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

Chapter 260

Bloom in Trouble (6)

Although I had not given any special instructions, the rangers climbed the fort’s wall and leveled their crossbows. The Winter Knights drew their swords and surrounded the elves.

Eli raised his energy, looking as if he would have a seizure on the spot. Adelia’s eyes were already red and yellow beams. Carls stood in front of me, his face firm and his shield raised. Vincent had already climbed the wall, staring at those beneath it with an icy gaze.

The mercenaries who lived in the tent camp outside the fort came to the walls as if they had all been beset by an instantaneous tension. They were swaying, gripping their spears and swords with stubborn faces without knowing what they were doing.

Beyond them, there stood a woman, the top half of her face obscured by a hood — Sigrun, the hateful faerie. Just looking at her sparked an intense fire within my insides.

“I asked what you are doing in the kingdom,” I demanded, grinding my teeth, and Sigrun licked her lips beneath the hood.

“Our breakup wasn’t very beautiful. It’s regrettable that you got too violent while we were engaged.”

Sparks of energy splattered from me, sizzling onto the snow.

Whenever I closed my eyes, I could hear the fierce, beastly screams of the tongueless half-elves. The image of their torn cloaks and the red drops of their blood hovering before me was imprinted upon my memory as if it had happened yesterday.

How dare she speak like that in front of me?

My energy flowed out without my knowledge, and my hand gripped the sword hilt tighter.

Then, I suddenly saw Sigrun’s face.

“Oh. It looks like you haven’t gotten rid of your anger yet.”

Sigrun frowned as if this made her sad. The moment I saw her red lips, which seemed to be aflame, I became frigid.

Instead of releasing my anger, I swallowed it, kept it inside.

Sigrun was deliberately stimulating me, intentionally encouraging my anger and hatred.

She wanted to ravenously eat away at the emotions I unleashed.

I suppressed my anger and marshaled my hatred so that my feelings for the half-elves do not become a matter for her entertainment; so that the fort’s troops do not get caught up in the rising tide of hatred.

“Woo,” I took several long breaths, deeply subduing emotions that had reached a boiling point. Ignoring the heinous Elder High Elf, I looked over her shoulder. There were one hundred elves with blade-like spirits, and in the middle of them, from atop a long pole, a flag flew in the wind. Upon it was a symbol of a pure white branch and three leaves upon an olive-green field. It was an object Sigrun had never brought with her, even though she had invaded Leonberg’s lands many times.

No, to be precise, it wasn’t that she didn’t bring it, but that she couldn’t. After being defeated in the Great War the faeries were forbidden from using any kind of heraldry. Now, however, Sigrun has proudly stepped upon the kingdom’s land with a banner symbolizing her identity. And this she did with a hundred sentinels from her clan.

The portent of this action was no light matter.

It meant that the oath enshrined in the previous declaration had weakened to the point where it could no longer enforce itself. The day when the evil elves escape from their shady forest, unleashing themselves upon the world, has come.

This also meant that humans could no longer claim to be the masters of this whole earth. I had believed this could happen at any time; it was a situation I expected. Nevertheless, my breaths were still short — it was too early. I had thought it would take at least ten more years.

I have been unable to organize all the gifted people raised in the kingdom, and the knights weren’t ready yet. But it was here — the faeries have been released into the world. A fantastical vision appeared before me.

I saw a ruined city and a burning fortress. A mother who had lost her child wailed its name, and around her, the corpses of citizens were piled up like a mountain.

I felt dizzy, but gritted my teeth and endured the wooziness. I strengthened my eyes and once more glared at Sigrun’s banner.

The three leaves symbolized her status as Elder High Elf.

Not yet. There was still some time left. The ancient decree’s effects had not completely worn off. Had they been obsolete, then I would have seen the Elf King’s flag fluttering here, not the Elder High Elf’s.

Sigrun would not have visited me if that was the case; she would merely have run wild and started her carnage, just as she had done in the past. However, she was before me now, and I wagered that her visit was not a private one.

She was here in a public capacity, on business so important that it was necessary for her to bring a hundred clan sentinels and even raise a flag.

I stared at Sigrun, and the elf licked her lips when she looked at my face.

It was as if she was sorry that I had mastered my anger and hatred before she could predate on it. After a while, her quivering lips spoke in a sarcastically twisted tone.

“But why don’t I see the half-bloods? I’m sure I left a few of the things alive. Oh, maybe you killed them all by mistake?”

My heart spread blood through my body at a rapid pace, and the anger I had managed to subdue once more rose like an inferno and coursed through my body.

I was out of breath and my heart jumped like crazy. My mana ran toward my hand, and just before the coursing energy reached my sword-

‘Chuck!’

I took my hand off the hilt. Sigrun’s intentions were clear; she was hoping that I would lose my temper and run wild. Maybe she wanted to satisfy her ravening appetite, dining on my overflowing anger, or maybe she was looking for a justification to pay me back for the shame of making her retreat from me in the past.

Either way, I didn’t intend to match her beat.

“I will ask again: what are you doing in the kingdom’s territory?”

The twisted smile under the hood became even more distorted.

“That day…”

‘Shh,’ Sigrun drew back the hood covering her face. And upon her features, there was an inconsistency with her angelic appearance. A red scar ran from Sigrun’s forehead, across her brow, and onto her cheek. She raised her hand and started stroking the wound.

“It’s a scar your Highness left me,” she whispered as she covered her eye with her palm. Her voice was ominous, like a hissing snake, and the muscles in my entire body tightened as I met her shining gaze. At that very moment, ‘Chuck!’

The elven sentinels started moving their feet.

‘Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!’

Unlike the normal rhythm from a mana heart, their dance was arrhythmical, with cross beats intertwining. For a moment, my stomach shook.

The ominous energy contained in their dance pressed in upon me. Although the sentinels weren’t high elves, they were elites picked from the ranks of common elves. They were far more threatening than the High Elf I had faced before.

The entire area was soon drowned in the noise they made, and nothing else was heard. But that was all it was — a melody created by a hundred elven sentinels that could press into me before I channeled mana from my heart.

A thumping noise broke through the elves’ tune and reached my ears. The noise was far too heavy to be made by the comparatively light elves.

‘Bang!’ Winter Knights beat upon their breastplates.

‘Bang!’ The palace knights struck the ground with their shields.

‘Thud!’ Rangers on the walls stamped their feet vigorously.

Unlike the elven melodies, these noises were harmonious and regular. I listened to the wordless rhythm of Leonberg’s military. It was Eli, Adelia, Vincent, Carls, and all the soldiers. My heart began beating faster. Before I was conscious of it, an enormous energy arose and began to resonate within the area.

“Your Highness,” I heard a call from the wall. I looked up and saw that Vincent was staring down at me. He looked strong, unshakable like a great wall. Vincent told me to hold fast like a fortress. I began remembering the time when the orcish Overlord had surrendered. I remembered what the knights said back then. I clearly recalled their words after the King of the Orcs surrendered. The voices of Winter Castle’s men rang out in my ears as if they were real.

‘Even if the lance is shattered and the body torn, the unbending soul must remain the same.’

‘We are not a burden for our lord to carry, but the swords and spears that he will wield!’

‘What we want is victory at the end of struggle, not the peace achieved by compromising with a coward!’

‘I will open my eyes and fight the enemy instead of becoming blind for the sake of peace.’

‘If someone has to die, it will be me.’

After the auditory recall, I heard Vincent’s voice.

“Don’t hesitate.”

The moment I heard him say this, I realized: what did I look like to Vincent and the others? It must have seemed that I had sagged before a mighty enemy. They might think that, facing an invincible foe, I was looking for any excuse not to fight.

My face burned; it seemed that everyone was having a lot of strange thoughts in the vicinity of the elves, and I was forced to do something about it. I had to form a compromise in my mind, as the lives of everyone rested on my shoulders. Since some already believed the enemy was mighty, I stepped back.

Even when I had fought the Warlord, or drew my sword against the Empire, I had never been a cowardly man. I corrected my posture by straightening my shoulders and waist. I raised my chin, and as always, looked down on the elves before me.

“If you have come as a messenger, deliver it and go away, Sigrun.”

Hearing my words, Sigrun still covered one eye with her hand, while the other was wide open. However, she did so for only a while, removing her hand and narrowing her eyes. The elf’s face was her true face that I had seen that day; it was expressionless as if her soul had escaped her.

A thousand years’ worth of sharpened hatred flowed from Sigrun’s body. The twisted desire that had festered and grown within her for a millennium battered into me without ceasing.

I didn’t back down; I strengthened my knees before they buckled and I straightened my posture.

“I’ve been waiting so long for today to come,” Sigrun said quietly. “It’s not as fun as I thought it would be.”

The air trembled unsteadily with the murderous and hostile energy flowing through it. But I was still not shaken. Behind me, the rangers and the knights raised their weapons.

Now, I came to understand Agnes’s heart. I knew how she had endured without getting her legs broken while facing an enemy that pressed her down with its mere existence. I knew how she had drawn her sword without hesitation. Although the warriors standing behind me have not reached the level of the Iron Blood Knights who had supported Agnes back then, there was no shortage of talent for me now. The fighting spirit of the rangers and knights served as my support, ensuring my knees would not buckle and break.

Their great will had already made it clear that humans would not give in. We would always fight and claim victory as we have done in the past.

‘Huk!’

My energy, which had been overwhelmed by Sigrun’s hateful torrent, reared its head. The dim glow upon my body quickly spread in all directions. I was set and determined and glared at Sigrun.

“Do you think I’ll know the message if you don’t tell it to me?”

“I have the power to make you a handful of ashes at any time,” Sigrun whispered darkly.

Faced with her threat, one she might give substance at any moment, I said, “Try.”

I grabbed the handle of my true body.

“Because you will struggle for every action you take.”

If necessary, I would die to end Sigrun, sacrificing what life remained to me.

Saying so, I drew my body. Right then- ‘Dududududu!’

I heard the faint sound of horses galloping. I shifted my gaze and saw a cloud of dust appear from the opposite side of the plain.

From the east, west, north, and south; from everywhere, knights fully armored in iron rode in under the great cloud of dust — bearing aloft the golden lion banner of Leonberg.

‘Buu wooo wooo!’