CH 205

Count Irudo Rewir has incited the people, who had been devoured by the earthquake to rebel.

His aim is to occupy the royal capital, while Raidorl is away. He also wants to 『steal the country』 using the royal capital as a base.

Raidorl had purged the nobles who were committing injustice and stripped them of the privileges that had been granted to them. He was trying to establish a centralised political system centred on himself as regent.

The nobles who rebelled were those who were spared execution or purge, but were deprived of power and lost their previous positions and authority.

The nobles who lost their authority have deep-rooted resentment towards Raidorl. The expedition led by Raidorl to the west in response to the undead attack was their best chance in a thousand years.

Raidorl did not leave the nobles alone.

His intention was to execute the main rebellious nobles, take away the privileges of those who remained, and then reduce all power as it were, making the authority of the nobility notorious.

However, in the middle of such reforms, the earthquake was triggered by the Earth Witch Osman.

In addition, the hordes of undead attacked without pause, forcing Raidorl to put the finishing touches later.

The nobles used this confusion to incite the earthquake-affected and confused people to turn them into pawns to occupy the royal city.

Only a small percentage of the people took Count Rewir’s words to heart. From the perspective of the whole, it is by no means a large number. However, even if one-hundred-thousandth of the hundreds of thousands or even millions of the people were deceived and moved, it would amount to a war effort of several thousand. It should have been enough to occupy the royal capital, which only had less than one thousand soldiers.

Count Irudo Rewir leads his soldiers and the people he has deceived marched towards the royal capital.

On the way, he was joined by cooperating nobles and their men, and by the time he was halfway to the royal capital, his army had swelled to nearly 10,000 men.

‘With this much power, I could invade the royal capital! Now all I have to do is rescue King Granard and defeat that Regent Raidorl, and the country is mine!’

As he rides his horse towards the royal capital, Rewir cheers in his heart, confident of victory.

Ten times as many troops, many noble collaborators. It will be a battle to be won that cannot be lost.

If he occupies the royal capital, it will be his. He will pretend to be under the command of the late King Granado to seize power, and then attack Raidorl, who is dealing with the undead, and that will be the end of it. Rewir will be able to take control of the Kingdom of Zain.

King Granard’s death is not out in the open, but even if it were to be discovered, it would not be a problem. All he has to do is install Strauss, the crown prince, as the new king and rule the country as regent.

Reweel’s thoughts are unwavering.

At least in the brain of the man who masterminded the rebellion, such visions of the future were portrayed as a promise.

Looking only at what has happened so far, one might be mistaken but the man, Irudo Rewir, is no fool.

He has a knack for using the chaos of earthquakes to turn people into soldiers. His leadership skills in bringing together other nobles were extraordinary.

He excelled in his studies from an early age, and was even once hailed as a child prodigy. In order to start the rebellion, he had acquired sufficient knowledge by reading all kinds of military law books and records of past wars.

Irudo Rewir undoubtedly has the talent that would make him a rare conspirator.

He was one of those people who, had he emerged in a war-torn world, might have made a name for himself as an 『accomplished villain』.

However, Rewir made the wrong choice because he had no experience of being involved in war.

What Rewir knew.

Is that, numbers decides who wins wars, and that the side that gathers the most soldiers wins. Victory is decided when you have gathered ten times as many troops.

But What Rewir did not know.

Is that, he did not know that in war,『heroes』sometimes emerge, who easily overturn differences in numbers. Individuals like the  Heroes can overturn a tenfold difference in troop strength. They can be also called as God Of War.

Rewir was confident of victory, having gathered a force far in excess of the soldiers defending Royal Capital. After all, he was neither a general nor a master, despite his talents as a plotter and schemer.

In a few hours,Irudo Rewir would come to realise.

That a single valiant warrior could easily overturn a winning battle with a large army.

In the midst of Raidorl’s subordinates, he will experience first-hand the horror of the 『demigods』, who are probably the strongest in terms of individual fighting ability.

The curtain has now risen on The Shortest Civil War, which would be written in the mediaeval history of the Kingdom of Zain.