episode_0142

The difficult articles were dealt with for now.

After shaking off my still numb hands a few times, I looked ahead. With the courtesy drivers gone, the road to Rudolph was as open as a highway.

While I was fighting a lonely fight, the knights and soldiers who came with me were not just playing around. It was as agreed before the battle.

Even now, the defense formation that was being recreated in real time was being helplessly destroyed by those human destruction devices.

“Get out of the way!”

“Aaaah! Small children are a hindrance!!”

“A friend, where are our knights and what are they doing? … !”

“What are you talking about now? Half of them were caught in a cavalry charge, and the Count of Ravenna took the rest!”

There was no need to deal with those who were not properly armed. I held the lightsaber handle straight again.

Someone shouted, ‘It’s a lightsaber!’, but the voice was lost in the shouts and screams coming from all over the place.

There were very few knights left among the enemy.

However, there were mercenaries as the next best option.

“What are they doing sitting there, wondering if they are using Dawn’s fingers or spoons? Don’t you have to pay the price!”

“Don’t fuss, I’m leaving now.”

Seeing what was happening to the knights, some people came out from near the emperor’s barracks.

Leather armor with metal padding around the joints and some vital points.

Although it was a waste to roll as an ordinary soldier, it was worn by those who could not afford chain armor. It was quite effective for shallow cutting attacks.

The one with the best equipment, perhaps the mercenary leader, shouted excitedly as he pulled out his sword.

“To get to His Majesty, you will have to overcome me!”

“I am the one who says it. If you leave now, I won’t bother pursuing you.”

“I want to do that too, but… Because I have already received the money and am bound by a contract. People who are bound by a contract will understand each other.”

The mercenaries, who run around on their feet and eat sword food, use compressed, practical techniques.

On the other hand, the technician boasts a technique that combines the basics with his own tricks based on professional education.

There are various cases, so it is impossible to say who has the upper hand, but in general, their superiority is ultimately determined by the knight.

A fighting method that has been around for tens or hundreds of years cannot be overshadowed by a dozen or so years of experience.

I turned my gaze to Rudolph. Although some time had passed, the well-armed knights like before did not appear.

At best, there were only a few soldiers left to protect him. Could it be that these are all that Rudolph believes in?

Even though the situation had reached this point, he remained in his position with a strangely stubborn attitude. To the point where I wonder if there’s a different reason why I can’t run away.

When I turned my head forward again, the slightly hesitant mercenaries came into view.

Looking back, aren’t their main occupations being bandits or thieves?

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir!”

“After all, it’s not something I’ve only done once or twice before.”

And the only training I did during the winter was to subdue them.

*****

The battle on the Elster Plains became more interesting as time passed.

At this point, they could have run away from one side, but the two emperors expressed an enormous confidence that others could not tell from where and shouted for a desperate fight.

Although each person’s situation and intentions were different, the thought in their mind was the same, fearing that someone might not be Archenemy.

‘It is physically impossible to escape.’

‘If you retreat from here, you will be ruined.’

Whether it was because of the natural fortress or because of unavoidable circumstances, each army committed a strange act of surrounding each other and blocking their retreat.

Only emperors who are caught in the middle and unable to do anything begin to engage in business.

“Say no retreat! Don’t give up a single step, and don’t take a single step back!”

“Think about who is behind you! He is the guardian of the Church recognized by the Pope of Remus and the owner of the only empire under heaven!”

“Fuck you! Can’t you see the knights already surrounding you? We lost!”

“Those who spread nonsense, put a gag on their mouths. This is a winnable battle! The battle is already half won!”

“ Well, then, what are the knights lying around here?!”

And Rudolph was only now confirming the results.

The army did not collapse. The rumors that the emperor had died naturally subsided as the people involved were waving their hands in a clear view of the battlefield.

An immediate rout was somehow prevented.

But the price paid was great.

“When did we get this far surrounded by enemies?”

“I apologize, but please make a decision. Your Majesty!”

Little by little, but surely.

Heinrich’s knights came to take his life.

“We finally meet, Rudolph.”

And the knight who stands at the forefront of all of them.

Raven, the illegitimate son of the Count of Ravenna. He said, aiming his sword.

There must have been mercenaries. What happened, what happened?

One of the soldiers gently pushed him in the chest in an attempt to push him back. Rudolph took a step back, dumbfounded.

I didn’t think it was rude. This was because magic flew in with a clear sound and pierced the soldier’s forehead.

Before I knew it, Heinrich’s knights, servants, and soldiers were surrounding me.

The familiar shoes that had been treading on mud at the bottom of the hill just a moment ago felt as if they were right around the corner.

What crossed Rudolph’s mind at that moment was not the fear of death.

If he was a person who was afraid of such things in the first place, he would have settled into his position as a duke and would not have staged a rebellion.

There was only one reason I was paranoid about protecting my life.

The reason life has meaning is because Rudolph had the ambition to be willing to risk his life.

“Your Majesty the Emperor, hurry and run away… … !”

“Running away… Where did you say it?”

Behind, the so-called allies were blocking the attack, saying they would escape first, and in front, there were knights dripping blood from their swords.

The knights and mercenaries they had trusted had collapsed, and the nobles who had sworn to protect them had already been wiped out.

Above all, I have walked that difficult and long path.

It wasn’t to listen to that half-hearted emperor.

Rudolph shook his head. If you were going to run away, you should have left a long time ago, even at the risk of defeat. There was no use in discussing it now.

“No, I am staying.”

Immediately, I looked into the distance, towards where Heinrich was probably supposed to be.

The allies were fiercely attacking him. So, if there were no variables, winning was only a matter of time.

It was a goal that seemed to be caught right in front of my eyes. If he was lucky, it was an opportunity of a lifetime that he might have gotten by now if the Count of Ravenna had gotten rid of his child without mercy in the first place.

“-Why? ”

The one and only throne of power must fail at the threshold of its brilliant glory.

And I couldn’t accept that I lost in such a ridiculous way.

People often hope that someone will sympathize with them in these situations.

However, Rudolph could not hope for such sympathy from the person who was trying to kill him, so he raised his head and looked at the sky. Then I forced my eyes, which were closed from the sunlight, to open and asked.

“God, why must I lose?”

There was no answer as always.

And the only thing left for the old man, whose life was at risk, was an ambition that would soon become worthless.

The life I had lived so far passed before my eyes. My mind was constantly rummaging through memories in search of a way out of life, but in fact, reason already knew that there was no such way.

There was only one, really faint possibility. If you throw away all authority and power, admit defeat, and bow down begging for your life.

Even if Heinrich took everything for the sake of old love, he might have saved his life.

Rudolph opened his mouth without thinking. However, what emerged from within was something different than expected, something more resolute.

“… Are you planning on taking my head!”

“Rudolph.”

But is there any meaning to living that way?

My ambition was not so light as to sell it off for a worthless life. It just means that he didn’t risk his life for that kind of ending.

From the beginning, there was only one thing Rudolph truly wanted.

‘Emperor.’

And if you don’t have what you’ve longed for your whole life, it’s better to die than to live an ugly life.

‘If he were the emperor of the empire, what would he do at this time?’

If he really succeeded in the rebellion and put the emperor’s crown on his head.

How should one face one’s end in the face of death on the battlefield?

The worries didn’t last long.

“If you’re going to take it, take it somewhere!”

“Good.”

Rudolph picked up the unclaimed sword lying on the ground.

And at the same time as he took a deep, shallow breath, a bright white light appeared around him.

*****

Suddenly feeling an ominous feeling, the Count of Ravenna turned his head toward the friendly camp.

An unusual commotion was going on there.