CH 9

Chapter 9 Sand Dyeing(2)

Translator: BaeBae

Having completed her knight training which included memorising the emperor’s whole history, Sina discovered resemblances between traces she found at Colosseum and Taltere’s former religious group activities.

And yet, Daaron was clearly demonstrating that he was a faithful follower of the emperor.

Priests had given their judgement that Daaron’s a devoted supporter of the emperor.

There wasn’t any clue how many of them had received money from Daaron to say that.

Scratch that. Maybe none of them received anything.

At the Colosseum, many people were killed under the name of the emperor and people praised, glorified him. The church didn’t care about anything else other than this point.

“On that note, wouldn’t our top knight nim need to prove her faith as well?”

At Daaron’s words, Sina made a face.

“What are you exactly implying with those words?”

“The emperor stressed the importance of obedience and discipline. From what I know, the president of your Blue rose knights order isn’t Sina nim, yet I’ve been meeting Sina nim more so than your president. It would be unlike your president to ask you to investigate so often. So I can only imagine that your actions are all but your own?”

“Do not distort the emperor’s words. ‘Obey to a better volition. There’s never a wrong thing but there’s always a better thing.’ Also, ‘the discipline that binds you isn’t submission. As an individual you are only a small stone, yet as a group tied together in discipline, you will be a formidable castle wall….’”

On the precipice of saying another quote related to the church, Sina stopped herself at hearing the door knock. Daaron frowned his eyes.

Sina momentarily felt embarrassed at herself for getting agitated and reciting a speech. She didn’t come here to lecture Daaron, she came here to investigate him.

The one who should do most of the talking was Daaron. Yet she had babbled on and on.

She felt ashamed being played to his provocation.

“What is it.”

“Da.. Daaron nim. There’s been an incident at the Colosseum.”

“Incident?”

With an annoyed face, Daaron got up and was about to head on over when he stopped and looked at Sina.

“Sina nim, it seems like today’s not a good day. Is it alright if I excuse myself early?.”

“No, it’s not alright. If there’s a problem at the Colosseum, it’s going to be linked to violence. Why don’t I lend you an extra hand.”

An incident linked to Daaron. This might be an opportunity, Sina thought.

Daaron hesitated for a moment, but then nodded back as if it shouldn’t matter.

Swiftly, they arrived at the Colosseum’s entrance and found soldiers loudly shouting towards the central area.

“Shoot him! Turn him into a porcupine!”

“What’s going on!”

The soldiers quickly backed off as Daaron rumbled. Daaron and Sina pushed them out the way and peered towards the Colosseum’s center.

“That’s….?”

It was a miserable state inside the Colosseum. There wasn’t a single soldier in normal shape.

Most were dead or horrified at the sight of their organs flowing out from their body. Some, glued to the wall, were shaking in fear.

The Colosseum was full of corpses which had been stacked into a pile. The blood from the bodies had coloured the sand bright red.

One person was standing at the center of the Colosseum. All around his body, there were arrows deeply stuck and yet it looked like he was standing upright.

“Daaron nim has arrived! Hold your fire! ”

As the arrows stopped, the man who had been turned into a porcupine slowly toppled over.

And hidden behind, a young boy could be seen.

She thought of the possibility that she was facing an extraordinary genius. She called out to him unwillingly.

“Surrender!”

Again, Juan did not reply and instead swung his sword at her. In frustration, Sina bit her mouth and instantly swung her sword, knocking Juan’s sword away. Having received many cracks from previous fights, his sword broke. Despite that, Juan tightly held the remaining sword handle.

He thought to himself ‘I guess this is it then…’.

He wobbled a bit before slumping down on the spot. His eyes were reversed, completely white. It was quite certain he’d lost his consciousness.

“You little bastard…..”

Once Juan collapsed, a soldier approached, attempting to stab him with a spear.

Sina urgently cried out.

“Stop!”

Then suddenly, Juan who’d been motionless till now, quickly evaded the spear, grabbed it and pulled it towards him.

The soldier lost his footing and tumbled towards Juan.

In a flash, Juan bit down at his neck.

The soldier flailed his arms around as he tried to escape. But gradually, his movements started to weaken until it stopped.

Showered in a stream of blood, Juan was staring down at Sina.

Her hair stood on its end as she thought, ‘had she been caught off her guard she would have ended up like that soldier.

Nobody dared approach Juan who was soaked in blood.

After a while, Sina pushed herself to approach him and confirmed Juan had passed out with his eyes open.

This time it was real. As Sina lifted Juan up into her arms, Daaron came over.

“Top knight nim, who is he….”

“Appears to be a gladiator slave.”

Sina replied while giving him a wide smirk.

“Why are you so quiet? Just like you said, shouldn’t you be amazed that ‘the Emperor is here’? I believe that’s how you phrased it?”