When word of Pena’s fall reached Germion Kingdom and Pale, both King Ashtal and Pale were shocked. Especially, Pale, who cursed her naivety as she revised her plans. She worked the whole night without sleeping and sent orders to all sides.
“Brandika Rual Fatina…”
That was the ringleader of her mortal enemy and a great wall that stood before her. Normally, now would be the prime moment to attack Pena, but the forces of the Goblin King wasn’t ready yet. These 3 months were meant to give just enough time for Pale to hold on while they created a force strong enough to fight the Red King.
It wasn’t actually difficult to defend an attack from the Red King from the south. After all the area from the southern borders to the western capital was full of monsters; hence, so long as scorched earth tactics were used, the goblins had an advantage.
But the Red King didn’t do as Pale expected and instead went on to annex Pena. Should they successfully absorb Pena’s wealth, then the size of the Red King’s army can be expected to double.
The increase in supplies and number of soldiers meant that the army would be able to take their time should they attack in the future.
“What an honest move.”
No surprise attacks or schemes. Just straight up macro, hoping to make a big enough army that could wipe out whatever insignificant resistance his enemy puts up. But that was exactly what Pale feared the most. The Red King had a weakness. No doubt about that. But Pale needed enough time to reveal that weakness, as well as fulfill certain conditions. Just because someone had a weakness doesn’t mean they would immediately lose.
At this point, Pale decided to gamble even her own life.
“We will drag the Red King into battle.”
To that end, she would have to do something about Germion Kingdom, whose army was right before her. They have already been facing each other for 6 days. It should be almost time.
Under her she had the Leon Heart Clan’s Zaurosh, the battle slave siblings: Yoshu and Shumea, Yustia and her Snow Demon tribe, Mido of the werewolves, Tanita of the Rizalat, Luther of the Papirsag, Kerodotos of the minotaurs, Gi Gu Verbena, the goblin who ruled the southern area, Gi Jii Yubu the Battle Demon, and Felbi and the elves. A diverse army.
The humans numbered 500, the demihumans numbered 400, the goblins numbered 500, and the elves numbered 100, totaling to 1,500 soldiers all in all.
Pale ordered the goblins to reveal themselves to the enemy while she took the demihumans and humans to build their camp. But of course Germion Kingdom should have been able to see through that. After fortifying their defenses and sending scouts to every direction, Germion Kingdom’s army should have been able to infer that Pale intended to fight a long battle.
Presently, Germion Kingdom has dug their moats deep and have fortified their fences. Smoke could also be seen billowing from their camp at a certain time every day. It is likely that this smoke is from cooking.
“They’re not letting up. They’re not quite at Gowen Ranid’s level, but they’re no slouch themselves either.”
As Pale explained their plans, she described the enemy commanders as such.
After completing the camp, Pale’s forces slipped in the dark of the night and gradually cut down on the enemy numbers, while increasing the number of cooking smoke coming from their side.
Pale dispatched a small number of elven platoons to hunt the enemy scouts. At the same time, she divided the goblins into two groups and ordered them to regularly show themselves before Germion Kingdom. And then on the dawn of the 7th day, Pale ordered the platoon that left the camp to attack the enemy camp.
Smoke was billowing from the front part of their camp as usual, so Germion Kingdom was taken by surprise and were forced to retreat. Seeing that, Pale ordered the goblins to pursue. Gi Gu Verbena led the southern goblins and fiercely attacked the fleeing humans, while Gi Jii Yubu caused the human formations to collapse without straining themselves too hard.
After pushing Germion Kingdom’s army to the border, where the eight fortresses were, Pale turned the army around and immediately ordered the platoons in camp: the swordsmen led by Shumea, the Rizalat, and the Papirsag to go south.
“Sorry to point this out, but we probably won’t be able to defend this position with just this many,” Shumea said.
Pale nodded. “I’ll send reinforcements. There will be a lot, so make sure to use them well.”
Shumea couldn’t understand where Pale was going to pull out so many soldiers, but Pale didn’t answer her and simply turned heel and left.
Pale then led the centaurs, who were also in the camp, to use their superior mobility to go ahead of the army to scout the area and run to the borderlands.
Upon arriving at the border of the borderlands, Pale started constructing a fortress. Pale sent Yoshu and Zaurosh to go back to the western capital to get more people to construct the fortress. The goblins will be their escort, then she ordered the centaurs to look for any enemies in the border.
After constructing the fortress in five days, they once again departed without even sparing time to rest.
They occupied the empty borderlands, made camp, then Pale gave the order for the centaurs to attack.
“I will paint over the painting you’ve painted.”
As Pale uttered those heartless words, she began her plan to drag the Red King into battle.
◆◇◆
Pena’s Blue Knights returned to the capital after they were relieved of their duties to defend the north. In between the borderlands and Pena could be seen the mixed army, which was made up of many clans.
At the request of the queen, the knight commander of the Blue Knights, Allen, brought the Blue Knights into the command of the Red King. Naturally, Brandika was elated to have another powerful force added to his numbers.
After Allen led the official army into the Red King’s ranks, Brandika sent him to the region the elders had secluded themselves in.
Seeing Brandika send them showed just how considerate he was, so the members of the Blue Knights, who had prepared themselves for Allen’s execution, heaved a sigh of relief.
The mixed army which was tasked to defend the north would also come under the Red King’s command, but after they sent word that they were under attack, Brandika carefully scrutinized the information.
Presently, in order to establish the Red King’s government, they have dispatched their army toward the various lands of the elders. As such, they were currently in a civil war, but it was only a matter of time before they ended it. The difference in number, quality, and morale of soldiers was simply too great. There was no chance for the Red King to lose.
Moreover, they also have an alliance with the northern Germion Kingdom, and the Kushain Believers were as good as dead. They also pushed the goblins back north just recently. So, there was no reason for them to prolong the civil war.
Elrain Kingdom was already as good as the Red King’s, and it was unlikely that Pena would unify itself and strike back; hence, Brandika believed it was only matter of time before he conquered Pena and announce his dominion to the continent. But then like a fish bone caught in his throat, there was yet one more existence bugging him.
The goblins and the monsters.
He had just chased them away to the north and he has even heard that Germion Kingdom has sent an army to fight them, but despite that they were once again baring their fangs toward them. Brandika couldn’t understand it. What was their goal?
Another thing that interested Brandika was the existence of a Goblin King, which Saldin and Allen had spotted.
Monsters generally didn’t quarrel with the strong. For example, a goblin would never pick a fight against a great fire speckled bear, and an orc would never pick a fight with a dragon. After all, they knew instinctively that there was no chance for victory. If there were such a creature who would pick a fight despite that, then the only way to describe that creature is ‘insane’.
The same principle should hold true even in large-scale battles. The goblins were one-sidedly driven away from the south, so it didn’t make sense that they would attack again after a short time.
“Unless… There’s something greater behind the goblins.”
Brandika believed that monsters wouldn’t go against their instinct to fight the strong, but there were always exceptions. For example, what if there was an existence greater than a Goblin King hiding behind the goblins?
If the Goblin King himself were nothing more than a pawn, then that would mean the existence of a much powerful monster. As Brandika thought that, he became very interested.
If so, then the goblins are unlikely to stop their attack against the south. After all, they had an ally greater than the enemy that drove them away. That ally might make an appearance next.
But then again there was also that declaration made by the Goblin King before. The declaration stating that they were founding their own country.
It was information from a spy working in Germion Kingdom, who said that he heard the Goblin King say just that when he left with the people of the Western Capital. If you cut out the flowery words, that was basically a declaration of war from the monsters to the humans.
A bold and imposing declaration of war.
But only a king would be able to achieve such a feat.
“Are they concerned about the south then?”
Brandika tried putting himself in the shoes of his enemy. How would he move if he were them? In the end, his way of thinking was that of a human’s, but the south was certainly attractive. It had a lot of land, had people, and had wealth. It was a much tastier prey compared to Germion Kingdom.
“But… Do monsters even need wealth?” Brandika scratched his head, then placed his chin atop his fist. “What if they wanted to eat humans? …No, that doesn’t add up.”
Brandika knew that the Leon Hearts Clan and the Elks Clan were working with them. If the Elks are with them, then that’s probably impossible. This might sound strange, but Brandika actually liked the Elks Clan.
Elks was a clan that crawled its way out from the slums with their clan leader, Touri. It wasn’t difficult to imagine how much they must’ve suffered to crawl their way out of that trash heap. But despite that they didn’t show any hints of coming from such background in the way they behaved themselves. They dazzled brilliantly and that caused a comforting wind to blow within Brandika’s heart.
Unfortunately, he had no choice but to cut them down. That was what it meant to walk the path of conquest.
Brandika clicked his tongue, then thought back to what he might have missed.
The Elks Clan Brandika knew was not the sort to associate themselves with monsters that fed on humans. So, why? Why were the goblins so persistent with attacking the south?
“Could it be?”
Do they truly intend to rule?
The corners of Brandika’s mouth lifted and a fire began to burn within his eyes as an overwhelming presence like that of a lion’s emanated from him.
“Monsters ruling the world? Interesting.”
If they held such outrageous ambitions, then it was his duty to crush them.
That was his duty as a human king. And something he needed to do should they get in the way of his rule in the southernmost part of the contintent.
“So it will be a match between kings then.”
Though Brandika had never met the king, he felt deep affection for him.
It was at this moment that he acknowledged the Goblin King as his equal and his enemy.
