Rolling a pebble in his hand, Davey nodded once he heard Monmider, the royal guards’ captain and Berman, the knight responsible for training.

“Okay, let’s go,” Davey said calmly, then began walking as he locked the latches on his armor.

Only five hundred people from the Heins Territory were selected. It definitely wasn’t a large number of people; what difference would five hundred people make when the war involved tens of thousands of people? Of course, this very much depended on their activities, but Davey had no intentions of executing a secret plan with these people.

“Thank you all for gathering.”

The knights’ equipment was in great condition, since Davey had poured a lot of money into it. They had shiny chainmail, and their spears were carved and sharpened. The knights who knew how to ride a horse were in full-body armor and showed their pride as cavalry, although there were only about ten of them.

“Some of you are upset that I haven’t been paying as much attention to the territory as I should have.”

Everyone was quiet. There were a lot of guards who had served Davey as militia members, but there were also quite a few people who had become royal guards after moving here as the territory developed. The new guards looked confused and doubtful about what a young prince with a stigmata could bring to the table, since the young prince had barely been in the territory.

“Let’s stop beating around the bush. The kingdom’s situation is that the rotten nobility who has been leeching off of this kingdom has started an uprising.”

There was nothing but silence among them. Looking around, Davey continued, “Their military power consists of thirty thousand. There’s one Swordmaster, and a strange being… No, whatever. There are a few mosquito-like insects among them.”

The guards who heard about the opponent’s army tensed up in fear and nervousness, since a war this great hadn’t happened for decades.

“Right now, those people are even using their power to conscript innocent subjects to use them as defense when they enter the kingdom.” Taking a short breath, Davey glanced at everyone calmly and went on, “Some of you may wonder why you have to put your life on the line to protect the royal palace that has done nothing for us. You may ask, why should you go with weapons and fight for the people who leeched off of us? You may think that. Am I wrong?”

However, the ones who had followed Davey from the time they were militia…

“What does that matter?! We have received your grace, and that is why we’re following you, sir!” Gordon shouted.

Freeman chimed in, “That’s right! If you tell me to die, sir, I’ll jump into a fire pit!”

“Use me as you want!”

“My life is in your hands, sir!”

‘Who’s the last one? Those freakin’ lunatics…’

It was true that Davey had received the title of ‘Saint’, but the situation was a little iffy since he hadn’t officially gone through baptism yet.

“Ahem. The rest don’t feel that way, right?” Davey then picked on the first guard that caught his eye.

The guard flinched, straightened his back, and shouted, “O… Of course, not! We believe in you, sir!”

“…”

‘Just say that you are, you people… Just can’t help out with my speech, can you?’

“Well, alright. I’m not going to force you to believe or not believe, but I’ll make one thing clear.” When everyone silently turned to glance at him, Davey continued, “We’re not going to save the royal palace. To be vulgar, I fucking hate the current royal palace now, too. I’m someone who thinks that we need to get rid of all of them. So, what we are doing is for us as well. And!”

‘Control my pitch… A lower pitch for this next line.’

“Furthermore, this is a fight to keep your family and mine safe.”

For Davey, his brother, Baris, would be the next king. He was thinking about Baris and the royal subjects when he said that. He could also put an end to this long-lasting bad relationship this way.

For the rest of the crowd, it would be to take revenge on the ones who have lived as the privileged at their expense.

Thud! At the same time, Monmider, who was standing at the forefront, raised his huge halberd and slammed it on the ground. Some of the guards began to follow what Monmider did, as if they had planned this entire spectacle. Soon, everyone began following along like the action was contagious.

‘This thing called mob mentality… These guys are probably pro at going with the flow.’

“Most of the rebels currently have weapons made from a new kind of dwarf-made metal. It can easily cut through and quickly dent normal steel.”

As Davey spoke, the ones who transported the weapons nodded slowly. In fact, it wasn’t normal for a person who sold modern weapons to the enemy to use old weapons, but this was only the case if the fight was just between soldiers.

“But who is with you guys?!”

“You are, Your Highness!!”

“So, follow me! Just like before, I promise you; no matter when you’ve come to the Heins Territory, you have all become family. As a seigneur, I will not lose any one of my family.” Davey added, “Do not die. Don’t you dare die without my permission. The only thing for you to do is charge in, and the only thing for me to do is to protect you and your family.”

With that, Davey pulled out a large ornamental sword from the ground and shouted, “Let’s turn the tables on the people who have bullied you for so long!”

A fight specialized for a short amount of time against thirty thousand enemies, one Swordmaster, and an unknown vampire; they knew what this meant. The decision to sacrifice all these people when he was trying to protect the people wasn’t an option for Davey; this was just for show.

“All! Gather your weapons! We’re beginning a mass clean-up!”

‘If the clearing of goblins of the territory was just clean up, these mosquitoes need a mass clean-up.’

* * *

The Verbooth Mountain Fortress was an intermediate fortress on Duke Bariatta’s largest road, which was connected to the Rowane Kingdom’s capital. It was a huge fortress that had never allowed a foreign invasion before. The fortress walls were over thirty meters tall and ten meters wide; it was a gigantic, indomitable fortress that had existed before the founding of the Rowane Kingdom.

The people guarding the gate with tense faces were wearing red armor that was engraved with the emblem of the Bariatta family, the ones representing the nobility who had turned into rebels.

“Damn it… How did this happen…”

There were only five soldiers protecting this gate. It was too small a number, but the reason was simple: the nobility who had turned into rebels were the ones invading. As such, most of the army was focused on invasion and didn’t care much about defending their fortress; if the royalists were thinking of fighting back, they would have the time to prepare anyway. Furthermore, the commander didn’t think anyone was brave enough to invade the Verbooth Fortress, which had over five thousand soldiers in residence.

“Hey, where are you from?”

“I’m from the damn Leuce Territory.”

“Where did those lunatics start conscription from?”

Soldier Haven, who heard that the other soldier was selected and dragged here from a faraway territory, was in the same boat. He said, “I was dragged here from the Allos Territory.”

“Huh, you also were real unlucky, huh?”

“Man, the fact that I’m keeping this fortress to protect those inhumane people…”

They could not reject as the only punishment they would receive was death if they refused; they would die a horrendous death in front of a crowd and become their laughing stock, or they might be taken to a scary place and become the meal of some unknown monster like the rumors.

“Damn it… I have to be the minion of the nobility that my damn seigneur follows when all he has done is leech off me my entire life.”

They didn’t like that they had to be protecting the people they despised because they had no power. It wasn’t just a couple of people who died after going against them.

“Anyway… The royalty must have fled in such a hurry.”

“Probably. Apparently, the rebellion’s army is three times the size. I saw some lunatic already celebrating victory down there.”

Listening to the soldier, Haven said with a sigh, “It’s crazy; who would get through the wall? It’s too tall and thick to get through even with ten thousand people.”

The giant fortress gate was the only entrance the royalist army could push through, but it hadn’t been invaded in a hundred years. After all, it was protected by the many layers of magic barriers.

From what the soldiers had heard, they needed at least fifty mages over the 3rd Circle to stop the barrier magic before hammering it with a huge battering ram for hours to even make it possible. The problem was that, without passing through this, the royalist army couldn’t fight back at all.

“Ah, damn this world! Ptooey!” Haven spat on the ground, then glanced at the sun-lit ridge from under his helmet.

“Hm?”

That was when Haven saw a distant figure for a split second.

“Ha, fuck. My eyes are playing tricks on me…” Haven, who leaned his halberd on his chest and rubbed his eyes, sighed in futility. Nothing was there when he looked again. He muttered, “Of course. Damn it, I wish something big just went right through this damn fortress gate.”

‘So that I can run away or something.’

The others nodded along with a frown; Haven wasn’t the only one thinking that.

“Then run away.”

That was when they heard the unfamiliar voice of a young boy from above the quiet fortress wall.

“Heh?”

The sudden voice resonated through Haven’s head, but he wasn’t the only one to have heard the voice. The other soldiers on duty all turned over to the source of the voice in surprise. Where they looked, there was…

“Working so hard.”

There was a boy walking past them, entering the fortress with a nonchalant smile.

‘The walls are over thirty meters tall… And since this was built on a mountain, there was a drop about twenty to thirty meters below the wall itself. But someone was able to instantly climb up without making a sound when—although they didn’t want to—were on the lookout?’

Haven stared at the boy in utter surprise; soon, he felt his body floating up into the air and being slammed against the inner wall of the fortress.

“Cough! Ouch!”

It would be normal for him to have become a meat pancake after falling from a thirty-meter wall, but his body was completely fine like he had only dropped thirty centimeters.

“What is…” Haven looked around with wide eyes, trying to fathom the impossible that had happened to a commoner like him. He soon realized that the other soldiers protecting the gates with him were also on the floor groaning.

Whoosh!! Then, Haven watched the boy who threw him to the wall easily jump up onto the wall.

“T… Thirty meters…” Haven’s jaw dropped when the boy hopped down from the huge thirty-meter-tall wall and walked past him.

“It’s me. Charge in.”

With that…

“A real man doesn’t look back at an explosion.” After mumbling a cheesy line, the boy pulled out a thin, blue sword from his sheath and walked into the fortress.

And then, after a short period of time…

Booom!!!!!! Part of the fortress wall just exploded and began falling apart. And hundreds of knights charged through those cracks at once.

“Everyone listen to me.”

Despite the roar of screams and shouting, the boy calmly walked into the fortress and his voice clearly rang out to reach everyone. It was as if his voice came from another dimension. He walked into the fortress with red energy flowing out of his blade without hesitation.