Ch.290Reckless

“Are you going?”

Nazar, Rurik’s aide and a brown fox werebeast, turned his head toward his king.

“Yes. It seems the famous Were Eater is hungry, so we should welcome him grandly.”

“…It could be a trap.”

While Rurik was in high spirits, Nazar couldn’t shake his uneasiness.

Coming with just one carriage at this point, and causing such a commotion while openly revealing his identity. It seemed like nothing but a trap to lure their forces.

‘It’s too obvious. As if they’re shouting – the Were Eater is the only reinforcement, so attack now.’

In the worst case, imperial reinforcements might have already arrived and could be lying in ambush, waiting for the Baryachrus army to approach Faelrun Castle.

If they attacked the rear of the siege force, creating a pincer attack from both sides, they could inflict heavy casualties.

“What, are you afraid of becoming prey, Nazar? Typical of fox cubs.”

A tiger werebeast with white fur and black stripes looked down at Nazar with a sneer on his fierce face.

He was a man with a massive build even for a pureblooded warrior, carrying an axe as tall as himself on his shoulder.

“Fools don’t live long. Isn’t that right, Oleg? Your clan has proven this saying true firsthand.”

Nazar bared his teeth and shot back sharply.

“All those snow tigers… how many are left now? Five? Four? …Isn’t it a miracle you’re still alive?”

It was an unusually venomous remark from Nazar, who was known to be gentle for a Champion… but he didn’t particularly like this young and violent warrior.

He had caused several incidents with his thoughtless actions and often acted independently without following the plan.

Claiming he had no intention of following orders from someone weaker than himself.

He only obeyed Rurik’s commands, which had saved him from exile or execution, but from Nazar’s perspective, Oleg was nothing but an uncontrollable nuisance.

“…Enough remain to kill all you fox cubs.”

Oleg slowly raised his axe, as if ready to bring it down if Nazar said one more word.

Nazar snorted and placed his hand on the hilt of his greatsword.

“Both of you, that’s enough. Always looking to fight each other. Did I authorize creating discord before battle?”

Rurik growled at the two Champions.

“Tch. You favor your relative too much.”

“I apologize.”

Oleg clicked his tongue and relaxed his right arm, while Nazar bowed his head apologetically toward Rurik.

“If you’re going to stop anyway, why do you always growl at each other?”

A woman lounging leisurely on the ruins snickered.

A female with gray fur and black horizontal stripes. Lyudmila, a striped hyena werebeast.

“Didn’t you know, Lyudmila? Actually, when Oleg was young…”

“Abigeyl!”

Oleg growled at Abigeyl, the snow leopard werebeast who was grinning mischievously.

Abigeyl twitched her ears and smiled slightly, as if suggesting they continue the conversation later.

The other Champions didn’t even bother listening, showing no interest as they chewed on what remained of their rations.

They appeared undisciplined and free-spirited, but that was the true nature of werebeasts.

Rurik respected their wildness and autonomy. He believed that freedom and roughness were the essence of a warrior.

That was, of course, on the premise that they followed his orders.

“A trap… it might be. Or it might not. At least our scouts didn’t see any other forces. If they’re planning an ambush, it would require a substantial force. It wouldn’t be easy to hide such numbers, would it? So… even if there is an ambush, the numbers won’t be large.”

“…That’s true.”

Nazar had to nod in agreement with this sound reasoning.

It was true that while Faelrun’s hunters might be able to conceal themselves, it was hard to imagine ordinary soldiers being able to hide from them.

“Fine, we’ll know when we get there! If it’s not a trap, we’ll crush them, and if it is, we’ll break through with force!”

After all, Rurik was also a werebeast warrior.

Unless it was a battle with no chance of victory, he would rather welcome the fight.

Rurik stood up and let out a long howl.

The winter wolf’s howling echoed across the night sky. The scattered werebeasts all turned their attention to their king.

“Everyone, rise! The moment you’ve been waiting for, the time to resume the hunt has come! Teach those who stole our land, who enslaved our kin! Show them they are nothing but prey with only numbers on their side!”

The beasts’ roars covered the collapsed north wall.

======[ The Capital ]======

After settling the Benes territory, Leopold finally returned to the capital.

It was the official end of Isabella’s rebellion that had plunged the entire empire into chaos.

The citizens, who had been anxious about the news of the north wall’s collapse, enthusiastically welcomed their future emperor who had returned after defeating the witch’s forces.

Faelrun and Landenburg, who had arrived earlier than Leopold, had returned to their territories immediately without holding any welcoming ceremony.

The Faelrun forces, in particular, were clearly displaying their discomfort.

After ordering his tired army to rest, Leopold immediately headed to the cathedral and was formally crowned under the supervision of the Archbishop.

It was a bold and urgent coronation that skipped half the related procedures, but with the continued chaos in the border regions, there was a need to fill the empty throne as quickly as possible, so no one objected.

Since there was only one qualified successor left anyway, there was no need to go through the electoral process of the princes.

It was the birth of the brave Emperor Leopold “the Radiant,” who had vanquished the witch and restored order to the empire.

Leopold tried to refuse the epithet as too generous for him, but the Archbishop insisted with such a bright smile that he had no choice but to accept it.

It was a touching story demonstrating the new emperor’s humble character, outstanding achievements, and close friendship with the church… but only those directly involved knew the truth.

And so Leopold became emperor.

However, what greeted Leopold upon his unwanted ascension to the throne was not peace but new headaches.

“If I had known it would be like this, I should have yielded to Ernst…”

He was so troubled that he even grumbled to Perseval, who was in charge of his guard, forgetting his dignity.

The distribution of rewards was stagnating without the key contributors present, and Lord Wien, who should have been coordinating this, was instead fueling conflicts and causing factions to form.

‘He intends to maximize his influence during this opportunity.’

Although he was only engaged to Adelheid, he was already acting as if he were the emperor’s in-law.

It wasn’t pleasant for Leopold, but… he had no grounds to stop him.

If Wien had crossed the line by actually breaking imperial law, that would be different, but the Duke of Wien wasn’t that foolish.

What made matters worse was that Duke Wien’s contributions to this civil war victory were as significant as Baron of Median’s.

Unlike Faelrun and Landenburg, who held back some of their forces even while cooperating, Duke Wien had supported Leopold as if betting his life, mobilizing almost all his troops.

Excluding the private armies of minor lords, Wien’s legion had suffered the most casualties.

For Leopold, whose position was still unstable despite his popularity, checking the Duke of Wien right after ascending to the throne would mean taking on a significant political burden.

The other two electors wouldn’t look favorably on it either.

Relations with the Duke of Faelrun had deteriorated over the north wall collapse, and Landenburg was a man who valued the fundamental order of the empire rather than being loyal to the emperor.

The balance of power between imperial authority and the electors.

‘And that’s not all…’

To make matters worse, the issue with Duke Wien was something that could be postponed compared to the other problems that were overflowing.

First, rebuilding the imperial army was the most urgent matter.

The imperial forces had suffered massive casualties due to civil war and foreign invasion.

The number of Masters, which had exceeded fifty, had been reduced to less than thirty, and the central army, which had numbered sixty thousand, had lost nearly half its strength.

There weren’t even enough troops left to support the Duke of Faelrun, who had rushed to the north.

While the electors’ legions were more or less intact, the local lords who had split into factions and fought each other had also suffered serious losses.

The peace of the empire, which had been maintained by nearly a hundred thousand troops, could be shaken to its roots.

Perhaps they would even need to consider switching from the existing standing army system to conscription.

To make matters worse, the situation outside the empire was also in complete chaos.

Not just the north and east, but other regions as well.

—-

The Holy State was sending letters daily demanding the dissolution of the archdiocese, but for Leopold, who had already reached an agreement with Lacy, it was not a request he could grant.

Should he be grateful that they weren’t openly hostile, at least in the name of being fellow human nations?

The Kingdom of Panam, seeing this as an opportunity, was demanding renegotiation of tariffs on exported goods.

They specifically targeted the most essential supplies for the current empire, such as food and metals.

They made various excuses like monster activity, Himmel’s sudden isolation policy, and international instability, but it was ultimately a scheme to take advantage of the empire’s weakened state.

Of course, they also expressed regret for having to deliver such unfortunate news while the empire was in trouble, and offered an alternative.

They claimed they would willingly accept losses as a friendly nation if deeper ties were established.

In other words, they were demanding a second union between the imperial family and the royal family of Panam.

Suggesting a marriage between the son born to the King of Panam and Leopold’s sister Eleonora… and Leonore, who had been an imperial princess.

‘What nonsense…!’

Leopold frowned as he read the letter and tore it up.

It was a transparent proposal. The prince of Panam was only three years old, and the King of Panam was famous for his womanizing.

The marriage to the prince would be just a facade. In reality, he wanted to make Leonore his concubine.

‘There’s a limit to how lightly they can treat the empire, to dare send such a letter…!’

Even Leopold found it difficult to contain his anger at the letter.

He had no intention whatsoever of accepting such terms, and in fact, he couldn’t accept them unless he wanted to completely sever ties with Baron of Median.

And it wasn’t just Panam.

Dane’s movements were also suspicious, and there were rumors that small-scale skirmishes had already broken out between Alvheim and Himmel.

What would become of the empire, of the continent?

Leopold’s worries continued to grow day by day, as much as his receding hairline.