Book 9, Chapter 31

Doing One’s Best

Back in Faelor, one name was running through Richard’s mind— Duke Bonamar. He was a rather powerful lord whose personal plane had been attacked by the reapers, but he had refused advice and decided to take the fight. He eventually lost, his army almost completely wiped out to the point that his family’s strength crashed. He lost his title and his line eventually died out, but he never seemed to regret the decision. He addressed it on his deathbed, “Giving up was the rational choice. But when I saw what they were doing… being rational was so hard.”

Rapid footsteps suddenly rang outside the command centre, divine energy fluctuating outside the door as Ironshield and the others walked in. Several rune knights were currently carrying Gangdor on a stretcher, two priestesses of the Goddess of the Spring Water doing their best to heal his injuries.

The brute’s body was full of scars and scorch marks, one obviously blinded eye obviously leaking blood. Richard activated the power of the green moon, but he knew that even though vision could be restored, Gangdor would never see clearly again. As flowers sprouted around them, he leaned down, “You defied my orders.”

Gangdor suddenly frowned, grabbing Richard’s hand, “Boss, you should have seen what those bastards did to my men! They butchered us like livestock! They turned the entire northern army into materials! Please, let me stay, I’ll kill every last one of those bitches!”

“They didn’t even show their full strength; you’ll die.”

“Who cares?! I’ll kill a thousand whores first!”

“You don’t get to die until I let you,” Richard pushed the agitated brute back into the stretcher, “As for the… whores, I’ll take care of them.”

Gangdor was stumped for a moment, but he quickly understood what had happened, “Boss, no! You can’t fight them!”

“I’m not fighting them,” Richard said calmly, “I’m kicking them out of my plane.”

“No! No no no! Boss, we can’t win against them. I’m just a brute without much strength, it’s fine if I die. What will our brothers do if something happens to you? What will the family do?!” Gangdor started ignoring Richard’s attempts to respond, insisting that he leave Faelor quickly and seal the portal shut while he himself led those left behind in a battle to the death.

“Shut the fuck up!” Richard eventually barked, using the power of the contract to force the command. Even as Gangdor struggled with his mouth closed, he looked at the rest of his followers, “I’ve just come to a decision, a very stupid one. I’m staying behind in Faelor to fight to the death with these reapers; we Archerons aren’t the kind of cowards that leave our warriors and citizens behind.”

“Your Grace, no! You must reconsider!” Asiris cried out.

Fuschia spoke up as well, “Your Grace, we can stay behind. You are the backbone of the Archerons, nothing can happen to you.”

As multiple voices of opposition rang out, Tiramisu scratched his head, “I knew it would come to this.”

“Bullshit!” Waterflower snorted.

Phaser and Zangru stood indifferently by the side, not speaking a word. However, both of them were starting to exude hints of bloodlust that made their excitement clear.

Richard raised a hand to silence the room, “I know I’m being a fool. Many people in Norland are just hoping I make this decision; the Sacred Tree even has 500,000 soldiers sitting at our borders. But… so what? So what if we lose to the reapers? So what if we lose to those cowards that can only skulk in the shadows? As long as I’m alive, as long as you’re alive, it’s all fine. We can always start over again.”

The voices of resistance were immediately suppressed by bestial roars!

……

News that Richard had decided to fight the reapers quickly spread across Faelor, causing cheers to erupt everywhere. Many deities asked the three goddesses why Richard would make such a decision, but even as they expressed scepticism the warmth of their joy spread throughout their kingdoms.

Richard had no time to bother about their thoughts. He had spent the past ten hours mapping out arrangements, and now was the time to implement. Sending out orders for his troops to assemble, he climbed onto a messenger and flew north to personally experience the strength of the reapers. The cloned brain network still occupied most of Faelor, so he could take command of his men even amidst battle.

The enormous net of flying beasts and cloned brains that the broodmother had established on this plane was currently missing a large piece. The vast northeastern coast was completely dark, any beast that dared to approach being shot down, dismembered, and processed in minutes. Richard believed that the reapers had to have a special way to detect living beings, which was why the stealthiest of scouts were still caught.

That also made the enemy goal clear— they would destroy all life on this plane.

……

Once Richard left, the entire Archeron war machine roared to life. An enormous number of people and resources changed directions and were funneled towards Faelor, the movements so wide that they could not be concealed from interested parties and powerful politicians. Even the Far North received accurate news in only a few hours, sending the entire plane of Norland into an uproar.

Richard was fighting the reapers to the death!

Apeiron was currently at her desk, staring at a letter with only two lines written in it, “Worst case, we rebuild from the start. I believe there’ll be a miracle.”

She had read those same two lines what felt like a hundred times by now, but she suddenly flooded with rage and tore it into pieces, “MIRACLE MY ASS!”

The torn pieces of paper floated down like snow as the furious Empress walked to the balcony with large steps, staring at the bustling night view of Faust with killing intent. It took a few minutes for her to calm down and look straight upwards, staring at the enormous island floating above her head. Many silhouettes were heading in and out in preparation for the upcoming battle; before long, most would perish for the sake of pride.

She suddenly felt her anger vanish, replaced by an indescribable sense of exhaustion. As she sighed and returned to her room, however, she was stunned to find that Richard’s letter was intact and on her table once more.

Shocked for a moment, she walked over and examined the thing to find that it had actually been pieced back together carefully and then fused. There was only one person on this island who had picked up the skills to do that.

“Julian!” she growled.

“Always here, Your Majesty!” Julian walked out of the shadows, bowing gracefully.

She pointed to the letter, “You did this.”

“It does not matter who the source of the miracle is, only that a miracle has happened,” he smiled.

……

At almost the exact same time, Prince Tumen was looking at a letter written to him by his daughter. Macy had conveyed Richard’s decision with the same kind of brevity, but at the end she had added a line of her own, “I’d like to see a miracle with my own eyes.”

The Prince’s expression warped with rage. He raised his hand to slam it down onto the table, but only moments before he released his might he restrained himself and placed it down gently. Ringing a bell to call in the servants, he sent instructions that a family meeting was scheduled in half an hour.

Tumen walked in exactly as the clock struck the designated time, and all of the family elders were present by then. Some looked dishevelled, as though they had just woken up, but he paid no mind and read the letter’s contents aloud.

Macy was more important to the Millennial Empire than she knew herself. She was the only one in her generation to awaken the golden moonriver bloodline, and her ability was quite powerful as well. She was certainly the most talented of those around her age, which gave her a great chance to succeed Empress Gelan in the future. The fact that she’d suddenly run off to Faelor to fight the reapers left them in a precarious position.

The Millennial Empire was closely watching Richard’s movements. If it turned out that the Archerons really had made the wrong decision and their power dropped greatly, they would join the ranks of the vultures to enjoy the sumptuous feast. While Tumen or even Gelan didn’t really care about the wealth the reward point system had amassed, they couldn’t afford to allow their main rivals to take it all away.

Just like the Sacred Tree Empire, the Millennial Empire was slowly amassing forces close to Azan. The maple knights had already set off in silence, replacing their eye-catching crest with other styles of armour and hiding within private armies at the border. However, Macy and Richard moving together left these forces in an embarrassing situation. They would likely withdraw for Tumen’s sake, but that would leave him owing so many favours that even he felt like he couldn’t bear the burden. Nothing would matter if she became the next epic being of the Millennial Empire, but that was never a guarantee.

Most of the family elders refused to give their opinions, forcing the Prince to eventually come to a decision himself, “Inform all the lords at the front lines that Macy’s actions are unrelated to both my line and the imperial family. They can act without worry.”

The elders shivered at this order. If it was passed down, the lords definitely wouldn’t hold back.

……

Within the Sacred Tree Empire, Hendrick was reading an intelligence report under the dim light of the altar. It detailed the abnormal movements of the Archeron Family’s troops and resources, coming to a startling conclusion— Richard had decided to go to war with the reapers!

The report itself wasn’t complicated, but the Archbishop read through it thrice before putting it down. He stared at the wall for a few minutes, watching the flickering shadows as he muttered to himself, “This brat… is he really trying to work a miracle?”

He attempted to put ridicule into those words, but for some reason it came out as awe. He thought of the divine child he had just decided to follow, someone who also did the same. It would take a similar level of miracle for Martin to return alive from heaven, which was why he hadn’t gone himself. He simply didn’t have the determination to follow through on such things.

Hendrick eventually sighed, summoning the old priest that normally guarded the gates, “Notify those loyal to us. If… If we are to go to war with the Archerons, they must be more careful. Rewards aren’t as important as the lives of our warriors.”

The old priest was stunned for a moment, understanding that this was a command to avoid war. However, he had never been one to second-guess the Archbishop, so he hobbled away to convey the order.