Millennium empire, millennium emperor (3)
400 years ago, the Empire also had induced the Blood Lions to lead the kingdom’s army deep into its territory.
However, even back then, the bases had not been completely emptied like this.
It was far too urgent, and far too radical.
“It’s like a herd of wild animals fleeing from a wildfire.”
When my head was a mess, I suddenly heard the sound of someone clicking their tongue.
For a moment, I froze.
“No way…”
I turned my head.
I saw the face of that Montpellier, who was sitting in the corner of the conference room and looking at me.
Thump thump.
My heart started beating like crazy.
I felt goosebumps rise on my skin as if a cold hand had run across my back.
“Y-Your Highness? What else did I…”
Montpellier staggered back with a pale face.
I stared blankly at that guy.
Pat.
Someone grabbed me by the shoulder.
“Your energy is unstable. Calm yourself.”
It was my uncle.
The meeting was interrupted.
“Why is your face like that? Are you sweating again?”
“Again! Again! Are you overdoing it again without knowing the condition of your own body!?”
“Your Highness. Your face does not look good, are you uncomfortable?”
The king, Vincent, and Arwen took turns expressing their concern for me.
“Your Highness. I will see to you.”
Carls and Adelia raised me up with pale faces.
I waved my hand lightly and shook them off.
I looked at the map on the table.
Where the fortresses were drawn, flags symbolizing the kingdom’s army were lined up.
No banners of Burgundy, only those of the kingdom.
“What about Dotrin?”
I asked about the situation on the southern front.
“Their side is no different. When the imperial army suddenly withdrew their troops, Dotrin’s leaders also seemed to guess that they were trying to use the citadels as bait to lure in our allies.”
One of the officials stepped up and answered my question.
The imperial army had also disappeared from the southern front.
My chest tightened.
I thought to myself.
Please. I hoped the theory that had popped into my head was nonsense.
But the more I thought, the more the ominous feeling grew.
Horrible images flashed in my head over and over again.
I touched the table.
I drew in a long, deep breath.
“Where are the nearest Knights of the Sky located?”
After taking a moment to catch my breath, I opened my mouth.
“One squad of the Knights of the Sky is stationed at a citadel located four days away on a fast horse.”
At that, I raised my head and looked at the king.
“Send a messenger immediately.”
The king, who was looking at me with concern, finally asked me why.
What was the matter, why was there such a fuss, and what should he say if he sent a messenger.
“We need to get all our troops away from the front lines right now.”
“Why is that?”
“The imperial army did not empty their strongholds to lure in our allies.”
Looking straight at the king who was full of doubts, I said forcefully.
“They really ran away.”
The king immediately poured out his questions.
“Ran away. What do you mean they ran away? Are you saying they retreated in fear of our allies?”
I quietly shook my head.
They didn’t retreat because of us.
“They.”
I pointed at a spot on the map with my hand.
Far from the front lines,
A place where the imperial navy and numerous troops had once been stationed, but now there was only a wasteland with nothing left.
“Ran from the disaster that ravaged the south.”
It was the location of Hwaryong.
My words were so unexpected that the others could not understand.
I further explained to the faces that looked at me in confusion.
It seemed that the imperial army intended to use the fire dragon.
Vincent, frowning, asked incredulously.
“You mean they even tamed Hwaryong?”
“If that was the case, they wouldn’t have pulled out their troops with such haste.”
“Then, how do they plan to bring Hwaryong from the south to this place?”
At Vincent’s words, voices expressing doubts could be heard here and there.
I raised my hands to silence them.
“Hwaryong usually stays in one place.”
And continued to explain.
“But there are times when it does move.”
I turned my head.
Montpellier, whose eyes were wavering, trembled when he received my gaze.
“When its territory is invaded.”
People gasped and looked at Montpellier.
“No way…”
Only then did they seem to remember how Montpellier had lost his standing in the empire.
“As long as there is enough bait, it is not impossible to move Hwaryong.”
It was easy to say, but crazy to do in reality.
There would be nothing left in the land that Hwaryong swept away.
Man-made fortresses, castles, and cities would be reduced to ashes, and all that would be left were barren lands where nothing would grow for decades.
What kind of lunatic would want that to happen to their own country?
In addition, I couldn’t begin to guess how many lives they’d have to sacrifice in order to lure Hwaryong to this far-off location.
Nonetheless, I was convinced.
The sudden retreat of the imperial army was absolutely related to Hwaryong.
The problem was how I could explain my instinctual judgment to the others.
It was a useless worry.
“I really can’t understand those Burgundies.”
Vincent said heavily.
“It’s said that he was a far-sighted and wise monarch, but he turned out to be more of a lunatic than his brother.”
The king let out a sigh.
“I’ll dispatch messengers to all of our troops on the front lines immediately.”
“I will be responsible for Dotrin’s side.”
The Grand Marshal and the other corps commanders split up the task of ordering the retreat.
I was taken aback.
I didn’t know that my opinion, which had little evidence, would be accepted so easily.
“You believe it?”
I asked because it seemed foolish.
“So was it a lie?”
“No. It’s true.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
That was Vincent.
“Huu. Dotrin has enough troops, they won’t want to easily give up the lands that they’ve conquered.”
“I’ll go to Dotrin’s side.”
That was the Grand Marshal and Malcoy.
“We almost got turned to ashes without knowing anything.”
That was the king.
“Do you have any other thoughts?”
“We have to be careful to avoid any losses.”
Eli and Arwen also said some words of support, and Adelia and Carls looked at me with burdensome eyes.
For some reason, my heart tickled.
The corners of my mouth kept twitching.
I randomly kicked Montpellier to hide my feelings.
“Ugh! Why! Ugh!“
The meeting ended with the squeals of Montpellier who resembled a pig.
* * *
Malcoy and the knights under the Grand Marshal left first in search of the Knights of the Sky, and the rangers scattered to the north and south to spread the order to retreat.
The corps commanders, including Arwen and Eli, were on standby in case of an enemy surprise attack.
“So it’s Hwaryong…”
As I watched the troops in the citadel moving busily, I heard a heavy voice.
I saw the face of my uncle, who was lost in thought.
His thoughts were so obvious that I couldn’t help but say it.
“Don’t even dream about it.”
My uncle flinched.
“Who said anything?”
I warned my uncle who blatantly teased me.
“Even a group of faeries would not be a match for that monster. Remember, it’s not an opponent you can beat with some trivial fighting spirit.”
“Hoh. If you’re saying that, it must be quite strong.”
It seemed like he wasn’t listening.
“To get excited at a strong enemy, people really don’t change. Haven’t you reached an age to start thinking of others? Grow up please.”
I clicked my tongue at his immature figure, when I suddenly felt a set of prickly gazes.
It was Adelia and Carls.
Their eyes which looked at me as if I was being absurd were strangely intrusive.
“Why. What.”
I asked and got no answer.
It was difficult to continue, so I went back to watching the troops.
Then I heard some small whispers from behind my back.
Like how they didn’t know words like that could come out of His Highness’ mouth, like how His Highness wasn’t aware of how he usually behaved, like how he seemed to understand the feelings of others a little bit now.
“I can hear everything!”
I shouted, and finally I stopped hearing the harsh words.
Three days passed.
The busy troops were lined up after finishing preparations to leave the fort.
They were faster than expected.
“We had sent our supplies to the rear in advance so that we could withdraw at any time.”
The commander said to me when I arrived.
It was good news to hear in this tense situation.
There was more encouraging news.
The rangers who had gone out as messengers returned one after another and informed us that the other forts had completed their preparation for retreat as well.
They said that there was already a corps that had started moving toward the Briand Duchy.
My heavy heart became a little lighter.
It would be perfect if the Dotrin Kingdom could withdraw in time.
“Malcoy went, so they’ll be fine.”
He was a fast guy, so I believed that good news would come soon.
“Move out!”
While I was thinking for a while, our troops started to move.
I also rode after them.
Then, suddenly, I looked back.
A huge citadel, fertile plains.
Maybe the next time we came, it would look completely different.
We headed east, looking at the vast land that could have belonged to the kingdom.
Along the way, I stopped several times to look at the southern sky.
When the troops stopped and rested, I set up my barracks in the southernmost part and slept there.
Day and night, I did not neglect to watch the sky.
So that, in the worst case, I could be the first to greet Hwaryong.
“I could buy some time.”
I inadvertently said to myself, but the knights who were patrolling around me appeared.
“You still haven’t come to your senses.”
And among them was Vincent, who nagged at every opportunity.
“I won’t say too much. But if you act like last time again, I won’t let you go. From the look on your face, you seem to be thinking about what the risks would be if you don’t step out.”
“What did I do…”
“Hah. When a person goes through a big incident, he should learn something from it. How can you only think of yourself? Wouldn’t you lose your temper if you saw me rushing to my death? Why the hell don’t you consider that others would feel the same?”
Vincent began nagging by saying that he would not speak at length, but he ended only when I was completely fed up.
“Anyways. Keep this in mind. Your Highness’ job is not to stay behind and buy time, but to run to the Briand Duchy without looking back. Do you understand?”
Vincent finally went back after hearing my answer.
“Tsk. Grow up.”
My uncle, who had stepped back to watch me suffer under Vincent from afar, snuck over and said some words that made my insides hurt.
Meanwhile, our allies continued to move.
And after a week had passed, we arrived at the plains in sight of the Briand Duchy.
My tension melted, and I was relieved.
The previous week’s march was a very unfamiliar experience for me.
At the same time, it was an experience that I never wanted to go through again.
Being chased by something and running away without even fighting was an act I couldn’t even imagine in the past.
It wasn’t that I was afraid of the Fire Dragon.
It was just that, if overcoming adversity to gain more karma had been my top priority in the past, now I weighed another side with a little bit more importance.
“What, why are you staring so hard? Do you want to complain?”
Vincent frowned and grunted while I was staring at him and the other knights without realizing.
“Is this how you treat your crown prince?”
“So you’re aware that you are the crown prince? I thought you were a knight from the way you run into danger at every opportunity.”
A crown prince needed to act like a crown prince in order to be treated like one.
Vincent, who had grown increasingly disrespectful after hearing me talk to myself about buying time and staying behind alone, would scold me whenever I opened my mouth.
And unfortunately I had nowhere else to go.
While listening to Vincent’s nagging, our allies arrived in front of the gates of Duke Briand’s castle.
The castle gate that Arwen had smashed looked a bit unsightly, but it had been firmly repaired in its own way. Catapults and various defense weapons that had originally been fixed towards the south were now also facing west.
It looked to be fully prepared.
I secretly let out another sigh of relief.
The allies who had been stationed in other fortresses would soon arrive, so I would be relieved once I heard the news of Dotrin’s retreat.
Everything was going smoothly.
Until deep in the night, when the world began to tremble nervously.
At the time, I had been on top of the walls.
As always, I had been circling the castle walls, responding to each of the ranger’s nonsensical jokes, and planning to head back to my room afterwards.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Suddenly, my vision distorted.
I had just been about to head down, but I froze.
I forced my stiff neck to move and twisted my head.
The rangers who had been seeing me off with a smile just a moment ago were now looking somewhere.
Nothing was there, only air and darkness.
But there was something far beyond that.
A terrible monster that broke the laws of the world with just its existence.
My chest tightened.
Hwaag.
Mana spontaneously rose and spread in every direction.
At the same time.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!
A clear cry resounded from a great distance.
It was the roar of a king born with the power to dominate but not rule.
It was Dragon Fear.
* * *
Time passed and everything returned to normal.
The dragon’s roar that had come from somewhere in the south could no longer be heard.
The terrifying presence had also disappeared.
I looked at the rangers on the wall.
Blurred eyes, languid movements, pale faces.
The rangers, who had burned with fighting spirit in front of the Warlord, were trembling like never before.
I raised my energy and spread it in all directions.
I reached for the hearts of the overwhelmed rangers and removed the shadows cast by Hwaryong.
Only then did the dim faces of the rangers revitalize.
We were incredibly lucky.
Hwaryong had been an immeasurable distance away, so the situation could end with just this.
We were lucky.
However, the same could not be said for the Dotrin Kingdom.
A day after Hwaryong had shown off its existence, Malcoy returned from the south.
With a weary and pale face, he stood before the king and reported the failure of his mission.
“The southern… front has completely collapsed.”
He said that he had hurried as much as he could, but he still couldn’t make it in time. When he arrived at the southern front lines, Hwaryong had already swept through once.
That night, 8 of the 22 corps of the Dotrin Kingdom disappeared without a trace.
“Also…”
After a moment’s hesitation, he added that among the troops which had been annihilated, there were also some of the Knights of the Sky, as well as Prince Doris Dortmund.
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