Chapter 193
The south gate of Kaladi, which had turned into a snowfield.
The party lingering there didn't know what to do.
The scene was in chaos due to the battle between Callius, who was suddenly about to be arrested, and Karina.
Their fight had surpassed a certain level, making it virtually incomprehensible to Emily.
Like superhumans.
It was like watching a fight between those who had taken a step into the divine realm.
And ultimately.
"Haa."
A cold where pure white breath rose.
A freezing wind brushed the tip of their noses, as if the North had been transplanted here.
The south of Kaladi had become a snowfield.
"Will it be okay?"
"It will be fine. The Count becoming a rebel won't happen. He's one of the Four Great Noble Families that made Carpe what it is."
Flora calmly retorted to Emily's murmur.
The noble who made Carpe what it is today.
A hegemon who could well be called the King of the North.
Was that not Callius himself?
So it's fine.
Not just any noble, but a noble who inherited a legitimate bloodline with traces of the gods remaining.
As the master of Jervan, he might receive some punishment, but his life wouldn't be in danger.
"You don't need to worry too much."
The Saint Eilee approached Emily's side and gently reassured her.
"In this era, power is ability, so Carpe will absolutely not punish him. It's not like there are no precedents of kings punishing core central forces out of jealousy, but I heard the Queen of Carpe was bestowed swordsmanship by him."
How could they treat a core power of the nation, who is no different from her master, carelessly?
The scale getting a bit out of hand is unavoidable, but trying to arrest him outright was impolite of them first.
"Is that so?"
"Your father went to show them. To show them his power, his vitality, and to awaken them to what is truly important, he went to the royal castle."
In war, even criminals are employed.
At a time when the fate of the nation is at stake.
He must have taken up his sword to personally show that a single strong person can overturn the aspect of war.
Because the public's evaluation of him known in Carpe wasn't very good.
'Did he calculate this too?'
There were too many coincidences to consider it an act driven by emotion.
First, Callius's movements were unhindered; second, there were no dead in this fight.
'No, or did he scheme with the Queen from the start?'
It's an overly radical method, but.
Sometimes, being radical rather serves as medicine.
Don't they call it shock therapy?
Making them drastically revise their evaluation of him this time would be beneficial for both Carpe and Callius.
"Junis. Come to think of it, you seemed to know about Hwama. Did you have a connection?"
"No, I don't. Hwama is a sword, and I am a shield, so how could there be?"
Looking at Karina, who was still trapped in the tightly frozen iceberg, Junis had eyes containing complex emotions.
Because it was unlike his usual self, Eilee was puzzled.
"You probably know too. If you saw the Book of Prophecy."
Book of Prophecy.
Eilee's peaceful eyes calmly sank.
"You saw her fate."
"Yes. The challenger's privilege."
Book of Prophecy.
The privilege to read the Book of Fate possessed by the continent's key figures.
The challengers glimpsed their fate before descending to this land.
"I was drawn to her fate. It was a coincidence, but I was quite deeply moved."
Junis put his hand on the frozen wall and let out a heavy sigh.
The sigh turned into breath, spreading softly as it hit the transparent ice wall.
It happened more than ten years ago.
Now it is as vague as a dream.
But he remembers the fate of the beings he saw more clearly than anything.
"But in the fate of her that I saw, there was no Callius."
He saw the Book of Fate.
But in that Book of Fate.
Callius was not there.
"What do you think of him?"
Like an awl suddenly poking out of a pocket.
Callius was that kind of guy.
"The him I knew, and the him now, are different."
Just as Junis held affection for Karina, Eilee also held affection for Callius.
Because Eilee had taken his deeply sorrowful fate to heart.
But the current him is different.
So different that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to see him as a completely different person.
'Emily.'
Eilee looked at Emily and felt an indescribable whirlpool of emotions.
Callius's change.
The daughter born in between, Emily.
Fate had already been completely overturned long ago.
She couldn't make a judgment.
So for now, just.
"...Sword and Spear."
"Are you saying they are enemies? Well, I guess so. The Empire and Carpe are enemies."
No matter what gets in between, that doesn't change.
Junis shook his head and turned his steps toward the royal castle.
"You..."
"I am not his enemy. Unlike you."
Junis's footsteps, as he advanced with full mockery, fell softly in the snowfield.
* * *
Same time.
Kwaaang-!
"What on earth is going on?"
Noisy battlefield.
A man with white hair appeared among the kingdom's army fighting against the Ashen Legion.
Grand Duke Chloe appeared and immediately drew his sword to aid the kingdom's army.
"T-They are the knights of Count Jervan!"
"Jervan!!"
His knights!
But these knights did not look like the Northern Knights.
The style of the armor they wore, the crests, etc., were completely different from what he remembered.
'I don't know what's what anymore.'
Even with two Masters present, their momentum didn't easily subside.
"Please dodge."
Swish, thud!
Xenos dodged the arrow flying at his feet and bisected an ashen knight.
Xenos's dark blade, moving with cat-like steps, instantly severed the necks of several knights, but.
"Ha!"
They soon moved again.
That wasn't all.
Chaeng-!
There were skilled ones among them, and there were several who handled swords that would make even Xenos recoil in shock.
Chaeng-!
Chloe, who had his back against Xenos and received a knight's sword, asked.
"Name?"
[Agatho]
A person who uses a mysterious swordsmanship.
Clearly swinging down, but it gives a sensory confusion as if simultaneously swinging up.
Bizarre swordsmanship.
Not only that.
"Troll knights?"
They weren't giants, but guys who seemed to have made trolls into knights were sending soldiers flying with clubs.
With four of those giant guys, even if knights rushed them in groups, they couldn't easily be broken.
Moreover, even if they barely managed to knock them down.
They raised their heads and stood up again by a bizarre energy, didn't they?
"A, a demon! A demon has appeared!"
The more they fought, the more the kingdom's army fell into chaos. The despair of fighting an opponent who doesn't die showed directly on their faces.
It wasn't just the soldiers.
The Masters facing them were also having a hard time.
"You're seasoned."
Carpe's Master Inquisitor Gerald.
A veteran who had experienced all sorts of battles.
The one blocking his sword was a swordsman with a slimmer armor physique than the other knights.
There was definitely a difference in strength.
The superior one was Gerald.
But absurdly, Gerald was being pushed back in experience.
Power, speed, everything was in his favor, but as if predicting it, all his sword paths were broken, blocked, or parried.
A novel experience for Gerald.
He was having a fresh experience he had never tasted at this age.
"Truly unbelievable."
Of course, Gerald wasn't the only one feeling such emotions.
Pitch-black night.
The Black Knight Leviden was also feeling such emotions.
No, Gerald was better off.
Because Leviden was being beaten by a knight wielding a spear and shield.
'I'm going crazy.'
Bizarre spearmanship.
A technique that doesn't care for its own body.
An inefficient and reckless attack-oriented style of giving bone to take flesh.
But for a guy who recovers even if his arms or legs are cut off, it couldn't be a more efficient attack than anything else.
Thanks to that, Leviden's body was full of scratches everywhere.
"B-block! Stick to him! Stab!!"
The other parts of the battlefield weren't much different.
"Did a single person really accomplish this..."
The kingdom's army was experiencing the battlefield, but they weren't the only ones watching.
The nobles who sided with the Princess.
And the Principality's delegation were all watching the current situation.
"...Is this the power of that scoundrel?"
The royal castle had turned into a pandemonium by a single person.
Even now, as the soldiers gradually ran out of strength and collapsed, the ashen legion kept getting back up like roly-polies even when knocked down.
It looked like it was only a matter of time before the castle was breached.
How he did it, what kind of magic he cast, it was enough to make their heads explode and go crazy. Whether they had unnecessarily poked a hornet's nest, how the scoundrel Callius had obtained such power, their minds were in a tangled mess.
"Surely he didn't join hands with a demon......."
When they were fearing, keeping in mind the possibility of corruption as well.
Kuuung-!!
A massive vibration was felt by them too.
"Wh-where the Queen is..."
A large vibration echoed within the castle.
* * *
The Queen's hand, still holding the sword, was only slightly trembling. Was she afraid of Callius's sword swinging in front of her? No.
It was rather the opposite.
Clara was feeling ecstasy.
She too, Stella's swordsmanship.
Because she had learned the Silver Flower Wave Sword.
Because of that, she had grasped faster than anyone how much Callius's swordsmanship had progressed.
Wave-Flower Path.
A technique that was like the root of the Silver Flower Wave Sword.
Having witnessed its true form, Clara felt like shouting at the top of her lungs, forgetting her dignity.
Compared to the original Wave-Flower Path, the Wave-Flower Path she had performed was at the level of children playing house.
She realized that, and didn't fail to notice that just watching it was helping her.
Every sword path mixing with Viktor seemed to show a consideration as if trying to teach her.
From Viktor's standpoint, there was no consideration at all, but at least Clara felt so.
That alone was enough reason to squarely face their battle.
"As expected of Carpe's Guardian Sword."
Taht.
Callius and Viktor, who had clashed swords dozens of times in the time it took to take a single breath, soon stepped back a couple of paces to catch their breath.
Guardian Sword Viktor.
True to his epithet, Viktor's sword was highly defensive.
East, West, South, North, the four directions. Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, the eight directions combined. A sword solely for defense that defends all directions.
Viktor was a sword solely for protection.
A man who wielded a shield-like sword.
"You are also excellent."
Viktor spoke as if he too acknowledged Callius.
"Your Majesty, I don't think what you are worried about will probably happen."
Crossing swords, he could tell.
A knight's sword is imbued with their disposition.
Callius's sword is solid and sturdy.
Yet the changes are also free, and while it seems heavy, it is infinitely light.
He is not.
A man wielding such a sword could not have merely ridiculed a woman.
The Princess of the Principality must have gotten something wrong or is throwing a tantrum.
Viktor thought.
"...I see."
Whatever it was, it was her responsibility.
The first to try to arrest him was Carpe, and the one who authorized it was herself, the Queen.
A thing started for him.
Thinking of finding another method later is nothing but hindsight.
Callius could have turned his blade.
But despite that, Callius stepped up like this.
The grace she and Carpe had received, they would have to repay with something.
"Count."
As soon as Viktor's words ended, Clara took a step forward.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
But Callius didn't put down his sword even as he answered.
It was a disrespectful attitude, but the Queen didn't show it and gripped her sword as well.
"How was Carpe?"
Callius momentarily thought he had misspoken about the Empire or the Principality.
But that wasn't it.
Clara was clearly asking about Carpe. It seemed she had already noticed that Callius was trying to gauge Carpe's strength.
Tadadadak.
"Y-You insolent bastard...!"
"Protect the Queen! What are you all doing!!"
"What is the Royal Guard doing!"
The nobles of Carpe, who arrived late, making a noisy fuss.
The Queen glared at them with cold eyes.
Callius answered, glancing at the sight of the ashen knights still fighting.
"It's pathetic."
"Can you win the war against the Empire?"
"It will perish."
Buzz buzz.
All sorts of criticisms flew at him, saying that such words naturally came from a rebel's mouth.
But the Queen paid no mind and continued to the next question.
"Then what if we take the Principality as an ally?"
Principality.
Nation of the Warhammer.
He didn't know why the Principality suddenly popped up, but Callius answered.
"It will perish."
Even if the Warhammer forms an alliance.
They wouldn't be able to win an all-out war against the Empire.
The Empire is that strong.
"Count, what if you are there?"
To this, Callius rather asked back.
"Can you trust me?"
Callius looked at her proudly.
Many things caught the Queen's gaze.
The sight of the royal castle that Callius had broken into was caught.
She saw the appearance of the nobles pointing fingers at him and screaming.
She caught the Princess and the delegation watching this way with interested eyes from one corner. Lastly, the palace soldiers fighting desperately against the black army outside.
A rebel's actions, no matter who saw it.
Looking at the ruffian still holding a sword in front of the Queen, the Queen opened her mouth.
"I trust you."
Callius's head was lifted.
Into his sight, the Queen's gaze containing trust entered.
"The Principality will give you more!!"
The Princess's shout was heard.
But Callius didn't even look that way and looked at the Queen.
As an answer to the trust directed at him.
"Carpe will be victorious."
Promising victory, he raised his sword.
At the end of that sword, the Principality was at stake.
"For the victory of the sword, a warhammer is unnecessary."