Chapter 204
Icarus was currently hard at work in a dim room where the moonlight was the only source of light. Icarus was currently hard at work. All of a sudden, there was a knocking echoed on her door, which made her look up.
“Come in.”
The door creaked as a figure entered the room.
“Young lady…”
“Can you please stop calling me that?” Icarus frowned.
“I want to ask you something.”
“I’m going to kick you out if it’s something weird like taking a peek at what’s underneath my clothes!”
“W-what? What kind of person do you think I am?” Cain awkwardly scratched his head with an equally awkward smile. Eventually, he revealed a serious look before saying, “You heard what Master said about how he wants to rule the world, right?”
Icarus paused. “I heard.”
“And you said that there’s only one way for him to become the Emperor without the blood of the Brittens in his veins.”
“Hm, yes.”
“I thought hard about it, and the only answer I reached is a political marriage. Am I right? Is it really the only way? I mean, that’s the best answer I could come up with…”
”Master doesn’t have the blood of the Brittens, so he can just marry someone who does, but if Master marries Her Highness, then everything will go sideways. The Brittens have four children, and I don’t think that madman of an emperor is willing to hand over his throne to any of them.”
“I don’t know about that, but blood ties aren’t that easy to ignore. After all, blood is thicker than water.”
“Do you really think that madman of an emperor thinks that way?” asked Cain.
Icarus shrugged lightly before saying, “No one really knows what he’s thinking. More importantly, you’re speaking rather disrespectfully of His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Only one man rules over me,” Cain immediately declared without hesitation.
Icarus was startled, and she couldn’t help but say, “It must be nice to have such a loyal subordinate.”
“I want you to come clean…” Cain started. “You said he doesn’t have to be a Britten to become the emperor…”
Cain stared right into Icarus’ eyes before continuing. “Are you planning a rebellion?”
“If it fails, people will call it a revolt or a coup. If it works, it’s a revolution for the history books.”
“That’s crazy…” Cain finally relaxed. He ran his fingers through his hair. He wasn’t surprised by the answer. After all, he had a decent pair of head between his shoulders, so he had a vague guess.
“Seriously, what’s wrong with our master? Did the fame push the brains out of his head when he became a Master? You don’t think I’m being too greedy, right? An A-Class Knight like me should at least be able to get married?”
Icarus couldn’t help but sigh. For some reason, Cain was talented at managing to involve his marriage in almost everything.
“The name of the Imperial family never changed in the entirety of the Avalon Empire’s history, has it? The Brittens basically built the Empire from the ground up.”
“It would be easier to create a new country,” Cain mused. “You could walk into any library, and any book could easily tell you how much blood the Brittens have shed to establish the foundations of Avalon. I’m sure you knew that already.”
“He knows it as well.” Icarus pointed out.
“...” Cain had to close his mouth at that.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen our master doing something normal. In addition to lying to us, we had always done things that we can’t even begin to wrap our heads around, am I right?” remarked Icarus.
“That just makes it more ridiculous,” Cain pouted. “Why take the hard path when he could take the easy one? A normal person would have cared about how his subordinates think when walking up an extremely difficult path with them!”
Icarus grinned at that. “I don’t know what to say, but I agree that it is indeed ridiculous.”
“What, are we getting along now?” Cain revealed a cheeky smile and said, “I hope we get along just as well in the future. Hopefully, you’ll save me if I’m ever in a pinch!”
“Do you really think that I’m strong enough to save you?” Icarus shoved Cain away, and just when it seemed that the two would start fighting again, the alarm bells suddenly start ringing outside.
“Emergency!”
“...!” Icarus and Cain stared at the door with wide eyes.
“Enemy ambush!”
They hurriedly ran out of the door, and they almost stumbled on the way as they squeezed past each other in a hurry.
***
“Get the hot oil ready!”
“Boil water if you run out of oil!”
“The enemy will be here within the hour! Hurry!”
The walls were already a hive of activity by the time Icarus and Cain got there. Peril Castle didn’t get much sunlight, so the nights were dark and came early.
As such, Cain and Icarus were pleased to find that the troops were seemingly alert and wide awake as they prepared for the upcoming battle.
“Master?” Cain spotted a familiar figure and approached. “When did you get here?”
“Cain.”
“Yes?”
“Get Gehog don Crombell out of the prison right now.”
“...” Cain was astonished. Joshua’s voice sounded colder than usual. In addition, Joshua was also expressionlessly staring at the moon in the sky.
The astonished Cain quickly composed himself and bowed. “I hear and obey.”
He pushed his thoughts aside and hurried away.
“Master!” Icarus approached Joshua.
Joshua examined Icarus for a moment before saying, “We are prepared to negotiate, but it seems that the other side isn’t too interested in what we have to offer.”
“Haha. That’s no surprise. Many nobles put their household ahead of their own children,” Icarus remarked. “Since they don’t want to negotiate, then we will have to monitor the battle carefully. What do you think, Master?”
“The word ‘Master’ feels nice to hear now…”
“Oh, well…” Icarus’ face turned pale, but Joshua didn’t see it.
“Anyway, if we insist on a siege defense, we can protect everyone and stay alive, but it will only be a matter of time until we lose everything and the war,” said Joshua.
Joshua’s words sounded cryptic, but Icarus was smart, so she quickly caught on to what he was trying to say as she exclaimed in disbelief, “Are you perhaps going to…”
“No, you can’t! What you did with the Wilhelm Knights when you arrived won’t work because the fight is on a much larger scale this time,” Icarus hurriedly persuaded Joshua to do otherwise.
However, Joshua insisted and said, “I think it’s worth a shot.”
“What are you…” Icarus muttered with a confused look.
Joshua explained, “An ambush at their main forces won’t break their morale. It would actually be detrimental because they would get to feel us out. However, a head-on clash would be a different story.”
Icarus shook her head vigorously and retorted, “First of all, a head-on clash will only work if we’re at least equally strong as our target. I’m sure you know that everyone has their own tricks up their sleeves, right? It is even more applicable in situations like this…”
“In other words, we have to throw a strong curveball if we want to win this war!”
At that, Joshua’s smile widened. “Let’s do this, then.”
“What?”
“I’m the curveball.”
Icarus was furious to hear that, but she remained polite as she said, “please don’t be stubborn.”
“Can you see those soldiers carrying stones over there? What do you think they are feeling right now?”
Icarus paused. “They look like they’re… afraid?”
“Yes. Actually, they are doing their best to hide their fears, but humans aren’t perfect, so a leak is bound to occur somewhere. Their feelings are unknowingly leaking on their faces.”
Joshua was right. The soldiers seemed terrified.
“Right now, they’re currently standing at the edge of a cliff with one of their feet already in the air. One defeat is all it would take for them to lose their family and everything…”
”According to Imperial Laws, the people of the territory cannot be directly harmed in a territorial war between nobles, but… their families will be implicated anyway.”
”You can tell just by looking at what happened to the people of Rebrecca’s territory. If those soldiers managed to survive this war as losers, they will become nothing but slaves for life, along with their families.”
“...!”
While Joshua was talking, black dots started appearing on the horizon. Marquis Crombell was here, and he wasn’t being subtle about it. The thundering footsteps of his army sent shockwaves throughout the castle.
They were getting closer, and their shouts could be heard ahead of them.
The castle walls had to remain standing, no matter what. Otherwise, the enemy would be able to easily wipe them out.
“Wars have always been decided by the first battle…” muttered a familiar voice.
Sir Cain!” Icarus spun around with a bright smile.
Cain was standing there while holding the limp Gehog on his shoulder.
“Master! Please reconsider!”
“Hm…”
“Master, I beg you to—” Cain started.
However, Joshua jumped off the castle wall before Cain could finish his sentence.
At the sight of Joshua’s falling figure, the soldiers of the Pontier Family started muttering among themselves.
“W-what’s that?!”
“Is it Sir Cain?”
“No… no…!” A soldier caught a clear glimpse of the falling figure and exclaimed, “It’s Lord Sanders!”
“...!”
At the revelation, the terrified looks on the soldiers faces was slightly abated. They were still terrified, but they seemed elated to know that Joshua was participating in the battle. After all, most of them had seen Joshua fight before.
In fact, most of them saw Joshua fight more than once.
“Master!” Cain shouted with a scowl. He was about to jump off the castle wall.
- Once you go beyond A-Class, you will be able to wield something even more powerful than an Aura Blade…
“...!” Cain’s eyes widened at the voice in his head.
“Even more powerful than an Aura Blade…?” Cain muttered blankly.
- Watch carefully…
Joshua cut the voice transmission with a smile.
Why was he widely acclaimed as the Legendary Spearman in his past life?
He fought not just one but a hundred thousand battles, and he had never lost.
For the first time ever after his regression, Joshua was finally about to begin his epic tale. It would be an epic tale of a great hero fighting hundreds of thousands of enemies.
The air around Joshua distorted as a five-colored cloud of smoke surrounded him, and immense power surged from within him.
“Aura Force.”
With tranquil eyes, Joshua slowly moved toward his enemies.
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