Water Magician

Vol 4. Chapter 743: The Reason They Lost

“Impossible... We sent twenty percent of the regular army. A great force of twenty thousand. Why...? Don’t tell me the Western Nations betrayed us?”

“No. The Federation of Western Nations’ army has also been destroyed. Their head of state is reportedly missing.”

The messenger shook his head as he answered Crown Prince Zorn’s question.

According to Zorn’s memory, the Federation of Western Nations should have sent roughly twenty thousand soldiers as well, just as the Eastern Nations had.

In other words, a combined regular army of forty thousand had been destroyed by an oasis nation.

“How can anyone believe such a thing...”

Believe it or not, he had to act.

His father, the chief, who had always decided the nation’s policy, was absent.

Worse, he was in enemy hands.

“Gather the generals. We will hold a war council.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Within the Bardael Chiefdom, information control was imposed over the destruction of the army and the chief’s capture, and the people were not informed.

As a result, the Knightley Kingdom party staying there remained uninformed as well...

The desert nation of Julban, its capital Tantoga.

Tantoga was also the name of an enormous oasis that had existed since ancient times.

A city by the name of Tantoga «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» had been built there, and several centuries had passed since people settled in it.

Compared to the two great powers on the Dark Continent’s northern coast, the Eastern Nations and the Federation of Western Nations, Julban was a weak, small state.

Even so, it maintained the appearance of a nation.

No.

It had maintained it.

Until certain beings seized control.

Those beings had settled into the royal palace in the city of Tantoga.

They had settled there, but in truth, they did nothing.

The people who had handled state affairs before they arrived continued governing the city almost exactly as before.

The people who had done business in the city before they arrived continued doing business in the city just as they had.

Every member of Julban’s royal family had either died in battle or been exiled.

Everything else remained the same.

Those beings had replaced the royal family.

That phrase was precisely the most fitting one.

They occupied the royal palace and occasionally trained with swords in its courtyard.

What they demanded of the administrators was that they continue running the country as they always had.

And that they prepare three meals a day for them.

To put it extremely, that was all.

Lastly, they were to obey the one at the center of the group.

They were to call that person “Lord Garwin.”

The sound of fierce clashing swords rang through the palace courtyard.

Two men were crossing blades.

It was a mock battle... yet it was so fierce it could have been mistaken for a real fight.

Four people watched them.

A man of around sixty seated in a chair.

A beautiful woman of mature age standing behind him.

A man carrying fruit and drinks to the table... an attendant.

And a sturdily built man in his mid-twenties... who was grimacing.

The two men were engaged in a violent exchange of blades.

One was Demon Man Garwin.

The other was his servant, Orenju.

Orenju’s sword was knocked away.

“Damn it... I need more training. At this rate, I won’t beat Abel.”

The words slipped from Orenju’s mouth.

“Orenju, I’ve always wondered. Wasn’t the one who defeated you the elf, not Abel? Why is Abel your target?”

Garwin asked.

“Why, you ask... Why is that?”

“What?”

“That elf doesn’t really bring out that kind of feeling in me. Like, ‘I absolutely have to beat him.’ Somehow, in my mind, the opponent I’m supposed to defeat is Abel.”

“I do not understand.”

“You’re always saying, ‘I’ll absolutely beat Ryo!’ too, aren’t you, Lord Garwin?”

“Of course. Next time, I intend to set up any number of traps and crush him.”

At Orenju’s words, Garwin answered with a great laugh.

But apparently, Orenju did not like Garwin’s words.

He grimaced.

“Set up traps... Isn’t that cowardly?”

“Cowardly? What is this cowardice?”

“You should face him head-on and defeat him fair and square...”

“Cowardice is nothing more than the howling of a beaten dog.”

“Uh...”

At Garwin’s words, Orenju, his servant, recoiled.

“He is that powerful an enemy. No matter how I fight him, it will surely be enjoyable. However, I do not like losing. Fundamentally, I cannot accept the act of losing. Having lost once, I will win next time no matter what. I will win by whatever means I must. If he begs for mercy then, I may let him live and grant him a chance to rise again.”

“What inhuman cruelty...”

The words slipped from Orenju despite himself.

Garwin glared at Orenju and spoke.

“Orenju, are you truly my servant?”

“Lord Garwin, are you truly my master...?”

“You are defiant, after all.”

“Because you don’t cherish your servants.”

“You insist on defeating enemies head-on.”

“I’m not sure about using nothing but vicious methods.”

Garwin and Orenju... traded insults even as they crossed blades.

Watching them from a short distance away was another servant, Isolda.

“No matter how you look at them, they are master and servant.”

She muttered it while shaking her head.

After a while—

“Wait, Orenju.”

Garwin suddenly stopped crossing blades.

“I’ve received a communication from Juku.”

Saying that, Garwin looked up at the sky.

Orenju shrugged, went over to the table, and began drinking.

“Is that true, Juku?”

Garwin’s surprised, delighted voice rang out.

“You have done well! Mm, mm, of course, this is a great achievement! Yes, that’s right. Once we regroup, you can drink living human blood. Juku loves that, does he not? Excellent work!”

To an outside observer, Garwin looked as if he were talking loudly to himself.

Watching him, Orenju addressed Isolda beside him.

“Drinking living human blood... Doesn’t Juku seem more vampire-like?”

“Juku is that kind of servant, so what can we do? You don’t drink alcohol either, even with that build of yours. Every servant is different.”

“What do you mean, ‘even with that build’? That’s strange...”

“Because no matter how you look at it, you look like a heavy drinker.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what people call prejudice.”

Orenju shook his head slightly and complained.

“Is that called prejudice, Chief?”

“Well, I would not know.”

Isolda asked the only seated man there, a man in his sixties.

“You’re a prisoner, Chief, but you’re not very cooperative.”

“Most prisoners are uncooperative, aren’t they? They’ve been captured against their will.”

At Isolda’s words, Orenju shrugged.

Yes, the man they called “Chief” was Battuzon, chief of the Bardael Chiefdom.

He had no ropes around him, nor was he bound in chains.

But Battuzon understood.

There was no need for such things because the servants before him, and the Demon Man, possessed overwhelming power.

They had shown him that on the battlefield until he was sick of it.

There were also people present besides the Demon Man and his servants.

The man in his mid-twenties standing beside Battuzon was unmistakably human.

Even this human man, named Bazar, was unbelievably strong.

Originally, he had controlled this country’s underworld, but after losing to Demon Man Garwin, he had submitted to him.

The person moving back and forth between the building and the table like a valet... a man named Bozun, Battuzon did not know well.

He obeyed the Demon Man and his servants completely.

One could see that not even a fragment of him thought of rebelling.

After ending his communication with Juku, Garwin came over to the table with a clearly splendid smile.

“As expected of Juku and Vim-Ro.”

He was murmuring such things.

“Huh? Come to think of it, where is Vim-Ro?”

“Juku has taken over his body.”

“...What?”

At Isolda’s words, Orenju let out a wildly off-key sound.

Orenju, Isolda, Juku, and Vim-Ro were Demon Man Garwin’s highest-ranking servants.

As the title “Four Generals” suggested, they were four servants.

Yet only Orenju and Isolda were present here.

Juku, as the communication to Garwin had just shown, was infiltrating somewhere.

But Vim-Ro?

Juku had taken over his body?

“You saw it in the Knightley Kingdom too, didn’t you? Juku was taking over the body of that boy duke.”

“I know that, but... wasn’t that because he was human? That’s always Juku’s role... No, that’s not what I mean. Can Juku take over the bodies of us servants too?”

“Of course, can’t he? We were originally Lord Garwin’s servants in the first place... If anything, wouldn’t it be easier than taking over a human?”

“Uh...”

At Isolda’s explanation, Orenju’s face clearly twisted in distaste.

He wondered what Vim-Ro thought about being taken over, but...

“Vim-Ro doesn’t talk, so there’s no way to ask.”

Orenju gave up.

Their master came over to them.

He was in a better mood than they had seen him in recently.

“Lord Garwin, what did Juku say?”

“Rejoice, both of you. It seems Ryo and Abel are there.”

“...Excuse me?”

At Garwin’s words, Orenju and Isolda tilted their heads and voiced the same question at the same time.

They simply did not understand what he meant.

“Ryo and Abel of that hateful Knightley Kingdom are apparently staying in Hosoina, the capital of the Bardael Chiefdom.”

“Seriously...?”

Orenju finally understood.

He was shocked.

He was delighted.

He was exultant.

“Hell yes!”

Orenju thrust a fist into the air.

But he immediately arrived at a concern.

He had to get ahead of this.

“Lord Garwin, Abel is my prey!”

“Huh?”

“I’ll yield Ryo to you, Lord Garwin, but Abel is my prey!”

Orenju thrust his face forward and made his claim.

Orenju, a servant who could hardly be called obedient toward his master Garwin, did not usually assert himself so stubbornly.

But Orenju’s fixation on Abel was extremely strong.

Literally strong enough that one might call it once in a thousand years.

“...I know. I will leave Abel to you.”

“Thank you!”

Garwin accepted the force of Orenju’s insistence.

In truth, Garwin was only fixated on Ryo anyway.

“However, I will not permit you to lose. I defeat Ryo, and Orenju defeats Abel. Only when both are achieved can we say we have overwhelmed the Knightley Kingdom Richard left behind.”

“Of course. I will not lose.”

A ferocious light appeared on Orenju’s face.

He would face Abel openly, head-on.

But that did not mean he would be satisfied with “putting up a good fight” or “giving it everything he had.”

He would fight head-on.

And defeat him openly.

That was Orenju’s wish.