Chapter 206 — Amaranth (6)
“B, best spearman of the continent?”
“Best of the continent?”
Rodite Page and Marquis Abrie Page as well as Princess Katy Rinse and Abel Raimos all made bizarre expressions.
Best spearman of the continent.
Because they hadn’t expected that they would possibly hear such an absurd and egoistic title in such a serious situation.
The beggar young man, no, Pierce, who finally finished years of intense training and climbed down from the mountains, made an awkward smile.
“Ah…… what I’m trying to say is that I might not be the best spearman in the continent right now but that I will definitely become the best spearman of the continent someday.”
Because he had just now shown up on the outside world, he still didn’t know to what extent of a level his skills were.
“I thought you were a creepy beggar, but I see you are a lunatic. To say you’ll become the continent’s best.”
Rodite sneeringly smiled and threw a venomous remark.
She was forgetting even what kind of situation she herself was in right now.
It was ridiculous to that degree.
On the other hand, Pierce was greatly calm and bold.
“I’m not insane. I have to surely become the best spearman on the continent. Because I promised to definitely be so.”
“A promise? Just who are you saying you made such absurd promise with?”
Rodite was still full of a sneering look.
‘Yeah. Who is it? That idiotic brat.’
‘Let’s hear just who that lunatic is.’
Before they noticed, the nearby people were all leaning their ears towards Pierce’s story.
Pierce answered in a calm voice.
“High up sirs and ladies won’t know him very well, but there is a very excellent adjutant named Roan in Rose Troop of Rinse Kingdom Eastern Regional Corp……”
He couldn’t continue his words to the end.
It wasn’t because someone cut off his words.
It was because the surrounding people’s mood seemed unusual.
Katy and Abel, Rodite and Abrie were of course and every one of the knights and soldiers were widely opening their eyes with surprised expressions.
‘What the?’
When Pierce was tilting his head with puzzled expression.
“I, if it’s Roan of Rose Troop, doesn’t that mean Sir Count Roan Lancephil?”
Abel stuttered his words and asked.
“You’re close with Count Lancephil?!”
Rodite was stupefied.
Heated gazes poured down towards Pierce.
‘Count…… Roan Lancephil?’
Pierce unconsciously swallowed dryly.
His heart raced and his face brightly blushed.
Because he was training at a place deep inside the Grain Mountains, he knew not a single bit of news on how the world was going around.
But even during that while, he thought that, if it was Roan, he would be living well without much trouble.
No, if it was Roan’s level of abilities, he thought that he would at least become a legion commander ranked warrior.
A firm belief.
Because so, Pierce too did not laze around and repeated training after training.
He strived and strived again to become a spearman befitting Roan.
But.
‘Not even a legion commander or baron or a viscount, but count?’
The tips of Pierce’s mouth slightly went up.
He didn’t even hold nor consider doubts like Roan Lancephil that Rodite and Abel spoke of might not be Roan he know of.
‘Since it’s something plentily possible if it’s sir adjutant, no Sir Count.’
Pierce effortfully calmed his thumping heart and exhaled a long breath.
‘He did it.’
He felt proud, satisfied, and awed.
‘I’m still lacking.’
Pierce was on his way from climbing down from the mountains after being satisfied with his own results.
But had he truly have become a spearman that befit Roan who had become a count of the kingdom?
‘No.’
He shook his head.
Pierce thought of himself as about adjutant rank of a legion commander.
An excessively honest and humble judgment.
On the other hand, he knew simply much too little of the worldly affairs.
‘But even so, I can’t go into training in the mountains again.’
No, there was a limit to mountain training beyond this.
Now was the time to train his spearmanship against people as opponents.
‘I can only hone my skills while aiding him at the side.’
His heart became urgent.
He immediately wanted to run over and roamed the battlefields as Roan’s general.
At the urgent heart, his steps abruptly moved.
Already, the nearby people didn’t even enter his sight.
“Un?”
“Eh?”
The people looked at Pierce with surprised expressions.
Especially Rodite screamed with dumbfound expression.
“Where do you think you’re going! You dare kill our knights and soldiers and……”
However, her words could not keep continuing on.
Because Pierce who had been busily moving his step had lightly swung the spear he held.
The spearhead cut through the air and directly hit the empty ground.
Boooom!
With an incredible sound of explosions, rocks burst up in in every direction.
Simultaneously, the ground that the spearhead hit cleanly caved in and the nearby ground greatly twisted and cracked.
Zzzzzckk!
Explosive sounds consecutively rang out.
“Huhuk!”
“Hph!”
Rodite, Abrie, and the knights and soldiers who followed him all widely opened their mouths with aghast expressions.
An incredible and never before seen nor heard of sight.
‘To think he could swing a spear once and shatter the earth……’
It was a fearsome might.
‘H, he might actually be the best spearman on the continent.’
Everyone shook their heads in awe with half dazed expressions.
But Pierce, who had actually done the incredible, was greatly composed.
With a nonchalant expression, he pulled out the spear deeply embedded in the ground.
Hduddk.
The shocks crumbled down like dust.
Pierce looked at Rodite and formed a faint smile.
“Why? You going to try and stop me?”
A lightly thrown question.
Only then did Rodite came to herself.
‘He’s an expert who cut down more than tens of knights and soldiers in one stroke.’
She realized the reality that she momentarily forgot from the absurd statement that said best in the continent or whatever.
Pierce was a spearman she couldn’t do anything about.
Furthermore, the number of remaining knights and soldiers were at a level barely passing ten.
‘I, I have to send him away. It’ll be difficult if he gets involved any more than this.’
Rodite awkwardly smiled and shook her head.
“N, no……”
Unconsciously, she stuttered her words.
Pierce quietly stared at Rodite, then widely smiled and then soon moved his steps.
‘I should hurry.’
He wanted to meet Roan even a moment faster.
At that moment.
“He, hey!”
A sound that once again held back Pierce’s ankle.
But the owner of the voice this time wasn’t Rodite but Katy.
Twiddling her fingers, she couldn’t easily continue her words.
“Princess?”
Pierce, as if ‘asking what is it’, tilted his head to a side.
Only then did Katy hesitantly and carefully added on her words.
“Take us with you.”
“Us?”
Pierce stood still and looked at Katy.
Behind her, Abel and the knights of defeated looks were seen.
When Pierce couldn’t easily answer, Abel stepped forwards.
“We’re fine, so please escort at least the princess with you.”
A polite and desperate deference.
“Abel!”
Kay shouted with a shocked expression.
Seemingly saying she can’t ever leave alone, she shook her head with a resolute expression.
Pierce was still quietly standing and staring at Katy.
‘She said she was Princess Katy Rinse.’
It was strange.
Even though it was the first time they were seeing each other, she looked quite familiar.
No, it felt like that.
Especially.
‘Those eyes……’
The instant he stared at her faultless and clear eyes, it felt as if his heart was tightly clenched.
“Huu.”
Pierce let out a long sigh.
An uncomfortable feeling if he were to just leave.
The deliberation wasn’t long.
“Alright. Let’s go together.”
“Ah……”
Katy unknowingly let out a quiet exclamation.
An odd feeling filled up to her throat.
It wasn’t a mere feeling of relief at having now survived.
She absent-mindedly stared at faintly smiling Pierce.
‘This is like……’
Her large eyes sharply shook.
‘The feeling of having found again a precious thing that I once lost.’
She didn’t know why she felt a such feeling.
Pierce and Katy.
The two people’s gazes gently entwined.
A second life.
Like that, the fated meeting that even they themselves didn’t know of started.
*****
Dududududu.
The sound of horse hooves noisily rang.
Thousands of cavalry and tens of giant carriages cut across a plain and raced.
Tens of highly soaring flags fluttered in a rough wind.
And big and small troop flags that followed.
Countless flags showed off their dignities.
The man leading the giant legion at the vanguard was Roan Lancephil.
Two days ago, he immediately gave an order to march, no, an order to charge the moment he heard Viscount Tio Ruin’s story.
The Lancephil Fief Regiment’s main army, numbering over twenty thousand, immediately cleaned up their camp and prepared to charge.
A large-scale transfer began with the cavalry and the magic carriages at the lead.
The destination was the capital, Miller.
An odd nervousness flowed through the entire legion.
“Are we truly attacking the capital just like this, my lord?”
Austin, who was running at Roan’s side, asked in a cautious manner.
The commanders of ranks thousand-man and above who were running along them all leaned their ears.
Roan looked at the Miller Castle that prominently stood at the end of the plain and nodded his head.
Baron Bernard Landingham, the vice-commander of the Lancephil Legion and a five-thousand-man commander, exhaled with a worried expression.
“We are attacking not anywhere else but the capital, my lord. The backlash of many nobles will be severe.”
As a matter of fact, Roan already prided a mighty force alone.
Many nobles envied and resented Roan, who was of commoner background, standing at the summit of power.
Although they might praise him as savior or hero right now, they would find fault in him attacked the capital, Miller, after Simon fall from power.
The crime of invading the sacred ground that no one dare attacked.
The nobles would work together and try to collapse Roan’s faction.
Other commanders all nodded their heads.
The nobles were a lot that would do more than that.
They were shameless lot who would demand one’s parcel if one pull them out of drowning water.
Roan, who was quietly spurring and running his warhorse, answered in a calm expression and voice.
“I do not care of nobles’ backlash. Also the same of the royalty. The thing I concern about is but one……”
The value and goal that he clearly revealed since the moment he first entered the throne succession war.
“Only the kingdom’s citizens.”
The heavy words pierced into the commanders’ hearts.
The reason Roan entered this foul and hideous war wasn’t power, honor, status, wealth or such things.
The time he wanted those things had already ended a long before.
Now, Roan was sincerely dreaming of a new world.
‘A nation where not only the royalty and nobles but everyone can live happily in.’
A gentle pressure poured out from his entire body.
Gulp.
The commanders including Austin all dryly swallowed and lowered their heads.
‘If it’s him, I can trust and follow to the end.’
Everyone’s thoughts coincided as one.
Roan, feeling the gazes that poured down, deeply breathed in.
In no time, the capital, Miller, was in front of their noses.
‘If it is same as the last life, Simon will probably be already not in the Miller Castle.’
Instead, the one who was protecting the castle would be Viscount Delph Blick, who protected Simon’s side to the end.
‘In the last life after Kallum climbed onto the throne and when he visited his maternal grandfather Liss Kowan’s fief……’
Simon rampaged.
Simon who rampaged killed Duke Bradley Webster, turned the capital, Miller, into a complete ruin, and then moved his main base to the fortress of nature’s blessing, the Longport Castle, located on the foot of the kingdom’s western Grain Mountains afterwards.
‘There, he raised that horrible and hideous legion of dark.’
Roan creased his forehead.
Those horrible memories of last life and that season fully filled his head.
‘Although Kallum heard the news of Simon’s revolt and hurriedly returned to the capital, Miller……’
He couldn’t win with the fearless general Viscount Delph Blick as his opponent.
‘In the end, Kallum raised a temporary capital in the Liss Kowan Duchy.’
The often-told story of Mad Monarch’s Rebellion began like that.
Roan exhaled a short sigh.
‘It was after four months has passed since the rebellion began that Kallum reclaimed the capital, Miller.’
At the time, the ones who attacked and captured the Miller Castle were Spear God Pierce called to be of the best spearmanship talent in history and the Genius Strategist of the Century Ian Phillips.
‘The strategy Ian set up at the time.’
Roan planned to use that strategy with Delph as the opponent.
But.
‘That is a strategy possible because Pierce was there.’
Roan tightly clenched his fist.
‘I……’
A spark blossomed in his eyes.
‘Will do Pierce’s role.’
Whether he could or could not succeed wasn’t important.
‘I must succeed.’
If he were to fail.
‘The capital, Miller, will become a hell.’
The blood within his veins rapidly spun.
Roan, glaring at the highly soaring castle walls of Miller, raised his right hand up high.
“Form!”
A sonorous voice.
Soon, thousand-man rank and above commanders widely spread to the sides and shouted aloud.
“Form the formation!”
“Form the formation!”
The standard-bearers restlessly waved the flags.
Through hand signals and flags, the order was rapidly passed.
“Center Amaranth Troop and Vende Troop! Left wing Tale Legion! Right wing Lancephil Legion!”
A command fell once again.
The commanders’ repetition continued.
“Left wing Tale! Right wing Lancephil!”
“Tale is left wing!”
“Lancephil to right wing!”
Thousands of soldiers moved in perfect order as if they were a single body.
In an instant, an army of twenty thousand and more faced the capital, Miller, and formed a perfect formation.
There was no reaction from the capital, Miller.
Only the flags scribed with the names of Rinse Kingdom, Simon Rinse, Delph Blick, and numerous troop flags were fluttering in the wind.
A situation where tens of thousands and tens of thousands are facing each other.
Even so, a weirdly heavy and horrendous silence hanged.
Roan quietly stood and glared at the Miller Castle.
“Would it truly be alright, my lord?”
“I think it may be better to find another way even now, sir.”
Austin and numerous commanders approached and lowered their heads with grave expressions.
Roan formed a faint smile and shook his head.
His gaze was still headed towards the Miller Castle.
“All of you, do not worry.”
A quiet yet powerful voice.
Either way, this work was something someone other than Roan couldn’t do.
Roan very slowly moved his steps.
Roan, who was standing in front of the center army, soon disappeared between the soldiers.
The commanders including Austin, without being able to thoughtlessly step forwards, merely watched Roan’s back.
But they couldn’t indefinitely and blankly stand there.
Their role too was just as important as Roan’s role.
Austin, as he ruminated the strategy Roan had passed, raised his hand up high.
“All forces ready for battle!”
A resounding voice rang throughout the battlefield.
Chang!
From everywhere, metallic sounds were noisily heard.
Austin looked at the endlessly stretching castle wall and clenched his teeth.
‘We must make them preoccupied.’
He tightly clenched his fist.
His left hand pointed at the sky, then soon fell towards the Miller Castle.
And as if they had been waiting.
Vvuuuuuu!
The sound of horns shook apart the battlefield.
“Charge!”
“Charge!”
“We will capture the castle in an instant!”
Twenty thousand strong army, with the commanders’ orders, raced towards the capital, Miller.
Dududududu!
The ground shook and dust cloud thickly rose up.
Furthermore, the directions of the soldiers’ charge were also very dizzying.
Literally a chaotic charge.
Within that chaotic charge, there was one who alone moved nimbly.
‘It’s over if I’m discovered.’
The one who rapidly raced the ground as if sweeping the ground was Roan.
He was running not the south gate that the three forces, center, left wing, and right wing, were attacking, but towards the west gate where the topography was particularly rugged.
‘If Pierce succeeded……’
Roan tightly clenched his fist.
‘I too will succeed.’
A crimson flower blossomed deep within his eyes.