[Kingdom of Gamelda]
Rather than the Kingdom of Darsen, Saul first opened the section regarding the Kingdom of Gamelda—the country that could be called his homeland in terms of his soul.
[As the brutal atrocities of the Kingdom of Gamelda continue....]
[Despite the schemes of the Kingdom of Gamelda, the heroic resistance of the Kingdom of Darsen’s army....]
[The foolish traitors who were deceived by the filthy tricks of the Kingdom of Gamelda....]
Since the encyclopedia had been written in the Kingdom of Darsen, its entries regarding Gamelda were written with an overwhelmingly negative perspective.
Fortunately, Saul possessed the intelligence and insight to find the ‘truth’ hidden beneath the biased descriptions.
Saul organized the knowledge he remembered with the information he gained from the encyclopedia.
The Kingdom of Gamelda and the Kingdom of Darsen were still enemy nations.
The last major war had taken place five years ago.
Since then, the two kingdoms had remained in an unstable state of truce, constantly watching for opportunities to devour one another.
And in the middle of all that, Roland, a Mage Officer who had served the Kingdom of Gamelda, had been reborn as Prince Saul of the Kingdom of Darsen.
‘What kind of absurd situation is this?’
Was it a trick of fate?
Or was it a gift—or a curse—bestowed by a god?
As Saul pondered, a sudden thought struck him.
Roland had definitely died.
He had been defeated and killed by the ‘Black Star of Ill Omen,’ Kastel.
Then what about his family?
‘Father... Brother....’
Roland’s father and elder brother had both lost their lives in the war against the Kingdom of Darsen.
However, the Kingdom of Gamelda had never properly recognized their achievements.
As a result, they provided no meaningful benefits or support to the surviving family members.
But Roland, like his father and brother before him, had gone to the battlefield.
It had been the only way to save their declining family.
There had also been patrons who recognized Roland’s abilities and extended their hands to him.
Those patrons and the royal family had told Roland:
If he achieved great accomplishments, glory would come.
Not only Roland himself, but his entire family would share in that glory.
Believing those words, Roland headed to Volpert Fortress, the front line of the war.
After achieving several victories and earning recognition, he became one of the field commanders.
And just like his father and brother, he died honorably on the battlefield.
‘What happened to Mother and Ariel?’
The only surviving members of his family had been Roland’s mother and his younger sister, Ariel.
His frail mother.
His kind but emotionally delicate younger sister, Ariel.
Saul could not stop worrying about them.
What had happened to them during the ten years that had passed?
Had the Kingdom of Gamelda’s royal family or Roland’s patrons reached out and helped his remaining family?
A strange sense of unease filled him.
The same unease he had felt when his father and brother had died.
‘First, I need to find out what happened to Mother and Ariel.’
Saul began searching the books in the library for information about his mother and younger sister from his previous life.
He searched through several books that seemed likely to contain the information he wanted.
But nowhere could he find anything about his former family.
Eventually, Saul called for Gray.
“Gray, there are some books I want to read.”
“Please tell me which ones, Your Highness. If they are obtainable, I will bring them to you.”
Saul hesitated before requesting books about the Kingdom of Gamelda.
A young prince who had awakened after suffering a head injury suddenly requesting books about an enemy nation would obviously look suspicious to anyone.
Saul had not survived as a low-ranking noble in his previous life by lacking political sense.
He needed to avoid making Gray, who was already suspicious of the changes in him, even more suspicious.
“There are several books I want. Can you obtain them?”
“As long as they are not forbidden books, I can obtain them.”
They said that if you wanted to hide a leaf, you should hide it in a forest.
By ordering many books and mixing a few desired ones among them, he could avoid suspicion.
Saul ordered a large number of books.
Only a few of them were what he actually wanted immediately.
Books containing information about the Kingdom of Gamelda.
Gray accepted the order without suspicion.
***
The next day.
Dozens of books Saul had ordered were delivered to the Ivory Palace library.
Most of them were books he had little interest in or intended to read later.
Right now, Saul’s only concern was ‘Roland.’
Roland, who had died more than ten years ago, had been a promising talent within the Kingdom of Gamelda.
Naturally, he had been a figure of concern from the perspective of the Kingdom of Darsen.
After searching through several books, Saul finally found one that seemed useful.
[General Overview of the Six-Year War]
That was right.
The war in which Roland had participated and died was known throughout the world as the ‘Six-Year War.’
It was the name given to the six-year conflict that began with the battle where Roland died, known as the ‘First Siege of Volpert Fortress,’ and continued until the signing of the armistice treaty.
[After the ‘First Siege of Volpert Fortress,’ victories for our forces continued.]
[Although we could have destroyed the detestable Kingdom of Gamelda, a terrifying yet talented individual emerged among the enemy. They were the vicious criminals known as the ‘Garcia Siblings.’]
“The Garcia Siblings....”
It was a name he had heard sometime after his reincarnation.
[The Garcia Siblings, the Magic Swordsman ‘Veil Garcia’ and the Magic Archer ‘Marian Garcia.’ These two enemies repeatedly defeated our forces, extending the lifespan of the Kingdom of Gamelda. Even during the ‘Third Siege of Volpert Fortress,’ the battle considered to have effectively concluded the Six-Year War, the Garcia Siblings defeated our vanguard commander, the ‘Black Witch’ Kastel, and returned the tide of war to the state it had been in before the Six-Year War.]
“So that’s it. A national savior appeared for the Kingdom of Gamelda.”
[After the Third Siege of Volpert Fortress, nearly a year of attritional warfare followed before both sides agreed to an armistice treaty. Although the Six-Year War ended without our forces gaining significant benefits, we will soon recover our strength and destroy the unrighteous Kingdom of Gamelda.]
Saul skimmed through the aggressive introduction of [General Overview of the Six-Year War] and muttered.
“There isn’t much difference from what I know.”
These were events that remained in both his memories from his previous life and the memories of his current life.
Fortunately, this book lived up to its title as a ‘general overview’ and contained an enormous amount of information.
As Saul continued reading, he finally found the section mentioning ‘Roland.’
[During the First Siege of Volpert Fortress, vicious enemies such as Edgar Meister and Roland Jenista resisted with their cunning schemes, but they were no match for our forces. Thanks to Kastel’s achievements, all enemy commanders including Edgar and Roland lost their lives. Kastel severed the heads of the fallen enemy commanders and placed them on poles to raise the morale of our forces, then recovered the remaining bodies of the enemy commanders and held simple funerals for them.]
“So she cut off my head, displayed it on a pole, and then gave me a funeral.”
Saul could not decide whether he should feel grateful or furious.
He was angry that Kastel had killed him and severed his head, but should he be thankful that she at least held a funeral afterward?
After confirming the end of his previous life, Saul searched for information about his former family.
He found news about them soon enough.
It was a single sentence written briefly, almost like an afterword to the story.
[The family members of defeated commander Roland Jenista also all died....]
Saul’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Unable to accept it, he searched other books, but the results were almost identical.
[The lands of House Jenista were absorbed by another noble family.]
[Roland’s mother committed suicide.]
[Roland’s younger sister, who was famous for her beauty, died after falling ill.]
[All surviving members of House Jenista perished.]
The records all pointed to one conclusion.
Not only Roland, but his entire family had died.
In the end, no one in the Kingdom of Gamelda took care of Roland’s surviving family.
Roland’s patrons had not only failed to protect his family—they had taken what little remained from them.
In the end, Roland’s mother and younger sister either took their own lives in despair and grief or died after becoming ill.
Drop.
Several tears fell onto the pages of the book.
“...Damn it.”
No matter how many times he wiped his tears, they continued falling.
How could Roland’s patrons—and the Kingdom of Gamelda itself—have done something like this?
Every man of his family had sacrificed his life on the battlefield for the kingdom.
And the reward for that loyalty was the deaths of the family members left behind?
His frail mother.
His kind but gentle-hearted younger sister Ariel.
They were all dead.
‘The Kingdom of Gamelda abandoned me, abandoned my family, and abandoned even my loved ones.’
The more he thought about it, the more anger surged within him.
It was not merely that he had failed to receive the reward for his loyalty.
He had been brutally betrayed.
When he first regained his memories of his previous life, he had still considered living once more for the Kingdom of Gamelda, the homeland of his soul.
But now that he knew his previous life had been thoroughly betrayed, everything was different.
His loyalty had been betrayed.
His life had been denied.
His family had been abandoned and killed.
The Kingdom of Gamelda.
That country was no longer a nation Roland would pledge his loyalty to.
It was merely the enemy of Prince Saul.
“Bastards. I’ll never forgive you. I’ll kill every last one of you. All of you.”
Saul’s tear-filled eyes burned with determination.
With rage toward the country that had been his homeland in his previous life—the Kingdom of Gamelda.
***
“No, Your Highness.”
Gray, who had been waiting outside the library, was greatly surprised when Saul emerged.
Even though Saul had wiped away his tears, Gray could not fail to notice his red, swollen eyes.
“What happened?”
Expecting the question, Saul answered as he had already planned.
“I found something about my mother in a book.”
“Ah....”
The explanation was simple.
A ten-year-old boy had read about his deceased mother in a book and cried.
It was a story no one could suspect.
Gray was no different.
After leaving the library safely, Saul lay down on his bed and fell into thought.
No matter how much he considered it, he could not forgive the Kingdom of Gamelda.
The reward for loyalty had been the destruction of his family.
The people who had promised Roland that they would protect his family and bring glory to his house were still alive.
They were probably living comfortably in the Kingdom of Gamelda.
“I cannot forgive them.”
He could not forget.
He could not forgive.
Thinking this way, the fact that he had been reborn as a prince of the enemy kingdom itself began to feel like fate.
Was fate not demanding revenge?
To take revenge against the Kingdom of Gamelda.
That meant one thing.
The country that had been his homeland in his previous life.
He would betray and sell out the Kingdom of Gamelda.
For the sake of taking revenge against those who had promised glory for his family and safety for his loved ones, only to abandon them, he would willingly become a traitor to his own soul.
‘I will never forgive them. Never.’
Until he fell asleep, Saul repeated those words in his mind countless times and strengthened his resolve.
***
Having decided on his goal in life, Saul looked at himself once again.
A prince was a person with wealth and power.
But that did not mean he could immediately take revenge against the Kingdom of Gamelda.
Although Saul was a prince, he was merely a young prince without influence or a faction.
If he acted carelessly and his previous life became known, the Kingdom of Darsen might label him a dangerous figure regardless of his true intentions.
Then he would either spend the rest of his life imprisoned in misery or be quietly eliminated without anyone ever knowing.
‘That cannot happen.’
He would take revenge on everyone responsible for the destruction of his former family and the deaths of those left behind.
To do that, he needed to move carefully and thoroughly.
After making his decision, Saul spent several days in the library.
Since Saul had always spent most of his days in the library even before, no one suspected anything.
First, Saul studied how the world currently operated.
Since the armistice treaty had been signed five years ago, no major war had broken out between the two kingdoms.
Of course, the armistice treaty did not mean true peace had arrived between the two nations.
Neither kingdom believed the treaty would last forever.
Both continued strengthening their armies, stabilizing their internal affairs, and preparing for the war that could resume at any time.
In this situation, how could he take revenge against the Kingdom of Gamelda?
To properly fight against an entire nation, he would need many things.
Status.
Ability.
Power.
Information.
Wealth....
After thinking carefully, Saul reached one conclusion.
“I need to become stronger.”
He would become stronger.
He would become smarter.
He would acquire more and more.
And once he had become strong enough, he would draw his sword against the Kingdom of Gamelda.