219th Episode
After the ranger who had encountered Ray sent a signal using the rangers’ communication method, someone with whom Ray had quite a history appeared with other rangers.
It was Brandil.
Just as Brandil was about to ask his subordinate something to assess the situation, Ray lightly twirled his sword.
Bang!
The leaping sword energy that had torn through the air fell right in front of Brandil.
Brandil frowned and shifted his gaze back to Ray.
“Surely…?”
“It’s been a while.”
“Hmph…”
Brandil let out a sigh mixed with complicated emotions.
Ray sheathed his sword, showing no intention of fighting, and asked Brandil,
“Are you still a captain?”
Brandil shrugged.
Though it implied he hadn’t been promoted for years, Ray was honestly surprised that Brandil was still holding on within the Ranger Corps.
Given Brandil’s track record, it wouldn’t have been strange if he’d been purged long ago.
Ray explained his circumstances first.
“I found those guys while I was scouting this area. They were pretending to be imperial soldiers, but they weren’t. I thought they might be spies you sent… but it seems they weren’t either?”
“Hmm…”
The situation was awkward for Brandil too.
After scratching his head, Brandil finally spoke again.
“Could you hand them over to us first? They were chasing after our base.”
“Not difficult. But it’d be better to entrust them to someone trustworthy.”
Understanding what Ray meant, Brandil gestured to the rangers nearby.
While the rangers took care of the attackers who had fallen to Ray, Brandil approached him and asked,
“Uh… want to come along for a bit? We can clear up any misunderstandings while we walk. If it feels uncomfortable, you can just go back.”
“Lead the way.”
Although it could’ve been a trap, Ray didn’t care.
Seeing Ray’s confidence, Brandil smiled faintly and started walking down the mountain path.
As they walked, Ray and Brandil exchanged information.
This exchange was also a kind of deal, and during it, Ray gained a deeper understanding of the turmoil happening within the Rubia Kingdom.
‘If this keeps up, there’ll likely be a civil war.’
During the incident involving the Crown Prince that Ray had intervened in before, the Tarannis Family of the Rubia Kingdom was suspected of being connected to devil worshippers.
At the time, the king of the Rubia Kingdom protected the Tarannis Family, which caused discontent among certain factions.
Later, the Tarannis Family almost seized an opportunity to expand their influence even into the Empire, but were stopped by Ray.
Through this process, the kingdom is now sharply divided between the pro-king faction led by the Tarannis Family and the anti-king faction opposing them.
One of the leaders of the anti-king faction is Count Horum, who holds territory near the Sigini Mountain Range.
‘So that’s why Brandil managed to hang on.’
Count Horum wielded significant influence over the Ranger Corps.
Thanks to Brandil belonging to the Horum line and the escalating internal conflicts within the kingdom, Ray deduced that Brandil had managed to maintain his position.
“So… both sides are calling each other traitors, huh?”
The pro-king faction accuses the anti-king faction of selling out the nation to the Empire.
The anti-king faction, on the other hand, accuses the pro-king faction of colluding with devil worshippers.
As the chaos dragged on, the conflict deepened.
Walking along the path, Ray asked Brandil,
“Those guys pretending to be imperial soldiers attacked your ranger base?”
“Yeah.”
“Were the people attacked part of the pro-king faction?”
“…Most of them belong to that faction. But whether it was intentional or coincidental… we’ll have to find out.”
“To me, it looks like the king’s faction is trying to set you guys from the Horum line up to get rid of you.”
Ray smirked.
Even looking at Earth’s history from his past life, power players and great powers often pulled these kinds of stunts.
Even if the schemes were so flimsy they got caught midway, apologies never followed.
Regardless of right or wrong, most cases involved creating a pretext and then bullying through sheer force.
Brandil remained silent upon hearing Ray’s muttering.
It wasn’t appropriate for Brandil to voice his opinions here.
Confirming they were close to the border, Brandil asked Ray,
“Do you want to go further in and meet the leader? Or should we turn back here?”
“Does the leader know me?”
“Yeah. He was the deputy leader when you met him before.”
“In that case, let’s talk briefly.”
*
Inside a tent prepared not far from the Ranger Operations Base.
Roberti, the leader of the 2nd Special Operations Unit, commonly known as the Rangers, frowned as he looked at Brandil.
Standing beside Brandil were Ray and Luna.
Brandil had ‘invited’ Ray here.
Of course, Brandil had no authority to bring imperial personnel into the kingdom’s border without permission.
Roberti asked Ray first.
“The attackers aren’t related to the Empire, you say?”
“They’re not ours.”
“Can you prove it?”
Ray shrugged.
How could one possibly prove they’re not ours here?
Roberti knew this while asking.
As Roberti sighed, Oks, standing nearby, drew his sword and went berserk.
“Damn imperial bastards crawling here to mock us?!”
Whether due to excessive excitement or high blood pressure, more blood seeped through the bandage wrapped around Oks’s waist.
With bloodshot eyes, Oks screamed, appearing genuinely furious.
“I’ll tear you apart and send you back to the Empire!!!”
“Hmph…”
Ray realized the perfect moment to use ‘that line’ had arrived.
Leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs, Ray said,
“Don’t use such strong words.”
His lips curled naturally toward Oks.
“Because you look weak.”
Luna glanced at Ray with a somewhat awkward expression.
It felt like he was paraphrasing the idiom “A weak dog barks loudly,” but somehow it made her feel uneasy.
Of course, Oks became even more enraged upon hearing Ray’s provocation.
Oks shouted repeatedly, hoping the rangers would join in and point their swords at Ray in response to his taunt.
Rangers were famously known for their fierce spirit and pride, after all.
However, the rangers did not move hastily in response to Ray’s provocation.
Most of the senior rangers present had witnessed Ray’s battle against the Crown Prince firsthand.
Ray was not an easy opponent to recklessly confront, just for the sake of pride.
Instead, Roberti kicked Oks out of the tent, citing his severe injuries and advising him not to strain himself.
Oks continued shouting until he was dragged away.
“…”
In the brief silence that followed inside the tent,
Roberti spoke again.
“We’ll interrogate the ones you captured first.”
“Do as you wish. But I doubt it’ll be meaningful.”
There was doubt whether they’d confess the truth, and even if they did, whether it would hold any value.
As Ray was about to stand up, Roberti invited him,
“Shall we take a short walk?”
*
“I don’t trust your words.”
Walking along the mountain path, Roberti clicked his tongue.
“This could very well be a deception and a ploy by the Empire.”
That was a plausible assumption.
Roberti was confused.
He suspected that figures from the pro-king faction might have orchestrated this attack.
But blindly trusting Ray’s words, a special operative from the Empire, would be foolish.
Ray rubbed his chin.
Ray couldn’t definitively confirm the identities of the spies he handed over either.
Through his abilities, Ray examined the spies and the rangers one by one but found no direct evidence of devil worship among them.
“If there were demons hiding their forms, I would’ve just slashed them…”
Though slightly disappointed, it was natural.
Not every problem stemmed from devil worshippers.
Even if they were the cause, human greed was usually the reason events escalated.
How could one easily draw straight lines and make judgments on incidents tangled with various interests?
Confusion was inevitable.
Still, the fact that Roberti was confiding his confusion to Ray suggested that he suspected this event was likely a scheme by the pro-king faction.
If Ray was correct, Ox or another pro-king faction member might have collaborated to allow the attackers into the base.
If Ox was truly the culprit, he would’ve allowed the attack to happen and gotten injured to avoid suspicion.
If the king’s side aimed to drive out Roberti through this incident and place a pro-king figure as the leader of the Rangers… the speculation would become certainty.
However, Roberti wasn’t willing to step down easily.
He wasn’t a docile lamb to submit his neck for slaughter.
And afterward? How exactly would the situation unfold?
Deep in thought, Ray asked Roberti,
“What about actively seeking help from the Empire?”
“Are you inciting me to betray my country now?”
“Looking at the situation, it seems your king is ready to risk a civil war unless you’re quietly expelled… You know that, right?”
“…”
If this event was indeed a scheme by the king’s faction,
The king’s side would create several pretexts to accuse the anti-king faction of being puppets of the Empire and attempt to crush them.
Since the anti-king faction was not insignificant, there was a considerable possibility that the conflict could escalate into a civil war, small or large.
“Whether you seek help from the Empire or not, the Empire won’t sit idly by regarding your kingdom’s affairs. The Empire isn’t interested in expansion, but currently, they’re extremely wary of devil worshippers. They also have evidence that the royal family of the Rubia Kingdom has colluded with devil worshippers…”
“…”
“Joining hands will benefit both sides. The Empire can avoid excessive warfare, and you can seize power with the Empire’s assistance.”
“You mean the Empire will seize power.”
“Has the Empire ever tried to expand its territory over the last few hundred years?”
“…”
“If we eliminate the devil worshipper forces aligned with the king’s faction, the Empire won’t bother much with you. Even if the anti-king factions fragment and fight among themselves again, well…”
As Ray said this, he continued thinking.
The wars in this world shared some similarities with modern warfare on Earth.
Long-distance travel via warp gates.
High-tier units akin to asymmetric weapons.
Speed-based warfare.
For instance, during the Iraq War initiated by the U.S.,
The Empire could swiftly strike the kingdom’s command structure using its superior high-tier units, securing victory in mere days.
This could be achieved within a few dozen days after the war begins.
Of course, maintaining and stabilizing occupied regions after victory cannot be done solely with a few high-tier units, but that could be delegated to the anti-king faction.
To operate high-tier units, support troops need to be deployed to the frontlines, but if the objective is to strike the command structure and eliminate specific forces, extensive war preparations wouldn’t be necessary.
‘As long as the royal family of the Rubia Kingdom is colluding with devil worshippers, a war with the Empire is inevitable sooner or later…’
Ray hoped the war would conclude while he was still alive.
The Phillips County would also be endangered if a war broke out with the Rubia Kingdom.
‘At least while I’m alive, I’ll ensure the safety of the people in Phillips County and handle it accordingly…’
Ray had no doubt that the outcome of the war would end in the Empire’s overwhelming victory.
Certainly, the devil worshippers would try various tricks.
They must have some confidence for continuously provoking the Empire.
But the opponent is the Empire. If they were to falter due to the devil worshippers’ schemes outside the demonic realm, the Empire would’ve already collapsed, and humanity would’ve perished long ago.
The result was already determined; the only question was when the war would end.
At that moment, Roberti, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.
“The Command Blade has been recovered.”
“The Command Blade?”
Decception (1)
