Ch.50Imperial Invasion (8)

The Elven Knights, who had instantly cut down the Empire’s Masters and dealt with all the remaining personnel on the debris of the barrier, gathered around me as I leaned against the ruins.

As my consciousness was fading and I was gradually losing awareness, Mary and several Elven Knights approached me and cast healing magic.

“Wow, Sir Khan. That was amazing. Who would have thought you could take two 8th circle spells, withstand what could be considered an enhanced version of a magic robe, and then face 15 Masters alone? Even our commander would find that difficult.”

“Hmm. If I were Sir Khan, I would have dealt with the mages on the barrier first. Letting mages operate freely while surrounded by Masters is too risky.”

As the healing magic gradually restored my wounds and my body returned to normal, my foggy mind cleared, and I began to hear Commander Rune and Vice Commander Ravi’s words.

Listening to them, I thought that if I had killed the mages first, I could have handled all the Masters even in my normal form.

But I had placed too much faith in my 【Magic Resistance (Small)】 and the standard magic resistance of『Predator Ratel』. Certain spells still had the power to pierce my hide. If the spell that pierced through my chest was an 8th circle spell, then 7th circle penetration spells might also have the power to pierce my skin…

I was thinking that this is why mages get so much respect in RPG games when—

“By the way, everyone’s calling him by his name now instead of Minotaur! What happened?”

As I was thinking that next time I would definitely kill the ranged classes first, Mary’s question made me nod.

These elves, they clearly heard my name many times but kept calling me Minotaur?

“Well. After witnessing such a sight, we had to acknowledge him. We elves rarely address anyone by name unless they’re a long-lived race. We especially don’t bother with short-lived races since there’s no need to remember them. But after seeing such a memorable display, how could we continue calling him by his race?”

“That’s right! Continuing to advance while taking magical hits, and never retreating even in unfavorable situations! Of course, he did collapse from exhaustion at the end and called for us, but what Sir Khan did was unbelievable for a short-lived race, especially a monster!”

Two Elven Knights, apparently excited after watching my battle, waved their arms wildly while praising what I had done. I was smiling, feeling good about being acknowledged, when—

“Alright, alright, we need to depart as soon as Sir Khan’s condition improves. That mage reported us, so our information has likely been leaked.”

“Hmm… Well, they probably knew roughly from the others taking different routes. Let’s gather what we need and go. Prepare gifts from what we collected passing through the territories.”

The Elven Knights who had pulled out the Empire’s flags stuck in the collapsed barrier and the flags from the territories I had destroyed on my way began to move busily.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s our first time visiting the Imperial capital, and we can’t go empty-handed, can we? We need to prepare gifts.”

“This is… a gift…?”

The scene unfolding before Mary made her wonder if humans really enjoyed such gifts.

* * * * *

“The barrier… was destroyed? Even with 15 Masters, a magic corps, magic cannons, and dozens of penetrating ballistas?”

In the Emperor’s office, the Emperor and Intelligence Director Mac were having a serious conversation.

According to Mac’s report, all personnel sent to the barrier had been annihilated, and the barrier that had protected the Imperial capital for hundreds of years had collapsed—shocking news.

“Yes… According to the final communication, the barrier collapsed, and they almost captured the Minotaur… but all forces were killed due to the sudden participation of Elven Knights.”

Elven Knights.

The group protecting the World Tree, considered the strongest group in Grancia.

Normally they never leave the World Tree, but once they emerge, they’re psychopaths who completely incinerate their enemies.

Hundreds of years ago, a kingdom kidnapped a young elf who had ventured outside Elvenheim and treated them as a slave, only to be discovered by the elves.

Those who came out then were the Elven Knights.

They burned the entire kingdom, and it’s said that over hundreds of thousands of humans died. After witnessing the destruction of their kingdom for kidnapping a single elf, humans never again made slaves of elves.

Of course, hundreds of years had passed since that incident, and since the Elven Knights hadn’t shown themselves since, the Empire had been testing them. But their response was thorough counterattacks.

They never attacked first, only counterattacked, and seeing this, the Empire had underestimated them, thinking they could be dealt with.

This war to reclaim their target must have been similar to enslaving them, as the monsters guarding the World Tree had emerged and the Empire’s blue-blooded nobles were disappearing.

“Huh… Hehehe… So that Minotaur is a being controlled by the Elven Knights? Controlling monsters… I’ve never seen that in any ancient text… As expected of a race that lives for a thousand years, they have many secrets.”

“Yes. However, the engagement with the Minotaur was reported in real-time by the mage, so we should be able to handle it when it arrives. And more bad news… the elves coming through the Gaos, Kren, Veint, and Sephert territories will soon arrive near the capital.”

“It’s as if they’re coordinating their arrival. Marquis Lorza, are the preparations going well?”

The Emperor called to Marquis Lorza, who had been standing with a serious face without joining the conversation.

“Yes, Your Majesty. As I mentioned before, we’ve gathered all border guards to the Imperial capital, installed magic cannons purchased from the Magic Kingdom, and repaired the magic formation protecting the capital… but the Orichalcon and Adamantium adventurers have refused the summons.”

“What!? They operate in our Empire but turn their backs in our time of crisis!? How many Orichalcon and Adamantium adventurers do we have in our Empire to do such a thing…!!!”

BANG!!!

The Emperor, unable to contain his anger, slammed the desk, but all that changed was his hand turning red.

“Please calm yourself, Your Majesty. And… this is a notification from the Imperial Adventurers Guild. I wasn’t sure if I should show such disrespectful writing to Your Majesty… but I think you should see it.”

As Marquis Lorza turned to Mac, Mac handed the notification to the Emperor with a grim face. And… after reading it, the Emperor’s face turned as red as it could possibly get.

“These…!! These!!!! Disrespectful creatures!!! Marquis! Arrest them immediately! Right now!”

“Your Majesty!! If we do that, we’ll completely alienate the Adventurers Guild, and the Orichalcon and Adamantium adventurers currently make up one-third of our Empire’s Masters! With the final battle against the elves approaching, we can’t afford another conflict when we have no way to stop the Elven Knights!”

“Aaaaargh!!!— So you’re saying I should tolerate this nonsense!? This garbage!?”

The enraged Emperor threw the notification and randomly hurled items from his desk to express his fury, while the Intelligence Director and Marquis Lorza silently watched.

Knowing that speaking now would only draw his anger toward them, they remained silent.

The notification that had enraged the Emperor read:

[To the great leader of the Human Empire, the absolute ruler of Laugiel, Krex Rausel. We inform you that the news of the Empire being devastated by war with the elves and the suffering of its people has pained the hearts of our Adventurers Guild members. Therefore, we held a meeting at the Imperial capital where the Adventurers Guild headquarters is located. As a result, due to our first principle that adventurers do not participate in wars between people, we have decided to withdraw from the Empire. We are truly sorry to deliver this disappointing news to Your Majesty. However, this decision was made after a meeting of guild masters from each kingdom, and this principle has remained unbroken for hundreds of years. Hoping for Your Majesty’s generous understanding, I conclude this letter.

Signed, Asio, Imperial Adventurers Guild Master]

In summary, it was a notification to clean up your own mess.

The fact that they simply sent a notification without consulting with the Empire was extremely vexing… but antagonizing them would likely mean they wouldn’t return even after the Empire defeated the Elven Knights.

The Emperor understood this intellectually, but his heart was burning with rage. How dare they disrespect him like this.

After all he had done for them!

But the approaching Elven Knights were more urgent than dealing with them.

“Huff— Then, what about the mercenaries? Surely the mercenaries haven’t fled too?”

“The mercenaries… you shouldn’t expect much from them either. Among the S-rank mercenaries, only Mad Dog, who wants to test himself against the Elven Knights… The other S-ranks remaining in the Empire have already rejected offers of ten million gold, and only four A-rank mercenary groups accepted the request. B-rank and below were excluded as they wouldn’t be much help against the Elven Knights anyway.”

“Well done. Still… I knew not to expect patriotism from mercenaries or adventurers… but not to this extent.”

“Their relationship is based on money, so it can’t be helped. And considering who the opponent is…”

“I know. Sigh… After we deal with these Elven Knights, we’ll discuss how to treat them. What did the Light Order say?”

“They say they’re busy with a holy war due to divine revelation. They drew a line, saying they won’t get involved in wars between humans.”

“After all the donations our Empire has made—!!! Sigh… Just this once. Once we get through this, we’ll punish those who disrespected us. You may withdraw now.”

“Yes!”

Marquis Lorza and Mac withdrew from the office. They would return to their posts to prepare for war. Only the Emperor remained in the office, looking at the stars visible through the window, praying for the Empire’s fortune in battle.

* * * * *

Time passed, and the day of the final battle dawned. Various weapons and four magic cannons acquired from the Magic Kingdom were positioned on the walls, along with three magic corps and all 79 Masters remaining in the Empire.

They thought this force could even take down a dragon, but the opponent was a legendary group from ancient times. Therefore, they stood there with desperate resolve.

Thud… Thud… Thud…

Then, footsteps echoing from afar. A massive body so large one might wonder if a living being could maintain such a size.

Similar in size to the rarely seen drakes or cyclopes, it was clearly visible to Centurion Grant’s eyes from atop the Empire’s walls.

“Is that… a Minotaur…? Damn, how could anyone call that a normal Minotaur? It’s obviously a variant or disaster-class.”

“Centurion Grant… Can we… survive this?”

Toward what appeared to be a new recruit trembling, Centurion Grant patted his back to calm him.

“Calm down, kid— We’ve brought all our Empire’s Masters, magic corps, new weapons, and mana scrolls to stop those monsters and elves. If we can’t stop them… well, damn, we’ll just have to die. If you think you’re going to die, just throw down your armor and spear and surrender. Who knows? Maybe that monster or the elves will spare you?”

“Is… is that so? But with the Masters and magic corps here, I think we can definitely stop them.”

“That’s right, kid! If you’re scared from the start, you won’t win even winnable battles, so stand tall—!! A big guy like you shouldn’t be so scared!”

As they were overcoming their fear, the Minotaur gradually approached, and the Elven Knights below it began to come into view.

“Those are… Elven Knights…”

Gulp—

As they tensed, swallowing hard at the appearance of these legendary figures, the elves began to take something out.

Each was holding flags that were nearly 6 meters long, reaching up to the Minotaur’s chest.

“What is that…?”

On those flags were the Empire’s national flag. Not just the Empire’s flag, but also the flags of territories reportedly devastated by the Minotaur and elves’ attacks.

As the elves beside the Minotaur raised the flags, more flags rose from distant locations.

There were 5 such locations. Those who had been separated gathered around the Minotaur.

“What…?”

And as they drew closer, what was impaled on the flagpoles became visible.

“Oh… God… Please bring divine punishment upon those savages…”

“Aaaaargh!!!! I will tear them apart myself!!! Give the order to advance immediately, Commander!!”

“How dare, how dare those savages!!!!”

On those poles were the “gifts” the elves had prepared for their visit to the Imperial capital.

The heads of 500 nobles and their families, Masters, mages, and others who supported the Empire were impaled on the flagpoles.