Chapter 214
Three months had passed.
Now, three months after the oracle had fallen.
Carpe had lost a portion of the lands in the south and west that Luidren protected.
On the roadside, the corpses of Carpe's soldiers lay scattered, brutally trampled under the enemy's feet. Unfulfilled spirits unable to return to their hometown wandered the battlefield.
But there was nothing Carpe could do.
The Empire was pushing in from the west, and the Duchy's all-out offensive continued in succession from the south.
The damage in both the south and west was devastating.
"This is a grave matter."
The Queen swallowed a groan.
Luidren's eldest son and heir, Luon von Luidren, had fallen in battle, and the head of the Luidren family had also perished with him. Ironically, the one who killed them both was their own flesh and blood, Luteon, who had joined the Duchy's army.
"It is all due to my negligence! If only I had delayed the Golden Lions' deployment even a little! If only I had been deployed to the battlefield even a day earlier, this would not have happened!!"
The one bowing his head before the Queen was one of Carpe's Masters.
Gerald of Judgment.
As he, with his dense white hair and white beard, made a somber expression, the Queen shook her head.
"It could not be helped. Who could have known? That Luteon would lie in ambush with the Duchy's army and murder his own elder brother and father..."
The South had lost its sword.
With the collapse of the Golden Lion Knights of Luidren, who had spent their entire lives guarding the south, the loss of the military stronghold Violen Gorge, and the surrender of a castle, the situation had become drastically difficult.
"Still, we must count it as fortunate that the Luidren bloodline has not been severed."
"Yes. It is fortunate. How fares the west?"
"Count Orbid is holding his own, but with the difference in troop strength being more than tenfold, he cannot find a viable countermeasure. He is slowing their advance through successive defensive battles, but..."
Among the Four Great Noble Families, Orbid was the knightly house that had shed the most blood against the Empire.
Given their history, they were fighting well against the Empire, but with the difference in military scale being nearly tenfold, they had no choice but to repeatedly fight defensive battles to minimize losses and slowly retreat.
"There is nothing else they can do. The west faces not only the Empire, but also a brotherhood called the Holy Army, consisting of those who have answered the call of the gods under that name."
It was an army that had gathered to punish Carpe, which had been branded with the stigma of being a nation of traitors across the continent.
Even the Empire, which had been surrounded by enemies on all sides, could finally unite under the name of the gods this time, and was putting its heart into driving out Carpe, which had been a thorn in its side.
Thanks to that, Carpe was now truly stepping onto the path of destruction.
That was what she thought.
"Your Majesty, do not worry too much. Thanks to him holding firm, there will be no additional reinforcements."
"...Is that rumor true?"
"The probability of it being a false rumor is low."
Crumple.
The Queen, Clara, who had crumpled the petition she was reading, recalled the rumors circulating among the people.
'The Gray Land.'
The land where Callius, the vanished knight of Carpe, resided.
Those who had received the oracles of various gods had formed an army and marched to destroy him, but no one had been able to emerge from the Gray Land.
"But if that rumor is true, then the claim that the Count has conspired with the Corrupted would no longer be a false rumor."
"That is..."
The Gray Land where Callius resides.
There, an army of the Corrupted, which had never appeared before, had taken root.
Pilgrims and Paladins from across the continent had gathered there, formed an army, and infiltrated, but they were all annihilated by the fierce might of the Corrupted.
"An army of a hundred thousand was annihilated. Afterward, an army of three hundred thousand was also completely wiped out."
The Queen, who had lost her petition, could not help but swallow a groan.
This was certainly welcome news for Carpe. Because the Corrupted had appeared in the Gray Land and thrown the continent into chaos.
When all eyes had been focused on Carpe. Their appearance allowed Carpe to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"But whether this is truly something to rejoice over, as a human, I cannot help but feel conflicted."
At this time when the power of the Corrupted had reappeared in the world.
How could she simply rejoice when humanity's greatest enemy was so fierce?
Clara could not bring herself to rejoice.
"We must verify whether it is true or not."
"Of course we must. However, the 'Gray Land' is located to the west of the Empire."
It was a time when even for average knights, leaving the country itself was difficult.
"Dispatching a reliable messenger is already difficult enough... and at a time like this, we cannot afford to divert our core forces outside the country."
Even if they wanted to send strong knights to verify, at a time when every single one was precious, it was difficult to do so.
If they went out and died a pointless death, wouldn't that be a disaster?
"How about sending him?"
"Who do you mean?"
"I mean Sir Brance. If he rides the Iron Armored Dragon he came on, he could serve well as a messenger."
Brance and the Iron Armored Dragon.
When the Holy Army broke through the western border.
The prevailing assessment was that the damage would have been unspeakable if not for the Iron Armored Dragon that Brance had brought.
With his timely appearance, Brance had performed feats that drastically reduced the damage in the west.
Of course, it was the Iron Armored Dragon that had done the work, but at present, the Iron Armored Dragon only obeyed Brance's commands.
"Even the Ashen Knight he commands is remarkable. The one called Pollitan manipulates enemies like puppets with a single thread, so calling him worth a hundred men would be insufficient."
"However, precisely because of that, sending Sir Brance is dangerous. If the Iron Armored Dragon leaves, the enemy might notice and immediately march forward."
"At present, Sir Brance's power is indispensable to Carpe."
It was a conversation that Callius would have found absurd had he heard it, but that was the reality.
Beaty and Pollitan, whom he had left in Brance's care to deliver a warning to Crasion, were still in Brance's hands, and because of that, Brance was playing an active role on Carpe's battlefields.
"Then what about her?"
"Who do you mean? Sir Karina."
Karina the Fire Witch.
The red-haired woman who hid her burn scars knelt before the Queen.
"I am speaking of Emily, the plain knight who is the Count's daughter."
"...However. Sir Emily is still young, and her abilities to carry out the mission have not been verified, have they?"
How could they send such a young child.
To verify the truth, one would have to avoid the eyes of both the Empire and the Duchy while traveling, and only after enduring other harsh journeys could they confirm it.
But how could they assign such a dangerous and arduous task to a girl who was not even of age?
"Though she is a plain knight, she is also a knight of Carpe."
As Karina pushed the matter, the other nobles nodded.
"Come to think of it, she has the horse he left her. There is an Iron Armored Horse clad in black iron armor. They say it can travel not just a thousand li a day, but ten thousand. Furthermore, she is a talent among talents who has never missed the top spot at the Royal Academy."
Her abilities had long spread throughout Carpe. If you mentioned Emily of the Academy, she was famous among the youth.
"But..."
"Talents are bound to emerge in times of chaos. If she is without sin, the gods will watch over her, so how about entrusting her with this?"
"...Very well. Let us ask Sir Brance to send Sir Emily out of the country quickly. A brief movement should not matter."
Thump.
Clara, having stamped the royal seal on the decree, looked at Karina with a strange gaze and proceeded to the next agenda.
* * *
"Ahem. Emily von Zervan. And Brance, receive the royal command."
Thud.
The royal command was delivered before the kneeling Emily and Brance.
"This is an urgent matter, so please depart immediately. The King places great expectations on the two of you."
"Um, I have a question."
"Ask."
"If the fact that Count Zervan is cooperating with the Corrupted is true, will Carpe..."
"The Corrupted are the eternal enemies of humanity..."
To ally with the Corrupted meant that he himself was no different from the Corrupted, so it was right to strike him down.
"Carpe will strip him of his position and consider him an enemy of humanity. If that comes to pass, you will become the master of the North."
"Now that is a bit much!"
"I was merely giving an example. Haha, surely the Count would not do such a thing. However, verification of the matter is important, so I would appreciate it if you could verify and return as soon as possible."
"Yes."
Once called the daughter of a scoundrel her whole life.
She had now become the daughter of a hero.
But soon after, he became a traitor who incurred the wrath of the gods, and now he might have even fallen to the Corrupted.
Emily could not believe whether this situation was truly real.
"Brance, is this right?"
"Ha, haha... well. The master must have his reasons, right? D-don't worry too much, my lady..."
"...Let's prepare. I need to know what's going on."
He never came back, so I wondered what he was doing, and now he's fallen to the Corrupted?
Emily, clutching at her wavering faith, began preparing for her departure.
As she was preparing, incomprehensible people appeared at the Zervan mansion.
"Pilgrims?"
They were those who had recently been baptized and become pilgrims. Among them were pilgrims of a similar age to Emily.
Given that it was a time of chaos, they said they even made the lacking ones into pilgrims and sent them to the battlefield, and it seemed that was true.
"Are you all going too?"
"That is correct."
The pilgrim standing at the front nodded.
Emily pointed at the strongest-looking pilgrim among them and asked.
"Your name?"
"It is Chris."
"You look young, but are you the leader?"
"For the time being, yes."
"You look so frail, that's surprising. You were sent by the Queen, right?"
"Yes, we have come by royal command to assist Sir Emily."
Emily then looked over the pilgrims one by one. Since they were covered in robes, she couldn't see them clearly, but one of them had water-colored hair, and another had long ears.
And seeing there was one with a tail and a short stature, she could guess who they were.
Aside from them, there were about twenty pilgrims. She thought it would be quite a long journey to lead them to the place called the Gray Land.
"...Alright. I understand."
Emily, having finished her preparations, loaded her luggage onto Schniff and mounted it.
"Brance-!"
When she shouted loud enough to shake the mansion.
From somewhere in the back mountain that had become famous as Zervan's mountain, a dragon soared up, spreading its massive wings wide.
"Ooh! Is that the rumored..."
"Dragon Rider, Sir Brance!"
"To think we could meet a hero in person!"
No matter how much rumors grew legs and flesh, a hero.
Emily and the pilgrims, who found it absurd, boarded the dragon's back and departed.
As they rose into the sky in an instant, Carpe came into view at a glance.
Leaving behind the nation of Carpe, which seemed to take the shape of a giant sword, they headed toward where the Gray Land would be.
* * *
The Gray Land.
Its master, Callius, had not moved an inch from this place for the past three months.
Making the holy relic that Demetri had created his own was not difficult.
But to make it completely his own required time.
The gray power he had created was truly a peculiar force.
Gods are bound to create new powers. That is eventually called divine power.
It was a completely new concept of power.
He had not become a god, but Callius was a little different.
It was not that he had created something that didn't exist, but rather that he had renewed something that already existed.
Perhaps that was why his power became fundamental.
The gray energy, swirling like scattered ash dust, was a power that embraced everything.
Perhaps that was why the scabbard was also like that.
"A scabbard that holds anything."
In his hand was the scabbard that Demetri had created by putting everything on the line.
The Gray Scabbard was gripped in his hand.
The Gray Scabbard, Demetri.
Callius could not help but feel a greater sense of familiarity as he looked at Demetri.
Because within Demetri resided his power.
The gray energy. The high-purity power of Remnants was imbued within it.
Over the past three months, he had used [Trait - Efficiency] appropriately to constantly infuse his energy.
Thanks to that, the scabbard fully embraced the Remnants and became a holy relic more suited to him.
"I was worried it would become an inferior version of a subspace, but to this extent..."
The concept of embracing everything was like that.
So he had not trusted the power of the holy relic made into a scabbard.
He had not expected much.
At best, it would be the power to hold various weapons. He thought it would become an inferior version of a subspace.
Still, since it was the first holy relic created for him, he had imbued it with power.
Because he thought this would be the cornerstone that would become his new beginning.
But when Callius briefly tested the scabbard's power, he was stunned.
The power of the scabbard was so great that even he, who had restrained his emotional expressions since becoming Callius, was surprised.
"I never imagined it would not only hold anything, but also mix and combine anything."
Holding the scabbard, he used Shunpo.
In an instant, the scenery swirled, and he was already in the middle of a battlefield.
At his sudden appearance, ten thousand soldiers startled and grabbed their spears.
"W-Who is it!!"
"T-That head! Those eyes! G-Gray!"
"It's the Gray Demon King!"
But Callius paid them no mind and grasped the scabbard.
Then an anomaly occurred.
Whoosh-!
Along with a fierce gale, several of the many corpses lying on the ground turned into gray light and were sucked into the scabbard.
And then, as if it had always been there, a new sword appeared in the scabbard.
'Mix and combine, huh. It is my foundation, after all.'
Srrr.
Holding the sword with its hilt scattering like falling ash dust, Callius immediately drew and slashed.
A sword that should have only been at the level of a fine blade at best.
But when those gathered and seeped into the holy relic of the scabbard, it was different. As if his energy had originally mixed and combined different things.
The scabbard was also like that.
And on that day.
The army of ten thousand all turned to ash and vanished in a single strike of his.