Chapter 230

Chapter 230 - Marching Out

The Legion Commanders of the Polar Night Wall stood leaning against the tallest spire at Gate 15.

Even on the tallest buildings nearby, people had climbed all the way to the roof’s edge and were looking east.

Because today was the day.

The day the blood relatives of the East would leave the Polar Night Wall and head west.

For that purpose, the main camps of two direct-line blood relatives were already waiting near Gate 15.

“It seems the two of them have finished their preparations.”

“Yes. It appears so.”

Emma answered calmly as she looked at the two blood relatives one after another.

From atop this spire, even the two who were far away could be seen clearly.

Two blood relatives waited in their respective places. One of them sat atop the head of a skeleton horse far larger than an armored train.

The other stood atop the gate of an enormous castle that had descended to just below the clouds.

Compared to the castle, he looked as small as a flea, but the smile on his lips could be seen clearly enough.

“Where are the Daughters?”

“They are too faint to see clearly, but they are up there above the clouds. They said they would wait in the Ghost Carriage that the Butler prepared.”

“So the march begins now.”

“Once the Fifth Son arrives.”

Emma looked at the man who was both her senior Legion Commander and her former superior.

Unlike the days when he had been stationed at the wall under the pretext of a vacation, he had finished arming himself completely.

He wore armor decorated with demons and carried a single-edged greatsword on his back. Wearing even a helmet that shimmered with demonic energy, he looked exactly like a knight of hell.

That knight of hell was, in truth, waiting as the Gatekeeper for the master beyond the gate he had once guarded.

“Are you leaving now?”

“Then I must go. I cannot live here.”

“Truthfully, I wish you would. This place was peaceful whenever you were here, senior.”

“This is not the place where I belong, Emma.”

She nodded. She knew that fact all too well, so she had no choice but to nod.

“Yes. Because you are leaving for the battlefield again, just as you did before.”

“This time, whether I die or survive, word will reach you. Keep your ears open.”

“…Is that not too cruel, even as a joke?”

“Ha ha ha!”

The Gatekeeper laughed from behind his helmet. The sound was like the cry of a beast from hell, but at least to his junior, it was warm.

“I suppose I have been influenced after serving such an eccentric blood relative. Forgive me.”

The Gatekeeper’s gauntlet patted Emma’s pauldron.

The recruit who had once looked as though she would fall over if tapped was now a Legion Commander.

In the process, her body, forged and trained, had become solid whether she wore armor or not.

But in the eyes of her senior, she was still a delicate junior.

“For your sake as well, I will return safely.”

“…Please do not say things like that. You will jinx it.”

“In any case, a war between great families revolves around blood relatives. I am the only support.”

Emma felt her mouth dry for an instant.

“…A battle where someone of your caliber must fall back into a support role. Honestly, I cannot even begin to imagine it.”

“I cannot be certain of anything this time either.”

“Who could be certain of anything? It is an all-out war between great families.”

“Well. I know one person who can be certain of something.”

“Who is that?”

The Gatekeeper jerked his chin toward the horizon.

“There he comes.”

Emma turned her head. Something was rising over the horizon like the sun. Unlike the sun, it was pitch-black and enormous.

An airship larger than the sun as seen from the ground flew heavily toward the Polar Night Wall.

Its body was as dark as shadow, and its appearance, decorated with bones and human skeletons, made it look like a Ghost Ship. But unlike a Ghost Ship, that thing could be touched, and it was a real terror.

The one who stood atop it was also real.

“…The Fifth Son?”

Emma called him that without thinking. Compared to what they would call him in the West where they were about to go, it was a title overflowing with courtesy.

In the West, he was called many names: a war criminal, a man who had sold his soul to demons to obtain a demonic potion, a wretch who had destroyed the Portal and deserved to be torn apart, and so on.

But here, at the edge of the East from which he was about to depart, he was a hero.

ROOOOAR—!!!

The Polar Night Wall was filled with the soldiers’ cheers.

As the Black Ship drew closer and the figure standing atop it came into view, the sound grew even louder.

He was a blood relative far too young, who had come like a single ray of light in a reality that was becoming harsher and harsher.

Yet that young blood relative had accomplished what even the old Elders could not.

“…I knew it already, but the soldiers’ loyalty toward the Fifth Son is remarkable.”

The cheers were loud enough to startle even the active Legion Commander atop the spire, and only after the Youngest Son raised a hand from atop the Black Ship did the sound subside like thunder beneath a clear sky.

Looking at Emma’s slightly flustered face, the Gatekeeper gave a faint smile.

“That is that blood relative’s specialty.”

“…His specialty?”

The Gatekeeper nodded and looked into the air for a brief moment. In that instant, he was not looking at the present, but at a certain past.

The past when he had first met the Youngest Son. The past when, as an Executioner Knight, he had cut off his arm.

It was a past he still regretted, and because of that past, he had seen the Youngest Son’s specialty many times before he came to stand here.

“The prince had to fight those who possessed exceptional individual strength, as well as groups with exceptional collective strength, while his own individual strength was not outstanding.”

In a succession of such situations, what had the Youngest Son developed?

There was only one answer.

“So, naturally, he came to see the world as a chessboard. He used not only himself, but also the enemy before him and even other enemies as pieces to face his opponent.”

“…Are you saying he blocks an enemy with another enemy?”

“From the moment an enemy is used to block another enemy, the enemy used as both shield and sword is no longer an enemy. He is another ally.”

“…!”

Emma’s eyes widened faintly. Her mouth opened slightly, and the corners of her eyes trembled as she looked up at the Youngest Son on the Black Ship, which had stopped in place.

“Then I was one, and so were you, senior, and the soldiers here as well. Even the other Sons and Daughters were all his other allies.”

“Yes. That is how the prince expanded his power and came this far.”

WHOOSH—

The Gatekeeper spread the wings of his armor. They were demonic wings roughly covered in rocky scales.

“I will be going now. You should rest as well. You have worked hard looking after the blood relatives.”

“Return alive. By any means necessary.”

“I will.”

THUD—

The Gatekeeper kicked off the spire and flew upward. With a few beats of his wings, he arrived at the Black Ship suspended in the air.

Behind the Clone Son, who stood alone on the deck where the wind blew sharply, the Gatekeeper knelt on one knee.

“I nearly fell asleep waiting.”

Although the Gatekeeper knew he was a Clone, he treated him exactly the same as the main body. Even if he was a Clone, his position did not change.

Thus, the Clone also looked back at him with a faint smile.

“Do not fall asleep so easily. At your age, once you fall asleep, there is no guarantee you will rise again.”

“…I am not that old.”

Following the Gatekeeper, the blood relatives who had been spread throughout their respective domains also gathered in one place.

They were people who would never have gathered like this if not for the Youngest Son.

“Youngest Clone! Why are you so late? I had such a hard time waiting~.”

“I am sorry. Loading various things onto the Black Ship made time pass before I knew it.”

“Jamie. The Youngest did not bring his main camp ahead of time like we did. You should understand that much.”

“It was a joke, a joke~. You two are together every day, and you do not even joke with each other?”

Shake, shake.

The Third Daughter answered Jamie’s words. It was the Third Daughter’s answer, no less. That alone was proof that the blood relatives had grown somewhat closer.

“You are here.”

The First Son, who arrived last, stepped down from his Wyvern with a gray sword at his waist.

“Do we march out now?”

His voice was strangely buoyant. It matched the First Son’s mood. He had been called a conqueror before he entered the mountain range, so it was understandable.

“Yes. The main body will join us midway, and we will head for the West along the optimal route he obtained in addition.”

“Whose speed are we matching?”

“The First Son’s.”

At those words, First Son Hiler’s eyebrow twitched strangely. Even so, he did not say anything in particular.

Everyone here knew the reason.

“Well, of course~. With that heavy-rumped skeleton horse, it would be hard to run quickly~.”

The Skeleton Giant Horse was a mobile fortress, but since it had to run on four legs like a skeleton horse, moving it was cumbersome.

“Even so, the Skeleton Giant Horse is necessary.”

“Did you hear that?”

“Hmph~. I never said it was unnecessary either.”

Once movement ended, the Skeleton Giant Horse would become the base of the Undead Knight Legion. Furthermore, it was the nest of the Bone Dragon and a giant egg that held the Bone Wyverns.

The closer the giant horse was, the more First Son’s combat power increased.

“If we match our movement speed to the Skeleton Giant Horse and follow the optimal route, it will take three weeks to reach the Tower of the Sky in the West.”

“Three weeks….”

Even from the Fourth Son’s face, the playfulness vanished this time. Even for Millesdusk, which could raise corpses, time could not be helped.

Furthermore, this was a far heavier attack than Wisdom’s first preemptive strike, so it also required more time.

The Clone Son spoke.

“We will not waste those three weeks.”

“Really? What will we do during those three weeks?”

“There is something the main body told me to teach all of you. I will teach the introduction, and once the main body joins us afterward, he will complete it.”

“What is it?”

Instead of answering, the Clone Son took out a book from his subspace.

It was a book with a pitch-black cover and only one thin white circle drawn on it. It was something that could be found in ordinary homes in the East as well as in the Family Head’s room.

“The Scripture of the Dark Wheel? Why are you taking that out?”

While the Daughter and the Fourth Son both wore puzzled expressions, only the First Son broke the silence.

“…What other reason could there be? He means to teach us the Six Paths.”

“Th-th-the Six Paths…?!”

“…….”

The Fourth Son was horrified, and the Daughters swallowed groans. It was because they naturally realized there was only one thing this meant.

The blood relatives’ eyes naturally turned toward the Clone Son, but he avoided their gazes and put the book away.

“Please ask the main body for the details. I am only doing as I was told.”

Moreover, right now, taking their first step was more important than the Six Paths. The Youngest Son was waiting in the Center.

“Everyone, please return to your positions. Once I share the optimal route the main body found, we will march with the Skeleton Giant Horse at the head.”

The blood relatives’ faces grew complicated. The reason was not the march.

Perhaps because they were siblings, they all returned to their places with similar expressions, their faces filled with concern.

―To think the Youngest has already reached the Six Paths.

Their shoulders slumped, filled roughly with concerns like that.

The Clone kept his mouth shut because they looked as though they would faint if they learned that he had actually been using it since long ago.

THUD THUD— THUD THUD—

The Skeleton Giant Horse began to move. It lifted its heavy forelegs, pushed off with its hind legs, and began to walk slowly.

Its speed gradually increased, and the earth trembled with every step it took.

Moreover, everything until now had only been a running start.

BOOOOM—!!

It kicked off the ground with enough force to leave hoofprints in the earth.

WHOOOOOSH—

The Skeleton Giant Horse flew.

That was how it looked in the eyes of the soldiers riding the Moray Eels.

A gale swept out according to the movement of the Skeleton Giant Horse. The force of the wind was enough to momentarily lift the Moray Eels from the tracks.

BAAAAAANG—

The blast of wind only stopped after the Skeleton Giant Horse leaped over the Polar Night Wall and planted its forelegs on the land beyond the wall.

Even so, the giant horse did not stop.

With the Black Ship and the Black Giant Castle trailing behind it like tails, it charged westward as a group.

Toward Wisdom.