Chapter 177 : Chapter 177
Chapter 177
Niko's body, even half-melted, was larger than Shion.
Looking at the old man who had met his end on a wooden plank, Shion smiled bitterly.
That man was the Whale of Hobel Bay.
A hero of the Cordis Empire who had been active since the war of fifty-three years ago.
He was not a man to die in a place like this, in a way like this, but he did. Such is war.
"I hate the Empire, Niko."
I spoke to the dead man.
A blue flame flickered on my body.
The fifth Ars of the Septem Arcana, 'Soul Fire'.
There was still a flame in my heart.
It swirled inside me, pulling my heart this way and that.
It was so hot it was hard to bear.
"I don't just dislike it, I despise it."
A Fantasy Finger grasped the blue flame.
Then, I scattered it over Niko's body.
As if to wash him, so that the remnants of his arduous life would no longer bind his soul.
The blue flame quickly engulfed Niko and the place where he lay.
"That is why, Niko Nereyades... you are a truly difficult man."
Even on the sea, 'Soul Fire' burned well.
A wooden plank, Niko upon it, covered in blue flames.
I gave it a push, towards the place where the Empire's ships were lined up.
The piece of wood, like a small boat, drifted away, carrying the blue flame and the fisherman's body.
The sea was calm, without a single wave.
My eyes sank deep.
"Because I can't completely hate you."
The blue flame boat that drifted away gently soon reached the Imperial fleet.
The flame had already died down by then.
Someone descended from the warship.
A small girl, Nana Nereyades.
She looked at me.
Even from a distance, her gaze was clearly felt.
I stood quietly and looked at the horizon.
Hundreds of warships.
Tens of thousands of soldiers.
Standing on the sea, Shion did not flinch in front of them.
My whole body ached as if I would collapse at any moment, right after the fierce battle with Niko.
But my gaze remained steadfastly resolute.
“……”
Three Cordis legions and a single man stood facing each other.
Yet, it was the Cordis side that was afraid.
It was only natural, having witnessed the battle between the Hunchback and the White Whale.
It would be stranger if they weren't terrified.
In Shion's hand was the 'Sinew of the Great Sea'.
One of the ten Ancient Weapons owned by the Empire, it was now Shion's spoil of war.
From Cordis's perspective, it was something they had to retrieve at any cost, but they couldn't possibly muster the courage to do so.
"This is your defeat."
Shion spat out coldly.
A strange power imbued his voice, and everyone heard it clearly.
'Soul Fire' flared up over the sea.
It covered the entire sea, blazing and blocking the Empire's ships.
The Cordis soldiers held their breath as they watched the flames that seemed ready to swallow them at any moment.
"Withdraw, Cordis."
***
Nana Nereyades turned her ship around.
It was a terrible defeat.
The Whale of Hobel Bay had lost his life, and three Cordis legions were routed by a single man.
It was a defeat that would fester if dwelt upon, yet strangely, the fact that they had recovered Niko's body brought a sense of relief.
When the Nine Streams General turned her ship, the other ships followed suit.
The Cordis warships that had filled the sea disappeared one by one over the horizon.
They still held a numerical advantage.
But they had absolutely no will to fight.
If there was a brilliant commander, even an army with morale at rock bottom could manage a fight.
But the one with the least will to fight was their commander, the Nine Streams General Nana.
The sea, abandoned by the Empire, is calmly blue, as if nothing had happened.
Only then did Shion turn around.
He slowly walked across the sea.
As he walked, dragging his tired and wounded body, Amethus was soon by his side.
It seemed he had run over as soon as the Empire retreated.
"Let me support you, Shion."
"It's fine, Amethus."
Shion waved his hand.
"It's still too early to rest."
He was a wreck.
Even with the healing power bestowed by the Mana Armor Valziart, his wounds would not close.
Above all, the aftereffects of summoning the 'Hunchback' and 'Soul Fire' simultaneously were powerful.
It wasn't to the point of being unable to move for days like when he was eleven, but every single step was arduous.
"I must strive for perfection... until the very end……."
Shion walked.
Gazes gathered.
He soon reached the beach.
On the beach were the people of the West, the ten thousand men who had watched the fight between Niko and Shion.
They held their breath and stared intently at Shion's every step.
A crowd.
A herd of humans.
The regressed prince overwhelmed them alone.
He simply walked quietly without any intention to overwhelm, but his surroundings were crushed on their own.
There were emotions passing back and forth.
Fear and admiration, jealousy and astonishment.
The common denominator was silence.
There were ten thousand lips, yet not a single word was spoken.
Finally, Shion stopped.
He quietly swept his hair back at the border between the sea and the sand.
The sun was at its zenith.
Standing with his back to the sea under the strong sunlight, Shion's appearance was beautiful to the point of being sharp.
"Why do you all look so relieved?"
Shion spat out coldly.
It even sounded somewhat aggressive.
This was Shion's intention.
"Because Cordis has retreated? Because you've saved your lives?"
He continued as if interrogating them.
"Are you thinking that you've just had a rough time in a foreign land and that everything will be over as soon as you return to your home country, that you can forget the nightmarish few days and live comfortably?"
No one could answer.
There was a strange power in Shion's voice, so that even though it sounded like he was having a conversation, it pierced the ears of ten thousand people.
The voice, imbued with the presence of a mighty soul, conveyed its will by crushing the principles of the world.
Sound was not important.
Conveying the will was important.
The world willingly bent its own laws to Shion's demand.
"Then you are fools."
He openly spat out criticism.
"Idiots not even worth the breath to curse, not even worth swearing at."
Rebellious feelings arose here and there.
Having gathered from all over the West to attend Guidone's wedding, they were all men of considerable standing.
As proud men, they were easily angered by Shion's words.
If Shion had not been the one to beat Niko, angry voices would have erupted immediately.
But it was quiet.
It was only natural, having witnessed the fierce battle between the Hunchback and the White Whale, a battle like two living mountains colliding, a fight that seemed to belong to the ancient times.
…….
…….
The silence only deepened.
Shion did not like that fact.
He did not hide his sneer and contempt.
"You don't say a word even when I scratch your pride like this, how steeped you are in a life of ease."
Not a single word was wrong.
Facing the military might of Cordis, the West had come to realize. How lacking they were, and yet how arrogantly they had lived.
If not for Shion, their lives would have been lost today or tomorrow.
"Listen, everyone."
He said, as if pleading.
Having pierced their hearts with his sharp tongue, it was now time to shake them.
"You must listen."
The regressed prince was soaked in water and blood.
The blond hair stuck to his face, the wounds all over his body, the gasping breaths, all proved that he was a warmonger.
The words of the man who had beaten Niko Nereyades to death held an authority that overwhelmed the crowd.
"I, Shion, am a man of Merion and the husband of the head of the Verchello family. If this is a war that can be won by throwing myself into it, I will do it as many times as it takes."
The words 'man of Merion' and 'Verchello family' captured the crowd's hearts.
The bond of being from the same West began to seep in.
The people had no choice but to listen to Shion's words.
"But the opponent is the Cordis Empire."
The thousand-year empire.
A great wall that the West had never once overcome.
The fact that Cordis had reigned for a thousand years was synonymous with the West having been oppressed for a thousand years.
"So how can you be at ease already? Just once, just a single time……!"
A thick vein popped on Shion's neck.
"...we've only driven them away. This is just the beginning!"
He wasn't trying to summon his third Ars.
He merely showed a little of the hatred for the Empire that he had kept in his heart.
"Three legions? In the future, more than ten legions will launch an all-out offensive!"
Shion lowered his own value.
He said that the fierce battle with Niko was nothing more than a single fight.
He told them that his own fight was not important, and to look to the battles ahead.
This statement, paradoxically, made Shion seem like a hero.
This too was intentional.
"Does the West have the strength to stop them? Even if you do, can you wield it?"
There were those who began to lower their eyes, one by one.
It was because they started to recall what they possessed, and how to wield it.
"...Anymore……."
Shion realized it was time to stop talking.
"...I will say no more. If you have a brain, you would have already understood."
A long speech can sometimes be poisonous.
No, rather, it is rare for it not to be poisonous.
The regressed hero was convinced of that.
"So please……."
He took a deep breath.
He collected his wounded body and raised his eyes.
"...Wake up from your dream, you fools."
Shion said, as if spitting it out.
"This is your war."
***
Silence was added to silence.
But the lingering air had clearly changed.
A blue flame flickered between people's hearts.
It was a flame called the fighting spirit.
It wasn't absolute, but it was effective.
Shion, who had been about to turn away, stopped.
"Oh, and."
His blue eyes were fierce.
"If there are any idiots among idiots who are thinking of siding with the Empire... I ask this of you. Please, come to your senses."
Shion frowned.
He saw a few people who couldn't properly meet his gaze.
They flinched and hurriedly lowered their eyes.
A clicking of the tongue came out on its own, but he didn't bother to point them out.
It was because he could understand their surprise and fear.
"Remember 53 years ago. What did the Empire do to the places that sided with them? How many people are left who remember the once beautiful Arete Island?"
The regressed prince spoke, and Amethus clenched his teeth.
It was like bringing up his subordinate's family matters, but it couldn't be helped.
"It was no different this time. Didn't they try to turn the entire Guidone family into a wasteland?"
Shion turned his cold gaze.
There was nothing more to say.
"Let's go."
"Let's."
Shion and Amethus began to walk.
All eyes followed them.
It was all the work of those two men.
Confronting the hiding Nine Streams General Nana, infiltrating the enemy camp, and winning the duel against Niko Nereyades to drive out the Empire were all solely Shion and Amethus's doing.
Which meant.
The others had proven their incompetence in a terrible way.
“……He's right.”
Someone spoke up.
It was a knight with a pointed nose.
"A man not yet twenty years old defeated the Whale of Hobel Bay and drove out three Cordis legions."
The knight with the pointed nose gripped the sword at his waist.
"But we……."
His face was red.
He looked as if he was feeling the utmost shame.
He threw his sword, the pride of a knight, to the ground.
Even the clanging sound was pathetic.
"...What in the world did we do?"
…….
Who would answer?
Among the ten thousand men, no one was qualified to speak.
Titles like Master of Maesh or Knight Commander of somewhere only made them more ashamed.
The man with the pointed nose gritted his teeth and said.
"Are we going to stay like this?"
The knight asks. He interrogates those who share the same shame as him.
"No, I, Hebert, can't possibly do that! This can't go on like this!"
The crowd stirred at the name Hebert.
Hebert was surely a knight among knights, renowned even in West-Erta.
"Let's prepare, everyone!"
Hebert raised his heart-rending voice even louder.
"The next time the Cordis bastards invade, we can't act like fools like this! We have to show them the true power of the West!"
"Right!"
"Right!"
One by one, they shouted, and soon ten thousand shouted.
The cries of 'Right, right' spread like a wave. Heat rises.
It is as intense as the size of their shame. At the center of the heat was Hebert.
"And let's tell them about that man……."
Without hesitation, he stretched out his hand and pointed at Shion.
All the heat was directed at the regressed prince, at the back of the wounded but silently walking figure.
"Eight years after the disappearance of the White Lord, a new hero has finally appeared in the West!"
"Yes! A hero!"
Someone else shouted.
He raised his voice with great excitement.
"If a man like that isn't a hero, then who is! How long will we keep looking for the disappeared White Lord!"
"Shion! Our hero!"
"Shion of Merion!"
The crowd shouted.
"""Hero, Shion of Merion!"""