CH 116

Sina walked atop the wall with an unpleasant expression. It felt like it was just yesterday when she had been full of respect for the Templars, but all she felt from the conversation she just had with Velkre was irritation and mild disgust—but it was unknown whether it was because she saw their true colors or simply due to the situation she was in.

Sina looked up and found Juan and Horhell approaching her from the opposite side while Juan gave her a round of applause.

“I have no idea why someone like me, who is completely unsuitable to be the commander, has suddenly been granted this position, but I’m only accepting your offer for the time being because of Centurion Horhell’s desperate request and the fact that we are in an emergency. After all, we must prevent the Imperial Army from being trampled on by the rebels by any means. I will step down from this position as soon as the situation is over,” Sina said while alternating between glaring at Juan and Horhell.

“You seemed to be quite good at this job when I saw you talking to Velkre. Just take the position for good.”

Sina glared at Juan upon hearing his joke. Sina was still young and lacked enough experience. She was an excellent knight who was full of potential, but the position of commander of the Fourth Division as well as suddenly being put in charge of the fortress of Beldeve was daunting for her. However, Sina knew the ropes to commanding on the battlefield, since all knights were trained to carry out their duties as officers.

“Don’t worry too much. Duke Henna was only five years older than you when she became the head of the eastern territory,” Horhell said.

However, the fact that Sina was taking up the same position that Hela had taken when Sina was five years younger was not very comforting for Sina, even if it was temporary.

“Were there rebels at that time too?” Sina asked.

“Hmm… there were barely any. It was right after General Nienna stomped on them to clean everything out, and the scant few descendants who survived gained power to become the rebels they are today.”

“And there were dragons too. Horhell, what’s the status of your dragon? Has it recovered yet?” Sina asked.

“It has recovered to the extent of being able to run around. But I don’t think it can fly just yet, since it is still treating its wings,” Horhell answered.

“Please have it be on standby at the training ground in case the enemies break through the gate. I am aware that you value your dragon quite a lot, so feel free to retreat whenever you feel is necessary. And Juan.”

Sina turned her gaze toward Juan. Sina contemplated for a short moment between making personal or professional decisions. As the commander of the Fourth Division, Sina could immediately make an order to restrain Juan and arrest him. Such a decision could result in terrible consequences for the entire fortress, but Beldeve wasn’t a place that Sina had to feel responsible for anyway.

Sina opened her mouth after staring at Juan for a while.

“I don’t expect a sacrifice or heroic effort from you, since I’ve seen your true nature all the way from Tantil to this place. Perhaps Duke Henna had been expecting exactly something like that from you: cruelty. But… I’m not Duke Henna. And it is unacceptable to have you in the Imperial Army since you deny the entire system. It’s not like I can make use of you and your strength as a part of the force either.”

Juan narrowed his eyes. It wasn’t a wise idea to exclude Juan from the force at this moment.

“But,” Sina let out a long sigh. “I denied that you were here. As far as I know, you are not in this fortress. This is no place for you.”

Sina looked down under the wall where the snow was lightly blowing in the wind. Her gaze lingered on the Templars who began to set up a camp.

“I will think of you as the black-haired beast, not Juan. So go out on the battlefield and be a raving sword. Show those who killed Duke Henna what hell looks like.”

Juan smiled.

“That’s what I’m best at.”

***

“Brother Velkre, according to the report the warriors of Arbalde and the Revenge King will arrive tomorrow.”

Velkre nodded his head at the report. A portion of the northeastern rebel villagers, who were closer to anti-imperial forces, had already arrived near the fortress of Beldeve. The Templars were setting up a camp and staying on standby due to the lack of equipment needed for a siege, but things would change when the warriors of Arbalde arrived. In particular, the Revenge King Urkel was a man who could function as a battering ram to break through the gate.

“I thought they would try to split up and attack the fortress from all directions before the main group arrived, but they aren’t doing anything. That’s unexpected. Are they scared of something?”

“That’s possible. Or it could be that they are trying to keep us in check.”

Velkre had secretly sent Nora into the fortress of Beldeve several times to search the inside and to make sure that Juan wasn’t there. However, Juan was nowhere to be found. There were two possibilities based on this: either Juan had escaped or he was still hiding. But if it was the former, there would be no reason for Sina Solvane to be on edge against the Templars. Therefore Vekre was leaning toward the latter and suspected Juan to be still hiding within the fortress.

“The siege won’t last long, so everything will be settled in just a few days. Brothers and sisters, make sure you are all well-armed and ready to break through at any time,” Velkre ordered.

“Yes, brother Velkre. Oh, and there was something else. One of the villagers asked me to tell you a story.”

“A villager?”

Velkre frowned. The villagers might be residing in the empire, but they were no different from traitors. Because they were no different from the barbarians from beyond the border, their stories were irrelevant to a Templar like Velkre.

“It was something worth paying attention to,” the Templar quickly added an explanation as if he noticed that Velkre’s displeasure.

“He said that they were attacked by some soldiers who seemed to belong to the Fourth Division on their way here. He said that there was a black-haired beast among those soldiers.”

“What? Why are you only telling me about this now?”

Velkre jumped up from his seat. If that information was true, there was no reason for the Templars to sit outside the fortress and wait.

The Templar hastily waved his hand upon seeing Velkre’s reaction.

“When I asked about the detailed appearance, it was clear that it wasn’t this wasn’t the same black-haired beast; however they did have the same hair color. We all saw his face, didn’t we? The description of his appearance was completely different from what we know.”

Faking appearance was easy by simply dying one’s hair. There would be no reason to purposely dye it black, since black-haired people weren’t welcome in the empire, but such a plan was worth a try, considering that the rebels feared the black-haired beast.

“There are a lot of reports of a black-haired beast being sighted, but all the descriptions of his appearance were different. Perhaps the Fourth Division is operating guerrillas outside the fortress with deception tactics.”

“How trifling of them to think they are being so smart. Their plan is to agitate the rebels and at the same time shake us as well, since things would get complicated if the real black-haired beast was one of them…” Velkre muttered irritably.

The information reported by the villager was an ambiguous one that could be neglected, but hard to completely ignore.

‘We were able to monitor all the soldiers leaving the fortress until now, but what if Juan had already left the fortress a long time ago? Or what if we missed him leaving?’

It could simply be that Sina’s attitude was nothing but deception, and Juan might be participating in the war in his own way. But Velkre couldn’t just leave this place.

“...we have no choice. Form four teams of four Templars with the Templars who have been granted with the power of the snake as the leader. Marco, Nora, Odessa, and Evone will be the team leaders. All the teams should go to the places where the black-haired beast had been sighted and double-check. The warriors of Arbalde are just around the corner, so he will be somewhere in the middle anyway. Kill everyone with black hair,” Velkre said.

“I understand and will obey your order, brother. But would it be okay to send out all the knights with the power of the snake when there might be a battle tomorrow?”

“We can’t just sit and do nothing after reports like those. But if we send out brothers who don’t have the power of the snake, they might all end up dying. If the time comes when we really need the power of the snake… I will transform into the Evil Snake.”

The Templar who had raised the question bowed his head in bewilderment at Velkre’s firm words.

“Then we will go on and follow your instructions.”

***

“Brother Velkre, will you be alright?”

“I’ve prepared everything in case anything happens. Our previous Captains have all done it too, so don’t worry and go forth.”

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Nora looked at Velkre with worried eyes, but soon kicked her horse to get going.

The area around the camp soon became quiet as the search parties formed by the Templars left. Velkre fiddled with the flagpole as he recalled his own words. Although he told the Templars that he would transform into the Evil Snake, he didn’t actually intend to do so—he only pretended to be a good captain so that other Templars wouldn’t complain about him remaining in the safe place.

Velkre had witnessed the endings of those who transformed into the Evil Snake in the past. Among those, there was even a time when Velkre had to use his own hands to end them. Velkre only became a Templar to survive—he had no intention of dying.

‘There’s no need to choose such a terrible end.’

The camp was quiet, since more than half of the Templars were away. The vigilance was naturally reduced, but Velkre wasn’t too worried about it. There were very few people in the empire who were powerful enough to hurt him, and most importantly, the enemies hadn’t shown any movement for the past few days. Just as things would become complicated for the Templars if they were to directly attack the fortress of Beldeve, the fortress of Beldeve’s situation was also one where they were unable to do anything to them.

Velkre stood by the camp and quietly looked at the fortress. Bright moonlight was shining through the clouds on the fortress of Beldeve. The sight of snow lightly falling over the old fortress built on the coast was beautiful enough to fascinate one’s eyes.

Being someone from the eastern territory, the fortress of Beldeve was not an unfamiliar sight to him. The same was true about many of the old stories about the fortress. Velkre thought that tonight might be the last night that the fortress of Beldeve remained standing. Velkre stared at the fortress as if he was engraving it in his eyes.

‘I’ll be recorded as a part of the new legend.’

Velkre smiled; he felt his own thoughts to be ridiculous. After looking at the fortress for a while, Velkre turned around as he felt the chills due to the cold weather.

Just before entering the camp, Velkre frowned upon seeing the lamp turned off.

‘The fuel seems to have run out.’

Velkre groped around his desk to find a lamp in the dark. Then, he suddenly began to feel that something was strange and ominous for some reason. It was only natural to be dark in the night, but the full moon was shining brightly outside.

‘But this darkness is too…’

Even before Velkre’s hand could reach for the flagpole, a sharp blade penetrated his chest. The sharp stabbing sound irritated Velkre’s ears and made his toes curl up.

One, two, three, four, five…

The blade that was so cold that it could almost freeze one’s heart tore through Velkre’s body over and over.

Splat!

Velkre collapsed to the ground. His chin trembled as he reached for the flagpole which he wasn’t able to grab, the flagpole was already in someone else’s hand.

“A knight order that casts a magic spell using the dragon’s skin, and borrows the power of dragons, huh? Weren’t the dragons designated as evil beasts by the empire? The Church seems to set and follow the rules only at their own convenience.”

There was no way Velkre could forget this voice. Velkre blankly looked up, but all he could see was darkness. At the same time, the sound of footsteps approaching him got closer and closer. A small flame rose before Velkre’s eyes, and there Juan was—making a flame at his fingertip and looking at Velkre without an expression. A flag that was wide enough to make a cape was held in Juan’s hand.

Velkre felt dispirited.

‘We were the ones who were deceived.’

Velkre thought that he was the one hunting down Juan, but it was the other way around—Juan was the one who was hunting them. Velkre had to admit that he was caught off guard. It didn’t matter whether or not Juan was hiding among the many black-haired beasts that the search party was after.

“Is this dragon skin the main strength of your knight order? What happens if it is destroyed?” Juan asked.

‘Try it.’

Velkre tried to speak, but not a single sound came out of his mouth; his lungs had been completely destroyed. Velkre puffed his mouth, and Juan smiled.

“I don’t think Horhell would like the dragon skin very much. I’m sure that Hela would have liked it, but she probably would have hung it on the wall instead of a tapestry since she wouldn’t know how to use it anyway. But, she’s gone now” Juan whispered his final words in Velkre’s ear.

Juan spread the flag wide and pulled it with both his hands. The next moment, Juan raised his eyebrows. Unlike Juan’s expectation of the flag being tough to rip apart due to being made with dragon skin, the flag was easily torn apart in two pieces.

‘Fake.’

Only one word popped up in Juan’s head.

At that moment, Juan saw Velkre puffing his mouth to mumble something. What he was mumbling was neither his last will nor a curse—it was a prayer.

Even before realizing the context and meaning of the prayer, Juan quickly ordered the knight of the dead to slit Velkre’s throat as he felt unusual energy from him.

However, Velkre’s mouth was already mumbling the last syllable the moment his head fell on the ground. His lips were curled into a smile.

‘Your Majesty, unseal the sin you have restrained and allow your servant to have a new body.’

At that moment, the cape draped around Velkre’s body soared up as if it was devouring him.

At the same time, flames rose like a beacon in the camp.