Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Chapter 171

Ehren und Sturmbrecher

In the far North; across the vast Hoarvaltung Ocean, was the continent where Demons reside.

The continent used to have a name, yet because it was the birthplace of Demons, that name had long since lost to time and all of the Races knew it only by the name…Demon Continent.

A nightmarish place in which lives were as cheap as the ale that the soldiers drink to cope with the deaths of their comrades.

The geological features of the Demon Continent were nonsensical. Going from one extreme to another, owing to the power of the Demon King and the thick Mana in the continent. However, there were some places that was tolerable enough for the Races to live, one of such infamous places in the Demon Continent was a sea of trees known as Sina-Maydin Forest.

This was also the reason why Calendia had chosen to make their way through the Demon Continent via that location.

An eagle with multi-colored headdress flew above trees, its eyes reflecting the scene of carnage below. Steel clashed against claws; sharp fangs piercing through flesh; spirited yells refusing to be drowned by demonic roars.

Down in the forest, a Fire Demon the size of a house swept through a crowd of soldiers. The smell of burnt flesh and ashes permeated the battleground.

“Die! Die you filthy livestocks!” The Demon roared as Gelded Flayers poured out form between the trees. The intimidating deep voice causing the soldiers to tremble.

“You fucking Demons will not defeat us!” a Knight parried an attacking Gelded Flayer and crushed its head with a mace. “Forward! Forward!”

“Lieutenant! We can’t take it anymore; we’ve lost our Wizard from the ambush!”

The Knight saw the people under his command scattered around him and grimaced. Will he take the loss of honor and retreat or die trying? He knew he had to make the decision.

“Retreat! I’ll cover the rear!” he decided that the lives of his people worth more than his honor. Might as well take that offer for work with my uncle in the Castle if I survive this.

The Fire Demon laughed as he launched burning trees towards the fleeing men. “Yes! Run! Run like the cattle you are!”

The Knight ran towards the Demon and bellowed to attract his attention. “Coward! Face me!”

But the Demon ignored him and instead directed his aggression towards the defenseless soldiers.

As he was about to throw another burning tree, he saw something coming at him and swung the tree to deflect it. But contrary to expectation, the trees burst open from the impact and the thing lodged itself in his head.

It was a massive sword the size of a man.

When the Knight saw what it really was, he yelled out in happiness.

Suddenly, a figure came rushing out of the thicket and leaped towards the Fire Demon. The figure grabbed the sword by the handle and roared.

“Watch out below!! RRRAAHHH!!”

With one move, the Demon was cleaved in twain. The dead body creaked and split into two, which then fell onto the Gelded Flayer, killing most of them.

When the man landed on the ground, several Knights in blue and white came running from the direction he came from and quickly started routing the rest of the Gelded Flayers that managed to survive the fall of the Fire Demon.

“Marshall General Rigel!” the Knight saluted excitedly. He had been posted far away from the main barrack that he had never had the chance to see the legend in the flesh. But he knew the moment he saw him that this was the man he had idolized for many years.

Marshall General Wilhelm Rigel. Stout and unmovable; was the wall that stood against the Demons. The man was tall, even by Calendian standard, with white hair that still retained remnants of the fiery red that he once had. His deep hazel eyes showed age and wisdom. Proof of the harsh life on the battlefield had etched their marks deep into his face.

His white and blue armor was well worn; the proud lion painted upon his chest had faded and scratched off from years of fighting.

“Ease up, lad! It would take more than that to defeat a Knight of Calendia!!” he said as he slung the massive sword upon the leather straps on his back.

The old man took out a large cigar and lit one end of it using the flame that was burning on the Fire Demon’s quickly dimming body.

On him were two swords. The sword on his waist was Ehren, an old Calendian word for Honor. It had been passed down from Marshall General to Marshall General as a sign of office. But they had never taken into account the existence of Wilhelm Rigel, a man who was a man among men. In whose hands the famed sword looked comically small.

And the sword that he used to kill the Fire Demon was a massive double-edged sword with a long handle that was as thick as a man’s wrist. Near the base of the sword was a hole with the width of two fists, in which another handle had been made.

The name of the huge two-handed sword was Sturmbrecher. Its name was taken from the legendary act where the by-then nameless sword that was deemed too unwieldy and impractical to hold was used by this very man to split a tornado in twain.

“Marshall General!!” a Knight under his command approached him and saluted. “We succeeded in taking back our ground.”

“Good job. That’s one hole plugged up,” the man scoffed. He then faced the battered Veteran Knight and said, “Tell your Commander to fortify the walls and replace the Mage in charge of the Barrier. I’m returning to the main barrack.”

“By your Order!”

The man saluted as he watched the giant of a man left the battlefield. A plume of cigar smoke trailing behind him.

Back at the main barrack – which was named Morden Barracks - a handsome man with square jaw and long, brown hair tied to a ponytail was pacing back and forth when a Knight announced his presence in front of his office.

“Come in.”

The Knight came in through the door and saluted smartly.

“Did he return yet?”

“Yes, Lord Haine. The Marshall General is in his room.”

“Alright, dismissed.”

The man called Haine strode out of his office. His back slightly forward as he walked towards Wilhelm’s tent with large, quick steps. He went past the long courtyard where the Knights and regular soldiers were doing their duties. The people in the barrack who saw this knew well to stay far from him when he was in one of those moods.

Wilhelm’s chamber was in the middle of the barrack. He pushed open the wooden door and saw the old General in the middle of talking with a woman wearing a dark blue robe with gold trimmings. She had a cat-like eyes and full crimson lips, her robe hanging loosely against her body. She was plump, with a kindly face that would remind one of a friendly neighborhood mother of two. However, she was anything but.

She was Elfriede Greenwell, a renowned Archmage specializing in Earth Element who had reached the status of an Unrestrained Candidate.

“Elfriede,” Haine greeted her. She acknowledged the greeting with a slight bow, as per Noble Etiquette. She was well versed in this as she was also a Marquess. “Are you here for this stubborn old man also?”

“Yes,” he said with a grimace. “Marshall General! You did not wear your helmet again!”

“I don’t like helmets. I can’t feel the wind on my hair.”

“I know that your head’s tougher than iron. But we can’t have you hurt, Marshall General!”

“Alright. Fine. Next time. Next time I’ll wear your goddamned helmet” he said, fully intending to ignore the warning. Haine, as someone who had worked with him for many years, knew this as well, and decided to stop talking about it.

“Johann, Karel! Help me with my armor,” he said as he sat on a wooden stool, its frame creaking from the weight of him and his armor.

Two young squires who had been preparing refreshments for him quickly helped him take off his armor. After they finished unclasping his upper armor and removing the chainmail underneath, he took off his clothes, revealing his tough body. The wounds and scars on his back were as crags upon the mighty cliffs overseeing the seas of Calendia.

The man had lost his wife to age, and his son in battle. Since then, he had remained unmarried. His only purpose in life now, as he had often said, was the eradication of Demons.

After the squires finished taking off everything but the trousers he was wearing, they made themselves scarce.

“Wine?” Wilhelm offered as she poured himself one.

“I’ve already helped myself to some,” Elfriede said as she drank the wine in her bronze cup.

“So, are you here just to yell at me for forgetting my helmet or is there something else?”

“…”

Haine made sure no one was outside the door and closed it with a heavy sigh.

“It’s the Vorzennians. They’ve retreated from the Frontline. We just found out this morning.”

“WHAT?! Why?!”

“I don’t know the reason. But they left in a hurry. The scout said that they left more than half their supplies in their barrack.”

“This does not make sense. When we had our regular weekly meeting a week ago, I did not sense anything that suggests their intent to withdraw,” Elfriede said.

“Then it must come from the top. But I don’t know how this could happen. Or why.”

While they were discussing this unfortunate news, they heard a knock on the door. “Marshall General, there is an urgent message from the Capital. It came just now with the regular shipments of supply from Courandhel.”

Haine opened the door and took the message in hand. “You are dismissed.”

Following the order, the Knight saluted and went away. The brown-haired man broke the wax seal on the envelope and read the letter contained within. His expression grew alarmed as he was reading it.

“What is it? You don’t look good. Is it bad news?”

“The worst,” he took a deep breath and continued. “The King of Vorzenny…had colluded with the Demons. The Alliance has been broken.”

“WHAT?!”

At that moment, Wilhelm released a roar of anger that caused Haine to fall to the ground. He wheezed as he felt like his throat was being squeezed by invisible hands. It was like he was in the presence of a terrifying lion who was baring his teeth, ready to devour him.

Elfriede quickly placed a hand on Haine and said to the Marshall General. “Wilhelm! Please rein in your Aura!!”

“…I apologize,” Wilhelm said as he exhaled deeply to calm himself down. Then he noticed that he had squeezed his bronze cup so hard it became horribly deformed.

After coughing a few times, Haine stood up as if nothing had happened.

“How did we get the news so late?” he asked, barely able to withhold his anger.

“It can’t be helped. The Mana in the air in and around the Demon Continent is several times as strong as the one in the mainland. Carrier Pigeons cannot find their way here,” the Archmage explained.

“And the Ocean’s condition has not been the best lately. The shipment that arrived today should have arrived a week ago.”

“Alright, fine. So how do the Vorzennians managed to give us the slip? Shouldn’t they also experience the same problem with news as we do?”

“Perhaps…,” Haine posited his opinion. “Perhaps the Demons had something to do with it.”

“Madness! This is madness!!” Wilhelm shouted angrily. “We have only managed to regain ground up to the Forest of Sina-Maydin, and now without the Vorzennian Army to guard the Moondown Valley, are we going to lose it again?!”

“It’s not a lost cause, Marshall General. I can send some of our men to take over. The Moondown Valley is quite well protected geographically speaking. It can be defended with fewer people. But this also means that we cannot advance at this time.”

“Are you crazy?” Elfriede said with frown. “We have to go back. The Vorzennian Army must have retreated to help fight against the rest of the Alliance!” Elfriede said.

“The rest? There are only Calendia and Al-Khemiya now,” Haine said sourly. “We cannot abandon the Frontline! Too much has been sacrificed for us to simply leave!”

“But if we don’t return, there might not be a Capital to return to!”

“Look, they have more than ten thousand people last I checked, they could not just go and take the fight to the Capital. I suspect that they’ll be returning to Vorzenny instead. The Capital should be safe.”

“But they are going to have an Unrestrained aiding the war!” Elfriede said with a hiss. “The Great General Lorenzo Contaldo da Caravaggio! You saw how strong he was!”

“Elfriede, calm down. This is no time to be emotional!”

“…is there any order for us to return?” Wilhelm finally said as the two people began to bicker.

“..no,” Haine replied.

“Then we will not return.”

“Wilhelm!”

“Listen to me,” the old Knight said with clear eyes. “Haine, let me ask this again. Is there no order for us to return?”

“None, Marshall General. I have the letter here if you wish to confirm.”

“That old Alrond is back at the castle. Why would the old fox omit it if they are in dire straits?”

“Ah.”

“You may not like the man, but if it was not for the existence of that old fox, we would have long lost this war. I’m sure he has a plan. What we need to do now is to focus on how to handle the loss of Vorzennian Army in our formation.”

“In that case, I’ll arrange a meeting with the Al-Khemiyan representative. For now, keep this news between the three of us. I’ll try to think of an excuse on why the Vorzennian Army retreated so as to soften the blow to our morale.”

Elfriede nodded as she bit her lips in frustration. She hated this feeling of helplessness. “…I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.”