Kuro no Senki (LN)

Thirty years ago...... Four hundred years in the emperor's history, the struggle for succession to the throne, which ends in the fall of the previous emperor, developed into a civil war that bisects the Kepheus Empire.

When the barbarians invaded from the North and the South in this confusion, and the cities of the North East strengthened their military power by the enormous funds gained from the transaction, they successively declared independence, entered into a military and economic alliance and built up what they called a group of free urban states.

The Kepheus Empire lost a trade route with a third of its territory due to the birth of a group of free urban states, and even encroached on the remaining territories of the barbarians.

Despite the crisis of national survival, the nobles of both factions could not even contain a civil war, rather than strike effective means.

Ramal V, eighteen years old, survived this difficult situation by recruiting competent personnel, regardless of their status.

Pushing off the old minister's opinion, the mercenary regiment that added under the curtain broke the glued war situation and led the national army led by Ramal V. to victory.

Ramal V banished the invading barbarians to the Aleos Mountains and prevented them from re-entering by locating the head of the mercenary regiment in the lords of the area known as the southern border.

Ramal V then converged the confusion caused by the civil war and founded a military school in Imperial Capital based on the lesson that only blood muscles could win a battle under the incompetent commander of the handle, and spreading the scourge of war mischievously.

Though it was the birth of a group of free urban states that could not be stopped, many praise Ramal V as a famous man from the arms that stopped the confusion to a minimum.

... you used to have animals similar to the books you read. What name could it have been?

Farna stared at Ramal V sitting at the edge of the bed.

No matter how concerned you are with regeneration, if you are fifty years old, you will not be able to hide the decay of your flesh.

For example, the Earl of El Nato, who keeps the Second Kingsguard Knights, is no less the owner of the body than a large sub, but these days he has worked to develop the rear line on the grounds of his weakness.

Even knights who are indispensable to workout do so, so it's not hard to imagine what will happen to someone who has lived for years like drowning in gastronomy and alcohol.

... I thought you said Seiuchi.

The person who embodied it was Ramal V.

As a result of years of unrelenting life, Ramal V's neck was buried in fat and his belly was swelling all the way up to rupture.

Ramal V stirred up the wine placed by the bedside.

Ramal V drank the finest wine like water and roughly threw down empty containers.

Fifteen years ago, Farna went up to court as a woman and became the Emperor's treat that year.

I didn't want it.

Because I had a fiancée who grew up siblings, and I loved him from the bottom of my heart.

Farna resisted desperately, but was forcefully deprived of her purity.

When the pregnancy was discovered, Farna was deeply desperate.

If Chancellor Alcor hadn't reached out to me, Farna might have chosen death.

Later, thanks to the help of Chancellor Alcor, Fana became the concubine of Ramal V, a child born… named Alfort with small malice… also recognised.

Farna worked as a female officer even after giving birth, and was in a position to emerge as a female chief and follow many of her men within the context of consulting and helping young women officials.

"... Kuhihihi"

Ramal V brutally wipes his wet mouth with wine and leans over to Fana.

Fana laughed, fed up, wondering if she would let me sleep.

That's when the little noise sounded.

The glass just collapsed.

"Hi-no-hi-no-hi-no-hi-no-hi-no!

Ramal V screamed and jumped out of bed, sometimes trying to dive under the bed.

"Yu, forgive me, forgive me, there is, Alfort! The rest, I didn't want to kill you!

Ramal V is begging forgiveness for his real brother, who was executed thirty years ago as the mastermind of civil unrest.

Whether the action of alcohol, or because of guilt, Ramal V is frightened by Alfort's ghost.

Aware that her heart was freezing more and more, Farna looked down on Ramal V.

A small man frightened by the guilt of executing his real brother, that was who Ramal V. was.

According to Chancellor Alcor, thirty years ago, it wasn't so bad.

"Your Majesty, be assured"

"Whoa, Farna!

Ramal V stuck to Fana's feet as he sought salvation.

"The rest... how can I save the rest? No matter how much you drink or hold a woman, Alford's shadow will never go away! Give me back my country and I'll blame you for the rest!

"That's right."

You really have no choice, and Farna put her finger on her lips.

"... So why don't they write to Master Alford saying they're giving the country away?

"Well, will that save the rest?

"Yeah, sure."

That's no way, Farna smiled to reassure Ramal V. as she penetrated into her heart.

"Whoa, whoa!

Ramal V had the look on his face just saying that the monkey had opened, and he jumped out of Fana's room.

Farna fixed the messy sheets and buried her face in the pillow.

"... I'm in trouble if you don't live until you give my kid a territory"

Farna has never thought that she wants to make her own children emperors.

My son Alfort will be fifteen this year.

I'm one of my proud sons.

"Whatever you think, my child is not an emperor's vessel."

Exhaled, Farna closed her eyes.

Canopus, capital of the Holy King Argo… The first king is told that he was struck by the beauty of the lake in the mountains and that he had ordained the land for the king's capital.

Sure, the city of Canopus overlooking from the top of the hill is so beautiful that you're going to be under the illusion that inheritance is a fact, but that's not the only way the king can make an important decision.

I guess the first king decided it was a difficult terrain to attack in the Great Army, and General Ignis Fomalhout of the Holy Argo Royal Army stared into the neat Canopus streets and immediately shifted his gaze to soldiers who encouraged him to train in the practice fields.

Ignis grabbed his right sleeve swinging in the wind as he looked down at an army of four thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry...... five thousand men.

Five months ago, Ignis invaded the Empire of Kepheus with Prince Wang.

Naturally, there was an intention to expand the territory, but the biggest aim was to show the martial arts of Prince Wang and to sharpen the voice of the 'Temple'.

The neighboring Empire of Kepheus thoroughly eliminated the 'Temple' to bring the country together, while the Kingdom of Holy Argo brought the country together against the backdrop of the authority of the 'Temple'.

The rationale that royalty was granted by the six-pillar god worked fine, at least for the first hundred years.

But the 'Temple' intervenes in national politics in the name of sacrifice and is now so much more vocal that it is comparable to royal power.

The "Temple" puts under control 40% of the force possessed by the Kingdom of Holy Argo and plunders 20% of tax revenues in the name of donations.

If the invasion went well, Ignis chewed his back teeth so hard that he snapped.

"My lost right arm hurts."

……

When Ignis silently dropped her gaze, an aged beauty sat with a liquor bottle in one hand.

When I was old, I was in my mid-twenties, dressed in a big open chest dress that no whore would even wear in this country.

Long, wavy hair is pitch-black like a fallen one, eyes gently loose, but its pitch-black eyes are filled with a clear light to the depths of the soul.

"The Grand Priest, I am"

"What do you prefer about" Baba "and" I "?

How dare you say twenty years ago, Ignis gritted his teeth.

Ignis will be thirty this year, but the Great Cleric of "The Lacquered Black Temple"...... Baba has not changed one thing from when we met.

Baba is the kind of woman who, despite being the supreme priest of the 'Black Temple', exchanges for folk grass and exercises divine authority in exchange for booze.

When I was a teenager, I learned to be angry at Baba's way of life like squandering her talents, but now I even think she's jealous.

"If you want, you don't mind playing that right arm, do you?

"It's an extra favor, Baba. I lost my right arm because of my incompetence. And..."

"And?"

Baba narrowed her eyes as if to expect Ignis' answer.

"Though a dead soldier isn't coming back, it shouldn't be good for me to get my right arm back!

"Kuhaha, it's a stunningly mean thing!

When Ignis yelled, Baba rolled around holding the liquor bottle.

"... rip off the 'Temple' and this country will end"

"I know that too"

Suddenly, Baba said with a serious look, so Ignis returned it with a general-like wording.

"You knew about the next one, too."

"... you don't have to tell me"

Remembering the battle five months ago, Ignis squeezed his right sleeve hard.

That's when I was ambushed out of the coma forest.

The fence rendered the cavalry useless, and enemy soldiers were lurking in the woods as well as causing the infantry to bypass.

I tried to push it off in numbers, but I couldn't push it off all at once.

While the march stopped, an elf archer raided the king prince.

"It doesn't mean it's hard work."

"At the very least, if we can make an inviolable pact with the Empire, we can devote ourselves to our internal affairs and drive away the 'Temple' forces."

You can't do it as it is now, Ignis put his arms together.

It's not a skirmish near the border, you can't grab a cut without a proper war.

At least, there won't be any kind of person to lend Ignis an ear in his current state.

Ignis looked up to heaven.

Justia Castle is a small castle half a day's ride from the Imperial City of Alfilc by carriage.

Designed to give priority to habitability, functional vulnerabilities are undeniable, with 100 elite Knights of the First Kingsguard serving as escorts, but would fall without keeping them for half a day if they were attacked by enemy forces.

The low defense of the castle, which is only a name, and the fact that it is built as if it were left over from the grasslands, seem to represent in part the thinness of the affection that my father directed towards my mother, and Tilia hated the castle of Justia.

If I didn't like it, I also didn't like watching my mother lay on the hospital bed in the bedroom of Castle Justia.

Mother...... Empress Astrea had a view outside as long as she had time, as if waiting for her father to pick her up.

It was hard to see my mother like that, and Tilia didn't like being in the castle of Justia.

"... why don't you throw a ball?

"Suddenly, what are you talking about?

Astrea shifted her gaze from the window to Tilia and said in some prolonged tone.

"You don't have a fiancé, do you? So I tried to throw a ball, and I was wondering,"

"Nothing, I'm not thinking about marriage"

In the first place, to myself, the royal family... more impossible than being born into a nobleman, such as a romantic marriage.

"So, yeah."

"Oh, that's what you mean"

Tilia realized her mother's sincerity and let down her shoulder strength.

Perhaps my mother is telling me to throw a ball as a pageant.

Tilia has been avoiding feasts for various reasons.

Face to face with a leading aristocrat, it's easy to get on with the story until the engagement.

"But if we're going to have a ball, don't we have to help Chief Farna?

Honestly, Tilia didn't want to be the one to take care of the poisoned woman who slept with her father......

"I know you hate the chief woman... but she's really helping."

"Okay."

Isn't that what you're supposed to call brilliant? and Tilia tilted her inner neck.

"Mother, do you have a friend you'd like to invite?

"Do as you please."

It's been a long time since I've seen Chrono, Tilia smiled small.

"It feels like the city has overflowed outside the fortress."

Castle fortress protecting Hashel...... From near the gate, Chrono looked at the foundational construction landscape of the new barracks.

Apparently the foundation is built by digging deep into the ground, laying gravel, and pouring concrete into it.

Until now, I have been completely unconscious, but in this world concrete is used in architecture.

It is also surprising because, not recently, it was used to build bridges and castle foundations from such a long time ago as no one can remember.

"When we have a new barracks, we'll remodel the barracks we're using now."

Until now, the barracks used one deputy, two captain classes, and six soldiers in general.

Both the double room and the six-person room are about the same quadruple size, with multi-stage beds in place to make effective use of the small space, but still, there is no free space left in the six-person room.

I guess it's natural to change treatment in the role, but Chrono wanted to extend his legs to the general soldier as well to provide a relaxing space.

Of course, as I said to Elena, I hope it will be a tax refund and a place to earn money for the jobless inhabitants in the winter.

"... Dear Chrono"

Speaking of which, you were off duty today.

As Chrono turned around, Leila stood in her everyday clothes.

Everyday wear… I bought a skirt and vest from the Pics Chamber of Commerce before.

"What about Deneb and Aridead?

"Those two are studying with Deputy Minot and the other captains."

"Those two."

"I think he was promoted to captain and had somewhere to think,"

When Chrono said, Leila replied pale.

With the replenishment of the soldiers, Krono promoted three men, Leila, Deneb and Aridead, to a captain of a hundred.

Even when it comes to a captain of a hundred, his salary hasn't changed, and in terms of entitlement, he's changed enough to go from a six-member room to a two-person room, but it may have been a good motivation for both of us.

"Dear Krono, if it seems that we can continue our inspections like this, please allow me to accompany you"

"I don't mind."

"Yes!"

Layla replied gladly.

"At first... a field under development, I guess"

You can call that a field, or Chrono moves along the fortress to the south side of the city with his inner neck tilted.

The ground is firmly anchored where my men use it as a practice field, but the south side of the city is the wilderness itself.

The grass grows, the shrub grows, and a handful of rocks roll… it is a place where the difficulty of pioneering can be felt on the skin.

"Layla, watch your step... Huh!

"Are you all right, Master Chrono?

Leila flatly held Chrono, whose feet were taken by the mud.

"Oh, yeah... Leila, who's got the arm?

"I think it's normal"

Leila tilted her neck to say she didn't understand the intent of the question.

Could it be that I'm weak?

Even when it was laid together in bed, he couldn't resist, and Chrono lost only a little confidence.

Walking along the fortress for a while, my vision suddenly opened.

"I've pioneered so much already"

"Awesome, Master Chrono."

It is the paper ingredients that grow the trees, but there is no reason for Leila to be surprised because a field with a hundred meters on one side appears in the middle of the wilderness.

"Is that in the middle of pioneering?

"... maybe"

There seemed to be a new opening next door to growing trees.

About ten people work in mowing grass, transporting stones, and tidying the ground using horses.

"Whoa, isn't that Master Chrono?

"... Goldie"

Turning around, Goldie and his men stood with a sickle.

"Goldie, what about that sickle?

"This is a sickle made of the same material as armor. I have a reputation for using this to open it quickly, and I think it's easier to use the improved weight… then!

Chrono looked in a subtle mood at Goldie's hindsight as he ran happily.

"May I?

"I'm not lazy, I ordered you to open it."

For this minute, I think I'll be able to make about ten times as much sugar next year, and Krono looked at the opening and smiled.

"Well, next... I wonder if it's there"

"Where is it?

Leila leaned her neck strangely as Chrono groaned in a dark mood.

I was going to be careful, but also on the way home, Chrono slipped his legs to the mud and was held by Leila.

"... here"

"I see, so"

When Chrono stopped his leg where he dived the gate, Leila seemed to have made a point.

That's where the robbers attacked rather than the vagabonds when they dropped Alice off.

The roughness hasn't changed, but I feel like there are fewer people than before.

"What can I do for you?

"Now Kane."

As soon as he was ready and stepped into the ghetto, Kane appeared out of the shadow of the building. I'm not alone, I'm with my poorly resembled men.

"I'm here to inspect, to inspect"

"It's not safe around here yet, is it? Not very much, but with a woman..."

"Rest assured. Master Krono will protect me even if I take his life."

Standing next to Chrono, Leila turned her challenging gaze to Kane.

"From Kane's eyes, how's the security around here?

"You're better than you were at one time. When I go on patrol, I look around... and I try to keep my men from accepting bribes."

"Bribe?"

As Chrono tilted his neck, Kane scratched his head casually.

"These insecure places look around. The quality of the soldiers is poor. Don't take bribes from robbers and whores to miss out on crimes or spill information about gasoline. In other words, take another time to inspect the area."

"Okay."

Kane rounded her eyes to see if it was surprising that Chrono honestly followed.

"Is that good?

"It's an inspection that comes to mind. I'm coming, Leila."

"Yes."

Abandoning the inspection of the ghetto, Krono went for the commercial district.

When she noticed there was no Layla on the way back, she was looking up at the general's shop.

"Leila, I'm surprised you're not on your way."

"Also, sorry!

"Well, good."

Chrono stood next to Leila and looked up at the lady general's dining room.

Apparently, once or twice a week, the general comes to clean the dining room.

"Well, let's go"

"Um?"

As Chrono reached out, Leila stared at her hand as bewildered.

"... I was wondering if you'd let me hold your hand so I wouldn't get out of it"

"Yes, I understand."

I wonder if he'd ever held hands much, and Chrono started walking with Leila's hand in his hand.

After an inspection of the bustling commercial district and returning to the Marquis Mansion, the sound of hammering was still heard today from Dwarf's workshop, and the hot air of boiling wood skins was rising from the paper workshop.

On the other side of the spectrum, Faye had instructed one boy in swordsmanship.

"Faye, I'm still teaching you today."

"Ha, Master Chrono"

As Chrono hung up, Faye stretched his spine.

"What about the other two?

"... has been taken by Lord Zion"

Faye missed her gaze from Chrono and said lonely.

"Looks like we both have more fun studying, and we can't help it."

"But swordsmanship is important!

"It's important to study."

"Is the age of swords over, Uggu?"

As Chrono said, Faye drowned his head and shook his hand holding the wooden sword.

"I think it's a man's romance to stand up with a sword."

The boy interrupted his bare hands and said.

"Master Chrono, because you put up a martial arts medal and you were born in the Marquis, right?

"Oh yes! Master Chrono should have stood up with his sword!

Fey raised her face with momentum as she was braved by the boy's words.

"I put up a martial arts medal, but it's longer to be running a territory. Does it really feel like people don't live only with swords?

"... I'm gonna gamble with my studies."

"Ku, Master Chrono! Not really!

The boy flipped his foreword lightly and Faye screamed in tears.

Well, I'll keep checking.

Krono left Faye alone and fled the scene.

Then, Chrono toured the Scion classes taking place at the Marquis Mansion.

The sight of his deputy Minot, Lizad, Deneb, Aridead, the Hundred Captains of Man Lions Leo, and the Hundred Captains of Minotaur Horus studying with the child was apparently surreal.