The allied forces lost. Although Count Flaud went as far as using Bellid forces in battle, it backfired on him instead as Zich read his plans beforehand and called for the Karuwimans’ support to annihilate the Bellid forces. Yet, even this couldn’t compare to the heartache the Count felt when he realized that his scheme against Steelwall was working against him now. The Karuwimans had officially labeled them enemies, and the Pope called for an ex-communication.
The lords of other estates who had participated in this war hoping to get scraps from Count Flaud were now quickly cutting all ties with the Count and swearing that they had no clue that he was connected to the Bellids. Hoping to get on the Steelwalls and the Karuwimans’ good side, some even declared that they would help with the investigation against Count Flaud.
The Steelwalls with their powerful military and the Karuwiman holy knights and priests, the representatives of reverence and faith, made a frightening combination. They were coming for them now, and there could be no greater nightmare than this. While the allied forces struggled to find a way out of their situation, they also gained another piece of information that astonished them. It was about the birth of a dragon slayer.
“Don’t give me that kind of nonsense and get the proper information!”
“Are you seriously joking right now? Do you lack so much common sense that you don’t know what’s a joke or not?”
“I plant you guys over there to check for stupid, useless pieces of information like this one! If you can’t understand even this much, quit your jobs right now!”
The people who first relayed this news met great resistance. They talked about existences that could only appeared in legends, and people ignored them; especially in times of crisis like this one, no one had the patience to listen to such utter nonsense. Yet, these rumors began to gain more and more validity, and when they were confirmed to be true, all of Steelwalls’ enemies fell to the ground.
“…Really? A dragon really appeared? And it was slain? Furthermore, the one who slayed it was Count Steelwall’s son, Zich Steelwall?”
“He no longer uses the name Steelwall after he gave up his seat as the heir…”
“That’s not even important!”
They barked at one another. This was a dragon and a dragon slayer they were talking about. A dragon could burn the ground with its breath, use expert-level magic, and deflect attacks with its scales that rivaled rare metals. The existence of one could turn the world upside down, but someone had defeated a creature like that. According to their sources, the dragon was as strong as the legends said, so strong it could easily burn a castle or two. Yet, such a being crumbled under a single group of humans that belonged to the Steelwalls. Thus, on top of heavyweight names like the Steelwalls and the Karuwimans, they now had a legendary dragon slayer opposing them. Naturally, as soon as the allied forces’ leaders received this information, they all were brought to their knees. Whether they were sane or mad, anyone could tell this wasn’t a fight they could win. So, they riled up in anger at Count Flaud who had pulled them into such a mess.
“Insist that we didn’t know anything! We won’t even be lying about it since we really didn’t know!”
“That damn Livil Flaud! How could he join hands with the Bellids no matter how much he hates the Steelwalls and brings us into it too? Was he trying to ruin as many families as possible?!”
“No matter what, we need to protect our family name! Give them territories or have our title lowered—do whatever we need to do to survive!”
The allied forces’ lords were lacking behind in everything: military power, justification for their actions, and so on. Furthermore, even the residents of their estates were starting to voice their concerns.
“I heard that our lord joined hands with the Bellids?” The residents talked amongst themselves.
“There are rumors that Karuwiman holy knights are going to come to attack this place any moment now.”
“Damn it! What if we are labeled as Bellid supporters because of our lord?”
Usually, their lords would’ve been too high-up for them to talk ill of, but the fear of being marked as a Bellid collaborator was much bigger than fearing their lord. To put it bluntly, if one lost their life, it was over for them in the living realm; but a Bellid collaborator suffered eternal damnation even after death. As expected, the people’s loyalty to their lords was shaken up. At this point, the lords might lose their heads from their own citizens rather than Steelwall’s army or the Karuwiman holy knights. Since many of their soldiers died in this war, their estates’ military power was lower than usual, and it was even more dangerous for the lords.
Like this, the Steelwalls instigated further chaos in their enemies’ territories and began to march toward the Pinne Estate first with the Karuwimans. Zich participated in the frontline. The Steelwall army’s morale was through the roof. Their suspicions against their lord had been cleared, and the truth that their enemies had been Bellid followers came to light. Their enemies were fleeing, and above all, they had a legendary dragon slayer in their midst.
All of them had witnessed Zich’s battle with the dragon. They saw Zich using light and dark mana to wrap around the dragon and fight with it head-on. Even if their enemies brought armies several times their size, laid traps, or ambushed them, there was no need for them to worry. What did they need to fear when a dragon slayer was with them?
Eventually, they arrived at the Pinne Estate. It wasn’t difficult to subjugate the estate. For this battle, Viscount Pinne used his previous troops. However, many Bellid followers had already been killed in the last battle, and many of his soldiers had scattered away. Some had returned to the estate, but they seemed to have no will to fight. In the end, it was just futile resistance that a few Bellid priests and followers made. They shut the castle doors tightly and fought, but they couldn’t prevent their decided fate. Their feeble resistance was crushed easily and Steelwall’s troops took over the Pinne castle. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find Viscount Pinne. It seemed that he hadn’t returned to his estate at all and escaped as soon as he decided their plan had failed.
“The smell is beyond foul.” Weig frowned as he saw traces of Bellids in the main castle. He had seen this sight when he infiltrated the main castle before, but it was impossible to get used to something that smelled no better than feces or the sight of cockroaches even after many times. Staying in this blasted place was no different to Weig than swimming in filth.
“Let’s burn it all.” Lubella looked as if she wanted to immediately pour oil and strike up a fire. She turned towards Zich for permission, and no one opposed the idea of burning all the traces of the dirty Bellids.
Zich answered, “If we’re going to do it, let’s go all out.”
They’d even turn the grudges of the blasted Bellids into ashes. On that day, an enormous fire consumed the Pinne’s main castle.
* * *
After they finished their business with the Pinne Estate, their next target was naturally the Flaud Estate. Originally, they planned to destroy the allied forces and end this war by crushing the Pinnes. They had changed the nature of this obviously international war into a civil conflict, but the situation had changed. They obtained clear evidence of Count Flaud’s collaboration with the Bellids and their secret plans in the Pinne Estate.
The majority of the Bellid followers in Pinne, including Viscount Pinne and the Bellid leaders, had been mobilized for this war. Thus, no one among the Bellid leaders was there to give an order to destroy incriminating evidence, so the Steelwalls were able to easily get their hands on evidence for Count Flaud’s collaboration with the bellids. There was no better time than now to crush the Flauds.
Moreover, the Karuwimans also wanted to convict Count Flaud, and there was no reason for Count Steelwall to object this since this was a golden opportunity to completely uproot and destroy a sworn enemy that the Steelwalls had been fighting for generations. Like this, the Steelwalls sent their troops to the Flaud Estate. Fighting took place at several key points, but it was possible for them to stop the Steelwall troops. A significant number of troops also surrendered as soon as they saw the Steelwalls.
A Flaud soldier asked their commander, “S-sir, is this all right?”
The commander replied, “Then do you have another method in mind?”
“Aren’t we the glorious knights of the Flaud Estate?! We have to protect it with our lives!”
“Where’s the honor when the Count collaborated with the Bellids! I would have also risked my life without hesitation in the past, but that damn Count joined hands with the Bellids! It won’t end with just dying! Our souls will dive straight into hell!”
“…”
Even though the Flauds were objectively weaker than the Steelwalls, the Flauds had bravely faced the Steelwalls, also known as the Cronon Kingdom’s Steel Fortress, for generations. The Steelwalls pushed them back, but the Flauds also had plenty of strong soldiers left. However, the Flauds’ courage dissipated into smoke by the fear that the god they believed in might abandon them. Count Flaud hoped this phenomenon would emerge among the Steelwall troops, but ironically, his plan completely backfired and crushed Flaud’s last remaining power to resist.
Estates with close ties to the Flaud Estate remained quiet. Even though a foreign army, the Steelwalls, had crossed their kingdom, none of them offered to help or made a move. The Flaud Estate was perfectly isolated. Shortly afterward, the Steelwalls were able to reach the main castle. The castle gate was firmly shut. It was hard to expect that the Count would surrender, but no one was nervous. Now that they had a dragon slayer on their side, the gate looked frail, and they were certain that Zich could destroy the gate with just one slash of his sword.
Count Steelwall said, “You said Count Flaud returned to his castle, right?”
“Yes, sir. Count Flaud is locked up in that castle with his defeated soldiers.”
Unlike Viscount Pinne, Count Flaud returned to his residence. Compared to Viscount Pinne who strongly identified as a Bellid and had the Bellids to back him up, Count Flaud had nowhere to escape. Count Steelwall stared at the castle with fresh emotions. Even though the Steelwalls had always been ahead of the Flauds in terms of sheer military power, they had never been overwhelmingly stronger than the Flauds.
Therefore, there were times when they experienced devastating blows from the invasions from the Flauds on many occasions. Just like Count Flaud did, Count Steelwall also fervently desired to put his estate’s flag up in their enemies’ castle. Count Steelwall was deeply moved as this dream finally came true in his generation. However, this feeling lasted only for a moment, and the Count’s eyes moved towards the front of the army. He saw a person. Zich Steelwall, who was now just Zich, was also his son who had completely broken off his father and son ties. Count Steelwall knew very well that Zich had made this whole situation entirely possible. If Zich hadn’t been here, they wouldn’t have even been able to think about destroying the Flauds–no, this whole situation would have been happening to the Steelwalls instead, and he would be destroyed.
Zich had revealed the conspiracy against the Steelwalls, gathered reinforcements, and even defeated a dragon that suddenly appeared on the battlefield. He was the greatest hero of this war without question. There were many things that the Count wanted to say to him, but he needed to say them after this war was over. Count Steelwall was about to send an order to attack when—
The tightly shut gates opened, and a person holding a white flag came out on a horse. The person slowly approached the Steelwall troops and requested to meet Count Steelwall.
The person kneeled in front of the Count and said, “Our Flaud Army will surrender to the Steelwalls.”
“Is this Count Flaud’s will?”
“The Count has taken his life.” These melancholy words marked the end of a long era.