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Acting on behalf of Emperor Amanca XVI—the sole ruler of the continent, the guardian of Heaven’s Mandate, and now the Khan of the North—Duke Havlem officially launched the campaign to uproot the fake Khan.

The emperor’s fearless and loyal soldiers, along with the nomads who worshipped the heavens, all cheered in unison.

Even the enemy must now realize that Heaven’s Mandate favored the Empire.

—Or so history books would likely phrase it. In reality, the war was rapidly approaching its end. With the overwhelming power imbalance that had been established, the only way the Empire could lose at this point was if Kagan himself rose from the grave.

I guess I won’t make it back in time for the academy’s opening ceremony.

The war would end once we took down Dorgon. However, the problem was that summer was already ending after that time was consumed by preparation for the expedition, border movement, securing camps, small-scale battles, and tribe recruitment.

Even if I managed to kill him today, the post-war cleanup alone would push us well into autumn. In that case, the 1st Manager would have to act as the Academy Inspector in my place. I felt a bit sorry for the Principal and Villar.

At least we’ll wrap this up before winter.

At the same time, I let out a sigh of relief. Compared to the last war, which dragged on for two grueling years, this one would be over in mere months. The headquarters had survived intact—unlike before, when commanders and strategists had been wiped out at an alarming rate.

Of course, we couldn’t let our guard down. If we let things slip now and ended up raising a death flag at the last moment, I might actually die from high blood pressure.

So, I made my own preparations.

“It’s all done.”

I nodded at the mage’s cautious report. After clenching and unclenching my fist a few times, the strength in my grip felt unmistakably different.

Good.

I was satisfied with the doping sensation I felt after a long time. As expected, the performance of enhancement magic felt the best no matter how many times I experienced it.

“Good work. Thank you for excellently fulfilling my personal request.”

“You’re too kind, my lord.”

As I handed over a gold coin with those words, the mage hurriedly bowed his head and accepted it.

For a skilled mage, a single gold coin wasn’t exactly a fortune, but it was a precious item if you thought of it as the evidence of fulfilling a request from the Prosecutors’ Office’s current Executive Manager.

Plus, he could now claim to have personally assisted the husband of the Mage Duchess. From the mage’s perspective, that was practically on par with receiving a royal commendation.

“Master.”

“Hm?”

Just as I was about to call for a priest after sending away the mage who kept bowing, the 4th Manager spoke up.

“The enhancement magic currently cast on you is already excessive. Wouldn’t it be better to give up on holy magic enhancement?”

I smiled. She wasn’t wrong. Both magic and divine blessings had powerful effects, but overuse came with severe consequences. If there were no side effects, we would have just cast full-body enhancements on every knight and sent them charging into battle.

Moreover, as the 4th Manager said, the enhancement magic cast on me was already excessive. Enhancement magic cast at full power by a fairly skilled mage was at a level that an ordinary body couldn’t withstand. If holy magic enhancement was added on top of this, my body might tear apart.

However, I wasn’t worried. I had done this before.

“It’ll be fine. I tested it once, and I know exactly how much I can handle.”

“Sorry?”

The 4th Manager responded with a slightly dumbfounded voice, as if it was an unexpected answer. It was a natural reaction since I never told her about the full doping during Kagan’s subjugation.

In fact, why would I go around boasting about killing enemies while decked out in all sorts of enhancement spells, divine blessings, potions, and artifacts I could find just to survive? And even then, I barely made it out alive.

“If my body takes too much strain, Beatrix will patch me up. Don’t worry.”

“Ah, yes...”

Pushing forward while she was still caught off guard made her accept it much more easily.

That aside, seeing her so flustered was rare. It was a good sight.

“Still, I’m glad that someone is worrying about me. Thanks, Penelia.”

“I-It’s only natural to worry about you, Master...”

When I hugged her in gratitude, the 4th Manager trembled but hugged me back.

This familiar and comfortable vibration... It’s definitely our 4th Manager.

***A massive army of 300,000 soldiers marched to end the war. I couldn’t be sure if it was really 300,000, but exaggerating the size of your own forces during wartime was just common courtesy.

And it was over 200,000 even if it didn’t reach 300,000, so it didn’t really matter.

It’s pretty impressive.

The thought suddenly struck me. If this so-called army of 300,000 had moved from the eastern border, a country would have already been destroyed. No, maybe even two countries might have fallen. That was just how overwhelming our forces were this time.

Looking at it differently, an army that could redraw the continent’s map was moving just to catch and kill Dorgon. His head was worth more than most kingdoms. What a really extraordinary bastard.

“Inspector.”

“Yes, Commander.”

My train of thought was interrupted by the call of the Commander of the Northern Forces.

“We’ll soon make contact with them. If Dorgon hasn’t run away, he’ll be at the vanguard to greet us.”

“If he was the type to run away, he wouldn’t have shown himself in the first place.”

“True enough.”

The commander nodded and absentmindedly ran his fingers over the hilt of his sword. As a veteran of decades on the battlefield and one of the strongest warriors in the Empire, he must be feeling both tension and anticipation about facing Dorgon.

“Still, it’s strange seeing you at the vanguard instead of with the headquarters.”

I smiled gently at his joking words. I wasn’t the only one who seemed out of place at the frontlines.

“You’re also at the vanguard despite being the Commander, sir.”

“With the Invincible Duke leading the entire army, what’s a mere commander? If I didn’t step up, people would start calling me a glorified salary thief.”

There was a surprising amount of sincerity in his joke, and both of us burst into laughter. Right, with none other than the Invincible Duke as the Supreme Commander, even the Commander of one of the forces was just another officer.

Of course, that didn’t mean charging into battle personally was normal behavior. That took a special kind of eccentricity.

“Anyway, I’m glad we can finally end this nightmare. I can’t even express in words how much of a burden it’s been keeping an eye on Dorgon all this time.”

I just nodded. Even I, who worked in the capital, was driven crazy just thinking about Dorgon, so how much worse must it have been for the Commander of the Northern Forces, who was responsible for the North?

He probably felt like his blood was drying up every day, along with the former Margrave Sorden.

The fact that Dorgon had resurfaced was unfortunate, but one of the Empire’s greatest lingering threats would finally be erased if we managed to kill him this time. From the Commander’s perspective, it was a golden opportunity to spend the rest of his life peacefully.

“Let’s take him down together, Inspector.”

“Yes, of course.”

It was a proposal to rush in together and beat Dorgon up when he appeared. I accepted without hesitation since it was only natural.

I wanted to kill Dorgon with my own hands, but I wasn’t insisting that only I should kill him. There’d be no greater disaster than me stubbornly insisting on killing him myself and ending up letting him escape.

...Though, if I was being honest, I’d prefer finishing him off myself. However, I couldn’t let my personal emotions interfere with the empire’s interests.

Especially considering how many times I’ve already let him slip away.

A few years ago, I had many opportunities to kill him alone. I just missed those opportunities every time.

A man who missed his chance had no right to demand another. That’d be just ugly.

***A deep, ringing horn echoed across the battlefield, and the ground trembled beneath thousands of hooves.

At the same time, the rain of arrows filling the sky and the spells emanating an ominous energy had become familiar by now. These bastards greeted us with arrows and spells every time they appeared, so we’ve been forced to get used to it.

However, the fact that it remained unchanged meant that it was that effective—

“Mages, respond immediately. There’s no need to think about what comes after.”

At the same time, it meant we’d somewhat established countermeasures.

The mages instantly began casting defensive barriers and counterattacks at the Commander of the Northern Forces’s order. As he had said, this was our final battle. There was no need to conserve mana. This wasn’t a war of attrition anymore.

The first wave was blocked.

After watching the sky where magic and spells crossed noisily, I lowered my gaze to the ground. The nomads used their usual tactics of drawing our attention with arrows and spells while using their mobility to charge right up to our noses.

The second wave is still a pain in the ass.

Calling it a second wave made it sound more tactical than it was. In reality, it was just a full-frontal charge. That made it easy to detect, but stopping it was another matter entirely.

They fortified themselves with protective spells, making them immune to half-hearted attacks. However, we’d be left exposed to the magical bombardment raining down from above if we focused too much on countering them.

Between getting torn apart by spells from the sky and getting trampled by warhorses on the ground, the latter seemed like the slightly better option.

“Show these serfs the fury of the steppes!”

“Engrave the will of the wolf on this land!”

The warriors at the vanguard roared their war cries, and some of our soldiers instinctively flinched. Well, it was understandable to cower when these fierce-looking guys on horseback were yelling about fury and wolves.

But Dorgon, standing ahead of the great warriors, said nothing. He just fixed his gaze on me with a deep smile.

Creepy bastard.

Maybe it made sense for a man obsessed with wolves to have an animal’s instincts. Even in the chaos of battle with thousands of bodies moving, how could he have no trouble spotting me from the crowd?

I glared back at Dorgon and drew my sword. Come to think of it, his creepiness wasn’t anything new, so there was no need to worry about it.

“I’ll go ahead.”

“Go on. I’ll be right behind you.”

As soon as I got the commander’s agreement, I rushed towards Dorgon. The plan was for me to draw Dorgon’s attention with my whole body while the Commander jumped out from the side.

It was a crude method, but effective. Since we decided to fight 2-on-1 anyway, we might as well make good use of our numerical advantage.

“We meet again, Carl Krasius!”

Seeing me break ahead from the formation, Dorgon let out a wild laugh and sped up.

Wait, is this guy crazy? The leader is running so fast that his subordinates can’t keep up! Did he give up on commanding his men?

“Yes, I knew you’d come forward! Thanks for saving me the trouble of hunting you down!”

As soon as I heard those words, I realized that he must see me as a madman, too. I could have used our numerical advantage and appeared after Dorgon’s strength was drained, but I showed myself right from the start.

Following the horse race for Khans, it was now a horse race for madmen. The North really was a breeding ground for lunatics.

“Here’s my gift! No need to refuse!”

As the distance between Dorgon and me shortened to a few meters, Dorgon pulled out a scrap of paper from his clothes and tore it.

Instantly, the sound of battle vanished.

...Ha.

More precisely, the location had changed.

I can’t believe this is being used on me.

The army behind me was gone. Now there was only Dorgon, standing right in front of me. He had just pulled the same trick I had once used to separate Kagan from his army in the past.

Damn this. Should I be grateful for being considered on par with Kagan?

“What do you think? A familiar place, isn’t it?”

I let out a hollow laugh at Dorgon’s sneering words. As he said, this place was indeed very familiar.

“Oh? Did you want to die in the same place as your father? What a devoted son.”

“If that’s the case, then you should be grateful. I’m giving a friendless bastard like you the chance to be buried with your friends.”

This was the battlefield where I and the Six Swords had fought Kagan.

Is this bastard really out of his mind?