The Duke's Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (166)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

55 The Defensive Battle at Command (1)

Iron immediately prepared to leave the capital after receiving his official appointment letter as a commander. 

When someone was appointed as a commander, they originally had to do a lot of things including greeting and meeting with various officials. Even if they loathe the idea, they had to dine with the ministers and attend the parties held by the Emperor and the Imperial Family just so their Command could receive support. It would usually take a month or two for them to finish all of these schedules. 

But that was something that was required when the Central Government was still intact. What was more, they were in a war situation.

He used the excuse of being in a hurry as he quickly discussed the support that his new Command would receive with the ministers before leaving quickly to avoid being caught by the Imperial Palace.  

According to the Imperial Law, the commander of the army would have absolute power during war situations. So, right now, most of the authority and decision making were in the hands of the commander. Even when the Imperial Palace was at its strongest, the Emperor had to take a step back and give way to the commanders. That was how the Commander’s Judgment was respected in war situations. 

So, even if Iron rudely left the capital and only stayed there for half a day, they really couldn’t say anything. There was nothing they could do. After all, they had been pushed back by their favorite reason, justification. They also did not have the power to pressure him and stop him from ignoring their presence since he did not violate the law at all. 

“The Center has now fallen into the abyss.” 

“Hooo… What’s more, they are still in a political dispute despite being in this situation…” 

“There’s no hope in this place.” 

The scholars looked at Iron as soon as he appeared outside the Imperial Palace. 

Since his destination was the Southeast he did not need to use the warp gate, so he headed out of the Imperial Palace to go to the Sky Tower. However, all of the people who saw him come out immediately flocked towards him. 

The scholars could not hide their bitterness at all when they saw the crowd flock towards Iron, the person hailed as the Empire’s best hero. It was, in fact, not an exaggeration for them to say that the Empire’s power was determined by these so-called heroes. That was the reason why the masses would always argue and fight over how many heroes each region had nurtured. 

There were 100 such people selected by the newspaper companies who shone brightly in the Empire during this period. The problem was that there was no one who came from the capital. It was only natural since even the Central Commander had left the capital. 

Because of this, the Empire’s Center was gradually falling into the abyss. 

“Perhaps… the Empire that has not changed in the past hundreds of years… is finally going to usher changes.” 

Everyone looked at the old scholar after they heard his words. The old scholar pointed to one side.

There was a poster hand-written with red paint pasted on the walls. The paper was posted by the protesting students asking for the Empire to change. The words that were written on the large posters were the same. It was none other than the word ‘revolution’.

They did not know what changes that word would bring to the Empire but there was one thing that they were sure of, the Empire needed to survive these turbulent times and adapt to these changes that they had never experienced before. The scholars speculated that the people that they hailed as ‘heroes’ would be at the center of these changes. The problem was that these heroes did not pay any attention to the Center. 

However, these were things that Iron did not need to pay attention to. He went to the Sky Tower under the watchful eyes of the crowd and climbed on top of a drake. 

The crowd looked at the departing drake with disappointment as it moved outside the capital. However, no one could stop him from leaving because he would go out to protect the Empire. 

Contrary to their disappointment, the young ones’ eyes were burning with passion. Some of them dreamed of becoming a person like Iron while some gritted their teeth in hopes of following the young hero who became the commander of a field army at the young age of 20. This passion gradually spread and even affected the hearts of middle-aged people. The young hero had already achieved everything but he still stood up to fight hard for the Empire, so they couldn’t stay still like this. Because of this, the citizens of the Empire often gathered for discussions as they talked about the antagonistic and wrong system of the Empire. 

The young hero was the spark that burned the fire of the word ‘revolution’. 

Perhaps this was the birth of the spark of revolution that would overturn the Empire in the near future. 

However, the person who lit the fuse of this spark was busy struggling as he put his entire focus solely on the Southeast. He did not even pay any attention to the capital. 

“Oh… Co… Commander.” 

“Huh?” 

Iron was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the trembling voice of the Drake Knight.

“What’s the matter?” 

“That… Is someone aiming for us?” 

Iron tilted his head at the knight’s question. 

“None at all?” 

“But why are they summoned?” 

The Drake Knight was talking about the huge birds that followed along with the drake that carried them. The drake was actually terrified of their presence and kept on shrinking on itself. Even though they were not threatening the drake, the mere presence of these gigantic birds was enough to scare the drake senseless. The drake almost fell down because of them. 

“This…”

Iron felt apologetic, he was only able to notice only after the drake knight had informed him. 

“Guys, fly a bit further from me.” 

― Bbiiii?

Phoenix tilted its head as it looked at Iron with its huge eyes. Its eyes were asking him why he suddenly asked them to do that. 

“The drake is terrified.” 

Phoenix glanced at the drake after hearing Iron’s words. Seeing its eyes being trained on its body, the drake flinched and cried innocently.

― Kkiwooo….

“Hey! The child is scared!” 

Phoenix widened the distance between them as it looked at Iron sullenly after receiving his rebuke. 

They felt good because they had been able to come out after a long time so they needed to listen calmly to his words otherwise they might be sent back inside by an annoyed Iron. 

A small bird flew down and perched on Iron’s head after Phoenix, Two Moons and Thunderbird flew away from him. It was none other than Baepsae, who was sitting on Two Moons’ head earlier. 

― Tweet!

It wanted to talk with its owner, who had been busy training the children before. Of course, Iron could only listen to it. 

― Tweet! Tweet, tweet! ( You! Do you even know how to take care of your body?! )

“So… Sorry.”

― Tweet, tweet! ( You’re just going to overdo it and ask me to help you recover, right?! )

“Ahem, ahem! No. I really won’t overdo it anymore.”

Baepsae firmly grasped Iron’s head tightly as it scolded him for doing an unreasonable amount of things today and any other day before. The other divine beasts looked over and found the situation funny. After all, the owner, who usually bossed them around, was being scolded hard by Baepsae. 

With the increase of his divine power, Iron was able to connect more with the divine beasts. And right now, he was able to feel the joyous feelings that were continuously flowing into him from the three divine beasts. 

― Tweet, tweet, tweet! ( You’re not even listening to me?! Want me to wake you up? )

Iron hurriedly gathered his senses as he listened calmly to Baepsae’s scolding and harsh nagging. 

The Drake Knight was curious about the conversation that Iron was having with his divine beasts but he hurriedly came back to his senses and drove the drake back to the course that they needed to take. 

Curious about something, he suddenly asked Iron. 

“Uhm… May I ask you a question?”

“Huh? Ask away.”

“Why are you riding a drake when you have your divine beasts?”

Iron’s eyes widened before smiling. 

“They’ll get upset.”

“Yes?”

The Drake Knight tilted his head in confusion after hearing Iron’s answer.

“If I pick one and ride them, the other two will be upset.”

“Ha… Haha…”

The Drake Knight laughed awkwardly in response to his answer. Perhaps, he was thinking that Iron was joking.

‘But I’m not joking…’

This thought lingered in Iron’s head as he gave the Drake Knight another reason. 

“And, no one can get out of the capital unless they’re riding a registered drake. Right?”

“But if you want then…”

“We can’t go back and forth from the capital without doing so.”

Iron shook his head firmly. 

No matter how much the Center has fallen, it was still the central axis of the Empire. There was no need to give the people of the Center justification to go against him for something so useless. What was the point of making room for them to crawl back up when he could just adjust and do these things? 

“Well… In the Center’s point of view, it could be seen as me using the official and registered drake for my own personal use. It’s probably annoying for you to go on this long-distance mission for something unnecessary.”

“N… Not at all!”

“You know it all. Isn’t it annoying to make a person, who’s resting properly, run long distances for no reason at all. It’s the same for soldiers. It’s weird for me to say it but tell your superior that I was grateful. When I go back, I will make sure to tell them that your drake maneuvering is excellent.”

“Th… Thank you!”

Iron smiled after sweet talking the Drake Knight as he talked to Baepsae again. 

They stopped by a Sky Tower along the way to take a rest and check the surrounding situation. The situation was clearly getting more difficult the closer they got to the South. However, that did not mean that the situation in the Center was good either. There were still quite a few Death Corps left in the Center and monsters that came down from the North were frolicking here and there. In other words, the Center was in a complete mess. 

However, the Southern front was being pushed back continuously so the Sky Towers in the area were all in poor condition. 

“Em… Emergency!”

The emergency alarm resounded loudly while Iron was resting in one of the Sky Towers. 

“Corpse Wings have appeared! Their numbers total to 70! I repeat! Corpse Wings…!”

Iron patted the shoulder of the Control Officer announcing the current situation to the Drake Knights of the Sky Tower. 

“Ah, ah! This is General Iron Carter. Everyone, wait a moment.”

The Control Officer’s eyes widened after hearing Iron’s words. He looked at him as if he was asking ‘What’s wrong?’ but Iron just smiled at him. 

The Drake Knights, who were preparing to fly on their drakes, stopped and looked at each other strangely wondering why he made such a decision when their time was not enough. Then, the sound of thunder rang loudly from afar.

“My friends want to stretch their wings a bit.”

“Ah…”

The Control Officer stared blankly at the sea of flames and flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder from afar. The gigantic birds swept away the corpse wings easily, the creatures that needed almost all of the personnel present in the Sky Tower to risk their lives to kill. 

The divine beasts looked like they just went out to play as they hit their opponent’s wings with flashy fires and used high-speed maneuvers to kill them. It took only less than 10 minutes for the Sky Tower’s dreadful enemies to die. Of course, it took this long for the divine beasts because they played around with them. Their enemies would have probably been already swept away and wiped out as soon as they appeared if they used their might. 

“It’s my thanks for letting me get a good rest.” 

Iron patted the Control Officer’s shoulder once again before calling for the Drake Knight that accompanied him. 

All of the people present in the Sky Tower watched as Iron, who took a brief rest in their place, flew back in the sky on top of a drake. 

They just heard that a new master has been born from the rumors. However, they thought that the Central Government was just creating a hero when they created a master out of someone who just turned 20. They thought that they had created his persona to distract them from the disaster of the Empire. However, they realized that the rumor had underestimated him when they saw his performance today. The lives of dozens of soldiers stationed in the Sky Tower were saved thanks to the divine beasts who just went out to play.

Because of this, the Sky Tower Knights and the Control Officer, who easily survived the ordeal, secretly announced the incident that happened today to other places the moment Iron left. It was just in time for the Sky Tower’s video crystal to release the scene when the divine beasts swept away the corpse wings. Just like that, the events of that day immediately spread to other Sky Towers. 

Meanwhile, Iron had to change routes occasionally to let the bored divine beasts sweep away some monsters. And after going through several Sky Towers, he finally arrived in the Southeast. 

Iron smiled when he saw the land where his Command was going to be built from far away. Then, he tapped the shoulder of the Drake Knight as he spoke.

“Here’s enough. I will move by myself from here on out.” 

“Yes? But…” 

The Drake Knight, who was trying to take Iron until the very end, looked at him in confusion. But Iron just shook his head at him. 

“Things will be dangerous from here on out. I believe you don’t need to take such risks, right?” 

The Drake Knight, a knight that was focused on transport missions, was not a combatant and he did not need to take the risk here in the Southeast. 

Iron jumped down in the air and landed on Thunderbird’s head. 

Not long after, a group of harpies appeared and attacked Iron which the divine beasts easily swept away. 

While Iron fought these monsters alone with his divine beasts, hundreds of airships appeared among the clouds far above him.

***

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