I Became the First Prince: Legend of Sword's Song

125

I will come back after fixing the mess (1)

Arwen wanted to take the lead, but everyone held her back. She had only recently woven her fourth ring, and the bonds between her rings were not yet firm. She had to refrain from expending mana as much as possible.

Still, Arwen felt determined. She was a sword that wanted to be used when it was needed, and she said that she would learn what to do by doing it.

Facing her resolve, the Templars sighed and stepped back.

“Arwen,” I called as I neared her, and she turned to me.

“Don’t do overkill.”

Arwen smiled as she bowed her head.

‘Sheelkop!’

“Then, I’ll go first.”

Having said that, she gripped her horse’s reigns after drawing her longsword and charged ahead.

‘Gwoo-ooh-ooh!’

Great energy began to swirl around her.

“It’s a paladin!” the imperial knights shouted as they rode to close the gap.

However, before they could retreat, the power of a Sword Master came down upon them.

‘Klang!’

Her Aura Blade sliced clean through the legs of horses as she rode headlong into the fray.

“She’s reached synthesis!”

The swifter knights were able to leap from their crippled mounts. Still, although they had avoided falling, they could not avoid the Templars that charged in after Arwen.

‘Klang! Klang!’

The imperial knights were beaten back by the Templars’ arcing strikes, many of them rolling awkwardly to the ground.

Still, none of them had died.

Arwen had aimed her strikes at the horses rather than the riders, and the attack of the Templars was aimed at disabling the knights rather than killing them.

None of us had spoken, but we all agreed that this was the honorable way.

We had to show a certain amount of restraint in dealing with the White Hawk knights due to their voicing a formal challenge on the first day of the new year, as well as due to the proximity of the imperial capital.

This has already been a duel before, after all, not a war.

There are those who died due to some unfortunate stray slash of a sword, or the accidental severing of an artery, or the sundering of a mana ring.

The knights who suffered such accidents just happened to be the best warriors of the White Hawk Knights. A few of them were also young knights who possessed great talent and held great future potential. I had known who the greater knights among them were, and even if their deaths were accidental, I couldn’t be happier. Really.

* * *

Upon facing Arwen’s prowess and the fierce momentum of the Templars, the White Hawk Knights soon lost their heart for battle and withdrew. Due to Arwen’s decision to cripple their horses, chances were slim that they would pursue us at a later date.

Still, I did not feel relief.

In the first place, it was unlikely that the White Hawk Knights had truly believed that they could beat us. They surely knew that some of us had defeated paladins.

I assumed that the purpose of the White Hawk Knights had been to win some time so that the other knights could come to face us.

It should be said that their ploy was successful, to an extent.

The battle with the White Hawk Knights had not lasted long, but they had still forced our knights to exert themselves. Our horses had also faced the stress of battle, and so they had to be rested. All of us needed a break.

So, instead of running along the road all night long, we had to stop and rest.

“I never knew that the emperor would take revenge in this way,” Siorin said as he approached me while the Templars caught some rest for the following day. The emperor’s plan was a dull and sloppy masterpiece. I couldn’t agree with the emperor’s strategy, for even if he held great power, he had done things in a very imperial manner.

It had been the same in the past.

The empire always gave up its lands so easily if an enemy force pushed their lines forward. The empire had acted the same in the war against the greenskins, as well as in their war with Leonberg four-hundred years ago. However, if the enemy thought that the land they had conquered was theirs, a gift from a cowardly empire, they were soon proved dead wrong.

The empire always had the last laugh.

There was always another scheme in the making. It is not difficult to win a battle against the empire, but winning a war against them is extremely difficult.

The emperors prefer to draw their enemies deep into their territory and then wear them out rather than confront a strong, fresh enemy in open battle. The enemies of the empire have to be on their most vigilant on the retreat.

“Easy to enter, difficult to leave. That is the empire.”

Exactly like now.

“It was good that I had gone to Hwangdo and succeeded in my mission. But the real challenge has just started.”

Tomorrow will be harder than today, and the day after that, harder still.

As I warned him of such things, Siorin’s face darkened.

“If we hadn’t defeated the knights of the empire, could we have avoided the current situation?”

I shook my head at his question.

“It would have been the same.”

Siorin sighed and returned to where he had been sitting. As I studied his expression, it seemed that he held a lot of regrets about the things that had happened and are happening on our visit to the empire.

Maybe he was wondering if me hiding my abilities in front of the empire made Ortega doubt my meek facade. It was a reasonable idea, but far from the truth. I am very familiar with the Burgundy temperament. I did not doubt what the emperor saw when he looked at me.

Sure enough, since I showed none of my powers and did nothing, he was unaware of my true nature. But even if I had demonstrated a modest ability and so tried to disguise my great power, we would still not have avoided the emperor’s wrath.

I bet the emperor knew a great deal of my nature before we had even met. He must have been thinking on it all the while, weighing all the reports that reached him and the rumors regarding the Marquis of Montpellier.

The blood ancestors of Burgundy that I had known were people who constantly sought solutions to problems that worried them, but they would not hesitate to act before they had gained the answers they desired.

That is why I had hidden my true existence from him, my true colors. That way, I had ensured that the emperor did not know who I was without me knowing that he knew.

May the paranoid emperor think more and more, for if he does, I will be able to have more time.

However, it seems that the emperor did not want to stress about the uncertainty of things for too long. That is why he had sent knights out to me at midnight, the knights that know stalked toward us.

I looked, and I laughed.

“Peakaboo! Hmmn.”

“It feels like I’m drowning.”

I was laughing because all my knights were acting as if they were asleep, all the while clutching drawn swords. A few were even talking in their faux sleep.

“Prepare yourselves without them noticing,” I whispered the order. As I did, my knights silently readied their swords.

I glanced at Jordan and his rangers, who had hidden earlier.

‘Kill?’ Jordan mouthed, and I nodded.

Unlike the White Hawk Knights, who had used a challenge as their cause, these guys were unofficial guests. It was only right for us to treat them informally.

“Now.”

One of the silent intruders was hiding in the dark as he scouted our camp. The arrow pierced his neck where he crouched.

‘Kraau,’ the intruder dropped to the ground with a mortal groan.

I then wandered through the darkness as I sought out the other uninvited guests. I swiftly decapitated one of them who had been scouting the area. I saw that the number of intruders was not very large.

There were fifteen who had approached our campsite, and five more who observed the situation from afar. The fifteen were finished off by me and the half-elves, while Jordan and his rangers made short work of the distant five.

Once I returned to the camp, everyone was sleeping in truth. When they did sleep, they slept quite well. Many of them had learned to sleep even when orcs were beneath the walls and while the chaos of battle raged.

* * *

The sun was terribly bright as I shared my conclusions with the party.

“The enemy’s target is me and the knights, not the infantry and the civilians.”

The Royal Infantry had no reason to unduly suffer while following the knights and me. I left Jordan as their leader.

“Jordan, your mission is to guide them all to the kingdom without losing a single person.”

“Yes. Is there any other way that I would do it?”

I did not doubt that Jordan would lead the Royal Infantry to safety across the border. Despite his frivolous temperament, his tracking ability was the best in the entire north.

Still, just to make sure he knew, I asked him to be careful and that he should be very careful as to the routes that he took.

“There is no reason for the bright Ranger Jordan to blunder through the same thorny paths as his lords.”

I laughed at Jordan’s cocky words, then went off with the knights.

“I cannot help but agree with the words of that ill-mannered ranger. I am with Your Highness – it is midday, and look at what kind of hardship we now face.”

This inspired complaint came from Niccolo, who held much intelligence on our enemies and was likely to be detained on the border. Contrary to his words, I could see that Niccolo was somewhat excited. The adventures he was having in his old age seemed to please him greatly.

The aged scholar always insisted on recording events to the very end. He had several chances of escaping from Winter Castle before it fell, but he chose not to.

Maybe he was once again planning to record events that would otherwise be unknown.

I took a final glimpse at Niccolo’s inspired face and then headed straight to the front of our line.

“March out!”

* * *

After the first prince had left the kingdom, the days passed. The prince who had said that he would return when he turned eighteen did not send a single letter, and all the rumors were ugly.

It was said that the imperial knights had pledged revenge against the prince and knights who had defied them, and many knights were hunting for the delegation so that they could restore their honor.

There came no good news from the delegation. Up until then, none of those in Winter Castle had been concerned about the first prince.

“What kind of person do you think His Highness is? He is the man who has survived battling against the Warlord, that’s who.”

“I guess so so. Anyone who says he’s dead is wrong, immediately wrong. I bet we will live to see the heavenly sight of the first prince playing with his grandchildren. Of course, once he gets married.”

The veteran rangers and knights who had fought with the prince in the orcish war did not doubt for a moment that he would return. Some were looking forward to hearing of his adventures in the empire once he came back to tell such tales in person. Why would someone be attacking a diplomatic delegation? Such a possibility never entered the minds of these veterans.

However, the people of Winter Castle soon became agitated when the date of the prince’s coming of age ceremony was imminent. There were already rumors that had come from the south, which said that the first prince had suffered a change.

It was said that the isolated delegation had been condemned like street dogs after the prince had recklessly fought against imperial knights. Some said that the remainders of the delegation had fled into the mountains after the rest had been slaughtered by imperial knights.

And after such rumors had spread to the north, yet another month passed.

The prince had still not returned, and the occasional rumors of him battling imperial knights were no longer heard.

By now, everyone was anxious and worried.

Then, a fresh rumor came.

It was the news that the Rangers of Balahard and the Royal Infantry who had followed the first prince into the empire had crossed the southern border and had finally reached the royal capital.

Count Vincent Balahard of Winter Castle immediately contacted the capital through the crystal ball. However, the voice Vincent heard from the sphere was not Prince Adrian’s, as he had expected.

“His Highness has not returned,” the imperial ambassador said, adding that the prince had split up from the soldiers, going in a different direction. Any news was cut off after that.

Hearing this news, Vincent felt as if the clear blue sky had been chased away by a gathering storm.

“He must have been delayed after fleeing from the empire’s knights.”

Vincent struggled to pretend that he was calm as he awaited the prince’s return.

More time passed, and it was now weeks after Prince Adrian’s birthday.

“I have to go to the capital myself.”

Vincent decided that he could wait no longer. But contrary to his desires, he could not leave Winter Castle. He had to oversee the dwarves that were migrating while also overseeing the construction of the wizard tower by those dwarves that had already settled in. Winter was coming, and the monsters moving south had to be waylayed.

Above all else, the lords of the north, who had begun to grumble, had to be kept in check. Their bonds to Winter Castle had been strengthened by the first prince, so it wasn’t strange for this alliance to start showing cracks after the prince’s long absence.

The Silver Fox Mercenary Company had remained at Winter Castle after the last war due to making some kind of deal with the first prince. They now showed signs of imminent departure. When Prince Adrian had been there, they were content to just sit around, but since the prince had disappeared, they had sorely felt his absence.

It was now half a year since any news had been heard of the first prince, and the entire north had begun to crack and rumble.