Chapter 184. A Small Pebble Stops the Cart

Evan, who had no memory of even falling asleep, opened his eyes.

“Euum……”

What pierced Evan’s eyes was the warm sunlight.

He instinctively moved his stiff body, but a sharp pain piercing his chest made him quickly flinch.

“Heut!”

The sudden pain jolted him awake, and he hastily sat up.

A strange feeling in his left arm drew his gaze, and he saw that it was wrapped tightly in bandages.

‘Where am I?’

The room was filled with antique patterns, but it was far from typical luxury.

This was because in the vast interior, there were no decorations or furniture that could be called luxurious.

It was a strange room with only a bed and a table placed next to it.

Evan, who barely managed to get out of the strangely soft bed, looked down at the clothes he was wearing and vaguely guessed the situation.

Pajamas made of silk.

As far as he knew, there was only one country that used such a precious fabric for pajamas.

‘This must be somewhere in the Solaid Kingdom…….’

After the fierce battle with Varkanon, his memory had been completely cut off.

He couldn't even remember how he got here.

‘Where are the others? The battle at Ramacht Plains…… what happened?’

He had lost consciousness many times through countless battlefields, but he had never had his memory completely cut off like this.

Therefore, he immediately judged that leaving this room and grasping the situation was the top priority.

‘Still, the fact that they laid me down here gently means I’m not in a dangerous situation, at least.’

The situation just before, where they had even treated him and laid him in a luxurious room.

Predictably, this was closer to the treatment of a guest or a friend rather than a prisoner.

Therefore, he relaxed a little and headed for the door, and at that moment, the door opened, and Jack appeared.

“Oh? You’re awake!”

“Jack?”

“I really thought you were never going to wake up. They said your wounds have healed, thankfully.”

As soon as Jack came in, he looked Evan over from head to toe.

And seeing him standing on his own, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Besides your arm and chest, you don’t have any other painful places, do you?”

“I’m fine. More importantly, what are you doing here right now? Where in the world is this?”

As Evan pressed him about the current situation, Jack raised his hand as if to calm him down and answered Evan’s questions.

“Don’t worry. This is the royal palace located in the capital of the Solaid Kingdom, and the room you are in now is the Crown Prince’s bedchamber.”

“This is…… the Crown Prince’s bedchamber?”

Evan was surprised and looked around the room again.

Looking at it again, for a crown prince’s bedchamber, it was extremely simple and modest without a single luxurious decoration.

Unbelievably so for a place where a prince of a nation lived.

“Why? Is it not to your liking?”

From behind Jack, the owner of this room, Harashin, appeared.

He too had a thick bandage on one shoulder, and as if his movements were restricted, he gestured lightly with only his opposite arm.

“It’s because I’m not particularly fond of luxury.”

“What’s the situation? The battle at Ramacht Plains?”

Harashin smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“To give you the results first, we won the battle at the plains. As soon as Varkanon’s corpse, with only its legs remaining, fell on the battlefield, the imperial army completely lost its morale.”

After defeating Varkanon, Harashin pushed forward using Karnak, and the imperial army was miserably defeated, and in the end, the Solaid Kingdom succeeded in defending the Ramacht Plains.

“Of course, the war itself is still ongoing.”

“My companions?”

The victory of the Solaid Kingdom was important, but Evan was more concerned about the life and death of his companions.

“Don’t worry. They are all safe. This friend here was sticking by to take care of you, and the rest of your companions are currently receiving a proper hero’s welcome at the palace.”

“I see……. That’s a relief.”

He was finally relieved to hear that his companions were also unharmed.

“The graceful lady is one thing, but your other mo……. friends are also eating well and doing well, so don’t worry.”

“Hearing that makes me sad. To think that Jack is the only one who worried about me.”

“Hmm? Ah, don’t misunderstand. For the first few days, the others also frequently came in and out of your room, worrying about you.”

At Harashin’s words, “the first few days,” Evan finally began to wonder how long he had been unconscious.

“Did I happen to wake up after a few days?”

“Hmm, including today, it would be exactly two weeks.”

“……Wait, what? Two weeks? You mean I was lying down for two whole weeks?”

As Evan’s eyes widened in surprise, Harashin, on the contrary, pointed at his body with a dumbfounded expression.

“Did you expect to wake up in a day after suffering such injuries? To be honest, two weeks is a really fast recovery. Normally, you would be groaning in pain and lying down for a few months.”

Come to think of it, Harashin was right.

At that time, Evan had been so injured that he felt intense pain with even the slightest movement.

But now that he was awake, he had recovered to a level where daily life was possible as long as he did not deliberately move the injured areas too much.

Nevertheless, the fact that he had been unconscious for such a long time came as a shock to him.

Even more so because he had never slept for so long in his life.

“I really was out for two weeks……”

“Be thankful that our palace’s royal physician is a truly skilled man. Ah, of course, the weight loss is unavoidable. It’s because you couldn't eat.”

Evan quickly rolled up his sleeves and looked down at his arm.

It certainly felt like he had lost some weight and his body was much lighter than before.

“Oh, but don’t move too vigorously. The royal physician said that your insides have not fully healed yet.”

As Harashin mentioned the injuries, the chest pain he had felt earlier rushed back.

He let out a small groan and frowned.

“What happened while I was lying down? I heard earlier that the war is not over yet.”

“What happened?”

At Evan’s question, Harashin let out a deep sigh and sat down on the edge of the bed with a thud.

“It’s a long story. As you know, in a situation like this, every day flows in a completely unexpected direction.”

“But the kingdom seems to be quite alright?”

“That’s true. Thanks to you. As you defeated Varkanon, the Empire’s momentum was broken. According to the prisoners, their original plan was to strike our kingdom and then attack the flank of the Allied Forces.”

A flank attack to push back the Allied Forces on the central front.

The strategy to quickly occupy the relatively small Solaid Kingdom had failed, and that news spread to the Allied Forces across the continent, greatly boosting their morale.

“The Allied Forces, centered on the Manoa Kingdom, also took that opportunity to push the center. It was partly because the Empire had divided its forces to attack us. And there, too, a clash between the Seven Extreme Stars occurred.”

The Divine Archer of the Manoa Kingdom, the Great Mage of the Remshait Kingdom.

It was an unprecedented battle where two Seven Extreme Stars from the Allied side clashed head-on with the Seven Extreme Stars of the Empire.

“In that battle, the Allied Forces lost the Divine Archer, but the Empire lost two of their Seven Extreme Stars. That Divine Archer friend was a guy I personally liked…… they said he was just like himself until the very end.”

The loss of the Seven Extreme Stars, who were called the core power of this war, drastically changed the landscape of the battlefield.

The imperial army, completely pushed back in momentum, retreated from the central front and was even pushed back to their original territory.

“Moreover, the Remshait Kingdom in the north, not wanting to miss this opportunity, mobilized all its forces to push forward and completely finish off the northern part of the Empire. Cunning bastards. Of course, thanks to them, the Empire has been pushed back to the north.”

Moreover, a situation where they were being invaded in reverse had also occurred.

A humiliating moment had come for the Empire.

“Still, that’s a good thing. It’s a situation where we can overthrow that high-and-mighty Empire.”

“It’s very good. It’s no exaggeration to say that this whole situation is all thanks to you.”

At Harashin’s praise, Evan waved his hand.

“Because of me, that’s too much of an exaggeration. I did step in, but in the end, this is the result of everyone’s sacrifice and effort.”

Evan, who was once a commander.

He had never once in his life thought of the merits of war as his own.

He had lived thinking that everything he had achieved by surviving was solely thanks to those who followed him.

It was the same now.

“Yes, that’s right. But it’s an undeniable fact that you made it possible to move Karnak and defeated the Seven Extreme Stars Varkanon.”

Evan was lost in thought for a moment.

The Emperor of the Empire was a man who moved only when he was certain of a perfect victory.

There was no defeat in the wars he designed.

However, he had greatly overlooked one fact.

The biggest reason the Empire had repeatedly won until now was because there was a man named Mikhail Reverk.

Now, he was reincarnated as Evan and had joined the war as an enemy of the Empire.

As a result, a small pebble named Evan had overturned the tide of the war.

“Then if we push forward like this, we can finish off the Empire.”

“Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds. They are holding on so stubbornly, their territory is vast, and at this point……”

Harashin’s expression darkened.

Just as Evan was about to ask what was wrong due to the uneasy atmosphere, a soldier hurriedly entered the room.

“Your Highness, I have entered without permission as I have an urgent matter to report!”

“Speak. I think these guests should hear it as well.”

The soldier knelt and reported with his head bowed.

“It is said that the Remshait Kingdom’s army, which was advancing from the north of the Empire, has been annihilated. Also, there is news that the Great Mage Karin has also been killed in action.”

“What? Karin was killed in action? Who on earth did it? The Empire shouldn't have the capacity, as they are dealing with the Allied Forces in the center?”

Harashin’s expression hardened in disbelief.

The soldier who reported was also confused.

“According to the intel, it is said to be because of Robern’s Knight Order, clad in golden armor.”

“Robern’s Knight Order? Those bastards still exist?”

“That is what they say.”

“Let’s say they maintained their lineage, but even if it’s that Knight Order, do they have the skill to defeat the Great Mage Karin? Of course, I don't know if the entire Knight Order attacked her.”

As Harashin pointed out, the soldier immediately chimed in.

“That is correct. And it is said that the one who actually delivered her death was someone else.”

“Is that so? Who was it?”

“I heard that the one who personally defeated Lady Karin was a man in an iron mask, who appeared to be the captain of the Knight Order.”

Evan, who had been listening to the conversation quietly until then, asked with a very serious expression.

“Is there any more information about the man in the iron mask? For example, any physical characteristics.”

Robern’s Knight Order, which had pushed him to the brink of death in his past life.

The fact that that name still existed in the present made Evan feel unpleasant.

Moreover, what grated on his nerves even more was the fact that the being who seemed to be their captain was deliberately covering his face with a mask.

As if it would be a huge problem if his face were to be revealed.

‘It can't be…….’

Evan suppressed his uneasy premonition and listened intently for the soldier's next words.

“Physical characteristics, you say. Come to think of it……”

He desperately hoped that the man in the iron mask did not have one ear missing.

As he recalled the person he knew, who had led the Knight Order with one ear lost.