Victor Mort (7)

The assassins were, as expected, mages from the Eastern Kingdom. They could be identified by the intricate tattoos unique to people of the Eastern Kingdom and the medals engraved with incantations used to cast magic.

Command said they would lodge a formal protest with the Eastern Kingdom and praised him for annihilating the infamous assassination corps. They also politely offered to hold funerals for the knights, but Victor refused everything and merely sent word to Mort.

He already knew that the war situation was too unfavorable to return the bodies. And holding lavish funerals here would have been meaningless. This place was merely the battlefield where they had died.

Victor gathered the knights and reorganized their formation. He ignored Command’s order to remain on standby. They loaded their belongings onto the ships and prepared to set sail.

The Grand Duke’s operation was clear.

“We’re going to the Southern Kingdom’s mainland.”

Victor pointed to several places on the map.

“Unlike their navy, the enemy infantry is extremely weak. Besides, we’ve already sunk quite a number of their ships, so their navy won’t be able to move freely either. If we draw the navy’s attention with the larger ships and circle around behind them, we’ll be able to land easily.”

“Will you not call for reinforcements?”

“They won’t come even if I call them. We don’t need them either.”

The knights exchanged glances.

Victor continued without hesitation.

“They’ll think we won’t attack for a while after taking such a heavy blow. We have to seize the harbor quickly while we have this opening.”

“The difference in military strength is considerable. Will we be all right?”

“Follow one step behind me. I don’t want any more casualties.”

“……Your Highness, we don’t want you to be injured either.”

Only then did he raise his head.

Concern was evident on the knights’ haggard faces. They looked at him with the worry of comrades who had watched him grow up.

Victor smiled bitterly.

“Thank you for worrying about me.”

“Your Highness.”

“But follow my orders. That won’t happen.”

He rose from his seat. He tightly fastened the cloak wrapped around him to block the sunlight and picked up his sword. His yellow eyes gleamed like those of a chimera.

It was time to draw his sword.

The operation proceeded astonishingly smoothly.

On a moonless night, the Mort Knights secretly attacked the harbor after the navy had vacated it.

Victor swung his sword at the front. Every time he moved his blade, people and objects alike were cut apart and shattered with absurd ease. The sword of a man who had stopped hesitating could no longer be called human. It was closer to a natural disaster.

By the time he had swung it until the blade dulled, nothing remained. The knights who followed could not hide their shock. They had long known Victor was strong, but they had never seen him look so inhuman. An unavoidable fear showed in their eyes.

But Victor did not care. He only felt regret.

I should have done this from the beginning. If I had, the war might have ended sooner, and my brother might not have died.

“How should we handle the aftermath?”

Kaltz asked after the battle ended.

Victor wiped the blood from his hands with water and asked in return.

“What do you think we should do?”

“……If it were me, I would report to Command that we had secured the southern harbor. We could use this place as a base to attack the mainland and begin armistice negotiations with the Southern Kingdom.”

“Then do that.”

Victor answered simply. The red-haired knight silently bowed his head. The Grand Duke sheathed his sword and continued.

“But we won’t wait. We’ll leave tomorrow morning, taking only the wounded soldiers out of the march.”

“Where will you go?”

“To the nearest city.”

He did not think any further. He did not want to care about orders or treaties. He merely wanted the enemy to suffer the same way.

“If the damage grows, it will also give us an advantage in the armistice negotiations. Perhaps we could even swallow this entire country.”

“…….”

Kaltz remained silent. Victor expected opposition, but after thinking for a moment, he merely spoke calmly.

“That may be possible. Or at the very least, we could replace the prime minister with someone friendly toward the Empire.”

“You’re not going to oppose me? An invasion should go against chivalry.”

Kaltz gave a pained smile.

“Unlike Leonard, I’m not a proper knight. You are my liege, Your Highness, so I merely follow your will.”

“…….”

“And.”

Kaltz closed his mouth for a moment before speaking.

“I’m not going to tell a friend who lost his family to endure it. Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Kaltz lowered his head, raised it again, and disappeared.

Victor silently watched the knight walk away. He suddenly remembered what Morteon had once told him. Because you are strong, you must protect your family, friends, and comrades.

His brother had been right. He had already failed once, but he still had things left to protect.

Victor sat gripping his sword and guarded the tents where the knights slept throughout the night.

Indigo Land, commonly known as the Southern Kingdom.

The Southern Kingdom was ruled by a senate composed of nobles and a prime minister elected by them. Accordingly, its policies changed greatly depending on who was chosen as prime minister. According to Command’s investigation, the reason the Southern Kingdom, which had been preparing for a truce, had suddenly attacked using assassins was that the newly elected prime minister hated the Empire.

As he roamed the Southern Kingdom, Victor could fully sense that atmosphere. The Southern Kingdom’s printing technology was exceptionally advanced, and propaganda condemning the Empire had been printed and posted everywhere.

Victor did not even bother tearing down the papers. They would all burn to ashes anyway.

On the Southern Kingdom’s mainland, the Mort Knights did not lose a single battle. Whether it was a village, a castle, or an army, Victor broke through every defensive line with ease and destroyed everything in an instant. He gave civilians time to evacuate in advance, but he showed no mercy to soldiers. Victor brutally cut down enemy troops who begged for their lives.

His infamy only continued to grow.

‘Death is coming to take you away; the Grand Duke of Death climbs over the walls at night.’

A song like that was created and spread throughout the Southern Kingdom.

The tide of the war shifted rapidly. When one-third of the mainland was engulfed in flames in an instant, the Southern Kingdom’s government hastily stepped forward and begged for the war to end. The prime minister still appeared opposed, but the senate wanted to stop the war even if they had to hang the prime minister themselves.

When Command entered armistice negotiations, the Mort Knights’ advance also stopped.

Since landing on the mainland, the order had suffered fewer than ten casualties. It was an unbelievably small number for men who had won so many battles.

It was all thanks to Victor’s inhuman swordsmanship. The more he used his sword, the sharper it became, until he could now cut even through rock. Even so, he felt no satisfaction whatsoever.

Victor sat in the encampment and ate a simple meal. The bread topped with pickled olives and smoked ham, seized from the Southern Kingdom’s army, did not suit his palate at all, so he left it after taking only a few bites.

As he wet his throat with water, a knight with a stern face approached him. It was Leonard.

“Command has contacted us. The armistice agreement is in its final stages.”

“Were the terms I demanded included?”

Leonard silently nodded.

Victor had demanded only one thing: the execution of the current prime minister who had sent the assassination corps.

The Grand Duke thought Leonard would surely have something to say this time. Ever since this brutal conquest had begun, Leonard had looked tormented. But Leonard said something unexpected.

“Do you feel a little better now?”

At first glance, it sounded sarcastic. But Victor knew Leonard was a man incapable not only of sarcasm, but even of jokes. Leonard slowly continued.

“I know how much pain you must be in, Your Highness. That is why all of us followed you no matter what you did.”

“…….”

“But now you must return.”

Victor quietly looked down at the vivid blue sea.

The Southern Kingdom was a beautiful place. The sea was so clear that its blue waters were almost transparent, and its people were all lively and beautiful. The villages, with deep-blue roofs atop pure-white houses, resembled a fairy kingdom from a story.

He was the one who had burned such beautiful land for months. During that time, the rage that had scorched his heart had gradually subsided as well. Only bitter pain remained.

“Please end your revenge here. You need to rest, Your Highness.”

“I’m not tired.”

“I know you can’t sleep at night.”

It was something he could not deny.

The Grand Duke barely slept at night. It had become even worse after the Eastern Kingdom informed him that the magic used by the assassination corps could only be cast on someone who was asleep.

The Eastern Kingdom had revealed the secret of the magic to deny any connection with the assassination corps, but it brought Victor no comfort at all.

He regretted falling asleep that day and grew anxious every night. It remained the same even after he was told that no one capable of using that magic remained. He simply could not fall asleep.

“You may be able to sleep once you return home. Besides, was that not also the land Lord Morteon cultivated? You must not leave that land abandoned.”

As always, Leonard was right. Hearing that blunt truth suddenly made him miss his homeland terribly. The cold land that smelled of sand, where he had lived with Morteon.

Victor looked down at the sea and said,

“You still lecture me even though I’ve become Grand Duke.”

“I speak even more because you have become my liege. A lord bears responsibility for his territory, and a knight protects the weak……”

“I understand. I understand, so shut up.”

Victor laughed for the first time in a very long while.

Morteon’s brown eyes, always speaking of the future, flashed through his mind. His brother had always wanted to create a beautiful land where both the lord and the people could smile. Regret surged alongside the memories.

Yes, what meaning would there be in continuing? His brother was already gone, while the things he had cherished remained in the north.

Victor smelled the salt in the air and settled his heart.

He had taken enough revenge, so he would stop here. He would return to the homeland where traces of his brother still remained and, inadequate though he was, imitate his brother and try to cultivate that land.