Margrave’s Bastard Son Was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 599

An unprecedented tension gripped Purpato. The fall of Agiar had brought the line between life and death much closer.

Purpato residents, young and old, armed themselves and lined the walls. Children moved piles of stones and sandbags, while women, with quivers on their backs, stood on the walls.

‘They’re here!’

‘Bariel scouts!’

It was as expected. Considering the distance from Agiar to Purpato, they were due to arrive around this time.

When the Bariel scout approached the wall, circled once, and left, the residents put their hands together and lightly tapped each other’s foreheads. It was the last greeting of those who were prepared to die.

‘Alright, let’s begin!’

‘Yes, Lord Lautan!’

Lautan, originally the captain of the Purpato guard, was now the commander in charge of the city’s defense.

At his signal, the gates of Purpato opened wide, and a dozen young men on horseback dashed out like arrows.

Hee-heeing!

Thud!

The Purpato defense force was no match for the tens of thousands of Bariel troops. Moreover, the enemy had mages, magic swordsmen, and sorcerers at the forefront. There was an absolute difference in power.

Lautan didn’t deny this. It was the right attitude to admit the truth when facing battle. But despite this, there was only one reason why they were defending Purpato.

‘To take down as many of Bariel’s forces as possible.’

In Calamat, the royalist forces were stationed. Among them, there would be someone who could stand against the mages. So, even if they died, they wouldn’t die easily. Even if they had to fall, they would take at least one Bariel soldier’s life with them.

The Purpato residents, tightening their coats that were hardly worthy of being called armor, watched the retreating figures of the riders.

‘Come on, hurry!’

‘Yes, Lord Lautan!’

Clatter, clatter!

Hee-heeing!

They decided to use the terrain to their advantage. The only thing they could use against Bariel was their homeland, which they had considered their front yard and backyard for decades.

The young men on horseback climbed the hill and placed barrels of collected oil one by one.

‘This is the first line of defense! Check one last time to see if the spacing is adequate!’

‘No problems! We’ll roll them down as soon as we get the signal and then return. But I don’t know if it will be effective with the mages around.’

‘We’re not trying to win with this! The goal is to lure them to the right!’

If they rolled the oil barrels down the hill and set them on fire, a large fire would engulf the hill. It would be like a hot and intense natural defense line.

While the mages could fly in the sky, the ordinary soldiers wouldn’t be able to climb through the flames. They would naturally be forced to the path on the side. It was a shortcut often used by the Purpato people, with a deep and high valley like a canyon.

‘Are you ready?’

‘Yes! We just need to release the levers, and they’ll fall right away!’

When the enemy rushed in, they would drop huge rocks. While causing casualties was good, the priority was ‘separation of forces.’ If the Bariel army was divided in two by the falling rocks, they would give poison arrows to the survivors in the front and sword blades to those turning back.

Lautan, with a tense expression, checked his surroundings one last time.

Whistle-

As the signal that the Bariel army was approaching was given, they all faced each other and put the last cigarette in their mouths.

‘Let’s meet in death.’

‘May it not be too painful.’

‘If we take some Bariel bastards with us, we won’t even feel the pain.’

Tap, tap, a light pat on the shoulder, and then the whistle sounded again. It was a signal that the Bariel army would soon be upon them. The Purpato people lay flat on the ground, holding their breath.

Thud! Thud!

The ground was shaking. The sight of tens of thousands of soldiers rushing forward was vivid. Then, in the distance, a Vergos flag was raised, and they pushed the oil barrels they had placed earlier, one by one, with their bodies.

‘Even numbers first!’

‘Even numbers going!’

‘If it breaks at the bottom, odd numbers go!’

‘Uwaaaah!’

As something rolled down from the distant hill, the Bariel vanguard stopped cautiously. The first barrel that was dropped hit a rock, bounced, and then shattered completely, soaking the dry grass.

Swoosh!

‘Prepare fire arrows!’

‘Ready!’

‘Fire!’

Whoosh! Ping!

Swish!

Since the surroundings were covered in oil, the flames rose instantly. As the hill began to blaze, the young men rode their horses and retreated to the city in one go.

Now, all that was left was the canyon.

‘The flames are rising! They’ll be here soon!’

‘Stand by!’

The hearts of those holding the levers pounded. But even as time passed, the Bariel soldiers did not appear. The flames were still rising as if they would burn the sky. They couldn’t possibly be standing still.

Feeling something was wrong, they looked around and found a person floating in the air.

‘Gasp!’

A mage.

The mage they had only heard about!

‘Yes, Ian. It was as expected. There’s a trap. They’re planning to drop rocks, what should we do? Should we clear this side?’

Zzzing! Zzzing!

Tommy transmitted his voice with magic and looked back. The flames were raging fiercely, but this could be easily suppressed with magic. It was just a bit annoying.

‘Clear that side. It’s not easy to climb here because of the slope and the oil. And above all, the smoke is too thick.’

‘Understood. I’ll clear it.’

Tommy noticed that the Purpato people were aiming their arrows at the sky. Their posture was quite accurate, and the strength with which they pulled the bowstring was solid.

Swoosh!

As the arrows flew, Tommy deployed a shield and descended rapidly towards them. Under the strict order not to kill the Purpato people, there was not much he could do.

Zzzing! Zzzing!

Boom!

Fixing the rocks with magic and then detonating them. Tommy fixed the range of the shield widely so that no one else would get hurt, and shattered the huge rocks.

‘……!’

The Purpato people, seeing the scene, were speechless and frozen. Was this the power of a single mage?

They had heard about it, but this was a power far beyond what an ordinary soldier could handle. No matter how many fire arrows they shot or rocks they rolled, they could never defeat them. Even though they had accepted defeat from the beginning, an undeniable sense of powerlessness washed over them.

‘We’re going to die.’

Not knowing that Tommy had deployed a shield, they closed their eyes tightly and waited for death.

But what came back was clumsy Vergosian.

‘Are you Purpato? I want to meet your leader.’

‘Wh-what?’

‘Bariel doesn’t want to fight you. Go back to the city and deliver this message. Let’s resolve this through dialogue, peacefully.’

Then, without any hesitation, he turned his back and left.

The Purpato people stared blankly at the scene, then backed away and mounted their horses. They needed to quickly convey the mage’s destructive power and Bariel’s intentions.

‘Giddy up! Hurry!’

Tommy watched them return from the sky and sent a hand signal to the main force waiting below, indicating that the path was clear.

Booo-ooo-

Booo!

It didn’t take long for the unfamiliar sound of a water buffalo horn to be heard. The Bariel army, bypassing the canyon and approaching the Purpato city, looked up at the Purpato women who were aiming their arrows from the walls, and Tweller stepped forward.

‘I am Maxim Tweller, the Minister of the Imperial Defense Department of the Great Bariel Empire! Our destination is not Purpato but Calamat. If you open the gates, there will be no armed conflict. This is the will of His Majesty the Emperor, you can trust it.’

Lautan appeared. He quickly tried to figure out where the Emperor was. Was it that large carriage in the middle of the Bariel camp in the distance? It was an unreachable distance.

‘My name is Lautan. I am the commander of Purpato. Is Bariel now urging us to abandon our homeland? Just as you love Bariel, we also love Vergos. We cannot open the gates.’

The position of Purpato was firm. Until those who had witnessed the power of the mages from behind started to speak up.

‘He shattered rocks with one hand. And he flew in the sky. Lord Lautan, how about opening the gates first and planning for the future? If the Bariel main force moves south, we might have a chance to recapture Agiar.’

‘He has sworn in the name of the Emperor. He will surely keep his promise.’

‘Absolutely not! Rather, ask for death! Opening the gates is abandoning our homeland. What meaning is there in surviving?’

‘Yes, let’s fight! We were prepared to die anyway!’

Lautan did not budge, even as he listened to his subordinates’ comments from behind.

When there was no movement within Purpato, the mages whispered to Ian.

‘Ian, how about showing them the branch?’

‘Yes, if we say that a deer, a local god or something, opened the way, it might be easier. They have a lot of spirit.’

‘It won’t be easy. Oh? Minister Tweller is looking this way.’

Tweller also looked at Ian, asking for his opinion. Ian thought for a moment and then shook his head.

‘No, it’s better to keep the details of the deal with the deer ‘for now’.’

‘Yes? Why?’

‘As everyone felt, their spirit is a variable. For those who are willing to die, that can become a weapon.’

The mages let out small gasps at Ian’s muttering.

Tweller, agreeing with the same opinion, did not hastily mention the ‘forest’ or the ‘deer.’ He just waited, facing them, for the opinions within Purpato to diverge. If there was no change in their attitude even after time passed, then they could proceed with the next operation.

‘Uwaaaaaaah!’

Then, a strange sound was heard from afar. As if asking for attention. It was a middle-aged man, and he was shouting at the top of his lungs on horseback.

‘Bariel cannot harm Purpato!’

‘…Who is that guy?’

‘Bariel cannot harm Purpato! They swore in the Purpato forest!’

‘I think he’s the son of the old man we brought earlier.’

‘That’s right. He looks just like him. But we sent that old man home, right? We even sent him off with a chunk of meat?’

‘It seems he told him in the meantime.’

‘He repaid kindness with enmity. How beautiful.’

While the mages clicked their tongues, soldiers under Tweller’s command rushed to stop the man.

But he was also a Purpato person, so they couldn’t kill him. They just knocked him off his horse with the back of their spears. As long as he was alive, it didn’t matter if he broke a bone or two.

‘Who is he?’

‘He’s Mato, who lives on the outskirts!’

‘The Purpato forest appeared? Really?’

‘Lord Lautan, what should we do? If they passed through the Purpato forest, they are the ones who received permission. Perhaps we should open the gates…….’

‘No! It has not been determined whether they received permission or if they passed through after destroying the Purpato forest!’

Ian touched the branch with his fingertips, trying to gauge the atmosphere inside the city. It was not easy because it was so high and far away. Then, as if he felt something, he instructed the mages.

‘…Deploy a large shield.’

If they were not to kill the Purpato people, then the Bariel soldiers should not die either.

The moment Ian said that-

Lautan drew his sword at the same time.

Shwing!

‘Whether it is true that they cannot kill the Purpato people or not is something we can find out ourselves. If it is true, then we have a huge shield. All troops, attack!’