[Quest: Enter the Southern 4th Castle.]
[Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆]
[Reward: 3 Shop Coins]
The quest popped up.
The condition was to enter the 4th Castle.
There were no other conditions.
It basically meant I could just dip my toes in and come back.
‘Should I just go and see Iris’s face?’
An urge to quickly complete the quest hit me.
If I were to use ‘Selection and Concentration,’ sneaking in and out without being detected by the rebel army wouldn’t be that hard.
Ah, damn.
I used up all my ‘Selection and Concentration’ today…
My head started to ache.
Not that I was worried about Iris being alone inside there.
I just wanted to finish the quest quickly.
Yeah. That was the only reason.
‘What if I just went as a messenger?’
At least the rebel army had some common sense.
They weren’t like the Trud Kingdom army, mercilessly killing messengers and whatever; they fought with some leisure while adhering to most moral codes.
Ah, now that I think about it, they probably lost all that leisure after this morning’s battle.
It was obvious that a big shot like me entering the castle as a messenger would lead to getting captured immediately.
With no ‘Selection and Concentration,’ my chances of getting out were heading towards zero…
Damn. It seemed like taking the castle was the only option left.
“Eat quickly! We might have to leave any minute!”
When I stepped outside, Pelaine was rushing the knights surrounding her.
Can’t you leave us alone while we eat…?
“Ah, you can take your time. There’s plenty of food, so if it’s not enough, just bring more.”
“…”
In the midst of this, prisoner management was still lax.
The prisoners, wolfing down their food, stared blankly at Pelaine, cautiously glancing around before slowly eating their meals.
They must have been quite flustered.
A subhuman fighting alongside the suppression army, and even being the Commander in Chief, was probably a significant blow to their will to resist.
“Um… Can I ask the Commander in Chief a question?”
“Go ahead. I might answer, or I might not, depending on the question.”
“Where are you from, Commander?”
“…”
It was a sensitive question.
After a moment of contemplation, Pelaine came over to sit on a stump and began to speak.
“If we go back to my ancestors, I’d say I’m from the Great Forest… but I was born and raised in the Empire.”
Pelaine was a descendant of those subhumans who couldn’t withstand the Great Forest’s famine and emigrated to the Empire early on.
While he wasn’t technically a slave, he faced enough discrimination and disdain that life as a lower-class person was hardly better than being one.
Pelaine was the one who broke that cycle.
He learned martial arts through street fights and proudly joined the Imperial Army, proving his abilities in the Freya-Trud War.
However, the higher-ups never gave him the qualifications to take the knight exam, and disillusioned by this, he chuckled on the way out of the military.
Eventually, he met a retired knight named Taylor, who taught a few orphans swordsmanship, and together they formed a private knight order, overcoming various adversities to reach where he was now.
Pelaine explained this process briefly and calmly.
“Wow…”
Had they become so enchanted by the long or short life story that the subhumans began to clap and cheer?
Just coming from a life at the bottom to becoming the leader of a private knight order would be enough of a legendary tale for subhumans.
But if I told them that she would eventually rise to become the Empire’s top swordsman, nobody would believe it.
Pelaine herself would definitely deny it, saying it was nonsense.
I figured there was no need to spoil that surprise.
‘Hmm?’
At that moment, I felt a mana ripple heading this way.
Iris’s communication magic?
I quickly tuned in and entered the code to decode the signal.
-No evacuation order. Only the army is retreating. The only ones left are the minimum guards.
“Ugh.”
That was quite shocking news.
It had been over 12 hours since the spell was cast, and they still hadn’t issued an evacuation order?
That was leaving the civilians to die.
Moreover, the position from which the communication magic came was the 4th Castle.
This meant Iris was still at the 4th Castle, and they were even leaving behind the saintess Iris!
The unimaginable lack of response gave me a headache.
What if they were plotting something I didn’t know about?
No matter how I looked at it, it felt like the worst possible scenario was unfolding.
No, I couldn’t afford to think like that.
I had to execute the operation right away.
“Erica. Is the spell ready to activate?”
“Yeah! I can activate it right away!”
“Good. Let’s execute it now.”
“Huh? What? Wasn’t this not going to be executed?”
“Why would I draw a spell that we weren’t going to use? Activate it now.”
“No, Schlus. You know what kind of spell this is. Are you joking?”
“I’ll handle the fallout.”
“Nobody can handle this!”
“Trust me, Erica.”
“…”
Erica shut her mouth tightly.
She looked like she wanted to say something, her lips moving, but then she lowered her head.
“So you can’t tell me something again, right?”
“…”
“So you’re purposely not telling me because it might interfere with the operation if I knew? Is that it?”
“…”
She was absolutely right.
Erica had become quite perceptive lately.
“I believe in Schlus. I trust not just your ability but your character too. So I hope you can place some trust in us too.”
“…”
That was a painful thing to say.
Honestly, if you asked me whether I absolutely trusted Erica, Aintz, and Emilia, my answer would probably be no.
Except for Iris and Trie, I’d often subconsciously think that anyone could betray me or that I might betray them.
But I realized that with that mentality, creating true harmony would be difficult.
In the original story, Hertlocker led the alliance between the Empire and the Kingdom because of his ‘justice,’ not because of overwhelming power.
Leadership through force often leads to resistance.
“I believe in you. I’ll trust you, so I won’t pry further…”
The core of the spell began to move with a clunk.
As it did, the blocked circuits opened, and immense mana began to flow out of the vessel and spread throughout the spell.
By now, no one in the air above the 4th Castle would be unaware of the spell’s existence.
Even those dull to mana would be able to tell by looking up at the sky.
The mana density had risen so high that the vast energy was emitting visible light.
The unintended visualization of the spell was displaying its grandeur.
“Commander in Chief. We need to deploy now.”
“Understood, Schlus. Everyone! Depart!”
At Pelaine’s command, the knights swiftly brought forth their horses and charged through the open main gate.
I quickly grabbed Trie’s hand and jumped behind her.
Our target was the 4th Castle.
Before long, the gigantic spell began to sparkle with a terrifying red hue, painting a blazing mirage in the sky.
“Oh my god…”
Gasps erupted here and there.
The spell was radiating sunlight.
No, it wasn’t sunlight.
It was a fiery red orb.
To those seeing it for the first time, the shape might be hard to recognize as a sphere.
Just from the revealed form, it would look like a red plate descending from the sky.
What sort of reaction would happen if they realized it was part of a colossal sphere?
While I was somewhat looking forward to that response, I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“Charge! Follow the plan!”
According to the plan.
The knights would infiltrate the castle before the fireball fell, rescue the saintess Iris, and then come out.
Revealing the entire plan would be dangerous.
Who knows where a spy might be hiding…
‘It would be nice if everything goes well.’
Today’s victory depended on the enemy’s logical and rational judgment, meticulously crafted with care, whereas this was the opposite.
It was essentially a gamble, relying on the hope that the enemy’s logic would be paralyzed after witnessing this colossal spell.
And it seemed that the effect was more than sufficient.
I could see the look of shock on the knights’ faces who were gazing up from afar.
What would it be like to look at that fireball, which looked like a sun, descending vertically towards them?
They would indeed be paralyzed with shock and fear.
Unless the courage of these world inhabitants was several times greater than that of earthlings, I determined there would be no one able to calmly handle this sight.
“Don’t slow down! Full speed ahead!”
The proof was this almost suspiciously peaceful gallop.
By now, arrows should’ve already started flying from the castle walls.
But no soldiers were in sight on the walls.
With the castle about to be obliterated, anyone shooting arrows to stop a few knights charging would truly be crazy.
“Everyone, line up against the castle wall!”
“Yes!”
We arrived right in front of the castle gate without meeting any resistance.
The firmly shut castle gate.
It couldn’t be breached through ordinary means.
To break it down would require brute force like Sergey’s strength or comparable mana, but…
There was still another way to break through without needing that.
“Step aside.”
“…?”
As the knights parted to let me through, I approached the castle gate and placed my hand on it.
It was eerily quiet on the other side.
If the watchman noticed our approach, they would start stacking barricades or reinforcing the gates.
But there was no movement whatsoever.
It seemed safe to proceed.
“Everyone, forget the sight that will unfold in the next 10 seconds.”
“Eh? What do you mean…”
“I mean that anyone who carelessly speaks will face severe punishment.”
For now, all the knights here were from reputable backgrounds, so I didn’t have to worry about spies.
But as more people learned, there was more risk of information reaching a spy’s ears.
So I issued a warning.
To absolutely not speak.
Since they had lived and died by commands, they wouldn’t defy my words as an Emperor’s direct knight.
*Vvvrrrmmmm…!*
As I activated the internal circuits, I felt my entire body heat up suddenly.
Mana was circulating and overheating my body.
Then, I extended my right hand sideways.
It was time to release this mana.
*Sshhhhshh…!*
“Uh…!”
A blue pillar of light slowly emitted from my palm.
Continuously extending beyond the length of a human arm, it finally stopped.
*Boom!*
When I clenched my fist tightly, that pillar of light instantly transformed into the shape of a greatsword.
Vafe. It was the moment I showcased a Majin weapon that had been lost in the ancient wars outside the Imperial University.
“…”
I passed by the knights, still in a daze, and drove Vafe into the castle gate.
The flash pierced the wooden gate without much resistance.
With that, I swung my arm widely and split the gate open.
It didn’t require much effort.
The absurd slicing power of Vafe easily sliced through that stubborn wood as if it were cutting cake.
When I pulled Vafe out, a large, semicircular burn mark was left on the castle gate.
Kicking it with my foot—
*Thud!*
A hole large enough for a person to pass through appeared in the gate.
As expected, there wasn’t a single spear or barricade waiting behind the gate.
After glancing back, everyone seemed bewildered and hesitant to move.
We were racing against the clock.
It seemed like I had to take the lead.
“I’m going in first. Follow me.”
[Quest Completed]
[You have been rewarded with 3 Shop Coins.]
As I stepped inside, the quest completion prompt appeared.
