Gargoyles and trolls. The two demonic beasts, sharing similar habitats, are infamous as the vanguard of the southern migration, the heralding wave that signals the start of war. Forest trolls are unusually swift of foot, and gargoyles are extremely belligerent flying demonic beasts.
“…….”
I surveyed them from the walls of Rekordak.
One host shook the earth, while another tore through the heavens as they advanced. Though the demonic beasts themselves were nothing special, their numbers alone, filling the horizon, were impressive.
“……Prepare.”
I raised my right hand. Nineteen Mokgangcheol rose up behind me. The soldiers’ automatic crossbows aimed at heaven and earth. The knights’ mana flared up from the ground.
“Fire.”
A declaration devoid of fanfare.
Kuddddeuk—!
Triggers were pulled, and the crossbows thundered. Lines that would be better called ‘harpoons’ than arrows swept across the ground and sky.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa───!
An endless baptism of volleys. Arrows fired without bothering to mark targets shattered trolls and gargoyles. Gargoyle wings were torn, and troll necks were pierced.
Ssweaaaak──!
Between those gaps, the Mokgangcheol plunged in.
The nineteen metals moved like lightning. Those imbued with my mana had already transcended the speed of sound.
Spreading before sound itself, severing only the vital points of the demonic beasts, they cleanly exterminated hundreds and thousands.
“……Hraaah—!”
A war cry rang out. It was Ifrin. He condensed the wind into a blade and fired it. A gargoyle’s body was split in two.
“Hop!”
“Sirio, entering!”
Following them, knights including Yulri and Sirio advanced. They willingly leaped down from the wall. Overwhelming the horde of demonic beasts with swordcraft and mana.
“…….”
Among those several hundred knights, my eyes unconsciously followed Yulri. Her swordcraft on this battlefield was like a gentle flower…….
“Boss. What are you looking at so intently?”
Ruina tapped my shoulder.
I wielded the Mokgangcheol once more.
Graaaaaah───!
The roars of trolls and gargoyles shook the area. Yet for all their noise, the wall held firm.
Hundreds of knights they could not handle rampaged, while dozens of mages and crossbows covered them.
It was a massacre.
“I’ll leave this place to you.”
I spoke to Ruina. Ruina nodded.
I had separate business to attend to.
* * *
……Right in the middle of the ongoing battle.
Jaken of the Jeokgwe, who had infiltrated the caravan, moved stealthily.
A member of a tribe that held considerable hostility toward the Empire even among the Jeokgwe, and one who had proudly joined the Altar, he had been determined to destroy Rekordak from the very beginning.
“Ahem.”
He left his quarters under the pretense of looking around. He had ordered the remaining tribe members to keep watch, and moved alone toward the food warehouse he had scouted in advance.
“……There it is.”
Not merely the supplies provided by the caravan, but the lifeline containing the food stores of all Rekordak. If he destroyed only this, Dekyulrein would not survive here…….
“Locked up tight, I see.”
The warehouse was sealed with multiple layers of magical security, but he had expected as much.
He affixed a scroll to the warehouse. A top-grade detonation scroll bestowed by the Altar. The moment he tried to pour mana into that paper.
“What are you doing?”
“……!”
Jaken flinched and turned around. His heart and intestines felt like they were tangled together in his chest.
“……W-what are you.”
Barely calming himself and turning around, there was merely a single child.
“You can’t come outside right now. It’s a total disaster out here.”
Jaken breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head.
“I know how to take care of myself. Child, you go back inside.”
“What is that? You were sticking something to the warehouse just now.”
“……None of your concern. Are you from the mountain villages?”
Jaken hid the scroll with his body and asked.
“No. I’m an adventurer.”
“……Adventurer?”
“Yes. I’m Lia.”
This brat was an adventurer?
Jaken swept his gaze up and down.
She was around one-fifty in height, enough to be roughly considered a teenager, but her face was so young that anyone could tell she was a child…… He furrowed his brows.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Stop lying and hurry—”
At that moment, the child moved. With a single step, she stuck to the warehouse and saw the detonation scroll attached to the wall.
“……Hey! What are you doing!”
“This is a detonation scroll?”
“Wh-what…… dammit!”
Jaken shoved her. Just as he tried to heat the scroll with mana.
“Move even an inch, and I’ll kill you.”
A dagger was suddenly pressed to his throat. Jaken froze, rolling only his eyes to look behind him.
The child called Lia was glaring at him with eyes sharper than any assassin.
“……Gulp.”
“Don’t even swallow.”
“…….”
Thud, thud—
Footsteps rang out just then. Both Jaken and Lia turned toward the sound.
“So you were here.”
There stood Dekyulrein. However, he was not alone. With him were the thirty-nine mercenaries of Jaken’s caravan—that is, excluding Jaken himself. They were all bound by Dekyulrein’s steel wires.
“……Jaken, was it.”
At those words, Lia lowered her dagger. Dekyulrein approached, glaring at Jaken. Jaken’s entire body was already drenched in sweat.
“Kneel.”
“……Ah. I…….”
“Before I tear your limbs off and kill you.”
The pressure in those words crushed Jaken. Without realizing it, he fell to his knees. The strength had left his legs.
Buk—
Lia peeled off the detonation scroll and brought it to Dekyulrein. Dekyulrein looked at Lia.
Lia smiled brightly.
“Aren’t you gonna praise me?”
“The supplies have already been moved.”
Dekyulrein said only that and brushed past Lia. Lia smiled and pouted.
Dekyulrein, having reached Jaken, spat out words dripping with contempt.
“Fool.”
And he bound the scoundrel with steel wire.
“……Urk!”
“It is mongrels like you who drag the future of the Jeokgwe backward.”
Lia observed such Dekyulrein for a moment.
A face resembling Gim Ujin, yet an infinitely cold personality.
Though it was praiseworthy that a nobody like Jaken had the guts to enter a tiger’s den, now that he had fallen into Dekyulrein’s hands, there was likely no chance of survival.
“……Um. Professor. What are you going to do with them?”
Lia asked as if curious. At that, Dekyulrein’s head tilted slightly as he looked at her.
He uttered the most nonchalant, the most brutal words.
“I told you. I’ll tear their limbs off and kill them.”
* * *
……I’ll tear their limbs off and kill them.
Ellesol, having arrived at the ridgeline of Rekordak, had watched that entire scene.
She hugged her knees and brooded.
“What shall we do, Elder.”
The desert sentinel, Deulkon, asked cautiously. Ellesol spoke without words.
—What else. Yeriel is currently…….
“He appears to be sleeping inside the jar.”
Ellesol nodded.
—It was a foolish thing to do. Jaken of the Red Blood Tribe.
“Yes. That is correct.”
—The deeds of those scoundrels must not reach the Imperial Palace.
If it were known that the Jeokgwe had attacked Dekyulrein, the gas chamber would begin operating immediately.
Therefore, the assassination of Dekyulrein must be carried out in a way where the culprit could never be identified.
—It cannot be helped. We are merely using our own method.
“Your method, you say…… Elder. Might I ask what exactly happened between you and the Great Elder?”
—If you knew that fact, it would no longer be a method.
“……Yes.”
Deulkon closed his mouth, and Ellesol recalled the day she had met the Great Elder not long ago.
Even then, Ellesol had strongly insisted to the Great Elder on assassinating Dekyulrein. The Great Elder had tried to dissuade her, but upon realizing he could not dissuade her, had handed her a certain ledger.
That ledger recorded the Great Elder’s unique trait—that is, ‘The Jeokgwe’s Census’.
—We will dispose of Jaken ourselves.
Ellesol spoke in sign language.
—For that purpose, I will infiltrate alone. Tonight, to Dekyulrein.
“But. Elder. The opponent is Dekyulrein—”
—It is fine.
She turned around. The ‘Carriage of Spatial Distortion’ crafted with Ellie’s talent. Inside it, Yeriel was sleeping.
—This time, he too shall know. That there is no way out…….
* * *
Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!
Night fell. A great moon and stars rose in the sky. The freezing temperature of late winter settled like frost.
Yet the battle did not end. Of course, the numbers of trolls and gargoyles had decreased, but their advancing ranks were still countless.
“Yulri. Well then, we’re heading back first.”
Gwen said. The knights who had fought for a full eight hours did not look tired, but rather quite bored.
“Yes. Please rest.”
Yulri volunteered for the night watch. Since five hundred demonic beasts were still charging in every hour, it could not be left solely to ordinary soldiers and prisoners.
“Sure~ Make sure you rest up too~”
“…….”
Yulri leaned against the wall and read Dekyulrein’s report. However, she was not alone. Raili was with her.
“Is that report really worth reading?”
“……They are sound words.”
“No. You’re a much better swordsman than that professor…….”
“I thought so too. However, what must be acknowledged must be acknowledged. That professor has the skill to teach anyone in theory.”
“Still…… Ah! Trolls over there!”
Raili pointed into the distance. It was a group of trolls clutching wooden clubs. Yulri grabbed her sword and ran to cut them down.
“Ah! Gargoyles there!”
This time, from the sky. She repelled the flock of fluttering gargoyles with an icy sword wind.
Like that, after about five brief battles.
“……Are you alright?”
A voice came from above. Yulri craned her head upward.
Dekyulrein’s assistant, Ifrin, and her classmate Ihelm were there. The two looked down at Yulri and waved their hands.
“Yes. I am fine.”
“You were moving around so frantically. We’re here too, so you don’t have to overdo it.”
“…….”
Yulri shook her head from side to side. It meant she was fine.
Ihelm spoke.
“That blockhead is so stubborn she won’t listen to that kind of talk.”
Yulri narrowed her eyes and glared up. Ihelm raised his eyebrows.
“Am I wrong? She’s so stubborn that back in the day, she was forced into accepting the engagement with Dekyulrein.”
For an instant, Raili and Ifrin’s bodies flinched. Yulri answered in a low voice.
“……Do not speak of that.”
“I think you brought it on yourself with your personality. See, you should have chosen me instead. Well, it’s too late for that now.”
“Ihelm. You’re too loud!”
Raili snapped. Ihelm smirked and shook his head.
“Hey, Leaf. What do you think?”
“……About what.”
Ifrin retorted bluntly.
“I’m talking about Dekyulrein and that stubborn knight.”
Yulri pretended not to listen to their conversation. Ifrin looked alternately between Ihelm above the wall and Yulri below, then spoke.
“……I don’t think Professor Dekyulrein dislikes it that much.”
“Oh. Is that so? But what a pity. That Deia Knight hates Dekyulrein enough to kill him, they say.”
Yulri looked up again. However, that much was true.
She still hated Dekyulrein. The grudge against Beron and Rokpel too—she would surely repay it someday.
“……Do not do that. If you do, you may both come to regret it.”
At that moment, those words from Ifrin. Murmured in a rather bitter tone, she quickly moved away—tapatapadak.
“……What’s with her.”
Ihelm was bewildered, and Yulri also stared blankly at that retreating figure.
However, there was no time for such leisure.
Graaaaaah────!
In the distance, yet another wave of gargoyles and trolls was charging in.
* * *
Graaaaaah────!
In the mansion of Rekordak. Standing by the window, I looked in the direction from which that roar came. Beyond the wall, countless trolls had appeared again.
This would likely repeat throughout the southern migration period. Unable to sleep comfortably, unable to rest.
“…….”
I took a sip of the wine in my hand. And I spoke to someone behind me.
“Speak.”
A presence that had been flickering since a while ago. An uninvited guest who had shown no intention of hiding herself, from the entrance of the mansion.
—…….
I turned to look that way. There was a strange figure with a fox mask draped over her face.
“Who are you.”
—You do not need to know.
The woman spoke in sign language.
Sign language. A woman.
With just these two clues, I had a vague idea of who it might be.
I asked.
“Are you of the same race as the scoundrels I locked up outside?”
The woman calmly nodded her head.
“So you’re with them.”
—No. We are not with them. We have come to punish them in your stead.
“You are not different Jeokgwe.”
—They cooperate with the Altar. We are independent of the Altar. Not all Jeokgwe are the same Jeokgwe.
A smirk naturally leaked out.
Not all Jeokgwe are the same Jeokgwe. It wasn’t technically wrong, but somehow it reeked strongly of self-preservation.
“What do you intend to do. Are you asking me to release them?”
—The Altar must have known. That the Jeokgwe including Jaken would fail this mission.
“A scheme to sow discord, then.”
—Correct. If you report today’s matter to the Imperial Court, the gas chamber will begin operating immediately, and innocent Jeokgwe—regardless of age or gender—will be massacred.
“You mean for me not to report it.”
—……Correct.
I nodded my head.
“Very well. I will investigate thoroughly whether your words are true, and if they are, I shall do so. However, the scum I have caught, I will kill with my own hands.”
—We cannot leave them to you.
“Why.”
—However wretched, they are of our tribe. If they are to die, we kill them. And you would do well to heed my words as well.
“…….”
I stilled myself for a brief moment. Those words just now had grated on my nerves.
“Is that a threat. Knowing who I am.”
—It is not a threat. It is a lawful exchange.
“An exchange.”
—Correct.
Then the scoundrel flicked her finger. Mana flowed, and a certain image rose up.
It was the bound Yeriel.
“…….”
—Tomorrow. At the same time. Where Rekordak’s eyes cannot reach, we will exchange hostages then.
I looked at the scoundrel. The surging rage instead made me calm.
The scoundrel moved her fingers and continued.
—If you do not comply with this exchange, we will reveal to the world a truth you do not know.
“……A truth I do not know?”
—Correct.
I silently crossed my arms. The scoundrel looked me up and down, then calmly formed sign language.
—Your younger sibling Yeriel is not of the Yukurain bloodline.
“…….”
That much I already knew well. Even so, it was not something that should be made public.
The Mokgangcheol in my possession harbored killing intent.
—Furthermore, Yeriel’s bloodline is…….
The moment I was about to unleash the Mokgangcheol with the intent to kill this scoundrel.
—Of our tribe. That is, the Jeokgwe.
The air in the mansion stagnated for a brief moment.