Chapter 65: Northern Conference (1)
The flow of the battle was overwhelming.
It could not even be called a battle.
It was nothing short of a massacre.
Ragnar’s soldiers drove back the forces of the Henson family, unleashing a fierce onslaught.
The sa was true of the clashes between knights.
The Ragnar Knight Order, which had only been firing arrows, had at so point leapt down beneath the castle walls and continued the fight directly against the knights.
Perhaps because of the instincts and experience they had gained from fighting powerful monsters on the harsh northern frontlines, they utterly overwheld the knight order that Count Henson had brought with him.
“How could this be! Our family’s elite forces collapsing so futilely…….”
“Count, you must withdraw for now!”
Ragnar’s army was butchering the soldiers with the montum of leaving not a single man alive.
Faced with this unbelievable reality, Count Henson bit down hard on his lip.
He had to escape from here sohow.
At that critical mont, a figure flashed through his mind.
‘Viscount Rak will be arriving soon. I’ll use them as a shield to escape the North, then bide my ti for the future!’
The one responsible for guarding the entrance to the North.
If it was Viscount Rak, who seed to bear a deep grudge against the Ragnar family, he believed the man could beco his lifeline.
With hope of survival ignited, Count Henson gripped his sword and moved forward.
“Break through the gate!”
Even as Count Henson charged forward fiercely, Seros and the special operations unit took no particular action.
They only cut down the knights.
Reaching the castle gate alone without any interference, Count Henson even used aura as he forced open the massive doors.
As he escaped outside the gate, just as he had hoped, a massive army revealed itself before Ragnar’s lord’s castle.
“Viscount Rak…… I knew you would keep your promise!”
Viscount Rak stood at the very front.
And the armored figures standing on either side of him removed their helts.
“It seems there was no need to form an encirclent.”
“Indeed.”
“Well, those who have endured in Ragnar dealing with the Henson family’s weaklings would be easy enough even with their eyes closed, wouldn’t it?”
Viscount Rak and the bearded middle-aged man beside him exchanged words.
They had rely acted to lure Count Henson into lowering his guard; they had never intended to betray Ragnar.
“Ha ha, look at his eyes. Isn’t he staring at Viscount Rak as if he were a savior?”
“This is why central nobles are called foolish. With people like that holding the core of the state, everything is bound to go to hell.”
The three n who had co with Viscount Rak were all lords governing the North.
With lords who could deploy an encirclent swiftly and who knew the surrounding terrain well stepping in, Count Henson had no chance of escaping.
“W-what is this……?”
Viscount Rak shook his head at Count Henson, who was staring at him blankly.
“What is it? Were you planning to use the Rak family’s troops as a shield to run away?”
“Viscount Rak! You dare……!”
“Tsk, tsk. You should have expected you’d collapse this easily.”
Viscount Rak’s martial strength was weak.
He was a lord skilled in administration, not one strong in combat.
But the lords standing beside Viscount Rak were different.
They were warriors who had endured for a long ti against monsters trying to break out of the mountain range.
Among them, the youngest-looking lord asked the others for permission.
“Seniors, may I go?”
“Go ahead.”
“A chance to see the skills of the one called the ghost of the North—can’t let that slip by.”
Once permission was granted, the young lord forcefully pulled out the long spear he had planted in the ground.
“There’s no need to tell a foolish bastard my na. He’s going to die soon anyway.”
“You baaaastard!”
“Is shouting the only thing you can do?”
The man gripping the long spear charged at Count Henson and, with perfect form, thrust the spearhead toward his chest.
Count Henson tried to deflect it with his sword, but his aura was insufficient to block the man’s attack.
Monts later, the sword shattered into pieces, and the man’s spear pierced straight through his heart.
The man forcefully pulled out the spear embedded in the heart and continued the motion, slicing off Count Henson’s neck as well.
“You shouldn’t recklessly barge into Ragnar and cause trouble.”
Attacking Ragnar was tantamount to turning the entire North into an enemy.
Holding Count Henson’s neatly severed head in his hand, the man walked toward the castle wall.
Then he bowed his head to Pramo, who was dressed as a soldier.
“I pay my respects to the head of the Ragnar family!”
“Thank you for coming all this way.”
Though Pramo generally did not speak down to lords, he did not use honorifics with the young lord.
And the young lord, too, naturally accepted Pramo’s tone.
“How could I refuse Ragnar’s call? If I can be of help, I will run to you no matter where I am.”
Less than an hour after the battle began, the gates of Ragnar’s lord’s castle were thrown wide open.
When Pramo descended from the wall and stood before the gate, the lords approached him.
Among them, an old man with long white hair stepped closer to Pramo and bowed his head.
“It has been a long ti, my lord. Upon hearing the news, I wished to rush here at once.”
“……Grandfather.”
Unlike Kyle, Pramo had a maternal family.
For the safety of the North, Rai Ragnar had married the daughter of an ancient and prestigious family.
That family was the Terius family, Pramo’s maternal relatives.
“I am relieved that you are safe.”
“Is Mother doing well?”
“She worried herself sick. I barely managed to stop her from coming with us.”
At the words of the head of the Terius family, Pramo lowered his head deeply.
At that mont, Kyle, his entire body stained with blood, walked over to where the two were standing.
“It has been a long ti, Head of the Terius family.”
The old man, who had been checking whether Pramo was injured anywhere, reacted to Kyle’s voice.
He had heard the news of Kyle’s return, but he could not bring himself to co to Ragnar.
He felt ashad to face Kyle.
“……I am glad you returned safely.”
“Why do you look like that?”
He lowered his head, unable to et Kyle’s eyes.
Kyle was not unaware of why he was acting this way.
But Kyle also knew that it was not that the Terius family had chosen not to move, but that they could not.
“……I am sorry.”
“It was Father’s decision. So I do not resent you.”
“Back then, the family should have moved…….”
“No. I believe Father left his strength with the head of the family in order to plan for the future.”
Viscount Terius tightly shut his eyes at Kyle’s words.
As silence lingered, Kyle spoke in a low voice.
“……Is she doing well?”
Kyle’s stepmother.
She was a woman who had done her utmost to care for a motherless child with maternal affection.
“She is doing well. In fact, upon hearing news of the Grand General, she insisted on going to Ragnar, and I barely managed to stop her.”
“I will visit the Terius territory soday. Please tell her on my behalf that I am sorry for not being able to properly pay my respects even after returning.”
“She will understand. I heard that as soon as you returned, you did not rest even for a mont and attended to the Ragnar territory.”
Other families might not have been able to understand Ragnar’s current situation.
Even those born of the sa blood often engaged in power struggles to seize authority, to take the family into their grasp.
No—strictly speaking, Ragnar as it was now was not realistic.
‘It is only because the Grand General understands and yields that no conflict arises between brothers.’
Even if Kyle had wanted to reclaim the position of head of the family, no dispute would have occurred.
Pramo had always said that if Kyle rely returned alive, he could hand over the position of head of the family.
Above all, Kyle possessed the qualifications to be the head of the family.
Originally, to beco the head of the Ragnar family, one had to awaken the family’s exclusive ability, Frostfire.
Though the lineage had been cut off long ago, until then the position of head of the family had always been held by the contemporary successor of Frostfire.
Viscount Terius alternated his gaze between Pramo and Kyle, then opened his tightly closed mouth.
“Now that the successor of Frostfire has returned like this, should not the head of the Ragnar family also be changed?”
Even if Pramo was his grandson, this was the law of the North.
The head of the Ragnar family must, without exception, be the contemporary successor of Frostfire.
At the words of the head of the Terius family, his maternal grandfather, Pramo fell silent, but Kyle shook his head.
“The head of the Ragnar family is Pramo. Even if I have returned, that is an unchanging fact.”
“The northern lords will never acknowledge it.”
Opposition from the council of elders was nothing more than childish petulance; the real issue was obtaining the consent of the northern lords.
They were rigid, and more than anyone else, they valued rules.
Even if Pramo was the grandson of the head of the Terius family, that did not change.
“Viscount Rak and the other lords have lived in the North for too short a ti to know. But the families born from Ragnar’s collateral lines will never recognize the current head as the head of the family.”
It was only after repeated persuasion that he would never reclaim the position of head of the family that Pramo was barely able to remain as he was.
However, he had not expected the head of the Terius family—who should have supported Pramo more than anyone—to bring this up publicly here.
“……What will you do if I say I do not wish to assu the position of head of the family?”
“I heard that an opportunity has co to change the dynasty. Then you must also know that to lay the groundwork to change the dynasty, active support from the northern territories is required.”
“If I do not beco the head of the family, does that an you will not support Ragnar?”
“That is correct.”
At the resolute words of the head of the Terius family, Kyle raised a hand to his forehead and let out a deep sigh.
He wondered if he had returned for nothing.
But such regret was aningless.
Had Kyle not returned, Ragnar would surely have disappeared into history due to the monsters.
A matter that was a problem whether he returned or not.
Even so, he was satisfied that by returning, he had protected Ragnar.
Eventually lifting his head, Kyle t Viscount Terius’s eyes directly.
“As the contemporary successor of Frostfire, I propose convening a Northern Conference in the na of Ragnar.”
“I will heed your will.”
In the end, Count Henson’s army that had entered Ragnar Lord’s Castle was annihilated.
Not a single one survived, and they had to lose their lives on the frigid land of the North.
After entrusting the handling of the corpses to Seros, Kyle took Pramo and entered the office.
“Pramo.”
“If the northern lords oppose it, then no matter that you are my elder brother, you will not be able to overturn their claims.”
“I have no intention of becoming the head of the family.”
“Then all the more, you should not have proposed the Northern Conference. Once the conference is held, not only all families derived from Ragnar, but even collateral lines that have never been revealed to the world will all be summoned.”
Of course, from Pramo’s perspective, the opposition of the northern lords was not a bad thing.
He had always wanted to hand over the position of head of the family to Kyle at any ti.
There was no resentnt that his maternal family had not taken his side.
The North had always moved strictly according to rules, and he acknowledged that this was the elent that bound the North tightly together.
“I will overturn it at the Northern Conference.”
“……Brother.”
“It does not matter if the lords do not lend their strength to Ragnar. Even if I am alone, I will raise you as king and Ragnar as a dynasty.”
“That is reckless.”
“Why do you think it is reckless? The foundation has already been laid. If they say they will not receive preferential treatnt in the world Ragnar will create, then all I need to do is make them regret it.”
“……Do you truly not wish to beco the head of the family? Or do you simply not want to have my position taken from you?”
“Both. Especially, I do not want to live my entire days handling docunts.”
“Haah…… Then do you think I am fine with it?”
“If your elder brother hates it, then even as the younger brother, you should endure it and do it.”
At Kyle’s words, Pramo laughed hollowly.
Then Kyle awkwardly lifted the corners of his mouth and smiled.
“All you need to do is think about how you can beco a good king and make plans.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)