Chapter 320: The End of the Sword Lord 1 (side Tolman)
320 – The End of the Sword Lord 1 (side Tolman)
“……”
I am anxious all the while as I escape with the fourth battalion. I worry if Azalea can truly subjugate the ouroboros. Were he to be defeated, all I would have done was earn laughter from my surroundings as one who led their private army to pointless deaths.
Based on the principle of might makes right, I have invested a not insubstantial sum into my 『Starved Hunters』. I used money to not only to gather the strong from Ardesia, but also from the neighbouring countries. I had confidence that the power of my army was comparable even to the kingdom’s order of knights. I have devoted half my lifetime to the 『Starved Hunters』, and it is my purpose in life. You could say it is my most valuable possession. I have boasted of it on countless occasions to other nobles.
For my 『Starved Hunters』 to be obstructed by a dragon and forced to retreat before mere barbarians, without having even completed their objective. I would be a rendered a complete laughingstock. Were to happen now while the throne is vacant, my family name would be forever disgraced. I have entrusted my everything to Azalea now.
Were he to win, then all would be good. Good. However, what can Azalea achieve with just a few soldiers against the dragon that defeated countless other soldiers so easily? I was seized by fear at the prospect of facing it myself and so leapt on Azalea’s convenient suggestion and escaped, but… Is this really for the best? Everything I have hangs now on such a thin rope. My circumstances are terrible. Now that I have calmed down, these worries repeatedly turn over in my head.
As I worry, Grodel speeds up his horse and approaches me.
“What is it, Grodel?”
“…Tolman-sama, I think we can’t leave everything to Azalea, after all. Do you not think so too?”