NOVEL NEXT Chapter 330
Emperor Hwangje Commodus led his imperial guards into the fray.
Despite the rough terrain, he didn’t mind it at all.
Riding on a noble steed, he found it not tiring at all.
Though there was a minor issue with a cart carrying the emperor’s belongings arriving a bit late, he considered himself generous and opted for a light beating of the one managing the cart instead.
Not caring even when some soldiers collapsed from illness.
He figured that his loyal soldiers wouldn’t weaken over something as trivial as a stomachache.
He thought that such minor ailments could be endured with the grit of well-trained soldiers, so he simply beat the military doctor managing their conditions.
Even when the food supply became a mess and was inedible, he shrugged it off.
The emperor’s food was specially managed, and if it ran low, he could simply requisition more from nearby territories.
He thought the starving soldiers could find food somewhere or, if desperate, munch on the grass sprouting along the roadside, and settled with giving the food manager a bit of a beating.
Even if the soldiers’ morale dropped, he didn’t care one bit.
With the undefeated aura in his hands, the morale of the soldiers wasn’t a concern at all.
His soldiers, under his command, would follow orders faithfully regardless of their condition, whether they felt like fighting or were starving. So he just gave the management a little thrashing instead.
Thus, the emperor and his dwindled imperial guard arrived at Betelgeuse.
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“Well, we’ve lost quite a few, but there’s still half left, huh.”
“I told you! We should’ve completely cut off the road! Break the bridges! Burst the embankments! Make sure to cut off access!”
“If we did that, there would be too many sacrifices.”
“Sacrifices?! A few trees getting caught in the mess is a sacrifice?! You Elves are way too obsessed with trees!”
And there they were, the Elves and Dwarves ready to throw fists. Truly, like water and oil.
“Enough! This isn’t the time for us to fight each other.”
As I interjected, the tense atmosphere between them eased a bit.
The real enemy right now was not each other but the emperor’s army.
“Without firing a single arrow, reducing the enemy by half is no small success. So don’t berate them too much.”
“But… just look! There’s still half left. We could argue that the very act of fighting is a problem!”
Well, to be honest, I was a bit surprised too. Even after all that torment, there’s still half of them left.
Was their loyalty that high? No casualties were allowed, but with all that misery from disease and harsh conditions… hmmm…
I don’t know. Is it possible that they remain loyal enough to endure that kind of risk and suffering for the emperor? Was that fool of an emperor really worth that kind of loyalty?
From what I’ve heard in rumors, it certainly didn’t seem so… Hmmm… I can’t tell. Perhaps those following the emperor have some underlying purpose for sticking around… but that can’t be right. No way a royal guard would have some sort of ulterior motive, right?
“Then… Shall we proceed as planned?”
“Yes. Please gather the people there as planned.”
“Understood. Priestess, this way.”
“No. I’m not going.”
At the Elf representative’s words, I shook my head.
“What? But… if you don’t go… for them…”
“It’s fine. I won’t be in any danger. The Dragon Priestess is not a weakling, you know.”
The Elf and Dwarf representatives looked at me with worried eyes, but what can I do?
“I will try to persuade them until the very end.”
I’m just doing what I have to do.
“So… you two merge with the others and escape to the prepared tunnels. If I succeed in persuading them, I’ll go to the entrance of the tunnels to call you all. But if things don’t go well… then set fire to the prepared fuse and block the tunnels.”
For now, I need to prevent the Elf-Dwarf coalition from directly engaging the emperor’s forces.
If a war breaks out here, the flames of conflict will escalate, spreading into a war between North Romania and the Elf-Dwarf coalition, and other nations waiting for their chance will jump in too.
The absolute best outcome would be for there to be no war at all!
Even if Betelgeuse burns down, we can rebuild it. A single city isn’t worth that much!
Sure, it’s a little regrettable!!!
“Ugh… Huh… I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.”
“What?”
The Dwarf representative started grumbling with an irked face.
“Avoiding war? What’s good about that? Who likes a war where blood is shed? But! If it means handing over the Dragon Priestess to them and avoiding a war… I’ll fight instead!”
“No, we can’t fight! If we fight here, it’ll escalate from city vs army battle to a battle of tribes!”
“The hard-headed Dwarves in Sagarmatha would likely share the same opinion! They’d rather take on that foolish emperor than let the Dragon Priestess fall into such morons’ hands!”
What the?! Why are we suddenly going this way? They listened to me just fine until now!
“We Elves feel the same way.”
What?! Elves?! You too!!
“Ahem?! You guys are supposed to be the reasonable ones!”
“The Goddess of Life is the mother of our World Tree Yggdrasil; she is like the grandmother to us. Handing over the avatar of such a figure to those vile miscreants would make it impossible for us to borrow the shadow of Yggdrasil.”
Sigh… “Grandmother”?! That’s kinda accurate, but that’s seriously hurtful! Age-wise, okay, you win… but!!!
“We feel exactly the same! In the name of the Holy Mountain Sagarmatha, we cannot hand over the Dragon Priestess to that foolish one! If we did that, Sagarmatha would surely lay down a great punishment upon us!”
Well… I can’t really deny that. If Sagarmatha hears about this, she wouldn’t just scold the Dwarves; she’d turn all of North Romania upside down.
“But… war…”
“There are things more important than the lives sacrificed in war at times. Like the honor we’ve worked hard for our races. The young Dragon Priestess might not understand this yet.”
Still young, huh?! No one is older than me, even if I look like this!
“Nice talk! If we abandon our city for the pride of our race, and hand over the Dragon Priestess to those numbskulls, we’d never be able to meet our ancestors again!!!”
Ah! I’m just going to persuade them!
Why is the atmosphere always swinging towards war?! What is up with that?!
“I’m just gonna go and talk! I plan to coax them into returning her!!!”
“Elf Spirit Swordsmen! Draw your swords!! Today we fight for honor!”
“Dwarf Warriors! Raise your weapons!!! We’re having dinner in the Underworld tonight!!!”
With their shouts, the other Elves and Dwarves erupted in cheers. Seriously, what the heck!!! Why won’t they listen to me?!
The humans’ army has already made their worst before combat, so it shouldn’t be that hard to persuade them to step back! Why are they charging in headfirst?! Do they think they can just butt-head with a dinosaur or something?!
“Calm down! It’s a fight we can avoid, so why fight?!”
“That foolish emperor bringing his troops here means we can’t just let this slide. And as long as he remains emperor, this will keep repeating.”
At the Elf representative’s cold words, I found myself unable to retort. He’s right; as long as that emperor remains on the throne, this could keep happening!
“No matter how you look at it, war…”
“If by shedding a little blood now we can prevent larger sacrifices later, I’m more than willing to do that!”
“What’s so complicated about it! I just hate that foolish emperor! That’s all there is to it!”
Well, hmm… I can see their point. If that fool emperor hadn’t been such a fool, this wouldn’t be happening… but still… war… Ughhh…
Ah! Forget it!
“Okay! You win. But I’ll go talk with them first. That’s the one thing I won’t yield on. Also, make sure to evacuate the elderly and children into the tunnels as a precaution.”
In the end, I ended up giving in to their will.
Ugh. Seriously, if a war breaks out between races, it’s going to be a disaster. I can clearly see North Romania getting wrecked.
Ah! Who knows! It’ll somehow get sorted out! Most of the time, things seem to work out in these situations!!!
If a huge war breaks out, we might lose a lot of lives, but… we could just do some overtime in the underworld! Sure!
So!
“So, this means I’ll be… hmm?”
Just before I could go relay the message to the human army, one person stepped forward from their ranks.
A man clad in luxurious armor riding a noble steed with pure white fur.
With a flag woven of silver and black in his hand, that man shouted:
“All troops! Charge!”
With the indomitable flag held high, he urged his horse and galloped ahead of everyone.
Uh… Hmm… Is the emperor, who should be commanding the troops, leading the charge himself?
Truly, what a fool.