243. The Emperor’s Eyes (2)
After the war, Lavirata declared a closed-door policy. A complete rejection of all outsiders.
In truth, it meant she would continue to rule the southern wasteland as she had before, but Lavirata had no other choice.
Lavirata was collapsing. The damage to her Magic Circuit was not something even the greatest relic of the Empire of Ashit could easily heal.
[Are you leaving now?]
“Didn’t I order the expulsion of all outsiders?”
[You are not an outsider. I wish to grant you a few days’ grace.]
Fernandez smiled at her words and adjusted his attire. Lavirata was seated within a complex Magical Formation. She had to use five of Odin’s Rune Glyphs to construct a spell to heal her body.
-No matter how I think about it, the loss seems greater.
‘Stop thinking about opportunity costs.’
Fernandez adjusted the relic placed on her lap one last time and stood up.
[When will we see each other again?]
“When the moment calls for it. Perhaps soon.”
The conversation ended there. Fernandez turned his back and left the palace.
In sync with his footsteps, all the Wraiths standing in the palace knelt one by one, bowing their heads.
A grand farewell, indeed. Fernandez approached Kirhas, who was waiting at the palace entrance. Kirhas, leading two mounted horses, whispered quietly to him.
“Your Excellency, the Wraiths are a no-go.”
“What are you talking about?”
“They’re just dead corpses, after all. That woman is a no-go.”
“Not worth answering.”
Fernandez tapped the horse’s nose to calm it and mounted the saddle.
In the distance, a crowd could be seen exiting the city gates. Beyond the wide-open gates, the military forces of the Beastman Nobility were visible.
Fernandez smirked.
* * *
The first to leave Ibalis was Duke Erbe’s army. Lavirata herself had opened the gates to let them out.
Only after their procession had completely exited could the Imperial Army leave the city.
It was one of the commands Fernandez had given Lavirata. To strictly follow the order of expulsion.
“Look at those beasts. How dare those insolent mongrels…?”
The knights felt an indelible sense of humiliation as they looked down at the Beastmen who had set up camp beyond the ridge.
The Beastmen stood in silence, arrayed around the city of Ibalis, watching them.
Their eyes were as if they were looking at defeated soldiers. And indeed, they were nothing more than defeated soldiers. Defeated soldiers relying on the goodwill of Duke Erbe and Lavirata.
Nearly half of the forces that had led the charge had died buried beneath the city walls, and the remaining forces were not in good shape either.
“Sir Everard. Sir Bernard is coming.”
A knight whispered softly. Beyond the ridge, the military forces of the Beastman Nobility split in half, and the Imperial Army’s flag wavered. Against the backdrop of the setting sun.
The knights welcomed Bernard’s troops with the feeling of looking at a savior. Just as the Beastmen, who had been staring blankly at them, began to tense up, the arrival of the rear guard, which had suffered no damage from the siege, was a great relief.
“Sir Everard. You’ve had a hard time.”
“Sir Bernard. Thank you for coming out personally. Please take care of the wounded. Damn those beasts. How dare they act so arrogantly without even setting foot on the battlefield…?”
Everard clicked his tongue as he looked at the Legion of Beastmen still staring down at them.
Pathetic creatures. This war started because of their request for support, and yet they treat us with such coldness.
Then, Bernard smiled bitterly. He wasn’t looking at Everard.
His gaze was fixed further away, on the rear guard of the soldiers.
“Sir Bernard?”
Everard’s intuition sounded an alarm. He slowly placed his hand on the sword hilt and turned his head to follow Bernard’s gaze.
Someone was approaching from the rear guard of the soldiers.
A familiar face.
Pernin. The Chieftain’s favorite. Had he participated in the battle…? Beside him, Hearttaker was walking.
And beyond that. Beyond the wide-open city gates, Wraiths could be seen kneeling and bowing their heads. The monsters who had slaughtered his soldiers without emotion… were now bowing to that man as if in submission.
“What is this…?”
Everard was a sharp man. The alarm in his head was ringing madly.
Someone who could influence the Chieftain of the Beastmen, someone who could exert influence over Duke Erbe. And… someone who could command the Legion of Wraiths like his own limbs.
A monster that shouldn’t exist…
“Ha.”
Everard laughed hollowly. Duke Erbe wasn’t just incredibly lucky or born under a strange fate.
It wasn’t that the world had struggled to make him a hero, to give him power…
It meant that one man had made it so.
“Sir Bernard.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Betrayal… What did you betray us for?”
“……”
Bernard stepped back without a word. At his gesture, the Imperial rear guard began to spread out and form a defensive formation. It was a textbook-perfect assault formation.
And from beyond the ridge, the Beastman Nobility slowly approached, beginning to surround Everard’s forces.
“Will you struggle?”
It should have been a great distance, but the tension in the air made his voice carry.
“Monster…”
“The Empire is a strange country indeed.”
Fernandez spoke in a calm tone as he slowly approached. The soldiers dared not oppose him, standing alongside Kirhas.
With the Beastmen who had not been exhausted in the last battle surrounding them, a single word from the Chieftain would mean their deaths.
“Maintaining a rotten soil with an astonishingly excellent system. Corrupt officials and decadent nobles abound, their stench piercing everywhere, yet the solid system and wealthy territory remain intact even after a thousand years.”
-Clop, clop.
As his horse approached, Everard felt as if he couldn’t breathe.
“The technological prowess, administrative power, and accumulated knowledge of the eastern continent—there is no part that does not belong to the Empire. Beyond military and administrative reach, in the realm of culture, the Empire has already seized half of the continent. Now, after the fall of the Empire, will the civilization of the eastern Great Wilderness remain the same?”
The eastern Great Wilderness. In the vast domain spanning the Empire, the southern small states, and the Eastern Kingdom Alliance. There is no nation untouched by the Empire’s influence.
The Empire has succeeded in maintaining a solid system for a thousand long years. And the time built upon that solid soil can be directly translated into the wisdom of civilized society.
Engulfed in the chaos of war…
In the grand archives at the heart of the unyielding Empire, there lies a collection of materials so vast that even if the entire civilization were to collapse, it could be restored within a century.
The noble families and scholars of the Empire possess a wealth of information that sets them apart from smaller nations that have failed to establish a systematic academic environment.
The Empire’s industry and commerce have already established a paradigm of their own.
From the smallest magical artifacts to the grandest achievements in ironworks, shipbuilding, architecture, stonemasonry, pharmacology, and medicine.
The fall of the Empire would signify the collapse of at least half the continent.
Thus, it is a strange phenomenon. Crops cannot grow in corrupted soil. Beyond the level of fertilizer, when the soil itself is polluted, it should be impossible.
Yet, as if ordained by the gods, the Empire unearths dozens of remarkably outstanding individuals every generation.
Is it due to the robust academic environment guaranteed by a solid system? Or is there another factor at play?
Fernandez often wondered about this.
Why don’t they ever collapse? Despite enduring invasions from almost all external forces, how do they steadfastly maintain their national system?
Fernandez interpreted it as pride.
The pride that the citizens of the Empire hold for their nation. The pride of maintaining the greatest and oldest nation in this world.
The instinctive pride of the people of a great nation whose flag has never been lowered since its founding.
“Monster…”
“Yes. You’re not stupid. It’s astonishing. That someone like you could emerge among these fools. And that such a person… could fall so low.”
Everard, the Knight Commander of the Burning Fortress of Guir. Not someone he had known in his previous life, which made it all the more surprising. A hero who hadn’t caught his attention in his past life had now noticed his existence.
The man had very little information. He must have deduced his identity from the situation and speculation.
Quick-witted and cold-hearted. Without even exchanging three words, he had pinpointed the mastermind behind all these events just by Bernard’s expression and the surrounding atmosphere.
“Too precious to kill.”
“……”
Everard did not respond to his words. But the knights beside him, who had been shrinking their necks in a tense atmosphere, chuckled and laughed. Judging by their demeanor, it seemed like the beasts were about to attack suddenly, but the chieftain’s favorite suddenly showed mercy.
However, Everard continued to gaze at him coldly.
“Truly a pity.”
“A duel.”
Everard barely managed to speak with a choked voice. He gripped the sword hilt as if to crush it, glaring at Fernandez.
His instincts refused to draw the sword. Although the Empire’s central knight order had half degenerated into a club for the noble families, it was his effort and qualifications that had earned him the position of Knight Commander.
Therefore, he instinctively realized.
That man intends to kill us all. To make a fallen Duke a hero and provide some profit to the beastmen? No, that was a misjudgment.
That man’s eyes are not looking at such trivial matters.
From the beginning, he had been plotting only the fall of the Empire. In his eyes, all beings here are merely pieces on a chessboard.
Everard no longer saw that gloomy-eyed youth as a youth. He appeared as a cunning, cruel, and powerful monster. A giant looking down upon the era and the nation.
But he could not give up. It was the pride of a noble, the duty of a Knight Commander, and lastly… as the man had said, the pride of an Imperial citizen.
The pride of an Imperial citizen standing against a monster seeking to destroy the Empire.
“I challenge you to a duel. Pernin of the Great Wilderness. I am Everard de Roan of Guir.”
“A duel. What’s the stake?”
“If I win, guarantee the lives of my soldiers.”
“Haha…”
Fernandez slowly shook his head.
“Impressive.”
Everard had thought from the beginning that he and his soldiers would not survive. Yet, by saying that… he was making a final gamble with his life.
Even at this moment, he was doing his best.
Indeed, Bernard’s gaze changed as he looked at him. Instead of begging for mercy, Everard was inspiring the betrayed Imperial soldiers with pride.
Don’t you have the pride of an Imperial citizen?
It was a remarkable spirit, and even more commendable for being a move made in a situation where he expected certain death.
Bernard’s soldiers were not few. If Bernard sided with Everard, the battle would turn into chaos. While it might be quietly handled by the beastmen now… if the entire Imperial Army turned hostile and chaos ensued, secondary issues would inevitably arise.
For Fernandez, who needed to create a hero using rumors, this was the worst situation, and Everard had realized this and made his gamble at this moment.
‘Why was such a man buried namelessly in his past life?’
-Indeed. He shouldn’t have been someone easily forgotten.
Fernandez chuckled briefly and nodded, gripping the sword hilt.
“Truly impressive. Your judgment is correct. Bernard must be conflicted now.”
“……!!”
“So, Bernard. Watch carefully and choose wisely.”
-Swish.
Fernandez drew his sword. At the same time, Everard also drew his sword and raised it. His plan was clearly perfect, but he had overlooked one fact.
Clumsy pride is always broken under fear,
And Faijashi was a man accustomed to ruling through fear.
-Thud thud thud thud thud!
Two mounted knights charged towards each other.
Under the blood-red sunset, watched by beastmen, humans, defeated soldiers, and the surrounding troops.
-Slice.
The sword flashed, reflecting the sunset, drawing a clean arc. The hand holding the sword sprayed blood as it soared into the air—
-Slice.
The body was bisected, and the head rolled to the ground. Three sword strikes were executed in a single moment. It was hard to believe, even seeing it, that such swordsmanship was performed with a two-handed greatsword.
“Now, Bernard. Will you surrender or preserve?”
“I will pledge loyalty.”
With the sunset at his back, casting a shadow, Fernandez smiled. Arrows rained down behind him, showering over the heads of the defeated soldiers.
* * *
Not long after, grim news reached the heart of the Empire.
The Imperial Western Expeditionary Force was annihilated during the war with Lavirata.
The surviving remnants failed to maintain a legion-sized system and were absorbed into Duke Erbe’s legion.
The Burning Fortress Knight Order, annihilated.
The Levans Knight Order, annihilated.
The Empire’s Central 2nd Legion, annihilated.
And this meant that the Imperial Palace now had no armed forces except for the minimal troops needed to maintain order in the capital region—
“Your Majesty!! Your Majesty!! Urgent news from the Dane Kingdom…”
Vicente I of the Dane Kingdom. The Knight King himself declared the [Crusade War].
Eleven Knights of the Round Table.
Including over three hundred and twenty knights, a force of two thousand five hundred cavalry was heading towards the Empire’s eastern region, and there were no troops to dispatch to defend the eastern fortress.
Power always comes from the edge of a sword. The Emperor’s decades of war failures and the recent events.
“Your Majesty… Duke Bülrang has… begun marching towards the capital…”
The Elector Counts are rising.
![[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TS-Obsessed-Gamer-The-Ultimate-Return2.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return")
