Side Story Chapter 227

As Hubalt was one of the three empires on the continent, its territory was larger than other countries’ by an order of magnitude—meaning that it was quite far from its border to its capital. Even though Kireua and the others had gone through the Black Monster Forest to get to Hubalt, rather than crossing the border, it was still going to take them at least two weeks at least to reach the capital. Every second mattered to Kireua, so he decided to split the group into several teams.

“I would like you to lead the lords and knights, Sir Cain.”

Half of his original army had returned to Avalon with the survivors, but Kireua still had hundreds of people left in his army.

“Do you have something in mind?” Cain asked.

“Let’s split up. We’ll disguise ourselves as merchant groups with the lords as the leaders,” Kiruea answered.

Due to the group’s size, they were going to attract attention if they all traveled together. There were around five hundred people, so they could roughly divide themselves into ten groups.

“Five hundred or fifty, I don’t think our numbers matter. The entire continent is at war right now, so we’ll be under constant scrutiny. Wouldn’t it be better to travel in one group instead of dividing our forces?” Cain questioned.

“That is precisely why they won’t doubt our identity.”

“Pardon?”

“Arms merchants are the busiest people during a war,” Kireua reminded Cain.

“Ah...!” Cain gasped.

Kireua’s plan was to disguise his army as arms merchants. A merchant fulfilling a wartime contract could employ anywhere from a hundred people to as many as a thousand. The problem was, such a large group would be subjected to an identity check eventually. However, there were many renowned public figures in the army right now. Maybe Hubalt would offer to put a protection detail on a merchant group—Cain was getting ready for a possible battle.

On the other hand, small groups of merchants who only aimed for modest gains from an ongoing war would not be subject to the same level of scrutiny.

“No one will care about some arms merchants who deal with a handful of weapons. Besides, we’re going to throw in some bait too.”

“So that’s why you disguised as His Majesty,” Cain muttered.

Kireua looked totally different from before. Since he was Joshua’s son, all it took for Kireua to look like Joshua was dying his hair black and mimicking Joshua’s expressions. Kireua didn’t even have to use a Reipon, the artifact developed by Iceline.

“I understand how you changed your hair color, but what about your eyes?” Cain asked.

“It’s because of my demonic power. Ever since I started using ebon flames, I can change my eye color at will.”

“I see.”

“Anyhow, I’ll travel with Anna like this. With the Martial God himself wandering around in Hubalt, they’ll have to pay attention. They’ll probably send all of their available forces at me.”

Cain nodded in agreement. That was far different from how the empire would regard a few small groups of merchants. One person. The entire empire was going to be occupied by one person—it was none other than Joshua Sanders the Martial God, after all.

“Using yourself as bait... It’s a good idea

if

you’re competent enough,” Anna murmured.

“...You’re going to play an important role in this operation. Can I trust you with His Highness, Anna bel Grace?” Cain asked.

“I’m just an assistant for this. Kireua—no, His Highness is the key here. Well, you can trust me. When I’m with him, I can guarantee a speedy trip.”

With Anna’s wind spirit, she and Kireua could reach Hubalt’s capital long before the rest of the army. Knowing that, Cain nodded despite his other concerns.

“Although I don’t like the idea of placing such a burden on your shoulders, I do think it’s the best possible plan, Your Highness.”

“Indeed—besides, I need to prove myself,” Kireua said. He pointed at the group of people who were watching them with worried eyes. “I’ll use this as a chance to show them I’m the Martial God’s son. I don’t want to lose to Selim.”

“...You said that you’re going to use the same plan that His Majesty used to solve his crisis when he was young?”

“Yes; the operation is named, ‘Lure enemies to the east and attack in the west.’”

“There’s a saying for that in the eastern continent.[1]”

Kireua nodded. He was determined to recreate how the Emperor of Avalon had used his doppelganger to confuse his enemies in the past.

“Let’s split up the group first,” Kireua said.

This was three days before Kurz’s extravagantly indulgent party in the Hubalt Palace.

*

Standing on a pleasantly windy hill in Hubalt, Anna asked, “How do you feel about looking at the heart of the enemy?”

Kireua looked forward without answering her. It was still far away, but the hill gave him a full view of Hubalt’s capital.

Of course, there was no way that this kind of place would be unguarded.

“It’ll take days before the rest of the army arrives. Aren’t you going overboard?” Anna glanced back at the heap of unconscious soldiers behind them. There were at least two hundred of them, but Kireua had dealt with most of them on his own.

“You seem to have gotten stronger after your buddy left.”

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“...That ‘buddy’ said that I’m already strong without it,” Kireua bitterly replied.

The mention of Coal stirred anxiety in Kireua. Hubalt wasn’t their only problem. Even if Kireua could put an end to their ambitions, the Human Realm was already falling. The Emperor of Avalon had sacrificed decades of his life to protect this world and yet it was dying. As his son and an inhabitant of Igrant, Kireua couldn’t let that happen.

“Over there!”

A soldier came running up the hill, shouting. It seemed some more soldiers had realized that something was wrong.

“It’s r-really the Martial God...?”

“A-Ah, fuck. It’s Joshua Sanders. It’s really Joshua Sanders!”

The new soldiers went through a similar emotional process as the unconscious guards as soon as they saw Kireua. First was shock, and second was anger. Soon enough, those soldiers would experience the last stage, despair..

“We should report to His Majesty...!”

A mage pulled out a crystal ball, only to be immediately decapitated by an aura strike from dozens of meters away.

“Si-Sir Edin!”

“How dare he!”

The remaining soldiers flew into a rage upon seeing their colleague die. However, none of them dared to make a move because fear overwhelmed their anger. Even if they were from a country that was far from Avalon, these soldiers had heard many tales about the Martial God.

“W-Wait. Does the Martial God use a sword?” a quiet voice wondered.

“C-Come to think of it...?”

“Joshua Sanders favors a spear. Why is he using a sword...?”

“Is he... fake?”

The soldiers got a trace of courage back—but, naturally, Kireua wasn’t going to just stand around and watch them. He took a single step forward and the soldiers quailed.

“Do I have a reason to use a spear when I’m just dealing with you people?” Kireua tilted his head.

The soldiers couldn’t help but think that there were only two people on the continent who could be that arrogant in front of hundreds of soldiers.

“D-Don’t be discouraged! It’s just one person! One person!” their leader shrieked.

However, his efforts were in vain because the soldiers were overpowered by fear—and Kireua wasn’t stupid enough to miss that chance.

Kireua disappeared and in the blink of an eye, was right in front of the leader.

“What—?”

That was his last word. Whatever else he was going to say went flying into the air along with the blood pouring out the stump of his neck.

“S-Stop him! Stop the Martial God!”

Perhaps the soldiers could have held onto their last scraps of morale if the soldier had called Kireua an ‘enemy' instead of the Martial God. But that was just an idle thought as Kireua swung his sword once again. Most of these soldiers were just common infantry and were so terrified that they couldn’t even use their full power. They were helpless before Kireua.

“Hmm...” Anna hemmed and hawed as she watched Kireua tear through Hubalt’s troops like a wolf going through a herd of sheep for a long time. “Did he change? He seems like he’s gotten

too

merciless...”

Of course, Anna wasn’t worried; if anything, she thought that it was good news. A tyrant was better than a weak-hearted sage in troubled times. A gentle ruler would struggle with indecision at every difficult moment. That kind of ruler was unneeded in the current world. What the people of Avalon needed right now was a monarch who would rule with an iron fist, protecting them from experiencing the same tragedy.

“...Now he looks like an emperor. He’s more than capable of defeating that ridiculous older brother of his,” Anna muttered to herself.

Kireua ambled back over to Anna, covered in blood.

Anna opened her arms to him and smiled from ear to ear, thinking... the current Kireua was her type.

“Well done, Your Highness.” Anna chuckled.

1. The raw is ????(聲東擊西), which means the same as the operation title. ☜