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Chapter 79 – The Red Wasteland (1)

The eastern territory of the empire was once considered the most beautiful land. The long eastern coast was one of the wonders of the empire, and it was famous for the dragons that flew through its sky. It was a rare, and beautiful scenery of nature—until Gerard Gain, the ruler of the east at the time, had stabbed the emperor’s back.

After the incident of His Majesty’s assassination, most of the members of Gerard Gain’s dragon knight order were either killed or had to flee, as they were accused as accomplices. The eastern territory lost its leader and had become a land that produced the principal offender, thus beginning to be ostracized by the empire.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the forces of the Crack that had crawled in from the north turned most of the eastern territory into a wasteland. Duke Henna, a native of the East, began to hold them back with the military support she managed to get with difficulty, but the eastern territory had long since been ruined.

The wind raged and sprayed red dust over the barracks. The messenger sent from the holy city of Torra realized just how devastated the eastern territory had become by just listening to the sound of the dust storm raging against the barracks.

The young messenger from the holy city of Torra found it hard to believe that this devastated land was once considered to be the empire’s most prosperous land in the past.

The person he was waiting for at the moment was the only one who controlled this vast wasteland by herself.

The curtains of the barracks lifted, and an old woman with a small figure walked in. She was wearing a cloak that was covered in red dust, with her head deeply buried in it. The messenger reflexively stood up and saluted the old woman.

The old woman was Duke Hela Henna, the noble that had been ruling the entire eastern territory alone after most of the nobles here had left the land.

“I apologize for having kept you waiting. I’ve been on reconnaissance. Pavan sent you here?” Hela asked.

“Yes. I’m Suvole Sore from the Order of the Capital,” Suvole said as he handed over a letter to Hela.

Hela frowned and took off her cloak before taking the letter from Suvole. Upon taking off her cloak, the face of an old woman who only had her left eye remaining was revealed. Her right sleeve flapped around, as she didn’t have a right arm either, but Hela proficiently opened the letter with her left hand and began to read the letter. After reading through the letter, Hela crumpled the letter in her hand.

“Damn that Pavan… Why does this asshole always maintain silence when we need his help, but politely addresses me as ‘master’ whenever he wants to ask for my help? As far as I remember, that’s not how I taught him to behave. Perhaps that nasty pig Barth Baltic taught him to behave like that?”

“Duke Henna.”

“Don’t you dare try to point out my language. If you have a problem with me and my language, go and raise issues with your boss."

Of course, Suvole had no intention of doing so. Although he was a knight from the Order of the Capital, he had a good diplomatic sense.

“Go tell either Pavan or Barth, whoever you feel like it—I hope they die as soon as possible and that they should choose a dog as the next Regent. At least a dog knows how to be grateful when he is given food.”

One of the reasons why Pavan sent a knight with a good diplomatic sense as a messenger was because he was very well aware that Duke Henna had quite a bad temper.

“Duke Henna, you know the situation in the capital well enough. The activity of giants in the west is unusual, and General Nienna Nelben in the north writes daily letters to request more troops for military support. And the south… I have nothing else to say… the letter already states it. I’m sorry that we aren’t able to take good care of the eastern territory, but…”

“Are you trying to lecture me on the absurdities of capital politics or what?”

“I’m asking you to understand the situation that the Regent is under, where he has to lead the Imperial Army in the most efficient way. It’s such an urgent matter that the Church even dispatched twelve knights from the Order of the Evil Snake. I’m sorry to ask you for such a favor, but we have no choice other than to urgently request for military support from you—Duke Henna, the leader of the fourth division of the local Imperial Army.”

“So those living in other territories are the people of the empire, while those living in the eastern territory are pigs? You cheeky little bastard. I wouldn’t be saying all this if it was your first time discriminating against the east. If you guys had sent military support when we needed it most, we would have ended the civil war way earlier and the eastern territory wouldn’t be suffering like this. You think things are easy out here just because we are fighting against humans, and not monsters?”

Compared to the Crack in the north, the Giants in the west, and the Undead in the south, the civil war in the east was relatively recent. However, Duke Henna who had been suffering from civil war for decades had a belly full of anger, as it was the civil war that took her right eye and her right arm.

“I must have sent at least a hundred letters saying that the Crack, no—the Thornbush Priest Organization is behind the civil war. The fanatics desperately want to cut off His Majesty’s neck, and the bastard who calls himself the empire’s Regent must think that everything is funny. After all, his neck is so much thicker than His Majesty’s, am I right?”

“Please restrain yourself from making rude comments about His Majesty, and…”

“Shut up!”

Hela threw the crumpled letter at Suvole’s face.

“I’m at war right now, and I need every single soldier I can get for this war, not to mention that we already lack military support. And what are you asking for at such a time? You want me to gather my troops, leave the war to chase after a criminal who has been causing a mess in the south? What kind of bullshit are you talking about? If it’s so urgent, why don’t you go and chase after him yourself? You are from the Order of the Capital, aren’t you?”

“Of course, the troops sent by the Order of the Capital are also there. But we would be more than grateful if Duke Henna could provide additional support to…”

“Those assholes don’t have troops to help us, but they have troops to chase after a criminal?”

Hela tapped and pushed Suvole’s chest with her left arm. Suvole stepped back as he was scolded by Hela, who was so small that her height only came up to his chest. Although he was a well-trained knight, he still had to have cold feet in front of the veteran who had been fighting on the battlefield for decades.

“What did you bastards do after taking out Gerard Gain and the Order of Lindwurm? Absolutely nothing! Who was it that restored and rebuilt the east, which had basically descended into complete anarchy? It was me! As I received nothing, I also have nothing to give! No, it would make more sense for me to receive something from you right now. Do you even know how many talented individuals you took away from me?”

“My apologies. I have no excuses. I’m sure that Captain Pavan is feeling guilty as well. But as a captain of the Order of the Capital, he must follow the command of the Regent as the system is…”

“Whatever. I can’t help you for free this time.”

“...What are your conditions?”

“Seven thousand soldiers of the Imperial Army. And they bring the supplies needed; we will not provide the supplies.”

“Yes, for sure.”

Hela paused her movement upon hearing Suvole’s agreement. Her face was filled with suspicion.

“What did you say? ‘For sure?’ But you didn’t even bother to ask for Pavan’s permission before agreeing?”

“You’re right. So I can assure you. I’ve been delegated with the authority, and so I’ll provide you with a contract as a guarantee if you want. We’ll send the soldiers as soon as possible.”

Hela was surprised to see Suvole accept the conditions she had offered; she had only thrown her condition out there, and didn’t think he would accept it anyway. In Hela’s mind, there was no way that he would send seven thousand Imperial soldiers in return for chasing after one criminal. Her plan was to kick Suvole out when he whined and tried to bargain against her conditions. But seeing Suvole willingly accept her offer, Hela felt strange and grew nervous—Hela wasn’t the type to easily let go of her anxious foreboding.

“You son of a bitch, what are you planning?”

Hela grabbed Survole by the collar, and Suvole raised both his arms to prove that he had no intention to resist.

“That’s just how much importance Captain Pavan attaches to this request. I can promise you that we won’t intervene with the way you decide to use the troops. As I’ve already mentioned, Captain Pavan had always felt that he owed Duke Henna a debt. I’d appreciate it if you could consider this as his way of repaying his debt to you.”

Henna couldn’t believe his words. Until Pavan began to work under Barth, he had been a student whom Hela had taught on her own—this meant that she was well aware of his personality. Anxiety appeared on Hela’s face, but it was also difficult for her to turn down this offer, considering what she could accomplish with seven thousand Imperial soldiers.

“A criminal worth sending over seven thousand soldiers? What the hell is he anyway?”

“I’ll give you more detailed information later on. But I can guarantee you that you won’t be happy with such a dangerous person crawling into the east.”

Hela couldn’t deny Suvole’s words. Hela didn’t want any more variables, and wondered what Pavan’s true intention was.

“...Be honest with me. How much leeway were you given by Pavan?” Hela asked.

“I’m not sure what you are talking about.”

While Hela still felt a little uneasy about her decision, she ended up choosing a more practical option.

“Write this right now—you will send ten thousand Imperial soldiers, and that they will bring the equipment and supplies needed as well. Don’t you dare change your minds and put everything on our poor neighborhood,” Hela scolded Survole as she shoved a pen and paper in front of his eyes.

“Why are you suddenly adding three thousand more soldiers to…”

“Just shut up and write.”

“Sure.”

Suvole began to write down the contract on the spot. In just an instant, a few words decided on the movement of ten thousand Imperial soldiers. It was also the moment that made Hela feel pathetic about herself, as she found it extremely difficult to get even one thousand, no—even five hundred troops for support.

Hela took the contract from Suvole’s hand and glared at him with a displeased expression.

“As I mentioned already, I can’t take out much of my forces as we’re in the middle of a civil war.”

“As I mentioned already, that’s fine as long as you promise to get the job done.”

“Don’t worry about that part. I have someone suitable for the job.”

“How many are you planning to send?” Suvole tilted his head as if he was curious at Hela’s words.

“One, but he is better than a hundred.”

***

The moonlight shone on the blade of a sword.

As Juan swung his short sword, the attacker’s hand was split in half at once. Before he could even let out a scream, Juan’s short sword was swung once again to cut the attacker’s body for the third, fifth, and seventh times.

The attacker spewed blood from his entire body, and screamed while being covered in blood.

Juan didn’t intend to let him scream for a long time—soon, Juan’s short sword pierced the attacker’s heart.

All this had happened in the blink of an eye after only one of the many attackers had charged at Juan. As Juan scattered the blood on his short sword to the ground, the rest of the attackers backed away with pale expressions.

“I’m sure you already know this, but…”

Juan slowly approached the attackers.

A voice was echoing in their heads, warning the attackers that they should run away from this ruthless opponent. Despite the open wasteland they were on, the attackers felt as if they were in a narrow prison cell that was just three steps in any direction.

“I could have killed him instantly.”

It had already been two weeks since Juan came to the eastern territory, and this was the fifth attack that Juan had encountered. Juan had been killing all the attackers without a question up until now, but he began to feel strange as the raids continued.

It was clear that the attackers were looking for Juan, but they lacked skills needed to harm Juan. Also, the rate at which they found Juan’s location all the time was too quick.

The attackers all took a big gulp. Right up until the moment the first attacker charged at him, Juan had been sitting quietly.

The attackers soon realized that Juan’s intentions behind disarming the first attacker and violently killing him was to set an example.

The man who appeared to be the leader of the attackers paused his movement and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“W-wait a second. This is all a misunderstanding. We didn’t come here for you.”

“You didn’t come for me?” Juan tilted his head out of curiosity.

“The Church is offering ten thousand gold pieces to catch the black-haired kid, so the entire eastern territory is attacking anyone that has black hair. T-that’s the only reason why we attacked you. We are not the only ones, but everyone else is also on the hunt.”

A cold sweat began to appear on the foreheads of the attackers upon seeing Juan remain silent.

“Look, We’ll apologize if we made you feel unpleasant, but it’s not like you were injured anyway. We lost one of our comrades, but you are unharmed. We’ll leave you alone, so why don’t we go our own ways without shedding any more blood?”

“Solving things without shedding blood… I like that.”

“O-okay. Then…”

“Where is Durgal?”

“What?”

“I asked where Durgal was. If you answer my question, I’ll spare the life of one person.”

Ever since Opert had told Juan about Durgal, he had been looking for the place. However, it was difficult to find the exact location as it was neither a city nor a famous place.

“Why are you looking for Durgal?”

It was the man who had been standing behind all the attackers who answered Juan’s question. All the attacker’s gazes turned toward the back.

A man with a small figure was looking at Juan with a faint smile. As soon as the attackers saw the man’s smile, they realized that they had been fooled.

“You son of a bitch! You’re the one who convinced us to attack the black-haired boy sleeping on the street…!”

The attacker couldn’t finish his words. Something had suddenly popped out of the hand of the man with a small figure and stabbed the attacker in the neck. In just an instant, two-thirds of the attacker’s neck was cut, and his head was left to dangle sideways.

It was only then that everyone saw a long tentacle with an eerie texture on the small figured man’s hand, which extended all the way to the attacker’s neck.

The rest of the attackers scattered while screaming.

Meanwhile, Juan raised the corner of his lips.

His opponent had come for him.