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Chapter: 49

"There were soldiers following me, claiming it was an order from their superiors. Are you unaware of this?"

It was strange that the Wolhan Fortress Lord seemed surprised, even though there was no reason for him to be.

Was he pretending not to know? Surely not.

The Wolhan Fortress Lord was silent for a moment before asking a question in return.

"Forgive my boldness, but... did the soldiers themselves inform you of this?"

I nodded. The Wolhan Fortress Lord\'s expression turned strange.

To me, it looked like he was suppressing his anger.

Huh, who is he to be holding back his anger? I was the one who should be truly angry. Even though it was only for half a day, I was so frustrated having a watcher tailing me.

It\'s a good thing I\'m me. If I were a true troublemaker, I would have already caused a scene.

I would have lashed out, asking how dare they treat a prince of a nation in such a manner. Do I need to show them what a real tantrum looks like? Am I being too nice?

"My apologies."

A sudden apology. If it was a tactic to silence me, it was successful. I was just staring blankly, not knowing what to say, when the Wolhan Fortress Lord added.

"I believe there has been a misunderstanding. I have never given such an order... I will reprimand them, so please be generous and forgive the soldiers\' mistake."

He seemed a bit flustered. No, wait. The Wolhan Fortress Lord had been so calm throughout that he appeared almost emotionless. For him to show signs of fluster meant he was even more flustered than he appeared.

I stared at the Wolhan Fortress Lord for a moment without saying anything. Honestly, his answer was suspicious. Why wouldn\'t he know? He wasn\'t senile.

"You\'re not lying, are you?"

"I swear it\'s true."

"Then, it seems it wasn\'t your intention to have me followed."

"That is correct."

If it wasn\'t the Wolhan Fortress Lord\'s intention to assign watchers, then who ordered the surveillance? In Wolhan Fortress, the only ones who could assign watchdogs to me without the Wolhan Fortress Lord\'s consent were...

Probably the elders of the family. As an orphan from Seopyung, I didn\'t quite understand the customs of this region.

"Alright."

Whatever the reason, as long as I got rid of those annoying people who were following me, there was no reason to complain much.

I tend to forget things quickly. Except for a few.

I asked in a joking tone, "So, they won\'t follow me anymore?"

"I will take care of it immediately. Don\'t worry."

"Alright."

I nodded.

The Wolhan Fortress Lord straightened his back as if he was about to stand up and said, "If it\'s not inconvenient for you, how about we go out to the ramparts right now?"

I had nothing to do anyway, so going out right away was fine with me. However, the Wolhan Fortress Lord didn\'t seem to be doing well.

"It’s fine, but..."

I glanced at the pile of documents on the Fortress Lord\'s desk. The stack of papers looked like it would topple over if touched.

"You seem busy."

It felt burdensome to drag someone so busy around. Did our Blood Cloud Fortress Lord also live like this? Still, unlike the Northern Region, Seopyung had a governor, so he wouldn\'t have to work this hard.

"I\'m grateful for your concern, but it\'s more urgent for Your Highness to assess the situation."

It seemed like the Wolhan Fortress Lord meant he could send someone else to guide me instead of going himself, but the meaning didn\'t seem to get across. Too lazy to correct him, I just nodded and accepted the offer.

"If that\'s the case..."

* * *

We went outside and climbed the ramparts. The soldiers recognized the Wolhan Fortress Lord, if not me, and bowed their heads.

"Bring that."

The Wolhan Fortress Lord ordered the soldiers. Before I could even ask what he meant, the soldiers quickly disappeared.

The Wolhan Fortress Lord and I moved to the edge of the ramparts.

I was inwardly surprised when I climbed the ramparts. I had never seen such long and high walls before, so it was quite a sight.

"Maybe it\'s because the weather is clear, but I can see far into the distance."

Beyond the ramparts was a quiet village. As the Wolhan Fortress Lord had said, it seemed that all the people who had lived in that village had relocated elsewhere.

And if I looked even further, I could see mountains densely filling the horizon, appearing hazy and blue due to the foggy atmosphere.

Perhaps because it was uninhabited, there was an eerie air about it.

"Is the weather warm enough for the magical beasts to roam around?"

I imagined magical beasts running through the vegetation. It gave me goosebumps.

The Wolhan Fortress Lord replied to my musing.

"Actually, it\'s the opposite."

I had seen magical beasts before, but my main enemies were the soldiers of Huawei, so I didn\'t know much about their habits.

"How is it the opposite?"

"In warm weather, both animals and plants are abundant, so even in the mountains, there\'s plenty to eat. So there\'s no reason for them to come all the way down here and bother people."

Hearing that, I looked at the mountain ridge far from the ramparts. The mountain, dyed in a deep blue-green, would indeed be abundant not only with grass and trees but also with wild animals.

"It\'s only when the weather gets cold and the plants in the mountains wither and die that they typically come down to the villages."

"I see."

It was barely the end of spring. It hadn\'t been long since the spring flowers had faded and the fields had turned green. It was still too early to prepare for winter.

This was an anomaly.

"Is this the first time something like this has happened?"

"Not exactly."

The Wolhan Fortress Lord\'s face darkened.

"When was there another anomaly like this?"

"A similar situation occurred 100 years ago."

100 years ago. That was quite a long time ago. It was fortunate that there seemed to be records from that time. The fact that the current Wolhan Fortress was still standing meant that the Wolhan Fortress of that time had successfully endured the event.

"I\'d like to hear more details."

The Wolhan Fortress Lord began his explanation.

"The previous incident also unfolded in a similar manner to the present. Magical beasts invaded even though it wasn\'t winter, and the villages suffered first. Then, the Fortress Lord of that time gathered troops and planned to exterminate the magical beasts."

"The extermination must have been successful."

However, the answer was negative.

"Unfortunately, it was far from successful."

"What was the reason?"

"The biggest reason was that there were too many magical beasts."

"So many that you couldn\'t withstand them?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

It was difficult to gather troops during the farming season, and the situation was no different now. Regardless of the fact that I had the power to conscript, it was hard to estimate how many soldiers we could gather.

"Is there a second reason?"

"The Fortress Lord at the time chose a siege. As Your Highness knows, our Wolhan Fortress is difficult to besiege. The fields were left empty for the siege, so there was a shortage of food..."

"So they had no choice but to open the gates and come out?"

"No. They endured until the end."

"Then why do you say it wasn\'t a success?"

"How can it be called a victory when so many people starved to death?"

Although he used the term "many," it\'s likely that the number of deaths was substantial. If a significant portion of the population succumbed to starvation, it would have devastated the Northern Region, which already had a lower population density compared to other areas.

Moreover, with the Northern Region\'s unique custom of taking care of its people, not only the loss of lives but also the resulting sorrow would have had a major impact on the entire fortress.

"Fortress Lord!"

Just then, a voice came from below the wall. The Wolhan Fortress Lord looked down and I followed his gaze. Soldiers were approaching from below, calling out to the Fortress Lord. They were dragging a rope tied to something. The rope was tightly bound to something wrapped in a huge sack.

After confirming who they were, the Wolhan Fortress Lord said to me, "Your Highness, would you mind coming down for a moment to check? It\'s the corpse of a magical beast."

He\'s bringing something gruesome right in front of me.

"Alright."

"Are you sure? It\'s a repulsive sight."

"I have to see it once anyway, right?"

Honestly, I didn\'t really want to see it, but it was hard to refuse. I followed the Wolhan Fortress Lord\'s suggestion and went down the stairs from the wall.

"Untie it."

At the Wolhan Fortress Lord\'s command, the soldiers began to untie what they had brought. As the sack was removed, what appeared was, as the Wolhan Fortress Lord had said, the corpse of a dead magical beast. It seemed to have been dried to prevent decay, so I could manage to hold back my nausea.

"...This was one beast."

But it was much bigger than I had imagined. Of course, what they were dragging in the sack was huge, but I didn\'t think it would be just one creature. I had assumed it would be the corpses of several beasts, but I was mistaken.

"It\'s bigger than I thought."

"Thirty magical beasts of this size have been found this year alone."

"Are there other sizes too?"

"About a hundred smaller ones, and less than ten larger ones. A total of one hundred and forty-one have been found."

If a magical beast the same size as the one in front of me appeared, would one person be enough to handle it? Absolutely not.

That meant we would need hundreds or even thousands of troops... We would barely have enough even if we ordered all the Fortress Lords of the Northern Region to send all their available troops except for the essential personnel.

"I understand."

First, we needed to find out why the magical beasts were attacking even though it wasn\'t their season. It seemed they hadn\'t figured it out 100 years ago.

Either way, once we started a full-fledged battle with the magical beasts, it was inevitable that people would die.

To minimize casualties, we had to find out the reason. As the saying goes, it\'s better to get hit first.

"Then, I\'d like you to get rid of that."

I gestured towards the magical beast\'s corpse, and the Wolhan Fortress Lord immediately ordered the soldiers to put it back where it was.

But where do they keep that thing?

With that question in mind, I returned to the inner fortress.

As if on cue, someone came looking for me.

"Your Highness!"

Yoo Geung, approached and called out to me. He seemed urgent.

"Your Highness, I apologize, but I have something to report."

"Don\'t apologize and just tell me."

But even with my words, Yoo Geung seemed somewhat uncomfortable. I understood the reason from his following report.

"There\'s a problem between Commander Heo and the castle soldiers."

I sighed.

I had thought something like this might happen, but I didn\'t expect Heo Seokgyeom to be at the center of it.