Chapter 152 – First Blood (1)

Chapter 152 – First Blood (1)

ut stepped out of the assembly hall with an exhausted look on his face. The steps he took along the hallway were heavy but busy. He was rather relieved that things had worked out unexpectedly well.

Barth Baltic and Helmut were rivals who had maintained a hostile, yet symbiotic relationship ever since the start of the Eternal Rule—Helmut served as the spiritual anchor to unite the empire under the Church, while Barth succeeded in uniting and leading the army that could have become a threat to the empire.

Without either one of them, the empire would have been torn apart with bloodshed. Thus, Helmut acknowledged and admired Barth Baltic’s abilities, despite hating him.

So, Helmut was glad that this incident was resolved quite smoothly, unlike what he had expected. After all, the Barth Baltic that Helmut knew was a man who could have easily turned the Capital into a sea of blood.

At the same time, Helmut wondered why Barth Baltic acted in such a way.

‘Did he really just do what he had to do as a soldier?’

Helmut shook his head. Both Helmut and Barth had seen each other’s weaknesses. Helmut was very well aware that he was not an innocent man, and the same was true of Barth Baltic. They were both covered in the same filth.

Helmut sometimes thought that perhaps the reason why they couldn’t stand each other was that they smelled the same.

‘Whatever he is up to... I wish the returning emperor could just disappear along with Barth Baltic.’

Barth Baltic was already done for. The people of the empire had completely turned their backs on Barth Baltic, and this expedition would be his last—whether he killed the returning emperor or rather got killed by the returning emperor.

“Your Holiness.”

Helmut stopped upon hearing the voice coming from behind him. The voice belonged to Imill Ilde, the head of the Ilde family who had been silently sitting at a corner of the assembly hall the entire time. Not only was he the head of the religious faction, he was also the heir to a wealthy business. However, it was said that he suffered a huge loss recently when Hiveden, his largest source of income, was suddenly overturned.

“Mr. Ilde,” Helmut greeted him briefly. “What’s the matter?”

“I’ll put aside the complicated and unnecessary words, considering the situation we are in. What are you going to do with the Church?”

Helmut was wary that Imill might petition to help Barth Baltic out of his desire for revenge. Helmut couldn’t afford to do so now, but Imill Ilde was making too many donations to the Church for Helmut to simply ignore him.

“...The holy city of Torra is so loud and messy that I’ll have to clean up on the inside first,” Helmut said.

“I think that’s a marvelous idea.”

Helmut became even more wary when he heard Imill say something completely unexpected.

“But looking at the current situation and how you behaved when the Regent showed up at the assembly hall earlier, you don’t seem to have any specific plans to take care of the situation.”

“What are you trying to say?” Helmut’s face became distorted; after all, no one enjoyed their mistakes being pointed out.

“The Church is being too indulgent, Your Holiness. A mere soldier, a noble from an apostolic background, and even morons are insulting the Church. This is all because the Church has failed to gain enough authority,” Imill said with a determined face.

“...That I can’t deny. I admit that I was complacent. But things will be different from now on.”

“That’s not enough, Your Holiness. We need the powerful authority of the Church that you showed during the early days of the Eternal Rule. Didn’t Your Holiness show us His Majesty’s will through a proxy back then?”

“...We are living in a different time compared to the bloody era when...”

“It’s not different, Your Holiness. If the Regent is defeated and the rebel’s army reaches Torra, both the authority of His Majesty and the authority of the Church will be completely destroyed.”

Helmut didn’t think of himself to be a good man. He also knew well that Imill Ilde’s words were crazy. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but think that Imill Ilde’s crazy words were quite tempting.

“Are you telling me to show the authority of His Majesty by exerting my power?” Helmut asked.

“There’s no need to shed too much blood, is there? Power enough to unite the holy city of Torra is more than enough. If the Regent gets defeated, the army will eventually become nothing but a sword without an owner. Your Holiness needs to show everyone that you’re qualified to wield that sword.”

‘A pope who is also the commander of the armed forces, huh?’

Imill Ilde’s suggestion didn’t sound too bad in Helmut’s ears.

“I just hope that our men don’t run into the rest of our allies first and run away due to being scared...”

Then Hela suddenly stopped talking. Her eyes were fixed on the slope of the mountains.

“Your Grace?” Horhell asked with curious eyes.

“No, it can’t be... The guards patrolling the mountain range have already been bought, and the Capital Army probably hasn’t even left yet...”

Hela hastily ordered Horhell.

“Horhell! Fly up right now and start scouting around!”

Horhell immediately signaled Orca without asking Hela what she meant again.

The moment Orca flapped its wings, something glistened on one side of the mountain.

Crunch!

At that moment, one of Orca’s legs was pierced by a huge arrow with a terrible crunching sound.

“Orca!”

Orca’s body convulsed with a painful roar. The arrow pierced its leg accurately, but there was no problem for it to fly up into the sky.

When Orca soared into the sky, a huge ballista was dragged out using the chain. At the same time, the Capital Army soldiers who were hiding in the snow and fallen leaves stood up all at once.

“It’s an ambush! Everyone, get ready for combat!”

Hela hurriedly gave her orders, but there was already a scream coming from the back. At the same time, an arrow passed right by Hela’s face. Before she knew it, the adjutant who was walking right beside her screamed and collapsed to the ground.

“Damn it, how did they get here so quickly?”

It was only yesterday that Hela heard the news of Barth Baltic’s decision to lead the subjugation himself. Hela couldn’t believe that Barth Baltic had been waiting for her, who was farther away from him compared to the Northern Army or the Order of Huginn, in a meticulous ambush.

.

Then Hela found a familiar silhouette standing on the hillside of the Yult Mountains. Hela’s eyes burned with rage.

“Pavan!”

Pavan Peltere, the Captain of the Order of the Capital, was quietly looking down at the Eastern Army as they were being slaughtered. Pavan was born in the east, raised in the east, and taught by the lord of the east, but he didn’t have the slightest shred of mercy.

Instead of answering Hela’s roar, Pavan silently knocked an arrow on his bow. The arrow narrowly passed by Hela’s face again.

Hela grit her teeth as she saw Orca frustratedly hovering in the air, not knowing what to do. Orca had already breathed out flames toward the hillside several times, but its flames were not very threatening to the soldiers that were hiding under the snow-covered trees.

Hela realized that the Capital Army’s ambush attack was not as intense as she had thought. In fact, the screams were mainly coming from only the back.

Then Hela noticed Pavan’s plan—he had come in and cut the Eastern Army’s line like a snake, since he noticed just how long it was due to the many soldiers. Not only was Pavan’s goal to stop Hela, but it was also to pause the movement of the Eastern Army itself.

This was Barth Baltic’s first strategy. He made it seem like he was only going to war because he was pressured by the Capital, but that was a trick—Barth Baltic had sent his troops with Pavan Peltere before anything even happened.

“Horhell! Head toward the Magic Tower!” Hela shouted, hoping that Horhell could hear her amidst all the chaos. “Damn it, Pavan, that asshole, is planning to stop the Eastern Army from getting to the Magic Tower! If the Eastern Army fails to fill the void, the rest of the allies will be defeated by Barth Baltic one by one! Go ahead and deliver this message!”

Horhell couldn’t leave the scene easily and hovered in the air upon seeing the Eastern Army getting slaughtered, but soon got Orca to flap its wings, since he couldn’t help but follow Hela’s order.

Seeing this, Pavan aimed his bow at Horhell. At that moment, Orca breathed out flames on the chain hanging from the bridge, causing a ballista larger than a human to fall only an arm’s length away from Pavan.

Despite the loud sound, shock and snow falling over him, Pavan remained focused.

However, he couldn’t dodge the blade that flew into his face.

A silver flash penetrated Horhell on Orca’s back.

Red blood splashed.