How to Survive Against Villains Chapter 227

Chapter 227 – The Anti-Kal Alliance (2)

“Are you unaware that the alliance and the witch are on the sa side?”

As I rode back to the fortress on horseback, I asked Heinz. He let out a bitter smile and shook his head.

“No, I made sure everyone knew.”

“Then why did the scouts react like that…?”

Just a mont ago, the scouts surrounding Lily had displayed obvious wariness. Even now, they refused to approach the horses carrying Lily and Natasha.

As a seasoned noble, Heinz had already figured out the reason.

“It’s due to a misconception.”

“A misconception?”

“Most humans fear witches. Over ti, grueso tales about them have been passed down, creating deep-seated prejudice. That’s why the scouts rushed over as soon as they received the report—just in case sothing went wrong.”

“So, I guess the atmosphere inside the fortress will be the sa?”

When Heinz nodded gravely, I clicked my tongue.

Fear.

It was a label that always trailed behind witches.

People might understand logically, but instinctively, they rejected them.

That was the terrifying thing about prejudice. False information, deliberately spread by mages, had long painted witches as enemies of humanity. It seed this ingrained perception triggered an unconscious aversion.

If Tobaron, a land without mages, was already like this, then in Hell Gri, people would probably have a fit just at the sight of a witch.

'Unity won’t be easy.'

Deep-rooted prejudice wouldn’t be overturned in a short ti.

Even in a situation where cooperation was necessary, it seed best to avoid forcing witches and humans to move together.

“Tch, what a bunch of insufferable fools.”

Natasha’s disgruntled comnt only solidified my thoughts further. After all, witches distrusted humans just as much.

“Oi.”

“What now? What’s your problem this ti?”

“You better not betray us.”

Was she thinking about Arcane, who had once been a friend to witches?

There was weight behind Natasha’s words.

If a conflict ever broke out between humans and witches… whose side would I take?

It wasn’t a difficult question for .

“Well, if you keep those fists of yours in check, I’ll give it so positive thought.”

“Hah, sure.”

“I an it.”

For my survival, the power of the witches was far more crucial than that of humans.

***

Long ago, the Elletor Fortress had served as the border between Region 1, Tobaron, and Region 2, Hell Gri.

It had once been an impregnable stronghold, known as the frontline of the region.

But after the ergence of Ordor Forest, its strategic value had diminished, leaving behind only a relic of the past.

Lily had dismissed it as a re speck, but standing before it now, the Elletor Fortress was massive—far too vast to take in at a glance.

Uwaaaaaaaah!

“Ugh! What the—?!”

As Heinz led us to the front gate, a deafening roar erupted from the fortress walls.

People were chanting over and over again.

“Lochter! Lochter!”

They cheered wildly at his return.

It seed word had already reached the fortress.

“You’re quite popular.”

“Didn’t you orchestrate this?”

“Well then, if you know that, hand over the sword and just wave to the crowd.”

The Anti-Kal Alliance had begun with the ten thousand people we had rescued from Blyer.

Lochter, who had endured hardships with them, beca the pillar of their forces, earning their unwavering trust—nearly to the point of blind faith.

‘They’re all just Lochter fanatics.’

As expected, when he raised his hand in acknowledgnt, the cheers only grew louder. Lily scowled and covered her ears.

Once inside, an overwhelming crowd surged forward. The fortress walls, the surrounding buildings—wherever the eye landed, people were packed tightly together.

However, they never crossed a certain distance. It seed Heinz had done a good job enforcing order.

“This way.”

Heinz led us to a large building.

While the others were assigned rooms and began unpacking, Lochter followed Heinz elsewhere—he had to et the newly arrived figures.

As the leader of the alliance, it was a necessary step.

I tossed my sword onto a creaky bed and took a short break.

Truthfully, I had been waiting for Black Rose and Ghost to hear about our arrival and co find us, but there was still no news.

Eventually, I got up.

I approached the two witches, who were lounging around.

“Lily, Lady Natasha, I suggest you avoid going outside.”

“Why??”

“Didn’t you see how the humans were looking at you? If you go out and end up throwing punches, a few of them might end up dead.”

“Oh, so this is a request? Then you need to pay up.”

Natasha’s playful tone made Lily imdiately perk up.

“Then I want a lunchbox!”

“Woof!”

“Keros wants at! at!”

“Then I’ll…”

I let out a dry chuckle and covered Natasha’s mouth.

There was no need to hear the rest.

“I’ll use the sparring coupons I won from our bet. That leaves four left. Let’s have a match later.”

“Good, you’re speaking my language. But what does ‘coupon’ an?”

“It’s like a voucher.”

“A voucher… Hmm, I should collect a lot of those ‘coupons.’”

“Lily too!”

“Woof!”

I sighed, shaking my head at Natasha and Lily, who both grinned while giving a thumbs-up.

Sparring, lunchboxes, at…

This damn witch family had the strangest idea of compensation.

By now, the eting should be over.

I left the room and imdiately went to find Heinz.

Though I had received updates from the forest, they were already a week old. I needed to check if there was any new information.

After asking around, I arrived at Heinz’s quarters—only to find that the eting was still ongoing.

Contrary to my expectations, the room was still packed with people.

Judging by their clothing and deanor, they appeared to be nobles and rchants.

Likely, they were newly integrated factions.

After all, Kal had wiped out countless noble houses.

The group, which had been conversing with Lochter, turned their heads toward as I entered.

“Who is this?”

“Never seen him before. What family does he belong to?”

Great, they were investigating right off the bat.

I did have a fake identity—Alex Marcia—but instead of revealing it, I simply smiled awkwardly and gave a small bow.

“Oh, my apologies. I must have walked into the wrong room.”

I had no interest in getting involved with them.

It was just too much of a hassle.

I didn't need to step in—Lochter and Heinz would take care of things on their own. After exchanging a glance with Lochter, I closed the door and headed for the fortress wall.

The wind was quite strong.

Standing atop the wall, I scanned the vast expanse of land before .

“So that’s Blyer over there, and this side must be Beneta?”

Elletor Fortress was geographically positioned between Blyer and Beneta.

If you thought of the fortress as being at the 12 o’clock position, Beneta would be at 2 o’clock and Blyer at 10 o’clock.

It was a location from which either destination could be reached within a few days—an ideal position to counter Kal’s forces.

“If only we had intel on that bastard, we could respond faster.”

For the past few days, the Mad Butcher had been eerily silent.

With the rise of the Anti-Kal Alliance, Blyer was rapidly crumbling due to internal division.

The longer this dragged on, the more favorable it was for us and the worse it was for Kal.

But he wasn’t the type to stay idle.

He was definitely scheming sothing, yet it was practically impossible to predict his exact moves. The best I could do was prepare by analyzing the bigger picture.

“In the end, it’s just a matter of which thod he chooses.”

His target would be either Beneta or Elletor Fortress.

If his goal was to conquer Tobaron, he would need to take Beneta.

If he had joined forces with Demtor, he would have to crush Elletor Fortress first.

‘No matter which he chooses, at least we have a basic level of preparedness.’

A triangular alliance had already been established, with at its center, connecting the witches, the Anti-Kal Alliance, and Beneta into a coordinated force.

This ant that no matter where Kal attacked, as long as we held out for a few days, reinforcents would arrive.

If we could survive that initial assault, we could win this war.

That was why I had brought my group to Elletor Fortress.

Compared to Beneta, the Anti-Kal Alliance was still severely lacking in military strength.

“Timing is crucial for reinforcents, but our informants are missing. That makes uneasy… Where the hell did they go?”

Not knowing Kal’s movents only fueled my anxiety.

After all, our enemy was Kal.

The protagonist of this world.

“There you are.”

I turned around to see Heinz approaching with Lochter.

“Apologies. There were too many people wanting to greet Sir Lochter, so it took longer than expected.”

“There were quite a lot of nobles. How much has our force grown?”

“If we count only those ready for battle, we exceed ten thousand. We also have enough knights to command them.”

The Anti-Kal Alliance had started with just a thousand soldiers and Heinz’s knights.

In less than two months, we had expanded at an incredible pace.

Which also ant that Kal had destroyed many noble families in that ti.

“What about the nobles? Are they all loyal to Lochter?”

“Most are cooperative, but we need to maintain strict discipline. Not all of them joined us purely out of hatred for Kal.”

Many had co to the alliance for various reasons beyond revenge.

With such a large force gathering in such a short ti, conflict was inevitable.

I glanced at Lochter, who let out a quiet sigh.

“There are a few pests. So are already forming factions and trying to exert influence.”

“Those kinds of people should be stomped out early.”

“Be patient. I’ll take care of it soon.”

I nodded and turned back to Heinz.

“I don’t see Black Rose or Ghost anywhere.”

“Ah, they left the fortress last night.”

“Both of them? Why?”

“Once a week, our external informants send updates here. Those reports are then relayed to Ordor Forest through Ghost. However, for the past few days, we’ve lost contact with our informants outside. They went to investigate the situation.”

“Do you know when they’ll be back?”

“At the latest, we should hear from them by dawn.”

Dawn, huh…

I looked down at the soldiers training below the fortress wall.

Even as night fell, the fortress training grounds were filled with n jogging and practicing with spears.

Watching them for a brief mont, I made up my mind and turned to Lochter.

“Just in case, arm all the troops.”

“Arm them? Are you saying we should prepare for battle?”

“There’s sothing strange about Black Rose and Ghost’s entire information network collapsing at the sa ti. We should be ready in advance.”

“…Understood.”

Lochter and Heinz descended the stairs, and soon after, the entire fortress beca a flurry of activity.

Watching the commotion for a mont, I then headed back to my quarters.

Until Black Rose and Ghost returned, there was nothing more I could do.

For now, I took care of smaller tasks.

I stopped by the kitchen to prepare Lily’s favorite lunchbox, grabbed a handful of at and tossed it to Keros.

And then…

“You bastard!!!”

“Cursing at your master? Looks like you need another beating.”

“Are you so kind of pervert? Why are you smiling as you co at ?”

“Hohoho!”

With Reto still asleep, I was unable to use Spectral Form, aning I had no choice but to spend another miserable night as Natasha’s personal punching bag.

By dawn, after enduring hours of beatings, I at least received so theoretical guidance on how to enchant Spectral Form.

When I looked up at the sky, the sun was already high above.

I muttered a curse under my breath.

“Damn it… Why do my worst fears always turn out to be right?”

I imdiately went to Lochter and told him to prepare for war.

Black Rose and Ghost were taking too long to return.

Sothing had definitely gone wrong.

Just as I was contemplating whether to go out and investigate myself—

“Black Rose has arrived.”

Lochter inford of their return.

And then, Black Rose appeared before .