The 3rd Prince of the Fallen Kingdom Returns

25. Tale of the Grassland (2)

The orcs’ sporadic attacks continued, delaying the Allied Forces’ advance.

Ragna summoned the commanders. They had to find a way to increase their speed.

“It is not good for time to be delayed any further.”

He looked around at the national emblems decorating his tent.

It consisted of thirteen symbols.

Among them, some were principalities or city-states.

Excluding the Empire, the only nations that could be considered powerful were Briol, the Holy Kingdom, Brusin, and Liberta.

Ragna made a decision.

“I have something to announce. We’ve received intelligence that Okuah might be involved with dark magic.”

Everyone except Yuri looked confused or surprised.

Dark magic was a long-forgotten art.

It existed, but it didn’t possess the powerful abilities commonly associated with it. Just as dragons and komodo dragons were different, dark magic was simply a lesser branch of magic.

That was the general understanding.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Even if he has dabbled in dark magic, if the dispel is maintained…”

“Do you think I gathered everyone here without knowing that?”

Ragna replied seriously, and Jonathan from Brusin asked,

“Then, would you kindly tell us what your concerns are, Your Highness?”

Ragna grinned at Jonathan.

He appreciated that Jonathan didn’t waste words and got straight to the point.

Ragna raised his hand and wrote on the board behind him.

[Black Magic]

It was just three characters.

But the handwriting was crooked.

Yuri lowered his head, trying to stifle a laugh. Ragna’s handwriting was so poor it looked like a child had written it.

The other commanders had to bite their tongues, their cheeks puffing out.

Ragna didn’t mind and spoke with a serious expression.

“Dark magic does exist. We need to redefine it. The dark magic you know and the one I’m concerned about are different. To simplify things, let’s call it True Dark Magic.”

“True…Dark Magic…!”

He even added a strangely childish name.

Yuri lowered his head again, and the others bit their tongues harder.

Ragna then wrote a new name:

[Gert]

The atmosphere gradually grew heavy. The name Gert carried that much weight.

“You all know this name, right? He is a product of Dark Magic.”

Yuri narrowed his eyes.

This was a fact that even he, who had returned to the past, didn’t know.

Gert of Adelbine.

The Death Knight who returned from death.

And.

One of the Ten Strongest.

“It’s not widely known, but it’s the truth.”

He circled Gert’s name.

“I’m not a mage, so I don’t know much about Dark Magic. But I hear it requires a sacrifice other than mana. Looking at Gert, you can probably guess what that is, right?”

“Who brought Gert back to life?”

“I do not know.”

Silence fell inside the tent.

Gert was a name that instilled fear.

A knight who returned from death destroyed a nation.

Adelbine was left in ruins.

Even now, Gert wanders Adelbein alone, attacking living humans. The once-thriving kingdom had turned into a desolate land, a place no one dared to go.

“And in this Dark Magic, the most precious offering is human life.”

Ragna relayed the information he had heard from Moyongchan.

The orcs were gathering humans for human sacrifices, and Okuah had likely already caused many lives to be sacrificed.

Rage filled the faces of the commanders.

But Yuri felt rather relieved instead.

In his past life, the Allied Forces had never had this information.

The fact that Okuah used Dark Magic and that Moyongchan targeted him because of it was also unknown.

The tangled thread was finally being tied properly.

This time, the Allied Forces would be different.

“If Okuah truly is wielding dark magic, his power will grow stronger with time. That’s why those bastards are stalling. I know everyone is fatigued, but please bear with it.”

“Yes.”

“This time, we’ll wipe out the orcs. If we don’t, their next target will be our homelands.”

Ragna slammed his fist onto the board.

The wooden board supporting it shattered, leaving a hole.

Blood dripped from the back of his hand.

“You’ve all seen what kind of creatures orcs are.”

Ragna looked at each of the commanders gathered, meeting their eyes one by one.

“We won’t end this vaguely like the previous Allied Forces. We will completely eradicate those vile creatures.”

Ragna possessed the dignity of royalty, combined with the fighting spirit characteristic of a strong warrior.

These two elements ignited the fighting spirit of the soldiers under his command.

“Understood?”

“Yes, Sir!”

“We’re going to increase the speed now. Yuri, we’ll organize a scouting party as before. Will you take care of it?”

“Of course.”

“The orcs keep wandering near our supply lines. Burn down all the nearby nests, eliminate their gathering points, and then we’ll head straight for Okuah.”

Ragna continued.

“As you all know, the Stranger, one of the Ten Strongest, has joined us. The Allied Forces will not lose. Let’s all have a drink over Okuah’s corpse.”

Ragna said with a grin.

Everyone applauded.

There was no other royal who disregarded appearances like him.

From what Yuri knew, even those distantly related to the Emperor, not just his siblings, acted as if they were a different species, full of themselves.

However, Ragna was a warrior like them.

Because of this, people liked Ragna, but that was also why the Emperor disliked him.

Yuri hoped he wouldn’t have to fight Ragna in the future.

Ragna grinned and asked Yuri,

“Is the Stranger doing well?”

“Yes. It seems he enjoys Briol’s food.”

“I see…”

He knew that Yuri ate the same food as the soldiers.

When Yuri first told him that, Ragna roared with laughter, his voice echoing through the tent.

“I should visit sometime. I’m curious about Briol’s famous meals.”

“You’re always welcome.”

With that, the meeting ended.

The ending was always the same.

They all wanted the orcs to be eradicated.

* * *

Kori had been learning magic under Hernando.

It was difficult to say that he was a kind teacher.

If Kori were an ordinary human, he might have suspected that Hernando was taking advantage of him under the guise of education.

“Kori. Look at the grassland today.”

The Allied Forces had just repelled an orcish ambush and sent out cavalry to chase down the fleeing main force.

As a result, the entire field of vision was littered with the corpses of humans and orcs.

It was not a pleasant sight.

“Do you want to change it?”

“Change… what?”

“For example, make those corpses disappear. Or bring in some beautiful trees to the grassland.”

“Uh…”

Kori imagined the scene he desired.

He wanted to get rid of the unsightly corpses and plant trees with blooming flowers in their place. That would make the corpse-covered grassland beautiful.

And if flocks of white birds could fly in the sky…

In that instant, the scenery materialized.

But it was only fleeting.

The picturesque scenery that briefly flashed before his eyes soon crumbled, pushed aside by reality.

“Did you just do that, Master?”

“Yes. That’s magic.”

“Magic…”

“Making your wishes come true.”

While knights change themselves through mana methods, mages channel mana outward, changing reality.

Because of this difference, magic was easily dispelled and inefficient. However, when used well, magic could change the course of the world.

“Although it has become more difficult to approach with the accumulation of theories, the fundamentals haven’t changed.”

“Does it require strong desires?”

“No. But it’s similar. It can’t be weak, but it can’t be too strong either.”

“That’s difficult.”

Magic had many ambiguous aspects. The knack for it varied from person to person.

“There’s no need to hurry. Take your time.”

Hernando activated his mana.

Kori followed suit, raising the small amount of mana he possessed. A tiny, invisible bead-like object appeared.

“Like what I just did, try changing the grassland.”

Hernando said this and got up from his seat.

Kori was left alone on the grassland and continued to manipulate the mana.

But it wasn’t easy.

He tried to manifest the mana and hide the corpses, but that wasn’t what Hernando had meant.

“This is difficult…”

Kori slumped to the ground.

Could someone like him, a half-orc, really learn magic?

Doubts about his potential crept in, but the small mass of power moving at his fingertips was undoubtedly mana.

Prince Yuri had told him to take everything from Hernando. To suck him dry, like a wicked disciple plotting against his master.

It might have been half-joking, but Kori wanted to meet Yuri’s expectations.

“Heart…”

Even ordinary people have a small amount of mana. Knights have more.

But they still couldn’t use magic.

Just having mana didn’t mean that everything a person desired would be granted by magic.

Then, what kind of heart does the world accept?

“I don’t know.”

Kori lay flat on the ground.

The sky came into view.

“Ugh…”

He just wanted the war to end peacefully.

He wished for the Allied Forces to win, for the orcs to be eradicated, and for him to be able to live in Briol, mingling with people.

It was too vague a goal to achieve with magic, but Kori made a wish to the blue sky.

“Dear world, please…”

That’s why he was startled when someone bumped into him.

Someone had stumbled and fallen over Kori.

Ignoring the pain in his side, Kori was terrified that it might be an orc scout and jumped to his feet.

But it was a person.

“Uh…”

It was a woman wearing tight-fitting black leather clothes. Her long hair was disheveled from sprawling on the ground.

“Excuse me…”

She shot up swiftly like a wary cat and glared at Kori.

“You…”

Her eyes seemed to recognize him.

Relieved that she wasn’t an orc, Kori asked her,

“Are you alright?”

“Alri…”

She glanced down at her ankle.

“Did you twist it?”

“…”

She didn’t speak much.

And she seemed very wary.

Kori was well aware that his appearance wasn’t exactly appealing to humans. So, to reassure her, he spoke a bit more kindly.

“I’m sorry. You tripped over me while I was lying down. If you’d like, I can heal you.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you seem to be having trouble walking…”

“Let me ask something.”

“Yes, please.”

“How did you conceal your presence and…”

She trailed off and looked Kori up and down.

“That’s impossible.”

She seemed to be convincing herself of something.

Then, she tried to turn but winced and collapsed back down. It seemed like her ankle had been sprained worse than she thought.

“Ugh…”

“I—I’ll call someone. It’s dangerous here.”

As he spoke, Kori tilted his head in confusion.

Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out how she had come alone all the way out to this vast plain.

But Kori couldn’t dwell on that thought any longer. It was because the woman, reaching out her hand, said,

“Tell Prince Yuri.”

* * *

Asana closed her eyes in response to Yuri’s incredulous gaze. It seemed she was more bewildered than he was.
“You tripped over Kori?”

“Yes.”

“Well…”

Yuri shrugged his shoulders.

“I didn’t know that guy had such skills.”

“I think I got a bit careless.”

Asana was a skilled assassin and tracker. Her senses never missed any living creature around her.

But she had missed Kori.

It seemed she was unknowingly exhausted from constantly wandering the grassland.

“Leaving that aside, why were you headed that way?”

Asana hesitated for a moment at Yuri’s question.

After the Allied Forces captured Kurui’s camp, Asana had explored the surrounding area and sent a letter to Yuri with information about it.

The reason she didn’t meet him in person was because of what she planned to do next.

She was planning to infiltrate the land where Okuah resided, and Yuri wouldn’t want that.

“Were you going to Okuah?”

Her employer was quick-witted.

He had already guessed and was looking down at her with a reproachful gaze.

“Yes.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“He uses Dark Magic. There’s no need to take the risk.”

Although Asana thought infiltration was even more necessary because of that Dark Magic, she didn’t bother explaining.

Yuri would simply shake his head at her reasoning.

“Is your ankle really that painful?”

“No.”

“But it seems painful.”

“Actually, it does hurt.”

“Hernando will be here soon. Please wait a little longer.”

Asana’s presence was confidential, so they waited for Hernando, who could be trusted, to arrive.

“Here?”

Yuri lifted the hem of her pants and gently touched her swollen ankle.

“Your Highness, I…”

“Stay still.”

The prince graciously massaged her ankle.

Asana’s face flushed.

“Err…”

“You’re not embarrassed, are you?”

“It’s not that…”

“Then, what?”

“Massaging the sprained area would only aggravate the sprain…”

“Oh, really?”

“It’s quite painful.”

“Sorry.”

Yuri, embarrassed, tapped her ankle lightly.

“Ouch!”