Swordmeister of Rome

<Humans don't need a monkey's respect. Just like how I don't need respect from you.>

Star Shatterer Robanutton to his followers. Ra-Bander from 600 years ago

...….

"Their attack has slowed down."

"Isn't it because their damage is too great?"

"It's weird…"

Con-Tian was an important region that they had to conquer to proceed. If their intention was to swallow Con Kingdom as a whole, this region was important.

"They must be up to something. Prepare our defenses and gather information."

"Yes, Commander."

Grandal knew they were up to something. They were not going to get any more reinforcements, so they had to defend the place with Kalagul.

Dragona began training as the attack slowed down. There was the occasional cannon fire, but Dragona was temporarily off duty. After the battle, the new recruits learned the importance of formations and teamwork. They had no deaths, but most of them suffered wounds. Panolan and Gronn barely escaped death and experienced severe trauma. They were now more subdued and were working hard to work as a team.

And Sian… came back from a forge.

"Sian, what's that in your hand?" Celine asked Sian when she saw that he was holding something.

"They're iron marbles."

"Huh? What are you going to do with those?"

"I have a lot of uses for these. Hehe…"

Sian added that he had used five hundred already. Celine did not understand what he meant, but she soon realized it.

"OH! So it was you. You helped, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't lie. The Kanuans that were destroyed by the marbles."

"Oh… yeah. I couldn't bear to watch."

Celine shook her head and sighed.

"Aren't you mad? They think it was Kalagul! They respect him while they are ignoring you."

"I don't care. I never cared about my reputation anyways. I wasn't trying to hide it, but I have no intention to show it off."

"But…"

Celine was angered by the fact that Sian was being ignored. They needed to know how they were still alive. If it wasn't for Sian, most of them would've already been dead. Sian thought Celine's reaction was cute and smiled.

"Haha. It's okay, Lady Celine. I don't need their respect. I'm just happy if I can live happily with the people I love. I don't need respect from others."

"Oh. Well, you sound like a saint or something."

Celine ranted. Sian wanted to correct her that a saint was something different, but held back. He just didn't find getting respected to be worth it.

"So when are we going back? We're not going to stay here forever are we?"

Sian thought about multiple ways, but he had given up already.

"We thought we were moving to another place but Commander Grandal seems to think differently. He thinks our job here is not done."

Sian closed his eyes. Celine then looked at him curiously and Sian spoke up, opening his eyes.

"That Grandal… has good sense."

"Huh?"

"Something huge is coming."

Celine couldn't understand what that meant until the next day.

"They're trying to destroy this place entirely," Grandal moaned after taking a look at the far plains by using Exar. There was no difference in the number of Kanuans. The problem was the Kel-Rufens.

"Seventy… Seventy Kel-Rufens… Did they have that many?"

He knew something was going to come up, but this was unexpected. It was as if they had seventy Master warriors that could move day and night as one body. After looking at the numbers, he knew what it meant. They would've been more successful if they had set up an ambush. There was no need to show off like that.

It only meant one thing.

"They're telling the Grand Bander to back off."

No Grand Banders would fight to the death at a foreign war. Seventy Kel-Rufens was dangerous, even for Grand Banders. Grandal moaned and turned to Kalagul. Kalagul was also looking at the plains.

This place had to be defended. There was no other way.

'That's… the weapon from the Empire.'

Kalagul realized the Kanuans and Kel-Rufens were from the Old Empire he fought. These machines had no chance against <Kal-Gul> as they had great magic. These soulless machines were no match against them and that was why the Empire gave up using them. But with his current human body, he had no way of using the great magic to subdue them. Kalagul began calculating his chances of winning against them without the great magic.

'I can handle twenty-one… I might die while fighting thirty-three. More than that, there's no chance.'

There was the possibility of winning if the powers were all combined, but Kalagul had no intention to do it.

'I should draw back. I'm not sure how strong this Sian is either.'

Kalagul still hadn't seen how strong Sian was. Kuntarian was too weak to draw his true strength out. Even when he became a Grand Bander, he was still much weaker than King Narasha. Even if Sian was stronger than Kalagul himself, it was still a suicide mission to fight against many Kel-Rufens with two Grand Banders.

He had no intention to risk that.

'I'll need to talk with the King. He seemed to be picturing something on a much bigger scale."

Kalagul began moving to send a message.

"…So, that's where we stand."

<You believe we have to back off?>

"Yes. What do you want me to do? Should I join them back at the capital and fight there?"

The King must have been surprised by the enemy. He must have sent them because Kalagul was enough to fight them off. Kalagul also thought the King would know that he did not intend to take the risk if it came to this. That was why he spoke about the option of falling back to buy more time.

<No. I wish we could buy them a few more days, but that's enough. I can't stress him out for any longer also. Bring everyone back. Use the Ra-Shar-Roa nearby.>

"??"

Kalagul was surprised by the decision. The King was smiling.

'He's hiding something…'

But it didn't matter. It was good that he did not need to fight any longer.

'Well… Rian and Celine won't be too happy though.'

Kalagul turned off the machine and began walking to share the message with Grandal and Dragona.