Chapter 50: Beneath the Banner (1)

Tok.

“Kku, kku—aaagh!”

Leon was fast.

Before Poland could even react, his right wrist was severed.

Blood poured out onto the white marble floor.

“Co-Commander! What are you doing?!”

“Damn it!”

The man, unwilling to go down quietly, raised his axe.

But with such a grave wound, he was in no state to fight properly.

In an instant, Leon circled behind the man, disarmed him, and forced him to his knees.

“Hu…”

The head of Jackal family, held his breath at Leon’s overwhelming martial prowess.

No matter how high and mighty a head of house might be, he was nothing more than a ‘well-known leader of a prestigious family.’

Compared to Bartenberg, the difference was as vast as that between an empire and a petty kingdom.

Leon was the empire’s greatest knight and the Emperor’s right hand.

Poland Helga was no match for him.

“Pl-please spare me! I beg you, Duke of Bartenberg!”

Crushed by overwhelming force, Poland pressed his head to the floor and pleaded.

For a head of a noble house, he was pathetically lacking in dignity—a pitiful sight.

Richard walked up to the groveling, cowardly man.

“Speak for yourself, traitor Poland.”

“Y-young master! This is a misunderstanding! How could I be a traitor…”

Sring—

Richard drew Ice Crescendo.

The cold, frost-laden blade touched the back of Poland’s neck, and his skin froze pale white.

“I won’t say it twice.”

Poland’s body trembled.

Richard’s eyes bore into him, quietly, yet within that calm gaze, a fiery rage was surging.

That was not the look a sixteen-year-old boy should have.

“Fine. Keep your mouth shut, then.”

“Uh, uhhh…”

At this moment, Richard became an executioner.

Not just in temperament, but truly—an executioner who beheads the condemned.

It was then—

“Y-you’re mistaken! Our head would never do such a thing!”

Avart, Helga’s commander.

He stepped forward, standing between Richard and Poland with trembling limbs.

His lips were tightly shut, as if ready to face death.

On the loyal knight’s face was nothing but faith in his lord.

“Do you want to die with him?”

“Kill me if you must! But Helga has never done anything shameful as knights! Please, do not dishonor the knightly way of Helga!”

Richard curled his lips.

For a moment, it seemed like a sneer, then he spoke.

“Jackal said it himself. Helga’s knights are brave, but their lord is as foolish and dull as they come.”

He shoved Avart aside.

Poland, who had been cowering behind Avart, looked utterly devastated, his face stained with blood.

“How much longer will you disgrace yourself before your own men?”

“… I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything. Just… please, spare my life.”

With his eyes tightly shut, Poland began to spill everything.

The shocking and ugly truth.

“My God! You—you call yourself the head of a house?!”

“This—this can’t be…!”

His confession sent shockwaves through everyone.

The other heads of houses erupted in fury, while the loyal Avart shook his head, unable to accept reality.

It was understandable.

The lord they trusted and followed had turned out to be a Magicians lackey.

For nearly ten years, Poland had leaked countless Martial Union secrets, receiving vast treasures in return.

Jwaak—!

“Kku, kku-aaagh!”

With a swing of Richard’s sword, one of Poland’s ears fell to the ground.

“You’re still lying, aren’t you?”

“What…?”

“You didn’t throw everything away just for some treasure. You must have gotten something even greater, didn’t you?”

Richard’s gaze turned to the large axe lying on the floor.

“For example… Magic Equipment, perhaps?”

He picked up the axe.

Wuuung—

As he channeled divine power, complex mana formulas appeared on the axe blade, along with the Magic Array that sealed them.

Just as Richard had suspected.

“That’s right… I’ll tell you everything! Please…”

“Go on, then.”

This time, Poland began to confess everything in detail.

“Several years ago, I received a Demon Axe that had been sealed by a magician from Rolang. Ugh! The magician kept saying that if I cooperated, he would break the seal for me……”

“You… you threw everything away for a single axe?!”

Avart screamed.

Poland, the Magician’s lackey.

He was so obsessed with the Demon Axe—a piece of Magic Equipment—that he became Rolang’s loyal dog.

He leaked countless secrets and cast aside all knightly taboos.

For Avart, who had trusted and followed him, it felt as if filth had been smeared all over his body.

But Poland’s confession was not yet finished.

“R-recently, I received orders. I was told to sabotage the Alliance Army so they couldn’t hold Riot Castle…”

So he deliberately sowed discord, making it impossible for the Martial Union to unite as one.

Using the title of head of house, he undermined the commander’s authority, pushing his own knights to the front lines to increase his voice within the alliance.

With that influence, he sowed discord between the other houses.

“… In exchange, they promised to unseal the Demon Axe, grant me top-tier Magic Armor, and a vast Domain.”

All for Magic Equipment, all for wealth.

He threw away everything he had as a knight.

“You valued that Magic Equipment more than the knights who trusted and followed you?”

“I—I just wanted to reach a higher realm. Even if I had to borrow the power of tools…”

“… I see.”

“Young master! Spare my—”

Slash—

The traitor’s head rolled across the floor.

Silence fell over the meeting room.

Some were too angry to speak, others too disgusted by the ugliness to find words.

After a moment, Richard looked at the headless corpse and spoke.

“Helga’s knights are innocent. They should not be blamed for this.”

“We can’t continue the meeting like this. Clean up the corpse, and keep this incident quiet. If word gets out, it’ll only lower the morale of the Alliance Army.”

“Understood!”

After quickly settling the situation, he glanced at Leon.

There was still unfinished business.

***

I walked with Leon to his room.

“Poland Helga was a traitor… He’s caused trouble before, but…”

“Why didn’t you deal with him sooner?”

“No matter how much of a commander I am, if I lay a hand on a head of house, the Union could collapse. Poland was deliberately provoking me.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Heads of house had knights who would die for them, and those knights made up the Union.

From Leon’s perspective, it must have been a tricky situation.

“How did you know he was a traitor, young master?”

“That’s a secret.”

At my curt answer, he sighed.

“Maybe the Lich this time is also the work of the Magician.”

“It’s not.”

Of course, it was reasonable to suspect.

Polin Castle, where the Lich was based, was at the southernmost tip of the Northern Continent, right across from the Magicians.

Moreover, the places being attacked were all in the Baren Kingdom; the Magicians hadn’t even been touched.

“They’re trying to prevent cooperation between the Martial Union and the Magicians by turning us against each other.”

“Then why are the Undead only attacking this side?”

“Because dead knights are more useful than dead mages.”

A simple, clear answer.

“The enemy’s goal is the Rift that opened in the sky—they want to open it completely.”

“Was that their doing, then?”

“Yes. It’s still an incomplete Rift.”

Right now, the Liches were probably preparing a ritual, much like a knight’s Tempering, to fully open the Rift.

In the future I know, the war was barely ended at the brink of that moment.

“But we also have to be wary of a surprise attack from the Magicians.”

“According to intelligence, they’re also forming an alliance to defend against the Undead Army.”

“They’re just watching the fire from across the river.”

I closed my eyes.

Poland’s betrayal was something I already knew.

But the way it happened had changed.

I never thought the Martial Union would avoid collapse.

Originally, he would’ve quietly defected to the Magicians alone.

Why did Rolang give such orders?

“Are those Magician bastards planning to strike the war-torn Northern Continent themselves?”

How did things pile up like this?

Unlike in the game, the knights had almost no resistance to magic, and the Undead Army was even stronger.

For the Magicians, this was the perfect chance to strike.

I needed to come up with a countermeasure.

As I was deep in thought, Leon spoke again.

“You really do pique my curiosity, young master.”

“Suddenly?”

“Think about it. You’re given full authority by the head of house, you show up completely changed and shift the course of battle, and you even root out the traitor! Sometimes I wonder if you’re really the same ‘trouble maker’ young master.”

“Listen here. I’m the Deputy of Bartenberg now. Want to die for insulting me?”

Just a while ago, Leon had been all stiff and formal, but now he was back to his usual sly self.

When I picked up the axe I’d taken from Poland, he laughed and waved his hands.

“Haha, honestly, I act this way even with the head of house.”

Really.

Not a single knight treats me like a proper young master.

Aron is quick on the uptake, but even he can be clueless at times.

“It’s time for you to keep your promise, isn’t it?”

Leon raised his hand, showing me the Faithful Ring.

His face was full of curiosity he’d kept hidden until now.

Right. It was time to tell him.

“The ring’s power is almost gone. You must have used it a lot, huh?”

“Hmm, it’s helped me a great deal.”

It was a ring that held ten thousand Faith.

And now, barely five hundred remained.

He really made good use of it.

“And the power inside… it felt fundamentally different from magic.”

“Exactly.”

I grinned.

Of course. It was the opposite.

“When you wore the ring, you felt stronger, right? Your mood improved, and your condition was at its peak.”

“Yes. Even the knights around me could feel the power.”

He looked down at the ring, his eyes sparkling.

He kept smacking his lips, as if he regretted the ring’s fading power.

“What exactly is it? It’s not Mana… it’s something fundamentally different…”

“It’s the Power of the Gods.”

“…What?”

He blinked, as if he’d heard something absurd.

“Exactly. The gods—what we call Hor. The only true divine power in this world.”

“Young master, if you don’t want to tell me, just say so.”

As expected.

I took his hand in mine.

More precisely, the finger with the ring.

[‘Bestow 2,000 Faith upon the object.’]

“Ohh…”

Leon gaped at the ring.

“Aren’t you curious? Whether gods really exist or not?”

“There’s no way to know that.”

“Try praying. You’ll feel something change.”

“If the head of house were here, he’d say prayer is for the weak.”

I smirked.

“But father’s not here. And as I said, I’m the Deputy of Bartenberg now.”

Honestly, this was why I’d gotten the seal in the first place.