The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 253

178. Anthem Howard

“Really… is this possible?”

“I don’t know. But we have to do it since we were ordered to.”

Several soldiers standing in the blizzard were wearing white rabbit-fur cloaks from head to toe.

Some were crawling on the ground, sniffing the earth, while others were searching around the fortress walls, as if looking for something.

“Quickly, quickly! Reconnaissance time is almost up. If we can’t find it here, there’s no other way.”

“I’m going to die since I can’t use magic… When will we ever finish searching this wide fortress?”

“The moment we use detection magic, the protective magic on the cloak will be dispelled, and we’ll become arrow skewers. We’re right under the enemy’s nose. If we get caught, we’re dead.”

“We’re dead either way if we fail. Did you see Lady Serika’s eyes? If we return empty-handed again today…”

One of the soldiers trembled and muttered.

“It’s too late to regret it anyway.”

“The cost of the cloaks we ruined is already more than we could repay even if we rot in the military for the rest of our lives.”

Since the white rabbit’s fur is white, it can be used as camouflage in the snow piled as high as a person, but wearing such expensive fur and rolling around on the ground like this is something even the executives can’t easily do.

“It has to be here. Definitely. Unless that person lied to us. You all know the smell that came from the dirt they showed us, right?”

A soldier with snow all over his face said.

“Are you sure it’s really here?”

“There’s no way it can grow in this blizzard…”

The man from Deftar was the first to confidently answer Serika.

It was then.

Something caught on his finger as he swept the dirt floor.

The soldier hurriedly buried his face between the fortress wall and the ground and smelled it.

A fragrant, fruity scent reached his nose.

“……!!!”

He forgot that his fingers were cracking from the cold and continued to dig up the dirt.

A thick plant stem, like the root of a tree, was visible inside the dirt. And the dirt dug out between the fortress walls contained very slight moisture.

The soldier said in a trembling voice.

“I… I found it.”

Whoosh…!!

At that moment, the wind blew as if sweeping under the fortress walls.

The soldiers unknowingly raised their heads and looked at the edge of the fortress walls. It seemed to them that there was a small but significant crack in the great fortress that had seemed so solid.

* * *

“You’ve worked hard.”

Hashir looked at Carryl, who didn’t even break a sweat, despite what he had just said.

“It seems the cleanup is done.”

“It’s all thanks to you, my lord. The Drakes, who wouldn’t easily fall asleep even with poison herbs, have all become quiet at once.”

He pointed to the Drakes bowing their heads just like the Drake Carryl had brought.

“The nobles of the Duchy would faint if they saw this. I wonder what their expressions will be like when they see the Drakes flying towards their territory.”

“There’s no need to wonder. You can see it now.”

Carryl slowly moved his steps. The moment Hashir pulled back the tent flap, he could understand what he meant, because Fran was inside with a pale face.

“Completely broken.”

Hashir muttered as he looked at Fran’s face.

“It’s understandable. Cobb, Moon Ether, and even the 1st Flying Dragon unit. To others, it may seem like they’re on a winning streak, but from his perspective, he’s seeing a terrible scene of defeat right before his eyes. He can’t help but be mentally exhausted.”

“It’s not just that. From what I can see, he seems to be living with almost constant suppression. At that rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if his brain melted by now.”

Lilianna clicked her tongue as she looked at Fran trembling.

“Besides, once the withdrawal symptoms start, the hallucinations will become even more intense. Maybe in his eyes, my lord looks more terrifying than the devil.”

“You…!! You!!!”

The moment Fran saw Carryl, he hurriedly drew the sword from his waist and shouted.

Whoosh—!! Whooosh———!!

But his sword had no sharpness at all.

It was just moving randomly, like a madman swinging a club without any direction.

“……At this rate, I can’t expect any expressions from the nobles.”

Carryl dodged all of Fran’s attacks just by twisting his body in place.

Fran couldn’t overcome his own strength and ended up falling forward.

Thud—

Carryl caught Fran’s body.

“Aaaaaaack!!!”

Fran, who had raised his head, now pushed Carryl away as if running away from an evil spirit.

Then, he grabbed Anthem’s collar, curled up, and began to tremble like an aspen tree.

Gurgle—

Red blood flowed down his lips. At the same time, Fran began to thrash around.

“Lord, Lord!!”

Anthem hurriedly got up and supported the fallen Fran.

He was a mess, not from the battle, but from the wounds he sustained trying to stop Fran.

“…….”

Carryl, who had been staring at Fran, lightly struck the back of his neck.

“Cough!!”

Fran spat out a dark red clot of blood and collapsed in front of Anthem, limp as if he had fainted.

“Anthem Howard.”

When Carryl called his name, he surprisingly raised his head with a calm expression.

“You may resent me, but as you can see, it’s just a matter of time. Even if I hadn’t intervened, Fran’s future wouldn’t be much different from dying. Fran had already lost to Tulli before the war even started.”

“…….”

“I didn’t expect him to turn out like this either… You heard Fran’s words through the communication device, right? Do you think the agreement with Tulli would have been properly made in that state? He was used by Tulli.”

It was already clear that everything was a trick by the First Duchess, Tulli Roulein.

“She probably has no intention of giving Wooden Cloud [a strategically important location] to Fran. If anything, it’s more likely that Wooden Cloud and Tulli have already joined hands.”

Anthem couldn’t refute Carryl’s words.

“I was by his side…”

Carryl shrugged at his self-deprecating remark.

“You can’t protect every single move he makes, even if you’re there. From the beginning, Fran’s thoughts weren’t important in this civil war. Defeat was foreseen, and Fran wasn’t included in the glory.”

Anthem lowered his head at Carryl’s words.

“He foolishly believed Tulli’s words and ended up handing over those who trusted and followed him with his own hands. And because he hated that, you condoned my intervention.”

“……I was just curious.”

Anthem said.

“Maybe it’s what I wanted to believe. That Fran’s irrational decisions regarding the war were actually part of your plan.”

A man of royal assistance.

From birth, his outstanding qualities were enough to enthrone a king, and he was born with the ability to rise to the position of prime minister on his own.

But no matter how outstanding his talents were, if the era didn’t support him, he couldn’t exert his power.

After his death,

Historians always compared him to Brand Gaunt, who helped Oliven usher in the golden age of the empire.

However, unlike that, Anthem served many people, including Fran Roulein, Viola, and Ruon Schtean, but his end was ultimately a miserable death of defeat.

A proper master.

That was the only absence in his life.

“Because he was the lord I believed in and followed.”

Carryl slowly nodded at his words.

Because he understood what Anthem was trying to say.

“I wanted to lead him to victory no matter what. But you had already defeated him before the war even started.”

“So you tried to use the poison called me. Because only the victor of the war can correct this wrong.”

“But he collapsed before that. Of course, you accelerated it.”

Anthem glared sharply at Carryl.

But Carryl said confidently, as if he wasn’t afraid of his gaze at all.

“I’m one of the people who put my hand in this war. Just as you used me, I just used you.”

“I don’t know. I think I tried to use someone I couldn’t handle.”

Anthem gave a bitter smile.

It wasn’t wrong to use Carryl to lead the war to victory, but as he said, Carryl McGovern was too strong.

Carryl looked at him and thought.

‘I was worried about the discord that might arise if he went to Viola after leaving Fran.’

A changed future, no, the present.

Viola, who had the qualities of a king, was no longer the powerless princess of her previous life but the leader who could unify a country—no, the three kingdoms.

‘Foolish worry.’

But Carryl smiled quietly as he looked at Anthem.

Anthem, who didn’t know the meaning of that smile, just stared at him.

‘If I don’t give Anthem to her in the first place, that’s all there is to it.’

As later historians evaluated.

If Anthem Howard could have met a capable monarch, his capabilities would have been like adding wings to a tiger [a metaphor for greatly enhancing someone’s abilities].

Then, the monarch who would give him those wings was himself, in every way more than Viola.

And now.

Carryl sensed that it was time to reach out to Anthem.

“What are you going to do now? The war with Tulli isn’t over yet. The fate of those who remain after the lord they believed in has fallen is ultimately defeat.”

“…….”

“All you can do is pray that Tulli will have mercy on those who remain, but…”

Anthem shook his head.

“Mercy… Leaving aside the destruction of Moon Ether, she beheaded Lord Terix and stole the remaining Flying Dragons. Can I ask Lady Tulli for mercy?”

The Queen of the Bitter Cold.

Anthem thought that there were few people as ill-suited to the word mercy as Tulli Roulein, who sat on the throne in the snow-covered White Bunker with a face like ice.

“Everything is as you think. You didn’t even leave us a way to escape.”

“Well.”

Carryl replied in a calm voice to Anthem, who seemed to have given up.

“As you said, I’m cruel.”

Carryl never tried to sugarcoat himself.

“The path I will walk is a thorny one, and there will be criticism and resentment on that path, and sometimes I will have to stand on the blood I shed.”

He coldly spoke of himself as if he were harshly evaluating others.

“No, I’m already standing on a lot of blood. I took thousands of lives a little while ago.”

“…….”

Anthem’s eyes trembled as he looked at Carryl.

“But conversely, I also saved the lives of my allies behind me.”

Why was that?

The moment Anthem heard the word ally, he felt a tingling sensation in his heart.

Was it because he heard this word from Carryl, which he had wanted to hear so much from Fran Roulein?

“I can’t be a Holy King.”

Carryl shrugged.

“Well, I don’t want to be in the first place.”

It was a playful reaction, but even that seemed special.

“But at least I can give you a glorious victory.”

And that specialness was now tinged with sincerity.

“I’m sure of it—that it will be a true and certain victory that the person you follow cannot give you, because I will not compromise with anyone and will only achieve it with my own hands.”

Doo-geun… Doo-geun….

Anthem’s heart was beating fast.

“I know that the reason why you, a descendant of the Howard family, who used to be called the Emperor of the System [a family with a legacy of strategic brilliance], are lending your strength to the Duchy is because of the residents living on the islands of the System, which have become a vassal state.”

“Don’t tell me…”

Carryl shook his head instead of answering, as if he knew what Anthem was thinking.

“I have no intention of using them as hostages. I will also place them under my protection.”

Then, he reached out and pointed behind him.

“Not only the people of the System, but also the Duchy now has countless lives that believe in you, just like the allies cheering behind me now.”

Carryl’s voice, filled with magic, echoed through the battlefield, and the Drakes around him spread their wings all at once.

“Anthem Howard.”

He called his name once again.

“I will do my best to protect those who will be under my protection. There will be no defeat on that path, even if sacrifices are made.”

Anthem Howard looked at Carryl with trembling eyes.

“Protect them from Tulli, and also the future of the Duchy that will be written in the future.”

He felt as if he couldn’t breathe properly due to the overwhelming pressure, as if facing a huge mountain.