I Became the First Prince

o fall from the thing.

‘Uuh uh uh uh!’ the monster roared.

“Prepare for battle!” shouted the prince.

The monsters upon the snowfield had begun to roar and surge forward, all at once.

Rangers grabbed their bows and crossbows, and the heads of the screaming metal devices were lowered.

‘Dum dum dum dum dum!’ the ground shook as that vast horde charged, and the snow that had gathered upon the walls fell down under that vibration.

“Respond!” came a harsh shout, and rangers let loose crossbow bolts and arrows.

‘Sasasasasak~’ thousands of arrows blanketed the sky.

‘Krsh!’ a portion of the monsters collapsed as death pierced into them from the air.

However, these diminished lines were quickly filled by monsters pushing in from the rear.

“Target the ones with the ladders and ropes!”

“Ignore the big ones! They’ll get stuck anyway!”

Rangers yelled out to each other all along the wall, and the sound of bowstrings being drawn and then twanging echoed all over.

“I’ll cover the west!”

“Then I’ll take the east!”

The newest and greatest champions of the kingdom spread their brilliant light as they ran across the walls.

The knights of Winter Castle stood upon the walls, bearing shields.

“Ha!”

In the next instant, a great many missiles were thrown from under the walls.

‘Klnng!’ the roar of their impact echoed all over, yet none of the stones and spears thrown by the monsters so much as crossed the wall.

“Ha!” the knights cried once more as they swung their shields, beating back wolves and their orcish riders who had tried to leap onto the wall.
Beasts and riders both plunged earthward.

Large monsters, several meters tall, roared as they threw axes and stones.

The knights with shields crouched down, and the knights from the second line leapt onto the backs and shoulders of those before them.

‘Wooo~!’ an unusual brilliance shone on their swords: Sword auras of those with at least three rings.

‘Swkng!’ the jumping knights blocked the monsters’ attack and leaped back in quick succession, with the knights of the first row once more standing, shields raised.
Behind them, the other knights were removing the corpses of their fallen companions from the wall.

The rangers did not budge, even though the rocks fragmented under their very noses as the knights shattered them or bounced them back.
The same counted when the wolves climbed onto the walls, striking out with their slavering maws.

The rangers just fired arrows like machines, and the knights protected them.

“Ah,” Nogisa admired the defensive strategy as he watched it unfold.

It was an unfamiliar sight, for Nogisa had never heard of nor seen a scenario where precious knights fought like common soldiers.
He had never seen knights risk their bodies for the sake of protecting soldiers, as they did here.
Nogisa was impressed by the manner in which they took the initiative, yet at the same time, he was concerned, knowing that the knights would be the first ones to tire.

The knights had to maintain an optimal level of power at every moment.
In that way, Nogisa could step out and do his part, as was required of him.

That was common sense, but it didn’t take long for Nogisa’s conception of common sense to shatter.

The knights of Winter Castle did not tire; they were like iron men.
Then the prince came up to Nogisa and explained it to him as if he had read his inner thoughts.

Once the battle begins, the Knights of Winter Castle have to fight for a few weeks up to several months.

Naturally, they have no choice but to learn how to use their energy efficiently and how to quickly recover exhausted stamina.

Nogisa spat out his doubt.
Sure, there was no way to grow a knight faster than through a battle as the current one, so Winter Castle was the perfect proving ground for them.
However, no matter how efficiently they manage their energy, the mana of the knights was bound to be limited.
And once the knights upon the wall fell, there would be a vacuum in defensive power that the monsters would exploit.

“Don’t the knights on the wall then, in reality, suppress their energy?” asked Nogisa.

The prince smiled as he looked back along the wall.
“Not as such, no.
Ah, it’s time for the turn change,” said the prince, almost to himself, and the Nogisa did not understand.

“Line shift!” came the order from Count Balahard.

“Ha!” The knights who had fought fiercely with the monsters in the front ranks now stepped back, and the knights behind them took up shields and swords, stepping out to take their comrades’ places.

Nogisa’s eyes stretched wide.
He didn’t try to conduct an exact count, but by rough estimate, about four-hundred had retreated from the front ranks with the same amount taking their place.

This was incomprehensible for the old man – he had heard that there were less than five hundred knights gathered here from the northern region and that a significant number of them had been sacrificed in the latest charge into the rampaging monsters.
It was a historical moment, to have almost a thousand knights present, and the second prince had confirmed it before the Nogisa left the capital.

“Shouldn’t you reduce the power and report?” the Nogisa asked Prince Maximilian at the time.

The prince replied by saying it wasn’t very important.

“Because there are imperial spies everywhere,” he had then stated, and Nogisa had paused for a while, and then broken out into laughter.

These knights could not exist after the imperial pressures bore down upon the kingdom, so they were all disbanded, and the Kingdom of Leonberg became a toothless lion.

Everyone said that the day would never be seen when the northern lion would roar once more, and Nogisa had also secretly thought so.
But it didn’t turn out that way.

A new history of Leonberg was beginning here, in this cold land that so few knew of.
And this new history was so glorious and splendid, unlike the past hundred years which had been marked by humiliation and defeat.

The thrilled Nogisa’s face was flushed, and he looked at the prince.

“It’s not over yet,” came the prince’s words, and the air became heated.
At first: A small ember and then many embers grew to become fiery fists, and these formed into balls of flame bigger than human heads.
And at last, fireballs flew into the monsters.

‘Fwoosh~!’ and the small fireballs exploded into big flares, with the flames reaching out several meters to either side.

Flames erupted all over, and the burning monsters roared and ran riot.

“It seems that quite a few of the children sent by the nobles had talent enough to become wizards.”

Nogisa’s eyes widened as he watched the flames, a magical fire that has not been manifested for a hundred years since the empire sealed Leonberg’s tower.

It was combat magic, through and through, and Nogisa was thrilled by the flaming sight of it.
The prince drew his sword and stepped forward.
The three masters who had dispersed themselves across the wall to slay monsters now stood behind him.

Nogisa was overwhelmed by these new champions, for they had reached completion before the age that he had done so, some even ten years before his thirty-five.
They did not notice the gaze of the old knight, as they were talking among themselves.

“He will appear soon,” said the prince.

“Already?” asked Bernardo Eli as he tilted his head.

“We just lit a fire in front of a being whose game it is to ignite eternal fires, so he won’t back down after our challenge.”

The prince’s statement was unintelligible to Nogisa, and the other champions also seemed befuddled.
Then the prince’s face suddenly had a questioning appearance to it, and Bernardo asked something as if he had just remembered.

“But… what did you say earlier?”

“I didn’t say much.
Just…” replied the prince in an awkward tone, pausing.

“It is said that he pretends to be proud about the fact that he is the waste that Hwaryong chewed upon and then spat out.”