I am the Monarch – Chapter 297: A Bloody Battle (1)

---

An urgent summon.

A command fell towards the entirety of the kingdom from the Capital Castle of Mediasis. It was an urgent call with the seal of the monarch stamped on.

Dududududududu!

Lebbis carriages ran on top of the little holes made on the roads connecting Mediasis to the large cities on the borders. It was a speed much faster than normal carriages and due to it being an urgent situation, the roads dedicated to Lebbis carriages were all emptied out.

Thanks to that, except for Semi Impasse, the Commander of the Southern Armies who was located in the furthermost place, all the commanders were able to reach the Capital in mere 2 days. Amongst the ones that had gathered were Aily Lancephil, Pierce Newman, as well as the castellan of the Rinse Special District, Katy Rinse.

After waiting for the Commander of the Southern Armies, Semi to arrive, Roan started the urgent conference. The attendees were the Commanders of each Provincial Army as well as the Central Army, the Leaders of Special Corps including the Leader of the Defense Army; the Amaranth Trainees and the Rinse Corps, as well as the Knight captains and the Strategist of the Argens and Tenebra, the Administrator and the Legislator.

In other words, all the important personnel that were leading the Amaranth Kingdom had been gathered.

“There’s something to say to all of you.”

Roan heaved out a deep sigh as Kalian who sat himself on a corner of the conference room made a strange smile.

‘I’m curious what their reactions will be in front of this enormous and helpless reality.’

Staring directly into the eyes of his subordinates, Roan started the long story. He naturally did not talk about the fact that he had died once before returning back in time to live the second, or rather, the third life.

‘No-one knows about it so…’

At the start, he thought Pierce knew about the whole thing but all he knew was that Roan had died once before being resurrected by Tempestas. It was because Kalian thought there was no need to tell him the entire truth and had hid some facts around it.

“Around the entire continent, something strange is happening.”

Roan’s first plan was to halt the evil and savage plan which Latio was trying to make. The listeners gulped as they stared at Roan.

“The leader of the Tallian Church, Archbishop Latio is proceeding with a brutal ritual to break down the Middle World.”

As soon as his words ended.

“Sorry?! Latio the Archbishop?”

The Administrator Swift Clock asked back with surprise. Unlike others, he had personally seen and heard about Latio.

‘Such a mannered, kind person? On top of that it’s someone His Majesty had picked personally…’

He couldn’t believe it but Roan nodded his head with a bitter smile.

“I misjudged him.”

Roan quickly admitted his mistake without blaming anyone else.

“Huu.”

Along with a short sigh, he started explaining about the altar found near the Blackburn area as well as Latio’s altar he had seen through the memories of Tempestas – the brutal ritual as well as the large evil truth.

“Impossible!”
“Such a cruel thing!”
“Ah… is that the true form of the Tallian Church…”

The ones that had been listening to the story all flushed their faces and inside their eyes there were rage and disappointment from the betrayal.

“What is the reason they’re doing such a brutal act?”

The Commander of the Northern Armies and the Count of the Kingdom, Austin Fides suppressed the rage that was threatening to erupt and asked carefully. Roan heaved out a short sigh.

“Latio had lost his parents, relatives and friends to the crusaders.”

He then continued shortly and calmly about the unfortunate earlier days of Latio and the cruel things he had been made to go through.

“Mhmm.”

Some of them let out low mutters and admitted the fact that Latio had a cruel fate. However that didn’t mean that the thing he was doing and was about to do could be forgiven or understood.

“We will immediately find out the locations of the altars!”
“If they’re placed throughout the continent, we must let other kingdoms and empires know about it and ask for their help.”
“We must begin immediately!”

The commanders and knight captains all kicked off their seats and shouted. It seemed like they could ravage through the continent any time.

It was then.

“Altars placed throughout the continent and a ritual of sacrifices…”

The Total Strategist, Ian Phillips carefully opened his mouth with a frown.

“What are they for?”

A sharp question. Thanks to that, the flushed generals closed their lips. They discovered that they had been fired up without even knowing why Latio was trying to carry such horrendous rituals.

They sat back down on their seats with embarrassment as Roan nodded towards Ian.

“A good question.”

It was a necessary question to go over. After staring at Aily shortly, he heaved out a deep breath.

“In the Grain Mountain Range, there’s a thing called the Gates of the Boundary.”

Hearing that, several of them frowned and tilted their heads.

“Gates of the Boundary?”
“What gate is that?”

In front of the people that appeared clueless, Roan slowly continued his words.

“The Gates of the Boundary…”

Gulp.

They listened intently.

“Is the entrance that connects the Middle World with the Demon World.”

In that instant,

“Demons!”
“The Demon World!”

A lot of them stood up and screamed from their seats. Even Ian, Swift and Chris who always kept their calm were greatly startled and the only one keeping their calm from them was Aily. As the leader of the elves, she knew a bit about the Gates of the Boundary but even she couldn’t help but be flustered by the next words that came out.

“The Gates of the Boundary are sealed by great magic. However from centuries ago, that seal started to weaken gradually. If that was left alone, there was a high likelihood of the seal breaking and the gates being opened. With one mistake the Middle World could’ve been run over and destroyed in the hands of the demons and to defend against that worst case scenario…”

Roan faced his gaze at Aily.

“The dragons appeared.”
“Ah…”

With a low mutter, Aily quickly turned her head to look towards Kalian as Kalian stared directly into Aily’s eyes and smiled back.

‘Been a long time. The Queen of the Elves, Pisces.’

He too knew very well about Aily.

‘The child that had been taught by Beru, Ligby, and Trelian.’

Although he himself did not teach her directly, he clearly knew of what had happened back then.

‘The previous Pisces, Sylen had become the bait to lure the dark elves while Aily found us in the Grain Mountain Range.’

It was the same story which Roan had heard from Aily.

‘After that, the disciple of the three dragons left for the Forest of the Elves on the year she became an adult.’

That too was the same as what Aily had said to Roan but there was one thing that was different.

‘Pisces. You thought we were in hibernation but we were in fact guarding the Gates of the Boundary.’

At that time, there was no need to talk about it and it was better not spread as there was no need to drive the Middle World into panic.

‘Back then we thought we could defend the Gates of the Boundary easily.’

Kalian made a bitter smile.

The situation had changed now and the power of the dragons was not enough to defend the gates. It needed the help of everyone else.

“The dragons that had disappeared hundreds of years ago were in fact guarding the Gates of the Boundary?”

Swift asked back with surprise and Roan slowly nodded his head.

“Right. It was a great sacrifice for the Middle World.”

Glancing at Kalian he continued with a powerful voice.

“Defending the Gates of the Boundary was not difficult. The dragons could strengthen the seal while taking turns and through sleeps they could refill their power and strength. However, in just a few short years, the situation had changed.”

After he spoke up to that point, Ian who had been listening silently made a bitter smile.

“Latio, that altar and ritual… they were to weaken the seal on the Gates of the Boundary.”
“Ah…”

Mutters left the lips of the surrounding people and Roan gave a slow nod.

“Right. That guy is planning on opening the Gates of the Boundary to have the demons wreaking havoc in the Middle World.”
“Mhmm.”

They gulped and expressions turned rigid.