Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 69

Preparation

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“If you still want war, then fire! If you want to end your own lives, then fire! If not, open the gates and welcome us.”

Edar spread his arms wide and declared calmly.

*Clang, clang,* the soldiers arrayed behind him struck their weapons again.

The soldiers looking down at them from the walls trembled.

The courage that had filled their eyes moments before was gone without a trace.

Though they clearly outnumbered them, they were intimidated and cowed.

“Fire!”

Haral Thurred roared.

He clutched his wrist and gritted his teeth.

“Ugh… Keuk!”

A hole had been blown through the center of his right hand.

Blood flowed incessantly from the wound.

It was a wound inflicted by a spear thrown by Edar’s guard.

His face was contorted with pain, and his eyes were bloodshot.

“I said fire again!”

The anger surging from his chest echoed loudly.

But no one followed his orders.

Those on the walls were watching a woman.

“······.”

Her name was Yulia, the only daughter of Marquis Roesene [a noble title, ranking below a duke but above an earl].

She was also the former fiancée of Edar, the exile standing before the gate.

‘No way.’

She was oblivious to the gazes focused on her.

No, she didn’t even realize she was being watched.

She was too shocked to afford such awareness.

‘That person is Edar?’

Yulia Roesene covered her mouth with her hand.

She was sure that words would spill out unconsciously if she didn’t.

She was too surprised to control herself.

‘It can’t be….’

She blinked repeatedly, looking at Edar.

The last time she had seen him was last summer.

It had been almost a year since she had seen him again, and he had changed so much.

The man from then and the man now seemed like completely different people.

‘He is him, but….’

It wasn’t a matter of appearance.

Rather, his appearance had hardly changed from before.

The only difference was that he was dressed more plainly.

Therefore, the reason she thought of him as a different person was not his appearance.

‘It’s the atmosphere, the behavior. It’s all so different.’

She recalled Edar from her memories.

The Edar in her memory was a person who lacked confidence.

He tried not to make eye contact when he spoke, he stammered over each word, he hunched forward, and his shoulders were slumped.

He always acted as if he was afraid of everything.

‘Just looking at him made me feel drained.’

But the Edar in front of her was different.

Was he avoiding the eyes of the enemies on the wall?

Or was he stammering as he spoke to them?

Or was he cowering and trembling as if he was afraid?

None of those traits were present in the current Edar.

‘He’s more like… Duke Thurred. He really resembles that man.’

The portrait she had seen when she visited the Duke’s mansion for the engagement.
The image of the young Duke with a touch of divinity, as befitting a noble’s portrait.
The Duke Thurred in that painting resembled the current Edar.

No, the current Edar seemed even more dignified than the portrait.

‘How can a person change so much?’

She couldn’t understand his transformation.

No reasonable explanation came to mind, no matter how much she thought about it.

If only his atmosphere and behavior had changed, she might have been able to accept it somehow.

But his position had also changed.

‘He even conquered northern Wallachia.’

A topic that never faded in social circles.

A discarded bastard had become the master of northern Wallachia.

Some said it was thanks to becoming a servant of the Orcs [a fictional race, often depicted as monstrous humanoids].

Based on the rumor that the Orcs had annihilated Wallachia’s forces.

‘Is that really the case?’

She couldn’t imagine it.

Edar, standing there, obeying someone.

“······.”

“Ughhh! Kill them! Kill them quickly!”

Haral’s screams pulled her from her thoughts.

A fool who flaunted his family and talent.
The idiot was blubbering, tears and snot running down his face.

Even though the bleeding had stopped and he had bandaged his hand, the pain remained.

‘If he hadn’t been showing off in the first place, he wouldn’t have been hurt.’

He had failed to catch the spear thrown by Edar’s guard.

It was an injury he sustained when he tried to catch the spear that the guard had thrown back at him.

‘Pathetic.’

She looked at him with cold eyes.

The source of her headaches for the past few days.

He was the fiancé sent by the Duke’s family in place of Edar.

‘The engagement hasn’t been decided yet, but….’

It was virtually confirmed because it was a proposal from the Thurred Dukedom.

It meant that they sent the second son even after she broke off the engagement with Edar.

It was a sign that the Duke was genuinely aiming for the Roesene Marquisate.

‘They’re brothers, but they have nothing in common.’

Haral Thurred visited the Marquisate on the pretext of seeing his fiancée.

She had been harassed by him for several days and had figured out his personality.

If the former Edar was an incompetent and insecure coward, Haral was a reckless fool with outstanding talent and excessive confidence.

A fool who acted as if the world was his.

‘I hope this makes him a little more docile.’

A great family and great talent.

She could easily imagine how much the Duke and Duchess had coddled him.

It must have been the opposite of the harshness they had shown Edar.

Could this be the first time he’s been hit by someone?

Yulia sighed softly.

Hoping that he would learn some humility from this.

“My lady.”

A retainer spoke cautiously.

“What are you going to do?”

The retainer ignored Haral’s shouts as if he hadn’t heard them.

‘What am I going to do?’

She knew what the retainer was referring to.

What to do about the current situation of facing Edar.

Whether to fight or let them pass without a fight.

‘If we try to fight, it’s not like we can’t.’

She looked at the soldiers she had brought.

Soldiers she had led in place of her father, who was unable to rise from his sickbed.

Even amidst the ongoing chaos in the territory, they had gathered over 10,000 men.

Twice the number of Edar’s soldiers arrayed in front of them.

Moreover, she was in the position of a defender.

‘But….’

But she didn’t feel like they could win.

Even though she had an overwhelming advantage in terms of position and numbers.

“······.”

She looked at the retainers who were waiting for her decision.

The same hesitation was evident on their faces as well.

A headache suddenly struck, and she frowned.

She pressed her right hand to her forehead and looked at Edar.

He was also looking at her, and he moved his lips silently.

– Do you have a reason to fight me?

She unconsciously let out a gasp.

‘A reason to fight him….’

Edar is the eldest son of Thurred.

He is a vassal of Wallachia, but he did not visit as a representative of Wallachia.

‘If what he’s aiming for isn’t Germania [an ancient region in north-central Europe inhabited by Germanic peoples], then there’s no reason to fight.’

She glanced at the second son of Thurred, who was still crying.

Second son, but in reality, he was the third son.

It was only because the first son in front of her had been disowned that he became the second son.

‘Why should I sacrifice myself for a family feud?’

The reason why Edar brought his troops was obvious.

Everyone in this country knew the relationship between Edar and Thurred.

The Roesene Marquis had gathered troops because Edar’s troops had appeared in the Marquis’s territory, not with the intention of fighting Edar.

If Edar had no intention of fighting, there was no reason to fight.

“Why are you ignoring me! I’m that woman’s fiancé!”

Fiancé? It was only a de facto relationship, and they hadn’t even exchanged marriage vows.

Officially, Thurred and Roesene were unrelated families.

Even a common soldier knew this and didn’t even glance at him.

“······.”

Having finished her thoughts, she raised her hand and waved it up and down.

“Lower your weapons.”

“What? What are you talking about!”

“Be quiet.”

“What! You, I—”

“Shut up!”

*Slap*— Haral’s head turned to the side with a sharp sound.

A gasping sound spread.

Haral blankly raised his left hand and touched his cheek.

Yulia raised her eyebrows and raised her voice.

“You are neither the Duke of Thurred nor the Marquis of Roesene. Nor are you my husband! So stop crying, shut your mouth, and stay put!”

Hic.

Haral opened his eyes wide and hiccuped.

She gestured to her retainers.

“You guys, come with me.”

“My lady! Are you going out there?”

“I need to talk to him directly.”

“It’s dangerous!”

Her retainers tried to stop her.

She ignored them and went straight down from the gate tower.

The retainers sighed and followed her outside.

“It’s been a while, Yulia.”

Standing in front of the gate, Edar smiled at her.

She flinched at his smile, which she had never seen before.

“…You’ve changed a lot, Edar.”

The Edar she remembered was always gloomy.

He didn’t know how to smile and was always cowering in fear.

The Edar before her was the opposite of the Edar in her memory.

He greeted her with a bright, energetic, and natural smile.

It felt so awkward that Yulia tried to smile back, but the corners of her lips trembled.

“Is that so.”

“Yes. It’s like you’ve become a completely different person.”

He nodded.

‘I guess so, it can’t be helped,’ he muttered to himself.

“I knew you would come. Though I didn’t expect you to bring that fool with you.”

“It’s not like I wanted to bring him.”

“Is that so? Thurred must have intervened.”

He chuckled as if he understood.

“Why did you come back?”

“Do I need a reason to return to my home?”

“Isn’t it too flamboyant for just returning home?”

She pointed to Edar’s soldiers.

The loud *clang, clang* sounds from moments ago were gone.

Instead, they stood still, their eyes fixed on her.

She felt goosebumps at the sight.

It felt like she was being watched by an array of dolls.

“Why did you bring an army?”

“To protect me.”

“Protect you? Not invade?”

Edar scoffed, exhaling smoke.

“Invade? With only 6,000 men, who could I invade?”

She was momentarily speechless.

As she said before, Thurred was the only one who had a grudge against Edar.

Was Thurred’s power so weak that he could be trampled by an army of only 6,000 men?

Even Yulia had hastily gathered over 10,000 men, hadn’t she?

Thurred could gather several times that number with a single gesture.

“Do you understand now? That your question is absurd?”

“Still, there are too many of them.”

Edar shrugged.

“I have no choice but to say that it can’t be helped. The person aiming for me is too strong, so I felt like I had to protect myself like this. You know that too, don’t you?”

The person aiming for him was obviously Duke Thurred.

She couldn’t say definitively that she didn’t know.

“…That’s just your claim.”

“Then? Should I die to prove it?”

“······.”

She pursed her lips.

She felt like the conversation was going nowhere.

She sighed softly and shook her head.

“Don’t you have any intention of going back? Really?”

“No. I’ll go back after I finish my business.”

At his firm answer, she walked over to him and whispered.

“I’ve heard what you did in Wallachia. Don’t you have to come back? If you come back, you’re bound to fight Thurred, he’ll try to kill you, but you’re still coming?”

“Hmm.”

He was calm.

As if he had heard something obvious.

“Thurred being your enemy is the same as the entire Germania being your enemy. Do you know that too?”

“How could I not know? Isn’t Thurred the king of Germania?”

“He’s not the king, not yet.”

Edar smirked.

“No matter what the situation, I have to go to Thurred. I have something I need to do.”

“You still can’t say why?”

“If I have to give a reason, I’ll make the excuse that I came to participate in Germania’s founding ceremony.”

Yulia narrowed her eyes.

“You’re a vassal of Wallachia.”

“The blood that flows is Thurred’s. Even though I’ve been disowned.”

Edar erased his smile and wore a serious expression.

“I’ll say it again. Yulia of Roesene. I, as a descendant of Thurred’s blood, wish to return to my homeland. Open the way.”

“······.”

She stared blankly at him.

He didn’t avoid her gaze.

He used to tremble like an aspen and lower his head, but not anymore.

Rather, she was the one trembling.

She felt pressure from his unfathomable eyes.

Her body trembled as if she was standing before a very large being.

She clenched her fists tightly and slowly turned her face.

“…If you’re returning as a representative of Thurred.”

Yulia bit her lip.

The words ‘let him pass’ wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

She hesitated briefly and answered in a trembling voice.

“Could you… could you concede a little? I can’t let everyone in. I have a responsibility too.”

Half.

Yulia told Edar to reduce his troops by half.

If he reduced them by half, she would open the border fortress.

Edar burst out laughing at those words.

“Half isn’t a little.”

Yulia’s face turned red.

“Even if I reduce them more….”

“You’re not good at bargaining, Yulia. It’s a bad strategy to start high and try to lower the price little by little. You have to start by making it impossible for the other party to refuse.”

Edar smiled and said, ‘If I were to give an example.’

“I’ll cure your father.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll cure your father, Marquis Roesene’s illness, and I’ll also catch the source of the disease plaguing your territory. You can’t refuse an offer like that, can you?”

Yulia blinked.

She couldn’t decide whether it was a joke or the truth, and she stared blankly at him.

But her mouth involuntarily asked the question.

“If you can do that… what do you want from me?”