Chapter 47: The Niran Civil War (2)

The morning was still shrouded in faint dawn mist.

The eyes of the sentry guarding the western gate of Niran glinted sharply.

“Huh? Who’s that?”

“Isn’t that one of the royalist scum?”

The silhouette looked suspicious at a glance.

He pressed his hood deeply down, and judging by his build, he was a sturdy man.

There was only one of him, and seemingly fearless, he just steadily approached the city gate.

“… Hey! This place is closed off, turn back.”

Another sentry stepped forward slightly to stop him.

The spear tip he gripped looked like it could pierce the unfamiliar man at any moment.

It might seem a bit of an overreaction, but considering the current situation in Niran, it was understandable.

In the past few days, the city had turned into a battlefield.

The multiple surprise attacks following Contrat’s public square speech marked the real beginning.

Then an enraged Francis declared the city under siege and rallied the troops to launch a massive counterattack.

So, it had been a tug-of-war of offensives and defenses ever since.

Battles large and small raged nonstop day and night, with corpses scattered across the streets.

Burned buildings multiplied, and even accidental eye contact could cause weapons to be brandished.

The city’s atmosphere was nothing short of a tense powder keg.

“By whose order?”

“By High Priest Francis’s command! If you understand, then withdraw immediately!”

The man spoke with an unnervingly calm tone, as if he were leaving his residence.

The sentry who had been ignoring him gradually hardened his expression.

“You bastard—do you think this is a joke?”

“Take your hood off and raise your hands now!”

Another sentry beside him also pointed his spear tip threateningly.

Yet the suspicious man remained composed.

“You wouldn’t want to know. I’ve been misunderstood a lot lately.”

“Stop talking nonsense and—!”

Before the sentry could finish, he forcibly grabbed the hood and yanked it off.

At that moment, his eyes widened and his fingertips trembled.

It was as if he had just seen something he shouldn’t have.

“Hey, what’s with the sudden reaction—”

Another sentry who had not yet looked approached and confirmed the man’s face.

Then he froze just as much.

“See? I told you.”

Red hair like dried blood—and green eyes that could mesmerize people.

“Th-That…!”

“The Butcher! That bloody crest!”

The Red Crest of the Lion Knights, or the infamous Niran Butcher.

Glenn frowned deeply.

The red crest was strange enough, but the Butcher title was even more unsettling.

“Listen, friends. I’m just passing through here. This won’t be a problem, right?”

“Th-That’s…”

“If it is, I’ll kill every last one of you. What will you do?”

His green eyes flashed coldly.

That had to be the feared demonic glare he had only heard rumors about.

The sentries scrambled back in terror, dropping to their knees.

“Please spare us!”

“We only did what we were ordered to!”

Just revealing his face caused such a reaction.

Glenn wore a displeased expression.

***

“The troops that went out beyond the city gate have already been tracked.”

“Fortunately, as reported, the number of personnel guarding the gate was smaller than usual. No casualties. All thanks to the young master.”

“… Tch.”

Sir Nedian forced a smile, but Glenn still looked displeased.

He felt like his reputation was spreading in all the wrong ways.

The nicknames that had recently attached to him were all like that.

The Niran Butcher, the Devil with Green Eyes, the Dismemberer.

All ridiculous epithets.

“Why are such absurd rumors spreading?”

“… Do you really not know?”

Nedian, now half resigned, asked sharply.

Glenn was the one who always rushed headlong into the enemy lines at the start of every battle.

On top of that, lately with the Bloody Pack, there had been numerous brutal kills.

To an outsider or a third party, it was never going to look normal.

… Honestly, sometimes even Glenn himself was a little scared of what he saw.

At a loss for words, Glenn changed the subject.

“Did we send the signal?”

“Just now—oh, there it goes.”

As he spoke, a fiery arrow with a red cloth tied to it flew overhead in a long arc.

“Good. Let’s hand over everything to the royal side and move out immediately.”

“Is there anything else the princess ordered?”

“It’s not an order, more like a request.”

Recently, Isabelle had been officially directing Glenn and the Lion Knights’ movements.

Based on intelligence Clemens had passed to Monica, she proposed timely strategies.

They were proposals so excellent there was no room for objection.

Thanks to that, Glenn could simply focus on rampaging.

It was convenient, though the strange nicknames clung to him as a downside.

“They’re coming over. Shall we move?”

Soldiers approaching from one side caught Glenn’s eye.

He nodded and moved forward.

Today was going to be another busy day.

***

The Niran civil war had begun, and Priest Francis was starting to feel the grip of his plan unraveling.

It had started with the 7th Legion, led by Democleon.

“The Iron Fangs have defected to Contrat?”

“Yes, they led all the disciples of the Messium sect and became the Stauffen House Knights.”

“… Hah, what foolish pride.”

Well, if they were the Iron Fangs with nothing but pride left, that might explain it.

It was regrettable but not a major problem.

Though he was a Sword Master, he was quite slow-witted.

Any master from the empire’s northern army could easily deal with one slowpoke like him.

Contrat had boldly declared war and launched large-scale raids, which secretly pleased Francis.

He judged that the fox had made a premature move.

Naturally, Francis denied all suspicions regarding pay embezzlement.

That would be slander, and no one would dare accuse a high priest of the empire publicly.

It was a solid justification from the empire’s standpoint.

Though Tyrang’s death was also a factor, it was a weak justification.

He had even requested the northern army to intervene at that time but was denied.

But this time was different—he had more than enough justification.

With a large prize like Niran, how many would resist the temptation?

They would come running with their eyes blazing.

That was his expectation.

So, he judged Contrat’s move a misstep.

But then an unexpected event occurred.

“Emergency alert has been declared across the entire border region of the 2nd Prince. Because of this, the northern army is also on high alert, and there aren’t enough troops to deploy to Niran…”

“What? What nonsense is that? Why declare an emergency alert now of all times?!”

“The 2nd Prince’s side has suddenly increased military activity. There have been too many observations, so each legion cannot ignore it…”

“Damn it all!”

The 2nd Prince had moved unexpectedly.

Could it be a coincidence aligned with the Niran civil war?

No, that couldn’t be.

Surely that slow fox had made preparations in advance.

“Hah, this is turning into a hassle.”

Still, he thought it was manageable.

Even just the forces compared to the royal side were advantageous.

And the northern army’s alert status wouldn’t last long.

If this stalemate continued, his victory was assured.

Yes, if he just held out, he would win.

If the northern army moved again, Niran’s forces would be nothing more than a handful.

In the end, his victory would be solidified.

Even though the situation had gotten horribly tangled, that fact wouldn’t change.

He was confident in that thought.

But whether the goddess had truly abandoned him or not, things didn’t go as planned.

“The western gate has been breached.”

The expressions inside the war room hardened at the sentry’s secret report.

Francis, who was seated, furrowed his brows and asked again.

“What? When exactly?”

“That was… this morning. The Lion Knights moved.”

“Damn it! You’re saying it’s those bastards again?!”

One opposing noble cursed in place of Francis.

Lately, the two groups causing the most trouble for Francis and his allies were the Lion Knights and the New Hawk Knights.

If it weren’t for those two orders, the civil war would have been their victory already.

With numerous zealots and the guards of opposing nobles, the royalist side was overwhelmingly disadvantaged in numbers.

If anything, the balance was maintained solely thanks to those two knight orders.

“Do those bastards not have a place they don’t show up?”

“They’re already hard enough to face, but they only strike when needed and disappear—It’s infuriating.”

“We need a countermeasure, a countermeasure!”

More baseless complaints poured out.

Whenever the Lion Knights appeared in talks, the meeting atmosphere always turned like this.

Francis was about to scold their pathetic behavior when he suddenly sensed something unusual.

He quietly spoke from his seat.

“Something’s strange. Don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?”

Unlike the other nobles, Francis’s gaze was calm and collected.

He was coldly analyzing the situation.

“Once or twice could be luck. But this is too much.”

“Are you suggesting—”

That there’s a traitor inside.

He couldn’t bring himself to ask that outright.

But those listening could easily infer what was meant.

After an uncomfortable exchange of glances, Francis waved his hand.

“Don’t jump to conclusions. I guarantee none of the people here are involved. You all know that, right?”

As he organized the situation, heads nodded.

The nobles present had already crossed a point of no return.

To betray meant a death sentence.

“Then… may I ask what you mean?”

A young noble cautiously inquired.

Francis hesitated briefly, then shifted his gaze to the sentry.

“Is it possible the Lion Knights are acting on someone’s information?”

“… It’s unlikely. Who among those privy to such important intelligence would do that?”

“But if not, then how do you explain that bastard’s movements? How does he always appear in the right place at the right time?”

“That is—indeed suspicious, but…”

Neither the sentry nor Francis were fools.

They instinctively knew this result couldn’t be from mere coincidence.

But who?

At that moment, someone came to Francis’s mind.

“What has Sir Clemens been up to lately?”

“He was released from confinement recently. I think he’s probably guarding a base with other castle knights now.”

Because of the Tyrang incident, Francis had not entrusted Clemens with any significant task.

He was busy, but also this was to keep Clemens firmly under control.

So he didn’t know exactly what Clemens was doing.

A suspicious instinct prickled his senses.

“Are you suspecting Sir Clemens?”

The sentry laughed, knowing Clemens well.

He was loyal and honest to a fault—hardly someone who would betray them.

But Francis did not abandon his doubts.

“Just in case, search him once. Something feels off.”

“Yes, I will assign someone.”

Francis hoped it was nothing.

But unfortunately, his instincts were rarely wrong.