Book 1 Chapter 467

467.

The city was burning.

This was the Tibun Barony, a border territory of the Kanel Kingdom.

Specifically, it was a city in its outer district.

It was originally a considerable agricultural city.

However, as the war intensified, the flames of war eventually reached this place.

Cities and villages were burned.

The places that were people's homes turned into ashes.

The Petiman Kingdom's army, holding torches, threw them at houses, fanning the flames.

One of Petiman's knights, commanding soldiers on horseback, pointed his sword tip at the fleeing crowd outside.

"Behold, my proud Petiman soldiers! There are the vile remnants of Kanel! Do not let a single one escape, strike them down!"

The soldiers flinched at the knight's resounding cry.

Seeing their hesitant reaction, the knight barked,

"What are you doing! Why aren't you chasing them quickly!"

"My lord! No matter how I look at them, these are not Kanel's remnants, but refugees."

There was no reason for remnants of the Kanel Kingdom's army to be there in the first place.

The Kanel Kingdom had recently been defeated in a full-scale war with the Petiman Kingdom and had retreated significantly.

While the Kanel Kingdom's army was withdrawing to regroup, the Petiman Kingdom's army was occupying Kanel's land.

There was no possibility of a battle.

Even the lowest-ranking soldiers knew this fact.

"Fools! The moment they wield swords and spears! They become an evil army threatening our proud Petiman!"

The man who appeared to be the Knight Commander berated the soldiers.

His eyes bloodshot, he spat and shouted.

"In the name of His Majesty! Eradicate evil! Establish justice! That is your mission! You proud soldiers of the Petiman Kingdom! Slaughter them all!"

"B-but, my lord! There are old people and children there…"

The Knight Commander's eyes twitched as he looked at the soldier trying to reason with him.

"You! Are you daring to defy me now?"

The Knight Commander dismounted and approached the soldier.

"It is not defiance."

*Thwack-*!

"Ghk?!"

The Knight Commander's sword pierced the soldier's abdomen.

The soldier, spitting blood and trembling, collapsed.

"Ignorant fools who live under His Majesty's grace yet do not know it."

Disgust flickered in the Knight Commander's eyes.

"You who have betrayed His Majesty's grace are no longer the great Petiman Kingdom Army, but traitors. Knights."

*Sshing-*!

With the Knight Commander's chilling voice, the Petiman Knights drew their swords.

The soldiers' faces turned ashen at the sight.

"Execute these wicked traitors!"

"Glory to our great King!"

"Justice is with us!"

The knights, radiating aura, moved to slaughter the soldiers under their command.

"Aaaah!"

"P-please, don't do this!"

The soldiers fled in terror.

They each held weapons.

But they had no intention of fighting the knights.

Having experienced the battlefield, they knew all too well.

How meaningless it was to fight against knights wielding aura.

The Knight Commander sneered as he watched the soldiers flee in fear.

"As you were once under His Majesty's name, you should have met death piously. Fleeing so pathetically. As expected, there's no saving these frivolous trash."

The Knight Commander gripped his sword, looking at the trembling soldier on the ground.

"You die too."

As he swung his sword to take the life of his subordinate.

*Thud-*!

"In my eyes, you are the irredeemable trash."

An outstretched hand caught the Knight Commander's sword.

The Knight Commander flinched and looked at the one holding his hand.

Cold, red eyes stared at him.

"Who are you! A stooge of the Kanel Kingdom!"

The Knight Commander yelled, violently twisting his sword.

But the sword in Leo's hand did not budge.

'What power!'

The Knight Commander, whose eyes widened at Leo's unimaginably great strength, activated his aura.

"I'll cut off your hand too!"

With that, the aura exploded from his sword.

The Knight Commander, who had been smirking at this, turned to horror.

The sword still unmoving in Leo's hand.

Leo tightened his grip.

*Crack-*!

"Cough?!"

The sword exploded, aura and all.

Fragments of the sword and aura flew in all directions.

The fragments did not even scratch Leo, but the Knight Commander's body was torn to shreds.

Before the knights attempting to slaughter the soldiers, Lil appeared.

"As a knight who has been on the battlefield, aren't you ashamed to try and cut down your subordinates?"

At Lil's cry, the leading knight swung his spear.

"I don't know what kind of woman you are, but you dare block our path! You want to die!"

With that cry, the aura-imbued spear lunged at Lil.

*Whoosh-*!

But Lil, drawing her battle hammer, sent the knight flying faster than the spear could reach her.

*Crack-*!

"Ghk?!"

The knight, struck squarely by the battle axe, flew into the air and crashed to the ground.

"A knight sent from the Kanel Kingdom!"

Lil, holding an aura-imbued weapon and surrounded by ten knights, scanned them, then raised her battle hammer and slammed it onto the ground.

*Bang-*!

A wave of earth surged up, swallowing the knights.

"Aaaah!"

The knights' dying screams echoed.

A moment later, the knights' faces, mouths covered, poked out of the ground like moles.

Lil, with the battle hammer slung over her shoulder, approached them and said,

"Be grateful that I am a student of Lumern. If I were here on family business, I would have smashed your heads in."

The knights trembled in fear as they looked at Lil, who spoke with a chilling voice.

Leo, watching this, took a potion from his pocket and healed the wounded soldier's abdomen.

Then, he approached the Knight Commander and said,

"I have something I want to ask."

"You… you're not Kanel! Who are you!"

The Knight Commander shouted furiously at Leo's question.

"Don't you know by looking at these clothes?"

Leo replied, annoyed as if it was a bother to answer.

At his words, the Knight Commander flinched and gritted his teeth.

"Lumern?! Lumern is supposed to be neutral! Oh ho! The wicked Kanel have dragged Lumern into this! Shame on you! Those who aim to be heroes dare to side with evil!"

The Knight Commander, eyes rolling, railed.

Seeing this, Leo narrowed his eyes.

'This conversation is pointless.'

"Long live His Majesty the Great King! Justice will be with the Petiman Kingdom!"

Leo raised his foot towards the Knight Commander, who was raving with madness.

"The Justice Guild will execute you…!"

*Thwack-*!

Leo irritably stomped on the Knight Commander's head.

'Justice Guild?'

Leo narrowed his eyes at the last words the soldier uttered before losing consciousness.

Justice Guild.

It was a place Leo knew.

None other than the Hero Guild.

It was the third-ranked guild among human hero guilds, after Twilight and Imperial.

'Has the Justice Guild intervened in this war?'

Leo was contemplating this when.

*Thud-thud-thud-thud-*!

The sound of thundering hooves echoed.

Turning his head, Leo saw knights charging at full speed, their familiar crests emblazoned on their fluttering flags.

Leo checked the request letter from his pocket.

'The Tibun family crest.'

It was the knights from the Tibun Barony, who had commissioned Lumern.

"Whoa, whoa!"

The young knight at the forefront was riding none other than a griffin.

A knight riding a mythical beast.

Anyone could see he was a high-ranking knight.

The young knight looked at Leo and Lil's attire and wore a bewildered expression.

"Lumern school uniform? How is a Lumern student here?"

Seeing the young knight's puzzled expression, Leo showed him the request letter.

"I am a student dispatched from Lumern to resolve a request to investigate the tomb robbery of a hero. I wish to meet the commissioner, Baron Relgen Tibun."

At his words, the young knight dismounted his griffin and stood before Leo.

"Thank you for accepting our request. However, the commissioner does not exist."

"What do you mean by that?"

Lil, standing next to Leo, tilted her head.

"My grandfather passed away a month ago. I am now Baron Esmen Tibun, not Relgen Tibun."

Baron Esmen, taking off his helmet and forcing a wry smile, spoke with difficulty.

"We are grateful for your acceptance of the request. But you have come at a truly difficult time, Lumern students."

At Baron Esmen's words, Lil's expression turned serious.

Looking at Esmen, Leo said,

"Can you explain the situation?"

Esmen nodded at his words.

"Understood. First, it seems we need to detain the Petiman Kingdom's knights and soldiers. I will explain the situation afterwards."

At that, Lil's expression grew serious.

"It seems the situation is more serious than we thought, Leo."

"…"

"Leo? Is something wrong?"

"It does seem so."

Leo, who had been looking up at the sky for a moment at Lil's words, clicked his tongue.

'Someone is watching from afar.'

Leo's superhuman senses detected the gaze.

"It seems something is happening."

***

"You all know about the history of the northeastern continent, right?"

"Yes. A thousand years ago, after the fall of the Tarim Empire, the divided kingdoms have been in constant conflict."

Tarim Empire.

It was a hero's nation located in the northeastern part of the continent.

And the Tarim Empire was the most powerful human nation after the Age of Heroes.

The founder of Tarim was from the same era as the Heroes of Revelation.

To be precise, he was a hero one generation before the Heroes of Revelation, recorded in the Hero Records as Tamus, the Knight of the Underworld.

However, he is more famous to people by another epithet than the Knight of the Underworld.

The Hero Emperor.

He was the strongest hero of his time, with countless heroes under his command.

During Tamus's lifetime, the Tarim Empire was called the Hero Empire because so many heroes gathered there.

'Well, he must have been an impressive fellow, but now he's become a complete laughingstock.'

After the fragments of Erebus were revived.

Tamus, the Knight of the Underworld, declared his intention to subdue Erebus.

However, the Tarim Empire's hero corps was defeated not only by Erebus but also by the armies of the Monster Queen and the Giant King.

Of course, even after being defeated, the Tarim Empire remained strong.

The empire continued for another 2,000 years after the end of the second coming of calamity.

This meant that Tarim possessed such immense power.

However, the Knight of the Underworld and the Tarim Empire did not take to the battlefield after their first battle, in order to preserve their forces.

This is why they are mocked in later generations.

However, as the historically most powerful nation, the legacy it left behind was immense.

Based on that legacy, even after the empire's fall and division into numerous nations, many heroes were born in the northeastern part of the continent.

But after a long period of war, the region was now barren of heroes.

Recalling the history of the northeastern continent, Leo said,

"The Northeast has been fighting for a long time, but I understand that war is so commonplace there that they don't cross the line?"

More precisely, they couldn't cross the line.

It was true that wars were incessant as they claimed to be the rightful successor of the Tarim Empire and monopolized Tarim's legacy.

However, after 1,000 years of conflict, bloody massacres did not occur.

More precisely, they had lost the foundation to wage such wars.

For 1,000 years, they had hated each other and pointed swords at each other, but now their strength to wage war had been completely depleted.

Due to the lingering resentment, the wars did not stop.

However, the nations of the northeastern continent knew that the moment full-scale slaughter began, it would lead to mutual destruction.

The wars in the Northeast had become a form of 'capture the flag,' where they would retreat if they were at a slight disadvantage, and the victors would only gain territory without further pursuit.

In other regions, it was even referred to as a 'fake war.'

At Leo's question, Esmen sighed deeply.

"The situation in this area has changed since a month ago."

At that, Lil's expression turned puzzled.

"Did an external force intervene?"

"Yes."

Hearing the answer, Leo crossed his arms.

"Is it related to the Justice Guild?"

"That's correct."

***

"Your Majesty. Today again, your great soldiers have brought news of victory. With this, Your Majesty's territory has expanded further."

"Indeed."

The King of Petiman raised the corners of his lips as he looked at the woman bowing her head.

"Sir Jerome, what do you believe is the reason for my army's victory?"

The Petiman King asked the man standing beside him.

"There is only one reason why Your Majesty's army wins, isn't there?"

Jerome smiled.

"It is because Your Majesty is with justice. As the true successor of Tarim, it is only natural that all this land belongs to Your Majesty."

"Hoo hoo hoo! Hahahahaha! Sir Jerome's words always make me feel good!"

As the King of Petiman burst into loud laughter, Jerome Cadium, the head of the Justice Guild, said,

"Soon, countless heroes will be born among Your Majesty's subordinates."

"Really?"

The King of Petiman smiled brightly.

Jerome nodded as he looked at the King of Petiman.

"Of course. True war gives birth to heroes."