369. Honor and Dishonor (3)
Altberth was located in the middle of a basin surrounded by mountain ranges. The reason this strange city, with no passage of goods or geographical advantages, was chosen as the capital was due to the distant past when Dane, the founding ancestor, personally cut down the mountain giant and built a village on top of it.
Therefore, Altberth was not a planned metropolis or a place with a great location to support a large population. However, the city’s advantage was its geographical feature, which made it easy to defend due to the necessity of entering through narrow paths—
“Hurry up! The entire people of Dane are behind you!”
—and its symbolic significance. This city was the symbol of a great dynasty, the residence of a sovereign who cherished and protected his people, and an impregnable fortress that had never fallen even in the fiercest moments.
Thus, even in this desperate moment, the people never lost hope. They even felt a kind of religious communion.
-*Kugugugugung!!*
Every time the dragon flapped its wings, the tents in the makeshift camp fluttered wildly.
That overwhelming presence, that great ancient being, was watching over them. In the old myths, the brilliant King Knight’s mother had embraced them under her two wings.
Moreover, at the site where the palisades were being built, there was a boy with platinum hair fluttering in the wind. He was lifting a greatsword larger than his own height, tirelessly encouraging the exhausted people and soldiers, running around for three days and nights.
“Your Highness! We will take care of this place, so please rest even for a moment!”
“How could I? My father left me with a task in his absence.”
The prince laughed cheerfully and brushed off the knight’s words. He snatched the water bottle from the knight’s hand, roughly tore open the lid, and gulped it down. It was a speech devoid of any decorum, but everyone knew it was intentional.
It was an excessive burden for a young boy. Even as a prince of a nation, he was just a kid barely in his teens. The respect of the people would weigh on him, and in the face of imminent ruin, he might despair.
Even a sturdy adult man would collapse after three days without sleep, surviving on dry rations and bread while running back and forth between the city walls. But he couldn’t show weakness.
Before being a boy, he was a prince, and in this moment without a king, he knew he was the most symbolic hope they could look to. Eric pressed down his faintly trembling eyelids and instead laughed loudly.
“With the morale of the knights and soldiers so high, and with the Great Mother watching over us, who can deny that my first battle will be a historic victory?”
“Indeed, Your Highness.”
The knight nodded, lowering the visor of his helmet. He sensed a natural talent in the prince’s words and actions that surpassed royal dignity. He quietly shed a tear and turned his head. The scribes and magi felt the same.
They would not let this boy die in such a war. If one person could be the hope of a nation, it might seem laughable, but at this moment, everyone believed the fate of the country rested on the prince’s survival. If such a prince lived, even if the kingdom fell, it could be rebuilt.
-*Kwarururung!*
With the sound of thunder, the shadow covering the midday sun disappeared. The dragon, now in human form, had descended beside the prince.
“Well done.”
“Great Mother.”
“Truly… you resemble that child so much. I had heard about you before, but the rumors truly couldn’t capture your essence.”
Abel smiled proudly and gently stroked the boy’s hair. She bent down and looked straight into the prince’s eyes.
“Everyone is working so hard to save you. Never forget this moment, and always live like today.”
“Isn’t it the opposite? I might risk my life to save them.”
“Dane would have been pleased to see you. You were born with the talent of a sovereign, Eric.”
Abel smiled softly and ruffled Eric’s hair. She took the greatsword from the prince’s hand and said,
“But if you want to save them on the battlefield, you must first take care of your own health. Go in and rest. I will hold your place.”
“Great Mother, I am fine!”
“Must I knock you out to make you listen?”
When Abel spoke sternly, Eric grumbled and stepped back. His behavior was just like a boy his age, and Abel couldn’t help but laugh.
‘If I were to have Fernandez’s child, would it feel like this?’
Recently, Freya and she had been experimenting in various ways to see if a hybrid between a dragon and a human was possible. There were no such cases in the information from Asir or Vanir, but there were a few examples among the Jotun, who had many hybrid bloodlines.
Strictly speaking, the Jotun were descendants of Ymir, and dwarves branched off from Ymir’s bloodline. So, humans and Jotun could be considered distant relatives, right? Abel and Freya cautiously formed such a hypothesis.
The remaining issue was related to the total amount and identity of souls entangled between the main world and the current world, a problem Abel couldn’t solve no matter how much she racked her brain.
‘We’ll just have to keep trying until it works.’
Abel turned her head in the direction where Fernandez would be and smiled mysteriously. If they didn’t know whether they could have descendants, they would just have to keep trying until it happened.
‘But first, we need to end this chaos.’
Whether they had children or not, whether they tried or not, it was only possible after a peaceful era arrived. Abel lifted the sword hilt onto her shoulder and climbed onto the newly constructed city wall foundation.
“There are so many.”
The only gateway to Altberth without passing through the mountain ranges, King’s Gate, was spread out before the Phaeirn encampment. It stretched as far as the eye could see.
* * *
“We cannot afford to wait until they finish their defenses. Your Majesty! Please order the advance!”
“How do you plan to capture the dragon?”
“No matter how strong the dragon is, how much impact can one individual have on the war? The dragon is trying to protect the people, so if we just cross the gate, we can hold the people’s lives and negotiate, right?”
“If the dragon wants to guard that path, is there a way?”
Zigismund chewed his lip and nervously twitched his fingers. On the path to Altberth, soldiers were seen reinforcing the old city walls.
Once they finished building the walls, the siege would become twice as difficult. But if they went around the mountain ranges? The moment they descended the slopes, the exhausted soldiers would be helplessly swept away by the enemy’s blades.
Going around the mountains couldn’t be a surprise attack. Not only for our side, but the enemy also had magical forces, and even a dragon. They couldn’t deceive their eyes, and if they were caught during the surprise attack, it would be no different than feeding their troops to the enemy one by one.
Truly, Dane’s Altberth. The city of steel. An impregnable fortress. Zigismund stroked his chin and thought.
‘I never expected a dragon to appear.’
Of course, he had heard rumors that the founding ancestor’s guardian dragon protected Dane.
To be precise, he had received reports from the Infernur incident until Vicente’s abdication. The dragon had helped Vicente.
But it had been dormant for quite some time, and since it had never appeared during the invasion, he had ignored the information.
‘It’s not that we didn’t prepare…’
Zigismund sipped wine and rinsed his bitter mouth. It wasn’t for nothing that he had gone to great lengths to recruit Ludwig. To corrupt Ludwig, who was inherently stubborn, he had to bear a lot of burden.
But he needed Ludwig and the Griffin Knights he led. If there really was a dragon on the enemy’s side, they needed troops to tie down the dragon in the air.
The Phaeirn elite knight order, said to rival the Knights of the Round Table, had surprisingly not sent any news for days. Considering their marching speed, they should have arrived here first and been waiting for the king.
Zigismund’s hand nervously tapped the table. The last resort. The last resort…
“Are all the generals assembled?”
“Three legions have not yet arrived. But our forces outnumber them, and most of them are just militia and refugees, so there’s no reason to lose.”
Zigismund’s lips twisted. Out of the carefully selected thirty thousand, ten thousand were…
Three legions didn’t arrive, so the troops lost during the advance must be around four thousand. It was a painful loss.
But if you think about it, it’s kind of funny. The expected troops are six thousand, and the current stationed army is twenty thousand. A loss of four thousand during the advance? The attrition rate is high, but even if you generously estimate the enemy’s total forces, they wouldn’t even reach that four thousand.
From the moment Dane’s Vicente mobilized the entire nation’s strength, there was no way this country had any militia that had even held a sword hilt once.
Over there, old men, women, and children are trembling in fear, clumsily holding old weapons, waiting for them.
“If only we could handle the dragon, it would be an easy war.”
We can’t wait forever for the Griffin Knights who never show up. We can’t afford to wait politely until the enemy finishes building their defenses.
“What are the old folks at Hunting School doing now?”
“They’re discussing whether the tactics for catching wyverns can be applied to dragons.”
“Well, they’re kind of similar. Except for being twenty times bigger and breathing fire. Idiots. Fine, let’s get back to work.”
Zigismund sipped his wine and tapped his fingers. He needed that person’s strength.
‘Carlomano, where are you and what are you doing?’
* * *
“Griffin tastes like chicken!”
“Well, it looks like a chicken.”
“Do you count a chicken with four legs as a chicken?”
The Northerners were grilling meat over a campfire, chattering away. They didn’t look like warriors who had fought for their lives just half a day ago. They seemed to have no joy in having escaped death or trauma from the fierce battle, just eating, drinking, and singing.
Fernandez sat in the shade, watching them, lost in thought. Then, a wooden bowl appeared before him.
“Eat while you think, Your Excellency!”
“Ah, thank you.”
Kirhas handed him a bowl of meat soup and smiled. She stretched and then sat on Fernandez’s lap, purring.
“Was it a great battle?”
“They were good knights, but the compatibility wasn’t good.”
It was a statement that would have made Ludwig laugh in disbelief, but it was true. Griffins can’t easily fly at night, and forming a formation in an unfamiliar sky at night is nearly impossible.
When the first engagement happened, about half of the knights who barely managed to mount the griffins got tangled in each other’s wings and fell, and the remaining half were grounded after the first charge.
The Northerners were natural hunters. In the slow-to-develop North, the monsters of nature were stronger and more numerous than on this continent, and the Northerners were those who hunted such monsters and protected their tribes.
The North had no griffins, so the Northern warriors were also facing griffins for the first time. But they boldly shouted at the griffin knights raining down from the sky.
“A bear with a chicken head is falling from the sky!”
“We’ll have chicken stew tomorrow morning!”
It was a boastful shout, but it actually came true. The Griffin Knights realized too late that it was easier to fight when they dismounted from the griffins, but by then, the battle situation had already solidified.
“They really fought well…”
“Well, how can one hand handle four hands?”
It was a battle they couldn’t lose from the start, which is why the Northerners were put on the front lines.
Fernandez answered while sipping his meat soup. The difference in troops, the sudden ambush, the advantageous formation, the exhausted soldiers. It was a battle launched after confirming all these conditions.
Rather, the casualty rate is disappointing. Fernandez smiled bitterly as he watched the Northerners mourning their dead warriors.
‘Aeren will be furious.’
The fewer of them there are, the harsher the Northern winter becomes. They are each the future of their tribes. But how can there be no casualties in battle?
“Will you return to the flagship now? If Your Excellency plans to command personally, it would be better to do so.”
“That’s the right thing to do, but it’s not the way.”
“The way?”
“Having devised a plan to destroy a nation and kill a hero, not witnessing their end would be inhumane, wouldn’t it?”
Vicente is now returning to die. Even if it means enduring the inconvenience of tactical communication, his death cannot be ignored.
Vicente’s death is his responsibility. Fernandez truly believed that. If only they had been a little faster, or if they had established a different strategy even with more losses. There were countless ways to save Vicente. But.
‘But this is the most rational.’
To achieve the maximum result with minimal losses, Vicente must die. The moment Fernandez devised the strategy, he had essentially signed Vicente’s death certificate. So, witnessing his end is his duty.
“But Your Excellency, didn’t you save this nation? Now all that’s left is to drive out the enemies and end the war…”
“What are you talking about, Kirhas? What troops do we have to annihilate the enemies?”
“…Huh?”
“The enemy’s total forces are thirty thousand well-organized elite soldiers. Even with Abel, the remaining forces in Altberth are only a few hundred militiamen, and the Northerners in Dane are just over five thousand. How do you expect to overcome a six-fold difference?”
The difference in morale, troop quality, and fatigue is stark. As long as Zigismund wields the power of demons, even a clumsy blessing on each soldier would make it impossible to handle in battle.
Kirhas’s expression changed strangely upon hearing that.
“Uh… then…?”
“Both Dane and Phaeirn will be annihilated in this war.”
Phaeirn’s land has already lost the driving force for reconstruction, and Dane will fall in this war. Even if troops remain, once the nation collapses, there’s no backing, so the forces of both kingdoms will soon scatter.
Zigismund, being a minion of demons, will try to open the gates of hell or incite surrounding small kingdoms to gather sacrifices. The time limit will be Altberth.
When Fernandez spoke so calmly, Kirhas rolled her eyes and fell into thought for a moment. Then why are we going through all this trouble…?
“But Your Excellency, King Vicente disbanded the Knights of the Round Table and sent them to the small kingdoms…”
“Do you think Altberth can hold out until the disbanded knights persuade the small kingdom royals to form an expeditionary force and return with a united legion? Of course, Vicente must have thought the same. Vicente and I looked a little further into the future.”
“Further into the future…?”
“The future of rebuilding a fallen kingdom and scattered people, rising as a new symbol of hope from the scorched earth. The opportunity to unite the small kingdoms not as the Eastern Union, but as the United Kingdom of Dane.”
After the war, with the Empire’s support, becoming a loyal puppet to govern these vast and fragmented kingdoms as one. A single dynasty nation was needed, one that could completely uproot the seeds of discord with strong power, without even bothering with political opposition or ideological conflicts.
Dane will fully occupy the East, and the United Kingdom of Dane will become a province of the Empire. And once the Empire and the East fully exert their influence, the vast area from the center of the continent to the East will fall under his control.
Only for that number, to achieve the maximum benefit with minimal losses. Fernandez began planning the moment he heard news of the Dane-Phaeirn war.
“Then… the reason you plundered the small kingdoms was…?”
“Partly to prevent support for Phaeirn, but also to easily form public opinion that they must unite against foreign invasion.”
“The Empire’s food support…”
“For over a decade, the East will lose its ability to self-supply food. The Empire will use food and reconstruction costs as leverage to control the East. That was the purpose.”
“…You’re ruthless.”
“Should I be kind?”
Fernandez looked at Kirhas as he said that. Kirhas’s turquoise eyes met his squarely without a word.
After a while, Kirhas slowly reached out and stroked Fernandez’s cheek.
“Your Excellency, even when you had to kill yourself, you aimed for the most benefit. Is this plan also just the minimum loss you envisioned?”
“…Yes.”
Evil is always inferior to hypocrisy. But packaging one’s malice as a greater cause is even more despicable. So, Fernandez made no excuses. Instead, he said he was willing to accept the massive civilian casualties from the massacre and the post-war poverty and chaos.
But Kirhas knew. If the same profit could be achieved with less loss, Fernandez would have given it without hesitation, even if it cost his own life.
A man who can place himself on the same scale he uses for others. Kirhas saw Fernandez that way. So, she would bear the emotions this worn-out man had lost—no, suppressed.
Kirhas said so as she slowly pulled his face closer.
A salty taste lingered on her lips.
“Then I will shed tears for you.”
-Poor man, who will cry for you now?
In her words, a nostalgic voice echoed like an auditory hallucination, and Fernandez closed his eyes as their lips met.
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