Chapter 102: Shahatra’s Mountain (4)

It was the first time they’d seen magic in decades, so the priests were surprised. When they watched Khan descend like a god with blank expressions, Herarion smiled and said, “Thank you for being patient.”

“Y-your Majesty…!”

A priest burst into tears. Herarion quickly descended and comforted him.

* * *

Khan, the high priest, and the envoys of the empire had appeared at the same time, so there was no need for further explanations. The priests had faith in Khan and the high priest.

“So, Benedict’s soldiers are besieging Shaha right now?”

“That’s right. It’s been like this for several days already, and we are withering away inside the palace.”

“Is there anyone still on guard?”

“Yes, I heard that it’s a law to stand guard, so someone is always on guard duty.”

“Is there anything unusual?”

“Nothing noticeable, but it seems that messengers go to the capital every three days.”

“Every three days, huh… Do you happen to remember the last time a messenger departed?”

“I was informed that one departed last night.”

The enemy had no intention of taking over the palace. They wanted to force the priests to surrender, so they were simply waiting. Moreover, Shaha was the most remote place in Shahatra. As long as the enemy remained vigilant, they could block any reinforcements.

‘How could they be so careless?’

They had too much faith in the mountain.

The corners of Henry’s lips rose, and he said, “That’s good. Let’s do this.” Henry quietly told everyone his plan, and everyone looked puzzled.

“Is that… really possible?”

“I don’t see why not. How do you feel about the plan?”

Henry looked confident, and after some time, Herarion expressed his thoughts. “Sounds good. If it weren’t possible, I don’t think Lord Henry would have suggested it in the first place.”

“Thank you for trusting me, Your Majesty.”

Since Khan accepted the plan, the priests didn’t have any reason to object since Khan was a godlike being to them.

* * *

Shaila was assigned to besiege Shaha. The role of the army was simple: they camped around Shaha to apply pressure until the priests gave in, and the results were incredible. The soft-hearted Shaha people stayed inside the palace without even trying to resist, even though several days had passed since the start of the siege.

“Shaila, why don’t we switch shifts now?”

“Is it time already?”

“All you do is stare at Shaha, so of course, you don’t keep track of time.”

“Those damn priests, why don’t they just surrender? What’s holding them back?”

“Haha, let them resist as much as they want. After all, as soon as this rebellion is over, the Caliph people will become priests, not the Shaha.”

“Haha, poor guys. By the way…?”

“...?”

“...?”

Despite the fact that his comrade’s mouth was clearly moving, Shaila could not hear a single word.

‘What’s going on?’

To his comrade, Shaila was also moving his mouth like a fish, but no sound came out.

‘...Can it be?’

A spine-chilling silence. At that moment, Shaila could feel unpleasant goosebumps on his forearm.

/p>

‘What the hell…!’

It felt as if the entire world had gone silent. Shaila knew something was seriously wrong when he couldn’t even hear the night wind in the desert. When he tried to leave and alert everyone, Shaila felt his vision darkening.

“...!”

The ground was spinning. The sand under his feet was slowly swallowing him up, as if it had become a swamp.

“...!”

Shaila wasn’t the only one being sucked into the sand. His comrades nearby, the table in front of him, his sleeping bag, and the supplies were all being sucked into the sand.

‘Why, why aren’t my legs moving!’

For some reason, no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t get out of the sand. In addition, his voice was gone too.

The men surrounding Shaha all disappeared without a trace, buried in the sand.

“Is this the end?”

A man floated in the night sky. He watched the soldiers slowly sink into the sand and carefully looked around to see if there were any who had not yet been buried.

‘It’s done.’

Everyone involved with Benedict were all buried in the sand without a trace.

The man floating in the sky was none other than Henry. As he’d promised Khan and the priests, he removed all the soldiers with magic.

The overwhelming and spine-chilling power made Khan and the priests speechless.

* * *

“Prepare accordingly.”

“Alright.”

As their conversation wrapped up, Mordred got up from his seat. Benedict also got up and bowed. Mordred pulled out a Teleport scroll and tore it apart, disappearing in a flash of light.

‘...Damn this arrogant bastard.’

It had been impossible to use movement scrolls because of the illusion barrier that surrounded the mountain. However, Moredred was able to use the movement scroll because Benedict had La’s Sword.

‘When I get the king’s badge in my hands, my relationship with Arthus will end.’

He had been in contact with Duke Aruthus for quite some time because he wanted to fulfill his long-cherished wish to rule Shahatra as the desert's best warrior. Benedict had been preparing for this rebellion with Arthus for quite a long time, but it wasn’t a complete success without the king’s badge. Also, the collusion had a price. Arthus had demanded the power of Janus, which was passed down from royal generation to royal generation.

The power of Janus to govern death. Although he didn’t say it, Benedict knew why Arthus wanted the power of Janus and this knowledge made Benedict even more reluctant to hand it over.

‘I was expecting it, but I can’t help feeling angry when hearing about it.’

Now alone at the table, Benedict calmed down as he rubbed the bulging veins on his hands. He knew that this would eventually happen. Herarion would have no choice but to tell the royal family secrets to the counts in order to save his own life. However, Benedict was angry that the counts were too arrogant to send a messenger despite their negotiations.

‘I’ll cut all their heads off.’

Benedict believed that everyone was below him. “Shula!”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Gather the soldiers. I will take the initiative to prepare for the upcoming war.”

“I understand.”

Benedict was already acting like Shahatra’s new king. Shula disappeared into the darkness.

Benedict’s war had begun a long time ago.

* * *

Three days later, an unprecedented number of soldiers gathered at the northeast entrance of Shahatra Gorge. The soldiers were the empire's subjugation army. The subjugation army had grown so large that it was completely on a different level from a few days ago.

‘There’s a rumor that they gathered another thousand soldiers. Good thing I prepared extra horseshoes.’

Even in a single glance, the army looked massive. There were more than 5,000 soldiers per family. Compared to the imperial army, 5,000 was very small, but they were private soldiers.

‘Terion has 5,000, Oscar has 5,000, and the Shonan army has 1,000…’

Eisen was a little nervous about having so few soldiers, but Henry reassured him. There were many things to prepare before going to war. Henry had to pick up the magic horseshoes that he had commissioned and tell Eisen the overall plan before going to the meeting.

After completing all the basic preparations, Henry and Eisen headed towards the commander’s barracks.

Step!

When Eisen arrived at the much larger barracks, the commander of each army rose from their seats and greeted him.

“You may sit.”

Step!

Those who were gathered at the meeting were at the rank of Thousand Commander, which meant that they commanded a thousand soldiers each. Most of the Thousand Commanders were knights who were retired from the imperial army or S-class mercenaries who were treated with respect in the mercenary world.

Everyone was heavily armed and had solemn expressions. Standing behind Eisen, Henry looked at their faces and thought,

‘It’s full of insignificant guys.’

Among the private soldiers, Thousand Commander was a very high position since each army had only about 5,000 soldiers. However, in the imperial army, Thousand Commanders were only mid-level commanders.

In addition, most of the Thousand Commanders were made up of mercenaries or retired knights who had been recruited at the last minute. Only a few among them were from the imperial army.

‘They’ll be useful in commanding the soldiers, but that’s it.’

No matter how insignificant they were in Henry’s eyes, their role in commanding the soldiers was important. Although the subjugation was a competition, a large army of 10,000 would be annihilated in an instant if they were blinded by their personal achievements and did not cooperate.

That was why Henry had planned to build up Eisen’s achievements by using his detached troops as much as possible and leaving the direct command of the soldiers to the Thousand Commanders.

“Let’s start the meeting on strategy.”

Even Herarion joined the meeting.