Episode 365
Bwooo— bwooo—

On both the left and right, the retreat horns sounded simultaneously.

From Burgos’s side, the decision to withdraw came after the necromancer’s identity was exposed and the involvement of mages tipped the battle unfavorably. Meanwhile, the Clifford forces, having confirmed Prince Noah’s safe return, signaled to fall back behind the barrier and strengthen their defenses.

The soldiers, who had been pressing their swords into each other’s chests and backs, suddenly hesitated, gasping for breath. Even as they retreated to their respective lines, they kept their eyes locked on one another, stepping backward cautiously.

Countless corpses littered the ground beneath their feet. The relief of survival was dulled; their senses were overwhelmed—by the stench of blood and death, the blaring horns, the bitter taste of dirt and dust. Most of all, by the sharp sting of wounds they hadn’t yet fully realized.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

Usually, the side losing ground would fall back, with the enemy in hot pursuit. Crushing the fleeing foe completely was the only way to seal victory in war.

“Hah… hah…”

“Let’s go back! Fall back!”

“Help me, help me!”

“Ugh… I, I can’t…”

“Assist the wounded! Check on the survivors!”

It was strange. At the sound of the horns, they had charged at each other like enemies intent on killing, but now, responding to the signal, they turned their backs and began sorting through the injured from both sides.

Trudging back to their lines, not a single soldier remained unscathed. Could anything be more contradictory? Fortunately, dusk had fully fallen, and even this grim scene was swallowed by darkness.

Ssssh!

“Wait, don’t drop it! There’s still one left!”

“Really? Here?”

“Be honest—don’t you want to drop him and finish him off?”

“You’re the one who asked me to hold him, Beric.”

Following Ian’s orders, the mages grabbed Beric and dragged him back to the barrier.

The same went for Akorella and his men. The barrier gates swung wide open as soldiers returned, and soon everyone gathered atop the barrier, inside the tactical room.

“Ugh, the smell! It’s insane!”

“So these are just monster scraps, huh? I wonder how far the magic-sealing stones can go. If we analyze the residual monster power in the corpses and classify the different magic stones that react to them—”

Akorella launched into a long-winded speech, brandishing Tiefe’s severed tongue, but everyone just pinched their noses and frowned.

What could they do? No mage would dare defy Captain Akorella.

‘When will Ian arrive?’

They could only hope Ian would come quickly.

As if answering their prayers, Ian entered the Clifford barrier accompanied by a blue-haired man. Everyone flinched. Wasn’t that Burgos soldier’s uniform? The startled guards raised their swords, but Ian motioned them to stand down.

“It’s fine. This one is my prisoner.”

“Prisoner? How can you call him a prisoner of Bariel in the Burgos-Clifford war? Who is he? He doesn’t look like an officer…”

The guards glanced nervously at the mages, trailing off. Even the mages seemed unsure who Ian had brought. Beric approached the man and sniffed.

“He reeks of rot.”

“Beric, you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Do you know me?”

With his blue hair and slightly pointed ears, Beric touched his temple, trying to recall the familiar face. Hasha silently made a puppy-like ‘ang’ sound, and Beric scowled.

“Don’t act cute. My stomach still hurts.”

“…I am Hasha.”

“…Hasha?”

“Yes. Hasha.”

“…Hasha!”

Where had he seen him before? Of course—the Astana appearance! The photo of Hasha with his grandmother suddenly flashed in Beric’s mind. Shocked, Beric’s mouth dropped open as he spun Hasha around.

“What the—how did you become human?”

“I was originally human.”

“No, you were a dog. A fluffy white dog.”

“Ahem, excuse me, Ian?”

Amid the strange conversation, the mages subtly raised their hands, signaling they wanted in on the discussion.

The Clifford officers were equally baffled. A prisoner had been brought in suddenly, and since they seemed to know him, no one could quite grasp what was going on.

Then—

“The prince has returned!”

The news of Prince Noah’s survival spread instantly. Everyone turned their heads at once, and Ian smiled as if relieved.

“Now that the prince is here, it’s best we all gather and talk. Please, come inside.”

“Yes, let’s.”

“Keep the defenses tight. Report immediately if you detect any enemy movement.”

“Let’s go in, everyone.”

“Akorella.”

“Yeah?”

Ian stopped Akorella with a graceful gesture just as he was about to enter the tactical room. Smiling, he glanced at Tiefe’s severed tongue. Basically, he was telling him to get that disgusting thing out of sight.

Akorella shrugged and handed the corpse over to a subordinate, then casually wiped the grime off Beric’s back before stepping inside.

“Come on, our little mutt, let’s go.”

“Your back? What did you just wipe off?”

“After rolling around in a corpse, what do you expect? You can’t even tell. Let’s move!”

Ian, the mages, Clifford’s staff and officers, and soon Prince Noah himself—all gathered in one place. The battle had paused for now. Burgos’s side was likely in a similar state.

---

“So this is the Astana heir? The acquaintance Ian met when he came to the capital to receive his title?”

Those who heard about Ian, Beric, and Hasha’s connection couldn’t help but marvel.

If fate had a wheel, this was it. A small bond formed in Karenna had carried all the way to the battlefield at Clifford, bringing them together to strategize.

‘Former Minister Wesley is off-limits.’

Ian signaled the mages to keep quiet. There was no need to officially reveal Bariel’s disgrace to Clifford. Of course, the curse Gale received as she died had quietly spread throughout Gaia.

“So, after some incident, you became a dog, then returned to Astana to reclaim your body? The world is deeper and wider than I thought.”

The general shook his head, muttering. Monsters and magic were known concepts, but rarely encountered firsthand in Clifford. Seeing it now caused a strange cognitive dissonance.

“It’s not so much reclaiming my body as finding a way to borrow one. This body belongs to my cousin. She died of illness, so I’m borrowing it for now.”

“So you’ll rot eventually, too?”

“Beric hasn’t changed at all. Yes, that’s right.”

“But if you keep switching bodies, you could live forever. That’s good, right? To die but not really die.”

Beric said this, and Akorella pinched his cheek.

“Do you really think not dying is a good thing?”

“If I don’t give you a beating, I win every time! Aah!”

“What will you do if everyone else dies and you’re the only one left? Eat all the meat yourself?”

“Aaah! That hurts! You wanna fight?”

“Even a single drop of water follows perfect order in nature. Each life has its allotted time. Would it be happiness to go beyond that?”

Hasha hurriedly tried to calm Akorella and Beric, then shouted:

“An Astana’s lifespan is three times that of a human! It’s long, but every time I transfer bodies, I feel my soul being gnawed away. I probably won’t be able to do it many times.”

“Really? I’m curious. Is there no magic stone in Astana that can offset that?”

“No. We are necromancers.”

Thump, thump.

The Clifford general tapped the table cautiously, urging calm. Prince Noah had been silent and grim since arriving.

He had led nearly a thousand soldiers out, but only a few returned. The weight of that failure as a leader was clear.

“So, ahem. In any case, Hasha, the necromancer from Astana. Though you sided with Burgos, you have ties to Sir Ian. Can we now count on your cooperation?”

Hasha hesitated briefly. But before he could answer, Noah suddenly snapped, grabbing Hasha by the collar.

“Answer me! Or I’ll cut you down right here. Do you know how much damage your necromancers have caused us? The White Horns? You taught them how to handle the White Horns on Burgos’s side, didn’t you? Speak!”

“Your Highness, please calm down!”

“Oh dear, what’s gotten into you? Hasha’s collar’s going to get torn again!”

“If you don’t cooperate with Clifford, I’ll kill you immediately, and Astana too—”

“Prince Noah.”

Thud.

Ian set down his teacup. A small gesture, a quiet word, but enough to calm the tense atmosphere.

“Is this because of the May envoy?”

The death of May and her elite squad. Hasha had controlled the synthetic monster directly, so the fiery reaction was understandable. But Noah needed to realize this wasn’t a problem that could be solved with anger.

“May is, haah—”

“We still don’t know if she’s dead or alive.”

“Surrounded by monsters ahead, soldiers behind.”

“Consider them alive until you see the body. That’s the strength of those who have sent their loved ones to war and endure. Though Prince, your situation is different, there’s no other way.”

Noah loosened Hasha’s collar and cupped his head gently. He wasn’t crying or breaking down—just quietly trying to calm the storm of anxiety inside him.

“Didn’t the king say something?”

“…About what?”

“That the prince is the center of the world. If the envoy Mei is thought dead, everyone will believe it.”

Noah’s eyes widened in surprise.

Though raised with royal education, he had never heard such words before. It was like the mindset of an emperor ruling over the entire Gaia continent.

Is that because he serves an emperor? Is that the difference between an empire and a kingdom? Noah hesitated, and Hasha explained the background.

“King Burgos proposed to the northern minority heirs that if they join the war against Cliford, he would actively support them in their internal power struggles and succession disputes.”

The north was truly a time of chaos.

Several tribes within Astana were locked in endless conflict, and to unify them required strong, decisive external support. For Hasha, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse—perfectly fitting.

“So that’s why you created synthetic monsters and mobilized them here?”

“I swear, I didn’t know Bariel was involved, Sir Ian.”

“You owe Cliford an apology right now!”

“Whoa, everyone calm down. If my head starts ringing, I’ll get sick again.”

As Noah jumped up, Beric pretended to gag, lightening the mood.

Hasha bit his lip. Threatening Cliford for Astana’s benefit was entirely his will, his followers’ will, and ultimately the will of all Astana. How could he apologize? No matter if the other party was a prince of a nation, Hasha would not back down.

“Hasha. Enough. No one here is without fault. But now that you know of us, I hope things will change going forward.”

Ian nodded as if understanding. After all, this wasn’t really an invasion of Bariel but a matter involving foreign Cliford, so it made sense to negotiate reasonably.

“Of course. Considering how much I owe you, Sir Ian, I’d gladly devote my soul to repay it.”

“And me? Hasha, don’t forget me!”

“Beric, well… thank you.”

Hasha smiled faintly and set down the item hanging around his neck on the table.

“Just as King Damon has many reasons to target Cliford, the northern minorities’ involvement has no fewer.”

Clinking.

The red brooch of Bratz. Seeing it disguised as a necklace stirred old memories.

“Reasons? What are they?”

“The north is currently overflowing with monsters, and the ‘Rift’—their source—stretches endlessly. Unless we abandon the land, the monsters appearing there won’t disappear.”

“And?”

“King Damon told me that Cliford has a similar Rift. If they develop it and concentrate the magical overreactions, the Rift situation in the north could improve.”

Prince Noah and the Cliford general’s faces paled. So, this means they plan to disperse the chaos in the northern continent by shifting it to Cliford?

“For details, listen to this, Sir Ian.”

“Ah, yes. This is more useful than I expected.”

The Bratz brooch had a recording function. Ian lightly infused it with magic, and the gem glowed red.

Then, the conversation between King Damon and the northern minority heirs began to play.