“Would you like to leave?”
Those were the words he had asked Erna when she was discouraged. As much as Erna was disappointed, he too felt a deep sense of loss. Even without them, Hessenguard would find another archduke and the people would forget them easily. That was what he believed.
Kalion took off Nandes’ armor and threw it away, revealing a blood-soaked uniform of the knighthood of Hessenguard. The other knights copied Kalion’s actions. The faces of exhausted and wounded knights of Hessenguard finally appeared.
“Support Iltissen!”
At Kalion’s words, his fellow knights rushed towards the Kelon’ knights with roars of rage. As he advanced with them, Kalion recalled the figure of the woman who’d held the same doubts as him.
You should have seen this, Erna. Our ten years were not in vain.
* * *
The battle ended quickly. The knights of Kelon could not overcome the Hessenguard’s knights, whose morale seemed to tear the sky, and the civilian army, who fought with all their might. Watching the surviving knights of Kelon scrambling to disappear over the hill, Kalion turned to Iltissen.
“My son!”
“Mother!”
A middle-aged woman ran toward a blood-soaked knight and hugged him tightly. Kalion looked at the knight curiously. It was hard to identify him with all the blood, but his mother was able to recognize her son even though they must have been apart for a long time.
Amidst their reunion, a young woman approached Kalion and introduced herself.
“Nice to meet you, my name is Milina, the mayor of Iltissen.”
“Mayor?” asked Kalion.
“The mayor died in the first battle. So, as the deputy mayor, I was temporarily serving as mayor.”
“I see,” Kalion nodded. “You did a great job.”
Milina guided Kalion into Iltissen. Inside, Kalion saw piles of rocks all over the city. Milina, noticing his curious stare, felt rather embarrassed and explained, “We had prepared rocks to throw at them in case the gates collapsed.”
“With a rock like that?”
“I thought it was better than doing nothing…” Milina trailed off. She assumed Kalion was thinking of their attempts of defense futile and stupid. But Kalion was, in fact, full of admiration.
When they reached the city hall, it was bustling with doctors and patients. A knight recognized Kalion and struggled to get up.
“Hessengard Knight, Alex Hound! Greetings to Grand Duke Kalion…!”
“It’s all right, just lie down. We can’t lose one more knight because your wounds open up,” Kalion replied playfully.
The stiff faces of the knights and residents relaxed. After greeting, Kalion followed Milina to the mayor’s office. She repeatedly checked to see if the door was locked. Kalion knew she had something she wanted to hide from others.
Millina only spoke after guiding Kalion into a room inside her office, far from the door.
“To be honest,” she began, “I didn’t expect you to come.”
“Of course. We lost contact in the Wynfield Valley,” Kalion replied.
“Yes, but… It was because I thought that I would not be able to receive help from the grand dukes because of a message from the capital yesterday.”
Kalion furrowed his eyebrows. “A call from the capital?”
If it had come by magic, there was a high probability that Erna’s order was delivered.
“Yes,” nodded Milina. “From Grand Duchess Erna herself.”
“Erna?”
“She said all citizens of the capital will be evacuated and she told me not to worry about the army of Aether and Haband.”
Having said that, Milina took out a small box of hers from the drawer of her bookshelf, placed it on the table, and drew a magic expression in the air.
“You are a wizard.”
“Yes, thanks to this, I was able to assume the post of deputy mayor at this age.”
Soon, a video appeared in the air. As the blur became clear, Erna’s face appeared. Kalion hurriedly approached the video. He had not seen this face for a long time.
“Why did you think you wouldn’t be able to get help because of Erna’s message?” he asked.
“That is…” Milina pointed to the wall in the corner of the video. There were red magic letters written on it. “I am from the Wizard’s Tower and majored in ancient writing. My skills as a wizard weren’t that great, so I left the tower and returned to my hometown. Anyway, I know what power these letters have.”
“What do those letters mean?”
Milina hesitated.
“A big explosion.”
Kalion froze. Aether and Haband’s armies confronting against each other in the capital. The evacuation of all citizens. An explosion. Dots were instantly connected.
“And half a day ago,” Milina continued, “Grand Duchess Erna severed all magical contact in Hessenguard. I’m afraid it’s because of what I reported.”
“What did you report?” Kalion asked hurriedly.
“Kelon’s army… Nandes’ army… Uh, until a few hours ago, I really thought it was Nandes’ army. I’ve reported that the armies of both countries have advanced to Iltissen and that I will fight to the end. Duchess Erna told me not to confront them and to make way for the two armies to go straight to the capital, but I couldn’t possibly do that.”
At Milina’s words, Kalion felt dread consume his being. Erna must have thought that all four kingdoms were coming to the capital!
“…You idiot!”
Kalion bolted out of the door. Iltiseen was a day away from the capital. Erna had to be stopped.
* * *
“Marriage?”
“It’s a bit rushed, but it can’t be helped, right?”
Ruben was stunned. Erna had suddenly called to him and said she’d marry him.
“But you know, the members of the Council will be noisy. They will try to instigate the citizens, so the citizens will be forced out of the capital under the pretext of evacuation. And since it seems that Princess Adelaide is coming with the army of Haband,” Erna said to Ruben friendlily, “we need Aether’s soldiers.”
Ruben stared blankly at Erna’s smiling face. Erna whispered, stroking his face, “I think we should be in the Grand Castle. To be exact… I want you to be by my side.”
Although she was smiling, Erna was falling apart inside. Yesterday, she cut off Hessenguard’s communication network to prevent the other kingdoms from communicating with magic.
News from a certain city dwelled in her mind. As reported, they’d seen a mass of bloody armors belonging to Hessenguard. Bodies could not be found and it was presumed that the enemy had disposed of them.
Kalion…
Erna clenched her fist as she stared at Ruben.
Let them all come.
That way, I can kill everyone.
