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In the meantime, Hernan, who had just wiped out the enemy’s rearguard, looked down at his blood-stained sword.

Actually, though the difference between templars and non-templars was already clear, templars who were lagging behind couldn’t begin to compare to templars like him.

That was also the reason why the Templars of Diana were able to protect the Empire using only 300 men. But what about the templars who sat at the very top of the pyramid?

Hernan had barely moved. He glanced at the blood listlessly before tilting the tip of the blade.

It was then.

Hoot– Hoot–

Once again, the horn sounded. Hernan’s head shot up at the sound that sounded more harsh. But nowhere did he see any troops.

‘Are there enemies?’

If not, why did they sound the horn? While Hernan hesitated for a moment, a unit appeared over a boulder.

‘A unit? With those numbers?’

Hernan frowned since they had very few men for a unit.

But once he spotted them, he couldn’t possibly leave them alone. The moment he kicked off the ground, he soon found himself face-to-face with the man leading the unit.

“A-Argh!”

Hernan’s sword slithered through the air as though it was dancing. Everything happened in an instant.

Thump. As he counted the number of people he slayed, Hernan’s gaze gravitated towards one person.

‘Is that one the commander?’

Based on the person’s black robe, he assumed they were the commander. Hernan’s blade headed for the robe without hesitation.

The silver wind rushed towards the stranger’s heart in a blink of an eye.

“Long time no see.”

The gusts generated by the blade fluttered the robe. But that was not what he planned to do.

“Hello, Duke of Devolo.”

The stranger’s red lips stood out. Hernan stared at his hand, for a moment, confused.

‘Something’s wrong.’

He had imbued divinity into that strike. But his hands were not listening to him. As if someone else was controlling them.

‘How is this possible…’

Castor.

Or a Templar of the Lord.

Hernan, who quickly stepped back, calmly stared at the robe-donning stranger. The loose hood managed to cover the stranger’s entire face other than their lips. His shorter-than-average opponent seemed to have no intentions of retaliating. But for some reason, he could not see any weakness to exploit. Why?

“You joined the war ‘again’? You were such an annoyance in the previous wars. It was so hard to deal with you.”

“… Again?”

“Ah. You don’t understand, do you? Well. Has anyone understood me before? I should really let go of these expectations at this point.”

From her voice, she was a female. But why did it sound so familiar? No.

It was different.

There was no way he wouldn’t notice.

However, they sounded so similar, he could have thought they were the same if he was any less careful.

This was not the time to be distracted.

Hernan winced. But at the same time, he vanished.

“You always look like that whenever you use your powers. You would tell me you loved me while grabbing onto Castor’s hand with that face.”

Hernan’s hand betrayed its owner once again.

Boom–!

With more force this time, he bounced off of her. However, his blows did not miss his targets. Because the robe fell off her.

“Everything is fleeting.”

He landed on his knee as the light crackling sounds of footsteps approaching him alerted him.

“Oh dear. What’s wrong?”

His eyes were filling with tears.

“Were you surprised?”

Right in front of his eyes were golden eyes that seemed to sparkle. A colour he would never think to see again after Castor.

“I am a Templar of the Lord, have you not heard about me?”

A completely different expression stretched across an almost identical face.

“Or, have you not heard of my existence yet?”

Though there were no scars on her cheeks, he found someone, who looked so familiar, with hair that looked so similar, smiling.

“Do I let it rip now?”

Atalante, who watched as all of that had been going on from the watchtower, asked. And without waiting for a reply, her arrow flew through the air like a bolt of lightning.

Clang!

The sharp metal arrowhead that had been shot accurately towards Rusbella lost momentum as it approached her. And instead, it was struck down by the man beside her.

“Oh?”

Rusbella, who had been staring at the arrow struck exactly in half, muttered listlessly.

“Hm, there’s no divinity in the arrow… is there something special in the bow? They seemed to have used their heads.”

To be exact, Rusbella can control attacks imbued with divinity but she was vulnerable to everything else.

‘I’ve lived for hundreds of years but I’m still the same vulnerable woman.’

Rusbella smiled gently.

“Well. I came to say hello. So, should we stop here?”

She was in no rush. She had already been waiting for hundreds, or maybe thousands of years.

Rusbella grabbed the arm of the man in the robe.

“Slon.”

Hernan could tell from first glance that the man she was referring to was Slorenian, the 1st Prince of the Kingdom of Walter. He would occasionally catch a glimpse of his face back when he was with Castor.

The man grabbed her by her waist as if he had been waiting before running towards their horse. And just like that, they disappeared on horseback.

Only Hernan who was left behind shouted the name of the woman he was reminded of without realising it himself. As he stared at her disappearing back.

“You must have seen them.”

It didn’t take long for Hernan to calm down once he returned. Some templars were worried that he, being a Templar of Beasts, would be overwhelmed with emotions. But they were meaningless concerns, since he had already gotten over it.

And once Hernan had settled down, Dane arrived just in time.

“What did I just see?”

“It is just as you’ve seen.”

Based on Dane’s expression, it seemed like he knew Hernan would ask. Dane pondered while meaninglessly tapping on his lips before he spoke.

“By the way, the other Head Templars and by extension, the other templars know nothing about this so don’t tell anyone. Though they won’t believe it.”

“Still?”

“You’re not focusing on what’s important right now.”

Dane unravelled his blindfold.

“To be fair, I do see vague outlines of figures. To the point I can tell whether you are frowning or smiling?”

Dane joined the war as soon as he arrived but he also consulted clerics here upon Ray’s request. Fortunately, capable clerics had been sent here earlier.

“Perhaps it was because this was a curse of the sun but my sight gets worse when I’m under sunlight. So, I am practically blind.”

The late emperor had cursed him using his own blood. Because he had been obsessed with his talents. It was because of that, a very complicated method was needed to unravel the curse. When he learned that he needed the blood of a Templar of the Lord to cure his sight, Dane neatly gave up his vision.

“But I was curious, which was why I went to watch it once.”

The first person Rusbella faced was Ray. Dane had confirmed what she looked like through Ray who had gotten a good look at her face.

“… Shockingly, they look identical.”

“And it’s not like they’re twins.”

“Who is she?”

“She is the 1st Prince’s betrothed. Her name is Rusbella.”

Dane recognised this name. It was the name of the person Ashley once introduced as a close friend. But why were their names the same?

“To anyone else, she looked like another beautiful woman with golden eyes. So far, the only ones who recognise her are me, Ray and you.”

“Don’t tell me…”

Hernan’s expression hardened.

“Yes. Everyone who recognises her is intimately related with Ashley. It seemed like only those who know her well can recognise her.”

Dane hadn’t known but he was getting closer to the truth.

“Whether that was her real face or not.”

“Her Majesty, does she know?”

“Well, what do you think?”

Dane stared at the blue sky with his blurry vision.

“Anyway, you know now, don’t you? What you would have to do to lead us to victory.”

“You’ll have to stop her or find a way around her powers.”

Typically, Templars of Beasts were a natural in battles. Their god was warmonger. Hernan replied to live up to their expectations.

“At least she seems powerless against attacks without divinity. We’ll have to alternate our attacks from now on. We strike first with divinity then subsequently without.”

“Hm, you’re smarter than Ray, aren’t you?”

Ray frowned. He ignored that jab. Even if he could, how could he compare to that white beast?

“Our role would be to efficiently hold that woman at bay.”

And that was how their first day here came to an end. And marked the beginning of a fierce war,

***

“Your Majesty?”

I raised my head, which had been nose-deep in documents.

“Is anything wrong?”

“Did I look weird just now?”

Rebecca didn’t reply but she seemed to agree.

“I thought someone had called for me.”

I tapped my finger on my chin.

“But the voice did sound muffled.”

“Are you not tired?”

I didn’t think so. I waved her off without much effort.

“Is there anyone who’s not?”

If anyone was sleeping comfortably at the height of this war, they should be beat up. The current situation of the administration was not good.

“It should be called Noblesse Oblige.”

Come to think of it, that word had originated from the Roman Era in my past life but it seemed to hold true in this world, which was very similar to Rome, as well.

“What’s the situation in the west?”

“It is still a difficult battle to win. But it had definitely gotten a lot easier after we sent them those powerful templars. If the Templar of Diana had been holding ground themselves so far, at least now they can hold out without their artefacts and get some time to rest.”

“What about the Templar of the Lord?”

“Fortunately, they found a way to get past that.”

“How?”

“Yes. I heard that she was vulnerable to physical attacks, ones not imbued with divinity. In other words, she was weak against ordinary swords and bows. She might be a templar but her physicality is only slightly better than that of an average human.”

“Really? That’s a little strange.”

Come to think of it, before I awakened, while I never felt pain, I would get easily injured. Moreover, even after I awakened, though my physicality improved, I still had a body made out of bones and flesh.

‘Besides, Rusbella’s not very good with the sword.’

In cases like this, the memories I thought to be a novel could be helpful.

“Fortunately, templars who are good at the bow and non-templars who are excellent knights are working together.”

“Is that so?’

It had been a week since I sent templars as reinforcements. In the meantime, nothing urgent had occurred and they were still barely holding out.

‘Of course, there were still many sacrifices made.’

I squeezed my eyes shut before I opened them.

‘… I didn’t want to get used to seeing these numbers.’

I had sworn to myself after seeing the list of deaths. Even if thousands, tens of thousands or even mind-numbing numbers of deaths everyday. I could never get to know these people personally one by one.

I would never be like the creator of this world who crushed and ruined me using my fate.

“How’s the reinforcements?”

They’ve been holding out well. Troops from the Templar of the Snow and the Sea would soon arrive in the west.

“It’d take three days at the very earliest and a week at the longest.”

It would be tight. But I thought it would be alright.

Walking, I found myself underground without realising it. When I opened the door, dust greeted me. The damp air penetrated my lungs.

“You’ve arrived.”

After Castor disappeared, while the hall was rebuilt, the cave beneath the palace was not. Because the crystal was here. Because of it, we continued working on rebuilding the barrier in this vacant lot after removing the large debris.

“How’s things going?”

“Should I put it nicely? Or badly?”

I scoffed at the audacity of Dike, the Head Templar of Wisdom.

“Nicely.”

“Things have been going smoothly. You could even say things are going well. Vulcanus kept their records pristine which saved us time.

“How much time?”

“Faster than what you had planned, Your Majesty.”