I Became the First Prince

The War of the Weak (3)

After a short mourning ceremony for our dead, we headed straight towards our next target.

There was no one complaining that it was difficult, even on a forced march without having rested after a battle.
Perhaps this was because of the heightened excitement.

That didn’t mean that their fatigue was not there, so I ordered a halt and a rest once the excitement started to subside.

‘Chun~’ I heard footsteps as I watched the soldiers lay down for a rest.
I was laying down as well, so I turned my head back and shifted my gaze to see who it was – a woman who had just removed her helmet, her sweaty hair sticking to her cheeks and forehead, yet still with an appearance as pretty as a painting.

Arwen Kirgayen was looking down at me.

“Your Highness,” she greeted me as I looked at her silently, yet her voice sounded taught.

I shifted myself so that my upper body was raised, and as I looked at Arwen, her expression was definitely different from usual.
Her subtle, stern face was the same, yet her melancholy eyes were not typical to her.

“It looks like you have something to say,” I said, sitting back and waiting for her to open her mouth.

“You couldn’t have done anything else?” she asked after hesitating for a long time.

“What?”

“Those guys who surrendered… they laid down their spears and swords and just wanted to have their lives spared.”

Arwen’s voice was too somber for anger and too dry to be called compassionate.

“It is understandable to behead the defeated generals and hold them accountable.
But was it not too much to give such impartial death to the soldiers who were just following orders?”

I said nothing, and I knew that Arwen had been thinking of the recent battle all this time.

“As a victor, I think you could have been more tolerant.”

I sighed as I heard her grieving words.
I almost wanted to say that she was troubled because she could not cut down enemies who did not resist, and I would have said this, no matter how much Arwen would’ve yelled at me.
But I knew that she had given her best in the battle.
She had even let her soldiers pierce their swords into the backs of running enemies to protect the sanctity of my command.

Her anguish deserved respect.

I quietly looked at her face: At those eyes that shone like stars, now so dry, those dark eyes filled with guilt and skepticism.
I left it as it was, even if the resentment might deepen in her heart.

“Tchu,” I instinctively clucked my tongue.

“It wasn’t a battle, but a slaughter,” Arwen said in a voice that pierced into my ears.

I got up and looked at her.

“Arwen.”

“Yes, your Highness.”

“The victor must be tolerant, you say.
Have we already won this war?”

Arwen shuddered.

“These four victories must seem so great to you.
And when you cut down the cowards, you must have felt that they are weak.
You felt compassion when you saw them begging for their lives.”

Arwen did not deny this.

“So, is the empire really weak?”

Not even I answered my question.

“So far, we have won.
I hope and want it to be the same in the future.
However, I don’t think things will play out the same as today.
Maybe our day to drink from the bitter cup of defeat may yet come.”

Once more, I did not await an answer.

“We are different from the empire.
In all probability, a single defeat will put our country in jeopardy.
It’s because this is a war between those who want to defend and those who want to conquer.
And because we are weak.”

Arwen chewed on her lips.

“Tolerance is what the strong show to the weak.
Tolerance shown by the weak is nothing less than suicide.”

“I am not talking about knights and commanders.
I’m talking about the treatment of defenseless soldiers.”

“The soldiers without power,” I laughed coldly at Arwen’s words, “Then I will ask you: Are the powerless soldiers of the empire you speak of less powerful than the people of Leonberg?”

Before Arwen answered me, I asked, “If you showed them mercy, what would that be like? Would you be satisfied and think it enough if you took their swords and spears and released them? And would you be satisfied by taking them prisoner instead of killing them?”

If released, they would be absorbed hale into other legions and would once more point their spears and swords toward the kingdom.
If they were taken captive, they would be a burden that slows our march, an extra weight upon our shoulders.

“Do you think we have the power to do that, Arwen?”

One way or another, it was an unbearable burden to the kingdom in its current state.

“On one side, the modesty of mercy, on the other, the modesty of generosity.
And such modest chivalry will let the enemy survive and march to the kingdom.
Do you believe that they will then be grateful for our generosity and show mercy toward our people and allies in Leonberg?”

I have seen what happens to fortresses captured by the Imperial Army countless times in the past.
I have seen what happened to the outlying estates and villages.
There was no such thing as a powerless soldier, as Arwen had just said.
They were all marauders and destroyers, drunk in their madness.

And in their hearts, there was no grief or sorrow for those who were trampled and ravaged by them.

“Arwen, keep in mind,” I said as I grabbed her cheeks and made her look at me, “our battles are the desperate struggles of those who have been driven to the edge of the cliff.
Our every step is precarious, as we ride forth on the thinnest of strings.”

“Look at me.
Look into my eyes,” I told Arwen again and again as I stared straight at her darting eyes, giving them a place to go – and her lost eyes managed, at last, to focus upon mine.

“If only to win this war,” I said as I stared deep into her pupils, “I am willing to become the devil.”

I let go of Arwen and looked around.
The knights and soldiers had been listening to the conversation between Arwen and me, and I could see that some of them had the same thoughts as Arwen.
I wondered why there were so many people with upright virtues in a country which I thought to be rotten, to have gone astray.
My mouth was stubbornly set as I spoke to all those gathered.

“So- You will obey my command.
If someone criticizes you, tell them that you are merely following the orders of the devil.”

If the day ever comes for someone to pay for today’s sin and bloodshed, that someone will be me.

This would be just a handful of blood sprinkled on the immeasurable karma that I accumulated in my life as a magic sword.
No one opened their mouths; silence reigned in the camp.
I glimpsed at Arwen and the knights and then went back to bed, but when I covered myself with my blanket and tried to go to sleep, a murky voice entered my ears.

“I will be the devil too.” It was the captain of the Black Lancers, Quéon.

“Well, isn’t it a compliment to be called the devil by the enemy?” Bernardo Eli jumped in.

Next came the ranger company and platoon commanders, who were having a killer of a time.

“That’s right! It’s real polite-like, innit? Since that’s the case, and I’m the one who was called the Disaster of the Orcs, I’m now the Winter Devil.”

“You’re a disaster for your allies, more like… far as I know, your subordinates call you a devil already.”

“Shut up! No matter who calls me it, I’m still being called the devil, innit?”

And as this started, the knights and soldiers shouted out that they were willing to become demons against the Imperial Army.

“Then, me too…” Adelia spoke up timidly.

“I think you’re already good enough,” I playfully responded as I looked at her.
On the battlefield, Adelia was a greater demon than anyone else, a bloody, war-changing demoness.

I was snickering by now and exchanging jokes with the senior rangers, enjoying that unique cheerfulness of Balahard, where death and war are daily life.
The central region’s knights and soldiers were sympathetic to this atmosphere, and no longer were their expressions grave as they started shouting.

“We will be a disaster for the Imperial Army!”

“For the sake of Leonberg, we are willing to become demons!”

“Isn’t this the name of our legion?” came Eli’s unexpected words.

“What?” I said with my habitual frown.

“How about it? The Winter Demon Legion? It means that we’re a demonic army that appears from the cold north and …”

I watched as the proud guy talked on, and before he could think that it sounded good to me, I turned away from him without delay, my heart cold.

“I am,” I heard a weak voice speak up, so soft that I had to focus on hearing it.
It was Arwen.

“I am your sword,” she said as if thinking back to her oath of vassalage, “If your Highness is a devil, I am your magical sword.”

Her eyes no longer twitched, and I was proud of Arwen, for she had shed the seeds of doubt in such a short time.
Arwen, with her tangled hair, lowered her red-hot face.
Adelia, who I did not know had appeared, looked envious for some reason, while Eli sneaked out his hand to Arwen but was beaten back by her palm.

I could only laugh as I saw their consistent behavior, no different here than at Winter Castle.

Night passed, and the day was bright once more.
We rode our horses in search of the enemy.

* * *

Three days passed, yet we saw neither hide nor hair of the imperial army which the Wyvern Knight had said was encamped three days north.
The information of the Wyvern Knights had never been wrong up until now, so our knights were nervous.

“Rangers, scout the area.
The rest of you wait here.”

After some time, the rangers who had gone out searching came back and reported that they had found traces of a large legion having encamped in the area.

“The Imperial Army left for the north at least two days ago.”

I frowned; it was never a good sign if the imperial forces marched faster than expected.

“That’s the Wyvern Knight!” a sharp-eyed ranger cried out as he recognized the little dot flying across the horizon.
And, as the ranger had said, the small dot quickly grew and took on the appearance of a wyvern.

‘Fswhoo~’ the Wyvern Knight landed his mount with a strong gust of dust and shouted urgently toward me without even dismounting his wyvern.

“The situation has changed! Your target legions are quickly heading north, and half of the empire’s widespread legions have disappeared! All the Knights of the Sky are currently scattered looking for these imperial legions that have vanished!”

“Why? All of a sudden?”

“The date, the reason, their path, and their purpose are all unknown!”

I chose to dispel the ominous portent of his words and asked for the exact location of the army that we were targeting.
Fortunately, the Wyvern Knight had not failed to spot them.

“Currently, your target legions are three days away from here.
They are marching northward at a rapid pace.”

The rangers had clearly stated that the Imperial Army had left this area two days ago, so the fact that they were now three day’s march away meant that their marching speed went against common sense.

“There are very few of them who fell behind!”

The Wyvern Knight explained that there were not many stragglers despite them marching at such a crazy pace.

It meant that their troops were truly elite, unlike the imperial forces we had battled up till now.

Things didn’t look good, for an elite enemy force was rapidly marching north and was already three days ahead of us.
Even if we marched with haste and diligence, it would not be easy to catch up with them before they crossed the border.
And even if we did catch up with them before they gained the border, we couldn’t fight our foes if our stamina was exhausted after such a long and hard march.
This was a scenario where we had to maintain our stamina, as we had already gone through four battles and were behind enemy lines.

“Well.”

We all briefly discussed the situation and tried to determine the goal of the imperial army.
Even though all the leaders shared their opinions in head-to-head discussions, we could not chance upon an answer.

The Wyvern Knight asked my opinion on what had to be done, saying that in two days at most, he would be able to determine the purpose of the enemy by filling in the gaps in his intel.

I had decided on the answer from the start.

“We will march north and catch up with the enemy.”

Time was running out, for up until now, only the Imperial Army had been our foe.
From here on out, time itself was also the enemy of our allied forces.

I had to hurry to the border before the enemy’s elite army attacked the Gifted Lion Citadel; before the empire’s lost legions emerged at Leonberg’s vulnerable areas – before the kingdom suffered great damage.

When I asked the Wyvern Knight to determine the location of the lost imperial legions or at least the reason for the enemy’s commander-in-chief to accelerate the march’s pace suddenly, the knight immediately flew north.

After three days of hard marching, we reached a spot not far from Leonberg’s border.

It was then that the Wyvern Knight returned.

“From the beginning, the empire had no intention of attacking the border with precision strikes! The imperial troops on the border and those marching had been nothing but bait, as the main legions have separate goals! They have been aiming for Leonberg’s capital from the very start!”

Through the knight, I finally learned the reason for the sudden changes that had come over the Imperial Army, and I wasn’t pleased at all.

“Currently, your capital is under attack by separate troops and knights of the Imperial Army! The monarch of Leonberg heads to the capital, and he has ordered your Highness to return as soon as possible!”

The knight’s report was several times more terrible than I had already expected.