Ch.68Chapter 68. Defense of the Western Fortress of Bhalharat (1)

* * *

A few days ago, at Anel Castle.

“My lord. Chel Brans has just arrived at the royal palace of Anel Castle.”

Chel, the first sword of Brans who had been guarding the southern front and Lynn’s older brother, knelt before Lynn who was sitting on the throne.

“Welcome, big brother. Is this the first time we’ve seen each other since the attack on Zeilant Castle?”

“……”

Chel doesn’t bother to answer her words.

Even though he had been stationed at the southern front, he was still a person with ears and eyes.

The man who was the target of Zeilant Castle, and the unbelievable events that happened on the northern front.

And the rebellion that followed… These were all facts he had heard with his own ears.

And the starting point of all these events was the attack on Zeilant Castle, where he and the now-traitorous Irene had led the vanguard.

Yes.

Irene Juliette’s betrayal.

From Chel Brans’ perspective, it was an incredibly shocking event.

When he was still young.

What his father, who was still alive then, always used to tell him, the eldest son:

“Chel. You will become the timber that will lead the Brans family in the future. And just as I have Kafka—Irene will play that role for you.”

Of course, as his father had said, him inheriting the Brans family never happened.

As he grew older, far from studying politics or diplomacy, he spent all day craving battle, and at some point, his father seemed to have excluded him from succession.

In fact, for Chel, it didn’t matter much. Chel was better suited to dismounting and wielding a sword himself than giving orders to someone from a throne.

The virtues of a ruler included not unnecessarily standing at the forefront. If the leader died while fighting too far ahead, the collapse of the nation would only be a matter of time.

Besides, if he became a ruler, he would have to constantly make complicated political calculations, and he thought his cunning little sister would be much better at that.

The problem was Irene.

His father, Olland Brans, had valued her very highly.

Chel himself felt the same way. When he had crossed swords with her in practice matches in the past, she was the only woman who had shown skills similar to his own.

Even from Chel’s perspective, who almost never acknowledged others, Irene was someone he couldn’t help but acknowledge.

Of course, the reason Olland valued her highly wasn’t just because of her strength.

It was—her tremendous loyalty to the Brans family.

A faithful servant raised and trained by Kafka Juliette throughout his life, living only for the Brans family.

That was Irene Juliette.

Chel too, whenever he observed her, felt certain that she would never betray them no matter what.

That’s why he was shocked by the news of her betrayal.

Of all people, Irene Juliette?

Why on earth?

From his position, far removed from central politics due to guarding the front lines, it was difficult even to guess what disaster had occurred to bring things to this state.

His younger brother Kalintz had committed a serious blunder and was under disciplinary action, and his sister and lord Lynn had been betrayed by the loyal Irene…

Not knowing exactly what was going on, he had suddenly signed a three-month armistice with two countries adjacent to the southern border.

And then he was summoned here.

“You’ve heard, right, brother? Roughly what happened.”

“Yes.”

“Good, excellent!”

Lynn said with a bright smile.

“The goal is just one thing. To erase the Aeshus army from the map forever. And to capture Irene Juliette alive.”

“Capture her alive, you say?”

“Yes! Without killing her on the battlefield, I want you to bring her safely before my eyes with her life intact.”

“Why?”

It didn’t seem likely that she would employ Irene again at this point.

No, shouldn’t she be killed unconditionally?

She betrayed our army. And she took 30,000 soldiers with her.

If she could be killed, wouldn’t it make sense to kill her?

“I know. You don’t understand why I’m saying not to kill her? I understand your feelings perfectly, brother.”

Lynn lightly touched her lips with her finger.

“But, for the price of betrayal to be just her worthless life… Don’t you think we’d be getting the short end of the deal?”

“…What?”

“Despair.”

Lynn uttered the word ‘despair,’ then immediately laughed kuhuhuh.

Her eerily sinister laughter filled the royal palace.

“After making that damned traitor feel the greatest despair she can experience… then I’ll kill her. And it won’t just be a simple death. If I cut off her fingers one by one, what kind of screams will she make? In agony, knowing that no one can help her, she’ll keep begging someone she can’t reach to save her… Finally, she’ll beg me to spare her life…!”

“…!”

“And in front of her eyes as she writhes in pain… I’ll devour Swen, whom that bitch seduced…♥”

Shudder!

Quite amusingly, Chel was now—

unable to respond, overwhelmed by his sister’s aura.

Swen… that white-haired man recruited during the attack on Zeilant Castle.

The man who supposedly used something like magic at the northern fortress.

That man seduced Irene?

He wanted to ask what this was all about, but he simply couldn’t.

From Lynn’s blue eyes… an extremely gloomy and sticky resentment was leaking out.

“Huhuhuh… How would it feel to have the man she tried to take from me taken back right before her eyes…? What expression will Irene make then? Aren’t you curious too, brother? Kuhuhuhuhuh…♥”

She twisted her body for a moment, letting out an incomprehensible laugh.

Then, as if nothing had happened, she spoke with an incredibly fresh smile.

“So, brother. I’ll give you 53,000 troops, so please deal with the Aeshus army as soon as possible. Understood?”

‘53,000 troops?’

The combined number of troops from the southern front and the capital defense forces.

It was practically the entire military force excluding the western forces being reorganized and Serpina’s forces in the north.

If things went well, that would be great, but if something went wrong here… the barely maintained balance could be greatly disturbed.

‘That should be enough.’

From what he’d heard, the Aeshus fortress had just over 40,000 soldiers, including troops that were originally from our army.

And a similar number of soldiers were believed to be at Balhart Castle.

Moreover, at a good timing, the forces at Balhart Castle were currently engaged in battle with the Allepel army.

And decisively, the first target was not a castle but a fortress.

With this number of troops and sufficient siege weapons, he judged there was a good chance of victory.

Especially with Chel himself leading the vanguard.

The most concerning thing was the existence of the traitor Swen… but if they could somehow block his strange arts, he was confident they could win.

“As soon as the western front is cleared, I’ll send additional troops, so try to capture Balhart Castle with this expedition too. Understood?”

If he received the soldiers from the western front, he would be able to control over 90,000 troops.

This should be enough to defeat the Aeshus army, he thought.

“Yes! I will obey your command.”

Chel answered thus and steeled his resolve.

Yes. What did it matter what was going on right now?

If ordered to go to war, he would go.

If this sword needed to be stained with blood, it would be stained.

That was how Chel Brans lived in these chaotic times.

* * *

Arriving at the royal palace with quick steps, Yurie with a serious expression greeted us from the throne.

“Irene Juliette, I have arrived at the royal palace as ordered.”

“Irene, you’re here. Swen is here too.”

She briefly greeted us as we knelt, then immediately got to the point.

“You’ve heard? It seems the Brans people are on the move.”

“…I’m sorry.”

In response to Irene’s words, Yurie shook her head and said:

“No, well… I’m not blaming you or holding you responsible. The choice to accept you was made by me, of my own will. First, we need to deal with what has happened.”

“Are you planning to resist?”

Ginor, standing beside her, asked with a serious expression.

“For now, Epinel seems to think so.”

“But… if we choose to resist and lose troops, we could suffer greatly. Right now, abandoning the fortress and gathering at Balhart Castle to hold out with those forces would be—”

“…Ginor. I’m really sorry, but I’d like you to go to where Epinel is first. If you want to persuade someone, I’d prefer you to persuade Epinel directly there rather than talking to me.”

“……”

Ginor couldn’t answer Yurie’s words.

‘I see.’

Now I could see what the problem with the Aeshus army was.

Epinel, Emma, and the “Aeshus Three Girls” including Erinandorf, who were among the founding contributors.

In this country, these founding contributors had too much influence.

If Lynn or Serpina were monarchs who ruled as absolute beings above their subordinates, Yurie and Lunarian were closer to leaders of a somewhat more horizontal collective.

Setting aside which was right or wrong, that’s just how they could be categorized.

However, while Lunarian, despite her frail nature, knew how to push her opinions, Yurie seemed rather to be swayed by the founding contributors.

Thinking about it that way, I understood why the meeting had resulted as it did. Emma was one of the founding contributors, so it was natural that Ginor, who had joined later, would be overruled.

I had personally experienced such a group before my possession.

The military.

A mysterious group where everything revolves around “how long you’ve been in.”

In the Aeshus army, what was most valued was not individual ability, but how long one had stayed and contributed—

In other words, it was essentially based on seniority.

A monarch who cares for her comrades, treats everyone like family, and has the leadership to make others follow her—

Behind such a monarch, ironically, lay a weakness that prevented her from ruling them absolutely.

After all, she couldn’t step on the comrades she cared for to rise above them, could she?

While these might be excellent virtues for the leader of a band of righteous outlaws, she was the leader of a country.

Acting like a tyrant wasn’t good, but being constantly swayed like her wasn’t good either.

From the beginning, Ginor didn’t need to persuade Epinel; as the monarch, she should have simply ordered Epinel to return, and as a subject, Epinel should have obeyed.

But she didn’t do that. She was asking a subject to ‘persuade’ her own subject.

And this was coming from the monarch herself!

‘Is that why Yurie can’t achieve unification?’

While I was thinking this,

Yurie, who seemed to have made some decision, stood up and said:

“Irene. I’ll give you an additional 3,000 troops, so please take the vanguard and join Epinel at the fortress. I’d like to give you more soldiers, but they’ve already departed. Once you arrive at the fortress, please follow her instructions as if they were my own.”

“Yes, understood!”

“Ginor. Join Irene’s army and head to the fortress. Understood?”

“…Yes, understood.”

“And Swen too.”

Only then did Yurie look at me and speak.

“I have many expectations for Swen. If you can be active, I’d like you to be. You’ll hear the details from Epinel. Understood?”

Many expectations, she says.

It seems she’s expecting something like the miracle I performed at the northern fortress…

But of course, I had no ability to summon such things.

Still, if predictions come like they did then… I’m sure I can find a way.

“Yes, understood.”

And so, with me, Ginor, and several unnamed Aeshus army commanders—

The 3,000 soldiers led by Irene set out for the fortress located west of Balhart Castle, which once belonged to the Brans army.