The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 88

One year prior.

Jackson, leader of the Rangers, could still clearly remember the day Edwin Hector made him an unbelievable offer.

“Jackson, the Hector Kingdom is breaking. The Golden Bank wants their money back faster and faster, and if the crops fail again next year, we will be completely broke. So, I have a plan. What if we take over the southern part of the Cairo Kingdom?”

It was a bold idea.

Hector’s Star.

Jackson knew Edwin Hector was no ordinary person, just like the rumors said. But Hector spoke about attacking the Cairo Kingdom like it was nothing.

His tone and how he acted made it seem like the Cairo Kingdom would fall into his hands as soon as Jackson agreed.

At first, Jackson refused.

Even if Cairo was a weak country like Hector, it seemed impossible to defeat a country at war without a fight.

Two hours.

That’s how long it took Jackson to accept the plan.

After hearing Edwin Hector’s detailed plan, he realized it wasn’t just empty talk.

It might actually be possible.

Rumors said that Hector was cursed by the gods because the harvests kept failing. To fix things, they needed a big, but sure, plan.

Edwin Hector was the answer to their problems.

He was called the greatest genius in Hector’s history, a hero born in a time of trouble, as if it was meant to be.

And so, a year went by.

They steadily worked on the plan.

They planted spies to dig tunnels in the rear base, and Jackson’s Ranger unit managed to sneak in.

Edwin Hector had said, “We have to win this war. We’ve watched the southern front forty-eight times this year. The Cairo Kingdom has never noticed we were watching. I don’t think they can see through our trick to hide our real plan and protect the warp gate. We need to be careful. Step by step, according to the plan. If we cut off the communication devices of the southern training camp and enter the rear base through the tunnels, the warp gate on the southern front will be ours.”

It was like magic.

Everything went as planned.

Jackson had the warp gate right in front of him.

Plop!

“Gack!”

He quickly assassinated the soldier guarding the warp gate.

Screams were heard as the assassinations happened at the same time. Jackson ran straight to the warp gate without stopping to look at the bodies.

From now on, time was important.

If the enemy found them before they could connect, they would all be killed. But if they succeeded, they would win the war.

“Hurry,” Jackson said.

The technician quickly started working.

Jackson’s mouth felt dry.

If the Cairo Kingdom had been paying attention, they should have found them already. But they weren’t thinking clearly because they were getting attacked on the front line.

Finally…

Whoosh!

“…We did it!”

The warp gate shone brightly.

Soon, Edwin Hector appeared through the bright white light.

He stepped forward onto Cairo’s land.

As Edwin Hector’s red hair blew in the wind, the soldiers of the Ranger unit knelt down together.

“We greet Prince Edwin Hector,” they said.

“We greet Prince Edwin Hector.”

Their voices were full of excitement.

The soldiers of the Ranger unit were determined to give their lives for the Hector Kingdom in this operation.

They had worked hard to prepare, and in the end, they got the result they wanted.

It felt like they had already won the war.

Some soldiers were crying with emotion, while others stood up straight with pride.

But Edwin Hector didn’t smile.

He walked forward and said to Jackson, “What’s the situation?”

“Most of the troops in the rear base have been sent to defend the front line. Like we thought, support troops haven’t arrived yet because Cairo’s command system is a mess. Now is the time. If you give the order, we will take over the rear base completely.”

The Cairo Kingdom’s disorganized government caused problems even when things were urgent.

More than two hours had passed since the southern front was attacked, and they still hadn’t sent support troops. This allowed the Hector Kingdom to safely take the warp gate.

From now on, time was on Hector’s side.

Since Cairo couldn’t send support troops, they needed to take things slowly and carefully.

“Kellan,” Hector said.

“Yes,” Kellan replied.

A knight who had been following stepped forward.

“I will put the 1st Battalion in your care. Deal with the remaining soldiers in the rear base and build a strong defense, so we are ready if the Cairo Kingdom sends troops. We don’t know how long we will be on the southern front. It could be a week, a month, or even a year. So, we have to be fully prepared for the worst.”

“I will do as you command,” Kellan said.

Kellan stepped back.

Some of the soldiers who were coming through the warp gate followed Kellan and moved in a different direction.

“Jackson,” Hector said.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Jackson replied.

“We’ve lost contact with Baron McCleary, who is in charge of the 5th Defense Line. Do you know anything?”

“I don’t know the exact details yet, but it seems he doesn’t have time to answer because he’s in the middle of a battle. But don’t worry too much. It’s the 5th Defense Line, after all. The Cairo commander there is known for being the most difficult person on the southern front. It seems he thought he could destroy the 5th Defense Line with only some of his troops.”

Suddenly, Hector stopped walking.

Edwin Hector frowned.

“I told you not to attack without a plan, no matter what. Right?”

“That’s right,” Jackson said.

“As soon as this operation is over, Baron McCleary will be punished, no matter what happens. Do you agree?”

“Yes, I agree,” Jackson said.

He nodded.

Edwin Hector hated when things went wrong.

But even he didn’t think that Baron McCleary would be defeated.

It couldn’t be helped.

The 5th Defense Line was the weakest on the southern front, and in their plans, nothing was supposed to go wrong there.

Edwin Hector said, “From now on, everyone except the 1st Battalion will deal with the Cairo soldiers who are still fighting on the southern front. The war isn’t over. Don’t relax until we put the Hector flag on the southern front.”

“I will do as you command!” the soldiers replied.

Back then, the Hector Kingdom didn’t know that things would go wrong.

Not one, but two things had gone wrong.

The 1st Defense Line had survived the attack.

The enemies had retreated because the Cairo Kingdom fought back hard, giving them some time to rest.

“Quickly fix the walls before the enemies attack again! Our lives depend on it! Hurry!” Count Donald shouted as he walked around.

The walls were being fixed.

Some of the walls were destroyed because the enemies were causing trouble everywhere. The gate, especially, was almost broken through.

Luckily, the Hector Kingdom didn’t try to take too much.

If they had kept attacking, even while being hurt, the Cairo soldiers would have had to fight to the death.

Once things were a little better, Count Donald sighed in relief.

Just then, a soldier came up and said, “Commander, we have a call from the Southern Training Camp.”

“Connect it,” Count Donald replied.

He moved to the command room, where they were ready to take the call.

[Count Donald, this is Roman Dmitri, from the 5th Defense Line reserve unit,]

On the screen was Roman.

Count Donald recognized him by his name.

“What does Cairo’s youngest fighter want with me?” Count Donald asked.

[I’ll get straight to the point. It seems the Hector Kingdom used a trick to take the warp gate in the rear base. We are trapped on the southern front. Before the Hector Kingdom’s soldiers cut us off completely, we need to leave the castle and run to the mountains,]

“What?!” Count Donald shouted.

Thump!

Count Donald jumped up from his seat.

He had barely fought off the Hector Kingdom’s attack, and now the warp gate was in the enemy’s hands.

He felt dizzy.

He couldn’t believe it, so he refused to believe what he was hearing.

“There’s no way the rear base has fallen already. And if what you’re saying is true, shouldn’t we defend the castle even more, instead of leaving it? We can’t survive in the mountains, where the enemy can easily attack us. So, I’m going to make the defense at the 1st Defense Line even stronger,” Count Donald said.

[I can tell you for sure that we can’t hold off Hector’s attacks anymore. The Hector Kingdom didn’t really try to capture the front line defense. They just needed something to distract us while they attacked the rear base. Count Donald, be realistic. Do you really think they were trying their best?]

Count Donald was speechless.

In fact, there were many strange things.

The Hector Kingdom was in a good position, but they suddenly decided to retreat their troops, which didn’t make sense.

But there was a message that support troops from the rear base would arrive soon.

[Running to the mountains isn’t the same as giving up. If we stay in the castle, we’ll be trapped, and the enemy will easily defeat us because they are stronger. We need to fight in the mountains by hiding and attacking. That way, the enemies can’t completely control the southern front. We need to make things very difficult for them,]

Roman’s words didn’t matter.

Count Donald had already made up his mind.

He still couldn’t believe that the rear base had been taken, and he thought the castle was safer.

Also, Roman Dmitri might be a Hector spy.

“We will decide what to do. We’re ending the call now,” Count Donald said.

Click.

The call ended.

The commanders of the other defense lines felt the same way.

They all reacted the same way.

Some people believed that the rear base had been taken, and some didn’t. But they all said they couldn’t leave the castle.

They thought the castle was a safe place.

They believed their best choice was to stay in a place protected by walls until the end.

Only one person, Stephen, who was defending the 5th Defense Line, followed Roman’s orders.

[I’ll join you right away,]

The commanders refused, which was strange.

Roman was telling the truth, but they didn’t understand. But Roman had expected them to react that way.

‘If they knew about war and understood what I was saying, they wouldn’t have let the southern front become like this. I’m leaving the troops on the front line defenses. Forcing them to come with me would be like suicide.’

After fighting in many wars, Roman realized one thing.

An ally who is ignorant and has power is more dangerous than a strong enemy.

He had contacted them for a reason.

He was part of the Cairo Kingdom, and if they listened to him, he could use them to his advantage.

He had only done what he needed to do.

That was it.

Roman didn’t force them to agree. He simply ignored them.

Roman called the soldiers.

“Pack your bags. We’re going to the mountains now,” Roman said.

“Yes,” the soldiers replied.

The soldiers started moving quickly.

From now on, they would have a difficult battle.

But they weren’t afraid.

He had been in worse situations before, and he had always won.

One hour after Roman left, a group of soldiers appeared.

They were waving the flag of the Hector Kingdom.

They stepped forward, walking over the dead bodies on the floor.

They were heading to the 1st Defense Line.

That was the Hector Kingdom’s first goal.