“Dammit. I miss Ainos beer already.”
“This beer tastes like crap.”
Two men ranted as they drank down their beer in disgust.
“Joey, give up drinking that. Don’t you know the duke went there to wipe them out completely? Ainos and… what were they called? Magnis? Mag… the duke will just capture all of them as slaves!”
Men frowned as he spoke. The other seemed to be disgusted to hear that.
“Ugh, why wouldn’t he leave them alone?”
Then they began drinking, but one of the men carefully spoke out.
“No. Haven’t you guys heard? The duke lost.”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean?”
That was when another man spoke out in agreement.
“Yeah, I heard the rumors. I heard they lost to the witch.”
They were shocked to hear the news. They couldn’t believe what the men said.
“The duke’s army lost and he himself was kidnapped!”
“WHAT! I heard they outnumbered them with great numbers! How can that be true?”
They whispered to themselves at the unbelievable news.
“It’s possible.”
“What?”
“Talk to me now. Why?”
“Because there’s the witch! And wizards!”
“I heard the son is a Demon King.”
“WHAT!”
“Yeah. Rumor has it that he took down the entire army on his red monster.”
“A Demon King…!”
News of the duke’s loss spread throughout the world quickly. It was shocking news to hear that the duke who led the army lost and was taken as a prisoner of war. Within two months of the war, the entire continent knew what had happened.
“We must move our army and bring the demon to justice! People fear that the Demon King will invade them!”
“Horun has declared a Holy War against the Demon King.”
“Ugh, those fanatics…”
“We should strike now before the Horuns do.”
“No way! We should be careful. We cannot end up like Duke Barisman!”
“HOW DARE you compare the central army to the duke’s private army! Our army is the best of the land! We have over five hundred thousand soldiers!”
One of the old nobles shouted confidently, but the generals who were in the room looked unconvinced.
‘What’s good about the soldiers that we can’t use!’
The empire was huge. So huge that the land required many soldiers throughout the entire land. All parts of the land were ridden with bandits and monsters that required soldiers to protect the people. There was no way to call all of them up for a war.
“ENOUGH. We can’t decide on it at once. We need more intel. We can’t act on just rumors spread by those merchants. How can you believe such nonsense?”
“Yes, we need to look into it further. We should pick out our fastest knights to go out and find out.”
“Right. We should send out our elite knights for the job!”
“Oh, I believe we can count on them.”
Some shouted in approval. They then turned to a middle-aged man who was quietly sitting in the corner. He was a pale man with silver hair with an eerie presence. He frowned as everyone turned to him and bowed to the emperor.
“Hmph. Count Garcia, send out the knights.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Garcia bowed and moved out of the room. Nobles then began talking with each other regarding the other big issue.
“We should open up our storage and give our military food to the people.”
“NO! That’s absurd!”
“We can’t have people die when we have food in our hands! Hundreds of people are dying out there due to starvation!”
“That food is for emergencies when we have to go to war!”
“No country will dare to attack us, the Horun Empire!”
“I agree!”
“NO WAY!”
The people’s opinions were divided as they argued on whether they should give out food to the citizens or not.
‘It’s corrupt.”
Marquis Harmel Beloci, who had been watching from the corner of the room silently, sighed and looked out the window.
‘Is our empire falling apart?’
*
“HOW DARE YOU! BRING YOUR SUPERIOR NOW!”
The duke kicked the portable table and the bread, stew, and beer fell down to the ground. The soldier who could not stop him shouted in shock. The soldier became furious and glared at the duke. He flinched, but realized he was scared by a mere soldier and shouted angrily.
“BRING. YOUR. SUPERIOR! I AM THE DUKE OF THE EMPIRE! BRING THAT MAN WHO PUNCHED ME ALSO! I WILL TEAR HIS ARMS OFF! NOW!”
Duke yelled like a madman, but the soldier did not take his eyes off the food that was thrown to the ground. He then glanced at the duke and answered bitterly.
“Sure. I will call them.”
He then gathered the dirtied food onto the plate.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s as you see. I will clean it and eat it.”
“WHAT!”
The duke was shocked. He examined the soldier from top to bottom.
‘He doesn’t seem like a low ranking soldier… why?’
The soldier looked like he had a high rank from his clothes. The duke wasn’t convinced if he was telling truth until the soldier told him.
“We eat the same food and wear the same clothes. We never throw away food unless it’s rotten. It’s that kind of time right now,” the soldier calmly explained as he moved out of the cell. The duke was left speechless.
“Dammit.”
He couldn’t remember what had happened on the battlefield. All he knew was that he was now a prisoner.
‘I guess we lost then. Dammit!’
All he knew was that his capture meant a loss. It was obvious that they would require hefty sums for the release of the duke.
“Excuse me.”
While the duke was thinking about his state in rage, a man walked in. He was a man with black hair and shiny black eyes.
“You…!”
