Ch.227Chapter 227. Because I Never Forgot, Not Even for a Moment

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In the conference room within the Valhalat Royal Castle.

The five heroes representing the Aeshus Army—Yurie, Epinel, Erinandorf, Emma, and Anima—gathered together for the first time in a very long while.

Emma was the first to speak.

Since she had been focusing on external activities after their territory expanded, meeting Yurie face-to-face was quite rare for her as well.

“Yurie. Seeing that you’ve called all of us together, it seems you’ve made a decision?”

“Yes.”

As Yurie nodded, Emma smiled as if finding it amusing.

“Right. Looking at the map and the situation, even I could tell it was about time, but everyone’s been too quiet. Both Epinel and Anima.”

“So, where are we going?”

At Erinandorf’s words breaking the silence, Yurie fell into thought for a moment.

“Before I share my thoughts, would you all give me your opinions first?”

“I think we should target Serpina von Einhart’s territory.”

As soon as Yurie finished speaking, Epinel raised her hand to offer her opinion.

“Why?”

“Because even if we go to war with Serpina’s army, the current Brans army won’t gain anything from it. Or rather…”

Resting her chin on her hand, casually.

“Should I say the Chel army or Kalintz army, which might potentially share borders with us?”

The collapse and division of the Brans army.

The essence of Epinel’s suggestion was that since the three factions still couldn’t reach a conclusion and were wasting time, they wouldn’t be able to interfere if we targeted Serpina’s army, making this the perfect time to deal with Serpina’s forces.

“What about the Hesna army?”

“Hesna? Hah…”

At Emma’s question, Epinel shook her head.

“If they could do something, they would have done it already. They’ll probably just watch the Ohana army and Rolland army without doing anything again. They can’t even properly manage the territory they took from the Brans army.”

“Hmm…”

“Any other opinions?”

This time, Anima answered.

“I think we should attack the Hesna army.”

“…Huh?”

Attack the Hesna army?

Everyone looked at her with puzzled expressions, not having expected this suggestion at all.

“Seeing that the Serpina army hasn’t made any significant moves so far, there must be some complicated internal affairs we’re not aware of… Shouldn’t we start by conquering the southern continent? If we attack the Hesna army, we can also subdue the Chel army and Kalintz army at the same time. That way, the hegemony of the central continent would fall to our army.”

While competing with the Serpina army for the northern continent, there’s a possibility that the chaos in the southern continent might settle.

Therefore, the national strategist Anima’s opinion was that we should use this chaos to our advantage first and secure hegemony over the central and southern continents.

“What if the Serpina army moves south in the meantime? The ‘complicated internal affairs’ is just speculation, isn’t it?”

“But we can’t rule out the possibility of another country properly exploiting this chaos while we’re dealing with the Serpina army. I’ll be honest. With the Brans army split into three, this is a golden opportunity where no country, including the south, has the scale to defeat our army.”

Anima spread out the map and enthusiastically explained the situation with her one remaining hand.

“Of course, if the four countries in the south get organized, they’ll become stronger than us. That’s why we should move before that happens.”

“In my opinion, that chaos won’t be easily resolved even while we’re at war with the Serpina army. If it was going to be resolved, wouldn’t it have been settled cleanly already? The same goes for the southern continent. They just keep fighting localized wars while antagonizing each other. Unless some of them join forces, I don’t think it will be resolved quickly.”

“Epinel, I understand what you’re saying, but… the south already has a crack.”

“A crack?”

“The rebel army. The independent state backed by Kail von Einhart that broke away from the Karelia army.”

“Hmm… I wonder if that can be considered a crack? It just looks like a lucky surviving royal trying to do something before dying.”

Epinel responded skeptically, but Anima shook her head and spoke in a serious tone.

“No. Considering that the rebellion occurred in none other than the Karelia army, and it’s the first major anomaly in the southern continent where there have been virtually no changes… that rebel army might have a bigger impact than we think.”

“That seems like an overreaction. Your evidence is weak.”

“…”

Recognizing that her evidence was indeed weak even by her own standards, Anima closed her mouth and looked at Yurie.

“Yurie.”

“Yes?”

Erinandorf, who had been listening without participating in the conversation, once again urged Yurie to make a decision.

“What are you going to do, Yurie? I’ll just do whatever you decide.”

“…”

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the room looked at Yurie.

Although their opinions might differ, the determination to follow whatever the decision-maker decided filled the quiet conference room.

And their decision-maker was… Yurie, the ruler of the Aeshus army.

“I…”

Yurie stared at the map for a long time, deep in thought, and then carefully opened her lips…

# # #

A memory of an unforgettable moment that could never fade.

Several months after the Fiviola Academy was literally “deleted.”

“Yurie.”

Anima, who had lost one arm, called out to Yurie, who was recalling the corpses of her friends with empty eyes.

“Anima…”

As soon as she saw Anima’s face, tears that she thought had dried up began to well up.

“Haa.”

Anima sighed deeply and stopped Yurie from speaking.

“Enough of that. That’s not what’s important now.”

“But, but.”

“Don’t cry, Yurie!”

“Hiik.”

“You’re going to be a ruler now. How can you be so shaken?”

“B-but…”

“Tonight, we’re going to enter Valhalat Castle.”

“…!!!”

“Epinel teacher… no, Epinel seems to have succeeded in hiring mercenaries by using all our capital. If we can just remove the wandering bandits occupying the castle now, we can really establish a country.”

As the empire began to split, proper territory management started to fail.

In a situation where most territories were occupied by wandering bandits, what they chose was Valhalat Castle.

“So steel your heart. For the sake of revenge against the imperial family someday… understand?”

“Can I… do it?”

“Of course.”

Anima took Yurie’s trembling hand with her remaining hand.

Her hand was warm. Blood was still flowing vividly in her remaining hand.

“We… you, can do it. Got it?”

# # #

Why was that scene flashing through her mind now?

No, Yurie already knew the reason.

She no longer wanted to stand by and watch the tyrant who had spilled countless blood to monopolize everything of the Einhart imperial family.

“…We will invade the Serpina army.”

After saying that, Yurie looked at Anima and said.

“Anima, your point makes sense. Perhaps this timing is an opportunity to organize the central and southern continents. However, I don’t think the Serpina army will just sit still. If they start attacking our territory while our forces are mobilized, we won’t be able to defend with our army’s capacity. Conversely, if the Hesna army attacks our country while we’re fighting the Serpina army? Blocking their offensive would be much easier than blocking the Serpina army’s offensive.”

“…”

“And, I… I still haven’t forgotten the conversation we had back then. So, this time I’m going with Epinel’s opinion. Actually, that was my opinion from the beginning.”

After hearing Yurie’s words, Anima slowly bowed her head and said.

“…I’m just the national strategist. I’m not someone who can be above the ruler. If you, the ruler, decide to do something, I will only move according to your will.”

“Yes. Thank you for understanding.”

After responding like that, Yurie looked at Epinel and said.

“Let’s gather all the troops we can mobilize. We’re going to invade Serpina’s territory right away.”

“Everything is already prepared.”

“Emma. Gather all the troops in the rear as well. Understood?”

“Leave it to me!”

“Good. Everyone… this time we’re going to properly take revenge on that hateful woman. I haven’t forgotten for a single moment the blood spilled at the academy, the sight of our comrades dying. This is the perfect opportunity to make that wicked witch understand exactly what she has done.”

Her voice, filled with determination, no longer trembled.

If you think about why the Aeshus army raised its flag in the first place… pointing the sword at Serpina on a large scale at this moment felt almost like destiny.

“If we can subdue the Serpina army, it’s not just a dream that our Aeshus army will unify the continent. Understood?”

At Yurie’s words, the four founding contributors knelt down in unison.

The five of us.

Because we have never once forgotten that moment when the Fiviola Academy was trampled under the boots of the Einhart imperial family and bled.

Yurie approached them, drew the sword at her waist, raised it to the sky, and shouted.

“After winning the war, we’ll slowly organize the central and southern continents… and paint this sky with your blood and mine, with our deep, intense red color!”

Long after the dangerous battle where they almost lost Anima—

The Aeshus army once again bared its teeth toward the Serpina army.