Chapter 112: Doubts On Royal Involvement
For several long seconds, nobody on the Fortress wall spoke.
The only sounds were the distant footsteps of the Soul Guardians as they dragged away corpses and the occasional creaking of the Watch Towers rotating toward new targets.
Every soldier standing atop the wall stared at the battlefield below.
"...That’s it?" one of the younger guards muttered.
"It... ended?"
Another hunter-like soldier swallowed hard. "They wiped out fifty men in only a few minutes."
Even Andrew remained speechless.
He had witnessed the Soul Guardians’ strength before, but seeing them overwhelm trained soldiers from the Northern Sect so effortlessly was something else entirely.
Gordon slowly lowered the sword he had never even drawn.
"....."
The veteran let out a bitter laugh. "I wasn’t needed at all."
Edgar remained calm and punched him lightly on the shoulder.
"There was no reason to take unnecessary risks."
He turned around and began walking toward the stairs.
"Gordon."
The old knight immediately followed.
"Coming, my lord."
---
A few minutes later, the two of them stood inside the Fortress courtyard.
The noise from the walls had become much quieter.
Edgar folded his arms. "What happens next?"
Gordon didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he looked toward the closed gates while organizing his thoughts.
"...They won’t realize anything is wrong today. The Second Elder left early this morning. No one inside the Northern Sect will expect him back before nightfall."
He paused briefly. "When night comes and he still hasn’t returned, they’ll begin wondering what happened."
Edgar nodded. He was having the same thoughts. "And tomorrow?"
"They’ll most probably send scouts. It would be foolish to dispatch another army immediately. The scouts will investigate first and determine why communication stopped."
Edgar looked thoughtful. "So they’ll discover the battlefield tomorrow."
"Most likely." Gordon nodded.
"They’ll spend another day confirming that Bravi and every soldier really died. The Northern Sect won’t believe fifty men simply disappeared."
Edgar agreed with that assessment. "And after confirmation?"
Gordon’s expression grew more serious.
"Then they’ll prepare for war, but this time they won’t charge blindly again. The Sect has experienced commanders, and they will most likely establish several temporary forts around your Fortress."
Edgar raised an eyebrow. "Temporary forts like you told me before?"
"Yeah, they will block everything and prevent anyone from entering or leaving."
His expression turned grim as he remembered how such things always ended.
"They’ll slowly surround this place until you’re completely isolated."
"A siege."
"Exactly." Gordon nodded.
"They won’t need to attack these walls if hunger can do the work for them."
Edgar remained silent for several moments.
"...How long?"
"If they move efficiently, three or four days before they begin creating forts and encircle the Fortress."
Edgar slowly nodded. His mind was already prepared for that type of warfare.
In a war between Fortresses, his would always come out on top.
After another moment of silence, Edgar asked another question.
"If I wipe out the Northern Sect, will the Royal Family interfere?"
Gordon went blank before letting out a small chuckle.
"No." The veteran shook his head.
"Local disputes are exactly that. Local. The Royal Family has no interest in spending soldiers to settle every conflict between minor powers."
"And the nobles?" Edgar asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"The same."
"They would certainly agree to help." Gordon smirked, knowing the ins and outs of nobles.
"...After demanding an absurd amount of money. So much that even the Northern Sect couldn’t possibly afford it."
Edgar quietly absorbed the information. "So as long as this remains between me and the Northern Sect, nobody important will interfere."
"Exactly." Gordon folded his arms.
"The strong eat the weak. That’s how this part of the kingdom has always worked."
A faint smile slowly appeared on Edgar’s face.
"...Good."
---
Some time later, Edgar took a bath and ate his breakfast before arriving at the edge of the Fortress.
The Tower of Souls stood silently beneath the open sky.
This part of the Fortress remained completely isolated.
Only Edgar and the Soul Guardians were present.
Dozens of naked corpses lay neatly arranged before the crimson archway.
Every piece of armor, every weapon, and even every coin had already been removed.
Edgar had specifically ordered the bodies to be brought here from the forest.
The people inside the Fortress feared the Nightmares enough already.
He had no intention of allowing rumors about necromancy or forbidden rituals to spread among them.
"...Let’s see."
His gaze shifted toward the ten ordinary Soul Guardians standing nearby.
After thinking briefly, he pointed toward one of them.
"You."
The Guardian stepped forward.
"Dissolve."
The azure flames inside its eyes flickered once.
Its skeleton immediately collapsed into countless fragments of black bone.
The bones rapidly crumbled into pale Soul Essence before flowing back into the Tower of Souls.
A familiar notification appeared before Edgar.
---
⟨Soul Guardian Reclaimed⟩
Soul Capacity Available: 1
---
"...Good."
That confirmed his earlier assumption.
He truly had full control over their life and death.
He now had room to create another Guardian.
Edgar looked toward the nearest corpses.
It belonged to a Northern Sect knight.
"Begin refinement."
The crimson runes covering the Tower immediately ignited.
WHOOM!!
The fleshy tentacles burst from the archway once more.
Unlike when refining the Nightmare Commanders, there was no hesitation.
The appendages wrapped around the first corpse before dragging it inside.
They continued doing so until ten human corpses had disappeared into the Tower.
The crimson glow intensified.
The entire structure pulsed rhythmically as Soul Essence flowed through countless veins beneath its surface.
"..."
Edgar watched quietly.
The process felt noticeably smoother than before.
After several minutes, the horned skull atop the Tower slowly opened its jaws.
BOOM!!
A torrent of black bone fragments burst from the archway.
They floated into the air before rapidly assembling themselves.
A spine formed first, followed by the rest of the body parts attaching themselves.
Unlike the Nightmare Soul Guardians, this skeleton possessed almost perfectly human proportions.
Its frame was taller than average, nearly two metres in height.
Its fingers were slimmer, and its skull lacked the monstrous shape common among the Nightmare Guardians.
Finally, pale azure flames ignited within its empty eye sockets.
WHOOSH!
The newly born skeleton slowly lowered itself onto one knee before Edgar.
A familiar screen appeared.
---
⟨Soul Guardian Successfully Created⟩
Designation: Human Soul Guardian
Grade: White
Origin: Northern Sect Soldier
Status: Active
Remaining Refined Souls: 0
Inherited Trait: Swordsmanship
---
Edgar’s eyes immediately settled on the final line.
"...Inherited Trait?"