I Am the Monarch – Chapter 159 : Fief War (2)

 

 

T/n: Sorry about the lateness . Kajin became busy with IRL work, and I had to find a new PR . For now, Kerrigan will be helping out IatM until st8_lupe comes back from his vacation .

In the last life, the first person to take down Sethus was the pirate king Beck .
No, the only man to have taken down Sethus was Beck .
Although there were more than plenty of people stronger than Beck on land, Beck was the strongest man at least on the Poskein Lake .

‘Since even besides his individual strength, he also had the support of the mermaids . ’

Anyhow, after taking down Sethus, which was categorized as an upper echelon even amongst the Poskein Lake’s monsters, Beck dissected its body into pieces .
The reason?

‘There is an oil sac within the monster’s body . ’

Sethus secreted a peculiar-smelling oil when seducing its mate, and this was the very Sethus oil .

‘If one covered the ships, armor, and clothes in that oil, the monsters categorized under lower echelon of the Poskein Lake will run far away just from smelling the odor . ’

The Sethus oil was stored in an oil sac deep inside its body, and as much as its gigantic sized body, the oil sac also boasted an amazingly great size .
Enough for all the Tale Legion’s ships and soldiers to use and have left overs .
Not only that .

‘Sethus’ crimson blood has the effect of stopping the approach of other Sethus . ’

The predator of the Poskein Lake Sethus instinctively had a strong repulsion towards its own blood .

‘These were the very rumors that I had heard . ’

No, to be exact, it could be called information .

‘Since Beck actually became a pirate king with the ships and armor washed in Sethus’ oil and blood . Of course, he did receive the mermaids’ help . ’

The problem was after that .
After completely seizing the Poskein Lake, Beck had committed atrocities that were incredible enough to be almost unimaginable .
Levying tolls to the merchant ships travelling the lake was understandable .
But depending on his mood, he even seized or sank the ships that were travelling .
Not only that, he had raided the villages on the lakeside, plundered their properties, and killed the people as he wished .
The four nations bordering the Poskein Lake had tried to fight against Beck’s such tyranny, but there was no way to fight him, who had settled himself at a place deep in the Poskein Lake .

‘One of the reasons I’m trying to subjugate and conquer the Poskein Lake first . ’

If he were to conquer the Poskein Lake, Roan planned to only collect appropriate tolls and usage fees .

‘Of course, there isn’t only economic reason like that . ’

The biggest reason he was hurrying to subjugate and conquer the Poskein Lake .

‘The damage from the monsters is severe . ’

Although the cases of monsters carrying out large-scale land invasion like the Poskein Exodus weren’t something that happened often, cases of large and small villages being attacked were happening frequently .
Furthermore, in case of few terrestrial monsters, there even were research results that said their roots were in the Poskein Lake .

‘At least for the lakeside villages’ safety and the residents’ peaceful lives, Poskein subjugation is necessary at any cost . ’

Although it was an immensely anthropocentric thought, it was a natural decision to the human Roan .
Since Poskein Lake’s monsters too were attacking the human villages on the lakeside on their own decision .

‘On top of that, there just was a need for a situation to sound out Kali Owells’ plan . ’

The Poskein Lake Subjugation was utilized even as a part of the stratagem to reveal Kali’s black intentions . Since he would definitely move if a vacuum of power appeared .
Like that, the subjugation had arose with numerous schemes as the background .

“Soak the sail and the mast, forecastle and the stern with Sethus’ blood!”
“Soak also the helmets and armors thoroughly!”

The commanders of and above the thousand-man commander rank ordered the soldiers .
Even the Tale Legion’s soldiers, who instantly reacted to any order, hesitated a bit at least at this moment .
Bathing the armor in the blood a monster had bled was simply disagreeable .
At that moment, the one stepped up was in fact Roan .
Taking the lead and setting an example, he plunged his helmet and armor into Sethus’ blood .

“Ah……”

Seeing that sight, the soldiers hid their looks of hesitation, took off their helmets and armor, and thickly plastered Sethus’ blood in ones and twos .

Splash . Splash .

From here and there noisily echoed the sound of plunging armors into the crimson blood .
The sticky yet metallic-smelling blood began to color the armors and the ships red .
The alchemists and the engineers who had boarded along, just in case there might be a need for it later, were bottling the Sethus’ blood fully in empty wooden caskets and loading them .

‘Right . Since who knows if there is another effect to Sethus’ blood . ’

It wasn’t as if Roan knew everything .
He especially and greatly lacked technical knowledge .

‘The alchemy department and the engineering department should take care of it well . ’

If even the Reno Magic Tower were to assist the research, they should be able to gain a greater result .
If possible, he wished that there was a mana enhancement property to Sethus’ blood and oil, no, at least in its chunks of flesh .

‘Is it an overly excessive expectation?’

He pointlessly felt embarrassed and smiled .
At that moment .

“We found it!”
“We found the oil sac, sir!”

The soldiers who had been digging through Sethus’ body shouted aloud .
Roan quickly kicked off the stern and climbed up onto Sethus’ body .
When he claw through and entered into the crimson body, he saw the oil sac of an incredible size .

“Like how we rubbed on the Sethus’ blood, thoroughly plaster the oil too on the ships and the armors . ”
“Yes . Understood!”

The commanders and the soldiers answered in one voice .
Soon, with the Roan at the lead and starting with the commanders as an example, they covered Sethus’ oil onto their entire armor .
Following after that, the soldiers continued on the work of rubbing the oil .
As expected, the amount of oil was plenty .
Not only once but over two, three times, the Tale Legion’s soldiers meticulously rubbed on the oil again and again .
In that time, the darkness went away and the sun rose .
But even so, the oil rubbing work continued on .
The sun set once again and the darkness fell onto the surroundings .
Perhaps thanks to Sethus’ crimson blood and oil, there wasn’t even a single monster that attacked the legion .

“We have completed everything, sir . ”

Austin reported .
With Sethus’ crimson blood and oil, the ships and the soldiers were newly born .
The world was completely red .
If the Istel Kingdom’s soldiers saw that sight, they would have trembled in shock saying it’s the Crimson Ghost’s army .
A crimson legion .
Like that, the legion of fear that would later shake and thrill the world began .

“Bottle the remaining blood and oil into wooden casks and load as much as possible . ”
“Yes! Understood!”

Soon, the work continued .
However, the amount of blood and oil was much too great compared to the amount that could be loaded .
Sethus was that gigantic .

‘It’s regrettable, but can’t be helped . ’

If he could, he would have liked to tie Sethus’ body to a ship and haul it, but it was simply too big so they couldn’t .
Putting the regrettable feeling behind him, Roan called together the thousand-man rank commanders .

“Since we have covered the armors and ships with Sethus’ blood and oil, the lower echelon monsters won’t be able to even dare to approach . ”

At those words, numerous thousand-man commanders clenched their fists tight .

“It became no different than attaching a wing to Poskein Lake Subjugation . ”
“Subjugation of lake’s northern region shouldn’t have any problem . ”
“Let us immediately advance to the Exos Island . ”

Their voices were confident and energetic .
Roan slowly nodded his head .

“One should row when the tide comes in . ”

With this opportunity, he planned to advance to the Exos Island and build a military port .
But even so, it wasn’t a situation where he could lead the entire legion and advance .
Roan looked at Semi .

“Three-thousand-man commander Semi will take ten ships and subjugate the lake’s northern region . ”
“Yes . Understood!”

Semi instantly saluted as he answered .
The rest of the commanders, as if asking what he meant, stared at Roan with blank expressions .
Roan faintly smiled as he looked at them .

“The rest will return to the fief . ”

The instant he said those words .

“Eh?”
“We’re going back?”

Several thousand-man commanders asked back with surprised expressions .
They couldn’t understand returning to the fief when they had just seized the chance to victory .
But Austin and the core commanders, who already knew the meaning behind the Poskein Lake Subjugation before marching, slowly nodded their heads .
Roan turned his head and stared towards the north .

“By now, the north should have become very noisy . ”

As he had expected, currently, the Lancephil County located north of the Tale Barony was greatly noisy .
No, it wasn’t at a level of being noisy .
It was literally a scene of **** .
That day, Roan left ten ships and headed towards the Nuperu village, the port they sailed from, under the cover of darkness .
A dark night when even the moonlight hid .
Tens of crimson boats and soldiers slowly moved north .

*****

“I am the captain of the Tale Barony Northern Road Troop 1st Castle Hughes . Sir Count Lancephil . We welcome you to the Tale Barony . ”

A man who seemed to have just entered his thirties saluted in front of a wide open castle gate .
The troop that was approaching with the Count Lancephil House’s flag at the lead stopped their motion .
They were the transferred troops to the Tale Barony that Count Io Lancephil had promised before .
Soon, the soldiers split to the sides and haggard-looking Count Io Lancephil appeared .

“Northern Road Troop 1st Castle?”

Io cautiously asked as he climbed down from his horse .
The man who had been saluting, Hughes, faintly smiled as he answered .

“We cannot tell you exactly because it’s a military secret, but in the case of Tale Barony, we have divided our defense forces and are managing them as five separate troops . The Northern Road Troop is the troop defending the fief’s northern border and is stationed with twelve big and small forts at the center . I am responsible for managing the 1st Castle amongst those . ”

It was a straight and powerful enough pose that was almost hard to see as from a commander of a commoner background .

“Hmm . ”

Io nodded his head with a slightly surprised expression .
He knew that Roan was developing an elite troop with the Tale Legion as a base, but he didn’t know that he possibly had separately put side a defense force and was firmly defending the fief .

‘And to think there are twelve forts like this just on the fief’s northern border……’

Suddenly, he remembered Kali Owells’ past report .

‘He said that we need to warn and guard against Roan since he had built forts and has stationed troops at places close to our fief . ’

For some reason, a bitter smile came out .

‘Has telling him not to mind at the time instead help me?’

He hadn’t quite knew that the situation would become like this .
With a short sigh, Io shook his head and looked at Hughes .

“Could you tell me the state of our fief?”
“I will answer you that, sir . ”

Pushing aside the soldiers lined up behind Hughes, the president Chris of Agens showed himself .
His expression wasn’t very bright .

“For now, let us move the location . ”

At Chris’ words, Io nodded his head .
With a little tired look, he moved his feet and briefly asked .

“As expected, it isn’t good, no?”

His words asked of the state of the war .
Chris bitterly smiled and nodded his head .

“Already, most of the west have went over to Count Chase Troop’s hands . Of the detailed stories……”

He lightly glanced at the Count Lancephil Troops lined up behind them, then spoke in a quiet voice as if to whisper .

“I will tell you inside . ”

His voice was heavy .
As much as that, Io’s expression too turned solid stiff .

“Huu . ”

A sigh holding heavy regrets extended out long .

*****

“Idiotic bastard!”

Kali Owells kicked over the table in front of him and shouted .
The commanders who were sitting together with him were abruptly surprised and stood up from their seat .
It was the first time that Kali became this much angry .

‘Even though he was always cool-headed . ’
‘Well, this event is hard to tolerate . ’
‘Stupid Perry Wilson . ’

The commanders searched Kali’s mood and cursed the Lancephil Fief Troop Captain Perry Wilson .

Boom!

Kali kicked aside the table once again .
The table shattered into pieces and they couldn’t even guess its old look .
But Kali didn’t shout nor show a look of jumping around in fit like before .
In that short moment, Kali was already regaining his composure .
He threw himself down onto his seat and glared at the opposite side .
The messenger of the Fief Troop Captain Perry Wilson .
The young man, who looked to be just now about mid twenties, was lowering his head with a completely nervous expression .

“So, Io Lancephil’s current location is?”

Kali asked with a quietly subdued voice .
The messenger dryly gulped once and then answered .

“We sent a pursuit troop but it was already too late . Sir Count Lancephil has, no, Io Lancephil has entered the Tale Barony . ”

The end of his voice shook .

“Huu . ”

Controlling the rage that boiled up, Kali spat out a long sigh .

‘Perry Wilson . You stupid and conceited man . You finally ruined the work . ’

It wasn’t even as if he had asked for a difficult work .

‘Even though I merely told him to carefully monitor Io . ’

Perry was overflowing with confidence .
No, his conceit was excessive .
In the end, that conceited attitude had ruined the work .
When Kali was subjugating the western region of the Lancephil County together with Count Chase Troop, Perry Wilson’s messenger arrived .
The news the messenger brought was Io Lancephil’s escape .

Uddk .

The teeth naturally gritted .

‘Io Lancephil . If I can’t catch that old man, the work won’t end even if I conquer the Lancephil County . ’

If Io, who survived, continued to call himself the owner of the fief, only Kali’s position would become vague .

‘Damn it!’

Curses pushed up to his throat .
But it wasn’t as if the work would be solved just because he mindlessly raged .

‘I need to find a way . A way……’

With his eyes closed, Kali rolled his mind .
Tens, hundreds of bizarre, extravagant, and complicated plans repeated to arise and be estranged .
After an unknown amount of time .

Gulp .

The commanders who were sitting together with him were merely watching Kali’s mood .
At that moment .

Flash!

Kali opened the eyes he had closed and looked at the magic corp head Tairon Bess .

“Baron Bess . Immediately take a part of the magic corp and a part of the knight order and go to the Lemy Region . ”
“Le…… my Region you say?”

Tairon creased his brows .
Even within the Lancephil County, the Lemy Region was a very remote countryside region located in the north .
Although it was known as a place where the scenery was good, it wasn’t a place where the number of residents were great since it was a place too close to the Byron Kingdom .
It wasn’t a place where they would go out of their way to lead the members of the magic corp and the knights to find in such situation .
Kali slowly nodded his head .
With a meaningful expression, he spoke as if to whisper .

“There is a bait there that could lure out Io . ”
“A bait that could lure out Io?”

Tairon unknowingly asked back in a quiet voice .
Kali looked around at everyone and answered shortly .

“Lemy Region is where the last head of the knight order and Io Lancephil’s old friend, Albert Wein retired . ”

A cold killing intent hung on his voice .

“Capture and bring him here . ”

If it’s Albert Wein, he should become an excellent bait .
The tips of Kali’s mouth slowly went up .
It was a horrifying smile .

‘Io . Will you be able to endure and stand?’

Could he simply watch his friend’s neck be cut?
Kali shook his head .

‘He will definitely come to rescue him . ’

He was certain .

‘Since that’s exactly Io . ’

Kali had the confidence to catch a big fish with a one old bait .
A big fish called Io .

< Fief War (2) > End .