Knight and Wand

Chapter 393 Confrontation
The lingering sea of ​​clouds pressed heavily on the summit of the Feru Mountains. In the camp where the Holy War Army was stationed, voices and the neighing of horses mingled, the soft clanging of armor echoed in the air, and the crackling of the fires revealed the grim atmosphere of continued vigilance.

Leon left the military tent with a slightly hurried pace. The Avalon Deathwing Knights guarding outside the tent immediately raised their shields and followed, fearing that they would lose sight of their lord again.

Upon arriving at the suspension bridge of the large camp, which was constructed of earth and wood, we could see from afar the troops carrying the Sea Eagle flag, escorting the familiar figure at the head of the procession.

The fitted armor on horseback reflected a cold, metallic sheen, while a beautiful purple hairband swayed gently among the golden hair tied up by the girl in military attire.

Their eyes met, and Leon saw Ines forcefully spur her horse and gallop out of the group.

Seeing the weariness and urgency on the little princess's face from afar, he felt a surge of warmth in his heart, along with a touch of guilt. He knew that he had been missing for so long, and many of those who knew him would likely speculate that he and Olivia had probably already been murdered, which would undoubtedly increase the unease that Ines's phantom was enduring.

Leon strode forward to meet him, but Ines gave a sharp shout, reined in her horse, and looked down at Leon, scrutinizing him from head to toe.

After confirming that the other person's upright figure seemed to be unharmed, the girl's tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and the worry buried deep in her heart finally dissipated.

Seeing the concern in her eyes, Leon scratched his head and said awkwardly, "I'm sorry to have worried you. You've worked so hard while I was away."

Ines stared into her lover's eyes, rolled her eyes helplessly, and said irritably, "Good to know~, you restless hero~"

"You've been a lord for so long, you're not some lone swordsman wandering the world in another time and space~ Can't you bring more guards with you when you go out? It's also a matter of responsibility to all those who follow you!" She crossed her arms and lectured her angrily, using her usual composure to cover up her excitement.

Although his words were a complaint, they also reflected his resentment at not being able to stay by Olivia's side and face danger with her at all times.

Leon could certainly sense the deep worry in Ines's tone, and could only manage a wry smile.

"It was my oversight that caught me off guard this time, but I promise that I will never disappear without a trace again in the future."

"Your guarantee seems less reliable than a bard's witty remark." Thinking about their shared experiences, Ines sighed helplessly.

She glanced at the group behind Leon out of the corner of her eye, and seeing that Miss Olivia was not there, she abandoned her composure, bent down, and waved her hands.

“Put me down. My legs are numb from all the way from the capital city of Feru.”

Hearing the little princess's soft complaints, Leon nodded, and without caring about the others watching, he affectionately helped Ines down from her warhorse.

The girl's cold armor carried the dust of her long journey, but it couldn't conceal the warmth Leon felt.

Ines leaned against him, looked up, her blue eyes gazing at her lover. Her purple hair ribbon brushed against Leon's cheek, leaving a faint fragrance.

"If you dare to disappear for so long again, be careful you come back and find that I've been snatched away by someone else. His Majesty of the Kingdom of Feru has been asking around about whether I'm engaged to his eldest son."

"what?!"

Ines's soft muttering startled Leon, and a rising sense of crisis made him hold her tightly.

Is the King of the Kingdom of Feru trying to help his son undermine his own family?

Fortunately, he had a pretty good impression of Prince Karl, who commanded the army of the Kingdom of Feru, these past few days.

Seeing the slight panic and annoyance on Leon's face, Ines smiled and laughed.

"You're panicking now? Silly girl~ Look how scared you are, didn't I already tie your hair back up?"

The little princess shook the hair ornament on her head and poked her lover's panicked, silly face.

Recovering from Ines's joke, Leon breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but glare at the little girl who dared to scare him.

If it weren't for the fact that they were in public, he would have made that delicate face recall the iron finger strength he had used in that small inn.

Leon put Agnes down from his arms, ordered several knights around him to make contact with the arriving reinforcements, and then led Agnes and the ever-present Sir Agatha back to the camp.

"The letter is so vague. Tell me where you and Olivia have been all this time. Are you really trapped in another world by magic, as Sir Arundel speculated?" Ines asked curiously.

Leon nodded and then gave a general account of his journey to the Clynnian plane.

"That demon lord has been sealed away by Lady 'Uriel,' and the soul stone imprisoning it is now being guarded by Olivia and me in shifts."

Entering the large tent that had been cleared out for Ines to rest in, Leon lent a hand and, together with Agatha, helped the girl remove her armor. He paused in his brief summary of the experience, then suddenly asked Ines another question that he was very curious about.

"Speaking of which, what is the origin of that lady with wings on her back?"

After the great battle, he wanted to talk to Lady Uriel about her methods of sealing the demon, but after searching the battlefield, Leon lost sight of the angel.

He learned from asking Covis and others in the allied forces that even the commander of the Holy Sun Church's protectorate was completely unaware of the mysterious "angel."

The soldiers in the allied forces called this powerful ally who often descended from the sky "the Messenger of the Sun," and he did indeed call out the name of the blazing sun in the Fel language during the battle.

While having wings is a bit unusual, considering that there are also Flores people with horns on their heads and other human races with wings on their backs, it's not entirely unimaginable.

But the church denied his guess.

Unlike the ordinary soldiers who were so certain of Uriel's identity as the Holy Sun Envoy, the commander of the Guardian Army and the priests of the church did not make any rash conclusions about the connection between the winged one and the Holy Sun. They only said that the legend of the "angel" had appeared frequently in the Kingdom of Serian since the First Undead War, wielding two divine swords that seemed to punish the heavens, eliminating the rampaging undead in various places and saving many lives.

But whenever the battle ended, no matter how much the witnesses tried to persuade them to stay, the other side would rise into the sky and disappear without a trace, just as they had come.

So far, the church's leadership seems to have an ambiguous attitude towards her, and seems to be worried that a categorical denial of Uriel's origins would affect the morale of the army.

However, to be honest, Leon felt that the other party's swift and elusive style made him think that the other party was really like a "superhero" who came out of nowhere.

Cowvis said that it seemed that only Ines had brief contact with the enemy during non-combat hours within the coalition forces.

“Unfortunately, apart from knowing her name is ‘Uriel,’ I don’t know much about her.” Ines straightened her dress, sat down on the cushioned chair that Agatha had laid out, and looked up at Leon.

"She suddenly appeared before me, claiming to know where to find you, and then guided the Alliance to the Feru Mountains, where they found the lich army's fortress."

Although I initially had some doubts about her true motives, her strength has been evident throughout the journey, and she has proven through her actions that she is indeed helping us.
Uriel once said, "Only by destroying the main altar of Karazk can you be brought back to this world." Ines took a sip of water from the cup handed to her by Agatha, and then slowly recounted the counterattack against the undead by the Holy War Army and the various kingdoms after Leon's disappearance.

Over a year ago, after the Battle of Rolandar, although the undead in the Sobonitz and Serian kingdoms retreated south in disarray, the kingdoms of Feru and Malaken, located in the southern mountains, were unfortunately caught in the crossfire of the retreating undead army. The northern part of the Uria plains suffered the same fate, repeatedly ravaged by the undead forces of Shaleman and Aviut.

Leon was not concerned with the self-inflicted chaos of the steppe people being forced to flee south and the various tribes fighting for power. However, in the mountains, the Kingdom of Feru, which had suffered the same fate, was enduring a calamity that evoked sympathy. The formidable mountains could not stop the advance of the army of the dead, and nearly a third of Feru's territory had been turned into a wasteland.

Fortunately, the Church of the Sun of Serian, in gratitude for the Kingdom of Felru's military assistance, dispatched its guardian army to repel the undead's offensive.

When Leon learned that Azerian and Covis were constantly contacting various parties to plan a joint expedition south in search of him, the three kingdoms were working together to fight against the disaster. It was only after Ines's later encouragement that the parties quickly formed a temporary alliance to jointly fight against the undead.

"The intelligence Lord Elif gave us was very useful. We shared this information with the Church's army and His Highness the Prince of the Felru Alliance, and proposed to concentrate the strength of the nations and, together with Lord Shaleman's legion, launch a counterattack on the fortress of the great lich Karazk from different directions."
But at first, the church did not trust our allies in the dead, and even suspected that it was some kind of trap.

"I understand. If we weren't the main decision-makers within the Holy War Alliance, and if we didn't have your prestige and Baron Ivan's help, the Kantadars within the Holy War Army would probably find it difficult to accept an alliance with the undead."

As Ines spoke, recalling the hardships of the past, she winked at Leon and sighed, "Fortunately, your Grand Steward, Lord Flarell, is no ordinary person."

She put down her water glass and continued, "As the eldest son of the former Baron of the Council of Rolandar and Commander of the City Guard, Shaleman, Lord Flarell personally went to Rolandar and successfully persuaded the High Priest of Serian to understand that Baron Shaleman himself is now leading another army of undead, and that although he has become an undead, he still possesses reason and poses no threat to the Kingdom of Serian, only harboring deep rage towards King Kantadar, who has also become a ghoul."

Upon hearing this, Leon narrowed his eyes, noticing the subtle expression on Ines's face, and realized that she seemed to be very clear about Schallerman's current true state.

"So... you know Aze lied?" Leon understood that his best friend must have been hiding from the outside world the risk of his father's soul being tormented and possibly spiraling out of control at any moment.

“I know, but this is a necessary lie to unite all forces. Serian has experienced civil war and the plague of the undead, and its military strength is not what it used to be. Felru and Malaken are just two small countries, and they cannot muster 30,000 elite troops, which need to be scattered in key passes and strategic locations.”

With only the Holy War Army and our few allies, and without Shaleman's undead legion, even if all the nations united, they would not be able to breach Karazk's fortress. As you probably saw when you returned, the nearly one million undead under that Blood Baron's command were the true main force against Aviut in this great war.

Besides, it wasn't entirely a lie, at least not before we joined forces to eliminate Aviut.

After speaking, Ines frowned slightly. She believed that if her father were still alive, she could persuade Orland to send troops. Orland's military strength was several times greater than that of Serian, Felru, and Malaken combined. But now, her brother, who was sitting on the throne, seemed to have lost his mind. He only replied with a symbolic response to her letter, without any further comment.

She shook her head. Right now, she needed to work with Leon to solve the pressing problems and didn't plan to discuss the changes in the country immediately.

“So here comes the big problem: Aviut has been defeated by us, and his soul has been imprisoned in the Blood Demon Sword by Shaleman. The legion under the Corpse Lord has also fallen into Shaleman’s control.” Leon said, sitting down next to Ines, and couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on.

"The Church and Prince Karl and others want Schallerman to order millions of undead to immediately self-destruct and vanish into thin air. I can understand their concerns and rationally agree with them. After all, if such a large number of undead gets out of control, it means that all our sacrifices will be in vain."

Leon didn't finish his sentence; he actually had deeper concerns that he hadn't shared with others.

The dreadlord Zalar and his agent, the Corpse Lord, have been destroyed.

The arrogant demon Varari has been sealed away, and its agent, the lich Kharazk, has disappeared.

However, of the three demons from the spirit world who orchestrated this calamity, the Blood Demon Skush has already escaped his seal and regained his freedom in the spirit world.

At this moment, only he and Olivia know the truth of this matter.

However, Shaleman, being a blood descendant, was precisely the familiar created by the Blood Demon himself.

Given the chance, Leon fears that the Blood Demon could still intervene in this world and manipulate Shaleman's mind.

Even disregarding the blood debts Skosh has accumulated in this world, he would not believe that a high-ranking demon poses no threat to the world simply because they had cooperated against the Valarir.

Varari caused such a huge disaster by merely manipulating Karazk in the spirit world; who knows what kind of trouble Skush might cause one day?
Leon was torn about how to treat Charlemagne.

On one hand, there's the other party's unstable sanity and the danger of losing control; on the other hand, the other party is, after all, Azerian's father, and has Earl Erlives and others as de facto "hostages" in his hands. Right now, he feels somewhat constrained no matter what decision he wants to make.

Seeing the difficulty on Leon's face, Ines knew his predicament: "If you ask me, rather than forcing Sir Flarell's father to disband the undead army right now, what we should do first is to make the Blood Baron understand that without the help of the Allied Forces, the guidance of Lady Uriel, and your intervention in the Spirit Realm to stop that terrible demon's doomsday plot, he would never have been able to complete his revenge against Aviut as he has now."

The most urgent task is to make him understand that he must fulfill his initial promise, at least by restoring the freedom of Count Eliver and the other Orland bloodline spirits.

As she spoke, her gaze drifted towards the outside of the military tent.

Among the reinforcements on this mission was Count Feodor, who had succeeded Elif as king, and he must have already joined forces with his brother, Baron David.

The attitude of the Thornflower family within the alliance needs to be carefully considered before rescuing their father.

Looking at Leon again, Ines then remembered that her lover was also a vassal of the Thorn Flower family, though she often instinctively overlooked this fact.

Leon glanced in the direction Ines had been looking and nodded, saying, "Now that all the available support has arrived, you can rest for the night. Tomorrow I'll try to have an open and honest negotiation with Sharleman."

“Well, but what about Sir Flarell? After all, Shallerman is his blood relative; he should know his father better than any of us.” Ines wanted to speak with the Grand Steward of Avalon again.

Leon nodded and immediately summoned his guards, ordering them to find Azerian, who was recuperating in the camp.

However, after the two sat in the tent discussing various matters and waited for a while, the guards who were supposed to deliver the order and Azerian did not arrive. Instead, they heard a rumbling sound coming from afar.

The two stopped talking, looked at each other, and quickly got up and left the tent.

A large number of soldiers outside the camp were drawn out by the sudden change and looked towards the towering Mount Feru in the west.

Within the necropolis nestled in the mountains, a beam of eerie light shot straight into the dark clouds, stirring up a raging storm that seemed to echo with the shrieks of countless souls carried on the wind from the horizon.

Immediately afterwards, another crimson light rose up along with it.

The commotion spread throughout the sprawling camp. Leon heard the call and turned his head to look.

The Royal Guard Knights who had been sent to find Azerian, along with Lohark and Covis, came running over.

"My lord! I have searched the entire camp, but I have not found the Grand Steward!" The guard knight hurriedly returned to Leon's side.

Kavis, who was watching the changes on the distant mountain peak from behind, came up to Leon with a somewhat solemn expression: "I also searched for him. Lord Azerian's attendant said that he took a warhorse out for a walk this morning and forbade anyone else to follow. I suspect that he may have gone to the Lich Fortress alone!"

Leon was startled. Looking at the strange changes in the distance, he wondered if the incident was related to his brother's whereabouts and became anxious for Azerian's safety.

"Ines, Arkaw, Lohark. Gather the troops immediately; I'll fly over and take a look first."

(End of this chapter)