A weary historian dies and finds himself in a different world awakened in a life as the notorious young Duke of a southern state. His nation is weakened, his army underfed, and his neighbors revolve around his lands menacingly. No one believes his land is going to hold out until winter.

But this newfound duke is no naive simpleton his enemies recollect. He carries with him the experience of centuries of war and empire, of starting and ending monarchies. From Caesar to Napoleon, from the Mongols to world wars, he has learned from each of them—and his strategy is to make history his very own arms.

He organizes his smashed levies into well-trained formations, rebuilds his castles, and turns his villages into supply centers. Where others see defeat, he senses opportunity. As he triumphs, rumors spread: of a pennant red as winter snow that shall not go to ground, of a bloody duke who writes his name in gore and flame.

Is he a savior who's constructing a new empire, or a tyrant who's going to bring the world to endless war?

Morning had come to pass without any issue, the stone guards continuing their endless watch, none of them ever spotting the scouts that had now surrounded them all.


Justinian woke up first, rubbing his eyes and exiting the cavern, checking if anything may have happened that the stone constructs had missed.


His trait had heightened his senses to the utmost, and with his recent ascension to a full-blown arcanist, it was now nearly unparalleled.


Marks in the snow, they were faint, but it was clear they existed. Justinian's sharpened eyes couldn't miss them.


Even with the current predicament he was in, he wasn't worried; he had already fought crusaders and legendary commanders on the battlefield.


A few skilled mountain scouts weren't enough to make him worry.


Chapter 123 - Frostruin Fall (4)