Emperor of Steel

King Mayers, who had been confronting Luke despite the constant nightmares for the past days, received a magical communication from Brandon.

“What did you say? There are monsters creating a mess in the kingdom?”

-Uh, yes, Your Majesty. What are we supposed to do?

After Count Bazzo, Viscount Mager had been serving as the chief in the Royal palace and sweated cold when asking for the directions of the countermeasure.

“What do you mean by what to do? You need to deploy troops to subdue the monsters right away!”

Mayers didn’t take the matter of monsters so seriously.

Rather, he was just irritated with it and accepted the situation.

However, soon his irritation changed after hearing the next words of Mager.

-We already tried to subdue them. However, there are so many of them and it is impossible to take them down.

“Huh, how is that possible?”

According to what Viscount Magers said, monsters in hundreds were roaming around plundering the villages and making a mess.

The estates’ soldiers went out, however, with the number of monsters out there, they weren’t able to subdue them.

Rather, it was possible for them to prevent the attack of the monsters.

When the situation began to take a turn for the worse, Viscount Mager began to send out the remaining defensive troops left in Brandon.

However, the number of soldiers going out wasn’t effective when compared to the monsters.

The number of monsters was much higher, and there was an issue where important weapons, such as Gigants and guns were already dispatched for the battle, and the subjugation forces were poor.

-According to the reports sent by the commander of the subjugation army, the monsters are aiming for the military base.

“Kuek! If such a thing was happening you should have informed me!”

-I, I heard of the news only a while back…

“Uh, stop them! I can’t send the power from here in such situations!”

For the last few days, the battles in the Bateron town were being overpowered by the Rakan army.

On top of that, the Grenada navy attacks didn’t seem to cause any further dissipation.

Even then, he couldn’t just give up and let the army go.

The attacks from the Rakan were a concern, but if he decided to help them, the Milton Kingdom would turn anxious of the future attacks in the north and south.

-Then how about the troops of the Variand mountains…?

“Didn’t I tell you that it’s a no?! it is obvious that the Baroque Empire will take over immediately! Tell the Lords in that region to last a little longer!”

At the words of Mayers, Viscount Mager sighed.

-I somehow tried to soothe the lords, but the situation is too frantic with the monsters outside, and talking with magic communication about the subjugations was tough indeed. And the monsters aren’t the only problem.

In the present situation, the remaining troops in the province were difficult to maintain.

As Mayers had taken away the core power to hit the Rakan, the remaining troops were all scattered trying to take down the monsters.

With the lack of security, bandits too have increased.

And it wasn’t just that.

As the prices rose due to the war, riots were breaking out in the city and the refugees who had been used as slaves began to create trouble.

And the domestic situation turned out to be annoying, lords were trembling with anxiety as their army was falling down.

If their King Mayers didn’t help, they would be reduced to a monster’s meal or the victims of thieves or mobs.

-I am feeling bad for saying this, but some Lords might make some extreme choices. And…

Extreme choices meant rebellion.

They had already once betrayed the Baroque Empire, so there was no saying why they wouldn’t do it twice.

In the end, Mayers was forced to make a decision.

“I can’t. Send a draft and draw general men to the spot. With those troops, stop the monsters first and try to maintain peace in the kingdom.”

In the capital, Brandon city…

If men were recruited there, they might be able to attract a few thousands.

-Sorry? Untrained soldiers are just scarecrows with spears?

“Then go out and fight those monsters!”

Pung!

Mayers stopped the magic communication and threw the crystal ball on to the floor.

Suddenly, with the rise in the domestic situation and the frustrating words of Viscount Magers made his chest hurt.

‘Dammit, what is so difficult about attacking the monsters… where did they even appear from? Did the Libiya kingdom men strike behind our backs?’

Libiya was known to be the only nation where monster troops were used.

So, that was why they were the first ones to rise when thought about monsters.

‘But why? Didn’t they just send a congratulatory message and gift at the coronation ceremony?’

Moreover, the Libiya Kingdom had no reason to attack the Milton Kingdom.

Both the kingdoms were in the middle of the war of independence against the Baroque Empire.

Even if they didn’t think about the future, it was helpful for both the kingdoms to stay beside the other.

Mayers’ mind was full of complicated thoughts.

A middle-aged noble with a sharp impression came into the military camp with a stern face.

He was the man who was in charge of the communication with Aegis agents.

“Your Majesty, the assassination of Marquis Luke has failed.”

“What? Failed?”

Listening to it, Mayers jumped out.

“Why, why would they even fail this?”

According to the reports received, even though the boundaries of the enemies were closer, it was very likely that the aegis agents infiltrated seeing a gap.

But suddenly, the news came back saying they failed!

“I don’t know why. However, it is likely that they were all discovered since they haven’t contacted me for a few days.”

“No, that can’t be!”

Not one or two, but dozens of fairies.

After a long period of brainwashing and training, he couldn’t believe that the men who were specialized to do stealth operations had failed.

“Although it is still early to conclude just because the communication has been lost. So we will wait until tomorrow morning.”

Aegis agents had self-destructed tools in their bodies.

Even if discovered, they would just die alone.

If they did use those tools, the news would have reached to Mayers.

So Mayers decided to wait until tomorrow morning and then take any countermeasures.

“Dammit, till tomorrow morning? I am going to be plagued by Bazzo.”

And as expected, Count Bazzo constantly appeared in his dreams every night.

The bloody terrible dead body he had been seeing for days still existed, and now he was getting accustomed to it, but the cool energy that was swaying his body and the sorrow of the talks was seeping into his mind.

-Your Majesty… it was unfair…

“Stop it now will you?! I told you that I didn’t do that, right?”

-Huhuu, why did you have to kill me…?

“Stop it! Didn’t you say you were loyal? Why are you bothering me like this?”

-It is unfair! It is unfair!

“Heeik!”

Mayers, who was feeling stressed, pulled the sword from his bedside.

And swung at the image of Count Bazzo who was approaching him.

“Get lost, you damn ghost!”

“Kuek!”

Mayers shook the sword but got woken with a clear scream.

The dark curtain was bright, and a knight was dying with blood flowing out of his neck.

“Y, Your Majesty… Majesty… why…?”

Upon hearing those screams, Reynold and the other men rushed to the King’s camp and were shocked to see the bloody body of a knight and the bloody sword of the man who used it.

“Your Majesty?”

“Ah, no! I didn’t kill him because I want to!”

Shocked at what he did, Mayers threw down his sword and was shaking while mumbling things.

The cat, well, Sebastian, who was at the corner of the military base, smiled at the murder which happened.

The next morning, rumors began to spread that the King had gone mad and killed a knight in his camp.

The rumors did more damage to the Milton Kingdom than the losses they received from the Rakan estates.