Chapter 156 : The North (9)

I stood at the forefront with Bitelleanus, Derix, Keldric, Everchen, and Bea, looking up at the high walls of the North.

Behind us, the numerous demons of the newly integrated Remnant had gathered.

Bwooooooo──!

Bwoo! Bwooo─! Bwoooo───!

The sound of horns, heightening the tension, came from the Archduke's castle.

Black dots swarmed out onto the top of the wall.

I didn't need to activate Ghost Eye to know.

The Archduke's soldiers had revealed themselves on the castle walls.

Looking closely, I saw they were all holding bows or javelins, aiming at us.

I had informed Bitelleanus that I had not yet fully persuaded the Archduke.

That fact had also spread to the Remnant's 2nd Corps, and naturally, the cautiousness on our side grew.

“If the Archduke attacks, we will not just stand by.”

“Yes, but we must not attack first.”

“I promise you that.”

Bitelleanus was also visibly tense.

She said this was the closest she had been to the wall, except for when she first came to the North.

Bitelleanus, too, held the Archduke's military power in high regard.

Even if I couldn't make him completely my ally, if I could just make his spear point towards Myeolji, it would be as good as having accomplished everything I could in the North.

Kiiiiiiik.

The heavy iron gate opened.

The Archduke came out with only his adjutant.

Was he as nervous as we were?

I couldn't tell.

He was approaching us without leading any troops, holding only a single spear.

Fortunately, he didn't attack us, perhaps intending to assess the situation.

The Archduke's steadfast gaze was fixed on me.

He looked at neither my companions beside me nor the many demons lined up behind me.

He was glaring only at me, as if to pierce right through me.

I walked towards the Archduke.

The Archduke also walked towards me.

We didn't exchange greetings anew.

When we were close enough to speak, I immediately got to the point.

“Have you found what you must prove, Your Grace?”

“……Have you proven yourself?”

For the first time, the Archduke's gaze fell on those standing behind me.

The Archduke and I had promised to prove ourselves to each other.

To be more precise, the Archduke was to find what he needed to prove, and I was to prove that I was the one who could rule the North.

I nodded to the Archduke and looked back.

“They are the first step of my proof. The next step must also be taken soon.”

“Is your next step directed towards me?”

“Yes, I will persuade you, Your Grace.”

The Archduke turned away indifferently.

Then, showing me his back, he spoke.

“Enter my castle.”

“We will all go together.”

“Do as you wish.”

With the Archduke's permission, my companions, the Remnant, and I followed him into the castle.

“……”

No one, including the Archduke, spoke easily.

And for good reason; what welcomed us was not a warm applause.

The soldiers of the North, not hiding their highly honed spirit, were glaring at us with their weapons drawn.

And the Archduke did not restrain them.

But I walked forward confidently.

‘If he intended to attack us, he wouldn't have let us into the castle.’

If a fight were to break out, closing the castle gates and defending would be far more advantageous.

I knew well enough that the Archduke was not foolish enough to start a fight after deliberately letting us inside.

Nevertheless, it was not easy to walk into the middle of a place overflowing with so much hostility.

The Archduke headed deeper into the heart of the castle.

The people living in the North had locked their doors and were nowhere to be seen.

We followed the Archduke deeper and deeper.

We finally arrived at the plaza of the North.

It was the same place where countless frozen soldiers had been standing in formation when I first came here.

Now, my group and I stood in the center, with the soldiers of the North surrounding us in a siege formation.

Their spirit was so sharp it felt as if they would thrust their spears at us at any moment.

But the demons following me were not reacting to such hostility at all.

This was because of my request that they must never attack first under any circumstances.

The Archduke, who had been leading the way, turned to look at us.

His gaze once again fixed on me.

“I see that you have received the acknowledgment of half the North.”

“Yes, now it is time to receive the acknowledgment of the remaining half.”

“Have you not considered that I could kill everyone here and swallow the North whole?”

The Archduke's chilly voice pierced my ears.

“Then I would become the true master of the North.”

At the Archduke's words, the knights of the North raised their spirits even higher.

“If I do not acknowledge you, does not everything you have done until now become meaningless? No, why do you want to rule the North?”

The Archduke continued to throw questions.

Only then did I realize.

The Archduke may not have been nervous in front of the numerous demons, but he was confused, having not yet solved the topic I had thrown at him.

I looked the Archduke straight in the eyes and spoke.

“You keep only asking questions. Please answer my question first. Have you found what you must prove, Your Grace?”

The Archduke's expression hardened.

He did not answer, keeping his mouth shut.

I was waiting for his answer, but instead, I heard the sound of a horn.

Bwoo! Bwooo─!

At the same time, a few knights hastily left the plaza.

The knights' movements were not towards the Erosion Zone, but towards the Empire.

‘……Has a guest arrived from the Empire? If so, this is not good.’

A rumor that the Archduke and the Empire had joined hands was spread throughout the continent, so I felt needlessly tense.

I did not want to give the Archduke another option in this situation.

The adjutant relayed the report received from the knights to the Archduke.

“Tell them they may enter my duchy.”

The Archduke answered as if it were nothing.

That made me even more tense.

Even on our way to the North, we were accompanied by all sorts of rumors.

If I were in the position of ruling the Empire, I would not have left our movements unchecked either.

‘That's why I made a request to Rodos… but was it too much to ask?’

I had maintained my composure even when entering the Archduke's castle, but I couldn't do so now.

I worriedly looked in the direction the knights had moved.

However, my worry disappeared not long after.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

Knights entering with disciplined footsteps.

A shining dragon pattern was engraved on their chests, and at their head was Pasion Adjak.

Pasion had come to the North, leading the White Dragon Knights.

That wasn't all; agents from the Intelligence Agency wearing Tello uniforms followed.

Next to them were the mages from the Mana Research Department and the Frost Magic Tower, along with mages from Ostrum, including the Flame Magic Tower.

The guards under Baron Renwood, carrying the banner of the Manoa estate, and the soldiers under Rodos followed as well.

At this point, it was as if not the Imperial army, but most of the forces within the Imperial territory that supported me had come.

Now the situation had changed.

It was no longer a scene of the Northern knights surrounding us.

Rather, the number of forces who shared my will had become greater.

The problem was the Archduke.

The strongest of humanity.

The being closest to a Tuner.

The situation would change depending on what he decided.

Of course, I didn't think all these people would fall, unable to defeat the Archduke alone, but I couldn't guarantee how great the damage would be.

The Archduke did not seem to mind being surrounded from front and back.

In fact, one could say it was the Archduke who had led this situation.

Just when I couldn't figure out what he was thinking at all, the Archduke opened his mouth.

“Truthfully, I still haven't decided. Since your question, I have thought about it constantly, but I still don't know what I must prove, or what I must protect.”

The Archduke spoke his mind candidly.

His voice was thick with emotion.

But his gaze was fixed only on me, as if he had no interest in all the others surrounding him.

“What on earth is the right decision for me to make? I do not know. I have dedicated my entire life to only protecting the North.”

“……”

“I was just a slave to a minor rural lord, forced to fight his knights because I was strong since I was young. I can barely remember how I ended up here.”

It was a public secret that the Archduke was of slave origin.

But no one in the Empire could bring up his slave origins to the Archduke.

Because the Archduke had a power that even the Emperor could not treat lightly.

“What must I prove? The only thing I had to prove was that I could protect the North well. Polarin Adjak, if you had not asked, my life would still have been flowing.”

“……”

“After your question, I stopped. I have fallen into a state where I have no idea what I must do, or for what I must move.”

In the cold North, only the sound of the biting wind and the Archduke's confession could be heard.

He was Evernite, considered to have surpassed the limits of a human, but he too was ultimately human.

Just a human who must endlessly contemplate, choose, and take responsibility for the consequences of that choice.

“Do you know what I must prove?”

“That is something you must find for yourself, Your Grace.”

I spoke coldly. But that didn't mean I couldn't fathom the Archduke's agony.

“Until you find it, please do what you do best, Your Grace.”

“And what is that?”

“That would be wielding your spear, of course. And protecting the North, and invading towards the enemy.”

The Archduke's gaze turned to the Remnant.

I continued speaking so he would not misunderstand.

“These beings are no longer your enemies, Your Grace. But your enemies still remain in the North. Invade. Do not point the spears and swords of the Northern knights at humans, but first, keep them in the North.”

“What you mean is……”

“Yes, please conquer the North completely. And as you do, slowly think about what you must prove.”

“Is that alright?”

“Of course, that must have been what you were doing originally, Your Grace.”

The Archduke stared for a long time at the wall that separated the Northern Erosion Zone from his castle.

For some reason, his gaze felt not like that of the steadfast strongest of humanity, but like the eyes of a young boy.

“I hope you will return the North to the land of humans now. No one has accomplished that until now, have they? You will be the first to write history, Your Grace.”

“……”

The Archduke looked at his subordinates without answering.

And I finally couldn't hold back and told him my wish.

“Of course, my wish is that at the end of that contemplation, your spear will be pointed towards Myeolji. But I cannot force you. Please tell me whenever you decide, Your Grace.”

The Archduke gripped his great spear.

The air around him changed with just a single twitch of his muscles.

The already cold atmosphere began to freeze over.

The Archduke commanded his subordinates with a resolute voice.

“Everyone, prepare for departure.”

“Yes!”

“We will prove why we are the guardians of the North, and the strongest in the North.”

Bwooooooo───!

A great horn blast followed.

It was the sound of new history being written.