Chapter 108: The Second Awakening (1)
Rumble! Rumble!
Lightning magic was terrifying for a simple reason: its destructive power could be adjusted to the coordinates of specific people.
The lightning hit all the soldiers who were on high alert inside the white wall that Henry had created.
“Ahhh!”
They were lucky if they could even scream. After being struck with lightning, the soldiers turned into ashes. Fear spread throughout the entire palace like a disease.
Rumble! Rumble!
The lightning struck like a shower of arrows, consuming a large amount of mana. However, Henry supplied plenty of his own mana to Kale without Eisen’s knowledge.
Henry looked at the broken wall and said, “This should be good enough.”
Henry believed it was enough to scare them and ordered Kale to stop the magic attacks.
Henry handed the cavalryman carrying the Shonan flag a large scroll made of luxurious silk.
“Pass this on.”
It was a letter from Shahatra’s king with Khan’s seal on it. The messenger headed toward the entrance of the Sultan palace.
“I hope we’re successful,” said Von.
“We will be since we’re up against the Sultan people.”
The strategy was simple: create fear to encourage surrender. It would be more effective if the king who had usurped the throne were the one who initiated the surrender.
In addition, the Sultan people were known for being cowardly and easily persuaded, which is why when Benedict rebelled, they had surrendered without much resistance.
‘When you consider that we’ve saved the two oases, Shaha and Sultan, Eisen is already far ahead in terms of achievements.’
Von was also going to attack Caliph with Shaha’s soldiers, and that achievement couldn’t be ignored either. If they got really lucky and ended up killing Benedict at the Caliph Palace, that would be even better. There was no achievement more honorable than beheading an enemy general.
After some time, Henry couldn’t help but smile triumphantly at the sight of two figures approaching from a distance.
“We were successful.”
One of the figures was the messenger sent by Henry and the other was Badullah Sultan, the highest-ranking commander of Sultan.
When the two arrived, Badullah Sultan knelt and said to Herarion, “Your Majesty, as you’ve ordered, I have captured all of Benedict’s men and I have come to see you. Please take good care of Sultan and spare my life.”
They surrendered helplessly. There was nothing more they could do for the Sultan people. Herarion looked at Badullah with bitter eyes.
“Your Majesty,” said Henry.
“... Alright.”
At Henry’s urging, Herarion accepted Badullah’s surrender.
Badullah started to cry and apologized for his mistakes. “Your Majesty, I greatly apologize, I just wanted to…”
“No need for an apology. Although it was disgraceful, I’m sure you had your reasons and circumstances.”
If Herarion had to forgive him anyway, it was best to just forget his wrongdoings. A king had to be bold, after all, but then…
Oong!
Suddenly, Henry could see a small magic circle in the air.
“Sir Badullah?” asked Henry.
“Y-yes?”
“Did you bring the thing mentioned in the letter?”
“Ah yes! I was going to give it to His Majesty just now…”
“Please give it to me.”
The letter asked him to bring the only treasure of the Sultan people as a token of surrender. Only the highest-ranking commander possessed it: the Sultan’s Tear.
“This is…”
Badullah looked at Herarion at the luxurious-looking item.
Herarion made a small gesture with his chin and said, “Give it to him.”
“This… Because this is the treasure of our people…”
“Don’t worry. I’m only going to use it for a little bit and give it back.”
“...Alright.”
Badullah had no choice.
Swoop!
After Henry accepted the Sultan’s Tear, he lightly tossed the item at the magic circle in the air.
“...!”
The ornament disappeared. Badullah looked as if he didn’t know what to do.
Henry smiled and said, “Don’t worry. We’re using Sultan’s Tear for something very important.”
The Sultan’s Tear landed right in front of Von.
* * *
“This doesn’t make any sense!”
Bang!
Enraged, Benedict violently smashed the table, breaking it in two. No matter how much he thought it over, he couldn’t understand how 1000 soldiers from Shaha could help capture Sultan. It felt as if everything he had planned had gone to waste.
Where did it start going wrong?
If things continued to proceed in this manner, he wouldn’t be able to usurp the throne, let alone survive.
‘I can’t let this continue.’
As soon as he returned to the capital, he gathered all his remaining soldiers and assessed how much resources he had left. He had only 5,000 soldiers left, and he couldn’t fight the war on his own, no matter how powerful he was. In addition, he had lost most of his regular troops because he had fled Caliph on his own. There was only one option left.
‘I wanted to avoid using this method.’
Benedict got up and headed to the secret room that only he knew about. He was the only one who could enter that space. The room was dark and lit only by a single candle. The entire wall was made up of large mirrors.
Benedict placed his hand on the mirror he was standing in front of and…
Bubble.
The mirror began to ripple as if water droplets were falling on the calm surface of a pond.
Flash!
There was a flash of bright light and he disappeared.
* * *
Night.
Benedict arrived in a guest room illuminated by moonlight. Benedict thought, ‘It’s just like he said, this is a strange item.’
The mirrors that covered the entire wall were a kind of artifact of movement that Teleported people to a different location.
There was a limit to the number of times it could be used because it consumed so much mana, and it was also a gift from Arthus to Benedict to use in emergency situations like this.
“What brings you here, Sir Benedict?”
At the far end of a long table where the moonlight didn’t reach, Duke Arthus sat in the dark.
Benedict bowed in respect.
“Haha, judging by the look on your face, it seems that things aren’t going well.”
“...Yes.”
“What’s the situation like?”
“All the oases are in their hands except for the capital.”
“Oh no, I had trust in you Sir Benedict.” Arthus let out a short sigh.
The pressure of that sigh was truly formidable.
Benedict lowered his pride once again and asked for help.
“I need help. Please help me, count.”
“Of course. Didn’t I say that I would fully assist you in the first place?”
“... Thank you.”
“I will send people, including Sir Mordred, tomorrow. Oh! By the way, did you secure Janus’ badge?”
“... I apologize. I haven’t gotten my hands on that either.”
“Oh, it’s going to be difficult to take the badge from Khan right?”
“...”
Benedict did not answer.
He had already lost the battle and three oases. Securing the badge of Janus was almost impossible.
As Benedict kept silent, Athus laughed and said, “Haha, there’s no need to be so serious. I knew this was something that I could help with, so I’ve already thought of how to deal with it.”
“... What?”
“When I send someone, I will also send something that can be exchanged for Janus’ badge. It will definitely come in handy.”
“...Thank you, count.”
“There’s no need to thank me. Since I’ve promised to support Sir Benedict, you have become one of my people. I will send some people by tomorrow morning, so please don’t feel too upset. Complete what you originally planned to do.”
Despite his subordinate’s defeat, Arthus did not say anything negative. Instead, he used his power to help and encourage Benedict.
After Benedict left through the same means, Arthus said, “Tell Mordred to start getting ready.”
“Alright,” someone in the dark answered and Arthus sipped the tea in front of him.
* * *
After reorganizing the oases they had recaptured, the subjugation army gathered in front of the capital.
Although they had wasted several days, the subjugation army had the upper hand so there was no need to rush. Thanks to Sultan’s and Shaha’s armies joining forces, the subjugation army exceeded 20,000 soldiers, excluding those lost in Caliph.
They were all well-trained elite soldiers. On the other hand, according to the information from the captured rebels, there were only 3,000 rebels in the capital.
‘If they gather the remaining soldiers, it’ll be around 5000, but even then, we’ll still have 4 times as many soldiers.’ The battle’s outcome was obvious. However, the question was who could subdue Benedict.
‘Do I have to?’ Von was feeling defensive, and he used the scroll Henry had given him. This was a strategic retreat to avoid the worst possible outcome, not running away from a superior power.
‘He must have gone to Arthus to ask for help…’
Arthus was the one who controlled the entire subjugation, but strangely enough, during the fall of the three oases, Arthus did not intervene at all.
‘Is it possible that he abandoned Benedict?’
If anything became useless, it could be abandoned. However, Henry was only speculating, and he couldn’t confirm anything. Henry planned to keep all possibilities open and carry out the subjugation as cautiously as possible.
“Begin.”
All the preparations were complete. The subjugation army was only a few hundred steps away from the wall, and they started to blow their horns.
Honk!
Their fighting spirit was incredible. As dozens of soldiers blew their horns, the nerves of the guards watching the subjugation army began to stand on edge. However, at that moment, Benedict appeared among the rebels even before the subjugation army declared anything.
“Huh?”
Everyone's attention was on Benedict.
Benedict made eye contact with those who were under the wall and made a gesture with his chin.
Benedict’s men brought two masked people to their knees and forced them to kneel beside Benedict. Everyone focused on the people and Benedict proudly took off their masks.
“...!”
Under the masks were the only other members of the Khan family, Herarion’s mother and wife, trembling in fear.
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