Chapter 459: The Script of Evil (2) |
Ο * * * Ο
Troops were mobilized across the Empire.
I led the Emperor beyond the walls of the imperial capital. Civil and military officials followed in our wake. We were all clad in resplendent garments, and my crimson cloak billowed as I walked. Hundreds of officials of every rank hurried after us at a brisk pace.
“Make way for His Excellency, the one and only sovereign of the Empire, blessed by all the gods and commanding the loyalty of all demons, the great Emperor of Habsburg!”
A vast plain stretched out beyond the city, and a raised platform had been erected there. A court herald spotted us and cried out in a booming voice. Magically amplified, the proclamation echoed across the plain, and some two hundred guards snapped to attention in unison.
A most unusual scene was unfolding here. I wasn’t riding a horse. Nor did I ascend a palanquin. Instead, I advanced with a limp, relying on my prosthetic leg and cane. The Emperor matched my pace, and as a result, the hundreds of people following behind us were forced to move just as slowly.
“…….”
It was a silent, unmistakable display of power.
Those unsightly, halting steps quietly demonstrated who truly held authority within the Empire. As I mounted the platform alongside the Emperor, the onlookers watched in solemn silence.
Officials, soldiers, and above all, envoys from every nation. The envoys clustered together at one edge of the drill ground, stealing glances our way with barely concealed tension. I raised my right hand with no emotion.
—Bwooooo.
Horn trumpets sounded. Blades of grass quivered as if announcing the ominous shift in the air.
Moments later, as the trumpet calls faded, something like a drumbeat began low and distant. The sound approached steadily from the far end of the plain. Kicking up dust like a billowing cloak, a cavalry unit thundered forward.
Hundreds of warhorses snorted fiercely as they charged toward us. At their head rode Demon Lord Marbas himself. With his helmet tucked beneath one arm, Marbas guided his mount with practiced ease.
The herald unfurled a parchment and shouted,
“O noble king of Pannonia, eternal protector of the Habsburg imperial house, and greatest pillar of the Empire, Sebastokrator Marbas! Lead five thousand elite troops and answer His Excellency’s august summons!”
The soldiers traced a great arc along the outer edge of the drill ground, then slowly passed before the dais. Banners bearing Marbas’ sigil, a lion holding a balance, fluttered in the wind.
“…….”
Marbas turned his upper body toward us and brought his fist firmly to his right breast. A salute. Once the salute of the Demon Lord’s armies, now the salute of the Imperial forces. Meeting his gaze across the distance, I quietly returned the gesture, fist to chest.
Marbas’ troops moved past the dais and formed up neatly on the plain. Five thousand soldiers vented heat with harsh, steady breaths. As they stood there in silence, exhaling the last of their fervor, the sound of hooves once more rose from beyond the horizon.
This time, the banner bore the emblem of a three-horned goat.
The herald cried out again.
“O noble Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Prince-Elector of Mainz, and High Chamberlain of the Empire—Sitri! Lead ten thousand elite troops and answer His Excellency’s august summons!”
Sitri rode at the head of ten thousand soldiers, mounted upon a massive mountain goat. Her violet mantle snapped violently in the wind.
She had absorbed all of Paimon’s private forces, along with the troops of the Mountain Faction Demon Lords who had been purged. If one were to name the Demon Lord commanding the largest single force, Sitri would be unrivaled.
“…….”
As she passed the dais, Sitri rendered a military salute toward me.
With me standing shoulder to shoulder with the Emperor, it would have been impossible to tell where her gaze truly rested from afar. From here, however, it was unmistakable. This was not Sitri the lover, but Sitri the head of the Mountain Faction—her face cold, composed, and utterly devoid of emotion. I returned her salute with an equally impassive expression.
Ten thousand troops formed ranks beside Marbas’ forces. The heat on the plain continued to build.
Next came a banner bearing the emblem of a unicorn with stag antlers.
“O honorable Duchess of Moravia, commander of all the Empire’s seas, and patron of the immortal imperial house—Gamigin! Lead four thousand elite troops and answer His Excellency’s august summons!”
Then, a banner depicting a crocodile wearing an inverted crown.
“O noble Prince-Elector of Cologne, wise advisor to the imperial house—Vassago! Lead three thousand elite troops and answer His Excellency’s august summons!”
Next, a banner showing Anubis with eyes bound in black cloth.
“Count Amon of Zagan! Lead three thousand elite troops and answer His Excellency’s august summons!”
Then, a banner of a white bear biting down on a venomous serpent.
“Count Purson of Bayreuth! Lead two thousand elite troops and answer His Excellency’s august summons!”
The fifteen Demon Lords who still survived.
In order of rank, each circled the drill ground and took their assigned positions. Some undoubtedly yearned for war; others surely wished to avoid the battlefield altogether. Yet every Demon Lord, without exception, showed me the back of their clenched fist as they passed the dais—and waited for my salute in return before moving on.
A total force of forty-two thousand troops.
Fifteen different banners fluttered brilliantly in the wind.
“…….”
The envoys stared at the imperial forces with fear etched plainly across their faces. Forty thousand alone was an awe-inspiring number, but this was an army composed of demons. At the very least, they could exert a force two times that of humans, and, under certain conditions, perhaps even three times as much.
In other words, in human terms, nearly one hundred thousand elite soldiers now stood before them.
And yet, one legion had still not taken its place on the plain. One banner remained—one that had yet to breathe in the air here and claim it as its own.
Far in the distance, a cloud of dust rose into the sky. The earth trembled as a legion advanced.
This was not the vibration of hundreds, nor of thousands. It was the thunder of hooves and marching feet in numbers that dwarfed such counts entirely. Sunlight pierced the dust cloud, glinting off tens of thousands of spearheads.
The banner of blue hydrangeas.
“O honorable Duchess of Farnese!”
At the head of the great army rode a blond woman.
Mounted upon a black warhorse named Amicus, her vivid blue cloak streaming behind her, she advanced at a measured pace. Behind her, the soldiers maintained their formation in solemn silence. No shouted commands passed among them, yet the ranks showed not the slightest disorder.
“Laura de Farnese, the Emperor’s one and only proxy general! Leading thirty thousand elite troops, answer His Excellency’s august summons!”
It was my army.
There was no banner bearing the name of Demon Lord Dantalian anywhere to be seen. Only the flag of House Farnese rippled in the wind. And yet every Demon Lord gathered here knew it well. That vast legion—composed of Helvetican mercenaries and multinational sellswords—was the army of Demon Lord Dantalian.
With the Plains Faction fallen, Helvetican mercenaries now stood among the very finest of the Neutral Faction’s elites. More than that, they had only recently fought—and concluded—the Second Chrysanthemum War. No, calling it a mere success would be far too inadequate.
They had forged a legend under the name of Laura de Farnese.
Absolute trust in their commander.
Loyalty born from rewards that always exceeded what had been promised.
And a fierce pride in the belief that they themselves were rewriting the history of the continent.
This legion, crowned by Laura de Farnese, was categorically different from any other force present. Dozens of mercenary captains followed closely at her back, surveying their surroundings with unshakable confidence. Among them were familiar faces—Baroness Juliana de Blanc, Jacquerie, and others I recognized at a glance.
“…….”
Laura reined in her horse before the platform.
The other commanders had merely passed by, but Laura dismounted. Alone, she climbed the steps of the platform, her boots sounding dully as she ascended.
She dropped to one knee.
The direction of her obeisance lay precisely between the Emperor and myself. Looking down at her, I spoke in a calm voice. The exchange between the two of us carried softly, yet clearly, all the way to the far reaches of the plain.
“Duchess Laura de Farnese.”
“Yes.”
“The Empire once again stands before a challenge. A challenge that scorns our honor, threatens our lives, and seeks to obstruct our future. Farnese of constant victory—are you prepared to bring the hammer down upon these insolent challengers?”
Laura bowed her head and placed her hand over the right side of her chest.
A beautiful yet unshakably firm voice flowed from her lips.
“This one shall devote her entire life and conviction to carrying out your command.”
“Then I hereby entrust Duchess Farnese with full authority over this war.”
I received the sword from the Emperor and bestowed it upon Laura in turn. She accepted it respectfully with both hands, then lifted her head.
Laura’s eyes burned with a cruel hunger for vengeance.
Coldly, she declared,
“From this moment on, there is but one thing permitted to the traitors who stand in the Empire’s way: an equal death.”
Laura did not know the true depths of this affair.
To her, Daisy was a traitor who had repaid grace with rebellion. When she heard that I had severed my own left leg because of that betrayal, Laura’s face twisted into something demonic. And at the thought that Elizabeth had colluded with Daisy to weave a conspiracy, her hostility flared openly.
“Not merely death, but a brutal and merciless death. Utter agony. I will make them understand what hell on earth truly means.”
What drove Laura now was pure hatred.
If there was one thing Laura and I shared, it was this: the more hatred rotted away at the edges of our hearts, the colder and more lucid we became.
Laura had gone alone to the Helvetican Confederation to persuade its tribal chiefs and mercenary captains, then swiftly rallied the scattered mercenary companies spread across northern Sardinia. The cost of hiring so many soldiers was astronomical—but that was of no concern. The funds held by Ivar and myself were more than sufficient to sustain an army of thirty thousand.
“…….”
I turned my gaze toward the foreign envoys. One among them—the Saintess Longwy—met my eyes as though she had been waiting for this moment. She ascended the platform and took her place beside the Emperor.
The meaning behind this action was unmistakable.
If the Emperor had truly been a corpse puppet revived through dark magic, there was no way Saintess Longwy would have remained silent. At the very least, that was what the world believed. The mere sight of the Saintess standing in support of the Emperor served as a direct refutation of Elizabeth’s claims.
In truth, the Emperor had long since been replaced with one of Ivar’s dolls.
Even if someone were to inspect him for traces of dark magic now, they would find no evidence whatsoever.
“…….”
Laura rose to her feet and turned around.
Looking out over the seventy-thousand-strong army, she raised her right hand.
At that very moment, the soldiers erupted in cheers as if they meant to tear the sky down.
Voices chanting the name Laura de Farnese surged and swelled. The Goddess of War. The great general who had overthrown Brittany and Sardinia. The soldiers thrust their spearpoints fiercely into the air, their arms pumping without pause like pistons.
End of the fifth month, Continental Year 1513.
Seventy-four thousand troops of the Habsburg Empire.
Laura de Farnese, the Emperor’s proxy commander-in-chief, and sixteen Demon Lords.
Under the banner of suppressing rebellion within the Empire—they marched south.
***
TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter! I’ve returned from my 2-week trip to Japan! Honestly, I should’ve finished this chapter before my trip, but my friends kept being annoying about what we were going to do in Japan, so I had to make a more detailed itinerary for us on literally the week before our trip. Overall, the trip was very nice. My friends came to Korea first, and I showed them around for like 3 days before we took a flight together to Osaka. We spent another 5 days there, going to places like USJ, Katsuoji, the big aquarium, Dotonbori, etc. Then we went to Kyoto for 2 days before taking a sleeper train to Tokyo for our last 3 days. My legs basically started dying since like our 2nd day in Japan. I blame my friend for making us go on a hike while we were in Korea…
In any case, long story short, my legs are dead, my wallet is lighter, and I have a whole bunch of goods and merch from places like Akihabara and so on… Honestly, this sort of made me want to go on solo trips to Japan every year or something. It’s not too expensive, and there’s still a whole lot I haven’t seen yet. I’ll think it over for a while before I decide anything…
ANYWAY, after I came back from my trip, I immediately had to work on a Sunday cause my work was texting me even during my trip. Then, a few days after coming back, I was dispatched to the NEOWIZ office again for a few days. I think last weekend was the first time I was actually able to properly rest. I had to put this chapter off until I actually felt like I was “back”. I’ll start working on the next chapter this weekend as long as I don’t get more weekend work… A lot of work did pile up since I was gone for 2 weeks… Ugh…
Comments 1