Chapter 39: A Wild Horse Wearing the Crown

“It’s a shame. After going through such harsh real combat, if we had done special training at this timing, they would’ve quickly become strong soldiers...”

At my words, Kalserik quickly glanced left and right before whispering.

“Please, don’t ever say that in front of the soldiers. Their morale is already in the gutter... I mean, really, did you bear a grudge against the warriors? Humanly speaking, you should’ve given them at least two nights of rest. You send them out the very next day after returning, and now what? Special training?!”

“Is that my fault?”

“If not the Commander’s fault, then whose fault would it be?”

“It’s Haarun’s fault.”

Haarun, the Storm King. He was a truly rotten bastard.

Honestly, would I have wanted to march out again today, right after returning yesterday?

But with him so brazenly revealing his ambitions, there was no way I could just sit idle.

“No, but still, there’s no need to rush this much, is there? Even if he is the Storm King, it’s not like he can take Kinalo in one stroke...”

“My gut doesn’t feel right.”

“Your gut?”

“Yeah. My gut.”

Of course, I knew it too.

That Kinalo, known as the City of Mages, was by no means an easy city.

Thanks to Seah’s strategy, Jafar, the Sea King, was also holding Haarun’s forces in check.

Perhaps, there really was no urgent reason to move this fast.

‘And yet... something just feels ominous.’

Why are extraordinary people extraordinary?

It’s because they do things that leap far beyond normal expectations.

And Haarun, the Storm King, was extraordinary in every sense.

Ten years ago, Haarun had inherited the city of Egira, with its population of 600,000, from his father. Among the five cities that made up the Ailun Region, it was the smallest.

And in just four years, he wrote a legend by conquering all four remaining cities of Ailun. Even Ilunael, the greatest city of Norberju with a population of 2.3 million, could not withstand him and raised the white flag. He had been only thirty-three at the time.

Then, when he turned thirty-five, he clashed with Jafar, the Sea King, who had established himself south of Naelund Lake. Haarun fought a duel against Jafar, who at that time was one of the Four Kings, for a full half a day. The match ended in a draw, and so the Four Kings became the Five Kings.

That was the kind of man he was.

An extraordinary man whose moves could never be taken lightly.

“Reclaiming Kashu City comes first. Rest comes after.”

“...Well, true, a commander’s intuition is important.”

Kalserik, in any case, gave his consent.

Ever since our mission to subjugate the Demonic Beasts, he had shown signs of trusting my judgment more.

“Anyway, sorry about this. You barely reunited with your brothers, and I dragged you right out again.”

“I’m used to it. We’ve been scattered all over the continent making a living as mercenaries anyway. There are plenty of times we can’t even see each other’s faces for an entire year.”

While we had been out on the subjugation mission, all the members of the Kalserik Brotherhood had gathered in Kushan.

They must not have had enough time to catch up with their families after so long, yet Kalserik showed no sign of complaint.

‘Truly, their way of life is remarkable.’

For an entire knight order of a fallen kingdom to move together and live by doing mercenary work…

This was already their second generation doing so.

Indeed, it seemed there wasn’t a single person in this Roberland without a story to tell.

“Kalserik.”

“Yes?”

“You won’t regret it. Choosing to follow me.”

“Of course not. I’ve got good instincts too. I almost always win when I gamble.”

I had said it with all seriousness, but Kalserik brushed it off casually. Then, as he caught sight of the scenery appearing in the distance, he asked me:

“Ah! I see the Snake Sea over there. What will you do? Do we cross now? Or tomorrow?”

Though we had set out in the morning, the Broken Moon was already rising full and bright.

Under that gentle moonlight, the Snake Sea truly came into view.

‘So we’ve covered about a third of the way.’

It was the first time I had seen the Snake Sea again since I killed Blood Count Delkash.

I had sworn never to even piss in this direction again...

And yet, here I was, passing by once more after taking Kushan City and now moving against Kashu. Truly, one could never know where life would lead.

“We cross. Even if we sleep late, it’s better to rest comfortably.”

The Snake Sea lay drowned in darkness.

Though it was called a sea, it was currently the ebb tide, so not a drop of water could be seen.

Instead, an inky-black mudflat that seemed to swallow even the moonlight stretched out to the left and right like a river of black water.

And across the mudflat, a path glowing blue stretched all the way to the opposite side.

That blue-lit road, plunging into the deep darkness, felt as if it would lead us into some legend of dragons and mages.

Hmm.... For some reason, it reminded me of the Age of Magic.

Back then, every single day had truly felt like a legend.

Anyway,

“We arrived at just the right time.”

If we crossed along that road, beyond it lay the Busk Cape, where Kashu City stood.

*         *         *

The vast northern sea of the continent curved around the southern tip of Busk Cape and stretched long and narrow to the east of Kushan City.

This narrow, elongated stretch of sea was called the “Snake Sea.”

At high tide, the sea filled up to the level of a great river, but at low tide, all that water receded, exposing a wide, open mudflat.

Because of that, crossing this place by ordinary means was impossible.

With the mud sucking you in up to your waist, there was no way to pass through in heavy armor while hauling wagons and horses.

Fortunately, there existed an ancient causeway that allowed passage across the Snake Sea.

Twenty meters wide, seven hundred meters long.

They had laid gravel over the mudflat and packed it down firmly, then paved it with Blue Shadow Stones, which glowed blue at night, to create the road.

Most of the time, the stones were buried under silt and mud swept in by the sea, making them hard to see. But when night fell, the Blue Shadow Stones dyed the mudflat itself in blue light, revealing their presence.

Thanks to that, even in the dark of night, one could cross safely by following the firm road without sinking into the mudflat.

“Ha… so I finally get to see this place. The Road of Blue Light at Night. It’s counted among the Eight Sights of Roberland.”

“The Eight Sights of Roberland? What’s that?”

Kalserik looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“You really don’t know? The eight magnificent views of Roberland that you must see before you die!”

“…First time I’m hearing of it.”

“Phew… Commander, you really should live a little more like a commander. Don’t just fuss over your younger brothers all the time. Travel to other cities once in a while. No wonder you don’t know, stuck in backwater Kushan all the time.”

He wasn’t wrong.

When I was young, I had lived only in the royal castle of Banroa, and afterward, only in Kushan City. The only other city I had ever been to was Kashu City—that first and last time when I went there to kill Blood Count Delkash.

“For lovers who know romance or adventurers, this is one of those places everyone wants to see at least once. My dream was to see all Eight Sights of Roberland before I die… but I never imagined I’d come here leading an army to crush a city.”

“Is that so? But honestly, it’s not such a romantic land.”

From my perspective, this land was anything but romantic—it was a wretched place.

“Really?”

“Yeah. This is the land of Berserkers.”

“Ah, Berserkers. I’ve heard of them. Are they difficult opponents?”

“They’re infuriating bastards. They don’t feel pain, and they don’t know fear. Cut off their arms and legs, and they’ll still crawl and bite at your heels.”

“Oh…”

Just then, far across the Snake Sea, atop a hill, a fortress lit with fire came into view.

That was the fortress village of Havelnor, where we would spend the night.

Busk Cape.

It was vast enough to cover nearly sixty percent of the Banroa Kingdom’s territory, yet the only city that existed here was Kashu City.

Roberland’s cities were scattered sparsely to begin with, but even taking that into account, this place was extreme. A land the size of Busk Cape could have easily fit two cities, maybe more.

Instead, fortress villages like that one took the place of cities.

Fortresses and villages of the Berserkers, ranging from populations of two thousand at the smallest to ten thousand at the largest.

A land of a warrior people, who had never yielded to Kashu City with its population of 850,000, maintaining their independent way of life while endlessly fighting each other to the death.

Tonight, we would be staying in one of those places—Havelnor.

And the day after tomorrow, by sunset, we would see Kashu City.

*         *         *

“Ransen! Great warrior! Welcome!”

The chief of Havelnor was an old man with hair completely turned white. Yet his body bulged with muscles that looked ready to burst.

“We’ve prepared plenty of boiled lamb and liquor, so enjoy yourselves at ease!”

“No liquor, please. Just fruit juice. We’ll be marching all day tomorrow too.”

“Ah~ that’s true. Kids! Switch it to fruit juice!”

“Yes!!”

At the chief’s command, the brawny Berserkers bellowed in unison. The beer barrels piled high on the great table were swiftly replaced with barrels of fruit juice.

Kalserik wore a peculiar expression.

“I… thought Berserkers would be rough and violent, but they’re not really like that?”

“I have a connection with these Berserkers.”

In truth, the higher the realm a Berserker reached, the more freely they could control their ferocity and killing intent. So it wasn’t strange that they looked calmer than expected.

But even so, the favor they showed me was something special.

‘It’s been a while. Here too.’

In fact, this was the place Uncle Burson had taken me when we were fleeing, after I killed Blood Count Delkash.

Even then, the Berserkers of Havelnor had treated me with utmost honor, more than a friend.

At the time, Delkash was a vampire who had viciously tormented these Berserkers for refusing to submit to him. And I had been the Swordmaster who killed that Delkash.

Of course, I paid fairly for today’s food and lodging, but the Berserkers treated me with far more generosity than that.

Food overflowing in abundance. A comfortable environment.

Thanks to that, my soldiers were able to ease their deep fatigue and recover some of their vigor.

As we ate and drank heartily, the chief asked:

“By the way, you’re going to kill Ceseres?”

Ceseres was the governor of Kashu, appointed by Count Kxias.

Since we were marching on Kashu City, it wasn’t wrong to say we were going to kill Ceseres.

“That’s right.”

“Keulkkeul. I hear there are still cowardly traitors who cling to those bastards. Well, they’ll all be joining their ancestors soon. Serves them right.”

They believed that warriors who died in battle became heroic spirits and guarded this land alongside their ancestors.

“Then isn’t joining their ancestors a good thing?”

“No way. Do you think the ancestors would ever tolerate such weaklings? If I’m not mistaken, they’ll be beaten to a pulp every day and trained into shape! Hm…? Then maybe that’s a good thing? Ah, come to think of it, it is good! They’ll get stronger! Don’t you think so?”

…Why are you asking me that?

Berserkers were people whose flow of thought was impossible to grasp.

Even though they lived right next door, their way of thinking was incomprehensible.

“Do you know anything about Kashu City?”

When I subtly shifted the topic, the chief shook his head.

“It was just quiet. But that bastard Ceseres is a very unpleasant one, so be careful.”

Fwoosh!

The blaze of the fire pit cast flickering shadows across his face.

That single phrase, “Be careful,” lingered in my mind with a weight like prophecy.

‘A very unpleasant one….’

When Berserkers described someone as “unpleasant,” it usually meant “clever with their head.”

Indeed.

Ceseres was a smart one.

No doubt he had prepared something.

Something unimaginable.

But,

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever he’s prepared, the stronger side wins.”

“Indeed! You are a warrior!”

Glancing at the chief, whose eyes gleamed, I emptied the bowl before me.

The well-roasted lamb left me with a pleasant feeling of fullness.

And the next day.

“Kill well! Great warrior Ransen! You are welcome here anytime!”

“Yeah. You always win, too. Until next time.”

Leaving Havelnor behind, we marched on with renewed vigor, and two days later at sunset, after crossing a great hill, we finally caught sight of Kashu City.

Because all the small fortresses and outposts set up in the surrounding villages were abandoned, we reached the palisaded outer wall without facing a single battle.

But then…

“Commander, I think we’re screwed.”

Just as Kalserik said.

The moment we saw that,

Everyone froze, their faces blank with despair.

“Damn… that’s… the Wild Horse Wearing the Crown… Isn’t that the Storm King’s banner?”

Yes.

It was the Storm King’s banner.

“All that remains is the sound of hooves….”

Some soldiers, stricken with fear, recited the most famous verse of the Storm King’s heroic ballad.

A city that defied the Storm King fell in an instant, leaving behind nothing but the thunder of hooves… or something like that.

At any rate, the point was—

if the Storm King’s banner was there,

‘Kashu City has already fallen to the Storm King?’

Impossible.

It was unthinkable.

What about Kinalo!?

*         *         *

Clop, clop, clatter.

Kinalo City, drenched in blood.

The Storm King’s cavalry roamed through the city, spearing the remnants to death.

Terrified citizens locked themselves away in their homes.

Haarun, the Storm King, rode his horse straight to the top of the Lord’s Keep and beheaded Kalidora, the mage who had ruled the city.

The great spells Kalidora boasted of, said to surpass even the reach of a Swordmaster, were nothing more than the empty hand tricks of a street swindler before Haarun.

“Fools. Did they really think I left them alone because I was afraid of magic?”

At Haarun’s words, Zahir—his one eye still pitch black—let out a dry chuckle.

“What truly plagued us was the vampires’ information network. Every time we tried to raise an army, they sniffed it out like ghosts and built a united front against us…”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Clop—

Haarun spurred his horse forward and gazed down at Kinalo City sprawling beneath him.

“But with that vampire as my subordinate now, things are much easier.”

“Not only is his intelligence network outstanding, but his strategic insight is exceptional as well.”

“That Ceseres fellow. When he came seeking me, asking only to hoist my banner, I was honestly surprised.”

A playful smile tugged at Haarun’s lips.

Though he would turn forty next year, his face still carried the innocence of a boy.

“Ransen. Do you think he’s seen it by now? I’m curious about his expression.”

“He must have. His blood will have run cold.”

“Right? Then at this time, I should grant him one more chance.”

Haarun summoned the aide standing behind him.

“Send a letter to Ransen. By now, he should be camped before Kashu City.”

“What should the contents be?”

“An ultimatum.”

Whoooosh—

A fierce wind swept over the top of the Lord’s Keep.

On the wind carried the thick stench of blood from the dead mages.

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