novelraw Chapter 144
Chapter 144
Chapter 144
After receiving our message, Elline completed all preparations and waited.
To move at the most crucial moment.
Around that time, Lord of Haken mobilized his troops, and Lord of Vines, flustered by Haken’s sudden movement, also personally led his forces to the border.
During that gap, the Dog Tribe carried out a massive escape.
They bolted straight north.
—It must’ve been chaos.
‘Right? With both Lords absent, such a sudden situation broke out.’
By the time Lord of Vines learned of this, he quickly dispatched troops, but the Dog Tribe had already fled to the northern forbidden area near the “Swamp of Death,” making pursuit nearly impossible.
In truth, since Lord of Vines had taken most of his elite forces with him, he had no means to forcibly suppress the Dog Tribe’s escape.
Leaving the panicked Lord of Vines behind, Lord of Haken leisurely returned to his territory.
At that time, even the Lord of New Level, curious about what was happening, rushed there as well—almost forming a full Great Lord Assembly.
However, Lord of Haken withdrew first, and thus, the commotion ended without any clashes.
‘This wasn’t the outcome I pictured.’
What I had imagined was the Dog Tribe and Haken surrounding and pressuring Vines from both sides—but Elline chose to flee instead.
She had chosen a much more moderate farewell than I’d expected.
—As expected, there are no bad dogs.
‘Then the bad ones must’ve been humans. That’s kind of embarrassing.’
It wasn’t a bad choice, really.
Things had wrapped up much more cleanly than I’d hoped.
—So, what will the Dog Tribe do now?
‘What else? They’ll probably just return to where they used to live, right?’
—Where the Dog Tribe used to live, huh. It didn’t seem like a very hospitable place. If it were, they wouldn’t have migrated south in the first place.
‘Is that so?’
I hadn’t really thought about that.
Since they said they’d head north, I just assumed they were returning to their homeland. But if that place wasn’t exactly good to live in, they probably wouldn’t go back there willingly.
‘Maybe they’ll settle nearby instead? A place livable enough for the Dog Tribe would be…….’
The Mouse Tribe, who had joined our territory, hadn’t moved into the castle.
They had spread out across the northern basin, where the Horned Rabbit Ranch was, setting up tents—and even now, they were still living that way.
So, the temporary residences in the territory remained vacant.
If we placed the Dog Tribe there, the immediate housing issue would be resolved.
That was where the refugees from Hawrun Territory had once stayed—enough space for about ten thousand people.
‘But still…….’
For now, the Mouse Tribe’s tent life wasn’t a problem, but if they all gathered back here, that would be another challenge.
Their number was said to be around eight thousand?
I thought it would be closer to ten thousand, but it wasn’t quite that high.
Even so, it was quite a crowd—and if they all set up tents in the basin, that’d be troublesome.
The northern basin was large, yes, but it was overrun with Horned Rabbits.
‘And there are a ton of Mountain Goats, too. The rabbits aren’t dangerous, but the goats are huge…….’
In my opinion, it made more sense for the Mouse Tribe, who had arrived earlier, to occupy the temporary housing.
They’d been in tents long enough, and since the Dog Tribe had a clearer command structure, it’d be more natural for them to settle elsewhere.
Besides, if we considered that the Dog Tribe’s population would likely increase, the temporary residence would be far too cramped.
Even now, it held ten thousand—and it was practically a law of nature that once a Beastman group found stable food and shelter, their numbers exploded.
‘Should I build them a separate fortress like Hawrun, then?’
Given the situation, that wasn’t impossible.
After all, I’d done it before.
There was still plenty of land left near Hawrun, so perhaps we could split them between our territory and Hawrun first, then build them their own later.
‘Of course, I’ll ask Elline first.’
I’d send my thoughts through the Shamanic Message Paper, and she’d probably think it over on her way back.
Her answer could wait until she returned.
“If even the Dog Tribe comes, the real war’s almost here. I don’t know what to do about that.”
With the Dog Tribe joining, every key group would be assembled:
Cow Tribe, Horse Tribe, Dog Tribe, Lion Tribe, and Johnson Territory.
The Mouse Tribe, Cat Tribe, and Monkey Tribe weren’t exactly fighters, so I didn’t want to drag them into battle.
‘And then there’s Hawrun.’
If it were Hawrun, they’d definitely want to participate in this war—but whether they had the strength left to fight the Imperial bastards was uncertain.
The war had broken out before their people had even fully adapted.
I couldn’t just ignore them, though—so I should at least inform them of the situation.
Albio Hawrun, the Lord of Hawrun, arrived at the castle.
“War, is it? Finally……”
The moment I mentioned war, his eyes gleamed. It was clear he was determined to take part no matter what.
There are things a person feels they must do, whether or not it’s wise—and for Hawrun, this war seemed to be one of those things.
‘If it comes to it, I could just draft only the knights. Their order is still intact, at least.’
Since things would start soon, I told him to tighten troop discipline and sent him back to Hawrun Castle.
“Things blew up faster than expected, huh?”
“Oh, right. You’re here too.”
“You didn’t forget about me, did you?”
“Of course not. No way. Good timing, actually—there’s something I wanted to ask.”
When Albio visited Johnson Territory, all the Black Lion Warriors returned home.
Leisha and a few warrior women still followed me around, but Limond, Leon, and the others continued guarding Hawrun.
Given the current state of affairs, I needed the Black Lions’ strength, so I’d ordered them back—and Leon had come along as well.
‘I’d kind of forgotten.’
Honestly, I had.
Fighting was the warriors’ job, but Leon had stayed there all this time?
Was it because Hawrun needed his strength for their cooperation?
Since nothing had gone wrong in Hawrun since my visit, it meant Leon had done his part well.
I’d just been too caught up in the chaos on my side to notice.
‘Well, this kid always thinks differently, anyway.’
—Hmph, relying on the little Black Lion again?
‘Honestly, I just don’t know what’s going to happen.’
Things were unfolding in ways far beyond my predictions—I couldn’t even calculate how this war would play out.
It’s no crime to ask when you don’t know something, and if someone’s smarter than you, even a child’s words are worth listening to.
Especially this kid—he’d always had an extraordinary nature.
Even thinking back to the battle against the Boar Tribe, he’d handled things far better than I did.
“You know the situation, right?”
“Yes, I’ve heard. Feels like a big game’s about to start.”
“Yeah. That’s why… I can’t quite calculate how things will turn out.”
“It’s fascinating, though. A war where every Beastman joins the fight.”
I talked with Leon about the current situation.
The Imperial bastards were full of plans to plunder the Cow Tribe’s warehouses, while the Beastmen were uniting their strength to fight the Empire.
At first, my plan had been to simply stall for time and let the Imperial bastards destroy themselves—but the Cow Tribe’s aggressiveness far exceeded my expectations.
And since the Imperials kept scheming to seize their storage, we had no choice but to crush their forces, if only to secure peace of mind.
But then, the Beastmen started cooperating too enthusiastically—and with the Dog Tribe returning, things had grown far beyond control.
“So that’s how it turned out.”
“Yeah. It seems a war is inevitable now…”
“You want to deal a fatal blow with minimal damage, right? Something like that?”
“Exactly.”
‘Honestly, going up against the Imperial bastards right now is completely insane…’
—If you’re going to be insane whether you win or lose, be the insane one who wins.
‘Right. That’s exactly the situation.’
“We’re basically just doing other people’s work for them, huh?”
“Mm, you think so?”
Even if we wiped out all the Imperial bastards, there wasn’t much we’d gain from it.
That had been bothering me for quite some time.
“The two Lords who’ve been fighting the Empire—they’ll benefit the most, right? Once the Imperial forces weaken, their territories will be secure.”
“That’s true.”
“But aren’t both those territories supported by Vines? Even if the Empire retreats, Vines’ influence will grow enormously.”
“Y-Yeah… probably.”
“One of the territories abandoned by the Imperials might even end up under Vines’ control.”
Vines, who had been supporting both territories, now knew the Levelium region’s circumstances well.
If he placed someone he favored as a Lord and received support from those two allied territories, he could easily create a satellite territory under Vines’ influence within Levelium.
It was something I’d half-expected—but hearing it aloud left a bitter taste.
“Then what happened to those Lords who fled?”
“…Huh?”
“When the Imperial bastards retreat, someone has to govern those lands again, right? If someone’s keeping those Lords close, it’ll make things a lot easier.”
“Wait, come to think of it…”
Leon had even considered what I hadn’t.
The Lords who’d fled from Levelium to Saint—
If someone had taken them in, that person could wield enormous political power over Levelium.
Now that I thought about it… what had happened to them?
‘Did someone really take them in?’
During the Lord’s Council, the Imperial bastards suddenly appeared, throwing the meeting into chaos. I’d returned home right after the meeting ended, so I hadn’t paid attention to who went where.
But from what Leon was saying, it sounded quite possible someone had taken care of them.
After all, there had been several Lords there far more politically experienced than me.
‘It’s probably New Level.’
Vines was busy supporting the two surviving territories, and the Lord of Haken wasn’t much of a political schemer.
Though he agreed we needed to drive out the Imperial bastards, he didn’t look kindly upon Lords who had abandoned their territories and fled.
So that left only New Level.
If the Imperial bastards took a major blow and withdrew from the Levelium Region, New Level would naturally gain substantial influence there.
Considering that the New Level group had likely cooperated secretly with the Imperials, it was a cunning double play.
“So, we should join in too, right?”
“Join in? Join what?”
“The Levelium power struggle. Wouldn’t it be a waste to just do other people’s work for them? We’ve got a strong ally too.”
“An ally? Oh, don’t tell me…”
“Yes. Albio Hawrun.”
“Albio Hawrun, huh. That’s true.”
Just like Vines and New Level had supported other Lords, we had Hawrun. That meant we could stick our foot into the Levelium power struggle as well.
In other words, if we seized the eastern part of Levelium—the former Hawrun Territory—and settled Albio and the people of Hawrun there, we’d effectively create a Lord deeply loyal to us.
The old Hawrun Territory connected Levelium and Johnson Territory like a bridge. If a friendly Lord occupied that position, it would strengthen Johnson Territory’s security immensely.
“But would they want to go back?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
“Why? They still haven’t adjusted, have they?”
“I told you before, they never would.”
I see—so this would actually be a welcome suggestion for the Hawrun side.
‘If it comes to that, it might actually work out well. Better than just suffering for nothing.’
—And besides, we wouldn’t have to watch others reap all the rewards. We’d get something out of it too.
‘Yeah, that’s true.’
Still, all of this would only be possible once we’d shredded most of the Imperial bastards’ forces.
“Eh, that part’s actually easy.”
“Easy?”
“Of course. Look at the situation we’re in.”
Leon said it as if it were no big deal— so casually that it was me, not him, who ended up feeling more taken aback.