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Volume 6, Chapter 4 - A World That Begins To Creak, Part 5

The Great Grantz Empire ― near Sabelt in the middle of the western region.

Hiro had moved his main camp to this location and was receiving reports about the Six Kingdoms movements.

Around the command center, the staff and nobles were busily running around. They were busy making arrangements for the transport of prisoners of war, checking broken swords and armor, and calculating food rations for the increased number of soldiers since the Second Conquest Army had been destroyed.

Messengers were constantly coming and going through the tent. Priority was given to reports from the scout troops on the enemy’s movements, the status of the security of the camp, and the discovery of supply routes.

After that, the status of the roads and the locations of bandit and monster outbreaks were reported to the western nobles, who were mainly supporting the rear with a small number of troops.

If they can’t handle the situation, they are ordered to contact the central.

“It seems that the Fourth Conquest Army, which has been deploying troops in the Larix Plains, has made a move.”

Orléans, the head of the Mark family, comes to Hiro with a report in his hand.

“It seems that they are acting in response to the destruction of the Second Conquest Army.”

“I see. Instruct the soldiers to increase their surveillance and remain vigilant. They will probably try to set us up. More importantly, what about the damage here?”

“Do you want the details?”

“No, just a rough estimate.”

“The damage is minor. Three hundred cavalry and one thousand infantry. But thanks to the western nobles gathering and joining forces, our numbers have swelled to 30,000.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes… but there is something that concerns me.”

Orléans holds out a sheet of report.

Hiro looked over it quickly. The names of the nobles who died in the war were written on the parchment.

“Some of the central nobles have been killed ― I don’t know if that’s the right word.”

“…The cause of death was all stray arrows?”

“And they were from our side. It’s too much of a coincidence. Seven people killed by stray arrows, it can only be the work of assassins sent by the enemy.”

“Let’s raise the guard by one level. I’d like to let as many people as possible rest, but we can’t afford to turn our backs on them.”

“Understood.”

“Is morale still low?”

Hiro asked. Orléans patted his chest and said not to worry.

“Don’t worry; morale has been boosted by the destruction of the Second Conquest Army. Saving the city of Sabelt seems to have helped, too.”

“Then let’s move on to the next phase.”

The enemy is consolidating their forces that had been dispersed, and it was going according to their expectations.

But for some reason, Orléans’ forehead is sweating from anxiety.

“Isn’t it really troublesome to rally the opponents?”

“They are indeed tougher when they are concentrated than when they are dispersed, but concentrating together on the battlefield can sometimes be fatal. If you can’t establish a chain of command, you’re no better than a mob. If we take advantage of that gap, we can easily overturn the difference in numbers.”

“…Hmm, I believe such a report came in.”

It seems that there is a quarrel between the commander and the deputy commander in the Six Kingdoms. In addition, it seems that they have been disbanding and reorganizing their armies, perhaps because they feel uneasy about the armies they have taken over due to suspicion. If the scattered troops are drawn there, the chain of command will be in complete disarray.

(…Is it working roughly as I expected?)

Hiro’s smile deepened, and he walked over to the map behind him to further ensure his plan.

“I’ll tell you about the next part.”

Looking sideways at Orléans with a piece in his hand, he nodded silently and urged him onward.

“I’ll leave the middle of the line to the western nobles who have joined us. If we send them to the front, once they have succumbed to the Six Kingdoms, they may immediately disrupt the formation and cause it to collapse.”

The color of defeat, once ingrained, would never fade. The fear that has been kneaded into them is enhanced as if it were a beautiful memory. It was not hard to imagine what would happen if they were sent out into the battlefield.

(Well, their morale was low ― they should be sent to the rear support.)

If it had been a battle that they could afford, Hiro would have sent them to the front again and won the battle. That way, they could regain not only their morale but even their confidence. However, the situation of this battle was hopeless from the start ― in such a situation, there was even a sense of distrust in the upper echelons of the military among the soldiers.

(I think we could have removed this by eradicating the Second Conquest Army, though.)

The soldiers that Hiro led are no longer a problem, but the defeated soldiers of the western nobles who joined them are not. They have been completely subjugated once. Some of them may be burning with vengeance, but not enough to affect the whole.

Then why ― why did he incorporate them into the army?

(Now, Orléans, what kind of response would you give me?)

If possible, he would have liked to see a reaction that would have made him confident.

“Isn’t it good? As expected, Your Highness Hiro, you are brilliant.”

Orléans praised Hiro’s choice excitedly. Hiro felt his emotions cool down at once. He desperately suppressed the impulses running through his body and tried to maintain his composure.

However, his black eyes were filled with an abyss.

“If that’s the case, please proceed as such. The same goes for the western nobles who will be joining us in the future.”

He was able to grasp a part of the anxiety that he had been harboring since the war with the Six Kingdoms began.

He was sure of it. It was something that had been on his mind for a while, but now he could do it without any problems.

“Also, I’ll place the central nobles at the front and leave the rear to the small and medium nobles. I’ll also take command at the front.”

“Then I will act together with Your Highness Hiro.”

Orléans happily expressed his opinion, to which Hiro responded with a ghastly smile.

“It will be reassuring to have you as my assistant.”

Hiro turned on his heel and strode toward the entrance.

“Then we’ll be leaving here in two days. I will leave you in charge of the rest.”

“You want to go now?”

“I will rest for today.”

“Alright, then. let me take care of the rest.”

Feeling the presence of a bow behind him, Hiro waved his hand and went through the entrance to return to his tent. Once outside, the air, monopolized by the cold air, froze the skin.

For Hiro, it felt like a gentle spring breeze, thanks to the “Black Princess Camellia.”

Hiro was walking silently in the dark night when he suddenly stopped.

“…Some things never change, even after a thousand years.”

Looking up above him, he saw that a star-filled sky dominated the world. The light of the full moon was shining down on the earth, accompanied by the colorful stars dancing in the darkness.

“I don’t know who it was… Who was it who said that the stars are the souls of people?”

When a person dies, they become a spirit, and the spirit soul becomes a star and continues to watch over the world with the spirit king. So when people feel fear, sadness, or loneliness, they can look up at the sky and know they are not alone.

“…Yes, that’s right. It was Liz.”

Hiro heard about it when they were camped at Mount Himmel. He was struggling to keep up with the fast-paced changes in the situation, and his memory had begun to fade.

“…I was so happy at that time. I felt like you were really talking to me.”

But now, he no longer feels the warmth of a hug nor the tenderness of being wrapped up in it.

Hiro stretched out his hand to the night sky as if he regretted the distant past.

“But I made a choice. A thousand years ago, I was afraid to walk, so I chose a path that I could shamefully run away from.”

Hiro turned his face down sadly and raised his right arm, running his fingertips over his eye patch.

If Liz and the others aren’t here, he doesn’t feel the need to conceal it anymore.

“I could be wrong, but… I finally found it.”

Slowly, he removed his eye patch, revealing eyes of sorrow.

“I will go. In order to be more arrogant than anyone else, more powerful than anyone else, more of a king than anyone else.”

――I will devour the world.

“It’s a shame I won’t be able to watch her grow until the end…”

He smiles a wistful little smile. However, it is broken in an instant.

The next thing that appeared ― the face that peeked out from the abyss was a face of disaster.

“…Let us end an era for a new myth.”

Hiro muttered a prayer and began to walk again. He stomped on the ground silently, yet forcefully, with unconcealed killing intent.

The sound of insects muffled, the cries of the wind disturbed, and the sound disappeared from the world.

“I’ll be a pawn for that.”

Hiro ducked through the tent’s entrance that had been prepared for him and looked around the room. His gaze immediately stopped. A man was waiting for him with his head bowed.

“‘Hiro-sama, I have been waiting for you.”

Behind him was a chair, on which someone was sitting, tied up with a rope. A cloth had been bunched around his mouth, perhaps to prevent him from screaming.

Hiro walked forward and looked down at the man’s head, who knelt on the ground and gave him a word of encouragement.

“Thank you for your hard work. And thank you for assassinating the central nobles.”

“No, I failed to kill one of them. I apologize for that.”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. It seems that you brought the one who you failed to kill with you.”

Hiro looked at the person who was raging behind the man. He was desperately trying to plead for something, but the biting cloth made it difficult to hear him over the animal-like snarl.

“How many others are infiltrating?”

“There are only ten, including myself.”

Hiro had made a deal with Claudia to cooperate with him before he started his plan.

One of the things that Hiro wanted was to have an assassin kneeling in front of him. The assassin’s skill was impeccable. He could tell from his presence that he was quite a skilled assassin.

“And here is a letter from Her Majesty Queen Claudia.”

Hiro took the proffered envelope, pulled a nearby chair, and sat down. He took out the letter, looked it over quickly, and lifted the edge of his mouth.

“Yes… It seems that everything is generally fine.”

Hiro stood up, flicking the letter around, and walked over to a desk in the corner of the tent.

As he glanced at the map spread out, he picked up a pen and began to fill out the words on the paper.

“And I’m sorry to ask you to bring him here, but can you please get rid of him? Now that I have proof, there’s no need to torture him to get him to talk.”

Without even a glance, Hiro pointed his pen at the captured central nobleman.

He got confirmation from the exchange at the command center earlier.

The head of the Mark family, Orléans ― in all probability, he is connected with the Six Kingdoms.

Or maybe it’s the Black Death Village… Either way, Orléans is guilty.

“I wonder how he’ll react if he loses his entourage again. Will he be anxious and wary, or will he be dazzled by the opportunity before him?”

It would be nice if he felt even a hint of fear when he learned that an assassin was working in the dark within the camp.

Next, Hiro sighed ― a deep one that contained sorrow.

The nib of the pen that had been busy on the paper stops. Then he takes out a new piece of paper.

(…Liz, you will definitely take the throne.)

Even though he couldn’t get rid of all Liz’s opponents, if Rosa and the others supported her, the hardship would not be a problem. And the political strife would strengthen her mind, and she would finally have the strong spirit of an emperor.

(And I hope she will save her strength for the battles to come.)

There will be times of frustration. There may be days when she wants to cry.

But Hiro believes that she will be able to overcome them.

Sadness can make a person grow. Anger gives people energy. Joy gives people happiness.

(I pray that your thoughts will bloom in the world.)

Hiro put his pen on the desk and turned around.

“I’m going to need your help with a few things.”

Hiro looked at the assassin sent by Claudia.

“W-whatever you need.”

The assassin nodded curiously, but his voice trembled in the face of the enormous amount of supremacy radiating from Hiro.