Volume 3: Chapter 237 – Loyalty (2/5)
Pale insisted on this because she didn’t want to be caught by a surprise attack or an unexpected battle, while Gi Za was being considerate of the king’s worsening health each time he went out to fight. As for the king, who had no choice but to reluctantly obey, although he was grateful for their consideration, when he compared this battle to the times when he personally went out to claim the head of their foes, he couldn’t help but think of himself as a failure as far as being a leader of the goblins went.
But it was also true that each time he pushed himself and fought, his body would be like a boulder unable to stand the rain and the winds. The colors he could see have already started to become strange. He has lost his sense of smell. And he can’t even tell anymore if it is hot or cold. The fact that he could still maintain his dignity despite that showed that he indeed held the makings of a king fit to lead a race.
Black smoke began to rise from the capital. Someone had probably set fire to something.
The Goblin King looked up, and just a little, he felt empty.
“Though the countries fall, the mountains and the rivers will remain…”
“What is that?” Pale asked.
The Goblin King smiled wryly. “An old poem.”
“…I didn’t know Your Majesty held a talent for poetry. But this is the battlefield. Victory is yet to be decided. It is forbidden to let one’s guard down.”
“Of course. I will fight until I die. If I did not have that resolve, I would not be fit to name myself king.”
Sensing that the Goblin King had changed his feelings, Pale sent a messenger to give an order to all of the army. ‘Display King Ashtal’s head’
◇◆◆
King Ashtal and his people left the imperial castle, but when Zelkof saw the billowing black smoke in the sky, he made a blank look, then suddenly laughed loudly and jumped.
He jumped on the roof of a house and ran through the house roofs toward the black smoke while laughing.
“Z-Zelkof-dono!?”
The sudden change in situation left Rufel greatly befuddled, but Ashtal just expressionlessly watched as Zelkof ran off.
“I don’t mind. Let’s go…”
“Huh… If that is what Your Majesty says, then very well…”
At the behest of Ashtal, whose expression was like that of a living corpse, Rufel once again gave the order to advance.
The black smoke was coming from a corner of the n.o.bles district. When the people saw a monster beast blocking the gate to Falmia’s manor like a guard, biting any and all who tried to trespa.s.s, they tried to go around to get in from behind.
But there was also a monster beast there, and the people who tried to enter were killed.
The people had become exasperated, but they were able to throw torches into Falmia’s residence, and the fire quickly spread. Although Falmia’s manor might have had these monster beasts of hers, she did not have any servants. The monster beasts could not quell the fire, so she had no choice but to leave her burning manor.
She ordered her monster beasts to watch her surroundings, while she did her best to leave the house alive.
“She’s here! The traitor is here!”
The people were eagle-eyed, however, and they saw her running from the flames. She did not expect to be found, but neither did she think it impossible to be found.
“Die, traitor!”
The people jeered and threw stones at her, leaving her with no choice but to rely on her monster beast to shield her. Suddenly, the people screamed. They abandoned any thoughts of jeering at her as they scattered and ran away. A closer look at their side would show Zelkof laughing atop a pile of corpses.
His two arms were twisting around in the steaming guts of humans. His unfocused eyes turned toward the direction of the manor from where the smoke was coming from.
“Ahh…”
Zelkof muttered in a daze as he crushed the heads of the people and screamed. Every time he took a step, fresh corpses would be added to the heap.
The panicking and fleeing people pushed against each other as they desperately tried to run away from Zelkof. In their desperation, people tumbled and were crushed underfoot, people ran without care for hurting those around them… And in the end, only Falmia, who was protected by her two-headed monster beasts, and the pitiful corpses were left.
“Zelkof-dono…”
Falmia ordered her growling monster beasts to stand by as she took a step forward.
“I see you were let out.”
“…”
She called out to him, but Zelkof hung his head in dejection, not uttering a word, his blank eyes wandering.
“…Zelkof-dono?”
“FaL, MIAa…”
When Zelkof called out her name, she thought of saying something, but Zelkof’s hand had already pierced through her chest. She tried to open her mouth again, but she collapsed before she could.
“FaLMIiiAAAa!!”
As Zelkof screamed toward her fallen figure, he turned his back on her and leaped once more. At that time, there was no longer a hint of the dejection he showed toward her earlier. Reason, logic, sanity… Zelkof threw them all as he laughed madly.
“Fu, fufuhahaha! Falmia! Fufuhahahahaha!”
As he ran along the rooftops, he saw the goblin horde that had broken through the gates.
◆◆◇
It did not take long before the 400 imperial guards led by King Ashtal clashed with the goblin horde. When Rufel saw the roads crawling with goblins, he cracked his voice and ordered the imperial guards to advance.
The knights protecting the king were all proud elites of the country. There were those among them who could see through the three-man-cell attacks of the goblins, and they wielded their giant shields to fend off the goblins’ attacks to defeat them.
Contrast the elites of the imperial guards, the ones fighting them first were the new and inexperienced goblin soldiers.