Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 224

224.

Undin’s answer was simple.

-I do not know.

I felt lost when Undin, who was always wise and showed me the way, said she didn’t know.

“Your Highness!”

At the urgent cry, I finished my training and turned my head.

“What is it?”

“Duke James has returned!”

“The Duke?”

I said as I entered the castle with the soldier.

“Is everyone safe?”

“Magician Lillian didn’t look too good. Her Highness the Crown Princess, Duke James, and Knight Gail weren’t in great shape either. They were all covered in blood.”

The steps towards the castle became faster.

As soon as I entered, I saw Gail.

“Gail!”

Gail approached and bowed.

His body was covered in blood and sweat, just like the soldier said.

“Are you okay?”

Gail nodded at my words.

“I’m fine. It’s all the enemy’s blood. I pushed myself a bit breaking through the enemy lines, but I’m hardly injured.”

Olivia and James were also seen coming down from the upper floor.

“Olivia!”

Even though I heard Gail’s words, I couldn’t hide my surprise at the sight of the two people drenched in sweat and blood like Gail.

“Your Highness!”

“Your Highness.”

The two bowed to me.

Hamilton was also seen behind them, and he looked relatively better than the others.

“Is Hamilton okay?”

The three answered simultaneously.

“Yes.”

“What about Lillian?”

“I think we should send her to the Imperial Palace.”

I nodded at Duke James’ words.

“Let’s rest for now. Even if it’s wartime, you can’t go straight into battle after breaking through enemy lines.”

“Yes.”

“Olivia, go in quickly.”

I had a mountain of things I wanted to ask, but I sent Olivia and the others back first.

Olivia went back upstairs first, and Hamilton, Gail, and Duke James also returned to their respective rooms.

I rushed back to the castle walls with Ken, who had rushed over.

“Now that Duke James has returned, we should retreat without worry.”

I widened my eyes at Ken’s words.

“What? We barely retreated to the fortress and said we had to defend it somehow, but now we’re retreating?”

“Yes. We can retreat to Grenian and fight relying on the Grenian walls.”

Ken’s eyes sparkled.

“And we need to draw them into Grenian to annihilate them.”

“Annihilate?”

“Yes. When the Allied Forces of the Kingdoms advance to Grenian, the retreat path will naturally become longer.”

“I’ll listen to the detailed explanation on the castle walls.”

I went up to the castle walls with Ken.

The enemies still looked like swarms of ants.

It’s a sickening number just to look at.

“There are a lot of soldiers.”

I said with a sigh.

“You have a plan to annihilate them all?”

That’s what Ken clearly meant earlier.

Now that our elite has returned, we can annihilate them.

Lillian’s return meant the destruction of the Eric family.

I could feel it without having to listen to their explanation.

‘Even Karen can’t stop us alone.’

With confidence came worry.

“Do I… deserve to annihilate them all?”

Ken answered as if he had been waiting.

“There is no such thing as deserving. There is only the result.”

“Result?”

“If those ant-like soldiers are annihilated and surrender, the Allied Kingdoms will naturally fall into Your Highness’ hands.”

Ken continued.

“How their annihilation will be recorded in history will depend on how Your Highness operates the Allied Kingdoms that have fallen into your hands. Whether it was a simple desire for conquest or a sacrifice for all humans living on the continent.”

I couldn’t speak for a while.

It’s been quite a while since I came here, but not all of my modern consciousness has been erased.

When I think about it, it’s an amazing thing.

I used to be an ordinary writer, but now I’m standing on the castle walls, deciding the lives of over a hundred thousand people.

The war has already begun.

Sentimentality is of no help in war.

“I’m confident in winning this war. If even the Eric family has been destroyed, their elite is as good as halved.”

Ken agreed.

“Jane is leading them, but our elite has returned. But the number of soldiers is overwhelmingly inferior, so retreating to Grenian won’t seem strange.”

“Right. I understood abandoning the fortress. You’re saying we’ll draw the enemies to Grenian, lengthening their supply and retreat routes?”

“Yes.”

Ken nodded.

Ken then spread a map on the castle walls.

“Here is the Jane family, here is Eric, and here is the Gordon family. They were all protecting the border, but two families have fallen.”

Gordon is also dead, and Eric is likely dead as well.

“Because of this, the Allied Kingdoms primarily gather all supplies in the Jane family.”

Ken smiled.

“After drawing the enemies to Grenian, we plan to turn some troops back and directly attack the Jane family.”

“Again?”

“It’s not a dangerous task. It’s a kind of deception.”

“Deception?”

“Yes. At first, we plan to focus only on rear guerrilla warfare.”

“And then?”

“We’ll make the enemies get used to it. Ah, the Empire is short on soldiers, so they’re only doing guerrilla warfare, relying only on the walls to defend Grenian, and only using shaking tactics [tactics to demoralize the enemy].”

Ken continued in a low voice.

“When the enemy gets used to it, we’ll secretly divert soldiers to infiltrate the enemy’s rear and then attack simultaneously from both sides, we can definitely annihilate the enemies.”

“There are too few soldiers, aren’t there?”

Ken nodded at my words.

“Soldiers are being replenished even at this hour. And three Sword Masters, a magician who rivals the 9th Circle [the highest level of magic], and a top-class spirit master can fight evenly. The rest is momentum.”

Ken concluded.

“Even if guerrilla warfare is just a deception, if we attack the Jane family and disrupt the enemy’s supply… those ant-like soldiers will be nothing more than scarecrows.”

* * *

Lillian still hadn’t woken up, so we urgently moved her to Grenian.

“Lillian will shake it off and get up on her own if she gets enough rest. There’s nothing particularly wrong with her, it’s just the aftereffects of excessive magic use.”

I nodded at Duke James’ words.

I’m having a commanders’ meeting in the fortress, including those who returned yesterday.

The knights’ expressions were brighter than ever.

The return of the three Sword Masters instilled confidence not only in the soldiers but also in the knights.

“Now is the time to crush the enemies.”

“Yes! We can open the gates and sweep away the enemies.”

Ken poured cold water on the knights’ excited voices.

“From today, we will divide the troops and retreat to Grenian. Send the same order to all fortresses.”

The knights’ gazes all turned to Ken.

Seeing the knights with incredulous expressions, Ken continued.

“The reason for retreating to Grenian is simple. It’s not just to annihilate the Allied Forces of the Kingdoms, but to push up to the capital of the Allied Kingdoms on this opportunity.”

“No, you’re retreating.”

Ken smiled faintly.

“You can think of it as one step back for the sake of two steps forward. Commanding knights, do not doubt and follow military orders.”

I gave Ken my support.

“The military has a good plan, so retreat to Grenian.”

The knights had no choice but to nod at my words.

The detailed plan will be conveyed to the commanders in detail later. Security is still important, so it was better to keep the words to a minimum until the retreat to Grenian.

I turned my gaze towards Duke James.

“Now, tell me the story of what happened with Magician Lillian.”

“After arriving near the Eric family with Hamilton’s guidance, Magician Lillian unleashed a magic called Hellfire.”

Horror crossed everyone’s faces.

Hellfire, the fire of hell, was a famous magic known even to ordinary people.

A magic that is almost a symbol of the 9th Circle!

I asked in a low voice.

“Did it succeed?”

“It succeeded. Not only the Eric family’s main residence but also the surrounding area… all turned to ashes.”

Duke James continued.

“Even we had a hard time avoiding the aftermath of that magic. If we had been swept away, we wouldn’t have been safe. It is understood that Eric was in the main residence, so Eric must have died.”

A magic that turns even a Sword Master into ash.

I realized Lillian’s power anew.

“Magician Lillian fainted after using magic, and they had already launched a full-scale war. Naturally, we were isolated and had no choice but to break through the enemy lines.”

“Still, you returned safely!”

“Yes. It was difficult, but fortunately, we were able to be safe.”

Duke James seemed to have something more to say, but he closed his mouth.

I came to a conclusion.

“We will retreat to Grenian according to the military’s plan. Each commander moves as secretly as possible so that the soldiers are not exposed to the enemy’s attacks. Gail.”

“Yes.”

“You will be in charge of the retreat operation.”

“Yes. Your Highness.”

I got up.

“Then let’s begin. I, along with Olivia and the top commanders, will guard the castle walls until the very end before retreating.”

It was also to set an example for the soldiers, but also to prevent the soldiers’ morale from falling during the retreat.

What if the Crown Prince and Crown Princess were guarding the castle walls while they were retreating?

Even if they retreat, the emotions the soldiers feel will not be greatly despairing.

Rather, their faith in the commander may become stronger.

After all the knights dispersed, I headed to the castle walls first.

Duke James followed.

Olivia and Ken always followed me like shadows, but for some reason, they didn’t follow me because of Duke James’ strange atmosphere.

Soon, Duke James and I were alone on the castle walls.

“When Lillian fainted.”

Duke James paused for a moment.

“What is it?”

“I tried to kill her.”

I stopped walking.

I turned around and looked at Duke James.

I couldn’t read any thoughts from Duke James’ expression.

I asked calmly.

“Lillian?”

“Yes. After seeing her magic, I decided that I must kill her.”

“May I ask the reason…?”

“Because she will be an obstacle to Your Highness’ path. I still haven’t changed my mind much about that.”

“What is the reason you didn’t kill her despite that?”

Duke James looked surprised at my calm question.

“She is an obstacle to my path and you were going to kill her, but why didn’t you kill her?”

Duke James smiled bitterly.

“Everyone stopped me. Her Highness the Crown Princess, and Gail too.”

“I see.”

Duke James’ eyes became intense.

“The relationship between Lillian and Your Highness still has many ambiguous aspects. She is loyal to Your Highness now, but she and Your Highness have a transactional relationship, not a lord-vassal relationship [a relationship based on mutual obligations and loyalty].”

Duke James concluded.

“A transactional relationship is bound to break if you can’t get any profit from it.”