CH 110

Juan clicked his tongue.

“Then the rumors will spread even more quickly; after all, those bastards never shut their mouths.”

“I agree. According to the intelligence report I received, rumors about ‘the black-haired beast who spews out flames and can melt all the weapons’ spread almost instantly. Do you happen to know fire-breathing techniques?” Hela asked.

“Something like that. What’s the possibility that these rumors will be a problem in the future?”

“I’d say it’s very low. The rumors are only spreading among the rebels anyway. The rebels who have been encroached upon by the Crack are the enemies of the Church, and they are also the enemies of the Imperial Army. There’s no way the Church and the Imperial Army will trust those rumors,” Hela explained.

Juan nodded his head.

The story of the black-haired beast would remain unknown to the rest of the empire unless the Church and the Imperial Army were colluding with the rebels.

***

The candlelight flickered ominously inside a room in an abandoned building that didn’t even have a ceiling.

“‘A black-haired beast,’ huh? It looks like that bastard got another new nickname associated with him,” Suvole, a member of the Order of the Capital spoke in a joyful voice while looking at the map that was placed on the desk in front of him.

In front of Suvole were two people who looked at him with uncomfortable expressions. One of them, a man with a black beard and scarred face, glared at Suvole while holding a two-handed axe which was as large as his body against the floor.

“You think this is funny? You seem to want to be split in half like the other Imperial soldiers.”

“Of course not. By the way, how long has it been since you polished that ax of yours? It looks so gross that I don’t even want to go near it. What do you think, Velkre? Do you want my blood on your flagpole as well?” Suvole smiled.

Velkre, the captain of the Order of the Evil Snake, had an exhausted expression on his face.

“The only thing I want to do right now is to get out of this disgusting place as soon as possible. To achieve that I would have to cut off either your neck or that apostate’s neck; however, if I had to choose, I’d rather cut off that apostate’s neck than yours.”

Suvole grinned upon hearing Velkre’s words.

“I mean, is there anything wrong with Arbalde? It’s not as bad as people make it out to be. The rumors about it are terrible, but it is a place where people still reside. Don’t you think so too, Sir Urkel? Or should I call you Lord of Arbalde?”

Urkel, the Lord of Arbalde stroked his beard. Soon, his pupils flashed with a purple glint and he slightly lifted his ax and slammed it on the floor. In an instant, the smooth stone pavement cracked and shattered into the shape of a spider web.

However, Suvole didn’t even budge.

“My apologies, ‘Revenge King’ Urkel,” Suvole added as he shook his hand.

“Mind your manners, arrogant knight,” Urkel warned.

“Of course. A king is still considered king even if he is just the head of a tribe that barely survived and is a mess,” Survole derided.

Urkel gritted his teeth in anger, but didn’t do anything in the end. While Suvole was a knight of the empire, he was also the only person who provided Urkel with weapons and funds. No one knew why a knight of the empire was supporting the rebels, but the rebels would have long been destroyed if it wasn’t for Suvole’s help. Furthermore, this time around Suvole had brought them an opportunity that could turn the tables in their long war against Duke Henna.

“Anyway, thanks to the help from the Order of the Evil Snake, we were able to drop Horhell’s dragon from the sky,” Suvole said.

“...But still failed to kill him,” Urkel muttered.

“Isn’t that entirely your fault? You couldn’t even find a wounded dragon which only gave rise to the story of the so-called black-haired beast. Oh, and we can’t forget about Duke Henna’s heroic triumph over your people. Well, whatever—that’s fine. We were able to find out the whereabouts of the so-called ‘black-haired beast,’ so that’s enough of an accomplishment. You also gained a benefit, since the dragon won’t be able to move for a while, and at the same time, the Order of the Evil Snake and I gained benefits as well, since we found out about that black-haired man’s whereabouts. Even Duke Henna won a great victory and a new hero, so everyone gained some benefits.”

“Are you deriding me?!”

At that moment, Suvole slammed the desk with his fist as hard as he could and yelled, “How could I not deride you in this situation! Wouldn’t you do the same if you were put in my shoes? Captain Velkre and I risked both our positions to help you out! But you and your tribe are nothing but a useless bunch of trifles!”

“Fine. If you have that many complaints, let’s end our alliance here.”

Urkel lifted his ax and struck down at Survole as soon as he finished speaking.

At that moment, Velkre’s green flagpole suddenly appeared in the way of the ax and twisted the direction it was going. Pieces of shattered stone sprang up everywhere, and with a roar the building was shaken by the strong shock released by the clash between the flagpole and the ax.

Suvole remained motionless while glaring at Urkel. Suvole knew that Urkel had no intention of killing him; if he did, even Velkre wouldn’t have been able to withstand an attack from Urkel which he released with all his might.

“Are you serious, Your Highness, the Revenge King?”

“Do you think that my tribe and I are just dragging our lives simply to live longer? No—we are doing all this to kill at least one more of you bastards from the empire. We don’t care if we have to submit to the Crack or the devil in order to achieve that goal. Heck, I wouldn’t be at a loss if I cut off your neck right now, especially when I don’t even know what you’re up to.”

Suvole sighed upon hearing Urkel’s words.

“I think really highly of the desire you and the warriors of Arbalde have—the desire for revenge. The same goes for your resolve and magnanimity to be able to hold hands with the object of your revenge. But I need you to show me what you are capable of.”

Urkel remained silent this time.

“You can’t even unify all the warriors of Arbalde under your banner. The Thornbush Priest Organization has been constantly interfering, and your tribe wants to put their survival before revenge. The only reason you were able to somewhat unify them this time around was because Durgal has been destroyed. Am I wrong?” Suvole asked.

Urkel had been leading the rebels for a long time, but his power and authority had reached the limit. The rebels were tired of the entrenched war, and now wanted peace rather than revenge. Furthermore, the Thornbush Priest Organization wanted to draw them all deeper into the Crack. It was only natural for Urkel to be exhausted when he had to walk on a tightrope in between the two.

The voices of the people calling for a ceasefire were bound to grow louder along with the arrival of the harsh winter. In the midst of all this, the destruction of the territory of Durgal, one of the pillars of the Thornbush Priest Organization, acted as an opportunity for Urkel. The destruction of Dugal raised awareness, and Urkel was finally able to somewhat unify the warriors of Arbalde.

“Now that we have all settled down, let’s organize our goals once again. Let’s start with Lord Urkel. You want to unite the warriors of Arbalde first, and kill even one more person from the empire. To do so, you accepted my support instead of killing me, even when you don’t know what I’m up to.”

“Correct. I can kill you bastards at any time if I really wanted to. Duke Henna would be no match for us if the warriors of Arbalde were united. In fact, I’ve already had many chances to kill her,” Urkel said.

“Captain Velkre of the Order of the Evil Snake. You are chasing after a black-haired young man named Juan, am I right? Correct me if I’m wrong, but you are looking for a chance to kill him, but are facing difficulty because he is now in the hands of Duke Henna.”

“There would be no reason for me to face apostates like the both of you if it wasn’t for that reason. After all, this was the order given by His Holiness, the Pope,” Velkre answered with a firm expression.

“I admire your faith, Captain Velkre. I agree that one should be willing to make a compromise at times. And lastly, me… I want to help you all gain benefits. Lord Urkel will be able to get Duke Henna’s head, and Captain Velkre will be able to pull out Juan’s heart.”

Urkel glared at Suvole.

“What about you?”

“I’m sorry? What about me?”

“I need to hear what you’re up to. It’s been a long time since you started supporting Arbalde, but this is the first time you’ve shown your face. Not to mention that you’ve even involved a Templar in this meeting. So, I might as well ask while we are facing each other,” Urkel said.

“My reasons aren’t that big, and will not interest you. But let me just say that I want to see Duke Henna going down.”

“...why is that?”

“Because the capital hates her quite a lot. The more the eastern territory is ruined, the better. The eastern territory is already in such ruins, yet it’s still producing talented people and even has an outstanding commander—Duke Henna. The perception of the eastern territory within the capital is that it is ‘the land of betrayal.’ No one wants such a territory to flourish again,” Suvole shrugged.

Urkel glared at Suvole. Suvole’s words meant just one thing—he was using Urkel as a tool to prevent the eastern territory from prospering. And since Urkel’s interest lay in not letting the eastern territory prosper, it was true.

“I’m very glad you’re more interested in revenge than in prosperity, Urkel.”

“...I’ll make sure to cut your throat once I end Duke Henna’s life.”

“I’ll be waiting. But I don’t think Duke Henna is such an easy opponent. Anyway, we’d better move on to the next plan, since we won’t be seeing Horhell’s dragon for a while. Everyone seems to be impatient, so let’s hurry.”

Suvole checked something on the map and got ready to go outside. Then, Urkel spoke to him again.

“Suvole. Come to think of it, you’ve already had several opportunities to kill Duke Henna. She’s even involved with the one who assassinated the emperor. Couldn’t you just kill her if you hate her that much? Why are you still keeping her alive?”

Suvole tilted his head as if he was wondering how to answer Urkel’s question.

“Isn’t it pretty obvious? The reason for keeping Gerard Gain’s bitch alive is to make her suffer. I want her to be in so much pain that she’d rather prefer to die than stay alive. Otherwise, there would be no reason to keep her alive. And who knows? Maybe Gerard Gain will show himself when Duke Henna is on the verge of death. Then the Order of the Capital and the Church will finally be satisfied.”

***

The warrior commander, Yurban, slightly raised his chin and hummed a song in a low voice. The mountain was completely quiet, except for the song sung by Yurban and the warriors. The wind blew against the dry branches on a tree that had no leaves; they had been dead for a long time.

By singing together, Yurban and his warriors felt connected with each other. In fact, things were not as simple as that. Singing that song together had the effect of connecting the warriors to each other via the encroachment of the Crack in their heads. This song, which seemed to have no lyrics, embodied the name of the master of the Crack. The more his name was called, the greater the encroachment of the Crack inside them became. Once the encroachment of the crack was strong enough, the master of the Crack granted them even stronger powers.

“Yurban.”

Yurban turned his head when he heard someone calling his name. Ergil, the vice commander of the warriors, was here.

“Wouldn’t it be better to stop singing for a while? There might be an ambush,” Ergil said.

“Ambush?” Yurban asked back in curiosity while looking around at the surroundings.

It made sense that there might be an ambush, since the warriors were passing through a canyon. However, this was an unfamiliar concept to the warriors of Arbalde.

“Then shouldn’t we just sing louder? We are not just some villagers, but we are the warriors of Arbalde. Let’s sing and praise his name louder instead,” Yurban suggested.

“No, I mean… isn’t our goal to loot some goods to last us through the winter, and not to fight? So let’s just…”

“So what? It’d be nice to hunt and bring back the heads of those bastards from the Imperial Army while we are looting. Or are you suggesting that the Imperial bastards are stronger than the power that master has granted us?”

Ergil glared at Yurban. Ergil was a warrior who trained himself to be strong enough so that he didn’t have to sing as loudly as the other warriors. Of course, being a warrior commander, Yurban was much stronger than Ergil. But, Yurban was only better than Ergil despite his younger age and lack of training due to just one simple reason—Yurban sang the song of the Crack non-stop, praising the name of the master of the Crack so much that he would even sing in his sleep.

“What I’m trying to say is… we should watch out and move more cautiously, considering the rumor about the black-haired beast. Three of our warrior divisions are down already. We should at least send the guards ahead of time to…”

“The reason those divisions were defeated was because, just like you, they only thought about hiding and sneaking around. They wouldn’t have lost if they called out master’s name with a louder voice,” Yurban clicked his tongue.

“If we could win just by simply calling out master’s name, then why have we not yet captured Beldeve?” Ergil shot back.

At that moment, Yurban grabbed Ergil by the collar and lifted him up in the air. The march of the warriors stopped when two of their leaders suddenly clashed. Yurban’s physique was much smaller compared to Ergil, but Yurban easily lifted Egil’s body to knee level with just one hand. At the same time, Yurban’s eyes flashed purple in anger.

“It’s all because of punks like you. We would be wiping out not only the eastern territory, but the entire empire if the bastards in the south were just as good as us warriors of Arbalde. Let the enemies try to ambush us as much as they want. How would it be fun if they couldn’t find us just because we were walking around quietly? I’d rather fight them.”

Yurban roughly threw Ergil to the ground. The march resumed while Ergil was still collapsed on the ground, and Yurban sang the song even louder than before.

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Ergil looked at Yurban with dejected eyes. Then, someone approached Ergil to help him up—it was one of the young warriors.

“Warrior Ergil, are you all right?”

“I’m all right… but may I ask you to do me a favor? Go and do some reconnaissance in the canyon with your comrades. Passing through this path without reconnaissance just doesn’t sit right with me,” Ergil ordered.

The young warrior nodded and climbed the hillside with his comrades.

When the young warrior was halfway up the hillside, something suddenly appeared on the canyon.

Then, the young warrior’s head was crushed by a large stone in an instant.