Chapter 163 – The Ones Who Started Everything (1)

Pavan felt like his entire world was collapsing.

‘He brought together a third of the Imperial Army, but is now going to disperse them without even trying to do anything?’

With a force of three hundred thousand troops, it was possible to even overthrow the current empire and establish a new country. However, Barth was now saying that he wanted the troops to return to their home base just because he lost a duel. Such a thing had never been seen before.

“Regent!”

Pavan clenched his teeth and knelt down before Barth.

“Please, you cannot give up like this! Everything happened too quickly last night, in just an instant. You were unconscious for just a short moment. Aren’t you still alive and well now?”

Barth Baltic’s decision would be no different than a declaration of political suicide. Barth Baltic’s position in Torra had already become extremely unstable. Not only were the people hostile toward him, but he had turned the Church into his enemy by insulting the emperor right in front of them.

Pavan closed his eyes; it was clear to him that Barth wouldn’t be able to hold out for even a minute if he didn’t return with the army. The Pope or the Templars who held grudges against Barth may immediately point their swords toward him.

“It’s not only your own destruction, Regent! What are you going to do with those who have trusted and followed you until now, and what about your knights? Are you going to abandon your desire to make a new country and a new system just because you lost a duel?”

“Pavan,” Barth quietly replied upon hearing Pavan’s words that were filled with frustration. “I’ve already abandoned all of you once.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You must have felt it too—this civil war could have gotten much more disastrous than anyone expected. The empire could have lost three hundred thousand soldiers, a huge number of military officers, and even the emperor. I tried to drive the emperor to his destruction even at the risk of losing you all.”

Pavan did not answer, only his lips continued trembling.

“You guys were nothing more than a weight I was going to tie to the emperor to sink him to the bottom of the sea.”

“...I don’t care even if that’s true! Don’t you already know that humans are so terribly stupid no matter how many of them gather? Numbers are meaningless. The only thing that matters is the one person who can lead them all. We chose you as that one person! If the emperor sinks and you are able to rise in return, we are willing to…”

“Don’t say anything that you don’t truly mean, Pavan. You just don’t want your political ambitions to end here like this.”

Pavan looked directly at Barth with his trembling eyes.

“And is that really so wrong? I abandoned my master and my hometown to achieve success. Are you going to tell me that it is bad for you to abandon the emperor and three hundred thousand Imperial troops now? Those people are loyal to you, just like I am. If this was an ordinary army, they would have already charged at the enemy last night.”

“That’s not what I meant, Pavan. In fact, I quite like how ambitious you are. You remind me of myself when I used to be young—when I was a young officer among the Hornsluines.”

Pavan remained silent upon hearing Barth’s words.

“And that’s why I’m doing this—not just for myself, but for you as well. I know of at least one man who is in a terrible situation due to pointing his sword toward the wrong opponent, someone who shouldn’t be messed with, only for the sake of pursuing ambition.”

Barth Baltic, the last survivor of the Hornsluines, continued to speak with a face more lonely than ever.

“I asked Hela to take care of you and the Order of the Capital. Her answer to my request was ambiguous, but no one is as good as her at recognizing talents. The purge will not be as severe as you think.”

“Then why are you going back to Torra? If your purpose is just to surrender, joining the enemy’s army will be enough. Why would you go out of your way to go back to Torra and be humiliated…?”

Barth smiled bitterly.

“I unfairly stole this empire from the emperor.”

Pavan closed his mouth.

“So I want to try as hard as I can to return it to him in its original state. The emperor will return amidst the cheers of the people of the empire, and he will make the vicious leader of the heterogenous races kneel down and then take back the throne. I think it will be quite a sight.”

“But… but why would you…”

Barth stared at Pavan without answering. Pavan felt chills running down his spine upon seeing Barth’s calm gaze.

“Is it for all of us?”

“Pavan.”

“Are you planning to sacrifice yourself in the most humiliating way just in order to protect the Order of the Capital and the Imperial Army from the purge?”

Barth did not answer.

***

Half an hour ago.

Hela was glaring at Barth Baltic. She tried to figure out if Barth was lying or joking, but all she could see from him was the confidence and the modesty of a loser.

“Is that all? Just explaining why you wanted to kill His Majesty?”

“Yes. That’s what our bet was.”

“It wasn’t about sending back the Imperial Army or you crawling in front of His Majesty if you lost?”

“No. There were no such things. Besides, it was a private duel. We can’t make bets on such public matters.”

“...That’s true. But…”

Hela clicked her tongue as if she didn’t know what to say. Originally, she had no doubt that Juan and Barth were fighting that fierce duel for something very important, and assumed that the duel was the reason why the Imperial Army didn’t make a move even when Barth and Juan collapsed almost at the same time.

“That’s ridiculous of His Majesty. Did he not know just how high the stakes were in this war?”

“He had no choice but to obsess over it. And don’t worry about the troops. The Imperial Army will disband.”

Hela opened her eyes wide.

“Are you serious? Why?”

“I thought about the reason why I started that duel yesterday.”

Barth Baltic was silent for a moment.

Meanwhile, Hela was bothered by the prolonged silence, but patiently waited for Barth to open his mouth again.

The silence continued for a long time, but Barth soon opened his mouth.

“I like you damn things, and I don’t want all of you to die.”

“Um… do you mean our army?”

“I’m talking about humans. There’s no reason for three hundred thousand soldiers to bleed on this land. I think that was why I was relieved when the emperor decided to step forward.”

“...Why? You aren’t a human, and there are so many humans that hate you. So why?” Hela asked.

“Hornsluines have already been destroyed, and it’s not like I can have children either. All I have are the knights that I’ve taught, as well as the loyal army they have nurtured. I made a ridiculous declaration yesterday—that I will become the new emperor of the new empire with them, when all I am doing is pushing them toward their deaths.”

Hela snorted with a distorted expression upon hearing Barth Baltic’s words.

“That really is quite a ridiculous declaration.”

“I felt good when I made the declaration. But I think that was my mistake. After all, I could never abandon my knights and the army. Here I am, thinking that it would be nice for them to live a little longer.”

Hela leaned her back against the chair and tapped her fingers on the table, annoyed. Soon, she grumbled as if she was bothered.

“If you’d constantly been shaving to get rid of your horns, I might have wanted you to become the new emperor from this war. Ah, and if you hadn’t destroyed my family, stolen the knights I trained, or driven countless people from the Eastern territory to their deaths by blatantly isolating the East.”

“What sarcasm.”

Hela leaned over and glared at Barth.

“I’ll give you some conditions. After all, just the dissolution of the Imperial Army is not enough. Last night, you showed everyone that you can fight on an equal footing with His Majesty. Of course, I highly doubt that anyone who saw yesterday’s duel would dare to raise their voice against His Majesty even as a mistake, but the fact itself may spread in the form of rumors—that there was a man who is just as strong as His Majesty. The existence of such a strong man itself is a threat to the empire.”

Hela’s words and intentions were clear.

“You want me to give my head to the emperor?”

“...And that’s what the public opinion wants. The return of His Majesty after he kills the monster from the heterogeneous race. It’s messy, but that’s just politics.”

“I’ve already lived long enough, so I don’t care if I die. But I’d like to limit the bloodshed to myself. If that is possible, then I’ll accept your offer.”

“...I will request His Majesty to have mercy on your knights and the army under the condition that the Imperial Army is disbanded immediately. But keep in mind that His Majesty will be the one to make the decision in the end.”

“We have a deal. The emperor that I know will make a wise decision.”

Barth leaned his back against the chair with a calm expression.

On the other hand, Hela stared at him for a while, then opened her mouth.

“So why did you want to kill His Majesty anyway?”

“Tell the emperor to come and listen to my reason in person. There’s no reason for me to tell such things to a trifling envoy.”

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“I’m sorry that I’m nothing but a trifling envoy. I would also like to know if you still want to harm His Majesty?”

“I want to kill him,” Barth answered without the slightest hesitation. “But I couldn’t beat him. I regretted that back then, I couldn't kill him with my own hands, but I once again failed to do so even though I had the opportunity. The emperor was not at his peak strength physically. He didn’t make use of magic, and he didn’t have Telgramm. He couldn’t even use Sutra properly. Even so, I still failed to beat him. Now, the only thing I can do is surrender in order to protect my knights and the army.”

“How ridiculous. However, I can relate to you in a sense that I desperately want to kill you, but don’t have the power to do so. It’s pretty frustrating when you can’t kill someone when you really want to. Hey, wait. Did you say that His Majesty was not at his peak physically?”

“Yes. And it’s not related to the fact that he doesn’t have Mananen McLeir’s heart right now. He was not even as good as he was before he got Mananen McLeir’s mana heart—and I’m talking about his peak, right before the empire was just found.”

At that moment, Hela frowned as if she had just made a mistake. While she immediately restored her calm expression, Barth realized that Hela was hiding something.

Barth bent down toward Hela.

“What is it? Did something happen to the emperor?”

“No, everything’s fine. I’m just concerned that he is still sleeping when the Imperial Army is about to be disbanded at any minute. I’m afraid that we will be scolded by His Majesty if you decide to run away while he is asleep.”

‘

She’s definitely hiding something.

’

Barth could immediately notice that Juan was in bad condition. Hela’s acting was perfect, but she couldn’t fool Barth. Knowing Juan, he would have been the one to run and visit Barth to demand an answer on his own instead of sending an envoy.

Hela stood up from her seat as she realized that Barth had noticed that something was going on. She refused to release any more information.

“Then hurry up and disband your army. Go home, wash yourself, and sleep.”

“Tell the emperor that I hope he gets well soon—and that I will be looking forward to meeting him in Torra, alive and well.”

Hela’s face distorted, but she left the tent without looking back.

***

Opert opened the door of the ward.

Seeing him, the people who had been waiting impatiently jumped up from their seats and tried to approach Opert.

However, Nienna’s shout stopped all of them immediately.

“Sit back right now!”

There was no one who could move an inch after Nienna’s harsh order.

Nienna had arrived early in the morning with the Northern Army, and was told about Juan and Barth’s duel. The news that Juan beat Barth, but was in critical condition made Nienna nervous.

Nienna asked the question that people were the most curious about.

“Is His Majesty all right?”

Opert shook his head with a heavy expression.

“The bleeding is not stopping, and the wound itself is too big.”

“Is it that serious?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. It’s a wound that would have instantly killed any ordinary person just from the shock. But not only is His Majesty holding out, but he also seems to be trying to recover his own wounds. Nevertheless, he is still bleeding too much. I wonder where all that blood is even coming from.”

Nienna bit her finger with a nervous look on her face.

“His Majesty has the ability to recover his body. I’ve seen him recover from even worse wounds before. Furthermore, he has other abilities on top of that which help him recover in critical situations. So why isn’t he getting better?”

All those who had joined Juan’s side, including Sina, Dilmond, Anya, Haild, and Hela were gathered in front of the ward. They too had seen Juan’s incredible ability to recover before. This situation was utterly frustrating and unexpected, since they all thought he would recover easily just like the other times.

At that moment, Anya quietly murmured.

“Barth Baltic’s horns.”