Side Story Chapter 203

“Hahaha”

Kurz, the former cardinal and the current Emperor of Hubalt, laughed until the council chamber of the former Great Temple—now the second Imperial Palace—filled with the noise. Hubalt was now considered a war criminal responsible for starting the Second Continental War, but the rest of the continent would never have imagined what Hubalt had prepared before the war began.

“Your Majesty! We have successfully leaked our armies’ invasions!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, and we have confirmed that all other countries have increased the number of soldiers stationed near their borders.”

“Are there any peculiarities?” Kurz never let his guard down; he could not tolerate a single error. He was a meticulous man by nature and considered himself to be a brilliant strategist. He hadn’t been able to use his full potential as a priest, but he could now.

“Everything is going according to your plan, Your Majesty!”

“Hehehe, their strategists must be quite baffled.” Kurz smiled contently.

Just then, a messenger holding a blue flag rushed into the chamber. He held information key to deciding the success of Hubalt’s endeavors.

“Your Majesty! We have received a report that Sir Midas’s second battalion crossed the border of the Swallow Empire this noon!”

Kurz’s eyes lit up. Yes, this was it. No king would have seen Hubalt coming. The armies mobilizing at the borders was just a ruse to make the other countries think that Hubalt was starting multiple wars at once. Hubalt only had two real targets: Avalon and Swallow, which the first and second battalions had invaded, respectively.

The three empires had been maintaining the balance of the continent for a long time. The balance had shifted little by little over time, but Avalon, Swallow, and Hubalt had perfectly kept one another in check. Even if an ambitious tyrant were to show up, it wouldn’t be easy for him to start a war because the moment he mobilized his army, the other two empires would join hands to put him down. Thus, the three empires had tiptoed around each other for over a century.

‘No empire dared to start a war in the end because no emperor would want to be simultaneously attacked by the other two empires.’

Nevertheless, Hubalt attacked the two other empires first. Any strategist would call Hubalt crazy, but Kurz made the choice for a good reason. Avalon’s capital was currently devastated by a nearly unbroken chain of battles, and Swallow was occupied with their discord with Thran, their colony.

Hubalt didn’t have to worry the other countries who were still tiptoeing around the empires because those rats were opportunists. They were busy with monitoring their borders and would only make a move after news reached them of the two empires’ fall.

Hubalt would have a wealth of choices afterward. Those countries that belatedly volunteered to be Hubalt’s ally, the empire could pretend to embrace and then subjugate them later. Some countries might feel the threat and try to establish an alliance, but Hubalt could blackmail them by declaring that whoever joined the alliance would be attacked first.

“Your Majesty! The second battalion encountered Swallow’s army about three hours ago!”

Every head in the council chamber whipped around. It was the first battle of Hubalt’s invasion, so everyone was anxious to hear the results.

“And what happened?” Kurz asked.

“They overpowered Swallow’s army! The enemy didn’t have the slightest idea that we were going to attack them from behind, so they were completely helpless!”

The nobles of Hubalt let out a cheer.

“Good.” Kurz smiled from ear to ear. “Tell Midas to head directly to Swallow’s capital. We’ll disregard the other cities and seize the capital before the enemy can pull themselves together!”

“Yes, my lord!” The messenger saluted and rushed out of the chamber.

Kurz leaned against the throne, visibly more relaxed.

“It turns out that they’re nothing.”

“Hahahaha! We might actually get to see the day Hubalt rules the continent.”

“We must see it before we die. To be honest, if we manage to tear down Swallow and Avalon, aren’t the other countries nobodies?”

“The Martial God isn’t in Avalon, and Swallow has failed to control their colony for decades. Perhaps we’ve been scared of nothing; maybe we could have unified the continent long ago...”

The nobles talked as if they had already won the war—but there was something that they and Kurz hadn’t expected.

“I-I have an urgent message!”

“Isn’t that... a messenger from Avalon?”

The messenger with the blue flag was in charge of delivering reports related to Swallow. On the other hand, the messenger who entered the chamber just now was holding a red flag, meaning that he carried news from Avalon.

“What is it?” Kurz asked.

“We received reports from our informants scattered around Avalon that a grand army, which includes the troops of Avalono’s noble houses, is heading northwest!”

“N-Northwest...?”

All of the nobles' eyes widened.

“Isn’t that... where Hubalt is?”

* * *

The three Queen Consorts of Avalon quietly summoned the two princes. Charles wasn’t the only one who sensed the changes in their sons.

“Princess Iruca returned from the east just now.”

“She did?”

It had been a while since they had a family reunion, so everyone was beaming, especially Icarus.

A beautiful woman who took after Icarus entered the office.

“Greetings to Their Majesties.” Iruca bowed politely even though this was a family reunion; her two other mothers were also present, after all.

“Welcome home, Iruca.”

“What happened to Marquess Drenius?” Selim asked.

“Sorry. I lost him,” Iruca replied.

Selim’s face darkened.

Iruca tapped his back. “He abandoned his family too, so nothing could be done.”

“He even abandoned his family?”

“Yeah, so don’t worry. Defeated generals can be forgiven, but cowards and traitors cannot.”

Their leader had even abandoned his family, so there was no guarantee that his subordinates wouldn’t face the same fate. Drenius and the others would tear each other apart on their own.

“Anyhow, I’ve heard all about it.” Iruca’s eyes sparkled.

“Heard what?”

“My adorable baby brothers are going after the throne all of a sudden, huh?” Iruca grinned.

Kireua and Selim simultaneously gave her an odd look.

“Baby brothers?”

“Why are we your baby brothers?”

Iruca was technically one year older, but no one really believed that because their birthdays were at most only a few months away from one another.[1]

“Hmm?” Iruca narrowed her eyes. “My support must not mean a lot to you guys.”

“What?”

“I want to support my younger brothers, not older brothers. Who wants to be my younger brother?” Iruca beamed at her boggling brothers. “A strategist sister who manipulates her baby brother emperor from behind the scenes! Hahaha, just imagining it gets me so excited.”

“Who does she get it from...?” Icarus looked at Iruca and let out a long sigh.

“What do you mean? It’s all you, Mom.”

“Wow, you’re cheeky. I told you that you won’t be able to get married if you continue to act wild like this.”

“Hmph. I am not getting married unless there’s another guy like Dad in this world,” Iruca scoffed.

Icarus gave the others an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I got too excited despite gathering all of you here. It has been a while since we had last seen each other, so I couldn’t—”

“It’s okay, don’t mind us.” Charles gestured at Icarus reassuringly. “It was sweet, really.”

Iceline nodded in agreement with a smile on her lips.

“There’s no way there’s a man who’s handsome, strong, and competent like His Majesty, so I don’t think you have to worry about me getting married, Your Majesty,” Iruca continued, as if her mother’s concerns hadn’t even registered in her mind.

“Well, that is true. His Majesty is a very exceptional man.”

“Ahhh... When will I be able to meet a man like him?”

“Reincarnating as me in your next life would be faster,” Icarus retorted.

“Like mother, like daughter, I guess,” Charles mumbled.

“...I agree,” Iceline quietly replied.

“In any case, I, Iruca, shall determine who is more suited to be the next emperor of Avalon,” the princess pompously declared with her chin held high.

“What?”

Iruca spread a long map over the office table. “We have two methods to invade Hubalt. One is to cross the northwest border and strike Hubalt’s capital—that’s the quickest way. Our enemies are also taking this route, so there is a high chance that we’ll run into the enemy’s main forces.”

Selim and Kireua’s faces darkened. The Battle God might be away, but they would have to contend with Hubalt’s strongest knight order, handpicked and trained by the Battle God himself.

“This way, we’ll be attacking and defending at the same time. We can stop their march on Arcadia and push them right back to their capital, driving our blades right into their heart,” Iruca continued.

“...What’s the other way, then?”

“Here.” Icruca pointed to a region in the south that was closer to Arcadia.

Everyone's eyes widened.

“The Black Monster Forest...?”

Iruca nodded. “Yeah, we can pass through that hellscape and ambush them.”

Neither of the choices were an easy pick. One of them meant facing the enemy head-on, and the other would take them through a place that had resisted humanity’s best efforts and was crawling with ferocious monsters.

“Keep in mind that we’ll split our forces in two.”

“What?!”

“We’re taking both routes.”

“What the fu—” Kireua bit back his cuss out of respect for the Queen Consorts. “Both routes have a low chance of success even if we commit to only one—but you’re going to split our army in two?”

“Those who take the first route will have to attack and defend, so they’ll inevitably be slower, giving the enemy time to prepare. But we need to take territory as quickly as possible.”

They were doomed if the Battle God changed his mind and returned, and since Iruca knew that, she was moving their plans forward as fast as humanly possible. The two princes understood Ircua’s plan, of course, but they had to decide who was going to take these dangerous paths.

“You know that both routes present a high chance of dying, right? After the dragons disappeared, the monsters in the Black Forest got even more wild—and I don’t need to say anything about Hubalt’s knights.”

Hubalt’s elite forces, or the untamed Black Monster Forest. Were anyone forced to choose between the two, they would certainly prefer the former.

“Now this is just my opinion, but if one of you two has to take the route through the Forest, the more dangerous one....” Iruca looked back and forth between Selim and Kireua, who swallowed nervously.

She grinned.

“I think it should be you, Kireua.”

1. The Korean age system has all Koreans get older every January 1st, but this system has been abolished. ☜