Side story episode 19
* * *
The empire of humans.
In the midst of the battlefield where revolution and emperor clash, the ancient empire of history finally reveals its true nature.
Without turning their heads away from the world, without denying their own existence, indifferently.
The Black Gold Monarch began to advance, proclaiming the name of the empire.
After annihilating the cavalry of the northern lords, led by Marquis Maximil, he quickly took control of their territories.
Everyone bowed their heads as the Saxon family’s proud night knights and warlocks, and Dale led them forward.
Yet for Dale there was no such thing as nobility, a mission to be accomplished, or a greater good for the world.
Just for yourself and your loved ones.
So when the ‘Old Empire’ advanced into the northern part of the Ninth Empire, it was not difficult to enter their castles and obtain their pledge of loyalty.
Revolution, Emperor, and the old empire.
On a continent divided into three powers, the people were once again forced to make a decision.
* * *
The legendary ‘Great Magic Empire’ has finally broken its silence and begun its southward march.
A noble’s territory in the ‘South’ based on the Fourth Empire, and in the ‘North’ based on the Ninth Empire and the Revolutionary Army.
There were night knights and warlocks stationed right there, making that place their stronghold.
Even if you add up all those numbers, it’s only a few hundred or so. It’s ridiculously small to be called an empire.
That was the beginning of the tragedy.
“Only a few hundred people?!”
“That’s right! Even if you combine the knights and wizards, the number is only a few hundred… … ”
“But didn’t you say that Marquis Maximilian and the northern heavy cavalry were completely annihilated?”
“That, that’s true too!”
“How on earth is that possible! With just a few hundred men, you can annihilate the world’s greatest Marquis Maximilian and his Northern Cavalry!”
The Marquisate of Maximil and the Northern Nobles of the Ninth Empire were annihilated, and the Great Demon Empire was taking over their territory. However, when he heard their numbers, Count Balian, who had to stop them in the central region, began to feel complicated.
Hundreds, just a few hundred.
Even the revolutionary army of the world boasts of its elite units, the Iron Cavalry, numbering in the thousands. Despite this, they lead a force of only a few hundred men, call themselves the ‘Great Demon Empire’, and are they really trying to subdue the Ninth Empire?
If there was an overwhelming numerical superiority and power gap, it wouldn’t be bad to surrender obediently. However, in this world, getting hung on the executioner’s scaffold for standing in the wrong line is not something that even the world’s nobles can do.
He too knew that the Ninth Empire was rotten to the core and was collapsing, and it was time for some decision to be made between the Emperor and the Revolution.
In that very situation, another emperor appeared and forced a new decision.
It was around that time that a secret messenger from the revolutionary army contacted Count Balian.
* * *
“We have rewritten the land register of the Northern Territory and started recruiting and training new soldiers to prepare for the invasion of the Ninth Empire and the Revolutionary Army.”
After hearing the Night Raven Knight’s report, Dale nodded absentmindedly.
Marquis Maximilian, now a border fortress and forward base for the Fourth Empire’s forces.
“We will stop our advance at this point and begin negotiations with the forces in contact. In the meantime, you should gather the people of this territory and devise a way to protect them. After all, it is true that our numbers are small.”
“I will follow your orders, Your Majesty!”
The Emperor of the Fourth Empire is never one to sit heavy on his throne. Even when he walks into enemy territory, he is not accompanied by knights or wizards to protect him.
In the first place, the emperor is not so weak that he needs to be protected by anyone. No, the one who formed the empire that was once called the Great Demon Empire was Dale himself, who was literally reborn as the Black Gold Monarch.
So, leaving the work that had to be done on this land to Dale, he stood up alone.
Beyond this southern region, towards the battlefield where the Emperor and the Revolution are clashing in the central part of the continent.
It wasn’t even an advance. It was just a man on horseback, setting off on a journey.
Nevertheless, the Night Raven Knights and Warlocks who were watching the scene had to tremble at the overwhelming feeling that the empire itself was alive and moving.
Even the army of death that filled the horizon would be unable to do anything to that man. At the same time, that man was the one who could raise that army.
* * *
I was distressed to hear that the Fourth Reich’s strength was only a few hundred men.
And when the ‘Fourth Reich’ showed up there, it wasn’t even a few hundred.
There was a man there.
When a man appeared claiming to be the Emperor of the Empire, Count Balian wondered if the man had lost his mind.
The man appeared alone in the county seat and spoke in front of the guards guarding the entrance.
“Tell them that the Emperor of the Fourth Empire, the Lord of Black Gold, has come to see your lord.”
It was a man wearing a robe with the mark of a night crow engraved on it. The shadow cast from beneath the robe was extremely dark.
Probably everyone there heard that and thought it was the ravings of a madman.
“The Count is not so idle as to listen to the ravings of a madman!”
“Get out of here!”
The guards spoke to the man tauntingly, and the man remained silent.
“Do you really need to show me evidence to believe me?”
After a moment of silence, the man asked back.
And then he snapped his fingers.
In an instant, the light of the sky faded. The noon sky, where sunlight should have poured down vertically, was covered in a pitch-black curtain.
“Bring the Count before me.”
The man spoke in the darkness, extinguishing the light of the world and bringing with him an indescribable darkness.
The guards gasped and hurriedly turned their backs at the intimidating presence. They reported to the count as they were, and only then did they realize that a man had appeared at the entrance to the count’s castle.
One, just one!
Once again, my mind began to wander and lose its sense of reason in front of those numbers.
As a count of the Empire, he has many knights and magicians who are said to be rare even in this world. So, wouldn’t this be a fight he can try? Rather, wouldn’t the fame of having defeated the Emperor of the Fourth Empire be a stepping stone for new ambitions between the Emperor and the Revolution?
“What do you think, Lord Azar?”
The Emperor of the Great Magic Empire, after all, is also a wizard. Therefore, there was only one person he could ask. The Count called his direct wizard and asked him, and the wizard asked him back.
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
“… … What on earth is that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“That, that man… … That man is emitting magic, magic… … ? No, is that really magic? No, no… … .”
But the wizard began to speak on his own, as if he were losing his common sense in the face of something incomprehensible.
“Duke Azar, answer my question!”
“Ma, the Demon Emperor? What power is that man wielding…? Magic? Darkness? The power emanating from the Circle? No, no, no… … None of those, then what is it… … ?”
There was a madman talking nonsense on the spot.
“Hazard, stop talking nonsense and come to your senses!”
Just then, the man standing at the entrance raised his head. The shadow beneath the robe stared at the wizard Azar, who was looking down at him.
A bottomless darkness was writhing like a living creature under the hood.
“Ah, ahh… … !”
Azar muttered with an expression that showed he finally understood.
“Yes, yes, I understand now, Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty?”
“No, no. That is not even the Emperor! The Emperor is a human! But that, that being… … How dare a human being describe that being! Ah, ah, that is right, a demon god!”
As he said that, Azar suddenly lowered his head toward the marble floor.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Please forgive me, forgive me!”
Boom! Boom! He began to hurt himself by repeatedly banging his head on the floor, hard enough that his head cracked and his skull fractured.
“What, what the heck is this… …!”
Count Balian held his breath at the bizarre sight. However, it was impossible to make a decision based on the sudden eccentricity of a single wizard. His mind became even more confused.
But more than that, an unknown and unknowable fear gripped his heart.
There was an incredibly powerful being that defied worldly understanding, and that being wanted something from me.
So, the count followed suit and continued walking.
Towards the demon that was waiting for him.
* * *
“I was waiting.”
The man spoke, extinguishing the light of the world and bringing darkness with him.
Count Balian and his knights appeared there at the same time, and Count Balian opened his mouth hesitantly.
“He, reveal your identity.”
“Didn’t I already tell you?”
The man answered.
“I have many names, and I have told you one of them.”
“Ma, the Demon Emperor… … .”
In this age when magic is dying, there is a wizard who is said to be the greatest of all time. But is that really true?
Again, it’s a number. One, just one. In the common sense of this era, one strong man can never overpower a thousand.
But assuming that what he says is true, that being is an ancient monster that defied common sense.
A monster that can overwhelm a hundred strong men, and even subdue those strong men all by itself.
That was the power of the Dark Lord and the Demon Emperor that people talked about as a legend, and that man was volunteering to be that name.
“What, what do you want from us?”
At the count’s question, the man knelt down. He was taken aback by the unexpected action, but it was by no means a sign of submission.
I grabbed a few handfuls of dirt from the floor and raised my body.
“A little dirt.”
“… … !”
“And your knees.”
It wasn’t difficult to understand what the man was saying.
In a world where even the world’s greatest nobles can be hanged on the scaffold for standing in the wrong line, Count Balian thought desperately. He thought and thought again.
Silence fell.
“Have you made a decision?”
After a moment of silence, the man asked back.
Reason was screaming. As a nobleman, the number of knights he had, and furthermore, the number and common sense of this era. When thinking rationally, there was no reason to kneel before that man who stood alone without even leading an army.
Still, an unknown fear that his common sense could not understand moved his knees.
“I, I offer the soil of this land and my knees… … before Your Majesty… ….”
