Emille Ironbrand

– Emille POV–

I, Emille Ironbrand, was a vagabond Swordmaster who got tired of wandering from one place to another.

This is the reason why I decided to settle down in the Samara Dukedom to live a peaceful life.

After two years of living peacefully, I found my beloved wife and had two kids with her but suddenly, Duke Samara knocked on my front door, telling me how much he appreciated my skills and how happy he was that I decided to settle down on his dukedom.

That was the first time someone sincerely praised my skills so I decided to serve him and enlist in his army.

Hearing him repeatedly speak words about the development of the dukedom and how he wanted to be king so badly to serve the citizens made me want to help him reach his dreams.

I thought that maybe he was a king worth risking my life for so I worked hard in the military.

Not only did I train way longer than anyone else in the military, but I also studied formations and strategies so I could rise through the ranks and help Duke Samara fulfill his dream of becoming a king.

Who would've known that I was born for this?

I quickly understood important military concepts and finally got promoted to general when the time finally came to start invading the Lockridge Kingdom and save the citizens from the evil rule of King Lockridge.

At least that's what I knew.

Duke Samara's Army finally declared war on the Lockridge Kingdom and conquered fiefdom after fiefdom which was under King Lockridge's rule.

Although there was one noble named Count Laurelei who made things difficult for the duke, in the end, the noble was defeated by Duke Samara but unfortunately, it seems that the duke couldn't get what he wanted from the filthy noble.

Still, that didn't stop the duke from finally reaching the capital of Lockridge Kingdom after years of bitter back-and-forth battles.

The battle for the control of Lockridge City was fierce.

The evil King Lockridge didn't want to let go of his power so we had to forcefully wipe out his army.

I acted according to Duke Samara's plan and fought the grand marshal of the Lockridge Kingdom.

I must admit, he gave me a hard time but in the end, there were three of us against him alone so he was eventually killed by the three of us.

What I didn't understand was, how did such an evil king make such a fine warrior serve him loyally until his last breath.

His resistance was so fierce that it made me confused why he chose to serve such an evil king who didn't deserve such a fierce and loyal warrior.

In my opinion, if he simply served King Samara, then he would have had a better life.

Since I was the one who contributed the most in the battle against Lockridge Kingdom's grand marshal, I got promoted and became the Grand Marshal of Samara Kingdom after taking down the evil King Lockridge.

However, that was when I started to regret my decisions.

The kind, compassionate, and wise duke was suddenly nowhere to be found.

I was utterly dumbfounded when I heard the ruthless words from the mouth of the newly ascended King Samara.

He gave the princess to the soldiers as a plaything and took the dignified Queen Lockridge for himself and trained her as his little toy.

Of course, I confronted King Samara after what happened but who would've thought that he would be so black-hearted?

After I entered the throne room to confront him, my wife and kids were right beside him, tied up and bruised.

At that point all I saw was red.

I even tried killing him with my own hands but I was hindered by Swordmasters who I didn't even recognize.

He then threatened to kill my wife and kids if I refused to follow his orders so I had no choice but to be his pawn.

The bastard didn't even trust me to lead his 35,000-strong army who marched towards the newly built fort by a newly risen tier 5 Rougenfort Kingdom in hopes of taking it down.

However, I knew everything about the military including how incompetent his generals were so I knew all along that there was a high chance that he would lose against the rumored young but wise king of the Rougenfort Kingdom.

At that point, I started to regret my decision.

Why didn't I hear about this kingdom before? Why did I let myself get fooled by this black-hearted king?

In the end, I did nothing but destroy the lives of the citizens of the Lockridge Kingdom by dethroning their beloved king and letting this black-hearted person ascend the throne.

After a few weeks, I learned about the disastrous defeat of the Samara-Kairuku coalition army under the hands of the young and wise King Rougenfort.

However, for some reason, I wasn't shocked. The general who led the army, Aksa, was competent but he was way lacking in strength and experience compared to me so it wasn't a surprise that they lost.

Unfortunately, the disastrous defeat wasn't good news for me either because the lives of my family were still in the hands of King Samara and If I didn't defend his kingdom to the death, the lives of my wife and kids would be forfeit.

As expected, after just a month and a half, a massive Rougenfortian army surrounded Samara City but what could I do with only ten thousand men?

I already knew we couldn't win when they split their forces into four and attacked each gate simultaneously and honestly, at this point, I didn't care about my life or the kingdom.

All I cared about was the safety of my wife and kids so I fought hard even if the southern and eastern gates easily fell into the hands of the enemy.

Finally, we couldn't hold on any longer and retreated to the castle where we made our final stand.

Alas! My strength wasn't enough.

I couldn't even defeat their young female grand marshal alone so when three Swordmasters ganged up on me, I was easily defeated.

I lay on the ground as blood slowly flowed out from the wounds sustained by my battered body.

Alicia, my lovely wife, please be safe and take care of the kids. Although sad, I believe this is where we part ways.

Or so I thought…