I Became the First Prince

Millennium empire, millennium emperor (2)

The abdication was so sudden that it came out of nowhere. 

My bewilderment did not last long. 

“Finally!” 

I clenched my fists and cheered. 

I had been anxiously waiting for the day when the person who was like an incarnation of ruin for the empire would ascend to the throne. 

I had gone through all kinds of hardships to save the idiot who kept looking for places to die. 

I had pampered a guy who wasn’t even pretty. 

Even being “patient” wasn’t enough to describe it. 

And finally he had become emperor. 

It was only a matter of time before the empire would fall. 

I truly believed that was the case. 

It was a hasty judgment. 

“The 5th princeps has become the new emperor.”

I felt like I had been hit on the back of my head. 

It would have been less baffling if even someone completely unheard of had become the emperor. 

Not the 5th princeps. 

He was a depraved man who had denied his father, and a traitor who had thrown the monarch’s dignity into the gutter. 

To hand over the throne to such a person. 

Even if, as I suspected, the blood of Burgundy went beyond inheriting karma and thoughts, and their bodies were regarded as mere vessels. 

That was something that a descendant of Burgundy shouldn’t have done because their foundation was rooted in people’s reverence and worship. 

Damaging the dignity of the monarch was no different from damaging the dignity of one’s own poetry. 

It didn’t make sense. 

But the thing that didn’t make sense actually happened. 

“Officially, the 5th princeps had never rebelled.”

The king calmly explained the situation to me while I was half-dumbfounded. 

“It is the position of the Burgundy Empire that only the wizards of the Magic Tower caused the rebellion, and the 5th princeps had been held captive by them.”

It was obviously a weak excuse that even a child wouldn’t believe. 

“There are rumors that the Magic Tower master had manipulated the 5th princeps with evil magic.”

However, when the word “magic” was added, the ridiculous story became more persuasive. 

Adding to that the reports of the righteous people who risked their lives to save the princeps from the evil wizards, and the tear-jerking tales of how the princeps heroically suffered before finally becoming emperor, it became a fairly plausible story. 

Of course, if you looked at the details, there were quite a few suspicious areas. 

However, as long as the emperor actually handed over the throne to the 5th princeps, those trivial suspicions did not matter at all. 

Whether or not the story was true, anyone who sought the truth would now be branded as traitors. 

Because it would be no different from denying the legitimacy of the newly crowned 5th princeps. 

But even if everyone else kept silent, one person wouldn’t have.

“What about the 3rd princeps?”

Even the idiot 3rd princeps, who didn’t have any clue what to do, should have known at least what would happen to him if the 5th princeps became emperor.

After taking the throne, it was a common tactic to make excuses in order to eliminate any rivals. 

The 3rd princeps had to prevent the 5th princeps from ascending the throne by any means necessary. 

That was common sense. 

“He didn’t just watch, I heard he even attended the coronation ceremony and congratulated him.”

However, as always, the 3rd princeps’ response was completely nonsensical. 

The throne was suddenly handed over to a traitor, the slanderous traitor who had rebelled while claiming it to be the will of the heavens, who had then suddenly changed his stance overnight and declared the magicians who followed him to be traitors, and the guy who watched the throne taken from right in front of him just offered his congratulations? 

This was a disaster beyond disasters. 

“Hahaha.”

I could only laugh out loud at this incomprehensible situation. 

In the meantime, the king continued to explain the situation in the empire. 

Thanks to the imperial family passing all responsibility for the rebellion onto the wizards, the nobles who followed the 5th princeps discovered a way to live. 

Naturally, they did not miss the opportunity, and they claimed their innocence by simultaneously attacking the master of the Magic Tower and the wizards who had been pointed out as the leaders of the rebellion. 

And the emperor did not forsake the nobles who had once raised soldiers for him. 

After that, I heard that a large number of wizards who had survived the nobles’ attacks had crossed the western border, and the opinions of the Western Kingdoms were divided over the risks of harboring wizards who had already rebelled once before, but in the end they could not pass up the chance to strengthen their forces. However, I was no longer interested. 

I felt sick to my stomach. 

Stupid 3rd princeps. 

I had spared no effort to help him, but he couldn’t even claim the throne that was right in front of him. 

“I had been cheering for you!” 

Even after I had begun to doubt whether the descendants of Burgundy might have had the karma and memories of their ancestors forcibly shoved down their throats, and perhaps even their body and soul might have existed for only one emperor. Even after all of that, I had always supported him. 

No matter what the emperor did, the princeps’ terrible qualities would remain. 

He would ruin everything. 

But only if he became emperor. 

I never thought that the talent that should have destroyed the empire would end up accidentally destroying my plans. 

“You fool! You worthless bastard!” 

I cursed the 3rd princeps countless times. 

“-an.”

I had been swearing inwardly for a while when I suddenly heard a voice calling me. 

When I looked up, people were staring. 

Only then did I realize that I had been too agitated, and I shut up. 

“Calm down.”

Instead of replying, I just kept my mouth shut. 

I had really wanted to see the emperor of ruin. I had really wanted to see him devour the empire. 

I was only a bit annoyed and regretful. 

“No matter who the emperor is, nothing will change. So don’t be too upset.”

As if he had seen my inner thoughts, the king gently rebuked me. 

“The important thing now is to take what our allies want before the empire can concentrate all of its forces on this front.”

His words brought me to my senses. 

It was as the king said. 

In the first place, the emperor’s abdication was not a big deal. 

We were fighting the entire empire, not just the emperor. 

“Exactly one month later, our allies will withdraw to the area around the Briand Duchy to reorganize our forces. Until then, we will attack the enemy with all our might.”

I quickly retracted my pouting lips. 

I stared at the king and waited for the words to follow. 

“Break them, to the point where they can’t be used. These are strongholds that we can’t defend even if we capture them.”

And then. 

“Run wild as you wish.”

The words I had been longing to hear came out of the king’s mouth.

I exhaled and lowered my head. 

I forced down the rising corner of my mouth and endured. 

My clenched fists were hidden behind my back. 

“Aren’t you enjoying this too much?”

I was restraining myself, but damn Vincent ruined it. 

“That’s why you’re called a war maniac.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the words ‘war maniac.’ These days, they call me the ‘god of war.'”

I spoke frankly even though my mouth was crooked, and I corrected Vincent’s mistake. 

“Aren’t you ashamed to say that with your own mouth?”

“Not really? I’m rather proud?”

Vincent looked at me as if that was absurd, then he sighed deeply. 

“Am I the only one hearing a ‘war maniac’?”

After he said that, Vincent looked around at everyone gathered in the meeting room. 

Arwen, who charged the enemy’s gate whenever she had the chance after she had destroyed the Briand Duchy, coughed and avoided his gaze. 

Eli, who crazily ran around the battlefield waving his Knight Laureate flag, puffed up his chest rather proudly. 

Adelia, who even chased down the fleeing imperial knights to cut off their heads, remained oblivious with an innocent face, while my maternal uncle, who had recently single-handedly annihilated an order of knights, had a sullen expression and only picked his ears. 

The other corps commanders and knights were also looking at Vincent as if they didn’t know what the problem was. 

“Is this why the imperial army talks about the kingdom’s army like we’re demons?”

At Vincent’s words, the ranger company commanders who were stationed behind us began to whisper. 

“Isn’t that a compliment?”

“It’d be weirder for the enemy to refer to us as angels.”

“But ‘devil of winter’ is a bit embarrassing.”

“I agree…”

The atmosphere quickly changed to be like a marketplace. 

Vincent shook his head. The grand marshal next to him quietly patted him on the shoulder. 

The king watched silently. 

Then, after a while, he opened his mouth and assigned enemy bases to each corps to defeat before the main offensive. 

Of course, no mention was made of me. 

Originally, my mission in this war was to freely move around the front lines and create a mess. 

And my role didn’t change this time either. 

The thought of heading back to the battlefield made my hips tremble. 

My worries about the emperor had already long disappeared. 

It was still regrettable that the calamity of the empire I had worked so hard to raise could not become emperor, but that was all. 

Rather, what I had to do now took precedence. 

If the enemy showed suspicious movements and we needed to devise some countermeasures, that would be the job of the king, the grand marshal, and his staff. 

A swordsman like me only needed to go out and fight and kill as many enemies as possible. 

And that was my place. 

I raised my head and stood up from my seat. 

“I’m going to get some rest.”

I bowed silently and was ready to take my leave, when the king called me. 

“Ian.”

When I turned around, the people had stopped discussing and were looking at me. 

“Take care of yourself.”

The king asked me on their behalf. 

To this, I straightened my back and replied. 

“I am Leonberg’s God of War.”

* * *

Having gotten enough rest in the citadel that night, I crossed the front lines with my troops at the crack of dawn. 

The forts near the front belonged to the other corps commanders, so we left them alone and made our way deeper into the empire. 

“W-why am I…”

Montpellier, who had lost a lot of weight over the past few months, asked why he had been brought to the battlefield, but I ignored him. 

“Jordan.”

I called the ranger company commander, who was riding in front of me leisurely. 

“Yeah. Jordan here.”

I held my hand out to Jordan, who made his way over. 

He handed me a map as if he had been waiting. 

It was a map that marked the major military bases of the empire that he had identified while wandering around the battlefield. 

Among the bases marked on the map, I chose a route in order of their importance. 

From now on, I planned to tour these fortresses for a month without any breaks. 

“Guide me.” 

Jordan and the rangers, who had already mastered the geography of the area, skillfully took to the road. 

Along the way, we encountered imperial scouts and patrols a few times, but they ran off as soon as they saw the crouching golden lion raised overhead. 

“They didn’t even check our numbers and immediately retreated.”

The rangers clicked their tongues as they saw the enemies running away. 

“They flee just by seeing Your Highness’ flag, who knows if the troops in the forts will do the same.”

At Jordan’s words, I ordered him to stop talking nonsense and get on the road. 

And we finally arrived at the enemy’s stronghold. 

I called to Jordan while looking at the wide open gates. 

“Jordan.”

“Yep.”

“Don’t open your mouth for a while.”

“All of a sudden?”

Jordan pouted with his nasty mouth. 

Seeing that, I was furious. 

“You said some strange things, now look at what’s happened!” 

When I shouted, Jordan closed his mouth. 

Having sealed his lips, I looked at the empire’s citadel with a devastated face. 

The citadel, where at least one legion was known to have been stationed, was empty. 

All that remained were supplies and abandoned carts that had been left behind when they had rushed out of the fort. 

I had no choice but to find another target. 

“Is this place empty too?”

The citadel was also empty. 

I was devastated. 

I calmed down and headed for my next destination. 

It was empty again. 

The next citadel, the next fortress, the next base. 

None of the imperials even showed their noses. 

I was staring at the empty citadel feeling absurd when Jordan came up to me and said. 

“Isn’t it because Your Highness killed everyone on sight, so they got scared and ran away?”

I glared at Jordan.

“It doesn’t look like it’ll be different even if we go to another fort.”

Not realizing that I was glaring at him, Jordan continued to tease me. 

“Starting from now until the war has ended, you will only say what is absolutely necessary.”

Jordan pursed his lips with an expression of regret. 

But before he could open his mouth, some senior rangers came and hurriedly gagged him. 

“Next.”

I ran again looking for the next fortress. 

And after being greeted by empty strongholds a few more times, we finally encountered the imperial army. 

“Your Highness.”

An old ranger standing next to me on behalf of Jordan called me. 

“That…”

“I have eyes too.”

“Yep.”

I looked at the fort in silence. 

Carts and supplies that had yet to pass through the gates had been thrown aside at random. A white flag fluttered on the wall above them. 

The imperial army, terrified, did not have even a hint of fighting spirit. 

“It seems like you’ve been running too wild.”

My uncle, who hadn’t spoken much previously, now said with a sigh. 

“Says who! That’s why I had told you to do it moderately. They must have recognized you from when you were so excited you turned an entire order into blood. If it wasn’t for that incident, the enemies wouldn’t be so frightened.”

It was really disgusting how he was acting like he had no responsibility even though he had toyed with the imperial army and brutally crushed their knights. 

“Didn’t you split a wall in two not too long ago? This is the result. I would also have chosen to run away if I were the imperial army.”

My uncle did not lose to me and criticized. 

“How would they know without seeing it personally?”

“Even if they didn’t have eyes, how could they not know what you did? You brought this on yourself.”

While I argued with my uncle, the rangers brought a man who seemed to be in charge of the fortress, and he knelt before me. 

“Surrender! We unconditionally surrender!” 

The commander prostrated himself and only shouted ‘unconditional surrender,’ even speaking in the language of the kingdom. 

I was offended by his unnecessarily precise pronunciation. 

As I frowned, the commander of the fortress begged for his life even more subserviently. 

This man should also be a knight of the empire, but it was pitiful how he had no spirit. 

I didn’t even want to cut his throat. 

I grabbed my sword which didn’t have a single drop of blood on it and asked the guy. 

“Seven of the nearby fortresses are empty. Did you receive any instructions?”

The guy shuddered. 

As expected, it wasn’t a mere coincidence that they had all abandoned their strongholds at the same time. 

“You don’t need to answer if you don’t want to.”

When I quietly laid my hand on the hilt of my sword, the guy panicked. 

“I-I will tell you! I’ll tell you everything!” 

He opened his mouth urgently and began to speak incoherently. 

To put it simply, the simultaneous retreat of the imperial army was because of the emperor’s orders. 

“Why? For what reason are you abandoning your fortresses which are still intact?” 

“About that I… R-really! I was just told to abandon the fort and gather in the rear to wait for orders, but I don’t know why!” 

It was clear that the emperor was up to something. 

Otherwise, there was no way he would throw away all of his strongholds at once. 

“If you see them doing anything suspicious, or if you think you will not be able to defend yourself due to enemy attacks, cut them all down.”

Some of the rangers split off to deliver our captives.

Afterwards, I went around other forts and noted the movements of the imperial army. 

Most of the castles were empty, and only a few more imperial troops, no more than a company’s worth, were taken prisoner. 

They were also interrogated. 

There was no useful information. 

The only thing we discovered was the fact that the strongholds that were ordered to be evacuated were not limited to this area. 

I heard that the fortresses located deep in the Empire’s territory were also prepared to withdraw troops at any time. 

Didn’t it look like they were opening the way to the capital? 

Of course, just because the road was open didn’t mean we could simply head in deeper blindly. 

The capital was not just a village across the river. 

After checking a few more forts, I crossed the border and found an ally base. 

It had become a temporary headquarters for the king and the grand marshal. 

The kingdom’s top officials were already in a fierce discussion about the motives of the imperial army, which had suddenly abandoned their strongholds. 

“Just because the forts are empty doesn’t mean we can occupy them. If we extend beyond this point, our allies will not be able to hold the line. The emperor must know that too.”

“If we lay waste to this area, even if it’s the empire, the damage won’t be small. More than anything else, the grievances of the nobles who lost their lands would by no means be trivial.”

I watched the marshal’s staff heatedly speculate about the enemy’s intentions while thinking. 

If the emperor cared about the dissatisfaction of the nobles who lost their territory, he wouldn’t have done such a ridiculous thing in the first place. 

Of course, that didn’t mean that the emperor had moved solely on a vague belief that our allies wouldn’t be able to handle it even if their citadels were emptied. 

Clearly there was something else. 

“We’ve been attacking the Empire without giving them the chance to catch their breath so that we can keep them focused on defense. In the unlikely event that the imperial army goes on the offensive, our allies will have no choice but to give up most of our currently occupied territory and re-establish a defensive line in a position we can afford to protect. Perhaps the imperial army has realized this and decided to take a breather before going on the offensive.”

“Either that, or it could be a ploy to draw in our allies deeper and wipe us out all at once.

Then, Malcoy and the grand marshal, who had both been lost in thought amidst the officers, came forward with some pretty plausible guesses. 

I inwardly shook my head. 

It wasn’t impossible, but my gut kept telling me that wasn’t it. 

I continued to ponder. 

And finally found the answer.