Chapter 319

Chapter 319

Translator: yun

In the meantime, Hernan, who had just wiped out the enemy’s rearguard, looked down at his blood-stained sword.

Actually, though the difference between templars and non-templars was already clear, templars who were lagging behind couldn’t begin to compare to templars like him.

That was also the reason why the Templars of Diana were able to protect the Empire using only 300 men. But what about the templars who sat at the very top of the pyramid?

Hernan had barely moved. He glanced at the blood listlessly before tilting the tip of the blade.

It was then.

Hoot– Hoot–

Once again, the horn sounded. Hernan’s head shot up at the sound that sounded more harsh. But nowhere did he see any troops.

‘Are there enemies?’

If not, why did they sound the horn? While Hernan hesitated for a moment, a unit appeared over a boulder.

‘A unit? With those numbers?’

Hernan frowned since they had very few men for a unit.

But once he spotted them, he couldn’t possibly leave them alone. The moment he kicked off the ground, he soon found himself face-to-face with the man leading the unit.

“A-Argh!”

Hernan’s sword slithered through the air as though it was dancing. Everything happened in an instant.

Thump. As he counted the number of people he slayed, Hernan’s gaze gravitated towards one person.

‘Is that one the commander?’

Based on the person’s black robe, he assumed they were the commander. Hernan’s blade headed for the robe without hesitation.

The silver wind rushed towards the stranger’s heart in a blink of an eye.

“Long time no see.”

The gusts generated by the blade fluttered the robe. But that was not what he planned to do.

“Hello, Duke of Devolo.”

The stranger’s red lips stood out. Hernan stared at his hand, for a moment, confused.

‘Something’s wrong.’

He had imbued divinity into that strike. But his hands were not listening to him. As if someone else was controlling them.

‘How is this possible...’

Castor.

Or a Templar of the Lord.

Hernan, who quickly stepped back, calmly stared at the robe-donning stranger. The loose hood managed to cover the stranger’s entire face other than their lips. His shorter-than-average opponent seemed to have no intentions of retaliating. But for some reason, he could not see any weakness to exploit. Why?

“You joined the war ‘again’? You were such an annoyance in the previous wars. It was so hard to deal with you.”

“... Again?”

“Ah. You don’t understand, do you? Well. Has anyone understood me before? I should really let go of these expectations at this point.”

From her voice, she was a female. But why did it sound so familiar? No.

It was different.

There was no way he wouldn’t notice.

However, they sounded so similar, he could have thought they were the same if he was any less careful.

This was not the time to be distracted.

Hernan winced. But at the same time, he vanished.

“You always look like that whenever you use your powers. You would tell me you loved me while grabbing onto Castor’s hand with that face.”

Hernan’s hand betrayed its owner once again.

Boom–!

With more force this time, he bounced off of her. However, his blows did not miss his targets. Because the robe fell off her.

“Everything is fleeting.”

He landed on his knee as the light crackling sounds of footsteps approaching him alerted him.

“Oh dear. What’s wrong?”

His eyes were filling with tears.

“Were you surprised?”

Right in front of his eyes were golden eyes that seemed to sparkle. A colour he would never think to see again after Castor.

“I am a Templar of the Lord, have you not heard about me?”

A completely different expression stretched across an almost identical face.

“At least she seems powerless against attacks without divinity. We’ll have to alternate our attacks from now on. We strike first with divinity then subsequently without.”

“Hm, you’re smarter than Ray, aren’t you?”

Ray frowned. He ignored that jab. Even if he could, how could he compare to that white beast?

“Our role would be to efficiently hold that woman at bay.”

And that was how their first day here came to an end. And marked the beginning of a fierce war,

***

“Your Majesty?”

I raised my head, which had been nose-deep in documents.

“Is anything wrong?”

“Did I look weird just now?”

Rebecca didn’t reply but she seemed to agree.

“I thought someone had called for me.”

I tapped my finger on my chin.

“But the voice did sound muffled.”

“Are you not tired?”

I didn’t think so. I waved her off without much effort.

“Is there anyone who’s not?”

If anyone was sleeping comfortably at the height of this war, they should be beat up. The current situation of the administration was not good.

“It should be called Noblesse Oblige.”

Come to think of it, that word had originated from the Roman Era in my past life but it seemed to hold true in this world, which was very similar to Rome, as well.

“What’s the situation in the west?”

“It is still a difficult battle to win. But it had definitely gotten a lot easier after we sent them those powerful templars. If the Templar of Diana had been holding ground themselves so far, at least now they can hold out without their artefacts and get some time to rest.”

“What about the Templar of the Lord?”

“Fortunately, they found a way to get past that.”

“How?”

“Yes. I heard that she was vulnerable to physical attacks, ones not imbued with divinity. In other words, she was weak against ordinary swords and bows. She might be a templar but her physicality is only slightly better than that of an average human.”

“Really? That’s a little strange.”

Come to think of it, before I awakened, while I never felt pain, I would get easily injured. Moreover, even after I awakened, though my physicality improved, I still had a body made out of bones and flesh.

‘Besides, Rusbella’s not very good with the sword.’

In cases like this, the memories I thought to be a novel could be helpful.

“Fortunately, templars who are good at the bow and non-templars who are excellent knights are working together.”

“Is that so?’

It had been a week since I sent templars as reinforcements. In the meantime, nothing urgent had occurred and they were still barely holding out.

‘Of course, there were still many sacrifices made.’

I squeezed my eyes shut before I opened them.

‘... I didn’t want to get used to seeing these numbers.’

I had sworn to myself after seeing the list of deaths. Even if thousands, tens of thousands or even mind-numbing numbers of deaths everyday. I could never get to know these people personally one by one.

I would never be like the creator of this world who crushed and ruined me using my fate.

“How’s the reinforcements?”

They’ve been holding out well. Troops from the Templar of the Snow and the Sea would soon arrive in the west.

“It’d take three days at the very earliest and a week at the longest.”

It would be tight. But I thought it would be alright.

Walking, I found myself underground without realising it. When I opened the door, dust greeted me. The damp air penetrated my lungs.

“You’ve arrived.”

After Castor disappeared, while the hall was rebuilt, the cave beneath the palace was not. Because the crystal was here. Because of it, we continued working on rebuilding the barrier in this vacant lot after removing the large debris.

“How’s things going?”

“Should I put it nicely? Or badly?”

I scoffed at the audacity of Dike, the Head Templar of Wisdom.

“Nicely.”

“Things have been going smoothly. You could even say things are going well. Vulcanus kept their records pristine which saved us time.

“How much time?”

“Faster than what you had planned, Your Majesty.”