# Chapter 96
Was he enduring it to hear a long story from Ion?
Levi slept deeply and didn’t wake even once as night came and dawn approached. Ion waited by Levi’s side with sleepless eyes, no longer needing to take Iellin’s form, but Levi’s eyelids remained completely still.
Between moments of dozing off with an exhausted face, another morning arrived.
Ion had fallen into a light sleep while lying in bed with Levi, holding him close, when a careful knock made him open his eyes irritably. He had instructed that no one should disturb them while secluded in Levi’s bedroom, yet someone was being audacious.
When the knock sounded a second time, Ion raised his upper body with an annoyed expression and looked down at Levi, who was still peacefully asleep in his arms.
“…Aren’t you sleeping too long?”
Knowing why Levi remained asleep for so long, Ion couldn’t simply admire his sleeping face.
With eyes mixed with worry and anxiety, Ion left a brief kiss on Levi’s forehead before getting out of bed. Despite his obvious displeasure, his footsteps were quiet and he opened the door carefully. Unless Levi would wake up naturally after a good rest, Ion didn’t want him to be forced awake by such noise.
“I apologize.”
The audacious person who knocked was Owen. As soon as Ion closed the door, Owen deeply bowed in apology upon seeing the cold aura emanating from Ion.
“A message has arrived from the imperial palace.”
Ion’s eye twitched at Owen’s tense voice.
Just as Ion was about to ask what happened, another voice from the corridor interrupted.
“The surrounding countries, which have been behaving strangely for the past few days, have all begun to move at once.”
The owner of the interrupting voice was none other than Hest. Having returned to his own territory the day before while Ion was preoccupied, Hest had once again set foot in the Grand Duke Verdit’s mansion as if it were his own home.
“As you know, the Delos Empire shares its entire western border with the Caron Empire, but to the east, it borders five small countries.”
“Those small countries have always coordinated to keep us in check, even before the war officially broke out.”
While responding, Ion instinctively felt that if Hest had come all the way to the mansion to speak about this, the situation must be quite different from previous movements.
“That’s right. But this time, it’s beyond just keeping us in check. And there’s also a problem at sea.”
“At sea…?”
The Delos Empire divided the vast continent in half, claiming the territory from the center to about two-thirds of the eastern land. The remaining one-third of the east was almost evenly divided among the five small countries adjacent to the Delos Empire, and they naturally bordered the sea surrounding the edge of the continent.
However, the eastern sea of the continent had many reefs and frequent fog, making it difficult to deploy naval forces. It would be quite challenging for them to cause trouble through the sea.
As if reading Ion’s thoughts, Hest shook his head.
“It’s not just the five small countries that are the problem.”
Ion’s face hardened as he finally understood what Hest meant.
The Caron Empire had swallowed most of the western continent. In their western region, like the five small countries in the east, there were three countries that claimed the edge of the continent.
Among them, the Merkia Duchy had a much smaller territory compared to the other two small countries in the western continent, but since most of it was connected to the sea, their maritime trade and navy were exceptionally developed. According to common knowledge, in terms of naval combat power alone, even the two empires would not dare guarantee victory against them.
Of course, besides the Merkia Duchy, which specialized in naval development, the other two western small countries also bordered vast seas without reefs, making their navies much more prestigious compared to the eastern countries.
Unlike the five small countries that had been keeping the eastern Delos Empire in check until now, this time the western countries were making a move.
“But they’re leading their navy across—not for trade—and the Caron Empire didn’t impose any restrictions?”
“We must assume they’ve been coordinating for some time.”
Hest clicked his tongue briefly with a displeased expression.
“If you get the picture, hurry and prepare. I don’t care about others, but you’re the commander of a very important military force, so we can’t have you missing.”
Ion frowned and looked back at the door he had come from. He envisioned Levi’s face, still peacefully asleep beyond it.
‘Damn war.’
Ion wanted to end this cursed war as soon as possible. It was annoying to be dragged around fighting battles as per his contract with Tis, but more than that, he longed to live peacefully with Levi in a country that had become safer than ever.
For that, he would need the power of the Immortal Army.
The problem was that he was the only one who could command and maintain this Immortal Army.
Currently, the Immortal Army was all on standby in the Verdit territory. He had already added to the number of undead soldiers, which Levi had completely killed off, bringing them back up to 5,000—close to the limit he could control—and had repaired all the damaged equipment.
The Immortal Army had been fully prepared for quite some time.
Nevertheless, there was a reason why all of them remained in the Verdit territory instead of being deployed to any battlefield.
If the Immortal Army stayed beyond a certain distance from their lord, Ion Verdit, for more than a day, they would immediately die on the spot. And they wouldn’t die like normal people—they would take on a grotesque appearance, as if the clay that had been roughly applied to a completely decayed corpse had fallen off.
Soldiers who died that way were in such a serious state of decay that even their bones couldn’t maintain their proper form, making it impossible for Ion to revive them again by feeding them blood.
The distance they could endure while separated from Ion was at most the vast Verdit territory plus one adjacent territory.
Because of this, even if each border of the Delos Empire was in danger, it was impossible to divide and deploy the Immortal Army to all those locations. All soldiers except those in the region where Ion himself was present would turn into rotten corpses, rendering them useless as troops.
Only Tis, Hest, and Ion’s undead soldiers knew about this major drawback.
Reaching the imperial palace would take only a few hours on horseback, so leaving the undead soldiers behind wouldn’t be a big problem, but the issue was what came after.
Nobles who didn’t understand the situation would probably blather about dispersing the Immortal Army to fend off enemies, and Tis, unable to reveal the truth, would skillfully redirect the conversation and choose to send his army elsewhere.
The 5,000 undying soldiers raised directly by the “Holy One,” the symbol of the Delos Empire, were considered absolute beings not just by their own country but by people throughout the continent. The days when they could remain quietly out of the war were likely few.
Ion sensed that he and the Immortal Army would soon be heading to the battlefield. Today would be the day to determine which battlefield took priority.
‘Should I be grateful they’ve been lenient until now?’
Thanks to Tis’s consideration, Ion had been able to hold out while making a fuss, but it seemed that would only last until today.
Even as Ion remained at the Grand Duke Verdit’s mansion with Levi, the war against the Caron Empire was being actively fought in various places. Most battles were dominated by the Delos Empire with its soaring morale, but recent news indicated that the number of defeated armies was gradually increasing.
It was undeniable that it was about time to take action.
Naturally, what worried him was Levi.
Levi was already frequently falling into sleep due to his starvation state, and if Ion and the Immortal Army all left, Levi would be left alone in the mansion. Ion planned to entrust Levi to Hest when that time came, but he couldn’t help feeling anxious.
‘I really need that black fragment.’
Since Levi would never remove his bracelet in front of people Ion might bring in, the only option left was the black fragment Chepel had mentioned. If he could secure that, Levi would regain his strength, and in that state, Ion could be somewhat reassured.
“…Let’s go.”
Ion walked past Hest down the corridor. His footsteps toward the imperial palace were by no means light.
As Hest followed behind Ion, he glanced back slightly. Levi’s bedroom, which fell under his gaze, still showed no signs of opening.
Count Chepel, who happened to be waiting at the entrance of the mansion as Ion approached, bowed at the waist.
“I heard you’re heading to the imperial palace.”
“Yes. I’ll only take Owen and a few undead soldiers with me. The rest should remain on standby.”
“Yes.”
As Ion was passing by Chepel’s side, he paused his steps.
“Ah, and though you’re probably already aware…”
Ion looked back over his shoulder at Chepel with indifferent eyes.
“Take good care of Levi.”
“…Of course.”
At Chepel’s response, Ion’s halted legs began to move again.
Hest, who was walking behind Ion, suddenly smiled slightly at Chepel, patted his shoulder a few times, and continued walking without a word.
As Chepel saw off the two leaving the mansion, his gaze soon grew cold.
