A Controversial General

"The Grand Marshal saw this person's huge potential but of course, the kingdom comes first over everything so we did a thorough investigation about his background and why he was serving King Samara."

"We then found out that this man did not want to serve King Samara at all. He was initially tricked into serving him, then once he started serving King Samara, the king kidnapped his entire family and used them against him as a threat."

"I know that most of the deaths of our brothers-in-arms were due to this man but I believe that as soldiers, you guys understand that you're just doing what the king orders you to and that you don't want to kill other people if you had the choice."

"In addition to this, he wanted to leave Samara Army's military in search of a better home so he most likely would've ended up in Rougenfort Kingdom if not for King Samara detaining his family."

After hearing their king's explanation, the soldiers felt bad for the man.

Not only did they understand the fact that soldiers didn't want to kill if given the choice but they also thought that he was indeed unlucky to be swindled into service only to have his family detained once he saw the king's true colors and wanted to leave.

Due to this, they realized that it was just plain unlucky that the man stood on a different side in the battlefield and that they shouldn't hate him or label him names for killing their brothers-in-arms.

The man just wants a safe place for his family after all, just like the rest of them.

Blanc scanned the reactions of the soldiers and seeing that he managed to successfully remove their prejudice against Emille, he signaled for Emille to show himself.

"We would like to introduce to you, the former Samaran grand marshal and a Swordmaster powerhouse, Emille Ironbrand."

Everyone's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. They couldn't believe that such an unfortunate thing happened to the grand marshal himself.

However, they remembered his face when he fought to the death in front of the throne room and his tears when he was about to be killed.

Most of them indeed felt bad for the grand marshal at that time but he was on the enemy's side and showing mercy to one's enemies was being cruel to one's self.

Fortunately, their grand marshal, Helena, had sharp intuition and managed to save this guy from a life of living hell.

The soldiers imagined themselves in his position and they couldn't help but shiver after realizing how hard it was to fight for a man who kidnapped your family.

Still, the man fought for the swindler in hopes of at least saving his family.

Due to this realization, the soldiers felt that hiring such a loyal guy was the right thing to do. Although many of the soldiers' comrades were killed by this man, they were willing to give him a chance due to his unwavering conviction to protect his family.

Emille thought that the soldiers would jeer at him but who would've thought that they were willing to give him a chance?

He was the one responsible for the deaths of their comrades but after just a few words from King Rougenfort, these guys were willing to forgive him?

Emille was amazed, he was ready to brave the hate of the Rougenfort Army soldiers in exchange for a good life and the safety of his family but fortunately, it seemed there was no need to do so.

Empowered by the king's endorsement, the soldiers allowed him to fulfill their expectations. He pledged to devote all his efforts to ensuring peace and prosperity for the Rougenfortians.

Emille felt excited upon seeing how well respected the king was because it implies that Helena wasn't lying about Blanc's character.

Just a few days ago, he was living in despair but now, he suddenly got a new lease on life due to the grand marshal and the king of Rougenfort Kingdom.

Emille vowed to himself that if the Rougenfort Kingdom would give peace and prosperity to his family, he would willingly give up his life for the kingdom.

Thus, after an official ceremony, the Rougenfort Kingdom gained another Swordmaster.

…

Meanwhile, inside Kairuku Kingdom's throne room, a man wearing a crown was pacing back and forth while regretting his decisions.

He was among one of the first kings who knew about the growing city in the gloomy plains and at that time, he chose to ignore it because he didn't believe that such a city could cause problems for him

He planned to let the city grow before ultimately conquering the city with the help of the Samarans.

Unfortunately, he didn't expect that the city would grow too fast and become an unexpectedly strong kingdom in a short span of two years.

Now, his ally was destroyed and his kingdom was probably next if he couldn't find a solution within the next three months.

He hoped that the Balmorans would at least severely damage the Rougenfort Kingdom's military but unfortunately, they decided to bet everything in a stupid duel in which they lost.

Due to this, King Kairuku IX felt that his time as a ruler was ticking.

The Rougenfortians were notorious for ruthlessly conquering the capital of their enemies so he was sure that they would come marching on the gates of his kingdom sooner or later.

The irritating part is, he couldn't even do any aggressive maneuvers because the Terravalle Kingdom would come invading if a large part of their army left to invade the Rougenfort Kingdom.

This is the reason why King Kairuku IX was pacing back and forth in a panic. His plan to rule the entire region and grow into a tier 3 kingdom was utterly destroyed due to the rise of this tier 5 Rougenfort Kingdom.

If only he destroyed Resonance City early, none of this would have happened. Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret and he should focus on finding a way to keep his kingdom first before dreaming of anything else.