Chapter 100 : You Understand Now, Don’t You

Chapter 100: You Understand Now, Don’t You

The city of Herepol, where the lords rallying under the banner of Ransen held their assemblies.

These days, its streets were noisy every single day.

Even in the now considerably cold weather, the streets turned hazy white with the clouds of breath from the gathered, murmuring crowds.

“Ransen is a monster!”

In every slightly open square, people gathered so tightly that shoulders and elbows bumped, and in the center there was always an official sent from the lord’s keep of Herepol.

The citizens assembled there buzzed with each of his words, their eyes flashing with unease.

“We are all going to die! We’re going to lose everything! He is a monster of endless greed! Just imagine! Every single trade route passing through Norberju will belong solely to Ransen. He won’t give us so much as a single bean!”

According to him, Ransen was a demon. A tyrant who sought to trample all of Norberju and turn it into his slaves.

“That is why we must fight back! To escape a miserable death, we must endure hardship right now!”

The reason he worked so hard to demonize Ransen was, in the end, to lead into the words that followed.

“We must fight before Ransen seizes all of Ailun. If not now, we will never be able to defeat him. If we want to rout him and reclaim our freedom and prosperity, we must fight right now.”

A war against Ransen.

At that dreadful fact, dark clouds spread over the citizens’ faces, yet at the same time many of them nodded as if they found the logic convincing.

Since Roberland was a region where travel was restricted by the monstrous anomalies of the borderlands, for the lords it was all too easy to manipulate information.

The citizens here had no choice but to believe the words of the agitators sent by their lords.

“Raising taxes? Requisitioning forced labor? Those are not what our lord desires either. Our lord wishes for all of you citizens to live prosperous and comfortable lives. But in order for that to happen, Ransen must first be struck down!”

Thus, devotion and sacrifice for war were justified.

And of course, the final touch was always the promise of sweet rewards.

“If we fight now, we will surely win! And if we only win! Our lives will become completely different from what they’ve ever been! Imagine this—collecting taxes from everything in the fertile plains of Ailun! Those taxes will be used for this city! You and your children! You will live lives far wealthier than all your ancestors in this land ever did!”

In the eyes of the citizens listening, a glimmer of expectation gradually appeared.

And in this way, Herepol… no, all of Norberju was being prepared for war against Ransen.

And those who tried to start a war by heaping absurd accusations onto Ransen were all gathered in Herepol now, continuing their heated debate—no, their uproar.

“Disastrous!”

“I never thought Gellan City would turn like that...”

“Kashimir Gulak. He acted like he’d fight to the end. What a bluff! A weak, spineless fool!”

“We must attack immediately! If they take Rundna as well, there will truly be no hope!”

The lords busied themselves, throats bulging as they shouted over one another.

“Let’s focus on the agenda! First, we should assess how many troops each city can mobilize...”

“No, first we must choose a hegemon!”

“How can we pick a hegemon right away? At least we need a temporary chair to run the meeting...”

“Damn it. The Gulak house always just talks tough and does nothing!”

It looked less like a meeting and more like a pack of skittish dogs that had gathered in one place and were barking, “woof woof woof.”

At least to Kassania, lord of the city proper, it looked that way.

‘Is this right? We’ve been discussing for five hours already with no progress at all. Is it right to share a cause with these idiots?’

One faction had blocked every trade route heading into Norberju.

They had acted together for now to respond to this unprecedented crisis, but the more Kassania watched, the greater her sense of doubt became.

“Gellan falling was painfully bad, but Rundna won’t fall that easily.”

“That’s right. I know well the Lord of House Esir’s ambitions.”

“Contact House Esir immediately. If Rundna pokes us in the back, even Ransen would have problems.”

“Exactly. Things can’t get any worse than this. Don’t panic—let’s focus on the present and draft a strategy.”

“Sound reasonable?” Really?

Kassania frowned at the lords who chattered however they pleased.

‘Are they sane? We still haven’t accurately assessed Ransen’s military strength, have we?’

When preparing for a fight, the first thing was to determine whether it was a battle they could win or one they would lose. That was the most basic of basics, wasn’t it?

But the lords were failing to distinguish their wishes from reality.

Of course, their lack of information was understandable. Ransen had killed Harun at an almost incomprehensible speed and had been taking over Ailun. Only a few people had actually seen his forces, and there had been little time to ascertain the truth.

But still. Could everything be decided by guesswork?

Ransen’s military would be about this much.

The strength of Ransen’s army? Probably about this much.

If it were that much, we could win.

That was how they reasoned—lords estimating their odds with no evidence.

Kassania thought there was no way they could win fighting like that.

Then—

“Urgent dispatch! Urgent dispatch!”

Suddenly, the words of the messenger who burst through the door only worsened the situation.

“Rundna! Rundna fell three days ago! Ransen has unified Ailun!”

The lords, who had been relying solely on Rundna, were appalled and quickly began to doubt the authenticity of the report.

“Are you sure you didn’t get it wrong?”

“Three days ago? You’re saying three days ago? Then why are we only hearing about it now! What about the message artifacts!”

The messenger, dripping with sweat, explained.

“M–monsters. Swordmaster-class monsters invaded Rundna first. The moment that monster let out a roar, the message artifacts broke down… so I had no choice but to come running to deliver the news in person.”

“What? Swordmaster-class monsters? And a single roar destroyed artifacts? What nonsense is this!”

“B–but it’s the truth! Immediately afterward, Peak Expert Lete staged a rebellion, annihilated House of Esir, and brought in Ransen to subjugate the monster!”

The assembly hall erupted into chaos.

Hadn’t they just been saying things couldn’t get any worse? And yet the true worst had arrived at that very moment.

Some suspected the messenger.

“You! Can you take responsibility if your words prove false!”

“He’s not a spy sent by Ransen, is he?!”

Others jumped about as though their beards were on fire.

“We must raise troops immediately! If Ransen stabilizes Ailun, then no matter what we do afterward, we’ll never be able to win!”

The meeting hall boiled over like a scalding kettle.

At that moment, Kassania, lord of the city of Shiron, realized the truth.

‘Ah, we’re finished.’

She turned her gaze, carefully studying the faces of the other lords.

Not those barking excitedly like dogs.

But those who were accepting the present reality with rational minds.

Her eyes met those of a few lords. Surely, they were thinking the same thing.

‘Should we… perhaps side with Ransen?’

‘Perhaps we should?’

Secret glances were exchanged, and about three or four lords gave small nods.

Now, all they could do was hope.

‘Ransen. I hope he’s a reasonable man who can be reasoned with.’

As he had once declared—if he guaranteed free trade and sought the joint development of all Norberju, then there was no reason they couldn’t join forces.

‘Once this meeting ends, I must send a letter straight to Ilunael.’

All that was left now was prayer.

That Ransen was rational enough. That he would be a counterpart they could negotiate with.

Just as Kassania gathered her thoughts—

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a man dropped straight down from the ceiling.

The lords of Norberju were at the very least Peak Experts, and among them were many Swordmasters. Yet not one of them had sensed the man’s presence before he appeared.

Everyone jumped to their feet, even knocking over desks in surprise.

The man with dark-blue hair stood in the center of the assembly hall and beckoned to everyone.

“Of course I knew you’d act like this. That’s why I came in person. Let us speak frankly.”

Ransen Banroa.

Blue flames burned in his eyes.

*         *         *

I actually had a very good proposal.

I had no intention of fighting them.

I wasn’t afraid of them, but with the Wave imminent, if we fought among ourselves, all of Norberju would suffer tremendous damage.

“ I understood your anxieties well. So you’re worried I’ll seize the trade routes at will, aren’t you?”

I opened with that, and the reaction was immediate.

“Ransen! Where do you think you are! Do you think you can survive?!”

One man drew his sword as if that settled things.

“Fine. So you’ll hand over Ilunael and Kashu City as free cities and accept allied garrisons in the Ailun plains?”

Another sneered and made absurd demands.

I sighed inwardly. Even for the greed-blinded lords of Roberland, weren’t they going too far?

Still, I smiled.

Despite their behavior—practically a declaration of war—I had, unbelievably even to myself, brought a very good offer.

“Let’s do this. There’s no need to fight, right? Let’s cooperate where it benefits both sides. If keeping the trade routes open was also in my interest, wouldn’t I naturally keep them open?”

“Enough. If you don’t accept our conditions, then all that’s left is war.”

“Ransen. Coming here was your mistake. Kill you and everything will be solved.”

I ignored the barking of those madmen and continued as rationally as I could.

I told them I really had good news.

“ I will invest in you. In the cities gathered here. I will make massive investments across all twelve cities. Didn’t I say Norberju should build its own industrial capacity? I will provide sufficient funds. Make your local specialties. Then wouldn’t it be in my interest to maintain the trade routes?”

As I spoke, I took a sheet of paper from my chest and tossed one to each lord.

The paper, perfectly controlled by my aura, did not flutter; it cut through the air and landed precisely before each lord.

To others it looked like a miracle of my aura-control, and the lords groaned as they examined the papers I had thrown.

“Uh...”

“Hmm...!”

On those sheets was written the amount I would invest in each city.

How about it.

Impressive, isn’t it?

An enormous sum under the most generous terms.

I was openly offering them money.

Even so, would they still choose to fight me?

…Or so I thought. I was naïve.

“So. What you’re saying is you have the means to just throw this much money around?”

“Hah. Ransen, I suppose fighting us was a burden for you after all?”

“Enough. So are you giving up Ilunael or not?”

Was this really how the conversation was turning?

Even though I, who could crush them one by one, had bent first and offered such favorable terms?

Anger welled up in me, but I restrained myself once more.

Fine. No matter how much these greedy, honorless robber-counts might want, they couldn’t be entirely brainless. If they couldn’t even manage basic calculations, they’d never have taken their seats in the first place.

“If war breaks out, do you think you’ll come out unscathed? Why take the hard path when the easy one is right here? This is a truly good offer. One where I win and you win too. Let me say again—”

But I didn’t even get to finish.

“Hmph! Words are easy!”

“Do you think we don’t see through your scheme—to stall for time with blank checks while you stabilize Ailun?!”

“Swindler!”

“Ransen. The moment you came here alone, your defeat was already decided. You fool.”

What you see depends on what’s in your eyes.

No matter how generous my offer, it simply wouldn’t get through to them.

And at last I understood clearly why my words were wasted here.

That’s it.

You really believe you can win, don’t you?

You think I brought appeasement because I lacked strength?

“Truly...”

I hadn’t wanted to do this.

I shook my head and drew a sword.

A short, blunt blade.

The so-called holy sword.

“Ea.”

And I spoke its name.

The sacred relic I had found near Herepol.

It had some damage, but I had managed to activate it without trouble.

The curious thing was that its name, too, was “Ea.” Perhaps all sacred relics shared the same name.

[Aether Blade System ON!]

The moment Ea’s voice rang out inside my head—

Gwoooong—!

From the short, blunt blade burst forth a brilliant, dark-blue light.

The Holy Sword.

The sacred relic found near Herepol received overwhelming power from the heavens, and in turn poured that energy back into the sword.

That was the result.

“Impossible...”

“What on earth is that...”

From the Holy Sword stretched an Aura Blade that reached all the way to the sky.

The blade literally tore through the ceiling and stretched out into the sky.

‘They should be surprised. I was surprised myself.’

When I first tested the power of the Holy Sword, I had been just as shocked.

Whoosh!

When I swung the Holy Sword down, there wasn’t even any sound.

The Aura Blade split the massive fortress like a hot knife cutting through soft butter.

Normally, the raging storm of an Aura Blade that strong would have shattered the castle into fragments, but my Aura Blade was now entwined with the Sword Energy amplified to the limit by the Holy Sword.

So the fortress was only cut cleanly in two, yet still stood tall in its place.

Through the cleanly sliced gap, a long shaft of sunlight streamed into the assembly hall.

Looking down, the floors below and the deep underground could be seen.

“...”

“...”

No one dared to utter another word.

I sheathed the Holy Sword and met the frozen stares of the lords, one by one.

“My proposal still stands. Either fight me. Or accept it.”

In the heavy silence, stupefied answers finally came, one by one.

“Y–yes...”

“Ah, understood.”

*Hiccup.*

I received their confirmations and walked out of Herepol.

As I left Herepol behind, the murmurs of the people reached my ears.

“What was that?”

“Ransen? Did Ransen just attack?”

“The castle was split in half?”

“W–we’re supposed to fight something like that? Us?”

The morale of the citizens and warriors preparing for war crumbled away in droves.

And then—

“I’ve never heard such a persuasive speech in my life...”

Kassania, wasn’t it? The voice of the lord who had earlier held back and carefully examined my proposal.

Well. By now, they should all understand.

How to decide their course from here on.