Dark Mage - Volume 1 - Chapter 14

The reinforcement was unforeseen and after losing all the power he had commanded, Nidelhark could only flee.  While grinding his teeth, he hid himself in the rugged Felucia mountain range.  He promised he’ll be back, but he mysteriously disappeared from that place.  Then the second danger that hit the continent was overcome.  It happened because of an existence that they had once expelled.  However, none of the monarchs of the Truvania continent appreciated his help.  Instead the monarchs wanted to preserve their seat as monarchs, so they schemed to slander Crossen Magnus. Finally it was Crossen Magnus who shuddered.

“They are rotten to the bone.  I will never set foot on this place again.”

After Crossen Magnus finished with the war, he readied his boat without any regret.  He wanted to go back to his new country of Arcadia where such ugly power struggles didn’t exist.  However, an event that no one could have predicted happened…

“The Aracadia volunteer army came on 50 boats and about 10 thousand soldiers rode on it.  The survivors didn’t even reach half that number.  However when they left for Arcadia, the fleet embarked with 1200 boats.  The number of people who rode on the boats exceeded 200,000 people. ”

“Huh! How did that happen.”

“The people living on Truvania was already captivated by Crossen Magnus’ beliefs.  To say it again, the tyranny of the monarch and the Belhazel church was too rampant.  It meant those with sense all went across to the Arcadia continent in force.  ”

Even though Shrekheimer was a highly level cleric of the Belhazel church, he didn’t hide the embarrassing parts of the church.

” Crossen Magnus took his new followers and returned to the Arcadia continent.  Their participation in the war became a taboo topic.  This was done by each country’s monarch.  To them, the existence called Crossen Magnus had already become a hot potato. ”

No matter how much they tried to suppress it, it was impossible to seal all the soldiers’ mouths, who fought alongside the volunteer army from talking.  Crossen Magnus had saved the Truvania continent again and his tale of heroism spread throughout the Truvania continent by word of mouth.
This caused people to think that this victory was achieved through humans’ fighting spirit and the help from Arcadia. This reason caused the Belhazel church’s power to drop precipitously.    When the continent was faced with a disastrous threat, the god did not give any help so people openly declared that they didn’t need god.
Moreover, the fact that the colonists were able to raise a great country in the new continent became known.  Afterwards, many people openly spoke about Crossen Magnus’ beliefs.  However, the Belhazel church could no longer interfere.  The situation was radically different from 30 years ago.

“Afterwards, the Belhazel church’s congregation steadily decreased.  Now a normal person doesn’t  even attempt to believe in god.”

“I can see why that would happen after listening to you.”

Dok-gosong had a truly favorable feelings towards the person called Crossen Magnus.  As Shrekheimer said, he was a figure that could be called a hero.  Also, isn’t he suspected as being a person from Zhongyuan?

” It has been 20 years since the War of Darkness, so Crossen must be quite old.”

” Yes.  At that time, he was already gray-haired so he should be older…”

Dok-gosong watched Shrekheimer drift into thought and he secretly looked at his knitted brows.

“So you still haven’t told me the reason why you have brought me here.”

Shrekheimer smiled broadly.

” My story hasn’t ended yet.  The true danger to the human realm happened afterwards.  It was the 3rd disaster.”

Shrekheimer started explaining about the theft of the Oath Gem and his own experience.  He explained how he hid after losing strength, and how the dragons stole the most important treasure of the humans.  He told Dok-gosong everything.  Shrekhiemer couldn’t hold back his emotions and tears flowed out.  To him it was a really regretful moment.

” Our Truvania continent is in midst of enduring the 3rd catastrophe.  It is a fight against the orcs who have allied themselves to the dragons.  Orcs and dragons.  Those two are hard to handle on their own but the Oath Gem was also stolen.  It is like adding insult to injury.”

The event happened exactly 10 years after the Oath Gem was stolen.  As Belkis’ boastful talk predicted, the Truvania continent was once against swept up by the fires of war.  Even before they could recover from the war with the Army of Darkness, the new war started.  The starting point was the Kandooras kingdom, which was closest to the Felucia mountain range.   Shrekheimer’s memory, which was stored in a magic gem, was transferred directly into Dok-gosong’s mind.  He wanted to ask for aid by letting Dok-gosong experience the desperate situation for himself.

It was around dusk.  The moonlight was barely showing in the sky, but the silhouette of the large castle was hazily reflected.  The moonlight lit up the castle walls and it also revealed the rigid faces of the soldiers positioned behind the wall.  No one opened their mouth so there was a stale desolate air all around.  However, the scene in the castle shown under the moonlight was not as smooth t it was shown.  Inside Dok-gosong’s mind, the scene was shown as if he was there himself.  Even the murmurs amongst the soldiers were transmitted to Dok-gosong.
It was a battle happening in the middle of the night.  Every soldier seemed to have forgotten that they were sleepy and they busied themselves while being vigilant.  Torches were placed inside the castle and the night was filled with artificial light.  On the castle wall’s lookout tower, several people from command was staring hard into the dark.

“Are they ready?”

“The preparation for a siege has been finished.  All the soldiers are in place and ready.

“What about the archery and artillery units?”

” They are all defending their positions.  The catapults and slings are also ready.”

“Mmm!”

The warrior dressed in extravagant armor let out a sigh. He seemed to doubt that the preparation was all complete.  He was wearing a full body armor that water could not even slip through the crack and it was unbecoming for his age.  However, the old general showed no sign of wearing down and he stood up straight while checking the fortification of the inner castle.  At a glance, he was an gray-haired old man who was impressively armed.  There was one old magician in a robe next to him, and several priests were also seen.  The magician carefully opened his mouth.

” When will the attack start?”

” Well?  The orcs have good night vision, but they have almost never battled in the night before…”

“The old general sharpened his eyes to look into the darkness across the castle wall.  There was a heavy layer of darkness, and nothing could be differentiated past the castle wall.  As if he was trying to calm his nervous heart, the old general gripped the long sword that was hanging from his waist.

” His name was Iramus pon Rudebeehee.”

The warrior’s name was transferred to Dok-gosong’s mind by Shrekheimer.  He was the only warrior from the Kanduras kingdom that had previous experience in battling the orc army. Therefore he was recalled by royal decree from his territory, where he was retired.  That is how he became a commander of the West Guard castle’s defence force.
The Kanduras Kingdom had a strong army compared to their population, and they were a pretty strong kingdom. They especially had no choice(TLN:to be strong), because they were on the border of the Felucia mountain range.  The Felucia mountain range was where most of the remnants of the orcs were hiding.  The remnant of orcs had a single purpose in trying to take revenge on the humans, so they endlessly incited provocation.  Therefore the residents of the Kanduras kingdom was always preparing for war, and they had experienced several dangers up until now.
However the castle had never fallen to the orcs before.  First by being in many battle, the Kanduras soldiers were the equals of 100 warriors.  They were very skilled.  Moreover, the other kingdoms located behind the Kanduras kingdom didn’t hesitate to send reinforcements so they didn’t have to worry about the logistics(TLN: supply and man power).  Each kingdom’s monarch knew that a tooth hurts if there is no gum.  Instead of their warriors sacrificing themselves, they chose to provide the funds that Kanduras kingdom needs to continue the war.  The Kanduras kingdom had a total population of 30 thousand, but they had a strong army numbering in the 15 thousand.  They were an abnormal kingdom.To say it again, they received benefit for fighting the war for others.  Basically they were a mercenary country.  However, even the Kanduras kingdom was in a life and death danger right now.  General Iramus heard the news of the defeat yesterday that put the Kanduras kingdom on its head.

” How in the world did the two castles fall?  In two days…”

Milton and Harmel castle.  These two castles were the closest to the border of the Felucia mountain range and they were basically the Kanduras kingdom’s outpost.  The kingdom chose the elite of elite warriors to deploy to the castle, and they had precedents of blocking the orc race’s incitement up until now. The Kanduras monarch boasted that the castles would never fall under any conditions and that wasn’t too far from the truth.
After the orcs lost and hid in the Felucia mountain range, the humans naturally built fortresses on the borders and the capabilities of the kingdoms were all gathered there.  At the time, the castles were the ultimate barrier of the humans.  If the castle was constructed properly then it would be able to overcome a force 3 times its own size.  Therefore a siege warfare was used the most against the orcs, and the human’s fortification techniques increased rapidly.
Milton, Harmel and now the one guarded by marquis Iramus called Hartmoose, these 3 castles were built through this process.  The greatest fortification engineers were gathered to build the castles.  Each kingdom’s palace magicians put various protection magic on the castle walls so these castles wouldn’t be damaged from most attacks.
Since all the kingdoms wholeheartedly sponsored the building of the castles, no matter how many times the orcs attacked, they weren’t able to overcome the 3 castles.  There was even a rumor saying that the spirits of the orcs who died attacking the castle for the past 50 years were endlessly haunting the place. However, the legend of the impregnable fortress was broken in two days.  When the news that the orc’s large army attacked in the night, the Kanduras kingdom’s ministers were confident.

“The stupid orcs is coming to die again.”

” Next year, it’ll be a good year for the crops.  The orcs’ corpses will make the land fertile. ”

The invading orcs were numerous, but this had happened countless times before.  The ministers didn’t have any worries.  They believed in the myth of the three castles that had repelled countless attacks.  However, their prediction was devastatingly off the mark.  The Milton castle fell on eday after the declaration of war, and before the news of the defeat could reach the capital, the Harmel castle also fell.  The unexpected defeat turned the Kanduras kingdom upside down.  However, they didn’t have time to investigate what had happened.  First, they had to stop the large army of orcs that were coming like rising water.  The king of the Kanduras kingdom, Bezalrios the 3rd, hurriedly called in the marquis Iramus.  Amongst the warriors in the Kanduras kingdom, he was the only one with ample experience fighting against the orcs.  That was how the marquis Iramus became to command the defence force of the Hartmoose castle.

” What kind of methods did those bastards use…”

General Iramus was present when the castle were constructed so he knew the state of the defence of both castles.  Therefore, he couldn’t understand how the two castles fell.  Next to him, his lieutenant wore a worried look.  As if he couldn’t wait anymore, he forcefully tried to put the marquis Iramus at ease.

“Don’t worry too much.  Marquis-nim. Those bastards are only the savage orc race.  Unless they could fight on top of a sturdy castle as a shield, they won’t be able to step on the soil of the Kanduras kingdom.”

The old general swiveled his gaze and glanced at his lieutenant.  Suddenly a self-deprecating smile formed on his face.  He went with the flow and he bluntly spoke.

“The castles that are already in their hands, Milton and Harmel, was fortified as much as this castle.  However, they couldn’t even endure for one day before falling, so I cannot jump to that conclusion.”

The lieutenant made a frightened face.

” We have to stop their invasion here at any cost.  If we don’t then the Kanduras and the other kingdoms won’t be safe.”

‘Also, we have to find and bring back the Oath gem.’

Marquis Iramus could not speak that thought out loud.  If this truth was spread to the common soldiers then there would be a big commotion.  Of course he knew about the human’s Oath gem being stolen.  Before he left, the king of Kanduras secretly called for him, and he heard it from the king’s mouth.  After learning the truth, Iramus could not help, but be frightened to death.

“How, how can such an event happen…”

“Shhh, this truth must not be heard by the common soldiers.  If the truth is known then akin to the orc race 50 years ago, our soldiers’ morale would bottom out.  Therefore, please hide the truth and block the advance of those bastards.”

“I, I understand.”

Marquis Iramus let out a deep sigh when he thought about the conversation he had with the king before he left.

“It won’t be easy.”

Fifty years ago, he was a squire in his mid-teens during the race wars.  He served under a knight of some renown, so he understood that the orc race was very adept at fighting.  If the humans hadn’t stolen their Oath gem, then the race who would have been pushed to the south of the Felucia mountain range would have been the humans.  He was sure of that fact, so his worry was very big.