The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 178

21. Hero: The Summoned Bastard

At first, it seemed easy.

The enemies were just mindless Undead.

Just cut off their heads and stomp on them, and they’d die pathetically. Trivial creatures.

Loki, a knight who had made a name for himself in the Empire, rampaged across the battlefield.

“You filthy servants of evil! I won’t let you get away with this today!!”

Endorphins coursed through his body.

His heart pounded as he supplied mana to his sword.

Each time the mana sword flashed, ghouls and zombies fell in droves.

This was already a won war.

Even he, a mere mid-level knight, felt like he could handle it, so how would the upper-mid-level knights fare?

Moreover, this war was a personal campaign led by His Majesty the Emperor himself.

Which meant that the Continental First Swordsman, Knight Commander Hans, was also present as his shadow.

The Knight Commander’s monstrous prowess, which he had experienced during his apprenticeship, was still vivid in Loki’s memory.

Again, this was a war they couldn’t lose.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

The disgusting wail of a corpse came from behind again.

He needed to go and cut off its head in one swift strike…

“Patrick?”

Loki’s mind froze.

The knight in front of him.

Although the area below his left elbow was missing and his neck was twisted in a strange direction, dangling precariously, his face was unmistakable.

Patrick, his close friend who had come to the capital with him from their hometown and had been together since their squire days.

They had clawed their way up, determined to overcome their low status, and had finally received their knighthoods and reached this point.

As time passed, they grew older, and their respective positions changed, so they couldn’t hang out every day like they did in their youth, but Patrick was like family to Loki.

At Patrick’s wedding, Loki hugged him with all his might, and Patrick asked Loki to be the godfather of the child in his bride’s womb.

Loki couldn’t hold back his tears when he heard that request.

“Lo…ki…too…cold…”

Why was Patrick like this…

“Patrick?”

“Ugh… Loki…”

“No. This can’t be… Don’t do this… Aaaaargh!!!”

Loki screamed.

He had already lost his rational judgment.

Was that why? He didn’t notice the Death Knight approaching from behind.

Thwack!!

A sword pierced his heart.

What Loki saw when he turned around was the Death Knight’s inorganic gaze.

“Ha… haha!”

Loki’s breath was cut short at the end of his hollow laughter.

Loki collapsed.

He rose only a minute later.

With a gaping hole in his heart, he began to seek out victims like himself.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

Similar events occurred all over the battlefield.

Comrades who shared drinks together every day after training. The squad leader who would nonchalantly take care of medicine expenses when his son was sick. A junior he had personally taught swordsmanship to. Even the female knight he had secretly shared love with.

They couldn’t bring themselves to cut down their own people who had become Undead, and after wavering, they ended up in the same predicament.

Was the Empire the only one like this?

The Desert Kingdom was no different.

Rather, it was even worse because they were brothers who had fought together for survival since childhood.

Whether they were ordinary soldiers or paladins, it was all the same.

The damage gradually accumulated, and the war situation became increasingly unfavorable.

“Don’t hesitate! The moment you waver, you die. Steel your hearts and cut them all down!!”

Desert King Gazel roared hoarsely.

His voice had been gone for a long time.

Nevertheless, Gazel shouted until his vocal cords were torn.

That was how many more dead than living there were in the Melves Plains, and dark clouds loomed over the battlefield.

“Damn it! At this rate, there’s no end to it!”

Pahil, who was fighting alongside him, grumbled with a sullen voice.

His once shimmering white hair was stained with the crimson blood of Undead and humans, making it difficult to recognize its original color.

He had cut so much human flesh that the blade of his sword had become dull, and the grease mixed with blood kept making the hilt slip from his hand.

He had abandoned his sword and replaced it with a new one several times, but the number of enemies did not decrease. Rather, it increased.

It was sickening.

It was a perfect expression to describe the current situation.

“We must capture the Lich King, the leader of the enemy. That is the only solution.”

“How? Are you going to break through that swarming wave of Undead?”

“His Highness and I can do it.”

“Even if it were possible, the rate at which our brothers die would increase even faster if we left. We’re already in a dilemma.”

Nothing worked.

Only frustration grew.

Meanwhile, the number of Undead increased more and more.

It seemed that half of the Great Plains was filled with the dead.

“Is this the end…”

Pahil muttered without realizing it.

Just then, a scene suddenly flashed through his mind.

A man flying through the sky on a dragon, charging towards Oman.

The man who had shown him the truth hidden behind the veil, to him who had been satisfied with his life as a back alley sewer rat.

Hennon Lloyd.

He was definitely an impressive figure, but even he would be helpless this time.

After all, his opponent was the Lich King, who commanded hundreds of thousands of Undead and was skilled in magic.

“Still, it’s good to see my nephew’s face before I go.”

Gazel said.

Pahil chuckled without realizing it.

“Me too, Uncle.”

Pahil tore off the tattered sleeve and tightly bound the hilt of his sword to his right hand.

It was a temporary measure for his torn palms due to frequent sword swings.

Pahil was at his physical limit.

Gazel and Sloth were in the same situation.

Pahil also greeted Sloth, who was silently killing Undead on the side.

“Master, thank you for taking care of me, a mere child, until now. I will not forget your grace even in death.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Although you have a somewhat dry way of thinking, you are like a mother to me. I wanted to say it once before I died.”

Sloth tilted her head.

“What nonsense are you spouting? We are not going to die here.”

“Look around you. We are already surrounded by Undead. There is no hope.”

“That’s a boring joke. According to my ‘calculations,’ the probability of us dying here today is zero.”

“What input values did you put into your calculations to be so confident?”

Sloth, who received Pahil’s question, looked into the distance.

The direction her gaze was fixed on was the center of the enemy camp, where Hennon Lloyd had run off to earlier.

“You don’t believe in Hennon, do you?”

“To be exact, I believe in my calculations. Adopting you, getting married and having children, joining the Twilight Church, betraying Twilight and standing here, all of them are the result values derived from my survival equation.”

“If so…”

“Of course Hennon will win. And we will survive.”

A woman from the same back alley as himself.

A woman who rose from empty hands to become the continent’s top assassin and conquered the Empire’s back alleys.

The blind desire and obsession with survival that she had achieved even by castrating her emotions had brought her this far.

Pahil felt a strange sense of relief from Sloth’s fanatical attitude.

“Alright. Let’s see it through to the end.”

It didn’t take long.

Had they fought for about 10 minutes?

The Undead army collapsed all at once.

The sight of tens of thousands of Undead collapsing like dominoes was quite a spectacle.

As the enemy’s forces disappeared, the view opened up far away.

At the end of it was a man standing with a somewhat tired look.

Hennon Lloyd.

He had finally defeated Oman and brought the hellish war to an end.

“I told you. My survival equation is accurate.”

Sloth’s boast was correct, and

“Kyle’s successor. The reincarnation of the hero.”

Gazel’s words were also right.

Pahil also readily admitted it.

He was now… seeing a hero he had only heard about in stories.

* * *

“Waaaaaaaah!!!”

The powerful roar that echoed across the Melves Plains contained a variety of emotions, including joy at victory, elation at defeating the forces of evil, and relief at survival.

I was at the center of the cheers they sent, and I seemed to be feeling even more gratitude as I was a living lifeboat for them, who had even dipped their heads in the river of death.

“To see the legendary Dragon Knight…”

“I saw it. I saw him cutting down that terrifying Undead with a single blow!”

“Who is that person? I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before?”

“Hennon! Hennon Lloyd! The eighth star of the continent. The saint of the Elden Kingdom!”

Rumors spread so quickly.

It was only a matter of time before my personal information, which had leaked from somewhere, spread throughout the military camp.

Regardless, I rode Coco, who had been freed from the curse, straight to the Desert Kingdom army’s camp.

Desert King Gazel happened to be coming out to greet me with Pahil and Sloth. His attitude towards me was very different from before.

“I see you.”

“Pardon?”

“I greet the Hero.”

“I’m not a hero, though.”

“You rode the legendary divine beast, the dragon, and single-handedly captured the Lich King, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. If you are not a hero, then who is?”

Gazel seemed to have already decided in his heart that I was a hero. And Gazel was not the only one like this.

“His Majesty the Emperor is here!!”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound of drums was heard, and the Imperial Army arrived from the opposite side.

They were also in a terrible state, having fought hard.

No matter how dire the situation, this was a war that had started due to the grudges of the two leaders.

The Desert King’s eyes flashed with fire as he faced the Emperor.

“You…”

A lot of meaning was contained in that one word, “you.”

In the midst of exhaustion, the Desert Kingdom army’s swords were pointed at the Imperial Army, and the Imperial Army also raised their spears towards the Desert Kingdom side.

Knight Commander Hans naturally protected the Emperor.

“It’s alright. Hans, step aside for a moment.”

The Emperor led his horse forward.

“Your Majesty! It’s dangerous!”

As the Emperor took courage, Gazel also told his soldiers to put away their swords and stepped forward.

However, the Emperor ignored Gazel as if he were nothing.

Ignoring the Desert King, the place he arrived at was right in front of me.

“Today’s war was won thanks to you. Countless lives were saved because of you. As one representing Calon, I deeply thank you.”

The Emperor, the ruler of all people, bowed his head slightly to me.

“I will repay your kindness without fail. Although there was rudeness you committed at the hot springs, I will forget it all. Is there any reward you would like to receive? I will give you anything I can within my power. Ah, how about the title of Duke of the Empire? Since James is dead, it would be good for you to inherit his position.”

I appreciate your kind words, but the time and place are extremely wrong.

There was no way the Desert King, who had been completely ignored in front of his eyes, would remain silent.

Gazel blocked the space between me and the Emperor, snorting.

“How dare you hit on him? The Hero is a great benefactor of the Vernus Kingdom. He may not have originated from the desert, but he is already a brother of the desert. So get lost.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The Elden Kingdom, to which Count Lloyd belongs, has always had friendly relations with the Calon Empire. If we were close, we were close to the Empire, so it seems a bit of a misnomer to say that we are close to the desert.”

“That’s a very imperialistic way of thinking. Is treating us like a vassal state the closeness you mentioned? We sincerely serve Count Lloyd as a hero and intend to continue an equal and progressive relationship with the Elden Kingdom.”

“When will that be? What can your country, located in the southern backwater, do for Count Lloyd? On the other hand, we have more than enough ability. We are on a different starting line from barbarians who only know war.”

“Did you kill my sister and abandon your own son with that hypocritical and disgusting appearance you are showing now? You even set up a senior executive of the Twilight Church as a duke. I suspect that your eyes are pinholes or that you have gone mad.”

“I thought that story was over. Since the story is out, let me say something too. When Sandy was attacked from all sides and there was even talk of her being deposed, where were you? So much so that she said she would pretend to be dead to me. How can your tongue be so long as a bystander holed up in the south? Are all desert tribes like that?”

“You bastard!!! Alright! Let’s finish this today!”

“That’s what I wanted.”

I didn’t want this situation.

I hurriedly stepped forward and stopped them, spreading my arms.

“Everyone, calm down!!”

“Hero, get out of the way. They are no different from the demons we just defeated.”

“Count Lloyd, there’s no good in getting close to barbarians. For them, trust is not a matter of faith but a matter of choice.”

The Imperial and Desert armies once again pointed their weapons at each other.

It was a situation where good words would not work.

I had to be a little stronger.

“Stooooop!!!”

The shout pulled up from my gut reached the end of the Melves Plains and returned as an echo. Both sides, who were about to collide with each other, stopped for a moment.

“Are you all out of your minds? Look around you.”

Tens of thousands of corpses who died without even closing their eyes. Land stained with blood. Crows that had already gathered and were having a party. Decaying flesh and the resulting stench.

“Now is not the time to fight because our positions are different. I’m really surprised that you’re even thinking about fighting after seeing that horrific scene.”

I alternated my gaze between the Emperor and Gazel.

“Do you think the forces of evil are over because we won today? Not at all. The Twilight Church leader is still left, and he is stronger than Oman. Are we fighting among ourselves in this situation? That is a mutual destruction.”

Each word that came from the tip of my tongue became a stinging remark, piercing the hearts of the Emperor and the Desert King.

Only then did they realize their position and calm down their excitement to some extent.

“Then what do you think we should do? About the aftermath of all this war. You know all our circumstances, so I will listen carefully if you tell me.”

I thought for a moment at the Emperor’s words.

What should I do?

In fact, the answer had been decided from the beginning.

“Does Your Highness the Desert King think I am a hero?”

“Of course.”

“Does His Majesty the Emperor also agree with this? Do I seem like a successor to Kyle?”

“To be honest, you still have to show me more, but for now, I think you are the closest thing to a hero. Anyway, I’m willing to grant you anything you want.”

“Alright.”

Now that it has come to this, let’s make the situation bigger. I took a deep breath and slowly uttered the thoughts I had in my heart.

“In the capacity of a hero, I will hold the Arnia Continental Conference. All leaders of each country, including the Seven Stars, must gather.”

I issued a summons.