3 bar menu

Volume 6 Chapter 3 Part 5

In either case, the purpose was not to kill the intruders, but to make fun of them, which made Milza even more angry.

「Burn it all down! 」

Milza gave the order, and the two villages were reduced to ashes.

「Now you’ve accomplished your purpose, right? 」

「Yes, precisely. 」

Terius answered.

「Next is Baron Eugen’s territory! 」

Milza once again orders the army to advance.

「Unlike Witches and Werewolves, the people of the territory can’t run away, right? Now, what are you going to do about it… EUGEN NIKLAE!!!? 」

Milza screamed as he ran his horse to the front of his army.

Rumors that a villages of the White Witches and Werewolves had been burnt to the ground quickly spread, shocking the populace of Artuk.

Dartania’s rule was strict, but this was the first time such an act of open violence had been committed by them.

「Milza had finally revealed his true colors! 」

People were angry, but also scared at the same time, because it turned out that not even White Witches or Werewolves were able to pose a threat to the Dartanian invaders.

Dartania’s army marched through Artuk’s territory, aiming to attack the territory that formerly belonged to Baron Eugen Niklae. They then placed soldiers in each fortified village and threatened to start a full-scale attack unless their demands were to be met.

「There is only one condition to avoid the attack: Eugen must show himself up and face me! Let’s decide the winner of this conflict in a dignified battle! 」

Milza spoke like this to the people of Eugen’s territory, and the time he gave Eugen to show himself up before him was three days.

Dartania’s army set up camp and continued to play desert instruments and sing brave battle songs day and night long. They also improvised a parody song and sang it on repeat, its contents being that Dartania’s brave hawk is going to feast on Artuk’s cowardly mouse.

The people of Eugen’s territory also knew that Milza was deadly serious about this, and one of the people who knew the whereabouts of Eugen’s hideout hurried to relay the news to him at once.

「So Milza finally decided to get serious! 」

Upon receiving the news from the people of the territory, Eugen laughed heartily.

In the hideout in the forest were Lords and soldiers who have fought together in guerrilla warfare. Their number was about 300.

「What will you do now? 」

Deirdre asked him worriedly.

「I expected this day to come. In fact, it came more than a little too late, if you asked me. 」
Eugen said while putting his arms around his wife and nodding his head reapeatedly.

「And so…? 」

Deidre looked back at her husband, urging him to continue speaking.

「It’s unfortunate, but this is the end of our guerilla warfare. We cannot continue to fight that way if the cost is going to be sacrificing the lives of the people of our territories. 」

Hearing those words, the other Lords hung their heads down in frustration.

「Now, what’s with you, guys? There’s no need for any of you to feel regret! We fought as hard as we could, and we bought enough time. We’re the ones who won in the end, not them. 」

Eugen laughed heartily once more.

「Now then, I’m going to go and have a try at killing Milza. You don’t have to follow me if you don’t want to. If I can save the people of Artuk by sacrificing my life and my title, then that is too cheap of a price to not go through with it! 」

「Dear… 」

The moment Deidre heard him say this, she burst into tears and clung onto her husband.

「I thought that I could make you happy, but in the end, I ended up bringing you nothing but trouble. Our time together was a short, but fulfilling one. I can only hope that once all of this is over, you’ll go back to Elam and start a new life…」

「I won’t do that! 」

There were tears in her eyes, but Deadri’s voice was otherwise firm.
「Ever since I became a wife of a Lord, I was prepared that something like that might happen one day. But even so, I’ve decided to stay with you until the end. 」

Deadri paused, slowly raised her head, took Eugen’s rough face between her hands, and kissed him passionately. Eugen was confused by that action of hers, and so his body flinched slightly. This continued for a while while everyone in the room cheered for the two of them to keep going.

Eventually Deadri separated herself from her husband, but she did so reluctantly, almost as if she didn’t want to let go of him anymore.

「To tell you the truth, I am expecting a child. 」

She said to him quietly.

She then took Eugen’s hand and forcefully placed it on her stomach. Of course, the child was still not that big and it obviously wasn’t moving, however, Eugen didn’t know if it was just his imagination or not, but he thought that Deadri’s stomach was hotter than usual, which could really be a sign that there was now a new life growing inside of it.

Eugen remained speechless for a while, but eventually he looked up, as if he was looking for the help of his fellow Lords.

「What am I even supposed to say? This is my first time going through something like this! 」

「Go ahead and tell her that you’re happy, since this is kinda a huge deal. 」

One of the Lords who already had five children himself gave Eugen a piece of advice while desperately trying to hold his laughter back.

「Oh… of course! Those are amazing news, Deadri! Please, make sure that you’re going to give birth to a healthy child. There is no need to burden them with thought of reviving the status and peerage of our family. For me, it’s going to be enough if they’re going to be born safely, grow up healthy, be happy and live a long life. 」

Eugen exclaimed excitedly, and gently placed his hands on Deirdre’s shoulders, as if he was handling something fragile.

「Alright, that’s more than enough now! 」

The soldiers all started laughing. There are very few people who could actually live such an ideal life in their current world.

「This is auspicious, truly auspicious! 」

The oldest Lord in the room shouted out loud, looking around at the people as if asking for their consent.

「It seems like today is the best day to die. At this age, I finally understand the value of life and the meaning of living. 」

Then the old Lord called together three younger Lords.

「We will accompany Lord Eugen, while the three of you will be tasked with transporting Lady Deadri to the Forest of Eternal Darkness. Well, to be honest, you’re probably going to be more of a hindrance to her, but if anything were to happen, you’re going to protect her and the new life she’s nurturing inside of her, even if it were to cost you your own lives, get it? 」

「B-But we want to go together with Lord Eugen as well! 」

The younger Lords looked at each other and complained to the old Lord who proposed it.

「If you go together with him, you will only lose your lives and titles in vain, since I think we all know that a greedy snake like Milza won’t be satisfied with the life and Crest of Lord Eugen alone. If anyone else goes with him, then he’d cut you down as well without a second of hesitation. 」

The old Lord explained, and then he looked at the young Lords once more.
「Ou! 」

A loud cheer echoed throughout the forest.

「That’s why, please allow us to join you in battle, Lord Eugen. Let today be the last day of our guerilla warfare, and let’s leave the task of defeating Milza to the Lords of the Artuk Treaty. 」

「So you’re willing to die together with me to celebrate the joyous occasion that I learned about today? 」

Eugen nodded his head approvingly as he patted each of the Lords on the shoulder.

「Please, let us go with you as well, Lord Eugen! If we abandon you now and return to our homes as if nothing happened, our families are going to kill us! 」

When one of the soldiers raised his voice with a pretty valid point, the other ones also nodded their heads and chimed in with their own opinions as well.

「Alright, alright! For the time being, let us eat some food and have a drink so that we could go to the forest with dignity! The enemy seems to be thinking that we’re not good in open field combat, but we’ll show them just how strongly Lord Vilar’s will and bravery live on inside us! 」