Knight: Becoming King of the World

Ratifa’s gaze shifted from the pen in Henry’s hand. Her brow was furrowed, as if she were trying hard to recall something.

A moment later, her expression grew resolute. ’Henry isn’t like the others. He has the ability to solve problems.’ After weighing her options, Ratifa decided to share some of the secrets she knew with Henry.

"Henry, there’s something I need to tell you."

Henry looked up, noticing the change in Ratifa’s expression. He set down his pen and listened intently.

This was often the case—others knew things he didn’t, and he was left to piece things together himself.

"Before the war broke out in the Northern Lands, our Scouts and reconnaissance Cavalry discovered some very strange things while on their missions," Ratifa began.

"They would inspect an area, confirm it was empty, and declare it a safe zone for our troops to advance steadily.

But often, not long after they turned to leave, an army of Inferior Horned Beasts would suddenly appear in that so-called safe zone..."

Henry raised an eyebrow and glanced at the pen in his hand. ’Could I have been right?’

"If this had only happened once, we might have chalked it up to the snow obstructing our Scouts’ line of sight, or perhaps even snow blindness," Ratifa continued.

"But the problem is, it happened so frequently that many reconnaissance teams ran into the same thing. It forced us to wonder how these Inferior Horned Beasts managed to appear so silently, right under our noses."

Henry nodded. ’It has to be spatial rifts,’ he thought.

Ratifa’s voice dropped lower. Even though there were no outsiders present, people still subconsciously lower their voices when discussing important matters.

"Furthermore, the main reason the Prince has the main camp positioned on the border is because we discovered—after some... um... unpleasant experiments—that enemies only appear like this outside the line of the imperial border."

A flicker of surprise crossed Henry’s face as he realized this might be a critical clue.

’Could the Caladia Empire have something that protects it from the Chaos invasion?’

Henry suddenly recalled the first time he was stacking heads, when a golden light had appeared out of nowhere. ’Perhaps that’s the power protecting the Empire’s interior from the sudden appearance of Chaos armies.’

"The Prince tried to push the border out by stationing troops and constructing buildings, but it didn’t work well. It was better than nothing, I suppose," Ratifa sighed.

"We don’t know how this border is defined. Or maybe... it’s just a special case, a coincidence that happens to occur frequently."

Henry fell silent for a moment, his mind racing to analyze the information. ’This can’t be a coincidence,’ he concluded. ’A special power must be behind it.’

"Ratifa, this information is extremely important. Finding where these Inferior Horned Beasts are appearing is the key to our fight against them and the other Chaos Forces."

Ratifa nodded. Perhaps Henry’s judgment was correct. After all, as far as she could recall, no one understood Chaos better than he did.

Henry’s fingers tapped lightly on the map, his gaze tracing idly along the border.

’If we can find the exact locations where the Inferior Horned Beasts appear and have the army seal those spatial rifts,’ he thought, ’then we can solve the problem at its root instead of just passively reacting to their attacks.’

’The Inferior Horned Beasts are running rampant, which negates the Empire’s advantage in elite troops. It stretches our lines, increases the logistical burden, and will eventually bog us down in the quagmire of this war.’

"We need to find the exact locations where these Inferior Horned Beasts are appearing. If we can pinpoint the location of the spatial rifts, we can seal them directly and stop the invasion."

"But, Henry, according to the Scout reports, there are no obvious signs of spatial rifts in the areas where the Inferior Horned Beasts suddenly appear. They didn’t see anything out of the ordinary."

Henry frowned. ’If the spatial rifts are invisible, or if they disappear and reappear randomly, that would be an absolute nightmare.’

His gaze fell upon the map again as he tried to find some pattern among the marked points.

"What’s more, judging by the locations on the map and the times the Inferior Horned Beasts have appeared, there seems to be no connection or pattern between the incidents.

They seem to be random, as if... done on a whim."

Henry’s brow furrowed even tighter. If the appearances of the Inferior Horned Beasts were random, they would have no way of predicting where the next attack would occur, which would make defending against them immensely more difficult.

’No wonder the Prince is so anxious... The battle reports look better and better, but the front line is getting stretched thinner and thinner. Ugh, what a mess.’

Henry glanced at his weapon and armor. "It’s like a game without rules," he said. "We don’t know where the enemy will pop up, and we don’t know where they’ll strike next."

Ratifa sighed. Henry was right. This feeling of helplessness, of having no clear way to proceed, was starting to frighten the Prince, the Legion Commanders, and the rest of the high nobility.

’And what’s more, these damn Inferior Horned Beasts speak Stegian! If it weren’t for the strange horns on their bodies, they could have blended into the Northern Lands and taken the whole region without anyone noticing!’

’It’s terrifying.’

Henry stood and began to pace within the command tent, his mind racing as he considered their options. He needed a new way to handle this situation.