Law of Space and Time

Chapter 102: Battle in the South (1)

While Erwin was racking his brains, trying to think of who could be trying to kill him, the final civil war in the Atlas Empire of the south was about to commence.

As the commander-in-chief of the army that had been sent to conquer the west, Aiden seemed to be a little distracted. The absentminded look on his face was in stark contrast to the expressions on the faces of those around him, and it was clear that he was still thinking about Lana's inexplicable disappearance. He simply couldn't fathom how a living, breathing human had just disappeared without a trace like this, particularly a grand magic mentor like Lana.

Larwood, Chase, Byron, and all of the other standout figures of the younger generation beside him were raring to go, itching for the opportunity to make significant contributions on the battlefield. The Atlas Empire and the Skycourt Kingdom had signed a truce agreement, so there weren't going to be many opportunities for them to earn accolades in battle in the future, at least for the next few years. However, there were countless vacant positions for these young men to fill in the wake of the empire's founding, and all of these young nobles saw this battle to conquer Fooz as an opportunity to climb up the ranks. There was no pride to be had in forever living in the shadows of their fathers. Only by earning their own glory on the battlefield could they attain the approval of their families, and as nobles, all of them were very prideful characters.

Furthermore, conquering Fooz was projected to be a simple task, so the accolades were essentially there for the taking for whoever wanted them most.

Ever since the passing of Governor Jenkins, Gwen had taken over in his place. In the wake of the battle on the Marrod Plain, the Effer Kingdom had lost the entirety of its main forces, leaving only 50,000 weak and elderly soldiers to guard Fooz. Recently, Gwen had been frantically recruiting more soldiers, and as a result of her efforts, the army in Fooz had been expanded to 80,000 men. In contrast, Aiden only had 50,000 soldiers under his command, so Gwen had a major numbers advantage, but that certainly didn't guarantee that she was going to come out on top in this battle.

Furthermore, everyone knew that the Lazaar Family had access to a flight of tamed twin-foot flying dragons. With those magic beasts that their disposal, no matter how many soldiers Gwen pitted against them, her resistance was almost inevitably going to prove futile.

In the face of the imminent battle, Aiden wasn't concerned in the slightest. After passing over the Twin Reydnold Mountains, the 50,000 men under his command hadn't encountered any meaningful resistance. Aiden didn't know whether this was some type of ploy from Gwen to try and lure him into a sense of complacency, or if the troops under her command really were that incapable of putting up any resistance. In any case, he wasn't interested in pondering this matter. All he wanted was for this battle to conclude as quickly as possible.

After learning that Gwen's army had been entirely stationed at Tewadedan, Aiden directed his army toward the west, where they set up camp around 15 kilometers away from Tewadedan. The intention was to directly face Gwen's army and engage in a final showdown at the foot of Tewadedan.

...

In a certain tent in the barracks of the Atlas Empire's army.

Larwood's hands were folded and resting on top of his chest, while his feet were propped up on another chair. He wore a dark expression as he said, "You know that we're going to be facing Kaiba, right?"

Chase turned to him with a perplexed expression. "I knew even before setting off. Why are you asking this question again?"

Larwood shook his head and offered no response.

"Surely you don't think Kaiba is the type of person who would give up his own life for a woman," Chase jibed.

However, Larwood wasn't amused. He turned to Chase with a serious expression and asked, "Is he not that type of person?"

Chase's smile faded slightly upon hearing this.

In this instant, they suddenly felt like the friends that they had known for their entire lives were extremely unfamiliar to them.

They had thought that Erwin was just a clueless and lackadaisical young noble, but in the face of a major crisis, he had displayed courage and decisiveness far beyond what they had expected from him.

They had thought that Kaiba's attitude toward women would be just as pragmatic and detached as theirs, but that didn't seem to be the case.

Even though they had grown up together from such a young age, it seemed that they didn't know one another anywhere near as well as they thought they did.

"What do you suggest then?" Chase asked with a wry smile. "Once the battle begins, there's no telling what could happen. Do you have any good ideas?"

Larwood shook his head once again. "If he wants to die, then no one can stop him. Do you understand what I mean?"

Chase was struck by a sense of contempt toward Larwood's pretentiousness, but he didn't want to display such an emotion, so he could only put on a lamenting expression.

In reality, he was thinking to himself, You're just putting on a show. With Aiden leading this army, are you really going to save Kaiba in front of everyone? If you really cared about the lives of your friends, then you wouldn't have watched Erwin rush to his death without saying anything. You knew that in all likelihood, he was going to die on that battlefield, but you chose to stay silent anyway, and now, you're putting on the same act again.

After internally denouncing Larwood, he gave himself a severe dressing down as well. He knew that he had no right to look down on Larwood. After all, he had also chosen to remain silent and watch as Erwin departed. However, he was ecstatic when he heard that his friends had survived that ordeal.

He still recalled that at the time he received the news, he had been in Newen. As soon as he heard that Erwin and Kaiba had returned to Sarus, he was so excited that he had burst into tears right away. That day, he had locked himself in his own room, drinking alone while laughing and crying to himself like a madman. Even though he was unable to suppress his own emotions, he still had to take care to be quiet and not be overheard. That was the first time that he had so vividly experienced the sorrow of growing up and maturing. He knew that he wasn't any less pretentious than Larwood, but as was the case with many people, he was continuing down the same path despite despising himself the entire time.

He then thought of Kaiba, who had survived the battle on the Marrod Plain against all odds, only to have to face the invasion of the Atlas Empire's forces, and he couldn't help but be overcome by a sense of sorrow for his friend.

The passage of time inevitably brought about some permanent, irreversible changes. Chase had gone back to the places in Sarus where he and his friends had previously frequented, but he was unable to recapture the feeling from back then. To him, those places only evoked within him a sense of loneliness and sadness, rather than any happy memories.

...

Tewadedan.

Kaiba was lying in bed, locking himself in his room rather than attending the military meeting.

Having participated in the battle on the Marrod Plain, he was naturally aware of how fearsome Lazaar's troops and the twin-foot flying dragons were. Hence, regardless of how meticulously they planned for the upcoming battle, there was simply no point.

He had come to Tewadedan with Gwen for no reason other than a desire to stay by her side and protect her, even though he was aware that his devotion to her wasn't guaranteed to yield any results.

He began to sift through his own memories, wondering to himself when exactly it was that he had begun to develop feelings for Gwen. Perhaps it was the first offense and defense class. Perhaps he had already fallen for her from the moment he saw the determination and indignation in her eyes when she lost her first sparring match against Larwood. Ever since then, he had developed a habit of stealing the occasional glance at her during the few classes that they shared together.

Hence, he was quite displeased whenever Erwin teased Larwood about his relationship with Gwen. He wanted to ask why it could only have been Larwood and Gwen, rather than him and Gwen.

Unfortunately, he had disguised his own feelings too well, so well that his friends had no idea what he felt.

The first time that he had experienced heartache in his life was when he watched Lana sweep Gwen off the competition platform like a piece of rubbish during the Pillow Sword Tournament. Seeing her tattered orange dress and the sorry state that she was in, his first instinct was to leap into the venue and wrap her in his embrace, but he had hesitated and ultimately decided not to do anything.

All he remembered about that night was that he had gotten extremely drunk in an effort to forget his own cowardice and powerlessness. Whiskey and remorse had gushed down his throat all night in a painful concoction of remorse. Everyone had thought that he had drunk so much as he was celebrating Erwin's advancement to the semifinals of the Pillow Sword Tournament, but in reality, he had only been trying to numb himself with the alcohol.

From that day forth, he swore to himself that if another opportunity for him to protect her were to ever arise, then he would seize it with both hands.

That was why he was so determined to set off into battle together with Erwin back in Xeto.

This was something that he had refrained from telling Erwin, but at the time, he knew that Gwen was in danger.

He had insisted on going to the front lines with Erwin as he already knew that the battle was definitely going to take a turn for the worse for the forces of the Effer Kingdom.

This was because one of Duke Nandoon's subordinates had delivered a message to Kaiba's father, advising them to stay in Xeto.

Given Kaib's understanding of the state of the royal court, he immediately understood what that entailed, and that was why he was so eager to get to the front lines as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, his efforts paid off, and he managed to arrive in time to save Gwen from the brink of death.

However, he may have saved her life, but could he save her from her fate?

...

Inside the large guest hall of the governor's manor, the military meeting had already concluded, and all of the commanders of the army of Fooz had gone to carry out certain arrangements for the upcoming battle.

Gwen was standing in front of the window with her arms crossed, looking out in silence at the city of Tewadedan under the light of the setting sun.

She was also aware that she had no chance of winning the upcoming battle.

Even so, there was no way that she would simply hand over everything that her father had worked so hard for to the enemy without putting up a fight.

Furthermore, there were also some personal motives driving her to continue down this path.

It had always been a source of indignation for her that Onean and Lana were always under the limelight, while she was nothing more than an afterthought. She hadn't shed any less blood, sweat, and tears than them, and she had always striven to do her very best, but ultimately, she was still shunned and forgotten.

When it came to conversations surrounding the figures at the forefront of the younger generation, Onean and Lana were always the ones being compared, while no one even mentioned her name, even though she was the most hard-working and exceptional student in Teedus Academy's magic division.

She was unable to stomach the fact that everyone looked down on her just because her looks and talents were inferior to those of Onean and Lana.

However, the world was a pragmatic and cruel place. If you didn't possess peerless talent or unmatched looks, you were destined to be forgotten.

When it came to magical talent, Gwen was among the cream of the crop when it came to the young nobles of Sarus. In the looks department, Gwen was also quite exceptional. Unfortunately, the goal that she was pursuing was the insurmountable peak atop which stood Onean and Lana.

This was what Gwen was most frustrated about. It seemed that no matter how much effort she gave, she simply couldn't catch up to those two.

This sense of inferiority and frustration had been ruminating in her heart for many years, and she desperately wanted to prove herself.

However, the battle against Lana during the Pillow Sword Tournament was like a bucket of cold water that had been poured over her head.

The outcome of the battle had dealt her an extremely heavy blow. She had done everything in her power, but she was seen as nothing more than a joke.

She felt like a court jester, one that could only attract ridicule and amusement no matter what she did.

For people like her, even sympathy from others was a luxury that was completely out of reach.

No one cared about the sorry state that she had ended up in at the conclusion of that battle. The only one who had extended any concern toward her had been her own father.

Her heart was like that orange dress. Initially, it had been filled with hope and exuberance, but ultimately, it was torn to shreds by the harsh and pragmatic wringer that was this world. What had truly defeated her wasn't Lana's magic. Instead, it was the weight of public opinion, which suggested that it was completely reasonable for her to lose to Lana.

However, she wasn't going to accept her fate. Even if the entire world thought that she was going to lose, she was still going to hold her head up high and see this battle through to the very end.

She wasn't determined to fight Lazaar's troops because Lazaar had been her father's sworn enemy. Instead, she simply didn't want to bow her head down to fate.

I'm sure my father would be proud of me, Gwen thought to herself as a faint smile appeared on her face, but at the same time, a film of tears had welled up in her eyes.