Chapter 277 – Son (1)

A large red flag with a giant dragon fluttered in the wind.

The stomping of countless boots was like a metronome, without any deviation.

There were enough soldiers to fill the horizon, headed to the wall in front of them.

Among them, those lined up in the front on the left and right had big horns in their mouths.

Correspondingly, a man dragged his horse ahead and drew the sword from his waist. As soon as its blade was lowered, the horn sounded.

Puoooooong!!

At the signal of the horn, the soldiers on the wall identified that a large army was coming there. Then someone shouted.

“Seldam Kingdom’s army has arrived! Open the gates!”

“The Seldam Kingdom Army arrived! Open the gates!”

At the successive signals, the waiting personnel hurriedly turned the cogwheel handle connected to the gate.

With sound, the enormous gates of Aegean opened.

Watching the door open, the first elder said to Count Welton.

“We finally arrived. Your body aches all over if you ride the horse for a long time as an old man.”

Count Welton smiled at it. It had been a week since he felt Seldam.

Usually, it would have taken more than a month, but as a result of running day and night without a single stop, they were able to arrive here.

In fact, they moved to arrive quickly, but somehow, Aegean’s situation improved, so they started taking occasional breaks.

And they arrived 2 days later than expected.

Offen addressed the count while entering the gates.

“You must be excited to see your son after a long time.

“ I would be lying if I said no. However, I came here for a purpose, and you don’t have to worry that the purpose will be my priority.“

“Haha. I didn’t mean it that way. I am a little curious, though. This old man never married, so I don’t have kids or grandkids, so I don’t know how you’re feeling, Count Welton. Is it because I have been away from the family concept?”

“When the war is over, let’s find you a partner. These days it is called Twilight Marriage, and they spend the rest of their days meeting people with the same thoughts despite being older.”

“As if anyone would like an old geek like me.”

The two joked around and headed to the palace of the lord.

There were few people in Aegean.

It had to be because of the lord who ordered evacuation during the war.

Typically, the citizens would be the ones welcoming the reinforcements. Now, only the lord and officials will be here.

“Y-You worked hard coming here!”

Perhaps, the lord ran for them; he was sweating too much from his body.

Holding his breath, he even bowed to Count Welton.

“I am the lord of Aegean, Omulett. It should have been more grandiose, but due to the state of the estate, I regret to say that the number of people has gone down tremendously.”

“It is fine. Before anything else, I would like to request that the soldiers rest. They have come a long way in haste.”

“Yes. Yes. Do not worry. I asked for the understanding of the citizens and the vacant houses can be used.”

It was said that 80% of the population was evacuated except for the minimum manpower to run the city.

In other words, there is plenty of room for the 10,000 soldiers that came alongside Count Welton.

“Let the soldiers go, and we shall head to the mansion.”

“I see. Aide, tell the soldiers to rest.”

“Yes.”

Count Welton and Offen, who had entrusted their authority to the lieutenant, headed to the lord’s mansion.

On the way, he asked.

“Is my son staying in the Lord’s mansion?”

“Ah. Look at me. I couldn’t tell you as I was in a hurry; Sir Welton Jr is on patrol.”

“Patrol?”

Why is a great magician out on patrol?

A guard could have done that.

“Yes. He went out in the morning, saying it was efficient for him to go. It’s lunchtime soon, so won’t he be back?”

Count Welton didn’t say anything, but he had a slightly sad expression.

Jamie should have heard that his father was coming from the lord. So he thought his son would come to greet him.

When Count managed his expression, Offen chuckled.

“You look a little disappointed, Count.”

“Disappointed.”

“Hehehe. Does this mean he is no longer a kid? It is time to be independent of his parents.”

“Huh. Our Jamie… My son, Welton Jr., is already independent. I gave up the idea of keeping him in my arms 5 years back.”

“Right. Hahaha.”

Count glanced at Offen, who smiled as if teasing from the side and sighed.

What to do?

Even though he said all that, his love for his son is so strong that he ended up giving himself away through his expressions, but actually, he wanted to run to his son.

But the fact that he had to be patient made the Count dizzy.

‘Jamie. Are you going to mess with your father’s patience?’

Such a naughty boy.

The Count sighed and looked at the smiling face of Offen with an unpleasant expression.

Both of them entered the mansion under the guidance of a guard.

Since Aegean isn’t a large city, the rooms were half the size of their own rooms.

Still, there was space inside the mansion where soldiers could train, and soldiers were already sparring there.

“Are these all the soldiers?”

Count Welton looked around at the soldiers training. Since this was a small estate, their army wasn’t too large.

The fact that this wasn’t a border town contributed to the fact. Still, everyone did their best and trained. The guard scratched his head and said.

“Yes. I think this is needed to cope with the war in the future.”

The Count’s eyes noticed that so much army wouldn’t be needed immediately.

“The war has only begun. Such training can be done steadily since the time is peaceful, and it isn’t something to be cramped. I’d rather give them time. That will help our survival.”

“Y-Yes.”

When Count Welton, one of the five fingers of Seldam, said such a thing, no one could say no.

Usually, no matter how many reinforcements were brought, no lord would listen to nobles of other nations. Reputation was that important.

At that moment, Count Welton looked at someone familiar.

“Beryl?”

“Count, you came?”

Beryl, resting in the shade of a large tree, raised his hand at the Count.

He knew Beryl would be here, but he didn’t think he would be enjoying the place like this. Offen, too, seemed shocked.

“I didn’t think you’d be here. It’s been a long time, Sir Beryl.”

“It has been so long, first elder.”

“The last time I saw you… 8 years back, was it? Anyway, I knew you would be here, so it’s nice to see you again.”

“Right.”

Beryl gave a brief response and approached them.

The Count and Beryl looked at each other. They didn’t say a word other than calling each other.

As if observing, they were checking each other’s strength.

Actually, fifty thousand thoughts were running through their heads.

‘So Beryl managed to reach this high a level, huh? He is different from the last time we met. Did he get some great realization?’

While Count Welton was impressed with Beryl’s status. Beryl was doing the same.

‘I thought I could catch up to him, but, what is this? Count? This…’

He didn’t show it on the outside, but he was startled at the change of Count.

The two looked at each other and held out their hands first.

“I didn’t expect to see you here instead of Haiss. Nice meeting you, Beryl.”

“I am sorry for not coming there.”

The two nodded their heads and shook hands.

The lord who was there looked at them.

‘… So awkward.’

A suffocating awkwardness spread over the training ground.

“The count is here. And 1st elder too.”

“It has been a while since I met those two.”

On the top floor of the mansion, Simon and Linmel welcomed Count Welton and Offen.

They couldn’t even go to meet them at the gate because their hands were full, but now they were enjoying this.

Count Welton greeted them lightly and looked at the map of Gerinm, which was full of pieces meant to represent their enemies.

Offen, too, looked at the map, and their expressions weren’t great.

“What is this?”

When Count Welton asked, looking at the pieces, Simon said.

“An anti-magic artifact. The sudden appearance of Jamie Welton and the sense of crisis was instilled with support coming, so it was installed in a hurry.”

One or two anti-magic artifacts cannot stop a magician who reached the Supreme state.

In addition, there were two 8th magicians, so recapturing Gerin was also something they had to be wary of.

And they hadn’t been able to do it…

“How many?”

The star-shaped pieces on the map were scattered, but there didn’t seem to be many.

But in reality, it had to be much more.

Just as expected.

“There are more than 3,000 we identified.”

Linmel said.

“I don’t know just how they managed to get so many, but Jamie’s magic is the target of it.”

It could block even the magic of dragons with that number.

This showed how stubborn Zenith was in defending Gerin.

Count Welton saw it as a desperate attempt by the east.

“I heard Jamie is on patrol. Did he go to Gerin?”

“Patrol? It wasn’t a patrol; it was reconnaissance.”

Count Welton looked at the lord, who was sweating.

“Ah, I guess I was wrong. Haha…”

“I see.”

He would be upset if his son didn’t come for a patrol; now, he could understand why his son didn’t come.

However, he was still with the heart of a father who wanted to meet his son.

Simon, unaware of this, said.

“Well, I am glad you arrived on time. It is said that Genera Ento of the Rendry Kingdom and 7,000 troops will also arrive in the middle of the day or tomorrow. Absilon said they would send reinforcements, but something seemed to have happened.”

When the war began, there was a meeting, and the Absilon lord said he would try to send his general with 5,000 troops.

But, for some reason, there had been no news of this.

“Still, since 17,000 troops are gathered. If the existing troops are added, it would be 20,000 troops on our side to retake the city, so it is fine.”

“We have 5 masters, and General Ento is a strong person who can be called a Master.”

Sword Masters aren’t affected by the anti-magic artifacts, so they could enter.

And once they take down the anti-magic artifacts, the magicians could become active again, and Gerin can be recaptured.

Since there are 20,000 troops in hand-to-hand combat, it will be difficult for Eastern Union, which lost 50,000 recently.

“The key to reclaiming Gerin is Sword Masters.”

Sword Masters have been a decisive weapon on the battlefield. This time would be the same.

“We don’t have much time, so let’s start the meeting immediately.”

Naturally, the meeting began under the direction of Count Welton.

At the same time.

Jamie was scouting above Gerin.

The observation magic which reached 9th class was as clear as seeing it from close by.

“Ignorant idiots. Why put so many artifacts?”

If he used black magic, he could see through everything, but due to all these artifacts, he had to limit the magic usage.

‘You must be afraid of me.’

He could see their anxiety from the number of artifacts around.

However, his weapons weren’t going to be magic.

“Go ahead and slaughter everything…”

He hadn’t been able to check the performance of Balisada.

So when he thought that it wouldn’t be bad to see it performing slaughtering the enemy.

“Um?”

A group of dots seemed to be approaching Jamie, who was using his magic.

Since he was using clairvoyant vision, the actual distance would be at least 500 km, and they were on horseback, so he thought they would arrive in 4 to 5 days.

He thought of them as reinforcements of the east and focused.

“… to meet like this?”

Jamie smiled.

A man was clearly visible in his eyes.

His appearance was quite different from 5 years back, but he could still easily tell who it was.

“Sable, no…. Kreon!”

Zenith’s sword was leading the enemy’s troops.