Emperor of Steel

‘As a man had succeeded, people have come to see…’

Luke, who reached the Northern command, was able to feel his status.

When he first entered the enlistment last year, no one was nervous around him, but then, the knights and the soldiers gave him a chair to sit and welcomed him.

All the soldiers were looking at Luke with respect and a little envy.

Luke didn’t expect it, but Luke couldn’t stop himself from liking it.

With great hospitality that he had been treated, he stepped into the commander’s office.

“Welcome, Lord Marquis.”

As soon as Luke entered the commander’s office, a middle-aged man with a gentle impression stood from his seat and greeted him.

‘Is this the new commander of the Northern Army, Count Omar?’

On the way there, Alex told him that he was a man with considerable ability in administration.

And to prove himself worthy of the name, he was quickly trying to get the city of Krom back on its feet, and the Northern troops which were taken down by the Volga.

Count Omar was the direct head of Luke, however, he was being polite because of the difference in their titles. Luke too was surprised to see the commander act submissively.

“It is my pleasure meeting you. But, the reason you have asked to meet me?”

At the question from Luke, he signed Luke to sit down. Count Omar pulled out an appointment from his desk drawer which had the Emperor’s seal stamped on it.

Luke’s eyebrows wriggled as he opened it.

“As a commander of a support unit to the Navarre duchy, which is in crisis due to the monsters invasion, lead the reinforcements to there and help them?” Luke read it out.

“Hahaha, I guess it needs an additional explanation. I will tell you in detail.”

Count Omar, who was laughing, began to narrate to Luke what had happened.

The summary of what he said was, tens of thousands of monsters have invaded the west Navarre at once and turned the duchy into a mess.

The fortress that had to look after the border had collapsed, and the western territories were devastated.

“I don’t get it, that surely is a lot of monsters, but they have enough Gigants to mobilize forces and manage themselves, right?”

No matter how poor Navarre duchy was, the duchy had 200 to 300 Gigants.

In addition to that, even the cheapest gun powder can be used to combat the monsters.

Luke wasn’t so incredible to fight with a monster with just a knife like he did 500 years back, nor could he be able to stop the monsters with his power.

“Of course, it could be possible if it was a normal scenario. But this monster invasion is quite strange. The big monsters walk along with the small monsters even though they are supposed to only think about having a meal, and when they attack a fortress they move well like trained soldiers.” Said the commander.

“Ho, something like that…!”

Luke thought of it to be absurd.

If it came down to just the power of fighting and the individual determination, then no human would be able to win over a monster.

But humans tend to have intelligence, which monsters lacked.

There were a few monsters which have intelligence, but it was the level of a kid.

In any case, with the intelligence and the technology they inherited from the ancient fairies, humans managed to create superior weapons, united their nations and territories, and developed civilizations.

That allowed humans to be the dominant races of the Middle-ages, following the fairies. And that forced the monsters to move deep into the forests, deep valleys and deserted lands.

And such monsters with intelligence levels at all, such low-level monsters performing military tactics?

“Then maybe they…” Luke was about to say.

“Yes, the imperial assessment stated that there was a possible brain-like existence behind them.”

There was a story that Luke could think of.

Occasionally there were heroes who were called as hero chief born among the monsters who take control of the herd with strong power and leadership.

In the past, every time such a being was born, there was a war called Monster Wave, the humans and the kingdoms suffered great damage because of it.

“In the beginning, the Imperial thought of providing them support with weapons, including the Gigants. But after looking at the information we obtained, we realized that it wasn’t something that we could do with just weapons.”

According to Count Omar, the monsters were getting tougher and tougher as the battles increased.

On top of that, along with the monsters using the duchy soldier’s weapons, they were armed with Gigants and giant sword, shields, and large monsters.

“They, they are advancing at lightning speed. When the duchy asked Gigants for assistance, they were already on the verge of turning into ash.” The commander said.

“Are you serious about their mobility?” Luke asked.

“Not just that, they carry out traps and manned tactics, and even use captive humans to operate their artillery and repair their weapons.”

At that level, the battle with monsters wasn’t something to take lightly.

The monsters had to be recognized as a group equal to military and tactical forces.

“The biggest problem was that the number of them is growing day by day. What was 50,000 when first reported, had soon turned into 70,000.”

It didn’t mean that they biologically producing. The time was too short for such a thing to happen.

It seemed like the monsters which were scattered according to their herds, soon began to fall into line.

The monsters had the tendency to fall into line and follow the orders of their supposed hero.

“If we leave it as it is, it will soon turn into a huge pain. There is a significant number of monsters living in the empire.”

If they began to move into line with the Orc Hero, the Empire was bound to suffer considerable damage.

No, the monsters weren’t going to be a huge problem.

However, while the imperial army was going back and forth with the monsters, the Volga Republic might invade again.

After hearing the series of events, Luke nodded, understanding the situation and said.

“I do understand the severity of the situation… but, why me?”

“Sorry?”

“There are so many other generals and commanders in the Empire, why do I have to be the commander in charge?”

Count Omar, who couldn’t disagree with Luke’s statement, seemed rather flustered.

“That, that wasn’t my decision…”

‘Then I guess it was decided by that damn Emperor.’

If he sent someone, he would have to defeat the monster army which was going to be a tough task, but he didn’t want to send away a loyal general who was under his control.

The Emperor would have to check his noblemen and keep watch over the Volga Republic.

Which was why he chose the descendant of the Warrior, whom he wouldn’t particularly miss.

“Well, as long as I am a soldier, I need to move according to the direction of the Emperor’s orders. Then, I will take my men.”

At those words, the knights of Luke under the Torlot Fortress would surely be worried.

Normally, a noble commander didn’t have the right to take troops apart from the retainers who accompanied him during the enlistment. It was to prevent the artillery unit’s use.

However, with the exception of Kaper, Anna, Hobert, and Alex who learned the Gold Sword, the other knights of Torlot were all Silver Sword users.

It was a great loss to let those who listened to his words into the harm’s way.

‘We need a long time to get as many as possible. Ah, no matter what.’

When Luke was thinking, Count Omar spoke with the same embarrassed expression as before.

“That is difficult. According to the Imperial military law…”

“Imperial military law says that senior nobles above the Marquis must be accompanied by appropriate escort units, right?”

Luke’s point wasn’t wrong.

With the title of Marquis, he was in charge of one command or an equivalent.

And he had to take a dedicate escort force with him.

However, the escort was to be selected by the headquarters, and parties couldn’t ask for a specific person such as Luke did.

Count Omar tried to point it out, but Luke said it before him.

“You don’t have to think so hard. I haven’t asked for anything serious, can’t I just take my men to escort me?”

When Luke spoke rather softly, Count Omar who was sweating, nodded.

“Ah, I understand. That much I can…”

After seeing through the agreement, Luke decided to go to the Fortress and informed his subordinates about the Navarre support team.

Although it was unknown and unforeseen, most of the knights responded to the deployment rather positively.

“Navarre duchy… isn’t that far from here?”

“Yes, but it is better than here. It’s easier to defeat the monsters than fight the Volga, who might come back at any time.”

“Then what about the Silver Sword classes? I still have half to learn.”

Ten days later, Luke and 30 knights left Torlot Fortress with high spirits.

On the way, 30,000 troops from the Imperial army were handed in, and they all marched towards the Navarre duchy where a huge battle awaited them.