At a watchtower above a fortress.

  A man was watching the sight of Roan leading the army in march.

  He was Chris, a retainer of Roan and the president of Agens.

  When the other retainers were each receiving major and important missions, he too separately received a crucial mission.

  “Since the lord has moved, raise the surveillance system on that man to the highest level. Transfer in all the agents of Agens and the spy animals we received from the Bureau of Druids.”


  “But sir, if we do that, the intelligence line from other sides will all stop.”


  Pens spoke with a worried look.

  However, Chris was determined.

  “The important thing right now is monitoring him. After this point in time, do not miss a single cough from him.”


  “Hmm. Yes. Understood.”


  Pens couldn’t ask anymore and lowered his head.

  However, he couldn’t hide just one point of doubt.

  “But will he really move?”


  “If there is something, he will definitely move. Because……”


  Chris paused for a moment.

  Gulping back a dry throat, Pens stared at Chris’ face.

  “Right now is the best opportunity.”


  This wasn’t only Chris’ thought.

  It was also the thought of Roan and Clay, who had built this plan.

  “Hmm.”


  Pens wordless nodded his head.

  The two people, until the precession of the legion couldn’t be seen, stood still at that place.

  Like that, the time flowed on.

  *****

  The news of the Tale Barony reached the capital, Miller, about ten days later.

  The information delivery system was still inadequate.

  At first, they showed guarded looks at the movement of a large scale legion, but once they learned that the goal was the subjugation of the Poskein Lake, they instead laughed loudly at them and showed no particular interest.

  Like that, most of the people thought that Poskein Lake Subjugation was a foolish and meaningless war.

  “We have finally caught his tail!”


  The Agens director’s office’s door abruptly opened and Pens appeared.

  Chirs, who was trapped under an incredible pile of documents, abruptly stood up.

  “As expected, he moved as we thought.”


  “Yes. It is as the lord and director Clay’s expectations.”


  Faintly smiling, Pens passed the paper he was holding.

  Chris, as he read the content written on the paper, creased his brows.

  “So it wasn’t Duke Bradley Webster but Count Jonathan Chase.”


  “Yes. Because of that, it seems that there was a confusion even between the agents.”


  Chris nodded his head at Pens’ answer.

  “Good. Continue to carry out the monitoring on him.”


  “Understood.”


  Pens, along with the answer, jumped out of the director’s office.

  It was a situation where even a single moment was precious.

  There wasn’t the leisure to delay even a bit.

  ‘Kali Owells. You bastard has bit down on the bait.’


  Originally, Agens was monitoring Kali’s surroundings on Roan’s order.

  But due to numerous battles that had continued since the Poskein Exodus, they couldn’t fully use their intelligence power.

  Due to that, although they did notice that Kali was showing disturbing movements to a certain degree, they hadn’t had a clear grasp of the situation.

  ‘Furthermore, because the first place Kali lined up was to Duke Bradley Webster.’


  Even before Io presented the Tale Region to Roan, Kali was constantly sending bribes to Duke Bradley Webster.

  Thanks to that, there was a confusion in the Agens agents’ information collection and analysis.

  Within such situation, Roan and Clay made up a single trick.

  That was the Poskein Lake Subjugation.

  In the Poskein Lake Subjugation, there were two goals.

  One was to literally subjugate the Poskein Lake.

  And the other one was to make Kali’s scheme rise up to the surface.

  They had predicted that he would definitely show some kind of movement if the surrounding situation changed.

  Their prediction hit the mark.

  Possibly thinking of the Tale Legion’s Poskein Lake Subjugation as the best opportunity, Kali moved rapidly and noisily unlike before.

  Agens didn’t miss this chance.

  Furthermore, the Agens of now even possessed many spy animals received from the Bureau of Druids.

  ‘In the end, we found out that the man Kali was lining behind was Count Jonathan Chase. Furthermore, the fact that he has already seized most of the county’s military too……’


  To a point of wondering how the things had progressed to this state, Kali’s hands were already spread throughout the entire County.

  However, this wasn’t Chris’ nor Agens’ fault.

  The kingdom was too wide.

  Furthermore, Roan had experienced too many things within a short amount of time.

  Agens, which had just been born, grasping everything was close to impossible.

  Also.

  ‘Since the most important person to us isn’t Sir Count Lancephil but our lord.’


  Io was pushed down in the order of priority.

  At least, if the help of Bureau of Druids wasn’t there, they would have missed it.

  Chris quickly prepared the report and then took out a messenger bird. 1

  Pdududuk!

  The messenger bird tilted its head left and right, then soon flew out the window with a strong flap of its wings.

  On its leg, a small tube containing the report was attached.

  Chris looked at the southern sky and inhaled deeply.

  ‘My lord. It seems a red season will start once again.’


  A season of blood.

  The time of war was coming back.

  *****

  “It’s enormous.”


  Brian, who was wearing heavy armor, shook his head as he looked at the fleet that completely filled the entire lakeside.

  Although there already was a time they used the Tale Navy’s fleet back during the Baron Elton Coat’s rebellion, it felt like the size had increased much more than back then.

  Roan, who was next to him, proudly smiled and nodded his head.

  “Daiv has done well.”


  Honestly, it was above his expectation.

  Tale Navy’s warships, which were much harder and faster than regular sailboats, hung triangle sails and were able to sail easily even in headwinds and reach a fairly fast speed.

  On top of that, the sharp iron spikes attached not only on the stem and the stern as well as all around the ship impeded the approach of underwater monsters. 2

  Besides that, they had also meticulously analyzed the Poskein Lake’s topography and the monsters and made various preparations.

  Furthermore, the ones who had made such preparations weren’t only the Tale Navy.

  The Alchemy Department, the Engineering Department, and the Reno Magic Tower had collaborated and created two magic tools, and these were objects that could be described as so-called wonders.

  ‘If there was time, we could have made more plenty of them, but……’


  Currently, they could only load only one per ship at most.

  Of course, making at least that many was a great result too.

  “Brian.”


  Roan organized the distracting thoughts, and looked at Brian.

  “Yes, sir.”


  Brian slightly lowered his head as he answered.

  “You will lead the heavy armor troop Vende and two thousand-man troops, and……”


  For a while, a furtive instruction continued.

  “Yes sir. I will carry out the instructions.”


  Brian quickly saluted and then immediately moved his feet.

  Although the heavy armor clashed loudly and made clanging sounds, his movements at least were very quick.

  Roan did not look at him any longer.

  It was because a shout he had been waiting for had came from the lakeside’s fleet.

  “We have finished boarding everyone, sir!”


  At Austin’s shout, Roan slowly moved his steps.

  He climbed up onto the largest ship amongst the fleet.

  Daiv saluted and lowered his head.

  At the end of the mast, the legion’s flag and the general’s flag symbolizing Roan were hung.

  The flags, at the west wind that blew timely, fluttered powerfully.

  The elegant crests and the majestic writings showed off their splendor.

  “Please give the order to set sail.”


  At Daiv’s words, Roan climbed up onto the ship’s forecastle and drew out the Travias Spear. 3

  Chang!

  When he inserted mana, the spear, which had been about the length of a forearm, extended and soared.

  The black handle of the spear took the light and flashed.

  Roan, as he felt the hundreds, thousands of pairs of gazes pouring down on him, shouted aloud.

  “Sail!”


  The moment the order fell, the sound of horn followed.

  Vvuuuuu!

  At the same time, the gigantic ships began to softly move with sounds of wood twisting.

  Ggiiiig.

  With the flagship carrying Roan at the lead, the Tale Navy’s fleet moved in perfect order.

  Their goal was the Poskein Lake’s subjugation, and their destination was the Exos Island, which they planned to use as a military port.

  The remaining time.

  ‘There isn’t much time.’


  Roan gritted his teeth.

  The Agens’ report he received right after marching off filled his head.

  Although it was something he had expected, he couldn’t help but be annoyed.

  ‘Kali Owells. You probably think that the things are flowing as you wish.’


  In reality, he was merely caught in the trap Roan had set.

  ‘But it is true that the situation is more difficult than I thought.’


  He had tried to perfectly snare and bring him out, but the situation was poor.

  ‘I’ll have to give the flesh and save the bones.’


  The world was still much too great an existence to move according to his will.

  *****

  Ggiaaaag!

  A monstrous scream hit the ears.

  The light leather armors made for above water battles were already drenched wet.

  Piercing through the faintly fallen dark, an amazing number of monsters crawled up the ships.

  “Block them! Stab with the spears!”


  “Arrows! Fire the arrows!”


  The ten-man commanders, the hundred-man commanders, and the thousand-man commanders’ voices echoed noisily.

  “Uwaaaah!”


  “Die!”


  The soldiers, along with roars, swung their knives, spears, axes, and swords.

  Each time, the monsters sprayed blood and died.

  “The port side deck is being pierced!” 4

  “The port! The port!”


  Frantic voices rang out.

  When the soldiers on the deck were moving to port a moment late.

  Paat!

  One man, with a sound of wind, landed on the center of the portside deck.

  Simultaneously.

  Pabababat!

  Sharp sounds of impacts hit the ears.

  A black spear rapidly spun and massacred the monsters that had climbed onto the ships.

  “Ah! Lord!”


  “Lord!”


  The soldiers who had ran up a moment late shouted with exhilarated expressions.

  The very man who was freely running through the port side deck as he split the monsters into halves was Roan Tale.

  Ssskuk!

  The spear’s blade soared diagonally and cut through a monster’s entire body.

  Roan directly climbed up onto the edge of the deck and raised his spear up high.

  “Taemusa!” 5

  A resonant voice echoed through the battlefield.

  Suddenly.

  “Sir! Taemusa at ready!”


  An aura that electrified and rang through the skin exploded out.

  On each ship’s center deck, soldiers wearing crimson helmets appeared.

  They were the Baron Tale House’s very elite soldiers who had passed the impartial selection test and trained the Tale Mana Technique.

  The men who consciously refused the title of knights and desired to be called Taemusa.

  Unlike the traditional knights, they wished to fight while mixed together with the soldiers.

  Sssuguk!

  Roan pierced the head of a monster approaching below his feet, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

  “Massacre them!”


  A horrifying order fell.

  “Yes sir!”


  From each ship, resounding voices were heard.

  At the same time, the crimson-helmeted Taemusas sprinted to the port and starboard decks.

  They, going past the regular soldiers and onto the very front, swung each’s weapons.

  The weapons, faintly wrapped in mana, cut through the air.

  Ggiaaaag!

  The monsters screamed horrifying shrieks as they fell off.

  The Taemusa’s skills were still not comparable to traditional knights.

  But with just the fact that they had learned a mana technique and the fact they knew how to use mana, they displayed a much greater strength than regular soldiers.

  ‘With this subjugation, they will grow even further.’


  Watching the actions of the Taemusas, Roan gritted his teeth.

  At the same time, he kicked off the deck and soar into the air.

  The spearhead flashed and shined a light, then cut apart the space along with a sharp sound of impact.

  Pbububububuk!

  One after another, the monsters’ heads exploded with a horrifying sound.

  “Kinis!”


  At Roan’s call.

  [Over here!]

  A sharp and buzzing voice was heard.

  Soon, a small column of water soared up below Roan’s feet.

  Tat!

  Stepping on the column of water with the tip of his feet, Roan soared into the air once again.

  To other people’s eyes, it seemed as if he was moving nimbly while stepping on the monsters’ corpses floating on the lake’s surface.

  “Are you not tired?”


  Roan asked in a quiet voice.

  Ever since the battle had begun, Kinis had continuously been using the power of the spirits.

  Because Roan’s level of aura of water was low and Kinis’ own growth was in a slowed state, she just may experience an excessive stress.

  However, Kinis was overflowing with strength for some reason.

  [Nope! Instead, I’m getting more lively when I use my power?]

  Her voice also seemed to find it hard to believe.

  “Then that’s good!”


  Roan widely swung his spear and formed a faint smile.

  ‘Is it because of piece of Biate somewhere in the lake……’


  The reason Kinis was able to display a much stronger power than usual.

  It may perhaps be because of the piece holding the essence of water that the queen of water Biate had left as she died.

  ‘Anyway, now is the time to focus on the battle!’


  Throwing away the distracting thoughts, Roan called out to Kinis once more.

  “Kinis.”


  [Got it!]

  With a short answer, Kinis made a solid column of water.

  Roan landed lightly on top of it, and then shook his spear in every direction.

  Ssskuk! Sssuguk!

  Ggiaaaag!

  The monsters that swam and jumped through the surface of the water, without offering a single proper resistance, died off.

  The Tale Barony wasn’t the only thing that had grown during the winter.

  Roan Tale.

  He too had achieved an absolutely remarkable growth.

  Not only the Flamdor Mana Technique, the spearmanship from real battles, and the Reid art of fighting, the Dion roots and the Flepsse Spearmanship became a great help in Roan’s growth and development.

  Pububububuk!

  Roan, word for word, massacred the monsters and then lightly jumped onto a ship.

  “Throw the iron nets!”


  It was one of the tools Daiv had made in preparation for the Poskein Lake Subjugation.

  Soon, a rattling metallic sound was heard from the poop deck. 6

  Splash! Splash!

  With a heavy sound, a great splash of water sprayed out.

  Ggiiiik!

  With a sound of wood rubbing against each other, the ship’s direction turned slightly to the right.

  Sinking under the surface of the water, the tough and strong iron net swooped onto the monsters.

  Gkieeeek!

  The monsters screamed and tried to escape, but the Daiv’s seamanship was much greater than they thought.

  Furthermore, the entire fleet had thrown the iron nets.

  The monsters that had energetically attacked were unable to find a place to escape and panicked.

  Chrrrrr!

  The iron nets, with metallic sounds, wrapped around the monsters.

  “Drag them up onto the surface of the water!”


  The moment the order was given, two Taemusas grabbed the lever on the poop deck.

  Because the height of even just the iron nets was so great, it was impossible to pull them up with ordinary soldiers’ strength.

  Daiv too, even after preparing the iron nets, had worried due to this problem.

  At that moment, the Reno Magic Tower and the Engineering Department stepped up.

  The engineering department created the levers that could pull up the iron nets, and the Reno Magic Tower carved a small-scale power-up magic array so that the levers could work with a little amount of strength.

  Sssg! Sssg! Sssg!

  Two Taemusas, flowing in mana, turned the lever around in circles.

  Suddenly, the iron nets of incredible weight, nets full of monsters at that, rose up above the surface of the water.

  Roan, who had been standing at the poop deck, shouted aloud.

  “Pour down the arrows!”


  It was the order they had been waiting for.

  The archers, who had been lined up along the deck, pulled their bow strings without a delay.

  Ping! Piing! Pipipiping!

  With sharp sounds of impact, tens, hundreds of arrows cut across the air and planted themselves onto the surface of water.

  Pububububuk!

  The monsters, which were caught in the iron net and couldn’t move a bit, became like porcupines just like that.

  Kkeueeg!

  The shrieks of dying breaths hit the ears.

  The surface of the lake that had been blue was dyed with a red light.

  It wasn’t because the sunset had fell in the west sky.

  ‘This is war.’


  Roan forcefully put away emotional thoughts.

  Standing on top of the poop deck, he looked at the soldiers.

  “Now, the sun will set soon.”


  If it was a usual war of humans against humans, it should had been a time to take a rest.

  However, the war with the monsters was different.

  The real battle began after the sun had set.

  After calming his breath, Roan spoke in a quiet but powerful voice.

  “Prepare for the night battle.”


  At that moment, Kinis’ complaining voice was heard.

  [Eei. My skin gets bad if we stay up……]

  *****

  “So it really is like that……”


  Count Io Lancephil spat out a long sigh with a distressed expression.

  Even when he had first heard the news, he simply couldn’t believe it.

  Merely few days ago, he had spent a joyful time together with countless retainers.

  But that had all disappeared as if it was a lie.

  It felt as if he had dreamt a round of happy dreams.

  “Hohoho.”


  A despondent laughter flowed out.

  He looked at Eik Lamus, his retainer and the one who took on the big and small works of the county, who was standing next to him.

  “Are you saying that the knight order, the fief troop, and the magic troop’s core commanders are all standing on Kali Owells’ side?”


  “It’s not certain because we have looked into it so carefully and secretly, but eight out of ten, they seem to be standing on that side.”


  His expression was shamed.

  “Hohoho.”


  Io let out a dispirited laugh once more.

  “I thought that I had treated them well in my own way……”


  They were all retainers whom he favored.

  However, most of them had betrayed him.

  Because it was Io, who was known by the fief’s citizens as virtuous lord and a good natured noble even amongst the nobles, the shock was much greater.

  At that moment.

  “It probably is due to the enfeoffment problem, sir.” 7

  The young man sitting on the opposite side of Io carefully opened his mouth.

  He was Roan’s right-hand man and the president of Agens, Chris.

  Chris had already left the Mediasis Castle and had entered the Pavor castle.

  “Enfeoffment?”


  Io still looked dispirited.

  Chris slightly nodded his head as he answered.

  “Sir Count Lancephil did not grant land to your retainers because of the reason that the fief was a key border region contiguous to the Byron Kingdom and the Istel Kingdom. This was a judgment that managing it as one would be a powerful advantage in border defense.”


  Io silently nodded his head.

  Chris’ words continued on.

  “Due to that, the Count Lancephil House’s retainers, even those whose nobility reached Viscount, don’t have a land of their own. Even when comparing it with just the Count Chase House bordering to the west, there is a big difference compared to the House granting even to those who are baronets a small land.”


  “Hmm.”


  Io, with an uncomfortable expression, leaked a groan.

  He too had noticed to a certain extent that his retainers were feeling disappointed about that part.

  But if he were to divide the fief and grant them for personal reasons, a great problem may be created later on during a foreign kingdom’s invasion.

  ‘Even though I had made sure to give them not a disappointing amount of wages because of that.’


  It seemed that it wasn’t enough with just that.

  Chris’ words continued on.

  “In the middle of that situation, it seems that the dissatisfaction of the Count House’s retainers has reached its peak as Sir Count cut off and granted the southern region of the fief, which included the Tale Region, to our lord. And Kali Owells has pierced through that very point.”


  “But even though the land given to Roan was barren and no different than a den of monsters……”


  Chris shook his head at Io’s words.

  “To the retainers of a Count House who didn’t receive even a palm-sized land, it seems that even a wasteland like that is enviable.”


  “Hhm.”


  Io, with a quiet groan, closed his eyes.

  He had prided in himself for knowing how to treat people with heart, but in reality, he hadn’t understood the feelings of his retainers at all.

  “Then what should I do now?”


  Io, with his eyes closed, asked.

  Chris spoke in a careful voice.

  “Firstly, the situation isn’t good, sir. Seeing the County’s military as having gone over to Kali Owells would be correct. If the Count Chase’s troops invade in this situation, we would absolutely lose without even giving a single proper resistance.”


  Chris let out a short sigh.

  Then laboriously making a smile, he added on.

  “But it isn’t as if there isn’t any way, sir.”


  However difficult a situation was, a breakthrough was always there.

  Already, Roan and Clay should be moving.

  Matching that, Chris and Io had to move.

  Io slowly opened his eyes and looked at Chris.

  Chris laboriously made a brighter smile.

  He, with a quiet voice, spoke as if to whisper.

  “From now on, we will……”


  Like that, the secret conversation continued on for a long time.

  End.

  1. the “messenger bird” is different than “message bird” in ch. 136. “Messenger birds” are the letter-carrying birds traditionally used in history, while “message birds” are fantasy animals in this novel that literally speak the message rather than carry a letter

  2. “stem and stern of a ship” are basically the ship’s front/bow and the back

  3. “forecastle: the forward part of the upper deck of a ship”


  4. a bit of ship terminology: “port” means left, while “starboard” means right.

  5. ???, or Taemusa. If we break down the name, it literally means “great warrior”


  6. Poop: the higher part at the back of an old sailing ship

  7. “enfeoffment: to invest (a person) with a freehold estate by feoffment”