Awakening the Great Chapter 74

Chapter 74: The Rabbit Effects.

The interior of the great hall was so quiet that even the sound of breathing could not be heard. Red banners hung from golden pillars, and beneath them, retainers knelt in neat rows. Mana stones emitted a soft glow as they served as lighting, yet the taut tension showed no sign of easing. At the very top of the dais, the being who ruled the empire looked down upon them.

The fourteenth emperor, Emperor Caracal.

Not a trace of emotion showed on the old man's face. Dressed in black ceremonial robes, he surveyed those below him through the corners of his wrinkled eyes. And before him, prostrated on the floor, was a survivor of the Blutspheer — one of the empire's finest knight orders.

The apprentice knight had, until this mont, ridden dozens of horses to exhaustion without rest. His armor was dented all over, his breathing was unsteady, and his body trembled. The helt he had set down on the floor spoke volus about the outco of the battle. His voice was utterly parched.

"……The naless rcenary unleashed flas without restraint. He traded blows on equal footing with Vice-captain Bart Lescar. It was as though fire had swallowed the heavens whole. The ground, the forest, the clouds — all were consud within it. We mobilized forces in haste, but a monster of unknown origin appeared and…… Our plans were thrown into disarray."

One of the retainers shook his head slowly. This man was not a knight — he was a survivor. He had simply returned alive, and the focus had long since left his eyes. That fact alone was enough to tell them that a catastrophe rarely seen within the imperial military had taken place.

Sure enough, as the trembling in his voice grew steadily worse, fear began to spread through the hall.

"The creature possessed a body composed of viscous fluid……. It spread a pitch-black miasma and drove the l-living into madness. My comrades raised their blades against one another, and order and tactics crumbled in an instant. The thing was…… Truly, utterly, not of this world."

Still, they had to ask. With hundreds of lives lost, they had to extract whatever truth they could from even this one man before them.

Soon after, the empire's nobles unleashed a barrage of questions. How formidable had the enemy been? What judgnt had the Blutspheer's commander made? Where had the anomaly originated, and what, in the end, was the conclusion?

And as those questions drew to a close, they were shaken.

"Only…… Barely eighty survived? From the Blutspheer?"

"Do you understand what you are saying? Do you know how many sons of high-ranking warriors were among them!"

"No, this makes no sense! Bart Lescar was a knight well capable of reaching the pinnacle! And yet you claim soone who matched him evenly had only just passed twenty! You would elevate a lowly rcenary with no proper standing so highly!"

"A monster of unknown origin……. Of all tis, for an anomaly to appear then!"

The great hall descended into chaos — whispers and outbursts, sighs and disbelief, suspicion all tangled together.

Yet the emperor said nothing. He simply looked down. His silence was like boiling ice. Cold fury. The retainers realized this belatedly and bowed their heads.

"……Your Majesty, this matter is a clear failure on the part of Dakar Raihe. Defeat carries consequences. It is only right that punishnt be administered."

Soon after, a count who had received the glances of those around him stepped forward. Following the orthodox ways of politics, his aim was to bring down the Blutspheer's knight commander.

"Inadmissible."

"Your Majesty, however——"

"Did Dakar not move upon orders? If there is responsibility to be borne, it is mine as well."

As Emperor Caracal answered with an icy gaze, the other man hastily retreated. All color had drained from his face.

Second to none; above all others.

The old emperor who ruled the empire closed his eyes for a mont. To push back the anger, he needed a little special assistance.

[Balder Dominion, Activating]

[Domain Expansion]

The neural accelerator engaged, yet no outward change appeared at the back of his neck. Instead, behind his closed eyelids, the light of a mana stone coalesced.

The neural accelerator of the first emperor, Caracal — a sacred relic passed down through generations of his descendants. It resided within one of his eye sockets. Tendrils of magical energy soon extended throughout the great hall, and the thoughts of the prostrated nobles were read one by one.

'Useless fools, the lot of them. Nothing but rabble.'

The ability gifted to him by a mage had beco the foundation of his powerful imperial authority in the present day. To filter out the incapable, and to bring those of true loyalty to the surface.

"Arenge."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Speak your opinion."

The incomprehensible being issued a command; there was nothing to do but comply.

"……Two variables have appeared simultaneously — the Antelopes and the monster. Therefore, pushing deep into Central Astria could lead to unnecessary losses. It may be best to pull back our forces, secure the northern front, and in the anti deal with these disruptive elents."

"You propose we abandon the center?"

"That is correct. The Blutspheer — none other than the Blutspheer— has fallen. There is risk that military discipline at the front may loosen, but more than that, there is a high probability our rear supply lines will be compromised. The group known as the Antelopes appears to be considerably more powerful than anticipated……. Even at the cost of a temporary setback, we must devote our full strength to eliminating them."

The piercing gaze bore down, yet the loyal retainer's voice did not waver.

"And the monster?"

"We must conceal it thoroughly."

"Conceal it?"

"Yes. Anomalies are, by nature, phenona that occur confined to specific regions. Furthermore, it is far easier to deal with fellow humans as the enemy than a monster of unknown origin. There is no reason to needlessly break the soldiers' morale."

A passing mark.

"So be it. Leave not a single ember behind."

"I receive your command!"

The sovereign's will beca the empire's will as he handed down his answer, and the retainers bowed their heads as one. Yet not a single person in that great hall knew —

What fruit a few small miscalculations would bear.

The tiny spark ignited by the Antelopes was already spreading, far beyond anyone's ability to contain.

***

Central Astria.

Beyond the plains, the sun sank beneath the horizon and the river ran red. So too did the ramparts of the fortress. Yet no one felt any warmth.

The soldiers atop the walls stood in a daze, their gazes uniformly hollow. The plains that had once boasted their beauty were now blanketed by the tents of the Niboria Empire's army.

"……Are they going to fight tonight?"

"Likely so. Those bastards are drunk on blood."

A brief exchange of hopeless words, then silence.

Until just a few weeks prior, the kingdom's people had consoled themselves with 'surely they won't co as far as the center' — but that belief had been proven hollow.

Now, the kingdom's capital, Star Haven, was within arm's reach.

The military might of the Niboria Empire was tightening its grip hard around the throat of the central region. Bring down the fortress and a few more barriers, and they could cross the river. In a sense, the very survival of the kingdom rested on this defensive battle.

But the soldiers were exhausted.

With food in short supply, they found themselves dropping their spear shafts even while standing still. With battle imminent, the outco seed all too clear.

A cold wind circled atop the ramparts, and within it, the heavy scent of defeat had already seeped in.

***

The sa hour, inside a barracks on the outer castle grounds.

Quiet grumbling passed back and forth near the bonfire.

"Any news from the Antelopes?"

"You haven't heard the rumor? Word is they went out on a secret mission."

"Pfft — secret mission, right. Want to know the real secret? Those bastards bolted with their tails between their legs."

The rcenaries around them let out small hollow laughs. A rcenary from Gardia who had been silently smoking put in a word as well.

"Kicking up their hind legs and running off is sothing rabbits do. Didn't think anyone would actually follow their lead."

"Exactly! I'm telling you, they're not people — they're actual rabbit pups!"

Laughter broke out around them, though in truth this was less about hurling insults and more about genuine irritation.

The Astria Royal Family had spread a false rumor that the Antelopes were carrying out a classified mission, but the frontline rcenaries knew the truth.

They had run away.

"……Damn fools. Not wanting to go up against Duke Saitz — say what you like, a hundred tis over I understand it. But even so, shouldn't they at least show their faces?"

"They just want to save themselves. In so ways, it's the most rcenary thing of all. Cowardly and petty."

"No, what are they planning to do after the war ends, I wonder. Once the lie cos out, the people around them won't let it go quietly."

"If Astria just collapses entirely, the story changes. They've got a knack for handling anomalies, so they could just push forward on that front and call it done."

"Ah, for fu——"

Of course, at first they had understood. But as ti passed, that feeling had turned to anger and mockery. Simply because they needed sothing to bla.

"It's going to be hard to win, isn't it?"

"Don't you rember the last battle? 13,000 n got cut down by 6,000. Count yourself lucky just to have survived this long."

"That's true, but…… It wasn't really 6,000 either, was it. We were done in by the Blutspheer."

"……The demons who cleave the moon."

In an instant, the rcenaries shuddered. Cold sweat broke out, shoulders shook violently, and so cried out without warning.

Thanks to that, the true bottom of their emotions — concealed beneath resentnt and ridicule — was laid bare for all to see.

They were afraid.

They were terrified.

The fact that soone had already fled from this brutal battlefield, where death clamped its jaws around the back of your neck and shook you — It was deeply unpleasant, yet……. Enviable.

Yet that night, no attack ca from the imperial forces.

Instead, a ssenger arrived bearing strange news.

"The Blutspheer……. Was annihilated by whom, exactly?"

"The Antelopes, I was told."

"……You an rcenaries?"

"That is correct."

Inside the command barracks.

Sir Estant, a knight under Duke Saitz, moved his lips before falling silent in the end. He was simply too dumbfounded.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the knights around him took his place in reprimanding the ssenger.

"Preposterous! Where did you pick up such nonsense!"

"P-pardon? Count Critang's orders, sir. He said it was a very important piece of news……."

At that mont, when the na of a northern noble suddenly ca up, the mood turned strange.

"Count Critang…… Isn't he leading the resistance?"

"Right, I heard he's commanding the detached unit."

"Then, is this truly fact?"

Not believing it ant tarnishing the honor of a northern noble; forcing oneself to believe it ant accepting sothing far too absurd.

"……rcenaries defeated one of the empire's finest knight orders? The Blutspheer, of all orders? They are no re knight order. Three hundred cavalry alone, and including the infantry knights and attendant soldiers, a massive elite force of a thousand. Am I hearing this correctly?"

"I was told clearly as such, sir. Word has already spread widely in the north as well. There are eyewitnesses. At best count, only around a hundred survived, they say—"

"No, no. I simply cannot believe it. If the information is true, then the imperial forces' rear is completely wide open. By the ti I wake from a night's sleep, the enemy encamped before the fortress could have vanished without a trace — is that not what this ans! Ha, truly what a dream-like tale!"

And the next day, the dream beca reality.

Rumble, rumble.

Clouds of dust rose across the plains. Tents were dismantled in a flurry of activity, and food, weapons, and other supplies were loaded one by one onto wagons. Then the beasts moved their hooves, and five thousand soldiers followed in their wake.

The imperial forces were withdrawing.

In all of Astria Kingdom's history, its quietest victory had been won.

"Those bastards…… They're actually leaving?"

"Are you joking? Hey, soone tell

this is so awful prank."

"Holy sh—, no prank about it…… Kriya, receive my praise!"

Knights and soldiers, rcenaries hired from every nation. Not knowing what they were even babbling, they lost themselves on the spot.

"The Antelopes……."

Just then, one soldier murmured out of nowhere. So wept, so were laughing — but before long, the whisper had spread to every last one of them.

They marveled, still unable to readily believe it, and at the sa ti felt ashad. They looked back on their own behavior from the night before and felt their faces burn red.

There was no other variable at play.

This was unmistakably the work of the Antelopes.

Not even a few days had passed before children's songs rang out through the kingdom's capital, Star Haven.

"The liars point their fingers~Antelopes! Antelopes!"

"They said they ran without looking back~But they tore the Blutspheer apart!"

"Hop once more! Hop! Leaping and spreading flas~"

"In the northern mountains lives a fearso Mountain Rabbit!"

This ti, regardless of the nobles' wishes, it spread rapidly — beyond Astria's borders, all the way to the neighboring nations.

A rcenary band had devoured a knight order.

It was too sensational a subject for the royal family or the nobles to bury at their own convenience.

**”

Sowhere in the northern mountains, as the early morning fog began to lift.

The Antelopes caught their breath in silence. After the battle had ended, they had traveled for roughly two more days before making camp. So sat slumped against boulders, staring blankly ahead, while others gripped and released their sword scabbards over and over with tightly wound fingers.

The horses were exhausted, and so were the people. The fatigue of body and mind was crashing down on them all at once.

"……We survived."

It was Volga who spoke first. Those words broke the silence around them like magic. The very words everyone had been unable to bring themselves to say.

"We're alive. We actually, really survived."

Only then did laughter burst out here and there. Basim was laughing heartily when he slid off his boulder, and Ella clasped her hands together with a small smile.

A fight they had thought utterly unwinnable. Against the Blutspheer and the Draug — that desperate two-headed beast — they had survived. They had not run. They had clashed head-on, fought, and won.

At first they had thought it a miracle, but it quickly beca a certainty.

The Antelopes were strong.

Once the prejudice that had bound them within the fra of rcenary was shattered, it swiftly led to a change in heart and bearing. Shoulders straightened, chests rose. Eyes that had been scattered turned and found one another.

Everyone had played their part. Not a single person had failed to contribute, completing this enormous gamble together. From here on, any opponent was worth a fight.

They had begun to truly believe that.

Right then, a low voice cut through and caught their soaring emotions.

It was Calix.

"But we need to cause even more of an uproar."

His eyes were full of exhaustion, yet his words carried a sharp, clear force.

Volga frowned.

"What? That's a bit……. What we've done up to now has been crazy enough already. Shouldn't we quietly slip away now? Our top priority is getting to the Viale Mountain Alliance."

"That's right. But the Draug will keep coming after us."

"……How can you be sure of that?"

"It called my na. It won't give up. I'm certain."

"……"

"And the empire's side won't leave us alone either."

A beat of silence at the sobering words. Everyone looked at Calix's face, but no mockery or displeasure could be found there.

The Antelopes knew. The path he had walked. And the Antelopes had seen. The mont he absorbed the forest's core, the attitude that mage Yelayen had shown, and the countless tis he had willingly stepped to the front.

And so Calix's words carried the weight of one who bore responsibility. The Antelopes themselves felt it as much.

"Even so, the situation isn't entirely bad. We all know it. The Draug's fearfulness and the empire's arrogance. We can't try to force our way out from here. Rather than that, we need to balance the scales."

"What kind of balance?"

As Volga's head tilted in confusion, a strategic explanation followed. They had to see it as broadly and as widely as possible.

"We won't fight directly against either the Draug or the empire. Instead, we make them fight each other."

"Like this last battle — make them collide with each other?"

Calix nodded.

"Right. But to carry out this plan, the empire's military strength needs to grow even larger. The Draug has beco far more powerful than before. If the imperial forces deal with it half-heartedly, we might end up having to clean up the ss. Which ans……."

Just then, Royce stepped forward and caught the trailing end of his words.

"The Antelopes must be seen as an even more dangerous existence. The more chaos we cause, the more sensitively they'll react. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"And then at a specific mont, once the imperial forces co to surpass the Draug's power…… from that point, we fight on the Draug's side?"

"Precisely. We don't step onto the scale. We make them step onto it."

The Antelopes let out sighs.

Their rcenary band leader had gone and gotten himself thoroughly bewitched.

It was no longer a surprising thing.

"Good lord, we're not even a regular army……."

Even so, no one refuted or denied it. There was logic to Calix's argunt. Not just to win, but for the sake of survival, they needed to beco a counterweight.

The dwarf Basim let out a deep rumbling laugh.

"Up until now I thought it was a joke…… but at this rate, we might actually end up becoming a proper knight order."

Laughter broke out again. Tension eased, emotions settled.

All that remained was rational deliberation.

Bang! Bang!

In that mont, the veteran rcenary struck the surface of his shield and suddenly thrust his hand into the air.

"Well then, comrades — there is but one thing left for us to deliberate!"

"……?"

All eyes fell on Gregor. He slowly leaned forward and rubbed his palms together as he delivered his answer.

"What manner of chaos shall we unleash?"

Grin.

At those words, Hadiya smiled — a truly wicked smile.

They were rcenaries. Creatures more suited to disorder than order, to improvisation than discipline. The madn of the battlefield who conjured muddy swamps and danced within them.

And before long, a party was thrown in the northern mountains.