The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (183)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

59 Fierce Battle in the Southeast (1)

The entire Auzria Continent was left in shock after the other-worlders’ challenge had ended.

Iron’s outrageous growth had left the Empire in awe and astonishment.

Meanwhile, the fact that the other-worlders weren’t masters had brought disappointment to the Southerners and Westerners. Thankfully, they were still left with a ray of hope thanks to the other-worlders potential. They could still wish and hope for their powers to awaken further and make them reach the master-rank. This meant that the same was true for the Chosen Ones.

Perhaps, that was the reason why the challenge that took place in the Southeast had brought both shock and delight to many people. However, before everything had subsided, another shocking event had already occurred. 

Iron had challenged the two Family Heads, who were vying for the title of the continent’s strongest. Although it would only be after the Southeastern region of the Empire had already been organized and dealt with, it had still left a huge thrill in the hearts of many. 

“When will that be?” 

“Maybe it will take a few years?” 

“Eyyy~ I believe one year is enough for the Mobile Field Army Commander.” 

The merchants were all excited as they talked about the incident with great anticipation. 

While the merchants, who came a long way to the Southeast, were starting to get tired talking about this huge event in the continent, the public elsewhere had started to tell the same tale. 

The topic that most of the people talked about was mostly related to the Southeast. They talked about how the other-worlders vowed to challenge the Empire’s Hero once again as well as the challenge that the Empire’s Hero had issued against the two men competing for the title of the continent’s strongest. These two phrases had become a vital part of people’s lives. 

The public had long grown tired of news about dimensional gates and monsters. They were extremely delighted to hear the news about the Empire’s Hero. Meanwhile, the party involved in the news, Iron, was busily moving around with his men. 

The other-worlders, the masters and the people who went to watch the show had all gone back. After all, the commanders and the two family heads were all busy people. 

Lioner had to restore the Lion Family after it was ravished by the Northern War and Terrion also needed to rebuild his family after he had lost a lot of his followers due to the collapse of the Southern Frontlines.

It was not an exaggeration to say that the two families were purely maintained thanks to the existence of these two people. They even went so far as to sell themselves and their names to restore their families.

These two swordsmen vying for the title of the continent’s strongest had willingly gone to other regions to help on the condition that they receive money and supplies. They were doing work that was no different from any mercenary, but they had no choice. They needed the money and the supplies to rebuild their families. 

The other Imperial Masters were also busy but it was safe to say that the busiest were the two family heads. 

“The masters’ face is completely thrown out of the window.” 

Iron smiled bitterly as he murmured to himself in the silence that covered his Commander’s Office. 

In front of money, force and power meant nothing. Reality had shown them that even a master’s pride could be sold just so they could rebuild their own family. In fact, even he would do things willingly to promote himself for the sake of the Mobile Field Army and the Southeast.

“Hoo…” 

The master’s prestige and reputation had seemed handsome, cool and great back in his past life and during his stay in the Northeast. However, the moment he reached the master-rank, he realized that the title was something that was no different from a modern celebrity. The stronger and more active he was, the higher his value became. However, he was actually doing this so he could have a firm foundation to use the moment other forces tried to recruit for his help. 

“Sigh… Such is life.”

Iron sighed deeply as he looked at his desk after realizing that life would be no different even if he became a master. 

Right now, his desk was swamped with piles of documents.

He couldn’t pass the job on to someone else since they were important and should be dealt with by the Commander personally. In fact, the amount increased because of his long absence to the point that there were even waist-deep documents piled on the floor.

“What bullshit does ascending to the master-rank do for me?”

Iron sighed as he mumbled to himself. 

He had obviously become a master and a revered hero in this life but the paperwork hell in front of him was extremely similar to his past life. No, in fact, it was even worse compared to before. 

In his past life, there weren’t many places that he needed to manage. After all, a lot of places had already collapsed so he only needed to pay attention and take charge of his own small territory.

But in this life, he had become the Commander of the Mobile Field Army which meant that the amount of things that he needed to deal with had increased significantly.

Right now, he could see that his desk was only enough to accommodate the material and supplies request form that he needed to sign and send to the Center to receive support. But those weren’t the only documents that he needed to deal with. There were also the reconnaissance reports in the Southeast that had accumulated as well as documents relating to the connection of the Southern and Eastern regions of the Empire.

The terrible amount of paperwork was actually making him miss the days when he had to fight against the giant armored worm to survive.

“You’ll die early if you sigh a lot.”

Carl Stein greeted him with a joke as he entered the office with a report in hand. But the joke did not make Iron laugh, in fact, it only made him frown.

“I can’t even sigh?”

Iron bowed his head deeply as he continued to look down on the pile of documents on his desk. There was no sign of him getting out of this paperwork hell anytime soon. His motivation was slowly decreasing but his work was never-ending. 

“What can you do? It’s because the Commander has been away too long.”

“Sigh… Sure, it’s all my fault.”

Iron sighed deeply as Carl placed another pile of papers at the corner of his desk. Iron could only stare despondently outside his window after seeing more paper coming in. 

So, this is what happens when you work too hard.

The moment he thought that the pile had shrunk a bit, more documents would come in. 

Just when Iron was starting to stare absent-mindedly out of the window, with no motivation and hope, Faulden opened the door with a bang as he rushed inside.

“Brother… No, Commander!”

“Why?”

“There’s a problem!”

Carl frowned at Faulden’s words. He looked at him wondering what was going on. But Iron just urged him to speak, his face turning bright by the second. 

“What’s the matter?”

“The monsters in the southern end of the region are moving at a large-scale!”

“The exact size?”

“They’re already the size of a small monster corps. But we expect that more will come in and join them.”

Iron nodded heavily at Faulden’s report. 

The situation was far more serious than what he initially thought. 

“Is it that bastard?”

“That seems to be the case.”

Faulden answered Iron’s question solemnly. 

Hearing the words ‘that bastard’ from their conversation, Carl’s expression also turned serious. 

It seemed like the bastard controlling the southern end of the Southeast was finally trying to move. 

“The manticore is moving…”

Compared to the imoogi, who moved actively to expand its territory in the north, the manticore was a creature that did not carelessly lift its heavy butt. It instead expanded its territory by forcing other monsters to surrender to him as it annexed their territories.

If the giant worm corps devoured everything in sight other than their own race for the foundation of their evolution, the manticore’s mutant monster corps did not. Instead of slaughtering and devouring the other races, it forced them to surrender and submit to its rule. Once they surrendered to the manticore, their race’s survival would be guaranteed. However, they would be forced to give up part of their territories in exchange.

The manticore0 was also a sly creature. It had always managed its subordinates properly and always avoided being caught in a big fight by making sure that the direction that its territory was expanding into did not clash with other strong creatures.

This was the reason why there were only small skirmishes in the Southeast but no large-scale battles as of yet.

The imoogi was a creature that only grew smarter and shrewder thanks to its evolution. However, the manticore was something that was already shrewd and sly from the moment of its birth.

It used its brains and deliberately avoided the area where the army and the giant worm corps were situated and continued to expand its territory in the south. After all, the smart manticore judged that the south, despite teeming with other-worlders, was a place that was easier to deal with compared to the two other ends of the region.

But that shrewd bastard is trying to move on a large-scale?

This only meant one thing.

“Does it want to fight against us?”

Iron looked like his pride was hurt. In fact, even Carl and Faulden’s expressions turned stiff after hearing his question.

Of course it would hurt their pride. Among the two other forces in the Southeast, it judged that the Mobile Field Army was weaker. 

“I think it’s underestimating us, right?”

Carl and Faulden shut their mouths as they bowed their heads. They also looked like their pride was hurt but they were trying to hide it as hard as they could. 

“The imoogi?”

“It’s going further up north. At the rate it’s going, we expect that it will be within the Eastern Command’s jurisdiction in a few days.”

“It went all the way over there?”

Faulden nodded his head when Iron looked at him in shock. 

“Plenty of the giant worms had also gone further up north. I think that’s the main reason why we only see a few of them near our territory.”

“Is that why it’s so easy to take control of the eastern region?”

“Yes.”

Faulden answered Iron’s question in a small voice.

“The manticore also knows this?”

“That seems to be the case, yes.”

Iron frowned at Faulden’s answer. 

They could reduce the giant worms’ territory in the Southeast since they had already expanded further up north. This meant that there was an empty territory. So, why would the manticore try to attack the Mobile Field Army when there was a free territory to take?

Iron thought deeply for a while before turning to look at Carl and Faulden. 

“No way… Are these bastards… planning on fighting a quick battle with us and force a two-way territory separation with the imoogi?”

Carl and Faulden both frowned at Iron’s question. 

If his assumptions were correct, then the manticore’s monster corps was truly looking down on them.

From what they had gathered, it seemed like the manticore thought that the humans had the weakest formations, right?

With the imoogi away from the Southeast, it decided to focus its entire force and clean up the humans, which looked like small stumbling blocks in their way, and take control of the entire Southeast. It seemed like it believed that it would have already annihilated the humans and had taken control of the giant worms’ territory by the time the imoogi moved to return to the Southeast.

In other words, it purely believed that its plan would bring it an overwhelming hold on the Southeast.

However, there were a lot of prerequisites that it  needed to achieve for this to be made possible.

“This bastard. It believes that it would still be able to afford keeping the giant worms in check after fighting with us.”

Iron’s smile was empty as his killing intent soared at the thought of the manticore looking down on them. 

Then, he suddenly became curious. The manticore was sly, so there was definitely a basis for the manticore to make this decision.

“Contact Gaon right away.”

“Yes.”

Faulden hurriedly left the office after receiving Iron’s orders. 

Iron stared out of the window in annoyance, making the atmosphere in the room completely uncomfortable.

“Commander.”

“What?”

Iron turned to look at Carl, who kept his mouth shut after seeing his anger and wrath, after he called out to him.

“No matter how furious you are, you still have to work.”

Iron looked at his desk silently after hearing Carl’s words. 

The huge amount of paperwork was actually sitting there as if it was beckoning at Iron. 

Iron, who saw the huge amount of work waiting for him, sighed and raised his arms in defeat. He buried himself deep into the document hell and worked once more. Faulden came back when he was already knee deep into his work.

“Have you contacted Gaon?”

“Yes.”

“His answer?”

“I believe… it’s related to the Southern Kingdoms’ Confederation’s master.”

Iron tilted his head after hearing Faulden’s words. 

“What’s their connection?”

Faulden sorted his thoughts for a moment before answering Iron’s question calmly. 

“Recently, the Southern Kingdoms’ Confederation’s general army fought against the monsters under the manticore.”

“Don’t tell me, it’s just because it fought against the general army…”

“Yes. There was one Southern master among them. However, the general army went back earlier than scheduled. They are trying to cover things up but it seems like they have lost. And that master also hasn’t appeared in the past 15 days or so.”

Iron was calm as he organized his thoughts after hearing Faulden’s report. 

The master that led the general army encountered the manticore?

Although it was not yet entirely confirmed, the master had been injured after having an encounter with the manticore. Because of that battle, the manticore judged that the Mobile Field Army was on the same level as the general army and the master that it had battled against… Or so it seemed.

‘The manticore had judged that, with my exception, the Mobile Field Army is nothing…’

If that was the case, then the facts that it had gathered was really enough for it to judge that its force would gain an overwhelming victory in a quick and short-term battle. In its eyes, Iron and the Mobile Field Army were nothing since the Confederation’s master and its general army were nothing. 

“Order all the troops to gather at Command.”

Carl and Faulden bowed their heads and hurriedly left the office at Iron’s orders.

***

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