The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 298

201. Proof (1)

“Fire!! Fire!!”

Clang, clang, clang—!!

Clang—!!

Explosions erupted everywhere.

The arrows pouring from the border fortress filled the sky like a rainstorm. The arrowheads were mixed with small fragments of attribute stones, making them dozens of times more powerful than ordinary arrows.

“They’re using attribute stones stolen from the mine to make such shoddy things,” Cahill muttered.

The amount of attribute stone powder in a single arrow might be small, but the cumulative effect of thousands or tens of thousands of them was significant.

Cahill swung his sword irritably.

Whoosh…!!

Agnel’s blade, imbued with the power of Lamine [a powerful magical energy], created a trail of flames as it drew an arc.

Where the sword passed, the arrows exploded, emitting black smoke.

“A, attack!!”

The fortress commander watched the scene and shouted in a trembling voice.

However, he knew that the magic troops already deployed couldn’t stop him.

“Is there any news from Lord Beryl!!”

“That’s… the communication device is off.”

“What?!”

The commander frowned at his subordinate’s report.

It was only natural.

By now, Beryl might be preparing to defect to the Empire. He must have already received the results of the battle between Simon Coden, the card he had trusted, and Cahill.

Clang—!!

Before the commander could even assess the situation, the thick gate was cut in half and split open to both sides.

“……!!!”

He couldn’t believe his eyes, even as he saw the gate being cleaved like tofu. The gate of the border fortress was Beryl’s masterpiece, specially designed with protective magic.

“You put five triangular stones on the gate? Wasting expensive attribute stones on such useless things. Crazy.”

Cahill looked at the fallen gate beneath his feet and spoke in disbelief.

It seemed meaningless because it was cut down so easily, but in fact, the gates of the Istan Kingdom’s border fortresses were sturdier than most in the Empire.

In fact, the Empire only had attribute stone gates at the imperial palace in the capital.

A gate made with five attribute stones was difficult to even scratch unless dozens of knights attacked it.

But that was only from the perspective of knights.

To Cahill, who was already beyond standard, the protective ability of a mere triangular stone was like adding a single sheet of paper on top of another.

Thud— Thud— Thud—

“Fi, fire!!”

At the commander’s shout, arrows once again poured towards Cahill. But even the archers knew that their attacks were meaningless.

Whoosh—!!

Cahill slightly tilted his head, and as an arrow grazed his face, he grabbed the bowstring with his hand.

Kaboom…!!

Then, he threw it back in the direction it came from.

“Ugh!”

“Aaaagh—!!

Even with upgraded equipment, the kingdom’s soldiers remained the same. They were called magic troops, but the soldiers themselves were ordinary soldiers who didn’t even measure up to knights. They couldn’t even think of dodging the arrows Cahill threw, and they began to scream and fall here and there.

Thud—

Cahill jumped onto the rampart.

“Sa, save me!!”

The soldiers, seeing Cahill appear before them after jumping dozens of meters without any difficulty, began to flee in all directions. Cahill grabbed one of them by the scruff of the neck.

“Cough…!”

“Do you want to live?”

“Sa, save me!!”

The soldier grabbed by Cahill turned his head and met his eyes, and immediately wet his pants.

His trembling legs couldn’t even support him, and he collapsed to the floor.

“If you want to live, answer my questions. Is that bastard Beryl here?”

“Lo, Lord Beryl, you mean?”

“Lord? This damn old man sold the mine I made and even got a title.”

Cahill snorted and gestured for him to continue.

“Lord Beryl… that bastard isn’t here right now. Judging by the fact that he said he would send support but hasn’t, he must have run away on his own!”

The soldier, quick to sense how to gain Cahill’s favor, began to curse Beryl while watching his expression.

“I, if he’s not in the royal capital… he must be heading to Cape Horn…! It’s the only port in the kingdom where you can board a ship to the Empire.”

“If what you say is true, then it’s true that the Istrian Three Kingdoms joined hands with the Empire to fight Viola. And even the Eastern Kingdom lent you their strength.”

“Ye, yes.”

“But how do you know that?”

“……Pardon?”

“How would a mere soldier know where Beryl would run away to?”

Cahill, as if he didn’t need to hear any more of his words, snapped the man’s neck.

Snap—

“Cough!!”

The soldier let out a final scream and collapsed to the floor with his head facing his back.

“Hey, identify this guy.”

“……He’s the fortress commander.”

“I see.”

As if he expected it, Cahill cut off the commander’s broken neck once more and raised his head, saying,

“The commander of the fortress must take responsibility for the sacrificed soldiers. What kind of commander is he, wearing the same clothes as the soldiers and thinking of running away….”

Cahill looked at the commander’s corpse on the floor and spoke coldly.

Then, he threw the commander’s head at the soldiers.

“Eek?!”

“Announce his death above the walls.”

At his words, the soldier on the rampart hurriedly raised the commander’s head.

“Listen, everyone.”

Cahill raised one foot on the rampart, rested his hand on his knee, and looked down, saying,

“It is not a sin to follow a foolish man. It is the fault of the one who led you down the foolish path.”

Mutter— Mutter—

“Those who surrender will not be blamed.”

The soldiers, as if they had been waiting for his words, began to kneel one by one as soon as he finished speaking.

Having already witnessed the battle between Simon Coden, the best in the Eastern Kingdom, and Cahill, they had long lost their will to fight.

“Hey.”

It took only a few minutes for the border fortress to fall. There would be no faster capture in history.

“Yes?! Yes!!”

Cahill looked at the soldiers surrendering to him and nodded in satisfaction.

“Light the torches.”

“……Pardon?”

The soldier looked at him in confusion. It was strange for him to suddenly order them to light the torches when the sun was still high in the sky.

“Set up torches in a large circle outside the fortress and make sure they never go out. The bigger the fire, the better. But the fire must continue until dawn.”

Only then did the soldier realize that Cahill was telling them to set up torches where Aidan and Simon Coden were fighting, and he bowed his head.

“Yes, I understand!”

“Do you think Aidan can beat the master of the Eastern Kingdom?”

Beykan looked around the Istan border fortress, which he had entered bloodlessly, making the Free Army he had brought seem insignificant, and said to Cahill.

“Coden brought assassins who all surpass the skills of high-level Sword Experts. Defeating Simon Coden while facing them all is not an easy task even for the existing Sword Masters.”

“Hmm…….”

“But I didn’t tell him to defeat them all. An assassin is not a knight. An assassin’s job is to infiltrate a heavily guarded palace and take the king’s head. It’s not about winning in a fight, but about winning in survival.”

Cahill raised his index finger.

“In the end, there’s only one thing to aim for.”

Then, he pointed to Simon Coden.

“Just cut off his head.”

“But that place is a flat plain where you can’t hide. It’s a terrain that’s poison to assassins.”

“That’s why I told you to light the torches.”

“……Pardon?”

Beykan looked at Cahill as if he didn’t understand. Torches are originally meant to illuminate the darkness.

Wouldn’t that be a more disadvantageous situation for him in terms of assassination?

“Even if we turn off all the lights in the fortress we’re standing in now, the starlight in the night sky is enough light for the assassins of the Dark Shadow. Rather than a faint light, the stronger the light, the deeper the darkness it creates.”

“Ah……!!”

At Cahill’s words, Beykan let out a low exclamation as if he finally understood.

The shadows created by the torches were the assassination opportunities that Cahill was giving to Aidan.

“But he’s not the only one who can utilize that darkness. I’m just creating the opportunity.”

The rest was up to Aidan.

That place was not a battle to annihilate the Istrian Three Kingdoms, but a stage to prove Aidan’s own worth.

“Beykan. What is Viola doing now? Is she hiding because she’s afraid of being reprimanded for her incompetence after sending you here? If so, she should have just stayed in the greenhouse as an ornamental plant instead of declaring a duchy.”

Beykan gave a bitter smile at Cahill’s words.

He had also been involved in the battles for several months. He felt both admiration and a sense of futility at Cahill’s ability to end the battles that they had taken so long to fight in just a few days.

“Princess Viola moved her troops as soon as she heard the news of the Lord. She didn’t tell me either… but I think she had a similar idea to the Lord.”

“Why?”

“Before leaving, she said that she would go to the Lord’s location within two days, so I think she will come to the fortress.”

“Anyone can have thoughts. Viola has a usable brain among the idiots in the Three Kingdoms. But if you can’t turn ideals into reality, it’s just a delusion.”

Cahill spoke coldly.

“The most important thing in war is victory or defeat, not the strategy to win. Remember that only the results are recorded in history.”

Then, he pointed to Aidan in the distance and said.

“Beykan, the same goes for you. You must show me the results. That is how you prove yourself as a warrior of the Great Plains.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

At his words, Beykan bowed.

Certainly, Kinu Mukari, who had joined this civil war, stood out in the war along with Miliana.

But in the end, he failed to capture the Three Kingdoms.

Clench—

Beykan clenched his fist.

Kinu and Beykan, barbarians from the same Great Plains, were placed in different battlefields to stimulate their competitive spirit by having one side lead and win.

“I don’t know what Viola is trying to bring me by avoiding me from the beginning, but Istan will fall by tomorrow.”

If someone else had said that, it would have sounded absurd, but Beykan knew that those words were not an exaggeration.

Because the person who said those words was none other than Cahill.

[Krrr….]

As if answering his words, dozens of wyverns circled overhead and cried softly.

“If she doesn’t bring something satisfactory within it, what awaits her at the point when the Three Kingdoms are cleared will be the same end as them.”

Cahill lightly shook his cloak and turned around.

* * *

Clang…!! Clang……!

Clang……!

The sound of weapons clashing outside the fortress continued to echo even at night, as Cahill had predicted.

Cahill closed his eyes and leaned his fist against his temple, savoring the sharp sound.

Thud— Thud—

He slowly opened his closed eyes.

A person was standing in front of him.

“…….”

It was Viola, covered in blood, who had returned.

She had scratches here and there, but it didn’t seem like she had any major injuries. Fortunately, the blood on her clothes was not hers, but the enemy’s.

“I’m late.”

She knelt down and held out a small box to Cahill.

“Hmm…….”

Cahill opened it.

Inside was the severed head of Baron Beryl, his eyes not even properly closed, his face startled.

“The war genius of national salvation. Beryl’s end is just in this small box….”

Cahill checked the severed head and laughed softly.

He liked the gift very much.

Hearing that he was going to directly clean up the Istrian Three Kingdoms, she could never have come empty-handed. But he spoke coldly.

“Viola, did you borrow the Free Army to give me just the head of a mere nobleman, not the unification of the Three Kingdoms?”

“…….”

Cahill already knew why the war had been prolonged.

The troops he had given her were only a few thousand Free Army soldiers at best. Even if you count the private soldiers of the Panpinel family that she had as she declared the duchy, it was only a few hundred.

Fighting tens of thousands of soldiers from the Three Kingdoms with only a few thousand troops would never be an easy task.

In addition, there was the sudden intervention of the Eastern Kingdom and the betrayal of Baron Beryl’s magic troops, which were major forces.

“……I apologize.”

But Cahill, knowing all those circumstances, did not show any mercy.

Even if you have talent, not everyone can bloom. Cahill, as always, only gave opportunities, and it was up to them to temper themselves.

“You barely earned a chance to explain because you weren’t empty-handed. If you hadn’t even brought this, the Panpinel Duchy would have disappeared from the map as well.”

“……I know.”

He looked at Viola, who was looking at him with a tense face, and said.

“Beryl is talented. Although he is old and greedy, he is when it comes to war. I’ll ask you one thing. How did you catch Beryl?”

“As Your Majesty said, Beryl is talented. That’s why I thought he would be the first to try to catch him, the culprit of the situation.”

“So?”

“He is quick-witted. Knowing that Simon Coden of the Eastern Kingdom was at the border fortress, I thought he would prepare a way to escape if he couldn’t stop Your Majesty. And the only way to go to the Empire is the back road of the Istan capital. I predicted that and struck from behind.”

“The back of Istan? If you could go that deep, there would be no reason to spend so much time cleaning up the Three Kingdoms.”

“Time was delayed due to the unexpected intervention of the Eastern Kingdom and Beryl’s magic troops.”

“That doesn’t make sense. The reason I gave you the Free Army was to account for such situations.”

Cahill raised his hand and ordered his subordinate behind him.

“Give her a seat.”

Clang——!! Clang——!

Cahill pointed out the window and said.

“I’ll give you time until that sword dance is over. So I’ll listen.”

Then, he looked at her coldly.

“Not the lies you prepared, but the real reason why you deliberately prolonged this war.”

At that moment,

Viola felt goosebumps all over her body. She smiled faintly as if her inner thoughts had been exposed.