CHAPTER 38………………………
038. Strengthening Forces
“Are you certain of this?”
Siruela stroked his beard as he asked.
“Given the circumstances, there’s no other explanation.”
“So, you’re saying it’s almost certain?”
I nodded.
Siruela wasn’t a fool.
It seemed he had reached the same conclusion as me, and he soon nodded as well.
“I don’t understand.”
Gardner, who had been sitting with us, frowned.
“Why would they go out of their way to get rid of us?”
“It means they’re confident they can stop the Flood.”
Siruela answered calmly.
“I don’t know what it is exactly, but…”
“They’re probably planning to use it to rise against the Empire.”
“Right. That makes sense. In that case…”
Siruela’s dark-green eyes gleamed.
“We’ll have to move first.”
“What?”
Gardner’s eyes widened in shock.
“That’s reckless. Even if we managed to take down the Guard, there’s no way we could hold off the entire northern region led by the Ice Maker. Not unless the Captain were here…”
“Then that’s the first problem we need to solve.”
“…Excuse me?”
“The Calamity of the Snowy Mountains.”
Siruela pointed at the map spread out on the table.
Among the many figurines placed upon it, he rested his finger on one.
The dragon figurine perched on the snowy peak.
“We deal with Vibrionte first.”
He flicked the figurine, toppling it over.
Thunk — the dragon figurine fell forward.
“Then the Guard and the Ice Maker will come next.”
“Wouldn’t that… be even harder?”
Gardner swallowed nervously.
“Even subjugating the Calamity of the Snowy Mountains… honestly, I don’t know if we can.”
“It’s fine. We may lack manpower, but as for our strength…”
Siruela slid his gaze toward me and continued.
“You’ll take care of that, won’t you?”
His voice held far too much certainty to be a mere question.
And he wasn’t wrong.
Even if we were to face the Ice Maker, the right move was to take care of the Calamity of the Snowy Mountains first.
Only then could Siruela and I descend the mountains together.
Besides, time was not on our side.
We didn’t even know what the Ice Maker had in his possession.
Better to strike before he prepared and waited for us.
“There is a way.”
At my words, Siruela nodded as if he had expected it.
“I knew you’d say that.”
“But I can’t do it alone.”
“Then?”
“I’ll need the others.”
I really didn’t want to use this method, but…
“Gather all the members.”
Better that than death.
“I’ll show you how.”
Siruela immediately gathered everyone in the fortress.
Veterans and newcomers alike—322 members in total.
Standing before them, Siruela was the first to step onto the platform.
“Your commander, Siruela, speaks.”
His voice was calm.
He didn’t need to raise it; everyone was focused on him already.
Even the longest-serving veterans of the fortress, even Gardner, the battle unit commander, had never seen Siruela address the entire force before.
“Iceroc was…”
Siruela began slowly.
“…a subjugation force created to slay the Calamity of the Snowy Mountains.”
He recounted his past, long forgotten even in legend.
That Iceroc had once existed, that he had been a member, that they had severed the neck of the dragon Vibrionte, the Calamity of the Snowy Mountains… and yet—
“We failed.”
All the other members had perished, and marked with the Dragon’s Brand, he had been unable to descend the mountains, forced instead to build this fortress.
“And so I spent centuries here.”
It was a story hard to believe, but it came from the mouth of a living legend.
The men listened in silence, as if they had forgotten how to breathe.
“I kept wondering if one day… a chance would come for me to atone for my failure.”
Siruela looked slowly across the hall, meeting the hundreds of eyes fixed on him.
“That chance has come. But I cannot do this alone. I need your help. I know none of you came here willingly… but I also know you don’t want to stay here forever.”
His quiet voice grew stronger.
“This is your chance to save yourselves as well.”
Though only slightly louder, his words sent ripples through their hearts.
“Seize this chance.”
Even after he finished, Siruela stood there, gazing at them for a long while.
They said nothing, but their heavy, excited breaths gave them away.
Finally, Siruela nodded and stepped down.
“I wonder if that was enough.”
“It was excellent.”
After exchanging brief words, it was my turn to take the platform.
“Esric Spelder, deputy commander of the magic unit.”
I began with the obvious introduction.
“To be honest…”
I cut straight through the atmosphere with cold, blunt words.
“…the odds of dying are much higher.”
The charged breathing that filled the hall instantly stilled, as if a candle had been snuffed out.
But they needed to face reality.
The subjugation of the Calamity of the Snowy Mountains was no easy feat—it was dangerous, reckless, nearly impossible.
Hundreds of heroes had tried before. Thousands of soldiers had failed.
And now we would face it with barely three hundred.
Yet we couldn’t just sit and wait either.
The Ice Maker was preparing to let us all die, to dissolve the Guardians.
I laid all of this bare before them.
“Despairing? Accept it.”
Faces that had been flushed with excitement grew dark with shadow, as if already sinking into death.
“This is our reality.”
Still, I had to speak.
Without accepting reality, any dream of the future would be empty.
To make that dream real, reality had to come first.
“But it’s not completely hopeless!”
At that, their eyes lit up.
“I will inscribe the Marks!”
I accepted reality first.
I hadn’t wanted to carve the Marks into them—it went against my beliefs.
But this was the only way to boost their strength in the short term, to increase their chances of survival and to subjugate the Calamity.
Yet receiving a Mark was as good as gambling with one’s life.
“Know this: the Marks may cause your mana to go berserk and kill you! Depending on the type, you may not even grow as strong as you expect! If you don’t want it, you don’t have to take it! If you can’t trust me and refuse, I’ll understand! But if you do trust me, if you entrust me with your life—”
I shouted with all my heart:
“—I’ll give it everything I have!”
Like Siruela before me, I met their eyes one by one.
Fear. Doubt. Anxiety.
Of course.
Unlike Siruela, in their eyes I was nothing more than a youth barely come of age.
The hall was silent, everyone waiting, hesitant.
And then—
“So…”
An unexpected person raised his hand first.
“Can I go as well?”
It was Gardner, the battle unit commander.
Completely unexpected.
I’d thought the first to volunteer would be one of the magic unit, who at least trusted me somewhat.
Caught off guard, I stammered a little in my reply.
“Uh… of course.”
“Then start with me.”
“A-ah, me too! I’ll go next, Deputy Commander!”
When Gardner smiled and lowered his hand, Hagen, my vice-captain in the magic unit, jumped up eagerly.
And that was the spark.
“Me too!”
“Please inscribe me as well!”
“Does it matter if I’m in the battle unit?!”
“I’ll go after him!”
One after another, hesitant soldiers threw up their hands, shouting over each other.
The hall descended into a lively uproar.
I couldn’t help but laugh faintly.
“Looks like I’ll be busy.”
Soon, the soldiers crowded into my quarters.
Not just those waiting to be inscribed next, but even those whose turns wouldn’t come for hours.
The fortress quickly grew empty.
In the deserted training ground—
Whsssh.
Ronan swung his wooden sword alone.
Whsssh.
The sound of wood cutting through the air rang steadily.
“Don’t let impatience get to you.”
“…!”
At the voice, Ronan froze and lowered his head.
“Captain.”
Siruela approached with a small smile.
“He doesn’t enjoy carving those Marks, you know. He chose it because there was no other way. If he had more time, he’d have found another method.”
“I know… but I can’t help it.”
Ronan’s grip on his sword tightened.
“…Commander Gardner has already become a Quad-Chain.”
“Yes. Fortunately, he received his Mark successfully.”
“The others too… they’ll become Double or Triple-Chains.”
“That’s likely.”
“But I still… can’t manifest Aura.”
“It’s only been a year. Like I’ve said before…”
“Yes, I know! That there are many who wield the sword their whole lives and never manifest Aura! I know that!”
It had been a year since Ronan joined Iceroc and trained under Siruela.
Compared to then, he had become a completely different person.
From how to grip his sword to how to move his feet.
In sparring without mana, only Gardner could match him.
And yet, Ronan was restless.
He feared his weakness would hold the others back.
He feared he was taking things too slowly, too leisurely.
No one else was pressuring him—but he pushed himself relentlessly.
“You may live for centuries, Captain, but I’m only human. I can’t wait a year, I want it now—even a day sooner…”
“…Tell me, which race do you think produced the most knights?”
“…What?”
“Humans.”
Siruela chuckled softly.
“Lifespan doesn’t matter. What matters is the density of the time you live. In that sense, shorter lives may be an advantage. With too much time, it’s hard to live life with density.”
It was his own story.
He had lived for centuries, but he had only waited.
He could have formed another subjugation force, but he hadn’t.
Because his sense of time was utterly unlike a human’s.
Only near the end of his life had he realized this truth.
Unlike him, Ronan was living every moment to the fullest—and Siruela admired that.
“What do you think a knight is?”
“…A knight? Someone who can manifest Aura…”
Ronan trailed off.
“A knight is merely a title.”
Siruela smiled at the boy’s fumbling.
“And with every title comes responsibility. So what responsibility does a knight bear?”
“…I don’t know.”
“No. You’ve never even thought about it, have you?”
“….”
Ronan nodded.
“You must find the answer. Realize it. When that happens…”
Siruela patted his shoulder.
“…you’ll manifest Aura.”
