episode_0017

The opportunity to meet the heroes didn’t arise immediately.

Though I had joined the knight order at the Duke’s proposal, my rank within the order was virtually that of a low-ranking member.

Moreover, according to the Duke, the heroes were still undergoing training in a location unknown to anyone.

“It would be best not to use that black aura.”

By the Duke’s command, the use of the black aura was also forbidden.

It wasn’t that he had discerned the true nature of the power.

It was merely because if the ominous energy felt from the black aura were to be detected by the prophets, it would become quite troublesome.

Considering that, this old man, Duke Oleg, seemed to be more open-minded than anyone I had met before.

“Why did I appoint you as a knight, despite using such an ominous power? Well, your swordsmanship is quite useful, isn’t it?”

He had appointed anyone as a knight if their skills were good enough.

“Furthermore, for a mercenary, you’re clean, without a single criminal record. That’s enough to pass in terms of character, more than sufficient to be appointed as a knight.”

“Is that so?”

“More than anything, I trust my own judgment. At least from my perspective, you seem to be a trustworthy person.”

This aspect also played a part.

Anyway, I joined the knight order with the background of a mercenary who couldn’t use aura.

Perhaps because of that, my initial impression within the knight order wasn’t very good.

I was also discriminated against by fellow knights of the same rank.

“Where did a guy like that crawl in from?”

I was also deliberately dragged into dangerous missions.

“Though this mission is originally entrusted to senior knights, I trust that you can accomplish it.”

Moreover, I couldn’t hide the scorch marks covering my left arm, so my comrades, who believed them to be burn scars, often looked at me with disdain.

“Disgusting bastard.”

I had never been particularly hurt by such treatment.

From the start, I was a Fallen, considered even lower than a commoner.

I was accustomed to disdainful glances, and being wounded by discrimination and contempt was something I had long since overcome in my youth.

Since I hadn’t expected any favor when I first joined the Duke’s knight order, I let it pass even more readily.

Perhaps because of that, the discrimination from my comrades, who found my reactions uninteresting, gradually diminished.

As I trained relentlessly from the basics within the knight order, my skills improved, and I gradually gained recognition.

Then, at some point, as I began to win duels against my peers even without using aura, one by one, they started to acknowledge me.

From my skills to my standing within the knight order, many things changed.

My swordsmanship had improved incomparably, and my position within the knight order gradually expanded, with my rank rising step by step.

And as time passed, about seven years after joining the knight order, my rank within the order became Commendator.

It was a position responsible for the administrative aspects within the knight order, overseeing its taxation, judiciary, and general administration.

A massive void in the knight order’s personnel had occurred during battles with the Army of Death, leading to a major reorganization, and in that process, I had been rapidly promoted.

Around that time, the Duke called me and said this:

“It’s been five years since we first met, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised. I thought you wouldn’t last long and would fall out, but I never expected you to not only adapt but also be promoted so quickly. Of course, there was a major reorganization, but still, your ability must be exceptional for you to advance so rapidly. Congratulations, Sir Agapé.”

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

I expressed my sincere gratitude to the Duke, who was no different from a benefactor.

The Duke smiled faintly and showed me a letter bearing the imperial seal.

“Now that I think about it, it seems the time has come to fulfill my promise to you.”

“Isn’t this a letter from the imperial family?”

“It’s more than that.”

The Duke showed a serious expression.

“His Imperial Majesty’s message has arrived.”

It was about my deployment to the front lines, where we faced the Army of Death.

Beyond that, it was an order for the entire Duke’s knight order to assist the heroes, who would be heading to the front lines for the first time, so they could perform effectively.

Seven years had passed since I parted with Kara.

Living madly busy without a moment to look back, and having risen to the position of Commendator in the knight order directly under an Imperial Duchy.

Finally, for the first time, I was dispatched to the front lines to meet the heroes.

***

The Western Front.

I heard it was the greatest war since the ‘Nameless War,’ which marked the end of the Golden Age.

Having heard such words, the image of the Western Front in my mind was always a bloody slaughterhouse.

I had grown tired of hearing how countless people were ground down like flies, how rivers flowed with blood, and how mountains of corpses were piled high.

However, contrary to my expectations, the first thing that greeted us upon arriving at the front was a silence devoid of any conversation.

It was eerily quiet.

That was how the rear of the front lines was.

But as we moved closer to the front, a sound like hammering on steel plates began to grow louder.

Thump-! Thump-! Thump-! Thump-!

It was the sound of beating on thin, wide shields.

The sound of weapons striking resonant shields echoed like drums, and the closer we got to the front, the louder it became.

“They’re deliberately making these loud noises to instill fear.”

The Duke, who was leading the way, said so.

Instilling fear.

Corpses couldn’t feel fear, so I didn’t need to be told who was making this sound.

At his words, the nerves of the knight order members, including myself, who were dispatched to the battlefield for the first time, grew increasingly frayed.

Thud-

Upon reaching the front, trenches came into view.

However, they weren’t the usual trenches I knew, but rather resembled small ramparts built with thick, high shields like walls.

The gigantic shields, said to have been created by mages, were fitted together like puzzle pieces, stretching endlessly, and through small gaps, soldiers held long spears and various magical tools in rigid stances.

Seeing that, I looked towards the source of the sound.

At the same time, several knights who had come to the battlefield with me for the first time gasped in alarm.

Grooooooaaaar━━━!!! Thump━! Thump━! Thump━! Thump━!

The Army of Death was entirely different from what I had imagined.

Contrary to my expectation that they would blindly charge, having lost their reason like ghouls, they were approaching slowly, forming a more perfect formation than even our allied forces.

The army, marching in perfect ranks and files, continuously pounded their shields like drums, and the corpses, armed with identical dark green armor, spat as they screamed from behind their full-faced helmets.

Grooooooaaaar━━━━!!!

The sound of their putrid vocal cords tearing was indescribably horrific.

The stench of decay emanating from the bodies of the corpses, which outwardly appeared as orderly and well-trained soldiers, made me gag.

As the endless army of corpses beyond the horizon slowly approached, numerous commanders behind us drew their swords.

Then, soldiers holding trumpets, stationed at regular intervals, blew their war horns with all their might, and from various locations, voices shouting “Prepare for battle!” in different national languages began to be heard in succession.

-Prepare for battle!

At those words, magic power gathered in the staves of the mages near us.

The organ-like cannons in the rear simultaneously spewed fire and soared high into the sky, arcing towards the enemy.

Seeing this, the corpse army increased its speed from a march to a run, rapidly approaching the shield wall.

Boom-!

-Begin the spear thrusts!

The Army of Death.

A new calamity created to destroy the current era, after the disaster called ‘Darkness’ that arrived in the Golden Age.

The form this calamity took was not that of mere beasts gathered together, but rather a far more terrifying and systematic ‘army’ possessing both strength and wisdom.

Against an infinite army that feared no death, my battle thus began.

***

War drove people mad.

It was something those who had been through war said to no end, but experiencing it myself, I understood why everyone said it in unison.

Waking or sleeping, the screams of the corpses never ceased, and even when trying to sleep in the barracks, the booming of cannons and the explosions fired by mages continuously disturbed my rest.

Waking up, I would see wounded soldiers from the night being carried to the field hospital, and hundreds of corpses, infected with disease or already dead, piled up like mountains and burned.

The enormous amount of ash created by this was enough to obscure the morning sun, so the morning sky at the front lines was always red and hazy.

In such an environment, the soldiers’ morale and vitality gradually withered.

The knights, who had at least awakened their aura, had to encourage these soldiers and lead the way in repelling the army of calamity.

Our knight order had to take the vanguard among them.

“Raise your swords!”

Under the Duke’s command, we advanced into their formation and began direct combat.

Since high-level undead, including liches, were too difficult for most knights to face, our main mission was to eliminate these lesser foes in advance so that the heroes could deal with them.

During that time, the opportunity to see the heroes’ faces for the first time arose.