Emperor of Steel

It was four days after Luke had offered to surrender.

Within that time, the two armies exchanged attacks with no power.

The siege proceeded with no sincerity, and the defending side was just pretending to stop them.

Tyron, the Commander of the attack force from Volga Republic, was more concerned with the available units in the Fortress and the movement of the northern forces than the current siege that was happening at hand.

However, the Fortress was still intact, and the movement of the Northern army was unchanged.

Maybe the emperor was really intending to kill Luke. He hadn’t sent even a single unit of reinforcement.

“There was no contact from Rob since the last time we talked, right?”

Tyron, who was looking at the Fortress and their troops, looked over at his lieutenant and asked again,

“There was no contact from Rob or the other scouts yet?”

“There hasn’t been any.”

“How about the scout troops who were sent in later?”

“The same applies to them too. It seems like they are still searching…”

The lieutenant let the words drift.

The upper part of the San river was quite large. However, it wasn’t like they didn’t have any suspicion about the report they needed to have gotten from their scouts.

Tyron thought of the same.

It felt very suspicious. However, it was hard for him to proceed with any action as he had no proof or details in hand.

‘Should I just directly go and see?’

While Tyron was trying to think, the lieutenant had brought another matter to report to him.

“The feelings and the emotions of our allies aren’t that great.”

“Not feeling good?” Asked Tyron.

“They aren’t in a hurry to attack the fortress, but the front-line officers and the knights seem to be very displeased with it.”

The rumor about the Torlot commander coming and offering his surrender had spread throughout the forces.

The normal soldiers didn’t care about the war anymore. They didn’t have to fight, nor did they have to get hurt or die.

However, the front-line officers and knights were feeling different.

It was because the Volga Republic’s forces valued power rather than blood.

With power and force, even the most common person could become a knight or attain a noble title.

In addition, if any of them was planning of entering politics and was supported by the majority of the National Assembly, he or she might have a chance of becoming the President too.

For ambitious officers and knights, the war was a wonderful opportunity to strike ahead and earn a title.

However, they were forced to play along with the enemy commander because he surrendered. They could never accept such injustice toward their skills.

“Stupid people, do they think that the war can only be won with their help?” Said Tyron.

“Even then, we need them, sir.”

“Tell them that they need to hold on a little longer. If the Fortress falls, the Northern army will react right away.”

It wasn’t too late to fight hard.

Despite the instructions from Tyron, the dissatisfaction of the front-line officers and the knights hadn’t subsided.

They sat in groups and condemned the actions of their commander.

“The words our commander says, I don’t know what to make of them.”

“Does he really believe that the enemy would really surrender just like that?”

“Rather than that, why do we have to make the situation favorable to our enemies’ commander? He is just a decayed sloppy noble.”

“This is why wizards shouldn’t be assigned as Commanders.”

“Did you know that he led the army during the revolutionary period?”

Some of the knights were rolling their eyes as they heard about Meister Tyron’s achievements.

A red-haired knight slipped between the group and cooly asked them,

“How about we do this?”

“Do what?” Asked the group.

“The enemy won’t be alert because they know we are making false attacks. At that time, what if we do a surprise attack.”

“Hmm…”

“If we are lucky, we will be able to capture the Fortress at once. The first attack will be ours.”

At the suggestion of the red-haired knight, the knights felt a rush of adrenaline.

The red-haired knight blew the wind in the hearts of the knights and turned to another place.

He later wandered around the camp and quietly stirred up the other knights and officers who were displeased.

Then, in front of the barracks, he was forced to stop. It was because he had encountered a man who had the same appearance as himself.

However, the man who was near the barracks seemed to be more surprised.

“Wha, what are you?! A doppelganger…”

The red-haired knight looked around and flashed a purple light in his eyes.

The eyes of the ‘real’ red-haired knight, who was about to shout for help, soon turned hazy.

“That isn’t a big deal. You’re just surprised from seeing yourself in the mirror. Got it?”

“Surprised from seeing myself in the mirror… I was surprised from seeing myself in the mirror…”

All he said was the same words again and again. It was because of the brainwashing dark magic which was being performed on him.

After that, the red-haired knight went away and removed the spell from his body.

It was Luke de Rakan in his Imperial uniform.

“Will this much be enough? I don’t know if any more words need to be said for them to catch the tail.”

When Luke had visited the commander’s barracks the other day, he noticed that the Republic’s army forces weren’t well integrated.

Wanting to take advantage of it, he devised a plan to infiltrate the enemy camp while the dam was in construction. He gathered information and divided the enemy.

The current Republic Fortress Raid Forces consisted of 10,000 central troops and 50,000 directional soldiers—soldiers who formerly worked for the nobles.

Since the people were different, there were a few problems with the delivery and the execution of the commands.

In addition, the directional soldiers were very reluctant to hear orders from the Central officers of knights.

Nevertheless, there was something common for both sides, the desire to succeed.

They were very greedy about their titles and promotions, and there was a major unspoken competition among them.

Which was why Luke had snuck in and threw the bait, which immediately shook their minds and thought of forming an attacking unit.

“Now, I need to go back and prepare. And I need to make the final blow ready…” Said Luke to himself.

Luke hid himself using an invisibility spell. He then slowly left the enemy army camp and moved to his Fortress.