Swordmeister of Rome

Rodeval grabbed his head as it ached.

'It's doing it again…'

He had a headache ever since he arrived at <Gran-Latra>. It was okay until yesterday, but it was now getting more severe.

'Is it because I saw him yesterday?'

There were two people that the Elders warned him about when he came out to the human world. Sian and Rian von Roman. He was told that he should never lay his hands on them. He had no intention to do so anyway. Everyone, including him, saw what happened to the mountain range. The Great Elder and the Second Elder had their artifacts robbed from them, but it was beyond their level to get revenge.

Rodeval was curious as to how he got so powerful, but it was no use. It'd prove to be somewhat useful, but it was nowhere close to making such a monster. He heard his people were second to none when their queen was alive in the years before. He wanted his people to regain power again.

That was why he was out here. He was calmest, and that allowed him to live among the humans. Rodeval grabbed his head and moved to the next class, <Monarachy and Political Balance>. It was a helpful class, even more so than his warrior class.

"…so the Seven Kingdoms are in balance."

The class was very quiet. Everyone was listening carefully to Count Kerbel's every word. His weekly class was a chance for the students to hear what the Royal Chancellor had to say.

"Kharan is the best at keeping its balance. The only country that touches its border with the Great North Wall is Kharan. It has Kiara to the east, Tian to the west, and Broshan to the south. It's surrounded by enemies."

Everyone kept listening.

"Kharan is maintaining its borders perfectly. No country has ever invaded Kharan aside from a long time ago. How did Kharan manage to achieve this feat?"

Everyone knew the answer, but they couldn't say it since it was a sensitive issue. Rodeval raised his hand.

"It's… because Kharan sent all of its forces to the wall."

It was what Kharan did to survive against multiple countries. To threaten the entire continent.

A few hundred years ago, Kharan was a country that all nations wanted to invade and attack. As the problem reached its peak, the High General at the time, Keldan de Rofelheim, made a decision. He withdrew all forces from the border. Countries started invading past the border, but they were shocked by Kharan's final warning that followed.

<If you come over our border one more time, we will attack the Wall.>

It was daring but too dangerous to ignore. The Wall was barely fending the monsters off. If all the Kharan forces were to attack the wall, it was bound to break. That meant the fall of the entire continent.

There was one King who ignored the warning. The then King of Kiara, Rosile the Third.

<Let them do it. They won't have guts to do that.>

Kiara then invaded Kharan, but they should've listened. A few days after, The eastern part of the Wall was destroyed by Kharan's cannon fire and many Bander users died that day. Kharan had already evacuated their people, so the Harijans invaded Kiara, bringing massive destruction to the Kiara Kingdom.

Tian and Broshan became shocked and quickly withdrew their forces outside of Kharan. Kharan then made a pact with the other countries and began concentrating on rebuilding itself.

Kharan never withdrew its forces from the wall after that.

"Great answer, Rodeval." Count Kerbel smiled and continued, "The current peace is the outcome of a very careful balance. Any slight change will bring upon a new borderline and the power balance can shift in just seconds. Just like this Lagran Region you all are in."

The students of Taran seemed angered, but Count Kerbel did not care. He could not worry about everyone's feelings.

"It's good that we only have to worry about people who want to break the balance. It would be a huge problem if we had to consider the Harijans for that, but it might make your homework easier."

People laughed at the joke.

"I'll give you a thing to think about. You all know Margaran and Kerbal lay in ruins now. The Lagaopora which connected the cities is gone too."

Everyone became silent. There was someone who did not know about the news yet.

"Lagaopora is gone…?"

"Kerbal…"

"That will bring change."

Kerbel smiled and continued, "Think about what each country will do because of this incident. It will be your homework for the week. You are dismissed."

Kerbel was surprised when he finished the class and came out to meet the person who was waiting for him.

"Oh, Sian. You're back already?"

Count Kerbel was surprised since he heard that Sian had left to travel for a long time.

"I have some business here. This is part of the travel too. I will leave after a few days. I just came to say hi since I heard you were coming today."

"I see. So, where have you been?"

"I've been to Lenorva, Margaran, and Kerbal."

"…Is it THE Margaran and Kerbal?"

"That's right."

"…Please don't cause trouble here."

King Narasha and a few of the high officials knew who was responsible for the destruction of Lagran, and that included Count Kerbel.

"You are mistaken. I didn't do anything."

Count Kerbel was unconvinced. It was impossible that the city could be destroyed within a day.

"If you say so…"

As he tried to continue, people erupted into a fight from behind.

"What are you doing!"

"Stop him!"

"You crazy bastard!"

The students seemed to have broken into a fight and Sian went to look. It was a group of people against one.

"Isn't that the Rodeval boy?"

Rodeval flinched at his feelings as he walked out of the lecture room. His headache was getting worse, but it was the first time he had ever felt anything like this.

<…do it…>

<…it…>

He could hear some tragic voice from within.

'Is it mind-controlling magic?'

Rodeval was confused. His people had high resistance against psychological magic, but the voice was invading his mind. Then he felt everything around him growing hostile.

'Ugh…'

Rodeval grabbed his head and fell to his knee at the entrance of the room. Then someone bumped into him.

"Huh? Why is he here? Hey, stand up."

Someone tried to reach out for him, and Rodeval felt his conscious getting destroyed.

<It's an attack!>

He then snatched the hand that was coming to help and threw the man away.