Chapter 255: Path of a King (3)
Sunlight dazzlingly fell down.
The season raced towards the fall’s end.
A sweat and cool wind gently waved and blew from the north.
Ppababababam. Ppabam.
The Milta Military Band’s grand marching song loudly echoed.
A performance that raised hairs just from hearing.
The twenty thousand strong Lancephil Fief Regiment began to march together with the performance.
The path taken towards the capital, Miller.
“Waaaaah!”
“Lancephil! Lancephil!”
“Roan! Roan!”
Everywhere they went, the cheers and shouts of the kingdom’s citizens poured down.
Roan purposefully did not hurry.
He, for the kingdom’s citizens who had become poor from the long war, amply gave out foods and materials.
Even more, in the case when visiting hometowns of soldiers, he greeted them with the highest respect.
Due to that, not only the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s soldiers but the citizens of the kingdom too sincerely felt gratitude to the Count Lancephil House and came to follow them with their hearts.
[Woah! I can see the capital, Miller, far away! Roan. You see it too, right?]
Kinis who was flying above his head pointed towards the south and shouted.
Roan slowly nodded his head.
Thanks to the Kalian’s Tears, the capital, Miller, that was still far away was clearly seen as if it was before his nose.
‘So the castle gate is closed……’
A bitter smile hang on his mouth.
He slowly turned his head and looked at the twenty thousand strong Lancephil Fief Regiment following his back.
‘Everyone has decided to walk together with me……’
Roan, immediately after capturing the Sedes Castle, summoned the entire Lancephil Fief Regiment.
It was to reveal his intent that only the Count Lancephil House’s retainers including Austin knew of.
In truth, Roan had greatly worried.
He didn’t know if the nobles and soldiers who had supported him would shudder in anger at his betrayal.
But.
‘When I revealed that I would become a monarch……’
The reaction was ecstatic.
Everyone shouted and cheered.
Nobles and ordinary commoners both, their status did not differ.
Everyone thought the same.
Ablaze shouts heated Roan’s heart.
Of course, there also were those who did not concur with Roan’s intent.
To them, Roan gave hefty recompense together with the freedom to go wherever they wish.
In that process, few nobles and soldiers even changed their hearts and supported Roan.
In the end, the number of those who left his side did not quite reach five hundred.
‘At the very least for them, also at least for those who have died for me, and also at least for those who do not support me, I must become a good monarch.’
Roan deeply breathed in.
A monarch not for the few privileged class but a monarch for all people.
That was Roan’s goal and a dream.
Even while having this and that thoughts, the march continued on.
Already, the capital, Miller, was before their noses.
Vvuuuuuu!
Together with a sound of the horn, the Lancephil Fief Regiment stopped their footsteps.
“Align!”
At the thousand-man and higher-ranked commanders’ shout, the soldiers filed in and neatly lined up.
An appearance of having made a rectangular formation in front of the capital, Miller’s north gate.
Roan stared at the tightly closed castle gate and waved his right hand.
Austin, who was nearby, shouted in a loud voice as if he had been waiting.
“Raise the flags!”
“Yes sir!”
With a resounding answer, the soldiers holding the flags stepped forwards in front of the fief regiment.
Bang!
With a dull sound, the flags impaled into the hard ground.
,,,,,,.
Countless flags toweringly stood and showed off their splendor.
Roan stood below the flags and stared at the north gate’s tower.
‘Duke Francis Wilson.’
His eyes flashed and shone a light.
Within the tower, distinguished nobles including Duke Francis Wilson were standing in place.
“It is merely about twenty thousand strong army but its pressure is more than a hundred thousand strong.”
“It is the powerful force that has defeated Prince Simon and the hexers, defeated the South Rinse Kingdom and the Diez Kingdom Army, and has defeated the North Rinse Kingdom, Estia Empire, and the Byron Kingdom, sir.”
“Probably, it currently should be the strongest army in the continent’s east with the Grain Mountains as the line.”
The nobles clicked their tongues and shook their heads.
At that moment, Baron Valent Neike searched the nearby eyes and cautiously spoke up.
“Even so, just the number of nobles gathered here is tens of people, sir. Could we not overwhelm the Lancephil Fief Regiment if we claw together each’s fief regiments and forcibly conscript the fief’s citizens?”
Baron Victor Beuriting who was near nodded his head with an expression saying it had a point.
At those words, the faces of numerous nobles split into two sides.
One side were slightly elated expressions, and the other side were completely terrified expressions as if having met a dragon.
Of course, the completely terrified expressions were the majority.
Baron Banel Tendler, who was one of that majority, sharply shook his body and spoke as if to whisper.
“D, don’t say something so horrifying, sir. We can’t beat Count Roan Lancephil even if we died and woke up again. Moreover……”
He turned his head and looked at the castle’s rampart outside the tower.
“The capital, Miller, here too is already within Count Lancephil’s hands.”
At those words, Valent and Victor followed Banel’s gaze and looked outside of the tower.
The Capital City Guard wearing sturdy armor were visible.
They were all wearing crimson armor.
They were a part of the guard troop Roan had left as he marched to face the South Rinse Kingdom and the North Rinse Kingdom.
Valent and Victor dryly swallowed with slightly tense expressions.
“I, if they already control the castle, why aren’t they opening the castle gate, sir?”
“That is……”
The moment Banel tried to answer, a low voice was heard from his back.
“He probably want us to open the gate on our own……”
The owner of the voice was Duke Francis Wilson.
Gulp.
All nobles dryly swallowed.
Their breaths stuck.
Even though the capital city guard did no threatening at all, their bodies and hearts instinctively shrunk back.
“Does that mean we must open the castle gate and lower our heads at Count Roan Lancephil in the end?”
“Kuuk. It would all have been solved if Princess Katy had succeeded the throne, but……”
“To think we have to hand the kingdom to a bottom rank spearman whose name we didn’t even know of merely a few years ago……”
Complaints poured out from here and there.
Francis spat out a long sigh.
“Huu. It is not as if there absolutely is no way.”
He planned to attempt a final struggle to the end.
“It is not as if the kingdom’s all nobles support Roan Lancephil. Meaning even more nobles besides the tens of nobles gathered here have objections to him climbing to the throne. Even for Count Lancephil’s position, this isn’t a situation that could be laughed over. Since the Rinse Kingdom could be split in two if not careful. Meaning the horrid and gruesome war could start again if not careful.”
Even for Roan who now had just entered into post-war cleanup, this wasn’t a very welcome development.
“T, then how……?”
Valent stuttered his words and asked.
Francis made a faint smile.
“On top of the original Lancephil County, I plan to give even the northwest’s Webster Duchy and appoint Roan Lancephil to the grand dukedom.”
The instant his words finished.
“G, grand dukedom!”
“Hhm! The grand dukedom……”
All nobles widely goggled their eyes and made shocked expressions.
Since the Rinse Kingdom’s founding, there was not one who had climbed to the grand dukedom.
Francis stared straight at Roan standing below the flags.
“If Count Lancephil is a man with a thought, then there is no way he would ignore such offe……”
The moment his words reached about that point.
Vvuuuuuu!
Abruptly a sound of a horn echoed.
‘Perhaps an attack?!’
Francis and the numerous nobles looked at the Lancephil Fief Regiment with shocked expressions.
However, the Lancephil Fief Regiment including Roan did not even tremble as they neatly lined up.
Even more, the sound of horn too wasn’t being heard from there.
Towards the place the sound of a horn was heard from, everyone’s gazes moved over.
“Ah……”
A quiet exclamation flowed out from Francis’s mouth.
From a wide plain’s end, an army with a legion flag before it appeared.
One of the nobles shouted in a loud voice.
“I, it’s the Eastern Regional Corps! It’s Baron Aaron Tate!”
Everyone’s faces stiffly hardened.
By Aaron Tate, he was the emblematical pro-Roan faction.
“Uugh.”
Uncomfortable groans flowed out from everywhere.
However, the situation sadly did not end with just that.
Dum! Dum! Dum!
A sound of drums signaling march echoed from beyond the plain.
With its flags before it, another army showed up.
“This time it’s Viscount Russel Carpenter, sirs!”
Russel Carpenter was the supreme commander who headed the Northern Regional Corps.
A typical neutral faction, even during the throne succession war, he only focused on his own duty and did not support anyone among the three princes.
According to what was known until now, he also had no particular relationship with Roan.
Francis and the numerous nobles stared at the Northern Regional Corps with gazes mixed with optimism.
‘If the Northern Regional Corps were to join our side……’
The moment their thoughts reached about that point, the Northern Regional Corps that had boldly marched took place on the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s right.
“Ah……”
“No……”
Numerous nobles let out sighs.
On the wide plain spread before the north gate, the Lancephil Fief Regiment, Eastern Regional Corps, and the Northern Regional Corps took formation.
That presence was truly incredible.
However, the appearance of the Eastern Regional Corps and the Northern Regional Corps was not the end but a beginning.
Vvuuuuuu! Vvuuuuuu!
The sound of horn was continuously heard.
“It is Baron Collins!”
“It’s Baron Streiner!”
“Even the Southern Regional Corps has joined!”
“It’s the West’ champion Viscount Gleason Wulf!”
“M, Marquis Kukker too has joined the Lancephil camp, sirs!”
It was an incredible scene.
Before the sun that rose from the east lean towards the west, countless nobles led their armies and joined the Lancephil Fief Regiment.
The Miller Castle had now become a situation where not only the north gate but the east gate and the west gate, and even the south gate and every direction was enclosed by an incredible army.
Ppabababam! Ppabam! Ppabababam!
Together with the Milta Military Band’s performance, the Amaranth Troop’s horsemen wearing crimson armor raced sideways in front of the castle wall.
They did not throw weapons nor shoot arrows.
They merely changed horses and ran and ran in front of the castle wall as if taking a stroll.
“Ah……”
Francis felt strength leaving his legs.
‘Just when has the situation, like this……’
He couldn’t believe it.
Francis thought too lightly of the world.
While he hid within the castle and guarded the royal family’s crest and the national seal, Roan guarded the kingdom outside the world.
While Roan put his life on line and fought, the people of the world wondered and admired his abilities and character.
Persuasion wasn’t especially needed.
As time flowed, the people very naturally gathered below Roan.
In the first place, the size of two people’s plate itself was different. 1
‘If the prominent nobles and generals all support Count Lancephil, then it is impossible to end this with merely a grand dukedom……’
Francis quickly ran his thoughts inside his mind
‘Since Princess Katy had refused to climb to the throne either way, then asking the throne to Princess Aily……’
When he was still absorbed in vain thought.
“S, Sir Duke!”
“L, look at that, sir!”
The tower’s nobles widely goggled their eyes and pointed at the castle’s inside.
Kkakakakang! Kkakang! Kkakakakakang!
Loud and noisy sound pierced into the ears.
“J, just what is this……?”
Francis creased his forehead and looked at the street longly stretching towards the inside of the castle.
“Ah……”
From the big and small alleys stretching from the main street’s sides, the castle’s residents poured out.
Men and women, old and young, rich and poor, leaders and ordinary commoners, slaves and more……
A crowd that transcended age and status approached through the main street towards the north gate.
Kkakakakang! Kkakang! Kkakakakakang!
They strongly clang the pans and plates held in their hands.
Phabababam! Phabam! Phababababam!
It oddly matched the Milta Military Band’s performance echoing outside the castle.
“T, these insane bastards……”
“They dare!”
Few among the nobles flushed their faces and shouted aloud.
“What are the knight order doing! Get them away right now!”
“Troop commanders go block them so those things can’t approach towards the castle gate!”
As an unexpected event unfolded at a situation that was already tense, few nobles gave mad orders.
“Yes sir. Understood.”
The knights and soldiers who entered Miller following the nobles tried to climb down the tower.
At that moment.
Chang!
An unexpected metallic sound echoed the ears.
The knights and soldiers who hurriedly moved as well as the tower’s nobles all turned their heads towards the place the metallic sound was heard from.
“Hhm.”
“Ah……”
Numerous nobles let out exclamations together with groans.
The metallic sound was none other than the sound of pulling out a sword.
The Capital City Guard who were on standby on the ramparts had pulled out their swords and blockaded the tower.
“I apologies sirs but if you move a single step from that place……”
Leslie, originally a part of the Lancephil Fief Regiment and a taemusa who was the Capital City Guard Captain, pointed at the knights with his weapon.
“We will cut off all your heads.”
At those words, a knight who was at the front creased his face.
“W, what! A mere soldier dare point a sword at the nobles and knights! Are you mad!”
“Well, I don’t know. From what I see, sir, it seems that side isn’t of a sane mind, though.”
Leslie lightly replied and then gave a hand signal with his left hand.
Pbat!
Instantly, the Capital City Guard’s taemusas who were lined up along the ramparts raced towards the tower and took formations.
“Damn.”
The knight spat out a curse and clenched his teeth.
The Capital City Guard’s number was too many that they couldn’t carelessly move.
At that moment, Francis who was watching the scene stepped forwards.
“What is the reason you’ve needlessly dragged on time if you were going to come out like this in the end? Would it have been far easier to trap and cut off our heads beforehand and then open up the castle gate?”
Words said as if to rebuke.
At those words, Leslie formed a smile.
“Sir Duke Wilson. It seems you are misunderstanding something. We have absolutely no thought of causing warm to the sirs gathered here.”
A composed voice.
“I am merely faithful to the order my lord has given, sirs.”
“And what is that order?”
Francis asked in a completely sunken voice.
Leslie looked at the Miller Castle’s residents clanging pots and plates and approaching towards the north gate.
“The Capital City Guard will protect the Miller Castle’s residents from any harm, whatever the case may be..”
A powerful voice.
The smile hanging on Leslie’s mouth turned even thicker.
“That is us Capital City Guard’s mission.”
He slightly shook the sword he held.
“So don’t think of causing harm to the castle’s residents, sirs. If you just comply to that, then there will be no case of us pointing our swords at sirs gathered here.”
“Hhm.”
Francis once more leaked out a groan.
Finally, he could understand the events that had happened in Miller Castle’s insides within the last few days.
‘So the City Guard had stepped up only when the nobles violently treated the castle’s residents.’
His heart ached.
Now there truly was nothing they could do.
Meanwhile, the castle’s residents who had swarmed all the way before the north gate even loudly clanged their pots and plates.
Kkakakakang! Kkakang! Kkakakakakang! Kkakang! Kkakakakakang!
Everyone turned their heads and looked up towards the tower.
Hot and fierce gazes poured out towards the nobles.
“Hhm.”
“Huhm. Khm.”
The nobles couldn’t endure those gazes and subtly stepped back.
In contrast, Francis leaned on the tower’s ledge and looked straight at the appearances of the castle’s residents.
A sight of everyone only clanging their pots and plates with their mouths closed.
But at that very moment.
His ears numbly echoed.
The resonant shouts, wishes, desires, and hopes pierced into his ears.
His head and heart trembled.
Of course, it wasn’t that they were physically heard.
‘I, is this the sound of the castle’s residents Princess Katy spoke of……’
Francis, only after having the giant mass before his eyes, could finally hear the sound held in the heated hearts of the castle’s citizens.
The citizens’ shouts turned even fiercer.
A shout giant enough for the heart to drop and crash.
Francis’s hands holding the ledge sharply shook.
‘Princess Katy’s words were true.’
He bit his lower lip.
‘There is no man who could endure to the end even after hearing such sound……’
His legs weakly trembled.
Francis turned his head and looked at the Capital City Guard.
“Guard Captain.”
A quietly calling voice.
However, his voice dangerously shook.
“Yes. Sir Duke.”
Leslie slightly lowered his head.
Francis exhaled a short sigh, then ordered in his most composed voice.
“Open the north gate.”
Finally, the last rooted wrong surrendered.
That was not an attainment achieved through violence.
It was an achievement the peaceful shouts, actions, and desires of the castle’s citizens had attained.
A revolution without a drop of blood.
Ggiiiiick!
The tightly closed castle gate opened.
“Waaaaaaah!”
The castle’s citizens put down their pots and plates and cheered.
Kkukung!
The drawbridge lowered down above the moat.
Roan climbed down from his horse and slowly moved his steps.
When he arrived at the end of the drawbridge, Francis showed up at the opposite end.
Countless gazes from the inside and outside of the castle poured down.
“Huu.”
Francis exhaled a short sigh and slowly moved his steps towards Roan.
He carefully kneeled down and raised up the royal family’s crest and the national seal.
“I present the Rinse Royal Family’s crest and the national seal.”
Francis’s voice rode the wind and flowed.
Roan quietly stared at that sight.
Gulp.
Everyone dryly swallowed with nervous expressions.
At that moment, Roan extended his hands towards Francis.
“Please stand up, sir.”
Roan raised up Francis and then formed a faint smile.
“I do not need the royal family’s crest nor the national seal.”
A calm voice spread far, very far out.
Every person inside and outside the castle could hear that voice.
Roan pointed at the royal family’s crest and the national seal with his finger.
“The monarch is not something that comes from blood.”
His finger again pointed at the sky.
“Nor is monarch something the heaven chooses.”
His finger pointed at the Lancephil Fief Regiment lined up outside the castle.
“And neither is monarch something won through strength.”
The smile on Roan’s mouth deepened even further.
“Monarch……”
The place his finger finally pointed at were the citizens standing within the widely open castle gate.
“Comes from the people.”
They were the words and the intent he had engraved and engraved always again from the moment he resolved to become a true monarch.
Roan looked at Francis and spoke in a quiet voice as if to whisper.
“I will become the monarch for all.”
A declaration.
That was the Great Declaration.
“Waaaaaah!”
“Roan! Roan! Roan! Roan!”
The citizens let out shouts of cheers.
Following behind, the army outside the castle including the Lancephil Fief Regiment became one and cheered.
It was an incredible cheer enough for the surrounding regions with the Miller Castle at the center to shake.
The world had finally come to meet the monarch for the very first time birthed by the people.
His name was Roan.
Roan Lancephil.
End.
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