21st Century Archmage-Chapter 138: Crazy Lion Bastard

“So a special envoy must be dispatched…”

Behind an enormous throne made of gold, towered a life-size Gold Wyvern with fist-sized rubies for eyes. This was the Imperial Palace of the Great Laviter Empire, the nation with the most power in the continent. And on that throne, sat a man. The Emperor was young, he hadn’t even reached fifty. Emperor Hadveria had the characteristic curly blonde hair of the imperial family. He spoke with an emotionless, indifferent voice as he stared at the hundred or so imperial nobles standing in the throne room. Despite being a sagacious king and the only one of the emperors on the continent to ascend to the Blade Master level, he was called the Ruthless Emperor.

“Your Majesty, rather than a special envoy, we must send another subjugation army! If our empire were to dispatch a special envoy, it is a given that all the other nations on the continent would mock us.”

“No, Your Majesty. The prisoners must be brought back into the empire at all costs. The morale of the soldiers has already slumped due to this unexpected defeat. If we were to bear the disgrace of abandoning our men who have become prisoners, the soldiers would no longer be willing to raise their swords in the service of the empire.”

“What nonsense is that! Why should we bend our pride for something as insignificant as foot soldiers! Your Majesty, I beseech thee to see clearly. We must seize this chance to exterminate the Lord of Nerman, the man named Kyre. Only then would the safety of our empire be ensured!”

The two men arguing were Duke Garviant and Duke Luvidium, two of the Five Dukes of the Laviter Empire. Their families had never gotten along, even since the conception of the empire, it was a dynamic that hadn’t changed over the years. Duke Garviant, also called the Hot-Blooded Duke, was over fifty years old, but was still the picture of health. He was zealously insisting on a renewed Nerman subjugation. Opposing him was the 70-year old Duke Luvidium, who was instead calling for the dispatch of a special envoy for the release of the prisoners.

“Stop.”

The emperor’s emotionless voice rang out quietly in the throne room.

“……”

One word of the Emperor brought the nobles inside the throne room to utter stillness.

“Dispatch the special envoy. Duke Luvidium, you shall go and meet the Lord of Nerman.”

“I humbly accept thy mandate.”

“Agree to whatever conditions he asks for. And… go see what kind of place Nerman is.”

His voice was low, but filled with mana, so everyone could clearly hear Emperor Hadveria’s words. The nobles found themselves unconsciously trembling. The Emperor appeared unaffected on the outside, but behind that calm voice, lay the Emperor’s great rage.

The Lord of Nerman, Kyre, would soon clash head-to-head with this man. The rage of the Emperor, a man who could be called the essence of the Laviter Empire, would soon become a storm seeking Kyre and Nerman’s blood, sending the winds of change whipping over the continent…

* * *

“Take the Skyknights and go to Ibartz Island at once.”

“R-Royal Father, what do you mean by that?! Are you telling me to abandon you and this kingdom?!”

After Count Kalveron returned from his visit to the Bajran Empire as an ambassador, he relayed the Emperor’s words, which sounded dirty even coming from a mouthpiece, to King Vekadrian of Krantz. King Vekadrian called Crown Prince Veyons late at night. Then, he ordered Veyons to depart that very night with all of the kingdom’s Skyknights.

“Ibartz Island is a five hour flight from here, so even if the kingdom is conquered, those imperial bastards will be unable to do anything. From a defender’s viewpoint, you will certainly be able to defend yourselves after some rest, but the enemies’ wyverns will be too exhausted from flying five hours over the sea to attack. Also, there are still thousands of orcs on the island. If you use them as a source of food, you will be able to last for a year.”

“RoyalFather…”

King Vekadrian’s detailed plans indicated that he had planned this well in advance.

“From now on, you are everything to the Krantz Kingdom. Survive and clearly repay the humiliation of today to that crazy Emperor.”

Death was looming, but King Vekadrian could not conceal his resentment and hatred. Bitter rage towards the Emperor of the Bajran Empire blazed brightly in his eyes.

“All of the nobles will surrender as well. Everyone will lay quietly in wait. There is no doubt that the Bajran Empire will soon walk the path to extinction. Until then, wait. Building a castle is difficult, but destroying it takes but a moment. Bajran will fall in the same manner.” King Vekadrian cursed destruction upon Bajran as if he were some kind of prophet. “Your sisters will have already left their royal castles by now. When the time is right, all of the kingdoms will move. Aim for that moment.”

“R-Royal Father… argh.”

Before the weight of the King’s commands, which sounded like a dying will, Crown Prince Veyons fell to his knees and wept hot tears.

“My son! You must satisfy the grudge of this father of yours!”

King Vekadrian stroked the head of his kneeling son.

“Royal Father!”

Veyons, the crown prince of a powerless, weak nation, tightly embraced the leg of his father, seeking to engrave the memory of his one and only father in his soul. After today, they would never meet again…

* * *

“Each person’s assigned quota today is three. I hope you will not disappoint me.”

“……”

I stared down the imperial mages locked in the covert hangar. By moving wyverns to hangars outside, I freed up five buildings and used them to accommodate the mages, dividing them into five groups. And now, there was a pile of broken spears in front of those mages. No matter how durable the mithril alloy spears were, there were still a lot of spears broken in battle. Spears that had undergone external repairs and needed magic array repair were tossed in front of the mages.

“W-We may be mages of the Laviter Empire, but we are disciples of the continent’s magic towers. If you treat us like this, all the magic towers will not stand for it!” protested the mage, who had clearly not yet had his fill of hell.

“Five.”

“W-What do you mean by that?”

“No food for you if you don’t repair five of them today.”

“Urk, what ridiculous non—”

“Ten.”

“……”

The mage blanched at my cold words.

“Keep this in mind: you are not mages, but sons of bitches who have become my prisoners.”

Unlike the regular soldiers, these guys were unwilling to adapt and were threatening me with what little authority and connections they could claim. It was par for the course for them.

“And if you cannot finish the assigned quota today, you will continue tomorrow, and the day after that… and if you still cannot do it then, you’ll have no choice but to starve.”

All of the mages turned pale at my threat of starvation. It was customary for knights and mages to receive pretty good treatment even after being captured as prisoners. They could net high ransoms, and people could not treat them too severely for fear of retribution from all the magic towers on the continent. Here I was, threatening to starve them to death in spite of it all. Their hearts were probably withering at the first threat and total disregard that they’d ever experienced in their lives. And they would believe it. They would instinctively know that my emotionless, cold smile wasn’t a lie.

“I recommend moving quickly. There are probably a few spears in the lot that’ll take two days or so to repair.”

Scramble.

As soon as my words fell, the mages hurled themselves at the pile of spears with desperate abandon.

“I grabbed it first!”

“I’m your senior!”

“Fuck that, give me food then!”

Pow!

“Agh!”

A round of chaos ensued. If they had the misfortune to cross paths with a misaligned magic circuit, they would starve to death. Their pride as mages was flung far away in order to live.

‘Tsk tsk…’

People who always put on airs were quick to turn into dogs in situations like this. And just like I expected, the mages turned into dogs.

‘Is three per day too much?’

Actually, even I would find that quota difficult to manage. But humans were creatures of adaptation. I didn’t doubt that these mages would definitely achieve the goal I set.

And if they didn’t? That was fine too.

After all, I wasn’t the person who would have to starve.

* * *

Cruuuuuuuuuuuuuunch!

‘Wowie! That’s impressive!’

As expected, when it came to spirits, elves were number one. Terran, the high earth spirit, swiftly raised earth to make sturdy dirt walls on both sides. The angles were impeccable, and all the surfaces were as perfectly smooth as glass.

“Stack the bricks!”

Clatter.

The dwarves took the bricks unloaded for them by the prisoner soldiers and steadily built up the outer walls of the castle.

‘Who would believe that castle walls this large would be approaching completion in just a few days?’

Even I was in disbelief due to this grand historical feat. Dirt walls were made with the help of spirits, and sturdy red bricks were rapidly stacked up on either side.

“My friend, please pour that over here!”

Ruuumble.

There was an even more astonishing sight: the space between the two outer layers of brick was filled with cement and an enormous amount of sand.

Whooooosh.

And the spirit making it happen was the wind spirit, Djinn, which was lifting entire carriages into the air.

“My friend Ciquelle, please mix this for me.”

Sand and cement powder were filling the empty space between the bricks at an alarming speed. The high water spirit, Ciquelle, then mixed it all into a lovely paste.

‘What an enormous flow of mana!’

Each of the elves had mana quantities between the 6th and 7th Circle, but because of their extremely high affinity with spirits, they could bring out the inherent power of the spirits. The mana in the air was lurching wildly in response to the movements of such powerful high spirits.

‘At this rate, it should only take about two months.’

It wasn’t just the elves and dwarves who were busily working on the castle—the soldiers we had captured as prisoners were also hauling carriages and quickly handling miscellaneous tasks.

‘Shall we head to the next place?’

The elves and dwarves didn’t goof off on the job like humans did. They thoroughly digested all of the tasks they were given. With a happy heart, I turned Bebeto to the next construction site.

* * *

‘Things are almost finished here too.’

I examined the salt farm, located not far from the port, from above. Cement had been poured into the salt farm lot that we had dug last fall, completing a rudimentary floor.

“Careful, careful!”

Kioooooooooooo! Kuaaaaaaaaaa!

50 dwarves had been entrusted with the construction of the salt farm. They were yelling directions to wyverns moving black marble quarried from the Dwarven Village, most likely taking the utmost care to avoid damaging the black marble that would be laid over the cement floor.

‘We should be able to draw in the sea water as soon as the marble is installed.’

The process was about 80% finished. The spirits and magic that were first used to create a perfectly level floor were once again put to use to cut the black marble slabs to the exact width and size.

Piiiiing!

Shuriels were unleashing Wind Cutter on the black marble slabs lifted in the air, enjoying this peculiar situation. Just like the elves, if not for this occasion, the spirits also wouldn’t have a chance to appear in the Middle Realm like this.

‘They’re doing well without any fighting.’

The prisoner soldiers were being used to clean up the space around the salt farm nicely. The elves and dwarves were also important workers, but the contributions of the miscellaneous workers wasn’t insignificant, either.

‘I guess it’ll get crazy busy again from tomorrow onwards.’

The road from Denfors to the Havis Kingdom’s borders was already completed to perfection, but there were still many more roads to build. This time, we were building a road between Fort Ciaris and Orakk Castle. And tomorrow, the monster subjugation would begin in full force.

Because of the extensive river running through the land, Nerman was divided into quarters. From among those split-off areas, we would be cleaning up the area towards the Kovilan Mountains this time.

* * *

“Find the King!”

“Kill all who resist!”

Cla-cla-cla-clang.

“Kuaaaghh!”

“LONG LIVE THE KRANTZ KINGDOM!”

A bloody struggle was raging at the Krantz Royal Castle, which was situated on fertile terrain with the Perkone River running through it. A large flight of 1,000 Bajran Empire wyverns had declared war and crossed the borders. The assistance of infantry was wholly unnecessary. They already knew that the kingdom’s Skyknights had fled with the Crown Prince, so Bajran used what could be called an elite troop of Skyknights to attack the royal castle.

And so began the battle. The soldiers had dispersed at the command of the King, so the only people guarding the castle were the 300 knights of the Royal Guard who had sworn their loyalty to the kingdom.

Baaaam.

“Uaaagh!”

It was brutal and violent. The Bajran Empire’s Skyknights blanketed the sky above the castle, hurling spears at whichever Royal Guard knights they saw, hunting them to extinction.

“Kuhahahaha! Aside from the royal bitches and maids, kill them all!”

Under the protection of around 100 Imperial Skyknights, the pride of the Bajran Empire, Emperor Poltviran yelled down commands from above the castle.

Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The wyvern he was riding screeched in excitement at the smell of the blood suffusing the air, an action only a wyvern that knew the taste of human flesh would do.

“HAAAALT!!!!!!”

Just then, a group of Krantz Royal Guard knights appeared in the castle square. They marched forward with undaunted steps, protecting King Vekadrian at their center.

“POLTVIRAN, YOU BASTARD!”

King Vekadrian had appeared, shouting with rage. Spitting out a curse, he pointed at Emperor Poltviran.

“KUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Far from getting mad at being called a bastard, Poltviran laughed uproariously.

“Is this what our kingdom gets for devoting our loyalty to the empire all this time?! Your father, the late Emperor, must be rolling in his grave right now! You bastard of an emperor, I’m sure your father knew that the Bajran Empire would collapse by your hand!!!!!”

Since he was bound to die anyway, King Vekadrian unleashed a barrage of vilification.

“Kuku, for a man about to die, you have admirable courage.”

“…I might be the first to die, but I won’t leave you in peace even after my death! Until the day your heart is torn into pieces, my soul will haunt you, praying earnestly to the gods! Praying that I will gladly go to hell if they make you accompany me there!”

The king went straight from vilification to curses. His benevolent face was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a face black with murderous intent and rage.

“Kill him.”

“As you command!”

Poltviran ordered the execution with a dirty smile.

Plunge!

“Gnng—!”

But there was no need for Poltviran to have done so. King Vekadrian suddenly drew a sword from his chest and plunged it into his own stomach. He must have been suffering immense pain, but he continued to glare at Poltviran unblinkingly.

“Kuku… wait for me, until the moment you die…”

Crimson blood was surging out of his mouth as his internal organs and blood vessels were severed, but the King continued to curse Poltviran.

“Your Majesty!”

“Aghh!”

Slice! Sliiice.

The 20 knights that had guarded their liege, the king, up until the very end took the swords they were holding and cut their own throats.

Clatter. Splaaaaaaaatter. Thud.

The swords that had cut the necks of their masters fell to the ground and red blood fountained into the air, and a moment later, the bodies of the knights collapsed, their necks half severed. They fell next to their king, as if wanting to guard their liege even in death.

The Bajran Empire Skyknights watching the brave end of the knights felt sorrow. They doubted whether they could prove their loyalty with death in the same situation.

“Kuhahahahahahahahaha! Burn them! Burn them all up without leaving a single scrap of their bodies!”

But their doubt soon turned to cold disappointment. Even in their eyes, the Emperor looked nearly blood-crazed. The curses spat by King Vekadrian writhed in their heads. His words about the late emperor rolling in his grave and the Bajran Empire’s quickly approaching doom kept ringing in their minds, refusing to dissipate.

* * *

“Ryker, take the 3rd Flight and support the right infantry in clearing out the orcs.”

“As you command!”

Squeaaaaaaaaaaaal!

“Keep pushing! Keep it up for just a little longer!”

“YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

Baaaaaam. Kraaawwwk! Squeaaal!

Holding shields and spears, the Laviter foot soldiers pushed the monsters back in a five-layered charging formation.

“Fire!”

Fwip fwip fwip fwip. Ba-ba-ba-ba-bam. KWAAAAWK!

Archers unleashed a volley in unison against the orc horde as they thudded towards the charging soldiers.

‘What impressive teamwork!’ The troops of the Laviter Empire were considered the best on the continent. I was able to clearly confirm their true worth as soon as the monster subjugation began. ‘This method of quelling an enemy using another enemy… Who else but me would put such a thing into practice?’

The ancient idiom ‘Catching an enemy by using enemies’ originated from the Records of the Three Kingdoms, a book I had relished. There, barbarians were used to face other barbarians. A similar situation was unfolding before my eyes right now.

‘So a big army of 100,000 can exert such enormous power.’

The Skyknights were mobilized to find the monsters, and they would hunt down the large monsters with spears ahead of time. The rest were taken care of by the regular soldiers. And before I knew it, one week after we began the subjugation plan, we were able to achieve our goal with overwhelming force.

Swooooooosh.

I directed Bebeto to land, and about twenty elves touched down behind me.

‘It pains me to do this to the elves.’

If possible, I would have liked to call them over once everything was cleaned up, but we needed to create a border right away, so I brought over elves who were mostly summoners of earth spirits.

“Narmias-nim, please erect a dirt wall around 7 meters high from here to there.”

“Understood, Kyre-nim.”

There were orc corpses strewn at our feet, and the foul odor of the blood they spilled was in the air like a dense fog, but the elves only frowned a little. From that, I could see once again the elves’ rumored characteristic of being merciless towards monsters, heretics of nature.

“Terran-nim, please descend upon us!”

“My friend Gnomae, please respond to my call!”

Grrrrrrrk. Ruuumble.

The earth spirits appeared immediately at the elves’ summoning rituals.

“Please make a sturdy dirt wall!”

Cruuuuuuuunch.

As soon as the request was made, a dirt wall surged up before my eyes.

“That’s tall enough, thank you.”

A dirt wall around 7 meters tall appeared instantly in front of me.

“My friends, please continue the dirt wall all the way to the sides!”

Cruuuuuuuuuunch.

The elves ran quickly with their unique gait to their positions. Then, they used earth spirits to create a wall around 1 km long in no time at all.

‘It all feels like a dream.’

We were running forward like crazy with no time to look back. Yesterday, a lumikar flew in from the Rubis Merchants, bearing a short message that the crazy gangster shithead Poltviran had suddenly invaded the Krantz Kingdom and exterminated them. The Krantz Kingdom’s demise didn’t feel like the problem of a stranger. We were able to nab a big victory against the Laviter Empire because we were prepared for them, but the Laviter Empire wasn’t my only enemy.

‘There’s no knowing when that rabid bastard will flip and come after us. We have to build up our military power as much as possible before then.’

I could guess that the crazy shithead must be getting reports of Nerman’s victory around now. Because he was an absolute idiot who followed the whims of his heart more than rational thought, it was possible he would attack Nerman. I had to finish what I had to do before then.

‘Ugyaa!’ I stretched. ‘The sun is already setting.’

Only after guiding the monsters nicely to the planned destination did I notice the position of the sun. My lifestyle these days was really hectic.

Cruuuuuuuuuuunch.

Even as I stood there, the elves moved busily as they made the wall of dirt, completely unaware that they had already become citizens of Nerman.

* * *

“A huge victory? Those Laviter bastards suffered a major defeat against Nerman?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It is said that the 200,000 soldiers and 500 Skyknights led by the Laviter Empire’s 2nd Prince, Alskane, and Duke Yanovis suffered a major defeat.”

“PUHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

After seizing the Krantz Royal Castle, Emperor Poltviran madly indulged himself in pleasure. He went wild raping captured women of the royal family, maids, and noblewomen for half a month, and during that time, the formerly peaceful castle was haunted by screams day after day. Having just returned to the Imperial Palace with hundreds of captured women, he came to learn of Nerman’s victory.

“How fun, so fun… Kukuku.”

From his eyes came the glint of a wild beast that had discovered another prey. Duke Ormere, who was making the report, felt his heart freeze up at the sight of the Emperor’s increasing madness. The situation had derailed significantly from his plans. He had wanted to seat Poltviran as a puppet emperor and have his way with Bajran, but Poltviran did not allow that.

The offspring of a lion was still a lion, no matter how crazy they were. Poltviran had beaten down the imperial family and the nobles with the force of his madness and majesty.

He had become so powerful that Duke Ormere could no longer do anything about him.