Early morning in Seaview City always carried a salty, fishy scent.
The docks grew lively early on.
The rhythmic chants of workers unloading cargo and the shouts of vendors selling their wares blended together.
Atop the city walls.
Three guards leaned against the battlements.
They held greasy meat pies in their hands.
“Have you heard? There was a huge commotion at the Astane house yesterday.”
“Some duke’s son or whatever got his face swollen from a beating.”
The youngest guard gave a snicker.
“Even a powerful dragon can’t suppress a local snake.”
“Besides, Marquis Balte is one of the First Prince’s men. Who would dare touch him?”
The older guard sighed.
“In times like these, it’s better for small fry like us to live a steady life.”
He took a bite of his meat pie.
Before he could even swallow.
The stone beneath his feet suddenly jumped.
“What’s going on?”
The young guard steadied his spear.
“An earthquake?”
The older guard frowned.
He leaned over the battlements.
He squinted his eyes to look into the distance.
On the horizon.
A black line appeared.
It was very thin.
But it was writhing.
Like a swarm of tireless army ants.
“That is...”
The guard’s voice trembled slightly.
The black line grew thicker.
It drew closer.
That was iron.
That was steel.
That was a boundless expanse of black heavy armor.
The uniform sound of hoofbeats rolled across the ground like muffled thunder.
Every step.
Trod upon the heartbeat of a man.
“En... Enemy attack!!!”
A shrill roar tore through the morning silence.
The meat pie in his hand fell to the ground.
It was shattered by the vibrations.
The alarm bells on the city walls were rung frantically.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The entire city fell into a dead silence.
The laborers on the docks stopped their work.
The vendors shut their mouths.
Everyone looked toward the outskirts of the city.
That black wave had already approached within five hundred meters of the walls.
It stopped.
There was no extraneous noise.
Only the occasional snort of a warhorse.
That was the Blood Cross Army.
The kingdom’s most elite killing machine.
But that wasn't even the most terrifying part.
The black torrent slowly parted.
Twelve behemoths were pushed forward.
Those were siege magic cannons.
Each one was as large as a pavilion.
The muzzles were dark and hollow.
They gleamed with a cold metallic luster.
They were covered in intricate magic inscriptions.
Which were beginning to glow faintly.
Charging.
The guard’s legs went weak.
He slumped onto the ground.
“You... You’ve got to be kidding...”
“Are they going to slaughter the city?”
A single volley from these.
Never mind the city walls.
Half of Seaview City would be leveled.
Theodore was dragged out of his bed covers.
His clothes weren't even buttoned properly.
He stumbled all the way up the city walls.
Balte followed behind him.
His rolls of fat shook violently as he ran.
Claude walked at the very back.
His face was so grim it looked like it could drip ink.
The three of them stood on the gate tower.
Looking down.
Gasps of air rose one after another.
“This...”
Theodore’s teeth began to chatter.
“That’s the family crest of the Duke Lucas family...”
That blood red lion banner.
Snapped loudly in the wind.
It seemed to mock their ignorance.
Balte’s fingers turned white as he gripped the wall.
“Is he insane?!”
“Deploying an army to surround a city without permission!”
“This is rebellion!”
“This is treason!”
He roared hysterically.
Trying to use this method to mask the fear in his heart.
The submissive brat from yesterday.
The brat who didn't even dare to fight back after being slapped.
Today.
He had returned with cannons.
Claude adjusted his monocle.
His cane tapped on the ground.
“Stop shouting.”
His voice was somewhat dry.
“Save your strength.”
Theodore suddenly grabbed Claude’s sleeve.
Like he was grabbing a life saving straw.
“My lord! You are from the royal family!”
“You have to save us!”
“This is also a slap to the royal family’s face!”
Claude shook off his hand.
He walked to the edge of the city wall.
He closed his eyes.
Mana surged from within his body.
He tried to construct a spatial teleportation tunnel.
Even if he couldn't take these two pieces of trash with him.
He at least had to leave himself.
However.
The next second.
Claude’s eyes snapped open.
A mouthful of blood welled up in his throat.
He forced himself to swallow it down.
Space.
Had been locked down.
The entire Seaview City.
Was like being packed into an iron box.
Not even a fly could fly out.
“What a... massive undertaking.”
Claude looked at the military mages below dressed in dark gold robes.
A dimensional blockade cast by at least thirty high-level mages working together.
Even if the Head Court Mage came.
He would have to scratch his head in frustration.
“We can’t escape.”
Claude turned around.
He looked at the two men whose faces were as pale as death.
“Prepare your coffins.”
Balte’s legs gave out.
He knelt directly on the ground.
A pool of yellow liquid.
Once again flowed down his trouser leg.
“I won’t die... I don’t want to die...”
“I have money! I have so much money!”
“I’ll give it all to him!”
“As long as he doesn’t kill me!”
The siege magic cannons below emitted a low hum.
The red light at the muzzles grew brighter and brighter.
That was the sound of a countdown to death.
Theodore looked at those twelve dark muzzles.
His mind went blank.
He didn't want to die.
He had just climbed onto the Marquis’s high branch.
He was just about to rise to greatness.
How could he die here?
“Let’s talk!”
Theodore suddenly threw himself onto the battlements.
He leaned half his body out.
He no longer cared about noble decorum.
He shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Lord Bell!”
“It’s a misunderstanding! It’s all a misunderstanding!”
“Can we talk?!”
His voice echoed across the empty battlefield.
Sounding exceptionally desolate.
The black army gave no response.
They remained silent.
Until.
That figure riding a white horse.
Slowly emerged from the ranks.
Bell wore a black trench coat.
He wore no armor.
The swollen red handprint on his face had not yet faded.
But against the backdrop of those thousands of heavy armored cavalry.
No one dared to look down on that face again.
He reined in his horse.
He looked up.
His gaze pierced through the distance of several hundred meters.
It pinned itself accurately onto the three people on the city wall.
No nonsense.
No pleasantries.
Bell raised his hand.
He pointed at the top of the wall.
His voice wasn't loud.
But with the amplification of mana.
It spread clearly to every corner.
“Claude.”
“Theodore.”
“Balte.”
“Get over here.”
The city gate opened.
The rusted hinges made a grating screech.
Theodore walked at the very front, his legs shaking so hard he felt like he was walking on cotton.
Balte followed behind, his purple silk robe already soaked with cold sweat, clinging to his bloated body like a layer of dead skin.
Claude walked at the very back.
He still maintained his elegant butler-like poise, but the knuckles gripping his cane had turned white.
The three of them walked out of the gate tunnel.
The sunlight was piercing.
In front of them was a dark, dense cavalry phalanx.
That solemn scent of rust mixed with the stench of warhorses rushed toward them.
No one spoke.
Three thousand pairs of eyes stared fixedly at these three tiny figures.
As if looking at three lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
Bell sat atop that tall white horse.
He looked down at the three of them as they walked to within ten meters of the horse.
They stopped.
Theodore swallowed hard, his dry throat making a gulping sound.
“Be... Bell, my lord...”
Theodore forced a smile that looked worse than crying.
“Isn’t... isn’t this display a bit too large?”
“Let’s talk things over properly...”
Bell ignored him.
His gaze passed over Theodore and landed on that lump of purple fat.
“Balte.”
Bell’s voice was very light.
Balte trembled all over, the fat on his face shaking along with him.
“I... I’m here.”
The once arrogant Marquis now looked like a schoolboy who had made a mistake.
Bell raised his hand.
He pointed to the red mark on his left cheek that had not yet subsided.
“Yesterday.”
“Which hand did you use to hit me?”
Balte was stunned.
He subconsciously hid his right hand behind his back.
“Mis... Misunderstanding...”
“That was all a misunderstanding!”
Balte shrieked, his voice cracking with fear.
“I am one of the First Prince’s men!”
“You can’t touch me!”
“If the First Prince knows you deployed troops without permission...”
“Crack!”
A crisp sound.
It wasn't a slap.
It was a rock spike that thrust out from the ground, accurately striking Balte’s right hand.
The sound of bones shattering was clearly audible.
“Aaaah!!!”
Balte clutched his right hand, screaming as he knelt in the mud.
That thick, fleshy palm was now bent at a bizarre, twisted angle.
All the finger bones were completely shattered.
“Noisy.”
Bell lowered his hand.
His eyes were icy.
“I asked you which hand it was.”
“I didn't tell you to mention that fellow’s name.”
Claude’s pupils constricted violently.
That fellow.
In this kingdom, no one dared to refer to the First Prince that way.
Claude took a step forward, shielding Balte.
“Young Master Lucas.”
Claude took off his monocle, his tone becoming heavy.
“Know when to stop.”
“He is a noble, a Marquis.”
“You’ve crippled his hand. The royal family’s side...”
“Boom!”
The ground shook.
The muzzles of the twelve siege magic cannons lowered simultaneously.
Red magic brilliance condensed frantically within the barrels.
A terrifying heatwave instantly swept across the entire city gate.
Claude’s voice came to an abrupt halt.
He froze in place.
A drop of cold sweat slid down his temple.
He was locked on.
Twelve siege-grade magic cannons.
As long as he dared to move a single finger.
The next second.
Both he and the city gate behind him would turn to ash.
Bell looked at Claude.
The man who had used gravity magic to press him to his knees yesterday.
At this moment.
He didn't even dare to move.
“What did you just say?”
Bell tilted his head.
“What about the royal family’s side?”
Claude took a deep breath.
He put his gold rimmed glasses back on.
He took a step back.
He lowered his head.
“Nothing.”
“Please, proceed as you wish.”
This was reality.
In the face of absolute fire support, so called royal dignity.
Wasn't worth a damn thing.
Bell withdrew his gaze.
He dismounted from his horse.
The hem of his black trench coat snapped in the wind.
He walked up to Balte, who was still rolling on the ground.
His boots stepped into the mud.
They also stepped onto Balte’s expensive silk robe.
“Don’t... don’t kill me...”
Balte wailed, snot and tears covering his face.
“I have money... I have so much money...”
“I’ll give it all to you...”
Bell crouched down.
He reached out.
Just as Balte had done to him yesterday, he lightly patted that greasy face.
“I’m not short on money.”
Bell’s voice was calm.
“I just want to tell you one thing.”
His fingers suddenly tightened.
He gripped Balte’s neck.
He lifted that bloated head out of the mud.
“My face.”
“Is very expensive.”
“Slap!”
Bell raised his hand.
He delivered a vicious slap.
This slap didn't use mana.
It was pure physical strength.
Balte’s entire body spun half a turn in the air.
Several yellowed teeth flew out along with bloody water.
“Slap!”
A backhand slap followed immediately.
The other side of Balte’s face instantly swelled up like a fermented bun.
“This slap.”
“Is for Tia.”
Bell stood up.
He took the handkerchief Lilian handed him and wiped his hands.
Then he tossed the handkerchief onto Balte’s face.
Like he was throwing away trash.
“Hang him on the city wall.”
Bell ordered flatly.
“When those rolls of fat have dried out in the sun.”
“That’s when you can let him down.”
Two fully armed Blood Cross Army soldiers immediately stepped forward.
One on each side, they dragged Balte, who was like a dead dog, toward the city wall.
The screams gradually faded into the distance.
Bell turned around.
He looked at Theodore, who had been shrinking in the corner, trembling all over.
Theodore’s legs gave out.
He fell to his knees with a thud.
“Lord Bell! I was forced!”
“That fellow forced me!”
“I am Tia’s father!”
“For Tia’s sake...”
Bell walked up to him.
Looking down.
A shadow loomed over Theodore.
“Father?”
Bell chewed on the word.
He suddenly laughed.
“Are you even worthy?”
He raised his foot.
He stepped on Theodore’s shoulder.
Applying a bit of force.
Theodore was pressed flat against the ground, his face buried in the muddy water.
“Where is Tia?”
Theodore struggled desperately, his mouth full of sand and mud.
“At... at the estate...”
“She’s in her room...”
“I didn’t let her come out...”
Bell withdrew his foot.
Since Tia was still at the estate.
Then it was easy.
“Lilian.”
“Here.”
Lilian emerged from the shadows, her red eyes full of excitement.
“Watch them.”
Bell pointed at Theodore and Claude.
“Whoever dares to move.”
“Kill them.”
With that.
Bell remounted his horse.
He pulled the reins.
The white horse reared up.
“Enter the city!”
Rumble.
The black iron torrent began to move.
Three thousand heavy armored cavalry shattered the peace of Seaview City.
Bell rode on his horse.
His gaze pierced through the long streets.
Looking toward the tallest estate in the distance.
There.
Was a silly girl.
On the second floor of the Astane Estate.
Tia hugged her knees, huddled on the windowsill.
She heard the alarm bells.
She heard the roar of the cannons.
But she didn't dare to look.
She was afraid of seeing the young man’s corpse hanging on the city wall.
That was her last hope.
If it was like that.
She would rather jump down from here right now.
Just then.
Boom!
The gate of the estate was violently smashed open.
It wasn't pushed open.
It was directly shattered by a warhorse covered in heavy armor.
Wood chips flew everywhere.
Tia snapped her head up.
That figure.
That figure riding a white horse, wearing a black trench coat.
Burst into her field of vision.
Sunlight spilled over him.
Like a god descending.
Bell reined in his horse.
He looked up.
Looking at that window on the second floor.
Looking at that haggard face.
He raised his hand.
Toward that window.
He revealed a brilliant smile.
That smile pulled at the wound on his face, causing a bit of pain.
But he smiled very happily.
“Senior.”
His voice pierced through the clamor.
“I’ve brought three thousand men.”
“To marry you.”
Rate on N.U.
