Chapter 158 – Horn and Fire (1)

“Who are you?”

Sina was dragged in front of Barth Baltic with her arms tied behind her back. The knights seemed to be full of dissatisfaction, since they were suddenly stopped just when they were excited and ready for the war. But no one could resist Barth Baltic’s order.

“I am Sina Solvane, the Captain of the Order of the Blue Rose. Regent, I am…”

“That’s not what I’m asking you.”

Sina looked at Barth Baltic. She felt an unbearable pressure just by facing Barth Baltic’s cold eyes. Being an early graduate from the knight school, Sina had seen Barth Baltic’s face several times in the past. Of course, it was the first time for her to see him this close.

“I am asking about your relationship to the emperor.”

Sina couldn’t understand what Barth Baltic meant.

The Imperial Army and the emperor’s army were so close that they could see each other’s faces now. They were at such a short distance that no one would be surprised if they began to shoot arrows and charge toward each other.

Such a situation was only stopped because of one person—Sina Solvane. The resumption of the battle was up to her, just as it was when it was stopped.

Sina clenched her teeth and raised her head.

“I am Sina Solvane, His Majesty’s watchdog.”

Laughs of absurdity broke out among the knights. Several knights made scornful comments and expressions in the midst of an uproar. The knights’ pride was already hurt due to the advance of the Imperial Army being stopped by an intruder, but the fact that the intruder was a mad woman made everything even worse. Some of the knights were clearly showing murderous intent toward Sina.

Pavan quickly approached Barth Baltic and urgently whispered into his ear.

“Regent, the soldiers are getting anxious, since they don’t know when the battle will begin. Why don’t you decide on the disposition and questioning of this knight later and deal with what’s more important first?”

Barth Baltic did not answer; he just continued to stare at Sina.

Then, at that moment, he suddenly stood up and walked forward toward Sina.

“You’re the emperor’s watchdog?”

“Yes, I am. His Majesty has entrusted me with the job himself,” Sina answered.

“Why would the emperor need a watchdog? After all, he has claimed himself to be a perfect being.”

“That’s because…”

When Sina hesitated to answer, Pavan immediately stepped up.

“Regent, there’s nothing more to hear. It’s just the crazy nonsense spoken by a lunatic.”

“It isn’t nonsense!” Sina sharply shouted.

Pavan glared at Sina like he wanted to kill her.

If Sina was still a knight trainee from the knight school, she wouldn’t even have been able to make eye contact with Pavan, who was sitting at a high position. But now she was not intimidated at all.

“His Majesty asked me to watch him and judge whether he is a mad murderer or the emperor that I believe in. I think he made me his watchdog in that context.”

“So, you believe that the person I am about to have a war with is the emperor in your view?”

“...Yes, I do. You don’t have to start an unnecessary war and shed blood. War isn’t necessary; after all, it’s just that the real owner of the empire has returned.”

Barth Baltic did not answer Sina.

Sina knew that what she was doing was incredibly stupid. If problems could be solved simply by coming forward and shouting for legitimate rights and justice, no one in the world would have had to shed blood.

However, she couldn’t help but step forward. She couldn’t understand why the empire had to bleed so much from the civil war. Sina wondered if she could come forward and convince at least a small part of the Imperial Army—and if that included the knights or the deputies, the victims of this war could be reduced even a little.

Barth Baltic reached out his hand toward Sina’s forehead. A slight flick of his finger could easily smash her head.

Sina clenched her teeth and looked at Barth Baltic’s fingertips.

Then, Barth’s fingertip tapped her left eye which was distorted by burns.

“You are lying.”

Sina’s pupils shook.

“You have no certainty in your own words, Sina. I don’t think there’s any reason for me to believe in something that you’re not even sure about yourself.”

Sina hastily stood up and tried to speak, but Barth tightly grabbed her cheeks with his two fingers to press her down. Sina couldn’t even budge.

Then Barth brought his face close to Sina’s ear and whispered.

“But I can see that you have the emperor’s essence.”

Sina’s shoulders trembled.

“I have the emperor’s essence?”

Sina couldn’t understand what Barth Baltic was talking about. It was a known fact that only the children of the emperor, like Gerard Gain, had the emperor’s essence.

But Barth Baltic’s words were strange.

“I have no idea what your identity is, but you certainly seem to be an important person to the emperor. And that’s all I need.”

Barth Baltic took his fingers off of Sina’s face and raised her up.

Sina and the knights surrounding her seemed perplexed.

Then, Barth turned Sina around toward the direction of the Magic Tower and slightly pushed her back.

“Go.”

“But Regent, this war is…”

“You’re right. There is no need to shed so much blood.”

Barth continued to speak without any expression.

“Shedding the blood of only one person is good enough. I will let you go back alive, so go and tell the man you believe to be the emperor to come out here.”

***

The knights from the Order of the Capital remained silent for a long time after Sina left.

They trusted and followed Barth Baltic until this time, and their loyalty for him remained unchanged.

However, Barth Baltic’s current behavior was hard for them to understand.

Barth was a soldier and a commander—a person who avoided being a good man on the battlefield. But not only did he stop the battle, but he also let the suspicious intruder go without asking any further questions.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to take her hostage?”

Pavan asked Barth Baltic. He already knew who Sina was from the reports he had received several times before. Although it was his first time seeing her face, he could immediately tell that she was the female knight who was known to be either tracking or accompanying the black-haired young man.

Most people around the black-haired young man died, but the fact that she was still alive and even claimed herself to be his watchdog meant that she was an important being to him.

‘

Then it would have been wise to hold her hostage.

’

Barth Baltic’s answer was short.

“The opponent is not a man who would care about the hostage.”

“...So you trust what that knight said—that the opponent is the emperor.”

“Didn’t you?”

Pavan didn’t answer. He was aware that there was someone powerful behind Hela, Nienna, and the Order of Huginn. He had never met the opponent before, but he knew that the opponent’s presence was just as huge as Barth Baltic.

It was still hard to be sure whether the opponent was the real emperor or not, but it was also hard to imagine him to be someone else at this point.

“Do you believe that the opponent will come out? That would be like committing suicide.”

“He will,” Barth answered.

‘

He will show himself in front of three hundred thousand Imperial soldiers on his own and face the enemy?

’

Pavan thought about whether he could do that himself, and then shook his head; he didn’t think that he could do so. Even a person who had decided to die would have a hard time coming forward in the face of three hundred thousand enemies.

“Didn’t you just see someone who did?” Barth muttered upon seeing Pavan’s face.

Pavan closed his mouth as he recalled the young female knight.

At that moment, the line formed by the soldiers standing in front of the Magic Tower began to split apart, revealing a person.

Seeing this, Pavan looked at the man who walked out—his eyes wide open as if he could not believe it.

A black-haired young man was trudging forward without a single piece of armor or protection. He did not show any hostility or tension, almost as if the three hundred thousand swords pointed toward him were toys.

“So he really did come out. Then I’ll go ahead and command the archers to…”

At that moment, Barth Baltic jumped up from his seat.

Pavan was perplexed upon seeing Barth Baltic’s expression.

“The emperor,” Barth Baltic muttered in a quiet voice.

“Um, sorry? The emperor? That young man is the emperor?”

Barth Baltic ignored Pavan’s question and began to stride forward.

Seeing this, Pavan panicked and tried to stop him, but couldn’t slow him down at all. Instead, he lost his balance and stumbled. The other knights quickly stepped forward to stop Barth as well.

“Regent! There is no need for you to step forward yourself! We can face him first, then…”

But Barth didn’t even bother to listen to the knights. The knights tried to grab Barth Baltic by the hem of his clothes in a hurry, but they rather ended up being dragged with him.

Pavan knew that it was no use trying to stop Barth at times like this.

“Back off! Don’t disturb the Regent!”

Eventually, Pavan ordered the knights to step back. But he was also very anxious.

He quickly hopped on his horse and shouted as he ran along the lines of the soldiers.

“All troops, get ready for battle!”

The soldiers tightened their grip on their swords and spears once again as they prepared to advance.

At the same time, Pavan bit his lips and looked at Barth’s back.

‘

If I read any strange signs, I will order the soldiers to charge immediately.

’

Pavan muttered to himself quietly.

***

Juan stood in the middle of the battlefield.

Barth got close enough to Juan that he could see Juan’s fluttering hair being blown by the wind.

Juan’s somewhat long hair, black eyes which had an unknown depth, and his loose posture even right before going to war was the same as the day Barth Baltic first met the emperor.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“You… haven’t changed a bit, emperor.”

Barth Baltic opened his mouth first.

At the same time, Juan smiled at Barth.

“You’ve gotten quite old, Barth.”

Barth realized just how old he was upon hearing Juan’s words. Barth recalled his long beard, stretched wrinkles and bent waist. He felt as if he had aged, something he had hardly felt until now.

“Aren’t you about halfway through your life in terms of Hornsluine’s age? Why do you look so old?” Juan asked curiously.

“I see that you’re still talking nonsense. What does my age have to do with anything?” Barth replied as if he was annoyed.

“I guess it really doesn’t matter. Then let’s talk about something that we all know.”

Juan drew the sword he was wearing around his waist. As soon as the sword came into sunlight, it began to glow red and burn softly.

Barth recognized that the sword was Sutra, the sword Juan had used when he was the emperor. Sutra had never been burning when Barth was dueling against Juan for training purposes.

“Gared Gain killed me.”

“I know.”

“Were you involved in that?”

“Yes.”

At that moment, a red trajectory cut through the air toward Barth Baltic.

In response, Barth swung the greatsword that he carried on his back as hard as he could. Dust blew in all directions with a shock that shook the ground.

Seeing this, the Imperial soldiers stepped forward in unison, causing a loud sound of footsteps to echo through the battlefield.

“Stop!”

But, at that moment, Barth shouted in a voice so loud that it was even louder than the sound of the soldiers’ footsteps.

The Imperial Army came to a stop at once.

Barth’s greatsword was pressing down upon Juan’s Sutra. Barth, who was four meters tall, was handling his two-handed greatsword quite freely with just one hand.

Meanwhile, Juan was holding out against Barth’s sword, but couldn’t push it away.

“I thought I’d be able to handle you since you have gotten old. But I guess I still can’t beat you in terms of physical strength.”

“I see that you are still shameless enough to say such weak things.”

Juan and Barth slowly brought down their swords. A murderous tension could be felt between the two, as if they were both ready to once again swing their swords at each other at any moment.

“You killed me and then shamelessly took over the position of the Regent. Why didn’t you just steal the throne instead? Why are you still sitting in the position of the Regent and getting old like that?”

“I have no interest in the residue that you left behind. I am content with living the rest of my life as a warrior.”

“A warrior? You call yourself a warrior after instigating Gerard—instigating my own son to stab me in the back?”

At that moment, Barth’s eyes shook.