Chapter 915 - Treaty and Aftermath
The Great Emperor's dream was big.
Since he wanted to put the entire continent under his feet and rule it.
"I am a person born to rule this land."
Does one need God's permission to dream?
No, not quite.
Permission from no one was needed.
The Great Emperor was an explorer and an ambitious man who carved out his own life with his own hands.
He poured out everything he had, including his innate talent and status.
He effortlessly committed acts that a human shouldn't do.
Do they say a ruler must have a strong stomach?
In that sense, no one suited the throne as much as the Great Emperor.
He had a strong stomach.
A person who would chew and swallow even his dead child's flesh if necessary.
"The continent as one."
Those inspired by the Great Emperor's long-cherished ambition gathered, and those led by coercion and oppression clumped together.
Because of that, Lihin-Stetten prospered like never before in the last hundred years.
The Great Emperor accepted the barbarian groups of the South and even absorbed the Giant Warrior clan.
He even placed the village of the Black Forest Clan, elves with dark skin, under his feet.
If not for Beelrog and the interference of the guys called Lords of the Demonic Realm, the Great Emperor would have swallowed the continent long ago.
Despite various obstacles, instead of being frustrated, he gathered war supplies, increased the number of knight orders, and even achieved a contract with the Lords of the Demonic Realm after fighting and persuading them.
On the other hand, the more he stocked up armaments and engaged in fighting, the harsher the lives of the people became.
Since it was equivalent to squeezing the entire country for war.
To him, prosperity was a matter for later.
"You take charge and soothe their hearts. Rebellion won't happen, but make them trust and follow you. Learn to rule."
The Great Emperor didn't have many heirs.
He kept away from alcohol and women.
Lived like an ascetic.
Such a man had only one child, and the son filled the father's empty place.
Although it was a series of tasks hard to understand at first, he fulfilled his role faithfully.
Like that, the Great Emperor's son became a person loved by everyone living in Lihin-Stetten.
Also, the son didn't like his father.
It was difficult to feel love from a person who had never hugged him once since birth and never said a warm word to him.
"Do not forget your role."
The Great Emperor said repeatedly, and the son understood his father's will.
Since he was the successor inheriting the ambition, the son wasn't a successor to the father.
He was the Great Emperor's will and testament, and his only legacy.
The person who approached riding a horse was the Great Emperor's son.
Krang and the Great Emperor's son met, and the two exchanged words.
As rain started falling, a small tent was set up next to where they fought.
With the knight order annihilated, the entire Southern Army was filled with gloomy energy.
On the other hand, the Naurillia Army shouted cheers.
The atmosphere was starkly divided.
The tent set up between the two units was like a border and castle wall dividing two nations, and the two groups lined up facing each other across the tent.
Whether winning or losing, everyone's thought here was the same.
'No more war.'
Now they just hoped to end this tedious fight and have no more killing and dying.
"I will acknowledge the defeat. I will accept whatever you do. However, I only wish for one act of generosity. If you intend to kill someone, finish it with me and the army."
Krang felt elation soaring while watching the knights' fight, but didn't entrust himself to emotion.
The lives of everyone standing behind his back hung on the single step he takes now.
A son who should return to his mother might die, or a child who lost parents might be created by a single word he spits.
In Krang's view, such an aspect was also glimpsed in the opponent.
"Are you saying it's fine for all those soldiers to die?"
Krang asked.
The son knows the father's will.
"The dream I couldn't achieve will be achieved by the guy who defeated me."
Although not words the Great Emperor spoke directly, examining his arrangements made it seem like his voice was heard.
What a crazy bastard.
'Father, Great Emperor, you are a crazy bastard.'
The son sincerely thought so.
The Great Emperor had prepared to hand over everything he gathered in the South after his death.
'The long-cherished ambition continues.'
Just that the one achieving it isn't himself.
The son is merely a political tool for that.
He was a timid and weak-stomached ruler who couldn't replace his father.
Also, a father of four children and a man with a woman he loved.
'If I evade responsibility, everyone dies.'
Risking his life to protect his remaining family was his best.
Raindrops hit the oiled tent.
Just facing each other with two chairs left alone without a table.
Krang, sitting with his back straight, opened his mouth.
"We."
He cut his words and perceived the presence of the two Knight Commanders standing behind his back.
It was clear who the strong and the weak were here.
No, Lihin-Stetten would find it hard to exert power for decades to come.
The Great Emperor poured all the power he had into this war and failed.
The absence of the knight orders would become the cause of weakening Lihin-Stetten's national power in the future.
Even if Naurillia decided to make them a vassal state and ripped off Krona as they desired, they wouldn't be able to resist.
'Meanwhile, the people will starve.'
Most of the nobles would request defection.
A future naturally visible without racking the brain.
Those with some brains would leave the country and spread here and there.
Furthermore, Lihin-Stetten has a wide area adjacent to the Demonic Realm.
Without that army right now, the country falls.
Everything is just a matter of time.
But the one holding the upper hand was Krang.
If the purpose was winning the war and the goal was collapsing the enemy nation.
'There were many ways we could have achieved that.'
Krang saw it that way.
Fighting by putting the entire army forward would have brought a higher probability of winning.
It was a way to endure longer and kill and die some more.
Since they were waiting on reinforcements, advantageous parts clearly existed too.
But Krang sat at the gambling table betting his entire fortune.
Risked his life on the knight battle.
What is the reason for going this far?
"Let's make a non-aggression treaty."
Krang said.
After hearing this much, Enkrid left the tent.
There was a guard captain, and the head of the enemy nation brought only two attendants.
There was no threat.
"Help me up a bit."
From the side, Cypress extended his hand.
Enkrid put his arm on his shoulder and went out.
Even though the two went out, Krang didn't look back, and the Great Emperor's son also only looked at Krang's eyes.
What did he say just now?
Treaty?
A moment where inside the head became complicated.
Emotions were clearly revealed on his face.
Enkrid glanced at him and left, and Cypress asked.
"No need to watch more, right?"
"There is no point in answering."
Is it thanks to fighting while shedding blood and sweat together.
Enkrid didn't feel Cypress that distant.
When he was chasing his dream, he was a person truly far away, but having fought shoulder to shoulder, maybe this was natural.
"Truly an amazing King."
Cypress admired.
Krang chose a treaty instead of exploitation.
Hoped for a relationship of understanding and standing shoulder to shoulder over time instead of coercion and oppression.
Should one say admiration comes naturally.
The vessel is different.
A size hard to gauge.
"If it were me, I would have told them all to kneel and stick their heads out."
Cypress muttered.
Enkrid smirked.
It was funny that this Knight Commander was saying things he didn't mean.
Well, a good moment to play along with a joke.
Entrusting his body to the drizzling raindrops, Enkrid opened his mouth.
"You intend to gain the fame of a knight who cut through two thousand necks alone instead of just a thousand?"
"If only I had the strength to swing a sword, I would have done so."
The two burst into laughter simultaneously.
This knight is not a slaughter machine.
One who discusses honor and keeps vows with determination.
Cypress was a textbook showing what kind of person a knight is.
"You two shouldn't have stepped up at the end."
If Enkrid and the Dragonkin hadn't stepped up, Cypress would have burned his life.
He would have burned everything like a candle burning brightly just once more.
Although it was not his choice, Enkrid was glad that didn't happen.
If one has to fight for someone's tomorrow, isn't it natural to want to save someone one likes and who has a bright future?
"Fighting together...."
Enkrid picked his words for a moment.
The knight who died in front of him sometime ago came to mind.
The scene of her killing Beelrog's fragment would be something he will never forget.
What should he call her.
It was hard to find a fitting word.
"I have experienced losing a comrade, so I felt bad."
"Risked your life just because you felt bad?"
Cypress asked back without erasing the smile.
"Yes, that usually tends to be the case."
They're called the Madmen Knights, should one say it is justified?
The way of thinking itself was exceptional.
Although they expressed it as feeling bad, the actual reason would be different.
"Damn, shit was a bit tough this time. You also suffered. Sir Cypress."
Enkrid stopped walking in sheer surprise.
The words were spoken by the grey-haired barbarian approaching soaked in rain in front of the two.
Know it wouldn't have been an easy fight for him either.
Scars remaining on his whole body proved that.
However, Enkrid was surprised here for another reason.
Rem called him Sir Cypress.
He stuck to a tone as if respecting him.
"Who are you."
Enkrid suspected a Doppelganger.
"...This fucking Commander bastard."
Rem noticed the intention of Enkrid's words and glared.
"Seems the demon survived and dwells in his head, how about cutting him down?"
Ragna said leaning on his sword stuck in the ground like a cane three steps away from Rem.
"Is it today? The day of revenge."
Dunbakel sitting on the ground also said her part.
With one leg broken.
Meaning her fight was also truly rough.
"Master, these bastards are all too weird. I see them all as crazy bastards."
Lien spoke from beside them with his arms wrapped heavily in bandages.
Cypress laughed aloud looking at them then fainted.
"Grandfather!"
Approaching Aurelia supported him, and in that gap, Shinar put her arm around Enkrid's shoulder.
"Won't ask you to hug me. You look exhausted too. But I need support."
The Fairy walked half-embraced rather than supported.
The fight ended.
Rain continued for three days, and Krang accepted Lihin-Stetten's defeat.
The non-aggression treaty wasn't unilaterally advantageous to one side.
Krang decided to learn the secrets and tips of dealing with the Demonic Realm that Lihin-Stetten knew, and Lihin-Stetten didn't lose a single city.
Only, some of the supplies they stockpiled and things like royal secrets were passed over secretly.
"Originally, the South is barren. Instead, many good minerals are produced. Saw trade as more profitable than taking. Furthermore, there would be no one else to do the work of maintaining and repairing the walls built to block the Demonic Realm right now if not them."
Krang said returning after finishing the talk that lasted two days.
"So. Are you saying you are satisfied not killing the people of the South?"
Enkrid spoke pinpointing the core.
"Uh, very much."
Krang answered laughing.
Each country agreed to build two cities in the area.
Cities for the purpose of trade, not military cities.
Decided to build a stone bridge on the cliff and make it a symbol of the treaty.
There were too many exhausted and injured people.
Especially two people who were even more exhausted.
Audin and Theresa fainted as is upon seeing a few Holy Priests coming from the Holy City Legion.
"What on earth did those two do?"
The priesthood was very surprised.
Because they were surprised by the work achieved by pouring divinity into two holy relics.
Following that, the noble army joined.
"It's time for me to join the fray."
Andrew Gardner came in charge of a unit, and subsequently started trembling after hearing everything that happened here.
"Madmen Knights!"
Some nobles protested to the King.
"It is a won war. I see it as an opportunity for the entire South to become Your Majesty's if necessary. Your Majesty."
Krang countered the opinions of some nobles fluently.
"To do that, would have to make it a colony and create a Governor-General's Office, right? Some of them will fight to the end, and organizations like resistance will emerge. Do you have the confidence to sit in that Governor-General seat? Southern Governor-General's Office, the nuance isn't bad, but curious how long someone sitting in that seat would live. Will you volunteer first?"
Although it would be fine to say it was a biting tone rather than fluent, it was still toned down.
"Is it truly for me? Aren't you just plotting to seize a few cities and mines for yourselves in the chaos? You'd just casually toss soldiers into the Governor-General's office to die for it, wouldn't you?"
Well, because he held back wanting to say words like this.
It took over three days just to settle the battlefield and organize the situation.
Among those days, Cypress called Enkrid.
One of his legs was ruined in this battle.
Several priests poured divinity and Audin also examined once, but it was impossible.
Part of the leg bone was completely shaved off.
Even walking was barely managed thanks to trained muscles. It was early morning.
The sun rose, but it was still a cold day.
"Think I should tell you one secret of mine."
"Secret?"
"I can no longer fight."
Knight Cypress said.
***
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