervention.

An army, no matter how hard it tries to conceal its movements, is difficult to hide. It was only natural that they couldn’t completely erase all traces of eating, sleeping, and defecating—even beasts who spend their entire lives doing so find it challenging.

So even without Darius’s revenge plan, tracking Dencan’s army would have been just a matter of time.

Therefore, it was the best strategy to avoid causing major trouble for his clan while only targeting Dencan…

“Darius has died at the enemy’s hands! Everyone retreat and lock the gates!”

“Please calm down, Elder! If we retreat now, we’ll suffer severe losses—”

“You fool. We can’t avoid losses since Darius died. Don’t you understand it’s wiser to accept some casualties while holding strategic positions and waiting for clan reinforcements?”

The impact was so strong that the elders panicked and urged the soldiers to retreat.

Unlike Darius, who regained his youthful vigor just before death, unfortunately(?) the elders were still in good health.

They wanted to live comfortably with the clan’s respect until they died naturally. The world was still too beautiful, and there was too much power to enjoy to die in a place like this.

The elders set an example for the hesitating knights by being the first to turn their horses around and desert the battlefield. It was a retreat executed with as little hesitation as Darius had shown charging toward the enemy.

The knights stared blankly at the elders’ retreating backs, dumbfounded.

Compared to Darius, who led from the front, the elders were nothing but common cowards—an insult to Darius’s memory.

The mercenary captains, who best understood the battlefield’s dynamics, quietly pulled their men back, and the knights also gradually distanced themselves while pretending not to retreat.

In war, the first to die are not the incompetent but the capable and brave. Conversely, the incompetent and cowardly are the last to die.

When the elders set their example, the knights pulled on their reins, shouting excuses that no one was listening to.

“The elders ordered a retreat. Though our allies’ sacrifice is truly heartbreaking, a knight must follow orders!”

“Since when did knights follow orders so well? Those bastards are trying to use us as bait to escape. Everyone stop fighting and run!”

“Y-you fools!? You must hold back the enemy… gack?!”

“What nonsense!”

The soldiers Darius had left at the castle were, by his own assessment, the most worthless ones—in simple terms, unreliable scoundrels.

The mercenaries, instinctively realizing the knights were trying to use them as bait, charged toward their supposed allies with their swords reversed in anger.

After all, wouldn’t it be easier to deal with frightened allies fleeing than opponents who fought fiercely to the death?

There is no enemy more fearsome than a betraying ally. They swung their swords at the knights blocking their path with more enthusiasm than when facing Manheimr’s army.

The shift was so dramatic that even Manheimr’s warriors were greatly confused.

“Uh… why are they doing that?”

“Perhaps the Great Witch cast some spell? Maybe showing them hallucinations that make their comrades look like enemies.”

“Is… that so?”

“Stop talking nonsense. Can’t you see our allies fighting in the rear? Half of you pursue the enemy, and the rest help His Majesty!”

In the end, the elders’ desertion saved some soldiers, but the elite troops Darius had led became sacrificial lambs.

Of course, this was the natural outcome once the charge against the Wendigo had been neutralized.

“…It must have been hard leading such subordinates.”

Fortunately for Darius, the Wendigo had no particular interest in desecrating the dead.

Showing respect for Darius’s valiant fight to the end, the Wendigo decided to recover his body.

After the battle, Darius was laid to rest in an ice coffin alongside his fellow knights. After this brief respite…

The Wendigo’s army marched toward Dencan’s main camp, following Darius’s final wishes.

* * *

News of Darius’s defeat reached Dencan through the elders who had “reluctantly” retreated with tears. Of course, they hadn’t conveyed that they would fight bravely, so don’t worry.

It was a gesture requesting reinforcements because the situation was dire enough for Darius to die…

Naturally, Dencan ignored the elders’ letter. While Darius had been competent despite his senility in his later years, the elders lacked even basic ability.

Why would he waste valuable chess pieces by sending reinforcements when they would only be lost?

“Lord Darius’s death is truly regrettable, but the completion of our grand plan is at hand. How could we spare troops for them in such a critical situation?”

“Lord Dencan is right. Lord Darius showed his loyalty by sacrificing his life, so won’t they do the same? Besides, unlike Lord Darius, they’re defending from a castle, so they should have sufficient troops and time.”

Dencan conversed with his head steward while undergoing bloodletting with the help of mages. The head steward, having served Dencan for many years, quickly grasped his intentions.

It was only fitting that those who had clung to Darius despite their lack of ability, feeding off his scraps, should be buried alongside him.

Of course, the mages found it frustrating that these two would engage in such dangerous political talk while they were performing the bloodletting. One wrong move could cost them their heads.

As the thought of potential danger crept in, the mages’ hands trembled, and they felt the head steward’s gaze burning into them.

“Oh, this isn’t pleasant conversation. I apologize. Rest assured, you won’t suffer any disadvantages from this.”

“N-no, we’re sorry for causing Lord Dencan concern.”

The mages inwardly sighed with relief. Before declaring war, Dencan might have been different, but currently, he seemed mentally… unstable.

Some days he appeared unusually cheerful, other days he showed strange anxiety and acted irritably…

The mages, who drew Dencan’s blood daily for the grand plan, noticed these changes more acutely.

The head steward, aware of this, carefully addressed Dencan.

“Lord Dencan seems particularly cheerful today. May I ask if there was a special occasion?”

“Haha, was it that obvious?”

“Not at all, my lord. It’s merely a humble skill developed from serving you for many years.”

Dencan stroked his chin with a smile, even as blood was being drawn. As the head steward had guessed, Dencan had been in quite a good mood lately.

It was because Dario, who had hurled abuse whenever Dencan visited him, had recently become docile.

Indeed, sincerity always prevails.

“My friend seems to have calmed down recently, which puts my mind at ease. Though the timing is unfortunate and I had to imprison him, I’m glad he seems to understand my feelings.”

Everyone in the clan knew that the friend Dencan referred to was Dario.

He was the only person Dencan had called a friend regardless of public or private matters, and he was the young nobleman who had been causing daily disturbances recently.

No one knew exactly why Dencan favored this young man Dario, but as long as he could keep Dencan in a good mood, they didn’t mind the small disturbances Dario caused.

Powerful people often keep exotic animals as pets, so they simply regarded Dario as something similar.

In reality, there wasn’t much difference.

Unable to move freely while imprisoned, provided with food and lodging—calling him a pet wouldn’t be strange…

Knock knock knock!

“Lord Dencan! Lord Dencan! Something terrible has happened!”

“……”

His good mood was ruined by a knight’s urgent voice and rough knocking.

He had been about to tell them about the tearful friendship(?) between himself and Dario, but what was this commotion?

Before Dencan could shout, the head steward opened the door and thundered at the knight.

“You fool! Lord Dencan is shedding his precious blood for the clan’s future, and you dare show such disrespect!”

“I apologize! But…”

“How dare you, while Lord Dencan is watching—”

“That’s enough. He must have something important to report if he knows it’s disrespectful yet still insists.”

The head steward stopped abruptly.

Dencan, who had already returned to his usual faint smile, gestured to the knight after stopping the head steward. The knight bowed to the head steward before quickly prostrating himself before Dencan.

Dencan’s face wore a smile as he looked down at the knight, but his eyes were ice cold.

“Well? What’s the matter? Has a messenger arrived from the elders with Darius’s army?”

“N-no, it’s not that. It’s…”

As the knight hesitated, Dencan’s gaze grew colder.

Dencan couldn’t think of many major issues. The army protecting the holy site was intact, and the mages were prepared to execute the grand plan.

There were no major clan issues unknown to Dencan, who checked everything meticulously.

“Then what major issue are you reporting?”

When Dencan asked one final time, the knight finally gathered his resolve, swallowed hard, and delivered his report.

“The prisoner you’ve been treating as a dear friend has escaped—!?”

Before the knight could finish, Dencan sprang up and grabbed him by the throat.

The sudden movement reopened the wound on his arm, causing blood to gush out, but he didn’t care at all.

With a hideously contorted face, Dencan barked at the knight.

“How could your security be so lax that Dario escaped?!”

“Gack!? He—he must have had an artifact we didn’t know about. When we heard a loud noise and rushed in, he had broken through the wall and fled…”

Crack!

Dencan broke the knight’s neck as he was making excuses. The head steward and mages who witnessed this turned pale and held their breath.

They needed to speak to Dencan, if only to suture his torn wound, but they feared their necks would be broken like the knight’s if they spoke now.

It was the right judgment. Dencan stormed out of the room, emanating killing intent as if he would murder anything in his path.

When the killing intent dissipated, the head steward drew a breath and ordered the mages.

“Lord Dencan’s wound has reopened. Hurry after him and treat him!”

The mages barely suppressed their urge to refuse. When it came to Dencan’s body, refusal meant death either way.

The mages deeply regretted their past selves for becoming so immersed in magic.

* * *

Dencan, who cherished Dario greatly, didn’t treat him like an ordinary prisoner. However, that didn’t mean security was lax.

Dario was imprisoned in a high tower like a fairy tale princess, under strict surveillance…

But mere mercenaries and knights were nothing against Dario’s determination to preserve his chastity.

Dario used his ingenuity with an artifact from Issac that could explode with cold energy, along with wet books and blankets, to break down the wall.

He created ice picks from wet book pages to undermine the wall’s stability, then used an ice hammer made from blankets to break through it.

Remembering that a moat lay beyond the wall, Dario threw himself toward it, and Issac, who had been waiting, stole a horse from the stable, picked up Dario, and fled northward.

And…

“Ha, hahahahaha!!!”

Seeing the ice fragments and broken ice hammer scattered around the cell, Dencan immediately understood how Dario had escaped.

He didn’t even notice the blood flowing from his arm as his bloodshot eyes flashed. His lifelong cultivated patience was the only thing keeping him somewhat sane…

Dencan’s eyes caught a neatly folded piece of paper that seemed out of place in the chaotic cell.

Despite the water, ice fragments, and stone pieces scattered around, not a single drop of water had touched the paper. Dencan picked it up and unfolded it.

“What’s this?”

It was a letter Dario had left for Dencan.

The letter was respectful, seemingly considerate of the recipient’s feelings, and in the middle, it stated that Dario had come to understand Dencan’s feelings.

Realizing his sincerity had reached Dario, Dencan’s mind calmed for a very brief moment.

Yes, a very brief moment.

As he read the latter part of the letter, Dario explained that he understood Dencan’s feelings, and strangely, this understanding made him realize his relationship with the King of Manheimr was similar.

Of course, being a typical man attracted to women, Dario didn’t view the Wendigo in that way.

But truth isn’t always necessary to enrage someone. What’s necessary is the ability to understand the other person.

The latter part of Dario’s letter was full of elegant sentences, but more concisely and directly expressed, it said:

“I understand your feelings, but I realized I felt the same way about the King of Manheimr. So I’m going to find my lord—don’t follow me.”

And the letter contained exactly all the elements needed to infuriate Dencan.

After successfully making Dencan understand his feelings, the enlightened lover was seeking true love elsewhere.

Dencan’s pure love had been trampled without reciprocation.

So…

“King of Manheimr, I’ll kill you!!!!!!!!!”

It wasn’t strange for a man whose pure love had been trampled to go insane.