The Brodstock army marched forward proudly. As expected of an army belonging to one of the most powerful empires in the world, the soldiers’ morale was high, and their movements were swift and orderly. Likewise, the knights on their horses wore armor that glistened under the sunlight; their armor looked as if they would deflect any attack and their weapons looked as if they would slaughter any enemy.
Standing in front of this army was Marquess Classy, the appointed commander-in-chief of this army. While Marquess Classy fiddled with the marshal baton he received from the Emperor, his deputy, Baron Latane, talked to him.
“We are going to arrive at Mirotel Lake soon, Commander. If we just pass over that hill there, we will begin to see the lake.”
“Hm!” Marquess Classy twirled the baton around and smashed it against his palm. “We’ll soon be able to exterminate the bug infestation that has been growing under our noses.”
“Since the notoriety of those bugs has spread far and wide across the world, the glory of our Brodstock Empire will rise even further if we deal with them. I’m sure the Emperor would note that you were the one to have spread the Empire’s might, Commander. This will definitely happen if there’s no one in our empire who can compare to you.” It was such blatant flattery that most upright people would’ve rebuked the Baron, but Marquess Classy wasn’t such a man. Instead, he nodded with a slight smile on his face as if he was pleased by the praises.
“This is all possible thanks to the Emperor’s great army and having people with such brilliant skills and character like you,” Marquess Classy replied.
“Thank you for flattering me, sir. Of course, I plan to use all my humble abilities to support you, but without your outstanding and marvelous skills, how could folks like me really display our talents? Please sir, I beg you to masterfully command me and the others as you always do and wipe away those wretched Bellids.”
“Don’t worry about that. Since the Emperor requested it, I will send all those guys to Karuna’s side,” Marquess Classy said firmly.
“As expected of you, Marquess. I’m sure that no enemy can withstand your magnificent abilities combined with our empire’s strong forces.”
“Of course. To think they would propose to us to simply defend despite that!” Marquess Classy suddenly frowned after listening joyfully to the Baron’s flattery. He recalled the insulting request he recently heard, and Baron Latane immediately caught onto what was irking the Marquess. Thus, he quickly opened his mouth to boost the Marquess’ mood back up. This wasn’t difficult as he had also been offended about the same thing.
“It’s as you say, sir. Those Karuwimans must really think they are so strong now after only dealing with heretics.”
When the Karuwimans informed the Brodstock Empire of the presence of the Bellid headquarters at Mirotel Lake, they were stunned. To them, Bellids were also harmful pests that had to be exterminated on sight. Thus, it was more astonishing that the biggest nest these pests lived in was on their land, and the Emperor ordered his men to clear the bugs’ nest without any hesitation. Yet, although the Karuwimans expressed their thanks for the Emperor’s passion, their next words angered the Brodstock Empire’s citizens. They told the Emperor that since they were going to go on an offensive against the Bellids soon, the Empire should prepare military defenses. They also said that the Brodstock Empire would need help from other kingdoms. The Karuwimans would also, of course, contribute.
The Karuwimans’ attitude wasn’t disrespectful at all. They were simply giving their whole-hearted advice after assessing that the Empire wouldn’t be able to handle the current Bellid forces by themselves. However, those who belonged to the Brodstock Empire were famous for their military might, and they took offense to this suggestion. Thus, after shooing away the Karuwiman priests with clear annoyance, the Empire mobilized all the elite fighting forces they could amass and sent them to Mirotel Lake.
“Since those guys have to struggle so much to destroy just one base, they must have thought that our empire would need to do the same. As if those who spend praying inside temples know a thing about battle and war.” Marquess Classy criticized the Karuwimans out loud and declared, “If the Bellid forces are going to gather at Mirotel Lake, we must strike first! It’s the basics of the basics to strike before the enemy finishes gathering their forces. Why would they tell us to wait for our enemy to do just that?”
“It seems like those guys don’t know anything besides praying.” The Baron agreed.
In reality, the Karuwimans had suggested the Empire be mainly on the defensive because the Bellids had enough power to destroy the whole Brodstock Empire without even amassing all their forces. However, the Brodstock Empire didn’t even consider this as a possibility.
“They said the person who brought them the news was Zich Steelwall, right?”
“Yes, sir. Sources say that he is the son of Count Steelwall from the Cronon Kingdom.”
“I heard that the Steelwalls are called the kingdom’s Iron Wall.”
“That is correct, sir.”
“What an intimidating title for a Count’s estate to have in that puny plot of land.”
“Who knows? In a place like the Cronon Kingdom, their iron walls might be less sturdy than the rusty plows used by the farmers in our empire.”
“That’s a very convincing guess,” the Marquess chuckled. “It seems like the Karuwimans are becoming quite pathetic to be just listening to a man from some no-name kingdom—furthermore, someone who has been disowned by his family.”
“They say that he’s a Karuwiman Honorary Knight.”
“Yes, that’s probably why they are heeding his every word. Furthermore, I heard that he also became a dragon slayer.” Marquess Classy clicked his tongue. “What’s all that fuss because he caught some big-sized lizard? Only legends say that dragons are monsters strong enough to easily destroy a country. There’s nothing that can be more easily distorted than stories passed down from word of mouth.”
“I fully agree, sir.”
“From what I see, that dragon is no different than a large lizard. Of course, it can shoot out fire and fly, and it might be powerful enough to be called a strong monster. However, there’s no way he defeated a dragon as told by legends. If it really was a dragon from the legends, at least an entire army from one country needs to be mobilized. Did you say that about ten people defeated that amazing dragon?”
“Yes, from the information I received.”
“See what I mean? Does that even make sense? How can they defeat a monster that can destroy a country with so few people? Is there a person among those ten people who can fight the entire world alone? Or even people who will turn the world upside down in the future? Did the world’s leading talents and strongest fighters happen to exist in that specific place by coincidence? Why don’t they flat out say that these unbelievable conditions had all been fulfilled instead?”
“Sir, after listening to you, I realize how outlandish the claims of a dragon slayer really are.”
“If I was there, I could have probably killed that fake dragon or whatever by myself without help from others.”
“I think so as well. Sir, aren’t you the strongest knight even in this glorious empire?” This wasn’t just flattery; the Baron sincerely thought this. Numerous talents were raised in the Brodstock Empire’s vast territories. Moreover, the Brodstock Empire put significant importance on its military power, so it had an extremely high number of excellent knights. And the man next to the Baron was indeed considered to be the strongest of the numerous imperial knights in the Brodstock Empire.
“Sir, if you were there, there wouldn’t have been a ridiculous title like 'dragon slayers'. Instead, a single dragon slayer would have been born.”
“In my personal opinion, I think that guy named Zich Steelwall is awfully suspicious. He might be a con artist. Maybe he’s trying to raise his reputation through false rumors and attempting to gain an advantage or something. Come to think of it, didn’t you also say that a couple of Karuwimans were among the dragon slayers? Don’t tell me that the Karuwimans have joined hands with a con artist?”
“Sir, I don’t think that’s possible.” Baron Latane had only expressed unconditional support and agreement to Marquess Classy’s words so far, but he gently expressed his disagreement this time. No matter how strong and great the Brodstock Empire was, it could not openly antagonize the Karuwimans. They could moderately insult the Karuwimans like they had done just before, but it was a completely different story to directly treat the Karuwimans as criminals.
“Yeah, as God Karuna’s devout followers, there’s no way that could be true.” The Marquess seemed to also understand the Baron’s reaction as he backed down and continued, “Even so, it’s true that I don’t like how the Karuwimans have been acting recently.”
“Yes, I think so as well.”
“I’ll clearly show them how the Bellids are no match for our empire.” The two crossed the hill and saw a lake at a distance. It was a huge lake big enough to be mistaken for the sea. What stood out the most for them was a group of troops in the front.
Using scouts to gather information about enemy territory was the basics of the basics. Marquess Classy thoroughly followed the basics of warfare, and he was able to receive information early on about the Bellids’ territory. Thus, he knew that there was a group of forces near the lake and their location.
“Is that the Bellid army?” Marquess Classy asked.
“Yes, that’s it.”
There were flags embroidered with the fish head image of Bellu flying everywhere around the army as proof. The Marquess slowly examined the Bellid army. He saw the Bellid knights and priests first, but most of the Bellid army was made up of monsters.
“As per our information, they seem to be able to control monsters.” If the Bellids were able to utilize monsters as part of their forces, they would receive significantly more damage.
However, the Marquess replied indifferently, “But they don’t seem to be very dangerous ones.”
“It seems like the information regarding how it hasn’t been long since they began to gather monsters is true. I think they ran out of time to gather the more dangerous monsters.”
“See what I mean! You have to move boldly and crush the opponent’s head before they can fully gather all of their power. If I had waited, we would have had to face even more dangerous monsters!” The Marquess praised himself for his decision and continued, “Well, then let’s get ready for battle as well. We need to wipe them all out in the name of His Majesty.”
“Yes, sir!” the Baron shouted lightly and began to line up the troops.
The Marquess looked down arrogantly at the Bellid troops in the distance. “Fucking insects. I’ll exterminate all of you today!”
His eyes glistened with vigor.
* * *
Even though the Brodstock Imperial Army decided to attack the main Bellids’ camp alone without heeding the Karuwimans’ warning, they hadn’t refused all of the information that the Karuwimans had provided them. Even they wouldn’t have marched into Lake Mirotel without sufficient information. There were several pieces of information that the Karuwimans had provided them with, and one of them was about the existence of Demon People. The Brodstock Empire considered Demon People as merely people with special abilities. They weren’t technically wrong, but they terribly misjudged how special those abilities were.
‘W-what the hell is that?!’ Marquess Classy was too shocked to fully process the scene in front of him.