9. Foreboding
Just how long had we been walking toward Gereon Castle?
I tapped the back of the guy walking slumped beside me and said,
“Why so down? Cheer up.”
Then the guy who had been trudging along smiled a hollow smile and nodded. His subordinates also smiled faintly, but exhaustion was seeping through all their expressions.
It had been a rough day.
We had watched our comrades die one after another in war, and had to fight to survive. We met an ogre in the forest and fled, and ran through the forest escaping the killing intent of a strange, powerful expert.
At least no one had suffered fatal wounds, so fortunately our movement speed hadn’t slowed.
I took everyone to a nearby riverside.
For now, we needed to wash off the blood, sweat, and dust, and rid our bodies of the smell of blood and mud.
“Throw away anything like shields with emblems on them.”
Without a word, the subordinates threw shields and some armor into the river.
If there were any patrolmen tracking the surroundings, they would try to interrogate us. Just seeing dozens of suspicious men covered in blood, they could easily guess we were stragglers who had fled from war.
And if they saw shields painted with the black axe emblem of the Ibolgeu Clan….
‘It’d be a massacre.’
We just needed no definitive evidence.
Pako, who had become considerably cleaner compared to just a while ago, approached me.
Just from washing away scabs, mud, and dust, their morale had recovered a bit.
Some of them even regained innocent smiles and made silly jokes. That wasn’t a bad sign.
At least they were alive, and they had a few gold coins in their pockets.
More than that, it meant they viewed the future I was leading them toward positively.
“Captain Al! Now… what should we do?”
“I’m not Al anymore. Call me by my real name, Areuhan.”
“Captain Areuhan… where are we going now?”
I replied dryly, but as if it were obvious.
“I already told you. We’re going to Gereon Castle.”
“…….”
“If you want to go back to the bandit life, you may leave. Those who don’t want to, you can follow me. Do whatever you want.”
What they really wanted to ask wasn’t the next destination, but whether I could lead them from now on.
Whether they could trust me.
I told them to leave if they wanted to, but not a single subordinate tried to leave even after quite some time.
They knew instinctively that the only way to survive in this war-torn northeast was to follow me.
“Those who are done washing, follow me.”
“What are we doing?”
“What else? Start a campfire. We need to dry our clothes and dampness.”
As if they had been expecting something, the subordinates had strangely moved expressions at something so trivial.
I heard the subordinates washing off blood whispering quietly.
“As expected…… the new captain is different.”
“If we follow him, everything will work out.”
Had Al usually treated them poorly?
I would be quite cold-hearted myself.
If they knew my inner thoughts, they’d faint from shock, but I decided to use this atmosphere.
*Think whatever you want.*
“We can’t sit by the campfire for long. Once the fire is lit, I’ll explain the plan.”
A few subordinates who nodded jumped out of the water and followed me.
Starting a fire wasn’t difficult.
The forest was strewn with wood. As befitting a bandit group seasoned to outdoor life, they instantly kindled a fire with just branches.
There was no need for me to personally step forward and light it with chemicals or flint.
The only problem was that I was hungry.
But we had eaten our fill at the final feast last night, and skipping a day of meals was everyday life for a bandit group.
No one was showing it.
I did have potions that could relieve fatigue and hunger, but it wasn’t enough for twenty people, so I kept my mouth shut.
I checked the remaining potions in my potion belt.
Health recovery potion. This was for healing wounds. Stamina recovery potion. Strength enhancement potion, health enhancement potion were most of them.
It had been a long time since I had used up almost everything I had premade in the Tower of Knowledge.
Thinking of the rare materials consumed made my stomach burn.
[Your potion level is miserable! Areuhan.]
[It’s enough that I survived. Ah, I ran away as promised, survived, so you must give me compensation for that.]
Aijak clicked his tongue but conceded.
[Very well. According to the law of equivalent exchange.]
The page of Al Kajapeu floating in the illusion rustled and turned.
Stopping at a blank page, a transmutation circle began to be engraved.
Thankfully my long period of research hadn’t been in vain; I could recognize at a glance that it was an “alteration array” that changed the properties of matter.
[Tsk, tsk, tsk…. A true alchemist is one who can reconstruct the very fundamentals of matter anywhere according to need. Are you satisfied? To fulfill your promise in such a manner—you sly fox.]
[Certainly…… with this…. But, is it really possible without mana?]
[What? You don’t even have mana? Where in the world is there an alchemist without mana!]
Sigh.
I knew it.
Tracing the magic circle drawn in my mind, I tried drawing it in the air but couldn’t hide my hollow feelings.
[Old man. It’s a different world from when you lived. Hundreds of years have passed since not only mages but even alchemists were annihilated.]
[You little rascal, talking back so cheekily……. Beyond the very basics, mana is needed. Then do you mean I must teach you mana manipulation from the start?]
[Will you teach me?]
[Why would I teach you that for free? Flounder about and figure it out yourself!]
Damn it.
I felt like Aijak had caught a huge weakness of mine.
If I had known this, I would have buttered him up more.
But in moments of life and death in war, it was impossible to mind that old man’s moods.
*Well, I can learn it someday.*
Though he grumbled, Aijak said he would at least teach me the basics of using a temporary alteration array that didn’t need mana, and instructed me to pull nearby grass.
But the grass he told me to pull was clearly weeds no matter who looked at them. He even said any weed would do.
[Somehow this feels like a scam. You’re not trying to kill me, right?]
[Tsk… you impudent brat, back in my day! I built castles with grass! Even weeds have their uses……]
[Yes, yes…. So how do I do this?]
Following Aijak’s instructions, I placed a weed in the center of the transmutation circle drawn on the sand, and put different grass and wildflowers in the east and west compartments respectively. Any weed was fine, but poisonous plants or overlapping ingredients were not allowed.
Following the drawn transmutation circle, as if drawing it once more, I poured river water along it.
Then light began to rise from the transmutation circle where the water touched.
Fortunately the subordinates were resting far away by the riverside; had anyone seen this, I would have been mistaken for a witch or mage.
The light flowing through the alteration array absorbed the ingredients into one and gathered in the center.
I carefully collected the lump of liquid floating above the alteration array without being absorbed by the sand into an empty flask.
[It works.]
[Of course it works! It had better work for a lousy lowest-grade stamina potion!]
[What… it was lowest grade?]
[By my standards. However, by your standards, it will have tremendous effects.]
I alternately looked at the lowest-grade stamina potion in my hand and the spot where the alteration array and weeds had disappeared without a trace.
[To give one of these to each of my subordinates… I have to keep repeating this, right?]
[That’s right. Now do you understand why alchemists kept assistants?]
*I’ll have to drink this alone….*
They haven’t done anything but run around.
My body was extremely exhausted from fighting the ogre.
When I downed the potion, vitality began to gradually return from the very bottom of my already exhausted stamina.
Fortunately, the subordinates seemed to have recovered some strength just from basking in the campfire’s heat.
Quite some time passed.
Those who had regained their composure quietly turned their heads toward me, as if ready to listen to what I had to say.
* * *
By sunset, we had hidden in the mountains a short distance from Ibolgeu Castle.
“Rest until tomorrow, and move to Gereon as soon as the sun rises.”
We had entered the forest, a situation where even the constellations weren’t visible. Considering the soldiers’ fatigue and the exact direction, it seemed better to rest.
After the march ended, the subordinates began to rest their tired bodies and feet, each leaning against a tree or lying on the ground.
I too leaned against a tree and checked my equipment and potions.
To conceal ourselves, we had extinguished even the campfire by sunset, so sleep didn’t come easily in the cold.
Moreover, perhaps because he had no body, Aijak chattered tirelessly despite his age.
[Brat. So what do you plan to do when we go to the Gereon Clan tomorrow?]
It seemed I needed to shut Aijak’s mouth to get even a little sleep. I explained roughly to Aijak, who wouldn’t know the current political situation.
The Gereon Clan was a blood-allied clan connected to the Ibolgeu Clan through long-standing political marriages.
Therefore, Gereon was a clan that had remained loyal to the Ibolgeu Clan until the very end.
Therefore, the Aseuta Clan’s next target would be Gereon, the domain closest to them and an ally that would clearly never surrender until the end.
It was a natural course of action for the Aseuta Clan to crush surrounding clans by force to solidify their position as the hegemon of the north.
In other words, the Gereon Clan, clearly a remnant force of Ibolgeu, was fated to be annihilated soon.
The Gereon lord intended to close the castle gates and fight to the death.
I knew he had already repaired the walls and stockpiled provisions in anticipation of war. Because in my previous life, the Ibolgeu Clan had also considered fleeing to Gereon to continue the war.
If they barred the gates shut and entered a siege, it would last a long time.
It would take weeks just to set up trebuchets and break the walls.
Of course, to shorten the siege, the Aseuta Clan would surely massacre or surround the farmland and territory residents around Gereon Castle to maintain pressure.
To protect one lord’s life, countless innocent folk of the northeast would die.
I also told him the reason I was targeting such a domain and my plan.
[Do you roughly understand?]
[Hmmm…. Do you think that final plan will succeed?]
[The law of equivalent exchange. The greater the pain, the greater the gain.]
[Foolish child. The world doesn’t operate like alchemy by formula……]
[Ah, I don’t know. Old man, I’m going to sleep now.]
As soon as I shut my inner connection with Aijak, the world grew silent.
From the fact that no one was snoring, it seemed no one was properly asleep.
A bandit group that had controlled one mountain range and one road beside a quiet village.
Those who had lived by autonomous rules without law or politics more than anyone else had become a mercenary group that hadn’t existed in their fates, following me overnight.
I too was tired, so at that moment when I was about to fall asleep,
I felt a faint vibration spreading through the ground.
My eyes snapped open. The sleeping subordinates didn’t seem to notice.
I hurriedly pressed my ear to the ground and listened to the spreading sound.
But soon that wasn’t even necessary.
The sound of horse hooves was gradually approaching.
*Horses… cavalry? No, it’s heavy. I hear wheels. Carriages. One, two… five. At least ten or more…!*
The sound grew louder, enough to startle the subordinates awake.
“B-Boss!”
“Shh. Be quiet.”
When I signaled to lower our bodies, the subordinates flattened themselves against the ground.
I too crouched and bent my waist.
But my gaze was fixed exactly where the road continued. I needed to identify the source of this sound.
The unrelenting hoofbeats instantly drew near.
A procession of carriages followed with numerous torches.
Dozens. It was an unbelievable number.
*What… is that?*
*Why are so many carriages passing through here?*
My head grew confused.
In this late night where even moonlight was faint.
Toward where the sun would rise in a few hours.
They were heading east.
Something was strange.
There was nothing further east from here. We had confirmed the catastrophically defeated Ibolgeu Castle before leaving the battlefield.
If they were Ibolgeu Clan officials, they would have fled or been captured long ago.
I couldn’t grasp it at all.
However, what was certain was that the only clan that could send carriages further east from here now was the Aseuta Clan.
But it was too dark to see what was inside. Only the large, hazy shapes of the carriages were faintly visible in the moonlight.
*Something’s suspicious….*
My instincts were screaming.
That I must not miss this moment.
I counted the passing carriages without missing a single one. Twenty-seven total. An enormous number.
In a war zone, there was only one force that could move such logistics to the east, that is, to the rear. It became even clearer that these were Aseuta Clan carriages.
*But why? Carriages are scarce enough as it is… and in the dangerous dead of night?*
With no comparable forces around, it was hard to see this as them looting the Ibolgeu Clan’s valuables and moving them immediately.
Moreover, it had only been half a day since the war began.
Even if they were moving loot, there hadn’t been enough time to pack and transport twenty-seven carriages’ worth.
*What on earth….*
Long after the procession had completely passed, I slowly pushed through the forest darkness and walked out.
The moment I stepped out onto the road,
I knew instantly what had been inside the carriages.
Because even I frowned slightly at that wretched sight.
One subordinate looked at the ground and gagged, then began retching his guts out.
Some guys even fell backward.
“Huh, huurk!”
“Kek, keulk! Keo-heuk! Keulk!”
“C-Captain! What is all this! This ground! These bloodstains! What is all this!”
Frozen stiff, the subordinates.
Blood was flowing along the road where dozens of carriages had passed.
It had clearly been a dirt road just now.
But after dozens of carriages passed, the dirt couldn’t even be seen.
It was completely filled with dark, reddish-black bloodstains.
*Corpses.*
What they had been moving to the northeast was none other than corpses.
Moreover, so many corpses were packed inside that the blood dripping below the carriages had turned the passing road into a path of blood.
Even I couldn’t find appropriate words. Because I couldn’t even imagine the number of corpses inside.
Even if their throats had been slit, blood usually stops flowing noticeably after a few hours.
And yet, just the carriages passing by had soaked the ground this much.
*For what reason?*
My coldly cooled head spun rapidly.
The moving force was the Aseuta Clan.
Had they transported corpses from the battlefield to the rear?
Could they be moving their own clan members’ corpses for funerals or burial?
No.
That many precious corpses wouldn’t amount to twenty-seven carriages.
Nor would they be moved so roughly.
Then who were those inside the carriages?
To return the corpses of conscripted soldiers to their families?
No.
They wouldn’t do such a thing.
It was standard to cremate or bury soldiers who died on the battlefield in the field.
There was risk of spreading plague, and no reason to invest cost and time in such a troublesome matter.
The source of the corpses was clear.
Surely, they were soldiers who had participated in today’s daytime battle.
That they were moving them with effort instead of disposing of them outdoors meant—
*Something that needs corpses…!*
That was, to my knowledge, only one thing.
“Black magic……!”
Before Aijak could explain, my head had produced the answer.
[This is no trivial matter. Brat…. To move that many corpses means…..]
[Indeed, is it black magic?]
[Corpses can be used in alchemy too…. I suppose we must see it that way. But… on a continent where magic has disappeared, black magic couldn’t possibly……]
[Didn’t alchemy survive as well?]
[Hmmm….]
It was a secretly known fact that the Aseuta Clan had been interacting with the barbarians beyond the eastern wall.
If they had even brought in black magic?
Then the direction and reason for the suspicious carriage procession, and the purpose of the war the Aseuta Clan had waged, all fit into one picture.
*It’s an uncertain hypothesis, but it’s the most plausible.*
As that thought solidified, I turned my head in the direction the twenty-seven corpse carriages had gone.
Already buried in darkness, the corpse carriages were growing distant, with only faint vibrations felt.
On the dirt road where dark, reddish-black blood continued, faint moonlight overlapped and melted in.
The mysterious corpse carriages and the Aseuta Clan.
The barbarians increasing in the east, which I had eavesdropped on in the Ibolgeu Clan meeting.
In my past life, the barbarians advancing to the northern ice wall that I saw just before dying.
And having vaguely predicted the danger approaching the continent and the Ten Great Clans while seeing this.
*I wish my prediction were wrong….*
Strangely, the gears were clicking into place.