Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 154 – The Imperial Army (1)

“Deputy Ledna Loen.”

Anya whispered, looking into the eyes of a woman gritting her teeth.

“I am well aware of your reputation as the Deputy of the Order of the Capital and the reputation of your brother as well. In fact, I have quite a bit of respect for both of you. But it is very unfortunate that I met you at a time like this. I am sure your brother will be quite proud to hear how you played an active role on the battlefield.”

The woman didn’t respond.

“I’m very sorry to say this, but neither do we have enough food to feed the prisoners, nor do we have the time to escort you all. And, it’s not like we can let all of you go either… I’m sure you can understand where I’m coming from. The members of our forces tend to eat… very little.”

If any of the members of Anya’s forces needed to eat, they tended to supplement themselves directly from the enemy, rather than eating food on the table. In fact, such was happening all over the battlefield even now. The crows flying over the entire battlefield were particularly enjoying their feast.

Anya and the Order of Huginn had suddenly encountered the Capital Army during their march. The number of the enemies estimated by the crows was about five thousand—and those were the numbers counted while excluding the supply base there.

Anya and the Order of Huginn had killed nearly three thousand five hundred of them, after which the rest of them had fled. The result was countless corpses covering the hills, crows hovering over the corpses, and scattered war chariots.

There was not a single human victim from the Order of Huginn.

“But don’t you worry. There are ways to solve our issues related to food, troop escorts, possibilities of insurrection or escape of the enemies. It might bother you a little bit, but there’s no better way than this.”

Anya waited for Ledna’s reaction, but Ledna still gave no reaction other than clenching her teeth.

“It seems like it’s a bit too late to ask for your opinion. I wish I had met you a little earlier.”

Anya dropped Ledna Loen’s severed head on the floor as if she regretted it. Just like when Anya had first discovered it, Ledna’s head rolled back into the remains of countless Undead.

One of the knights from the Order of Huginn, who had been watching the whole scene by Anya’s side, asked with a fed-up look.

“...Why were you seeking an answer from a severed head?”

“I have heard that humans remain somewhat conscious for a while even after their head is severed. I thought about summoning her soul, but I feel like that’s a little too rude. But it’s okay to ask her while she still has her soul, isn’t it?”

“Um, I guess…”

Anya raised one hand, and a crow immediately sat on the back of her hand. As she slowly lifted her hand up, the crow’s eyes shone red, almost as if they were burning. Soon, the entire hill began to vibrate, and the collapsed bodies of the soldiers rose up.

Anya muttered with a satisfied expression.

“Now we’ve got more soldiers to serve His Majesty.”

***

“I don’t know what else to say other than that I am ashamed of myself.”

Haild bowed his head in Juan’s room inside the Magic Tower.

Haild had succeeded in rescuing Hela, since Entalucia had been able to arrive just in time, but Pavan had already achieved his goal by then—he had managed to cut off the Eastern Army’s numbers in half, incapacitate Horhell and his dragon, and destroy the path through the Yult Mountains with the help of the soldiers of the Eighth Division.

As a result, the arrival of the Eastern Army to the Magic Tower was inevitably delayed. Haild felt his face turning red out of embarrassment when he recalled telling Pavan to run away because he didn’t like massacres. Pavan had already strategically won at that point.

“It’s okay. How’s Hela doing?” Juan asked.

“She is resting. She did say that she would like to report to Your Majesty in person, but she is blaming herself too much…”

“I’ll have to visit her with Horhell later. How long do you think it will take to recover from the damage done by the enemy’s ambush?”

“The number of troops who are able to continue the march are already on their way, but they are just going to increase the numbers. Since it’s impossible to transport supplies at the moment, it will probably take at least a month for them to be able to function like a proper army…”

And that was under the assumption that the Eighth Division that had ambushed them in the Yult Mountains did not interfere anymore.

After all, Pavan had fled while leaving behind the soldiers from the Eighth Division, but even that seemed to be part of his plan.

In reality, the Eastern Army could already be considered incapacitated.

“I already told you this, but it was inevitable. I guess we exchanged surprise gifts with the enemy.” Juan stood up with an expressionless face.

“But I’m glad that the Order of Huginn did well. I heard that the Second Division was exterminated, with their Deputy being killed. The number of Undead has also been replenished on a large scale…” Haild muttered bitterly.

“That doesn’t mean much.”

It was a good achievement that the Order of Huginn was able to kill the Deputy, but this was only possible because there were no Templars among the enemies.

Juan’s goal was to get everything done as fast as possible while preventing the civil war from spreading too much. But if the Templars decided to join the Capital Army as a result of the Eastern Army being cut off, there was a high possibility that Anya would not be able to achieve her goal the next time.

“The bigger problem is Barth Baltic.”

It was the Captain and the Deputy of the Order of the Capital that had attacked the Eastern Army and the Order of Huginn. However, Barth Baltic was nowhere to be seen. According to common sense, Juan thought that Barth Baltic would be targeting Nienna, who had not been attacked yet. But he also wondered whether Barth Baltic would really act in such an obvious manner. It was clear that Nienna would be extra wary now, so it was too late for Barth Baltic to ambush her.

Sina tilted her head and asked a question.

“Maybe he’s on his way to the Magic Tower?”

“That’s a possibility. Now that it has become clear that the Magic Tower has become our ally, there would be no one better than Barth Baltic to destroy the Magic Tower if he decided to attack.”

Upon seeing Haild and Sina’s clueless expressions, Juan realized that they had no idea what he was talking about.

“Does no one know about the abilities of the Hornsluine race?” Juan asked.

“Barth Baltic is a great commander and warrior, but what does that have to do with him attacking the Magic Tower?” Sina asked.

“The horns of the Hornsluine race have strong magic resistance. Magic that would kill anyone else can be dispelled in a second by a Hornsluine. And even among the Hornsluines, Barth Baltic is an exceptionally strong one.”

Juan recalled Barth running wild on the battlefield while directly facing the magicians’ attacks. Magic that was powerful enough to exterminate a whole army poured on to Barth Bartic, but he slaughtered the magicians with his bare hands and then walked out of the battlefield drenched in their blood. Juan remembered the way Barth Bartic’s horns were almost burning as they emitted light whenever he was attacked by magic.

“In return, there are no magicians among the Hornsluines. However, there are scholars—I heard that they use magic through sculptures and architecture in a unique way. I think they called them ‘magic formations,’ but I’ve never seen it myself.”

“So he might be running directly toward the Magic Tower right now,” Haild said.

“Who knows? Maybe he’s thinking exactly the same things as me.”

“Exactly the same things?”

Juan simply shrugged at Sina’s question.

“Sitting in the back and waiting for all the traitors to gather in a single place.”

***

“Ledna Loen was killed on the battlefield?” Pavan asked back as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

He had blocked the path in the Yult Mountains using a part of the Eighth Division and was leading the rest of the troops toward the south. It was only when he ran into the defeated soldiers from the Second Division who were retreating that he heard the news.

“Yes, Captain. Deputy Loen had taken the high ground and fortified it just as planned, but the enemy’s Undead were too strong. Especially the Red Skull Soldiers and the monster that had dozens of heads…”

Pavan fell into deep thought upon hearing the report of the defeated soldiers. The original plan was for Pavan to use the Eighth Division to strike the enemy from the back while Ledna Loen led the Second Division to stop the Order of Huginn and prevent them from joining the other forces.

Pavan hadn’t expected her to be so easily beaten.

“We didn’t expect the Order of Huginn to be that powerful… I thought they would be easy prey now that Ras is gone. But I guess they have gotten themselves a good commander who is capable of necromancy.”

“Their troops were overwhelming. Not only were their numbers overwhelming, but they had the Knights of the Dead, Red Skull Soldiers, and the countless crows, enough to cover the entire sky…”

The defeated soldiers trembled as if they were getting chills even while reporting to Pavan.

Pavan nodded and instructed the other soldiers, “Feed them well and get them to rest. They fought valiantly.”

“Yes, sir.”

The defeated soldiers, who were afraid that they would be disciplined for their failure, followed the soldiers with a sigh of relief.

As soon as they left, Pavan called Kilt, his Deputy.

“Take them all out of sight and kill them all without letting anyone else find out,” Pavan whispered.

“I’ll follow your orders, but why? They didn’t run away from the enemy… They just lost.”

“And that is totally fair. Besides, I can understand their defeat if the opponent were the Undead. But they are completely out of their mind due to fear. We can’t let them spread fear among the other soldiers, not to mention that they can’t be of any help to us in their current state. Our soldiers are suffering from low morale anyway because of the dragon.”

The Capital Army was more powerful and had superior weapons compared to the enemies, except for the Northern Army. However, the huge dragon the soldiers had witnessed at the Yult Mountains was shocking, since they had believed that all dragons were the size of Orca, Horhell’s dragon.

The only reason why none of the soldiers of the Eighth Division had run away from the battle was that the dragon hadn’t breathed fire.

“And are there any Templars nearby? I heard that the Order of the White Crow was destroyed around here. Anyway, find either a Templar or a Bishop who can help. We will need their help if our opponent is a necromancer.”

Kilt nodded in understanding and went outside the barracks.

Inside the empty barracks, Pavan tapped the table impatiently.

“I feel like I’m back in the mythological era. The undead, a monster, gods, and even a dragon.”

‘And the emperor.’

Pavan wondered how the humans had been able to fight against such beings in the past. History books said that humans had been treated even worse than slaves until the existence known as the Emperor appeared.

‘If so, did the humans achieve a victory with just the appearance of the emperor?’

Pavan couldn’t imagine it. Barth Baltic was also said to have made many great achievements while staying by the emperor’s side, but his own species had gone extinct at the hands of the gods.

‘If it is true that the emperor has returned…’

Victory was no longer the issue. Pavan had to worry about whether he could survive or not.

‘I guess all I can hope for is for the Regent to do well.’

Pavan wasn’t too worried. Barth Baltic was the Regent and the supreme commander of the Imperial Army.

And Barth Baltic had never once been disloyal to his position.

***

The south was the first to move.

Since Barth Baltic had made his move long before he declared his expedition, the news had reached the south already. There was a rumor that the whole of south was united and supporting the Order of Huginn, but that was not true.

The only group against the Capital was the Order of Huginn, and the rest of the south was still loyal to the Capital.

The sandstorm of the desert began to rise.

The west had also received a message. Dismas Dilver, the emperor’s third son, who was serving as both a Bishop and a general at the same time, was furious at the rumors about the returning emperor.

He wrote a short note to the Pope, saying that the emperor sitting on the Eternal Throne was the only real emperor, and everything else was nothing but lies. Of course, he didn’t just send a letter. The Order of Surtr and a considerable number of troops also moved in unison.

The Capital Army that was carrying out local defense and orders from the Church also responded to the Regent’s call. The local branch of the Church protested and there was a backlash from the Templars, but no one from the Capital Army cared—they prioritized the Regent’s order to defend the empire over anything else.

A huge number of soldiers flooded in from all over the empire like rivers, smaller groups merging to form larger ones. Then, they merged with other superior forces, and a knight from the Order of the Capital took the lead, making them a huge stream of water. And when they finally got to where they were headed, they had become a massive sea.

At the center of it all was Barth Baltic.

“The sword is honest.”

Barth Baltic murmured as he looked at the red light soaring from the Magic Tower from beyond the horizon, where there was a plain huge enough to accommodate all the Imperial forces of the Capital.

“It is the rank and discipline that moves the swords and soldiers. Your Majesty, this fact doesn’t change and never will. It is a beautiful system that you and I have created together.”

A total of three hundred thousand Imperial troops were gathering at the Albron Palains.