Side Story Chapter 29
As a forest of black monsters lay at the center of the continent, there was the barren land of demons in the north of the Avalon Empire—Lemegeton, a land of nothing but snow in both the land and sky.
A grand army of tens of thousands of soldiers marched through the snow.
“This is really where the Emperor of Avalon is?”
“The hunters at the last village of the north said that a crazy outsider went there about a decade ago… They remembered the moment vividly because it had never happened before.”
The army in question was the northern rebel army. The black-haired woman standing in the front was Carmen von Agnus, the Dark Sword Emperor and commander-in-chief of the northern rebels.
“I believe the information is worth checking.”
“That is why we postponed everything else and came here.” Carmen shrugged.
“But we have to take some risks.”
“…North Stars, what do you think?” Carmen’s cold gaze turned.
Two men walked out from the crowd. One man was the former Master of the Magic Tower, and the other had been the vice-commander of Avalon’s Imperial Knights. Those great men were following Carmen for the sake of their own goals.
“As you already know, Lemegeton is too dangerous. It was also dangerous in the past, but the one hundred strongest demons are living there now.”
The Demon Realm had been annihilated, and the surviving demons had escaped to the Human Realm; every one of them were among the highest-ranking of their kind. The currently known number of demons in the Human Realm was seventy two.
“It would have been good if Anna bel Grace had been here right now. With her elemental spirit magic, she can check out what is going on over there.” Carmen frowned.
“Commander-in-chief, I told you that Anna bel Grace betraying us isn’t our fault. In the first place, we only temporarily joined hands for a common goal. Besides, even if she was here, it would be hard for her to reconnoiter Lemegeton.”
“That is a really long answer.” Carmen shook her head. “I’m not trying to blame you.”
“That isn’t what your face says,” the former Master of the Magic Tower remarked.
One of the knights grabbed their sword in response.
“You’re acting rude, Armand of the Seven Mages,” the knight coldly warned him.
“Rude? How dare you—!”
Carmen quietly raised her hand. “Enough.”
“…Yes, ma’am.” The knight took a step back.
Armand tossed the knight a glance, teeth gritted. “Is this how you’re going to treat us from now on, commander-in-chief?”
“He didn’t mean it that way. Anyhow, I hope you two will actively participate in our advance north,” Carmen said.
The two men's eyes widened.
“You’re seriously going to go there?”
“Let me ask you this: what do you think would happen if Joshua Sanders showed up in Avalon right now?”
“Mmm…” The two men finally shut their mouths.
Carmen pointed her sword at the men. “Armand, your goal is to regain your status in the Magic Tower and become the Royal Chief Wizard again. And Joker, you wish to retrain the current classless Imperial Knights from scratch. However, all your goals and dreams will be futile if Joshua Sanders shows up.”
She looked north. When she and her army had first gotten here, they were able to see up ahead at least somewhat, but after they marched several kilometers in, they couldn’t see anything due to a raging blizzard.
“Do you have any plan to take out the Emperor if he’s really there? Let me say this in advance: Joker and I aren’t going to be enough.” Armand shrugged.
“Don’t worry about it,” Carmen answered without a second of hesitation. She seethed with a stinging, murderous indent. “I and my knights will deal with him.”
Carmen was certain of herself. For two decades, she had trained her knights herself, and they were with her now. In addition, there was this power she had acquired. With her knights and that power, she was sure that she could even slay a god.
One thousand knights held up their swords in affirmation of Carmen’s words.
“Let’s go,” Carmen instructed her knights.
All one thousand knights saluted as one and spurred their horses into motion.
* * *
On his way to the western region of Avalon, Kireua decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for a long time
“Sparc,” he said.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I get what kind of man Marquess Turtler is, but what about Carmen von Agnus? What is she like?”
Cain and Anna were currently away from the group now doing reconnaissance, so Kireua took advantage of the moment to hear Sparc’s more objective analysis of Carmen.
“Do you really not know about her?” Sparc asked back in surprise.
“Should I?”
“Well, His Majesty was the illegitimate son of the Ducal Family of Agnus, and you’re his son.”
Kireua shrugged. “We don’t really talk about our other relatives.”
“…Well, you went to the Thran Kingdom to study when you were a boy, so you might not know about this.” Sparc nodded.
It was a sensitive topic, so Kireua was rather glad he could ask Sparc the question. The nobles in the capital tiptoed around him; they would have beaten around the bush if he asked them. Even if the Emperor of Avalon had renounced the Agnus surname, he was still related to the Duke of Agnus by blood. However, the southern knights had already given up on their lives before and had no ties to the Agnus family.
“After Aden von Agnus, Carmen von Agnus was the second-best genius in the history of the Agnus line,” Sparc said.
“Was?”
“She is the best now.” Sparc shrugged.
“It looks like there is a special story behind this.”
“I already told you about how me and the other Imperial Knights scattered all across the Empire, right?” Sparc frowned slightly, trying to recall the details.
“That’s right.”
“Most of us headed to the north,” Sparc continued. “There were about five hundred of them. Since they were the Imperial Knights, they were the strongest knights in the Empire—but the important part is that Carmen von Agnus took every one of them under her wing using the same old tradition of the Imperial Knights.”
Kireua vaguely remembered someone telling him this story in the past, but he had never heard these details.
“By the tradition of the Imperial Knights, you mean…”
Sparc nodded. “All the five hundred knights were single handedly defeated by Carmen von Agnus.”
Kireua's eyes widened. Just like Sparc had said, those knights were none other than the Imperial Knights of the Avalon Empire. Could Kireua do it? He wasn’t sure, but that woman had done such a remarkable thing over a decade ago.
“On top of that, there is a rumor that she’s recently acquired an authority, so she might have become stronger than the deceased Dark God,” Sparc said.
“Ending this civil war is going to depend on whether or not I can defeat Carmen von Agnus.”
“Yes, so I think it’s better to hurry if we’re going to track down His Majesty.”
Kireua quietly shook his head, however.
Cain and Anna were coming back from their reconnaissance.
“…No, it would be best if the rebels found His Majesty on our behalf,” Kireua muttered.
“Pardon? What do you mean…?”
“Have you forgotten? His Majesty is an Absolute that knocked down a Sky. No matter what they do, they won’t be able to do anything against His Majesty even if the Dark God rises from his grave,” Kireua said, his voice filled with conviction.
* * *
A cold, snowy wind blew. Despite the freezing temperature, the rebel troops kept on marching because they had changed their magic armor and iron armor into thick coats long ago; these garments were made from the skins of yetis, which could only be found in the north.
“It’s strange. I haven’t seen a single monster…” Armand tilted his head in confusion, the snowy wind blowing against his face.
The northern region of the Avalon Empire was famous for teeming with monsters, earning it a reputation as the land of demons. However, they found snow, snow, and nothing but snow in the northern region now—although the snow was becoming less intense as they advanced.
“Did someone spread the rumor on purpose?” Armand wondered, his head swaying side to side in confusion. The northern region had gained notoriety for its coldness hundreds of years ago, so the hypothesis that the terrain deep in the region had changed for unknown reasons was sounding more and more plausible.
“Commander-in-chief.” Armand turned at Carmen.
“Everyone, halt.” Carmen signaled her knights in the front, making them stop marching.
The knights and soldiers in the back naturally came to a stop one after another. Everyone in Carmen’s army truly moved in perfect order. It was said that one part of an organization could tell a lot about the rest of the organization, so. Armand could tell what kind of training her troops had gone through.
“There is something up ahead.” Carmen narrowed her eyes.
Armand's eyes widened.
Just like Carmen had said, something was standing in the snow-white field.
“A human…?”
As soon as the words left Arman’s lips, that something was right in front of the army.
“Wh-What the hell…!” Armand shouted, shocked.
A human couldn’t move like that—not even a Master, whose physical abilities surpassed the level of a human. Were they a mage? No, if they’d used teleportation, Armand should have detected the change in the flow of mana. In that case, there was only one type of being left who could do this.
“A demon!” Armand shouted, his surprised voice echoing across the snow.
The knights drew their swords without hesitation, starting an odd staredown. However, Carmen and the man that had shown up just now were only looking at each other.
“That’s funny. I didn’t expect to see that from you, human lady.” The man chuckled.
“Are you a demon?” Carmen asked.
Even in the north, it was rare to find anyone who looked like this man. He was only wearing a thin suit, but it seemed that he didn’t feel cold at all. On top of that, his skin was dark while the people in the north usually had white skin. Most importantly, he exuded unimaginably strong energy that pressured Carmen and the others.
“This is new. How can a human be unharmed with the power of sin?”
Carmen's eyes widened for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure.
“Get out of my way,” she demanded. “I don’t care if you’re a demon—I’ll kill you if you keep standing in my way.”
The man looked into Carmen’s eyes for a long time and then grinned. “I think I can help you out a little.”
“…What?”
“Aren’t you looking for a god-slayer?”
A god-slayer—there was only one person who that could refer to.
Carmen’s expression changed instantly.
“You know where he is?” she asked.
“Of course, but I can only take you to the vicinity of his location. My people and I can’t approach him due to our differences.” The man shrugged.
“So you’re definitely a demon.”
“Yeah, but it’ll be different for you all since you’re humans, just like him.” The man smiled faintly.
“Where is Joshua Sanders?”
“Come. I’ll take you.” The man easily turned his back to them as if he was confident that he could defend himself against any kind of ambush, a statement of how strong he was.
“…Let’s follow him,” Carmen quietly murmured, and her army began to march again.
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