Padilla and I together walked inside the Palace of Kara. She followed walking behind me in silence while still blushing because of last night.
I cleared my throat a few times and then hugged Padilla’s waist around. There were some female servants nearby but I didn’t care.
A lot of people were in the palace so this kind of scuttlebutt usually spread very quickly. Trying to keep our relationship secret was a meaningless effort. Thus, I didn’t even try.
By the way, there were some kind of strings attached.
‘Well, do I really have to sign this?’
I took a folded piece of paper out of my pocket.
It was a contract.
She told me that she had the responsibility to preserve her bloodline because she’s the only mainline of descent. Thus, she must have as many children as possible. On our contract, it was written that we should have sex at least once a week. Also, once every month, we should have sex three days in a row. If I didn’t keep my duty, I must do the double later. It was definitely a very difficult but quite exciting task.
At that moment, Armida came to me while making a fuss. We lent our detective agency office to refugees lately so we were staying at the palace, including Shura as well.
“Hey, little bro! I’m in huge trouble. What should I do?”
Padilla distanced herself from me a little bit and said hello to Armida in a polite manner.
“Hello, sister-in-law.”
Armida looked at Padilla with strange eyes.
“Why is she acting like this?”
“Sister-in-law, I will be really nice to you from now on. After this war, I will also find a good husband for you. So, don’t worry about your future too much.”
Padilla already started to get wary about her sister-in-law. It seemed she was trying to get Armida married as soon as possible so only the two of us could spend time together.
I poked Padilla’s waist.
“She’s not my real sister.”
“Oh, really?”
“In my family, I am the oldest child. I don’t have any older brothers or sisters.”
“Oh, I see… Then how…”
“What?”
Padilla whispered in my ears.
“How should I treat her? I know Shura is my friend but what about Armida? She’s older than me but…”
“Just treat her like your older sister. That’s better for you.”
“I see~.”
Armida narrowed her eyes and looked at us one after another.
“What did you guys just talk about?”
“It’s nothing. By the way, wassup?”
With a pale face, she started jumping in fear.
“Oh! I’m in big trouble.”
“Why?”
“Euroa just told me that the queen got really pissed off because I got involved in this war. What should I do now?”
She seemed to be talking about the Valkyrie Queen. I snorted and pretended as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“Why is she pissed off? You’re just protecting Shura.”
“I am supposed to find Savondia but now I am doing other things. That’s why she’s pissed off.”
“It’s not totally irrelevant. You might be able to get some information about Savondia during this war.”
Her eyes got wide open.
“Really? How?”
“Which continent Savondia is right now?”
“I have no idea.”
“Then it means there’s a chance that Savondia is here in the Great Desert, right?
“Yeah, maybe.”
“So if Padilla becomes the queen of the Great Desert after winning this war, she can put a bounty on Savondia over the entire Great Desert.”
Armida glanced at Padilla who was nodding her head. Padilla didn’t know what we were talking about but she would still do anything for me.
“So?”
“You still don’t get it? Then you will find Savondia in no time.”
“Really?”
“Anyways, I just can’t understand your queen and superiors. Why do they keep asking you to go the hard way? Tell them to just sit by and watch. They don’t even pay you a dime for this and why are they complaining too much?”
Armida waved her hands strongly to tell me that it was not true.
“Actually, she gives me something.”
“What?”
“Indulgence.”
I bit my lips.
“That’s not something special anyway. And you told me if we find Savondia, humanity will be saved, right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“So, how can a guy who saves humanity be sent to hell? If he goes to hell, every human should go to hell as well.”
“Well…”
I shook my head and left the place with Padilla. It was very simple. Indulgence was nothing because it was useless anyway.
Padilla stared at me with curious eyes.
“Your highness, what were you guys talking about?”
“It’s not a big deal. Her superiors at work are kind of crooks.”
“But you talked about heaven and hell, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. That’s why they are crooks. Heaven and hell are not real. People just made up those kinds of stories.”
“But everyone says they are real.”
I looked at Padilla straight in the eye.
“Padilla, what kind of place is heaven?”
“The place where nobody is unhappy and everyone is happy?”
“But people feel unhappy when they are with other people. Also, they feel unhappy when they’re alone. What kind of a world can make these kinds of people happy all the time?”
Padilla couldn’t say anything because I was right. If people got unhappy when they were together and also when they were alone, they would be unhappy wherever they went. Even if they lived in heaven, they wouldn’t be happy.
“Well…”
“It goes the same for hell. People find a little bit of happiness no matter how painful or unfortunate a situation they are in. Just as those who fall in love during a horrible wartime. There’s no hell where only pain and suffering exist. There’s always a little bit of joy in life.”
“That’s…”
“Don’t get obsessed with heaven and hell. All we gotta do is to enjoy our life. So, shall we go inside and enjoy?”
“What do you mean?”
I gave her a sly look and then hugged around her waist. She flinched a little bit but she still walked inside the room with me acquiescently.
* * *
After the first battle, three days of ceasefire passed quickly. Yet, the Robros army didn’t start their attack again right away. They probably came to a lull due to a huge defeat in the first battle.
In our record, the Robros troops lost 600 soldiers with another 2000 injured soldiers during the first battle. It was not an unusually huge number of casualties but the battle lasted for a very short period of time. Thus, the Robros commanders must have felt that something was wrong.
And it meant that our defense was very strong.
“Hey human, what’s up.”
I went up a castle turret and Zenbe welcomed me. His Orc mercenary unit was in charge of guarding the west wall tonight.
“So why did you call me?”
“I think they are trying to do something.”
With a serious face, Zenbe pointed at a barrack of the Robros troops. It was located far from their headquarters yet the security was very strict. Also, it was very close to our castle.
Somehow, it was very quiet and dark. There was almost no light. I couldn’t hear any noise from the Robros soldiers.
“I think they’re trying to dig an underground tunnel.”
“An underground tunnel?”
“Yeah. They are trying to attack us through the tunnel in surprise.”
“But I can’t see anybody digging the ground.”
“Of course, you can’t. If we find out, their plan will fail right away.”
“Then how do you know it?”
“Because it’s too quiet. There are not many siege strategies which must be done in secret.”
Zenbe started at me.
“Then we must prepare a countermeasure, right?”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ve already got a countermeasure.”
If the enemies were digging a tunnel, we could just bury a bunch of pots under the ground and put soldiers with good hearing above those places. When the enemies’ tunnel almost reached our place, we would hear the sound of pots cracking under the ground. Then we could just dig down that place and counterattack them.
“Well, that’s pretty easy.”
“I also have another plan which might be better.”
I cupped my chin in my hand and made a subtle face. The Robros barrack was within the range of our Magic Cannons. Since it was located far from its headquarters, we might be able to attack them in surprise.
In fact, only defending our castle was not the best strategy. Sometimes, we must attack to make it more difficult for them to figure out our strategy.
First, I asked magicians in Kara to do some magic fireworks for several days in a row. I would attack them in surprise a few days later and my plan was to trick the Robros troops by disguising the sound of Magic Cannon as fireworks.
* * *
Late at night, I deployed the 5th Army led by Kasim in front of the castle gate. They were from the Great Desert bandits so they were good at attacking enemies during night time.
I was on my Jet-Black Crescent Horse and Kasim came close to me.
“Hahaha. Master. Thank you for giving us an opportunity.”
While staring at him with serious eyes, I warned him.
“Don’t do stupid things. Don’t get over-excited. Otherwise, all of us will be dead in an instant.”
“Sir, don’t worry. It’s just a construction site. We can get our job done for sure.”
“Alright. I will trust you.”
“Sir, we will be surely rewarded if we accomplish our job, right?”
“Of course. Just get your job done.”
“Yes, sir!”
I stood up in front of the castle gate after getting his assurance. Shortly after, the gate was open and I shouted towards the center turret.
“Fire!”
Immediately, all our soldiers above the castle started firing cannons. Then I took the lead and headed to the Robros barrack.
Bang! Thud! Thud!
A number of Magic Cannons were fired at once. My unit and I waited until they stopped firing. Each cannon could fire nine shots. If we went inside too early, we would get hurt as well.
Not long after, our soldiers above the castle stopped firing cannons and we rushed into the Robros barrack.
“It’s a surprise attack!”
“What the hell is happening?”
The Robros barrack was in total chaos. Their tents and supplies were destroyed by our Magic Cannons. Their corpses were rolling on the ground.
Magic Cannons by themselves couldn’t completely destroy the barrack but still, they were very effective because they put the Robros soldiers in panic.
I lifted up my Yojo high and then sliced off one Robros soldier’s head. It rolled on the ground while scattering blood everywhere. Without a moment of hesitation, I continued to slice off the heads of the Robros soldiers.
Shortly after, Kasim divided his 5th Army into small units and then joined the fight. His soldiers fought pretty well as I expected.
“It’s the White… White Mask!”
As soon as he shouted his words, he was burnt and died in flames of my Jet-Black Crescent Horse who kept fuming out the fire and burning all the stuff in the Robros barrack. Many Robros soldiers in fire jumped out of their tents which were also burning in fire.
“Arrrgh!
Riding my horse very fast, I slaughtered all the Robros soldiers in my sight. Blood was everywhere and their screams echoed through my ears. Some of them begged for their lives but I showed no mercy.
We were in the middle of the Robros barrack. If we showed our mercy, we would be killed.
“Kill all the enemies!”
Upon my order, Kasim’s 5th Army shot their arrows and killed the Robros soldiers who only kept running away. Some of them tried to fight but their efforts were meaningless because the arrows shot by our archers were pouring down. At last, they collapsed down one by one.
Yet, some of the Robros troops kept fighting bravely. Their fighting skills were good and their movements were nimble. Many of our soldiers were killed by them. Although they couldn’t wear their armors due to our surprise attack, they were still strong. They must be the Robros knights.
After covering Yojo with Aura Blade, I rushed towards them.
“Hey! I will take care of you guys!”
As I wielded my Yojo, an arm of a knight flew away and scattered blood in the air. I got off my horse and ran towards those knights.
“White Mask…?”
The Robros knights just found out who I was. With a loud shout, they started counter-attacking me. They all wielded their swords with bravery as if they had no fear against a Master-level swordsman.
Clang. Clang.
After several rounds of attack and defense, one of the knights was beheaded by my Yojo. Other knights became a little bit hesitant for a brief moment. But soon, they made furious faces and started attacking me again to avenge the death of their fellow knights.
They certainly deserved to be called the best knights in the Robros army. Yet, that was it for them.
One by one, they were slain by my merciless Yojo.
Once I killed all the knights, I got back on my horse and looked around.
‘I think this operation is successful.’
The Robros soldiers were all very busy running away. Most of them already lost their will to fight and ran away towards their headquarters. Also, many of them were raising their hands as a sign of surrender.
However, Kasim’s soldiers shot arrows towards them without any mercy. We didn’t have much time left and must give damage to the Robros troops as much as possible before their supporting troops would arrive. Thus, we couldn’t capture surrendering Robros soldiers as prisoners of war.
At that moment, the Robros headquarters were lightened up. They were probably ready to send supporting troops to the barrack in fire. It’s time for us to retreat.
I took out my horn and blew it three times to give our troops a signal of retreat.
“All retreat! Everyone, retreat!”
Before retreating, I threw flames of my Jet-Black Crescent Horse once again at the Robros barrack. Then I headed back to our castle with Kasim’s troops.
The Robros cavalry unit from their headquarters quickly chased after us but that was a meaningless effort because a large number of archers on top of our castle were shooting arrows towards them.