Chapter 179
“This is a little weird.”
The Orc Hero, Shaikan, receiving the reports from his monsters, shook his head. It was because he had lost contact with 10 monster heads over the past few days.
In the current situation, the monster units in the rear were 2,000 to 3,000 for each group in the western land.
But suddenly they lost contact, and there was no reason.
“Was it the land of the humans?”
That didn’t seem to be the case.
In the western wastelands, there were just a few civilians scattered.
In addition, the large herds of monsters such as trolls and orcs, couldn’t be taken down even if they met with human troops.
“What had happened?”
Shaikan said while looking up at the sky, thinking.
An orc had run in and shouted, “Shaikan! Human reinforcements have arrived at the fortress!”
‘Have the Baroque finally come here?’
Shaikan was expecting the reinforcements to come from the Baroque Empire as well.
That was why he had dispatched a few sneaky monsters near the Akbar Fortress and came to know about them.
“How bad is it?”
“Kwik, the humans are as many as the rocks in the Eagle Valley,” answered the orc.
“Then, around 30,000.”
In the Akbar Fortress, there were around 40,000 monsters when they got first dispatched.
Though the fortress was sturdy and not easy to take down, the purpose of the monsters wasn’t to take it down.
Their real purpose was to attract the attention of their enemy and distract them until the Shaikan led monster unit found another route to the capital.
But if the reinforcements were 30,000, then the situation seemed to be different.
“I can’t help it. Go to Akbar Fortress.”
He thought that he wanted to have a little detour.
However, if the monster army at the fort collapsed, they could be in a dangerous place.
It would be a better choice to join the existing monsters in the Akbar Fortress and push back the army.
“There is a place I need to visit, so let’s leave right away.”
Flash!
The moment he wanted to move, a bright energy engulfed his body and his body disappeared.
“Oh oh, a great being! Please stand behind us!”
After seeing Shaikan vanish in front of their eyes, the orcs prayed to him.
Shaikan appeared in a cave deep in the western grasslands.
Sneaking inside the cave, he took off his mask.
Surprisingly, instead of a blue orc skin, a human face had appeared.
Was the Orc Hero Shaikan a human?
The mysterious man in his mid-30s, keeping a secret from the world, entered deeper into the cave.
“Kul kul! Has the prince come?” A skinny old man lying on a rough wooden bed asked.
When he tried to get up, Shaikan spoke, “Lord Steven, my greetings, but please lay down.”
Surprisingly, the eyes of Shaikan which were looking at the old man were filled with warmth rather than coldness.
Shaikan’s eyes never showed anything but coldness when the humans in the Navarre Duchy were getting massacred.
“Hou, I don’t have a lot of days to live. So, you don’t have to worry,” said the old man.
“Dying?! Who will die?! You can’t die unless I give you permission to do so!”
For Shaikan, the old man was like his mother, his teacher, and his only companion.
Seeing the young man angry, Steven smiled faintly.
He was the person who raised Shaikan or the Prince since he was seven years old.
Reichard de Baroque.
The real name of Shaikan.
He was the third prince of the Baroque Family. A clever man from a young age and took advantage of the cute image he had.
However, he was known as the ‘Kind Devil’.
The terrible jealousy of the 1st prince caused it.
The mother of Prince Reichard was attacked by an assassin while he was away.
3 people died along with many escort knights. Steven, who was the captain at that time, fled the scene with tears in his eyes and Prince Reichard in his arms.
However, he couldn’t return to the royal palace.
In the meantime, the first emperor was killed and the first prince, Rudolf, took over.
In the end, not being able to get back to the palace, the old man had no choice but to move out of the empire, and that place was the west meadows which were known to be the land of monsters.
“Huhuhu, the prince has awakened the blood of God’s Dragon Tiamet, so I can die with a smile on my face.”
The Baroque Imperial Family, like any royal family, were the descendants of the dragons.
The scholars regarded that as unreliable and Dyes de Baroque, a reliance on the Libiya Kingdom, was seen as a de facto ancestor.
Contrary to that perception, it was true that the Baroque Imperial Family had a dragon lineage.
Born from the God’s Dragon Tiamet, known to be the last dragon, real Dragonian Ancestor.
But as the years had passed and the lineage became clouded, it turned into a legend.
The legend, however, didn’t die down in the family, and in time, a secret prophecy was added.
“The prince who awakens God’s Dragon Tiamet’s power will look down on the continent! ”
As time went by, the prophecy was considered to be in vain and Reichard was born.
Surprisingly, during his birth, he had something similar to fish scales in his armpits.
It wasn’t because of his wiseness that he was favored by the 1st emperor. It was because they expected him to be the true descendant of a dragon.
Unfortunately, it was just two years ago that Reichard was able to awake his power.
He had gone out to find an elixir to cure Steven’s illness, and in the process, he met a Twin-Headed Ogre who almost killed him.
From early childhood, he learned from Steven, and Reichard had good sword skills, but he wasn’t skilled enough to take down a Twin-Headed Ogre.
Eventually, he got struck by the Twin-Headed Orge’s fist, in that life and death moment, he was engraved with the power, knowledge, and magic of a dragon.
Thanks to that, Reichard was able to escape from death and made the orcs surrender to him and made himself the Orc Hero.
“No matter what the means are, I will save you.”
Reichard approached Steven and unfolded a recovery spell.
Bright light swept over the body of the old man. However, the life which burned out of the old man’s body couldn’t be recovered.
It was because of the providence of God—the man whose life amber burned out would die.
“Even if you are a Dragonian, the amount of mana you have is limited, so don’t waste it here on self-centered beliefs.”
Looking at Reinhard with stern eyes, the old man opened his mouth once again.
“Once I die, take my bones and use them to put an end to the enemies who harmed the 3rd prince’s mother. If you can’t do that, then you won’t be able to bring justice to the 3rd royal family, which has been wrongfully killed… mercilessly… please…”
The old man’s voice slowly faded away, and at one point, it couldn’t be heard anymore.
Furious, Reichard shouted his name, “Sir Steven! Get up! Get yourself together! Steven! Sir Steven!”
Despite the desperate cry from Reichard, Steven still succumbed.
Weeping for long, Reichard closed his eyes and vowed with a voice filled with sadness and anger.
“I will surely release you from the grudges. Even if I get cursed, shredded, and taken down as the King of monsters, I will surely cut Rudolf’s throat and give them to you!”
A mysterious magic encircled the body of the old knight.
Parent, teacher and a close friend, Reichard collected the remains of the one close to his heart and returned back to being the Orc Hero.
He had much to do in order to achieve his goal as he stepped back into the world.