Chapter 550: A Recollection
No one would have thought a few years ago that the Empire would be invaded by surrounding countries.
Everyone was predicting the golden age of the Empire.
At the center of it was the Emperor's eldest son, Crown Prince Wilhelm.
His siblings, all remarkable talents, fortified his flanks.
At that time, the Empire was truly impregnable.
What weakened it was the beginning of a single event.
The death of Crown Prince Wilhelm.
From there, everything crumbled.
If the Empire reigning in the central continent was firm, other countries could not act recklessly.
Even if the Empire started to unify the continent, the chaos that is happening now would not have occurred.
The chaos from a strong country collapsing is larger than that of a strong country absorbing other countries.
But, such things rarely happen. It's a strong country because it doesn't collapse.
But the Empire did collapse.
Crown Prince Wilhelm fell at the perfect timing, and the siblings who were supporting Wilhelm around him began to quarrel.
Nothing drains national power more than infighting. Even more so if it's unexpected.
A succession struggle that no one thought would happen, happened. Moreover, it's a quagmire of a struggle.
Everything leads to one thing.
The death of Crown Prince Wilhelm, shrouded in mystery.
He was killed by a stray arrow in a battle with a vassal country.
Wilhelm is human too. It's possible for him to die from a stray arrow. But everyone was surprised.
The Crown Prince, killed by a stray arrow, they thought.
But what if he wanted his own death?
What comes to mind are those uncharacteristic words.
"Take care of the Empire while I'm gone," the eldest brother left saying this before departing.
I thought it was a whim at the time, but it's a possible statement if he knew he wouldn't be around.
Well, he would be gone.
Because he would lose his life.
Even now, the people of the Empire are still chasing after the shadow of the Crown Prince.
Because he was so great, his absence... His loss is immense.
I don't want to believe it.
But if there's a person who created this situation, betting on humanity's one-shot reversal.
That would be our eldest brother, Wilhelm.
Those who lost their lives in this period of turmoil, lost their lives due to Wilhelm's action.
It's not just the family. Many citizens of the Empire, and of other nations, lost their lives.
The sacrifice is too large to be considered necessary.
That's why, I don't want to believe it.
I don't want to imagine that kind older brother making such a decision.
"What's wrong? Are you thinking?"
"...Is the war against the demons... something where everything has to be sacrificed...?"
"...It used to be like that. Let me tell you a little story from the past."
Saying so, the elder slowly closed his eyes.
At the same time, the elder's house disappeared, and the elder and I were in the sky.
"It's a recollection. From the past great war."
With the elder's words, the scene changed.
Countless dead bodies around.
The only ones standing were demons with black wings.
"The beginning was from a demon summoning performed by a sorcerer. But even in the era of ancient magic, demon summoning was an uncertain magic. It was unknown what kind of demon would appear and whether it could be controlled. Naturally, it failed this time too. The problem was in trying to summon and control a resident of the other world in the first place... But this time, the entire human race paid the price. The demon summoned was the strongest demon in the demon world, the Demon King Lucifer." ṚＡꞐỖ₿ЕȘ
Long jet-black hair, golden eyes that shine like stars in the night sky.
His appearance isn't much different from humans.
He's a handsome young man. Apart from the black wings and ominous magic.
Even though I'm not actually there, my body freezes at his oppressive presence.
Without a doubt, I can't beat him alone.
He makes the monsters I've seen so far look cute.
Indeed, the nickname Demon King fits him perfectly.
"The summoning was carried out on an island where the current United Federation stands. The wave of summoning extended as a black pillar, reaching the sky. Those on the island who noticed the anomaly unified and moved to subdue Lucifer, but they were incinerated in an instant. Then, the people of the island fled. It was probably human instinct. They realized they were up against an unbeatable monster."
"It's amazing... that they could escape."
"Lucifer didn't move immediately. He was expanding the hole through which he had been summoned. When the expansion of the hole was completed, he used the island as a base, and countless demons invaded the mainland."
We're back in the sky again.
Below us is the mainland.
And the flames spread across the mainland.
This is not just an image.
In reality, the flames had indeed spread across the entire continent.
"Immediately after the demons invaded, the many nations scattered across the continent each attempted to deal with the situation individually. All of them were defeated in return. One by one, the nations fell, and in the face of the tyranny coming from the north, many people chose to flee southward."
The flames keep moving from the north to the south.
On the western side, the center, the eastern side of the continent.
The demons advanced from these three directions.
However, while the western and eastern sides were rapidly engulfed in flames, the movement of the flames in the central continent had stopped.
"The humans were on the run. All the demons thought they could easily crush the soft-hearted people of the continent. But one nation stood up against such demons. It was the Ardlassia Empire, which had already established its position as a major power in the central continent."
The scene changes again.
This time it's a wide plain.
Probably after a battle.
Many wounded knights were staring at a single point.
A man stood not on a grand pedestal, but on a rugged rock.
Holding his sword aloft in his hand, he inspired the knights.
"Behold! My knights! Even the demons are not invincible! If we combine our strength, we can defeat them! Raise your voices! Let's let the people in all the lands who are fleeing hear our victorious cry! The beacon of human retaliation is raised by our Empire!!"
Listening to the man's speech, the knights gathered on the plains raised their voices towards the sky.
Even a knight who was wounded and looked as if he might die at any moment raised his voice.
Until the moment his life ran out, the knight continued to shout.
It was his final victorious cry, dedicated to the lord he admired.
"The Knight Emperor who took the lead himself and opposed the demons... Andreas."
He's a short blond man. He looks to be in his late twenties.
He doesn't have an oppressive presence like the Demon King earlier.
Not a non-human. But as a human, he had the pinnacle of ability and charisma.
"The demon invasion was pushed back by the resistance of the Empire. The Empire, which had become a beacon of hope for human resistance, began to gather people from all over who were willing to resist the demons. Among them was a boy. That boy was the hope of humanity."
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