The 0th Corps Commander Became Trash! [ TCF x INTKOT ]

Chapter 41 - Hyung-nim!

A perfectly secret collaboration that only the four people involved in it knew about.

"Hmm, should we announce the collaboration now or soon?"

"If you do it right in front of the Duke, he won't be able to find any counterattacks. However, if Your Majesty waits, he might find out sooner or later."

In short, what Deon meant was the sooner the better. Heavy backlash will happen due to Eduardo already announcing war on the Demons and now withdrawing the war shortly. It wasn't a bad idea to announce it early, sooner the people would realize how much of a threat Choi Han and the rest would be to them.

That was when Deon was suddenly sat in front of a crystal, a communication crystal to be exact. He immediately turned to Eduardo who just smiled and motioned him to talk since the hologram was now playing live in front of many citizens.

Deon gave a betrayed look to Eduardo before he opened his mouth.

"..Hello, people of the Empire, I am Deon Hardt, the Third Hero. Today I'll be announcing the withdrawal of the war against Demons, there's been a bigger issue than just demons that could affect the whole world and not just the Empire."

The people in the Empire looked at the screen with Deon on it, his face was still and emotionless as always while he announced the stop to the ongoing war before going into detail about Choi Han and Eruhaben, without exposing too much.

A mixture of feelings stirred in the air as they all continued to watch Deon talk. Anger, surprise, fear, relief, joy, and sorrow were all felt throughout the Empire.

"We've decided on one more thing. We will join hands with the Demons to take down these worldly disasters, that will be all, public negotiations will happen soon. Thank you for listening."

Deon gave a smile at the end of his message before the communication crystal turned off, he immediately left his seat the moment it ended and ran to Cruel who happily embraced the whitehead.

Why couldn't the Emperor do the announcement himself?

Was what went through Deon's head as the Emperor dismissed the two of them out of his office. When he got out, he could see Stave fuming up as he left the room with Cruel.

The servants nearby looked at the two Hardt siblings either in shock or in bafflement. Everyone had thought that the two siblings hated each other.

So why was the Fourth Hero wrapping the Third hero with a scarf? — Where did he even get that scarf from?! — It was such a strange day for everyone in the palace, first seeing the usually calm Duke about to pop a vein, now the Hardt siblings were acting like they never hated each other.

***

"...The snow here.."

Deon looked at the snow dwindling in the wind, he never got a chance to admire the scenery around him. It was either that war was happening or the place would eventually be destroyed, by his own hands. It was quite refreshing to take in the view in front of his eyes in peace.

He walked around the snow plains while the Death Butterflies followed behind him. Of course, Cruel was just behind him since they went here together.

"Hyung-nim?"

"Who...?"

Deon stared at the boy in front of him, he backed away once he realized who the voice came from. It was Basen, someone he did see as a younger brother at some point. Only to be completely betrayed the moment he began to think of Basen as his younger brother.

But what was he doing here? Surely it couldn't be because of him, right?

No, who was he kidding? It was definitely about him. Worst of all, his face was broadcast to everyone. That meant that they recognized him as Cale, or at least his reincarnation. He couldn't even blame the Emperor about it since Eduardo had no idea what was going on, except for him and Cruel.