Chapter 455: He is Here
Aldrian had already teleported west and continued moving without pause. Many people in Padina began to question his generosity—why had he spared the lives of the troops who tried to block his path? From their perspective, those soldiers were clearly his enemies. It would’ve been reasonable for him to kill them without hesitation.
However, even though they showed no intention of surrendering, he merely deterred them, using his overwhelming strength not to kill, but to prevent them from advancing toward the capital. It was as if his magnanimity was so vast that he would forgive people who weren’t his true targets, even when they stood against him.
This made many people wonder—what kind of person was this mysterious swordsman? Was he naïve? Or did he have a deeper reason for acting the way he did?
True to some of their guesses, Aldrian spared those who tried to block his path because he had his own reason. He even went so far as to display his overwhelming strength not to kill them, but to make them surrender.
After returning from the Rosalind Barony, he had taken time to reflect on his actions within the empire. Since that day, he had chosen to restrain himself, deciding not to slaughter large groups so easily. It was a decision made not only for the sake of others, but for his own good as well.
When he thought about his future actions in this empire, he knew that, under normal circumstances, he would have to shed a great deal of blood. The second prince’s faction was filled with enemies, and he had already envisioned the battles that awaited him. If he were to step into the capital to confront the second prince directly, it would undoubtedly turn into a massive bloodbath.
True to that, he got information that the capital had already become a gathering point for a huge army under the second prince’s command.
The number of troops in the capital could easily reach hundreds of thousands if they were all gathered. That massive force consisted of the second prince’s main army, bolstered by the noble families who supported him. Aldrian knew that once he approached the capital, he would have to face this entire army alone.
And that didn’t even include the other resources at their disposal—artifacts, or something like flying fortresses, which would surely serve as support for the troops. If things reached the worst, he would have no choice but to kill every last one of them and destroy everything in his path.
And that, in truth, would be the right thing to do.
However, if he did all that bloodshed, then the aftermath would be something outside of his control, and it could be detrimental in the future. Why did he think the future could be affected if he just killed and killed?