ALL NOVEL Chapter 16
It was Rose’s responsibility to soothe the sulking Margaret. There was no helping it. Walter was truly busy with work, and for some reason, Bernard was diligently assisting Walter in a rather impersonal manner.
As Jeongjae made his way to Harriet’s Territory, he brought along a cute girl named Jenis, which only fueled Margaret’s jealousy even more. Among the group, only the princess could interact casually with the Elven lord and console her.
“That little brat looked down on me! As if she’s got me all figured out!”
“If you had so much to say, why not just say it all there?”
Rose responded disinterestedly.
“Even so, making a fuss in front of a human girl is just embarrassing, don’t you think?”
“Wow, you knew that much? I thought you had forgotten.”
Margaret realized she had acted foolishly, leaving her with no words to defend herself. It seemed she hadn’t been quite herself lately. Running down the road while crying, failing to intimidate a girl she had just met…
“I feel like I’m not doing so well. The war is definitely affecting the fairy’s mind.”
“That’s just how first love goes,” Rose said nonchalantly. Margaret slumped down in her seat with a glum expression.
“At this age, not being able to control my feelings, how embarrassing is that? Even in front of my friends! What about you, Rose? You’ve never shown any signs of this with Walter, have you?”
Margaret, typically noble, tried to bury her own embarrassment by bringing up her friend’s missteps. Rose stuck out her tongue and shrugged.
“Well, I just look at Walter’s conditions when I meet him. He’s a hero, good-looking, decent. The only downside is his slightly terrible personality.”
“Wow, I just got really hurt by that.”
Walter, who was tossing documents about troop reorganization at a corner desk, lifted his head upon hearing this. Rose’s eyes widened in surprise as she stared at Walter.
“Did you hear that? I thought you were so focused on work you’d miss it! Sorry, but you know I’m serious, right?”
“I just want to cry, seriously.”
Walter grumbled as he adjusted his glasses and returned to his work. As Margaret glanced between Walter and Rose, she leaned towards Rose and whispered.
“So, where’s the truth in all this?”
Rose leaned closer to whisper into the long ear of the Elven princess. Margaret slightly tensed up, waiting for what Rose had to say.
“That’s… a secret! Because it’s embarrassing!”
Rose whispered into Margaret’s ear. Margaret’s ears perked up as if she understood the situation simply from Rose saying it was ’embarrassing’ and nodded her head.
“Honestly, you two are a match made in heaven. Even someone like me can easily see that.”
Just then, as Margaret was giving warm compliments to Rose, Walter jumped up from his seat, having just handed the last document to Bernard.
“Done!”
The hero threw his glasses aside in celebration. Bernard pointed at Walter, complaining.
“I have to finish organizing things before you’re done! Why would you just jump on the desk like that, Hero?”
“Hey, get down from there! Who gets up on the desk just because the work is done?”
As Bernard scolded, Rose joined in as well, causing Walter’s expression to deflate. Margaret, who had been quiet until now, asked Walter.
“Then, with your command, it’s just a matter of redeploying the imperial army. We don’t really need to linger in the system anymore, do we?”
“Exactly. It’s not like the war is on hold; there are still minor skirmishes happening at the border. With the important Nomember Castle destroyed, both sides are just watching each other…”
Nomember Castle was a crucial stronghold located on the route from the north to the south. The Demon King’s Army had launched a massive offensive across the entire border to attack this castle and then strike straight into Caprice. However, the hero party had been scattered across the front lines, each leading their own defense, and the momentum from their previous major offensive had diminished.
The fact that Walter’s party was too few in number was a problem. Walter’s strategy to block the massive breakthrough of the Demon King’s forces with powerful heroes succeeded just barely, but after they defended against attacks on several castles and regrouped at the central Nomember Castle, it was already too late.
If each of Walter’s party members had even two people, they could have defended all the castles, including Nomember. But Walter chose a strategy to destroy Nomember to prevent the enemy from using it at all in order to leave some mark of their struggles.
That strategy decisively broke the enemy’s previous major offensive, but it also left deep emotional scars on all the members involved.
Among those scarred, Walter was no exception.
“We have to continue with the task assigned to us. We have strayed too far from our original mission. If we want to decapitate the demons, we need to seize this opportunity of peace.”
Walter stated. The other three nodded in agreement.
Though the situation was delicate, the five unmatched heroes, including Jeongjae, weren’t some makeshift command center set up to lead an army on the battlefield.
Traditionally, the Demon King appears leading powerful demon subordinates, but this time, the Demon King had unusually strong subordinates with him.
The Gargoyle Queen, who could be called the ‘Iron Wall’s nemesis’ made entirely of diamond, the Dragon Lord, whose appearance set off alarms in the Magic Tower, the Vampire Lord with the ability to turn any healthy person into one of his own kin, and the Necromancer, who had shadows following him like ghosts.
Even the best-armed ordinary human would find it incredibly difficult to deal with such formidable enemies, which was what the hero party was created for. The basic strategic concept of the Audrich Empire was “While the imperial army endures the demon attacks, the heroes and their friends will eliminate all the demon leaders.” However, facing opposition stronger than expected, this strategy met its fundamental limits.
Walter implemented bold military reforms, providing even ordinary soldiers with combat gear that had purification effects, and squeezing the Magic Tower dry to enchant each piece of armor with resistance to dark powers, ensuring every soldier could at least maintain minimal combat capability against any demon lord they encountered.
While the hero party wasn’t too weak to kill demon leaders, focusing solely on that would clearly lead to the collapse of Audrich, which they had to support. With Walter’s decisive action against the enemy’s offensive at Nomember, this was truly the time when they could refocus on their original mission.
“I’m glad to hear you finally said that! Facing thousands and tens of thousands was far too tough. No matter how strong, I’ve been longing for a mission where if we take down one enemy, that’s it!”
Bernard exclaimed happily upon hearing that the hero party would finally head out to hunt for demon leaders. Rose nodded with determination. Only Margaret showed a face full of worry, restrained in her response.
“Even if we capture one enemy, we must have a solid plan. Do we know where the demon lord is?”
Margaret inquired. Walter nodded.
“To carve out the bones, we must tear through the flesh, Your Highness. Our target is, at first, the Lich Lord.”
“That’s quite the catch.”
Rose shivered a bit. Walter nodded again.
“However, we can’t display this much without it looking contrived. We must absolutely succeed in this mission.”
“Why’s that? You’ve never said such a thing before embarking on any mission.”
Margaret asked sharply. Walter tightened his glasses and replied.
“Because we must not let the Demon King realize our strength has weakened. If the Demon King becomes aware that the Grand Mage was our core power, things won’t go as planned.”
“The Wizard was our core strength.”
Margaret stood up suddenly. Walter acknowledged this straightforwardly.
“How could I deny that? We can’t expect to have the same firepower without him. The problem is, it must not be apparent. At least, the Demon King should not see us limping around like a three-legged dog.”
“Why’s that?”
Rose asked. Walter took off his glasses with a tired expression.
“If we don’t produce solid results right now, the Demon King will see Jeongjae as our core force. What would you do if the enemy’s key strength suddenly goes missing?”
“I’d collect information. Find out what they’re doing and where.”
Rose answered with a logical response. Walter nodded as if he were pleased with her answer.
“Let’s say we’ve gathered intelligence. The enemy seems to have holed up somewhere for some unknown reason and is plotting something. Moreover, if the enemy is a wizard who can make something out of nothing while idly standing by, what would you do?”
“I’d gather detailed intel or…”
While Rose pondered for a moment, Margaret caught onto the answer before her.
“Whatever they’re scheming is likely extremely dangerous, so we should quickly send in our troops to strike.”
Walter clapped his hands at Margaret’s words. The hero began rummaging for his glasses again as he explained.
“If we show ourselves as too weak without Jeongjae right now, the Demon King will think, ‘Is there really a reason to leave the wizard behind while risking our weakened strength?’ Then Harriet’s Territory will become the enemy’s strategic target. And that could lead to a disaster.”
“Then we should prepare for an invasion of that land, shouldn’t we?”
“Are you suggesting we deploy forces? A hasty measure would be meaningless. It would only attract the enemy’s attention and increase the likelihood of invasion. Didn’t we say Jenis Harker was here? She’s an excellent wizard; at least she’ll serve as a safety net.”
That statement had a double meaning. One being that Jenis being an outstanding wizard could aid in battle and the other meaning that as Count Harker’s only daughter, they could receive some support from Count Harker himself.
Margaret felt uncomfortable about the mention of Jenis’s name but resigned herself to step back.
“Honestly, the root cause is that you insisted on separating her from our party.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t explain that yet. But one thing is certain: she needs to remain detached from the flow of our war for the time being. If all goes according to my intentions, that is.”
Walter’s resolve was unwavering. The hero was at least an emperor in this respect, and there was no way to overturn such a firmly established opinion.
“Let’s accept the plan to hunt the Lich Lord. In any case, he was an enemy that needed to be eliminated. Even without him, it’s not impossible.”
With Margaret accepting Walter’s operatives proposal, their minor disagreements were resolved. Walter turned away, secretly brushing his chest once and letting out a sigh.
It was fortunate that Margaret possessed the generosity not to drag such issues into an emotional conflict. Walter was convinced that if an ordinary person were in Margaret’s position, being in a scenario where their crush was excluded from the group for an unknown reason while facing a powerful rival, they would not act as she did.
Margaret was not a fairy capable of fully controlling her emotions, but she was at least a monarch capable of making a fair assessment. Walter felt genuine gratitude for her respecting the authority of a hero and bending for it.
“Then it’s settled.”
Rose stood up suddenly and spoke. The princess of the empire, the iron-walled knight.
But right now, what Rose needed most was, above all, the ability to build bonds and embrace.
She knew her role. For such a uniquely vibrant group to unite as one, her role was crucial both symbolically and practically.
Rose took Margaret’s hand and smiled brightly.
“Don’t worry, Margaret. The solution is definitely not far away.”
“I’ll trust your words.”
Margaret said with a calm face.
“No, I think I’ll just trust all of you. Just like when I first took up the bow for humans after stepping out of the forest.”
As Jeongjae was figuring out the direction to move forward in Count Harker’s territory, it seemed Walter’s party was also setting its direction forward.