What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?.

However, things developed far beyond his expectations. The Kingdom of Esther directly designated a ten-kilometer radius outside the Kagel Pass as a buffer zone and prohibited armed forces from approaching.

"This is simply outrageous!"

Alden looked at the document that had been brought to the table, as if ordering them to leave. Even though he had originally intended to strike first, he couldn't help but slam his fist on the table in anger because of the arrogant attitude.

So he simply ordered the entire army to enter the buffer zone unilaterally designated by the Kingdom of Esther.

Preparations for the siege were not yet complete... because he did not intend to bear the losses of a siege. Otherwise, his family would likely lose their elite troops here, and upon returning to the kingdom, they would be taken advantage of by other nobles, or even be directly annexed.

The arrival of a large army would demonstrate his strength and show his strong willingness to respond, but... things developed far beyond his expectations.

As night deepened, the gates of the enemy's pass suddenly opened from the inside, and a large group of knights, soldiers, a group of monsters, and several dragons swarmed out.

The soldiers of Frisch were caught in the chaos and unprepared for battle when the cavalry, led by Frisch, and the monsters had already torn apart their defenses.

As one of the three knights, Alden, after being awakened from his sleep, quickly rushed to the front line and blocked a rock dragon that was wantonly slaughtering its subordinates.

Relying on his unparalleled combat prowess, he withstood the charge of that powerful dragon, and even, under the cover of his trusted subordinates, was about to forcefully kill him amidst the chaos of battle, but...

"—?!"

An instinctive warning made him abruptly stop and jump back in the split second before he could take the dragon's life.

The next moment...

A sudden burst of white light tore through the air, and the reverse kasaya slash, carrying a chilling killing intent, swept past his cheek like the Grim Reaper's scythe, splattering thick blood and leaving a shocking bloodstain.

His right eye unfortunately became a victim of this swift attack, leaving it bloody and mangled, a horrifying sight.

But in that life-or-death moment, if he hadn't reacted quickly, he would already be decapitated.

Amidst the intertwined pain and horror, he was astonished to discover that the one who had almost delivered the fatal blow was actually a seemingly inexperienced young man.

"...I even launched a sneak attack, yet you managed to dodge it. You're surprisingly skilled."

Ash, who didn't really want to make a move but just didn't want to lose the dragon, casually sighed as he watched the young man jump away with his face covered, but didn't intend to do anything more. At most, he only felt a slight regret for losing his prey.

However, Alden clearly sensed his attitude, which was completely different from his appearance and age... a disregard for life.

"asshole!!"

"Kill him!!"

Alden had no time to stop them before his dozen or so knights swarmed forward.

However, these knights, who were brave and fearless on the battlefield, were unexpectedly as fragile as ants in front of Ash.

Ash didn't even look directly at the knights, yet his movements were fluid and precise, as if mocking their futile courage. Each swing of his sword was casual yet contained an endless aura of death.

The blade traced silver trails in the air, piercing and tearing through, turning the knights into lifeless remains one by one.

What should have been a battlefield where lives were at stake turned into a one-sided massacre, cruel and efficient, sending chills down one's spine.

The surrounding air seemed to freeze, with only the sound of blades cutting flesh and the occasional wail creating a hellish scene for Alden.

Forcibly dragged away by his entourage, Alden was filled with humiliation as he fled the scene. He could only watch helplessly as this bloody feast unfolded, his heart filled with powerlessness and overwhelming shock.

In this offensive, which turned the tide of battle and demonstrated military might, the formidable Frisch territory was utterly defeated and routed, leaving the other nations in awe and temporarily suppressing their urge to strike first.

After that, although there were still occasional frictions between the various countries and the Kingdom of Esther, no large-scale war broke out, and thirteen years passed in a delicate peace.

.............................

Even after more than a decade, Alden, who commissioned the portrait of Ash, still cannot forget the humiliation of that day's crushing defeat.

The terrifying carnage and Ash's displayed strength left him in awe... Even though the horrific scene was hardly worthy of the word "breathtaking," he still occasionally thought of the boy who had taken one of his eyes and ended his warrior career.

And whether it was lucky or unlucky, he saw the boy again while out with his eldest son, a boy who hadn't changed even after more than ten years.

Although it's baffling that nothing has changed over the years, his soldier's intuition told him that this was the same boy he encountered on his last battlefield.

"...To you, I might just be someone you could easily defeat." Alden stared intently at him and slowly said, "But back then, you seemed a little surprised that I dodged a fatal blow and survived, right? Yet you just casually let me go as if I were some nobody."

"Ah... I do remember now that you put it that way, but don't put it so harshly. I just think there's no need to cause more bloodshed."

It was only after the other party explained the time, location, and event in detail that Ash truly realized what had happened thirteen years ago.

He did indeed personally observe the battlefield back then, because it was the first test of using controlled dragons in border skirmishes.

However, he was quite surprised that he failed to kill the dragon in one strike despite ambushing it while protecting it.

But at the time he was concerned about his own dragon, so he didn't intend to waste time on others. Instead, the knights charged forward one after another, which made him feel a little annoyed.

Ash's seemingly kind words only provoked Alden to grit his teeth and shout angrily, "...Don't want to cause more bloodshed? You could have done that back then...!"

"I was just brushing off a spark that accidentally splashed on me." Knowing that he wanted to talk about the knights, Ash quickly interrupted in front of his companion, "After all, I didn't attack first. They were the ones attacking me, and I was forced to defend myself. After all, this is a battlefield. Do you expect the enemy to do nothing?"

“…Indeed.” Perhaps it was just a test. After saying this, Alden breathed a sigh of relief, temporarily abandoning his pursuit of revenge, and pulled his son along, walking towards the carriage without looking back.

"It's rather unchivalrous to settle battlefield disputes outside the battlefield—get away from Frisch before I change my mind."

"Normally, at this point, shouldn't we put aside our past grievances and shake hands to make peace? After all, we're no longer on the battlefield."

Compared to the Alden father and son, who remained tense, Ash seemed quite indifferent. In the end, he simply retorted lightly and watched as the Alden group, who didn't want to pay any attention to him, hurried back to the city in their carriage.

Even after Alden disappeared, Ash's troubles did not end—at least the three people behind him were looking at him strangely.

........

.....

...

Chapter Seventeen: The Old Man Forgotten in Time – Trying to Show His Claws to the World? (9K)

As medieval nobles, they were generally very concerned about their social status and dignity. For this reason, even in the relatively peaceful central states, it was a capital offense for commoners to be disrespectful to nobles.

These border nobles mostly proved themselves through force, and naturally valued honor even more. In order to maintain their family's honor, many border martial nobles might choose to sacrifice their lives to protect their reputation.

Unfortunately, his son was right there. Although Alden was prepared to take revenge, in the end... he still backed down.

There was no way around it, even though at first Ash seemed like he was retiring to become an adventurer.

However, his subsequent behavior was completely unlike that of an adventurer. He showed no respect for the nobles and there was no possibility that he would surrender without resistance like an adventurer would.

In this situation, even if the three of them attacked together, he would find it difficult to be sure that he could defeat the opponent. On the contrary, he might accidentally allow the family territory to be invaded or even occupied by the enemy country—because Ash's behavior was not what an adventurer should be like, and he seemed to be holding a high-ranking position in the enemy country.

Alden endured the humiliation and backed down, but Ash felt somewhat confused... After saying a lot of things, he didn't fight.

Although it might be better not to fight, since the child was still nearby, he didn't really want to kill someone in front of the child.

Even though he had already voluntarily left behind those troubles that could have tarnished his reputation, Ash still turned his back to everyone and worried to himself.

Because the three people behind him were looking at him with different expressions at that moment.

Especially Philon... only after the carriage disappeared from sight did she pat her chest and let out a long sigh of relief, but then she pursed her lips and stared at him:

"Lord Ash... what else are you hiding from us?"

"Hmm~ I feel like I've heard this sentence so many times before?" Ash looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle: "And I feel like I've answered it so many times too?"

"—Because every time you suddenly reveal something I've never heard of before! And it's something really serious!" Philon was genuinely worried that if this continued, her heart wouldn't be able to handle his various secrets.

Ash, shrugging helplessly, now looked exceptionally innocent: "I didn't deliberately hide anything, it's just that you've never asked about these things, have you?"

"So you served in the military?"

"Yes, and he even went to the battlefield, where he accidentally got a scar."

He appeared completely unreserved, frankly stating that based on the situation, he probably couldn't hide it anyway, leaving Philon speechless at this behavior that seemed to be an attempt to downplay the severity of the situation.

Zain still looked dumbfounded: "...You actually joined the army, and even attacked such an important figure? And it seems like you have other grudges against him? Aren't you afraid of being targeted? You even dared to go to someone else's territory???"

"Let's get out of here quickly, I don't want to be chased by the army." Frillian didn't know how to say it, she just shook her head and sighed, and walked ahead to avoid any possible trouble.

As for figuring out what Ash has been doing all these years, we need to get out of this area little by little. If we don't leave quickly, there might be a lot of murders later.

Of course, the concern here is that the other side is unwilling to give up and has sent a large number of people to besiege it... If Ash is truly angered, the nearby city fortress will be demolished.

Because she didn't think that city fortress could stop her; even in terms of magic alone, she wasn't sure she could defeat that guy.

As for killing on the battlefield... even if she were, she wouldn't be so narrow-minded as to blame the soldiers for their actions on the battlefield. Right now, she just wants to save her own life.

.............................

.............................

The group hurried on and off, finally stopping to rest after leaving the vicinity of the fortress city of Frisch.

The group had just reached the riverbank to rest when Frilian couldn't help but start a fight:

"Ash, tell me honestly! What have you been doing all these years?"

"You said you were going to work on an apple orchard! But now it's turned into... Have you become a general again?" Philon felt that he was definitely hiding something from him.

Zain, recalling the way the nobleman had looked at him, couldn't help but shake his shoulder: "What have you done! I thought I was going to be killed!"

"Wait a minute, everyone. Suddenly asking me so many questions, which one am I supposed to answer? And Zain... what you're saying isn't my problem, is it? And to be honest, even I'm a little shocked by your behavior."

Recalling how that drunken monk had casually placed the glove on Frillie's foot, Ash couldn't help but admire him, saying, "...You are definitely the most uninhibited person I've ever met."

“…You’re the most reckless person I’ve ever met,” Frillie couldn’t help but interject.

"The Frisch family is generally arrogant and unreasonable. You clearly have a grudge against them, so why are you coming this way?"

"This isn't my fault, is it? I don't know I have any issues with them."

"...Uh, I guess so?"

His matter-of-fact rebuttal made Frillie want to facepalm.

Because he had just remembered that he had a past with her... but in a way, this only fueled her urge to complain, so she suppressed the urge and asked:

"In short... who exactly do you have conflicts with? Can you tell me all at once?"

"I'd like to explain, but the reality... how can I possibly explain it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it yourself, can you remember how many loaves of bread you've eaten?"

His matter-of-fact rebuttal left Frillie speechless for a moment.

Zain couldn't help but wipe away a cold sweat and interject, "...Wait a minute, I don't understand at all! Is this really a problem you're talking about?"