I am the Monarch Chapter 169 : Crimson Ghost (2)

Kinis looked over her body, then soon screamed out a sharp shriek.

[Red! Red! I turned red!]

It was literal.
Her skin, which originally was slightly tinted with a red light unlike other water spirits, turned noticeably red.
Furthermore, her blue hair too glittered with a soft purple light.
Kinis, who was fussing about, suddenly glared at Roan.

[This is all your fault! I turned into a monster because you recklessly spout out heat!]

It was a pointless grumbling.
Roan awkwardly smiled as he shooked his head.

'What do you mean a monster? You turned much prettier than before. It's also somewhat mysterious.'

Perhaps because of the unexpected praise, Kinis soon closed her mouth.
She looked over her body this way and that and continued to tilt her head.

[Hmm. Really?]

Her expression was slightly nervous.
Roan brightly smiled and nodded his head.

'Yeah. You're pretty.'

At those words, Kinis chewed her small lips, then soon let out a short sigh.

[Sigh. Can't be helped. Anyway……]

She extended her hand straight towards an empty ground.
She planned to check whether a change had also appeared in her abilities as much as her appearance had changed.
Roan too watched that sight with deep interest.
The water energy on the mana hole's surface smoothly went out.
Suddenly, a blue spout of water soared up from the empty ground Kinis was pointing at.
Thankfully, the shape and the color were the same as before.
At least, its outward appearance was.

[Huu.]

Kinis relaxed and exhaled a long sigh.

'It's good.'

Roan also looked relaxed.
But in truth, Kinis felt that somewhere inside her body had strangely changed.

[[Since it's a really little change, there probably isn't any need to particularly say it.]]

Because Kinis herself wasn't sure, she thought to keep it a secret for now.
She didn't want to needlessly worry Roan.
Most of all.

[[If I say it now, it's obvious that he would definitely blame himself.]] 1

Already, she was worrying of Roan more than herself.
Meanwhile, the Hadding Legion's soldiers, even while Roan and Kinis were talking inside their minds, had lied on the ground and did not carelessly moved.
During that time, the Amaranth Troop's soldiers, who had disguised as remnant soldiers, quickly took over the Hadding Legion.
Simultaneously, the Tale Legion's main forces, which had been hiding in ambush nearby, also quickly charged and captured the Hadding Legion's camp.
With this, Roan had dominated the Tellan Region, one of the major positions of the Lancephil Fief's western region, and the Hadding Legion, which had acted the role of the command center, with an overwhelming strength as the background. 2
It was a great accomplishment.
However, the truly great accomplishment was another.
That was the fame of Roan, the Crimson Ghost had began to spread with the Lancephil Fief's midwest as the starting point.

Now, the spirit of the Count Chase Forces and the Owells Forces' soldiers, even by merely hearing the news of Roan's appearance, snapped a level.
This was the point that Roan desired.
Already, he was gradually bringing about the fief war's victory.

*****

“Just what turn of events is this?”

Baron Sabb Carpenter, a retainer of the Count Chase House as well as the one who took on the position of Carpenter Troop's troop commander, had received Count Chase's sudden letter and was in the middle of heading towards the east.

“Lacenphil fief and the title have went over to Roan Tale? Tch!”

Sabb shook his head as he greatly scowled his face.

“It seems that even Io Lancephil went senile. To think he would pass down the fief and the title to a brat without a single drop of blood mixed.”

He slightly turned his head and looked at the troop's soldiers.
Their number reached no less than five thousand.

'Pressure the Tale Legion from the back, is it.'

Jonathan's order was simple.
Conscript a part of the defensive troop that was left in the Chase County and the fief's citizens, organize them under the Carpenter Troop's command, and then to attack the Tale Legion's back.

“Kukuku. Tale Legion bastards. We will drive you mindless from the front and the back!”

Since Owells Forces had also said that they would separately send out a troop, shattering the Tale Legion wasn't even a work.
At least, he thought like that.

'I can't be slower than the Owells Forces.'

Sabb kicked his horse's stomach and raised the marching speed.
At that moment.

“Un?”

At the opposite field, a single group appeared.
Their number was about two thousand at most.

“Halt!”

Sabb gradually slowed his horse's speed and glared at the front.
Flags were raised straight.

< Tale Legion. >
< Vende Troop. >

Two more flags were also raised besides them, but that wasn't very important.

“Tale Legion?”

Sabb creased his forehead.

'How come at a place like this?'

Currently, Sabb's location was a part of the Chase Fief and the Lancephil Fief's border.
According to Jonathan's letter and the information he had separately gathered, Tale Legion's current location was Lancephil Fief's midwest region.
Furthermore.

'Vende Troop?'

Even the troop name was greatly unfamiliar.

'Anyway, it isn't the Amaranth Troop.'

The Tale Legion's most famous troop as well as the most powerful troop.
The tips of Sabb's mouth lightly went up.

'It seems it's a troop that took on rear defense mission. It's a number just right for a warm up.'

At that moment.

Vvuuuuu!

A sound of horn noisily echoed.
Simultaneously, the part of the Tale Legion's troop began to charge towards them.

“Ugh! An abrupt attack! P, prepare for battle!”

Sabb, with a surprised and shocked expression, quickly raised his right hand.

“Prepare for battle! The enemy is in front!”

Soon, numerous adjutants scattered in every direction.

“Prepare for battle!”
“An enemy has appeared in the front! Prepare for battle!”

Their movements were somewhat flustered.
However, Sabb soon squinted his eyes.
The speed of Tale Legion's charge was too slow.

“A heavy armor troop?”

His face twisted bizarrely.
That was an expression of a confusion mixed with jeer.

“Hahaha! That side's troop commander is a brat who doesn't even know the T of tactics! To think he would use the heavy armor troop as the vanguard to charge!”

Sabb loudly laughed and placed the cavalry squad at the vanguard.

“We'll shatter you in an instant!”

He raised his spear up high and personally led the troop.

“Attack! Attack!”

Sabb spurred his horse and charged towards the Tale Legion.

“Waaaah!”
“Attack!”

The cavalry followed behind.
Their faces were all confident like one.
Not only were they greatly ahead in head count, they had the confidence to easily trample the heavy armor troop, whose movements were sluggish.

'Even if they were a heavy armor troop, they won't be able to block the cavalry's piercing charge!'

A collision of warhorses and humans.
The fight's victor and loser were no different than having being already decided.
That was what Sabb and the Carpenter Troop soldiers' thought.
But in actuality, the thought of the Tale Legion, and especially the troop commander who led the Tale Legion's Vende Troop, was completely different.
The young man who was leading the troop while wearing a heavy armor.
He was in fact Brian Miles, the Vende Troop's troop commander and the one who Roan called the kingdom's greatest sword.

'My lord truly is great.'

Even while leading the heavy armor troop Vende and charging, Brian couldn't stop his awe.
The point when he had separately led the Vende Troop and two thousand-man troops and moved towards the west was when the Poskein Lake Subjugation had just began.

'It was an order to secure a position and then be ready since it wasn't possible to know what kind of thing Kali Owells would do.'

In fact, the fief war had suddenly broke out not long after the Poskein Lake Subjugation had started.
If possible, Brian too wished to quickly join the war and help Count Io Lancephil, but he could only hold his position due to the capital's order.
Like that, there was no meaning to him coming all the way here and securing the position.
At that moment, Roan's letter arrived.

'To think our lord has become a count! And inherit even the Lancephil Fief too!”

It was the happiest of the happy occasions.
Simultaneously, he had gained the pretext to join the fief war.
Roan assigned an important mission to Brian.

'My mission is……'

Brian stared at the Carpenter Troop's cavalry squad that had already neared and smiled.

'Stopping the merging of the enemy reinforcements.'

Stopping or destroying the enemy reinforcements heading east from the Lancephil Fief's western rear region or the Chase County was exactly Brian's mission.
Although it was a very difficult and dangerous mission to execute with a troop strength that merely reach two thousand, Brian was confident.
Understandably.

'Vende Troop is a troop I personally raised.'

He had separately drafted the ones who were talented even amongst the Taemusas and had created the heavy armor troop.
The very thing that was born at the end of personally training them was the Vende Troop.
Furthermore.

'We even equipped a secret weapon.'

The tips of his mouth lightly went up.

Clank. Clank.
Dududududu!

The sound of heavy armors clanging and the sound of horse hooves.
The two sounds slowly became noisier and the distance between the Vende Troop and the Carpenter Troop rapidly shrank.
Suddenly, Brian, who had stood at the head and was charging, raised his sword up high.

“Equip the plate helmets!”

As soon as his words ended, the Vende Troop's soldiers brushed down the frontal part of their helmets with their left hands.

Cluck!

Suddenly, a dark plate appeared at the part where their two eyes were revealed.
A tool the alchemy department and the engineering department had collaborated and created, it was an object that was coated with the magic stone powder on a metal plate, made with iron as the base and mixed with numerous minerals, after piercing tens of small holes.
Although it was an appearance that seemed like nothing could be seen from a glance, the sight become only a little cramp and there was no large problem.
Feeling the view that become a little tight, Brian loudly shouted once again.

“Armor light activate!”

This time, repetitions followed.

“Armor light activate!”

Resounding voices echoed.
And at the same time.

Paaaaaat!

With Brian at the head, an incredibly bright light exploded out from the armors of the Vende Troop's soldiers.

“Kuuk! Wha, what!”
“Uak! What is this!”
“My eyes! My eyes!”

The Carpenter Troop's cavalry, which had been enthusiastically charging, tightly closed their eyes at the group of incredible light that exploded right in front of their eyes.
However, the problem weren't them.

Hihihihing!

At the sudden attack of light, the horses were greatly shocked and thrashed.
Because of the speed at which they were charging quickly, they soon lost their balance.

Kukung! Boom! Kukukung!

The horses repeated to hit each other and tilt, then soon fell flat towards the ground.
On the other hand, Brian and the Vende Troop's soldiers, thanks to the plate helmets, were able to see and move like before even inside the bright lights.

'Armor light. It's much more brilliant than I thought.'

The armor light were objects that the Reno Magic Tower and the engineering department had created by collaborating.
An object created with the magic lamp as the basis, it could be said to be a relative of the Boat Light that had shown up before in the Poskein Lake.

'The enemy cavalry had completely collapsed.'

Compared to that, the Vende Troop hadn't received any damage.
It was a chance.

“Attack!”

Brian's order fell.

“Waaaah!”

The Vende Troop's soldiers raised their swords and rushed.

Spat!

As fitting a troop made completely of Taemusas, mana flowed following their swords.

Ssskuk! Sssguk!

With horrifying sounds, the Carpenter Troop's soldiers, who had been rolling on the ground, lost their lives.

“Uaaak!”
“Sa, save me!”
“I can't see!”

The confidents looks weren't seen.
Their appearances were of servile looks begging for their lives.
Amongst them, even the troop commander Carpenter was there.

“Sa, save me! Please! Please save me!”

However, that was a vain cry.
Brian lightly swung his sword and cut off his head.

“Don't leave even a single bastard alive!”

If they keep their hearts soft and a part of them went east, the Tale Legion's main force could receive a big damage.

“Yes sir!”

With a sound of resounding answers, the Vende Troop's soldiers busily moved.
From afar, it looked like a group of light busily moving around.
This was the first appearance of Brian Miles, who would later be called the knight of light, and the Vende Troop that would later be called the troop of light.

*****

“Damn it! Where are the reinforcements? Are the reinforcements still not here!”

Pillam Troop's troop commander, Hector, burst out in rage.
His close-aid and the head adjutant Baison answered in a hurried voice.

“The nearby region's troops have already been annihilated, sir!”
“Even I know that! The reinforcement I'm talking about are the bastards who were supposed to newly reinforce us from the county!”

Hector's face flushed red.
Baison, with a perplexed expression, dropped his head.

“I, I don't know, sir. Based on the time, they should already have more than arrived, but……”
“Damn it! Without even a reinforcement, how do we……”

Hector stared at the crimson wave that spread beyond the wooden fences and creased his forehead.
No, that was close to a pure tearful frown.

“Face that Tale Legion by ourselves!!!”

The moment his words reached about that point, a hurried shout was heard from the direction of the camp's fences.

“The, the soldiers are fleeing!”
“Soldiers are running away, sir!”

At those words, Hector ran towards them with a shocked expression.

“What do you mean! Soldiers are running away?”
“Lo, look over there, sir.”

The soldier who had shouted pointed at the outside of the fences.
Tens of soldiers were raising their two hands up straight and were running towards the Tale Legion.

“Th, these cowards!”

The mood rapidly died down.
One of the soldiers murmured with a small voice.

“Since Tale Legion accepts all those who surrender, sir. But for the ones who resist……”

Another soldier finished the sentence.

“They cut all the necks without leaving a single one.”

His voice was completely dispirited.
At those words, Hector pulled out his sword with an expression frosted with rage.

“Cowardly bastards! We are the Count Chase Forces! Are you saying that you'll lower your heads towards a classless bastard like that just because you're afraid of dying! You mongrels who don't even know honor!”

The rage blew like a storm.
The soldiers all dropped their heads.
At that moment.

“I'm sorry, but life is more important than a mere thing like honor, sir.”

A voice abruptly popped out from behind Hector.

“Un? What are you……?”

Hector creased his forehead and looked behind him.
And at the same time as him.

Ssskuk.

With a horrifying sound, a single blade of a sword pierced his chest.

“Kkureuk. You, you……”

Hector glared his eyes and scowled.

“I'm sorry. But my soldiers and I don't want to die a dog's death.”

The one who stabbed Hector's chest was Baison.
He quickly cut Hector's neck, then shouted in a loud voice.

“I, Baison, has cut Hector's neck! Pillam Troop surrenders immediately to the Tale Legion.”

Despite the abrupt situation, there was no soldier who rebuked or resisted.
Their spirits had already been crushed by the Crimson Ghost Roan and the Crimson Legion Tale Legion's fame.
Instead, an odd feeling of relief set on the soldiers' faces.

'We lived!”

They were clearly such looks.
Soon, a white flag was hung high and the camp's gate widely opened.
Like that, Roan and the Tale Legion achieved a victory without a single proper battle.

Clop. Clop.

Roan, who had worn a helmet deeply, entered into the camp on a warhorse.
Baison and the soldiers all lied on the ground and couldn't even dare raise their heads.
Without any particular words, Roan headed towards the commander's tent at the center of the camp.
Instead, Austin, who was following behind, spoke in a loud voice.

“You have made a wise decision! We will reorganize the troops starting now!”

Once the order fell down, the low rank commanders, including the ten-man commanders, rapidly moved their feet.
The thousand-man commanders momentarily watched that sight, then headed to the center tent Roan was in.
When they opened the tent's door and went in, Roan, who was sitting at the head seat, was seen.
Austin cheerfully smiled and raised his thumb.

“Good for you. Since you only have to sit still and watch.”

They were simply difficult to understand actions and words.
At that moment, Roan, who was sitting quietly, took off the helmet he had worn deep.

“Puuhah!”

The breath he was holding bursted out aloud.

“Don't say such thing, sir. I really feel like dying.”

The voice half mixed with whine.
The face that appeared once the helmet was taken off.
Shockingly, the man who was wearing Roan's helmet and armor was Harrison.
Austin smiled as he looked at that sight.

“It can't be helped since your body shape is the closest to the lord. Anyway……”

His gaze headed towards the northeast.

“Would the lord arrived well?”

At those words, Harrison put the helmet on again and answered.

“He should have arrived well, sir.”

His voice was full of certainty.
Soon, Austin too nodded his head.

“Right. He should have arrived well.”

The two people's gazes met.
Simultaneously, the same words flowed out.

“Since he went together with Pichio.”

*****

A blue sky.
The road that stretched long on one side of the plain was truly peaceful.

“A peacefulness like this has really been a while, sir.”
“You're right. This place feels like a completely different world.”

Two young men were talking quietly and walking on the road.
One young man looked truly manly, and the other young man's face was amiable with greatly large eyes.

“Anyway, our luck was really good, sir. To think we were able to dodge the Owells Forces and the Count Chase Forces while coming all the way here……”

The young man whose eyes were large exhaled a sigh of relief.
The manly looking young man shook his head.

“It wasn't simply our luck that was good. Pichio, it's your ability that is excellent.”

The young man whose eyes were large was Pichio.
Pichio bashfully smiled and scratched the back of his head.

“I merely moved following my feelings, but…… I'm glad that it was of help to my lord, sir.”

Lord.
The manly looking young man was in fact Roan.
After leaving his role to Harrison, he was secretly moving separately.
Pichio looked at the end of the road.

“Now, there isn't much distance left until we reach the Guardian Army's territory. If we go a little bit more, then…… un?”

He, who was continuing his words, soon creased his brows.
Roan stared at him and asked in a low voice.

“What is it?”

At those words, Pichio formed a bitter smile.

“Somehow, the feeling isn't good, sir.”

From a perspective, they weren't any special words.
But the problem was that the man who spoke up those words was Pichio, whose sixth sense was irrationally outstanding.
Roan too made a bitter smile.

“Pichio. I feel unreasonably worried since you said those words.”
“Nah. Would something possibly happen, sir? My feelings can't all be……”

The moment Pichio's words reached about that point.

Vvuuuuu!

A sound of horn hit the ears.
At the same time, the ground subtly shook, and then a single group appeared from the end of the road.

“Uak! My mouth is too light, sir!”

Pichio tearfully frowned and dropped his head.
Roan did not mind and stared at the end of the road.
A flag soared at the head.
Roan looked at the flag through the Kalian's Tears.
The letters written on the flag was seen.

< Lancephil Guardian Army. >

Unlike their worries, the troop that appeared at the end of the road was not the Owells Forces or the Count Chase Forces, but the Lancephil Guardian Army.
Roan faintly smiled and nodded his head.

'So there are times when Pichio's sixth sense is……'

When his thought had reached about that point.

Vvuuuuu!

The sound of horn was heard once again.

< Crimson Ghost (2) > End.

1. when Kinis talks, single bracket is her talking through thought with Roan, and double bracket is her private monologue.
2. for those who don't get the imagery here, tl;dr is that Roan dominated the Tellan Region and the Hadding Legion with an overwhelming strength, with emphasis on strength than strategy/tactics.

Chapter end