The Lord Of Blood Hill

Despite Henwell’s half warning, half threat, the Marquess of Nothing remains remarkably confident.

“If I’m going to speak, it’s because I know just how serious this is. I’ll share the information first, and then you can judge its importance.”

After Henwell nods, the Marquess reveals a secret that shocks him deeply.

Ulysses’s recent injury isn’t recent at all, it happened long ago.

About twenty-nine years ago, when Ulysses was still a prince, the Marquess of Nothing was by his side.

To claim the throne, Ulysses made a deal with Veil, enlisting their help to secure his kingship. But after ascending, he refused to pay Veil.

Becoming king requires ruthless resolve.

At the time, Ulysses underestimated Veil Organization’s strength, thinking that as king of one of the continent’s powerful nations, no one could threaten him.

In truth, Ulysses could have afforded to pay Veil’s price. But as a ruler, he refused to accept being threatened.

So he set a deadly trap, ambushing and killing the Veil members who came for the meeting.

Veil Organization didn’t retaliate for a long time.

Five years passed with no action from Veil.

Having solidified his power, Ulysses slowly realized Veil might be stronger than he thought.

But Veil’s silence led him to misjudge their strength, and he ignored the church’s warnings, believing they exaggerated Veil’s threat to influence Billie’s political situation.

Meanwhile, the War of the Six Kings preliminaries were underway, that was the year Henwell was born.

Ulysses, the new king, planned a major campaign, actively reorganizing his military. He personally led the kingdom’s knights and elite standing army toward the front.

Henwell knows this history well: “At that time, His Majesty Ulysses led 150,000 elite troops toward Vorry to fight the Ika Kingdom. But disaster struck before crossing the border, a massive flood devastated many elite units.”

This setback caused the allied forces to lose in the preliminaries of the War of the Six Kings.

Vorry’s forces held strong, enduring the allied onslaught.

Without support from Billie’s elite units, Duke Amir took a risky gamble, personally leading a force on a thousand-mile raid to cut off Ika’s main supply line.

The old king of Ika, now King Baleqi’s father, made a major strategic error.

He never expected Amir’s boldness or the fighting ability of Vorry’s troops deep behind enemy lines, just 40,000 men holding off Ika’s 150,000-strong army.

In the end, Ika’s 100,000 elite troops were surrounded and annihilated by Vorry’s concentrated forces.

This dramatic reversal forced the allies to the negotiating table.

Amir’s gamble was truly a life-or-death risk. Knowing this, he entrusted Arius to his steward Jansen for safekeeping.

Henwell’s father also earned recognition through his combat achievements, building connections that allowed Henwell to begin knight training at an early age.

Returning to Ulysses, the Marquess of Nothing sighs at Henwell’s confusion. “Ah, that wasn’t a natural disaster, it was an assassination attempt aimed at Ulysses.”

Henwell furrows his brow. “That can’t be right! When a large army marches out, there’s usually an Iron Knight stationed to secretly protect the king. Veil may be strong, but back then Ulysses had the kingdom’s knights with him, over a hundred thousand elite troops, and numerous masters on site. Just the number of Grand Knights alone must have been in the dozens! How could Veil possibly succeed?”

Henwell recalls the massive flood. “So that disaster was caused by Veil? They used the chaos to try and kill His Majesty?”

That makes sense. The war had been brewing for a long time before it started.

Billie’s elite reinforcements had fixed marching routes for such a large, long-distance operation. Many supply stations had to be set up in advance. With Veil Organization’s strength, it would be easy for them to find the exact route.

If they prepared carefully, they could engineer a man-made catastrophe at the right moment.

Then the Marquess drops a bombshell that makes Henwell’s jaw drop.

“Veil Organization didn’t lay ambushes or prepare in advance. They simply appeared on the army’s path with fewer than three hundred operatives, and yet they almost wiped out the kingdom’s hundred thousand elite troops.”

Henwell’s eyes widen. “How did they pull that off?”

The Marquess replies quietly, “Because all three hundred were powerful professionals. Thirty of them were Iron Knight-level professionals, and one was even a Glory Knight! Among those thirty, the deadliest were eight spellcasters, all Hope of the Rising Sun-level, equivalent to Iron Knights.

The remaining two hundred-plus were all Grand Knights.”

Henwell is left speechless, stunned by the revelation. The Marquess of Nothing continues, “That Glory Knight didn’t even take action. The eight Iron Knights guarded those eight spellcasters, while the remaining fourteen Iron Knights led over two hundred Grand Knights.”

“Henwell, have you ever seen fourteen units led by Iron Knights, each composed entirely of Grand Knights, charge into battle? Can you even imagine that scene? I still remember it vividly. Countless nights, I dream of the horror from that day. They tore through the kingdom’s defenses like a tidal wave, no one could stop them. Not even for a moment.”

Henwell senses the Marquess’s slight tremor, as if he’s reliving the brutal massacre.

The Marquess murmurs, “Bodies everywhere, screams all around. Shortly after the fight began, all the senior commanders of the various armies were killed. But the most terrifying were those eight spellcasters. During the battle, we almost forgot they existed. But they never forgot their mission, they aimed to inflict maximum damage on the kingdom’s elite.”

“Only when we felt a powerful extraordinary energy surge did we realize the real danger hadn’t even started yet. You don’t understand, it was a terrifying aura. Even non-professionals would feel their hearts race and their hair stand on end. It’s the instinctual fear of living beings sensing danger! Then, the entire mountain beside us collapsed, like a giant hand slamming down on the kingdom’s troops.”

Henwell asks in a dry voice, “How did you survive that?”

The Marquess scoffs, “Survive? Henwell, you’re so naive! We didn’t survive, we were spared by Veil! But after that, the kingdom’s elite suffered massive losses. The kingdom’s knights were cut down by more than half. Otherwise, do you really think the kingdom’s knight order would only number three thousand?”