He ground his teeth and concealed himself in the rugged Pelusia Mountains. Leaving behind words that he would surely return, yet he disappeared under suspicious circumstances from that place. And the second crisis that had befallen the continent was overcome in this manner—by a single existence whom they had driven out.
But none of the monarchs of the Truvenia Continent welcomed that aid. Rather, they spared no effort in slandering Great Emperor Crosen to preserve their own thrones. In the end, it was Great Emperor Crosen himself who was revolted by it.
“Truly rotten to the core. I shall never set foot in this place again.”
Great Emperor Crosen, as soon as the war ended, prepared his ships again without any lingering attachment. It was to return to his new homeland, Arcadia, where no such ugly power struggle existed. But here, something happened that no one had expected…
“The Arcadian relief force came with roughly five hundred ships carrying slightly fewer than one hundred thousand soldiers. Among them, the survivors numbered fewer than half. Yet the fleet returning to Arcadia had already swelled to nearly one thousand two hundred ships. The number of people aboard alone exceeded roughly two hundred thousand.”
“Hah! How did such a thing happen?”
“Could it be said that the people already living in Truvenia were deeply captivated by Great Emperor Crosen’s ideals? In other words, one could also say that the tyranny of each nation’s monarchs and the Berhazel Church was that severe. In other words, those of purpose crossed over in great numbers to the new continent, Arcadia.”
Even though he himself was a high-ranking cleric of the Berhazel Church, Schreckheimer did not hide at all the facts that could be called his church’s shameful secrets.
“Great Emperor Crosen took his new followers and returned to Arcadia once more. Whether or not they had participated in the war had unknowingly become a taboo subject. It was the doing of each nation’s monarchs. To them, the existence known as Great Emperor Crosen had already become a hot potato.”
No matter how much they tried to hush it up, silencing the mouths of all the soldiers who had fought alongside the relief force was impossible from the start. Tales of Great Emperor Crosen’s heroism, who had once again saved the Truvenia Continent, spread throughout the land once more, riding on word of mouth.
Because of that, the idea that this victory had been achieved solely through the fighting spirit of humanity and Arcadia’s support began to spread among the people. For that reason, the authority of the Berhazel Church plummeted to the ground. Arguments openly circulated that a patron deity who could offer no help even when a life-or-death crisis struck the continent was unnecessary.
Moreover, after word spread that the pioneers who had crossed to the Arcadia Continent were excellently establishing a nation and pioneering the new continent, Great Emperor Crosen’s ideals were openly discussed among the people. But the Berhazel Church could no longer interfere with that.
A situation truly different from thirty years ago had occurred.
“Since then, the power of our Berhazel Church has gradually declined. Now people are reluctant to believe in God.”
“Now that I hear it, it sounds plausible.”
Dokgo Seong felt that he was truly taking a liking to this man called Crosen. If Schreckheimer’s words were true, he was a figure who could readily be called a hero. Moreover, was he not a man presumed to be from the Central Plains?
“If the Dark War occurred twenty years ago from now, that man called Crosen must have grown quite old.”
“That is correct. His hair was already pure white even then, so perhaps by now he has grown even older…”
Watching Schreckheimer drift into thought seemingly unconsciously, Dokgo Seong slightly furrowed his brow.
“But you still haven’t told me the reason you brought me here.”
Schreckheimer raised a faint smile across his entire face.
“My tale has not yet ended. The third calamity, which can be called a true crisis for the human realm, occurred after that.”
Schreckheimer began to explain the Covenant Stone theft incident that he had personally experienced. After explaining in detail to Dokgo Seong the situation of that time, when the treasure most precious to humans was snatched away by dragons while he hid his body having lost his strength, Schreckheimer could not overcome his surging emotions and shed streaming tears. Because for him, it had truly been a heart-wrenching moment.
“Our Truvenia Continent is currently in the midst of enduring the third crisis. It is a desperate struggle against dragons allied with the orc race. Orcs and dragons—those two alone could be called existences difficult to handle, but with even the Covenant Stone stolen on top of that, it could truly be called a catastrophe upon catastrophe.”
It happened exactly ten years after the Covenant Stone was stolen. As Red Dragon Velkis had boasted, the Truvenia Continent was once again swept into a crucible of warfare. A war that occurred before the scars from the war against the Dark Legion had even healed. Its starting point first began in the Kingdom of Kanduras, which bordered closest to the Pelusia Mountains.
Through a memory stone, Schreckheimer conveyed the situation of that time directly into Dokgo Seong’s mind. It was from a heart that wished to obtain his assistance by allowing him to directly experience the desperate situation.
It was around dusk. In the faintly rising moonlight, the silhouette of a massive castle was dimly visible. The moonlight shone so brightly on the castle walls that it even mercilessly revealed the rigid faces of the soldiers positioned behind them. Since no one opened their mouths, the surroundings were engulfed in a stifling, heavy silence. Yet the appearance of the castle under the moonlight showed that the current situation was anything but peaceful. All those scenes rose in Dokgo Seong’s mind as if he had been there himself. Even the muttered conversations of the soldiers were conveyed to him.
A battle occurring in the dead of night. All the soldiers busily moved about as if they had forgotten sleep, keeping watch on all sides. Because of the torches erected everywhere, the inside of the castle was lit up as bright as day, and atop the watchtowers of the castle walls, several figures appearing to be the command staff were staring intently into the darkness outside the castle.
“Preparations?”
“All preparations for the defensive siege are complete. All soldiers are waiting in their positions.”
“The archers and artillery?”
“All are holding their positions. The catapults and projectiles are also ready.”
“Hmm!”
The knight in splendid attire let out a low sigh. The report that all preparations were complete did not seem very reassuring. The sight of him wearing heavy armor so tightly that not a drop of water could seep through seemed utterly unsuited to his age. But the old general stood ramrod straight without showing any sign of strain and inspected the defensive situation inside the castle once more. At a glance, he was a striking figure with stark white hair. Beside him stood an old mage in robes, and several others in priestly garb were also noticeable. Among them, the mage cautiously opened his mouth.
“When will the attack begin, I wonder?”
“Who knows? Orcs may have good night vision, but it is rare for them to fight in the dead of night like this…”
The old general narrowed his eyes and gazed at the darkness beyond the castle walls. Because thick darkness had settled, nothing could be distinguished on the other side of the walls. As if trying to calm his uneasy heart, the old general tightly gripped the hilt of the long sword at his waist.
“His name is Iramus von Ludwig.”
The knight’s name was conveyed into Dokgo Seong’s mind by Schreckheimer. He was also the only knight among the knights of the Kingdom of Kanduras who had experience fighting against orc armies. For that reason, while spending the rest of his days in his own fief, he had been called by royal command this time and thus became the commander of the defending forces of Westguard Castle.
The Kingdom of Kanduras was a kingdom with military power considerably formidable compared to its population. This was inevitable especially because it bordered the Pelusia Mountains, which could be called barren wastelands. The Pelusia Mountains were a place where remnants of the orc race hid in great numbers. These orc remnants, with the sole purpose of revenge, had constantly provoked humans, and their primary target was precisely the Kingdom of Kanduras.
Therefore, the people of the Kingdom of Kanduras always had to devote themselves to war preparations and had endured numerous crises until now.
But until now, a castle had never once been captured by orcs. First, because through numerous battles, the soldiers of the Kingdom of Kanduras each possessed skills worthy of being called one-man armies. Moreover, since other kingdoms located behind them did not hesitate at all in providing support to Kanduras, there was no need to worry about logistics at all.
The monarchs of each kingdom knew all too well that when the gums are gone, the teeth are cold. Instead of sacrificing their own soldiers, they chose to provide funds for the Kingdom of Kanduras to wage war, and because of this, Kanduras became a deformed nation that possessed a powerful army numbering up to one hundred fifty thousand despite having a total population of fewer than three hundred thousand.
In other words, it was something like a mercenary state that fought proxy wars and received compensation. But even such a Kanduras was now in a life-or-death crisis. General Iramus recalled the news of defeat that had turned the Kanduras royal palace upside down yesterday.
“How on earth did the two castles fall? And that within two days…”
Milton and Harmel Castles. These two castles were the closest border fortresses to the Pelusia Mountains and could be called the advance bases of the Kingdom of Kanduras. Only carefully selected warriors from the kingdom were stationed there, and they had a record of blocking countless orc provocations until now. It was a castle that the King of Kanduras had guaranteed would never fall no matter what happened, and indeed, it was worthy of that claim.
After the orc race was defeated and hid in the Pelusia Mountains, humans naturally built fortresses in that border region. And there, the capabilities of all kingdoms were fully concentrated. A castle is fundamentally the strongest defensive barrier created by humans. If properly constructed, a castle can easily overcome a troop difference of up to threefold. Therefore, defensive siege warfare was the most frequently employed tactic in battles against orcs, and through the long racial wars, human fortress-building techniques had developed by leaps and bounds.
Milton, Harmel, and Hartmos, which Count Iramus was currently defending—these three castles were born through such a process. The finest fortress architects of the time were mobilized to construct the castles, and court mages from each kingdom cast various protective spells on the walls, making them castles that would not even flinch at ordinary catapults.
Because these were castles built with the full-scale support of all kingdoms, the three castles had been able to block the orcs’ countless provocations without any difficulty until now. Rumors abounded that the vengeful spirits of orcs who had died attacking the castle over fifty years wandered restlessly beneath the walls.
But the legend of that impregnable fortress crumbled in just two days. When the first intelligence arrived that the orcs’ great army was invading under the cover of night, the ministers of the Kingdom of Kanduras were full of confidence.
“Those dim-witted orcs are coming to die again.”
“We shall have a bountiful harvest next year. After all, the orcs’ corpses will enrich the soil.”
Although the number of invading orcs was somewhat large, since this was something that had happened countless times before, the ministers were not worried at all. They believed in the myth of the three castles that had blocked numerous attacks.
But their expectations missed the mark all too futilely. Milton Castle fell in just one day from the start of battle, and before the messenger even arrived in the capital to report the defeat, Harmel Castle fell.
At the unexpected defeat, the Kingdom of Kanduras was thrown into an uproar. But there was no time to investigate how it had happened. First and foremost, stopping the flood of the orcs’ great army pouring in like tidal waves was the urgent priority. The monarch of the Kingdom of Kanduras, Bezelius III, hurriedly summoned Count Iramus.
Because he was the one among Kanduras’s military officers with the most abundant battle experience against the orc race. Therefore, Count Iramus came to command the defending forces of Hartmos Castle in this manner.
“Just what method did they use…”
Because he had supervised the construction process at that time, General Iramus knew the defensive situation of the two castles better than anyone. Therefore, he simply could not understand how the two castles had fallen.
Beside him stood his aide-de-camp, who had long served him, casting a bewildered gaze. Because Count Iramus had always been confident, this appearance was incomprehensible to him. Unable to endure it any longer, he forcibly reassured Count Iramus.
“Please do not worry too much, Count. They are merely uncivilized orcs. As long as we fight using such a sturdy castle as our shield, they will not be able to set foot on a single inch of our Kingdom of Kanduras’s land.”
The old general turned his gaze and glanced at the aide-de-camp. A self-mocking smile suddenly rose on his face. He spat out one word bluntly, as if letting it flow out.
“Milton and Harmel, which have already fallen into their hands, were castles with defenses no less thorough than this place. Yet they could not endure even a full day before falling, so we cannot jump to conclusions.”
The aide-de-camp made a stricken expression.
“We must stop their invasion here no matter what. Otherwise, all the kingdoms, including our Kingdom of Kanduras, will not escape unscathed.”
‘And we must absolutely recover our Covenant Stone.’
Count Iramus never uttered the words that followed out loud. Because if the ordinary soldiers learned of this fact, the repercussions would be enormous. Of course, he knew that humanity’s Covenant Stone had been stolen—from the mouth of the King of Kanduras, who had quietly summoned him before departure. Count Iramus, upon learning the truth, could not help but be thrown into confusion.
“H-how could such a thing…”
“Hush, this fact must never reach the soldiers’ ears. If the truth is revealed, our soldiers’ morale will plummet drastically, just as the orc race’s did fifty years ago. Therefore, you must somehow hide this fact from the soldiers and block the enemy’s advance at all costs.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Recalling the conversation he had with the king before departure, Count Iramus let out a long sigh.
“It won’t be easy.”
During the racial war fifty years ago, he had been a young squire in his late teens. Because he had fought under a famous knight at the time, he knew all too well how skilled a race the orcs were in battle. If their Covenant Stone had not been stolen at that time, it would clearly have been humans who were pushed west of the Pelusia Mountains, so his worry was immense.