“You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Walk properly!”
“You there, keep your head down! Only look at your feet while you walk!”
Cold and angry shouts. .h.i.t the ears.
The soldiers on horses moved back and forth and glared.
The hundreds of people, with their wrists and ankles tied with hard ropes, moved their feet with their heads down.
Their appearances were literally a mess.
Their hairs were disheveled and grimy.
They looked horrendous.
But despite that, their faces somehow looked elated.
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Don’t smile!”
One of the soldiers on the horses saw that look and shouted angrily.
The people tied up in the ropes erased their smiles with effort and kept their heads down.
“Sons of b.i.t.c.hes. So you’ve won the war, is it? I’ve half a mind to cut off all of their heads, but…… tch!”
The soldier who shouted clicked his tongue with a regretful expression.
Another soldier came up and shook his hand.
“Don’t talk nonsense. The moment we chop off their necks, thousands of our prisoners captured by the Pershion Kingdom side will lose their lives.”
“I know! I know that, and that’s why we’re sending them back so meekly like this!”
The two conversed with heavily contorted faces.
Their ident.i.ties were the soldiers of Istel Kingdom’s Central Corp.
“d.a.m.n it. Those b.i.t.c.hes of the Istel Kingdom.”
One of the soldiers spat.
The people walking along while tied up with ropes shrank themselves even more in case they got caught up in any unnecessary spark.
They were the Pershion Kingdom’s soldiers who were captured by Istel Kingdom army in the war with Istel Kingdom and Byron Kingdom.
In another word, prisoners.
They were prisoners of war.
‘We’re now going home!’
‘We won the war and even kept our lives!’
The captives exhaled short sighs.
Those were sighs of relief.
Right after the war ended, the Pershion Kingdom and the Istel Kingdom began negotiating the prisoner exchange.
Thankfully, the negotiation finished without a fault.
It was because the Pershion Kingdom, the victorious nation, suggested to exchange each nation’s prisoners without any special conditions.
The Istel Kingdom, whose number of prisoners was much greater, immediately accepted those terms.
“Sons of b.i.t.c.hes. We will definitely return this humiliation one day.”
The Istel soldiers spat out curses.
The Pershion prisoners, without showing any reactions, simply hurried their steps.
‘We just need to be patient for just a bit, just a little bit longer.’
The Pershion Kingdom was now right in front of their noses.
Their hearts raced rapidly and their faces flushed red.
From the dreadful war, they were able to miraculously return alive.
Amongst those prisoners, men with familiar faces were there.
‘It’s much more easier than I had thought.’
The person who was keeping his head down and moving along just like the others was in fact Roan.
He disheveled his hair, coated his skin with charcoal, and was heading towards the Pershion Kingdom while mixed amongst the other prisoners.
Of course, Harrison, Brian, and Clay could also be seen behind Roan.
‘Everything is going according to plan.’
The Pershion Kingdom and the Istel Kingdom had just ended a war.
Obviously, any private travel through the borders was completely restricted.
It wasn’t possible to cross over from the Istel Kingdom to the Pershion Kingdom by ordinary means.
Clay, who had already predicted such a situation, proposed one solution.
It, was to use the prisoner exchange between the two kingdoms.
Even though the plan itself was an extraordinary plan, Clay’s talent, who was actually carrying out the plan, was even more outstanding and prodigious.
After meticulously a.n.a.lyzing the executives of the prisoner exchange, he used both a carrot and a stick by luring in both those who were greedy for wealth and those whose backs were fishy.
Once he spread the riches and blackmailed them, they fell and became Clay’s puppets.
Thanks to that, Roan, Harrison, Brian, and Clay were able to uneventfully mix in with the prisoners and head towards the Pershion Kingdom.
‘We just need to cross the border.’
Once they cross the border, there was no more need to hide their ident.i.ties.
No, instead, confidently revealing their ident.i.ties would be much easier in proceeding with the job.
Roan tightly kept his head down and busily moved his feet.
The soldiers and the prisoners crossed the Istel Kingdom’s border gate and moved towards the middle of the buffer zone.
“Ah……”
The prisoner walking at the lead let out a quiet exclamation.
A flag that they had longed for so much was standing up straight in front of them on the opposite side.
< Pershion Kingdom. >
“Kuuhk.”
“Huuhuhuhk.”
The captives who saw the kingdom’s flag all cried out tears.
“d.a.m.n it! Quiet down!”
“Shut up!”
The Istel soldiers roared at them, but the cries didn’t die down easily.
But even so, they couldn’t beat or verbally abuse them as they wished.
Below the Pershion Kingdom flag, more than two thousand soldiers were lined up.
One wrong move and a battle could start.
In the end, the Istel soldiers could only push forwards the captives tangled in ropes forwards.
“d.a.m.n it. Pershion b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Get the h.e.l.l out of here!”
Several soldiers couldn’t hold themselves back and spat out curses.
Once the captives departed from the Istel Kingdom side, an incredible number of prisoners from the Pershion Kingdom side also began to move.
Unlike the Pershion prisoners who numbered in the hundreds, the Istel Kingdom prisoners reached several thousands.
Just by seeing this, it could be guessed just how perfect of a victory the Pershion Kingdom had achieved.
“Move quickly!”
“Don’t even look behind you!”
The prisoner exchange finished rapidly without any incidents.
“Booooo!”
“Waaaah!
The moment the prisoner exchange ended, boos and cheers noisily echoed from each sides.
In any case, there was zero possibility of a battle starting in the current situation.
Since that would mean the start of another war.
Because of that, both sides’ soldiers and prisoners could cheer and jeer as much as they wanted.
The side that won, the Pershion Kingdom, cheered and the side that lost, the Istel Kingdom, jeered.
A noisy battle of sounds went back and forth for a while.
“Alright. This much is enough.”
“Let’s go back!”
The two sides, as if rehea.r.s.ed, returned through each sides’ border gates.
The ropes that bound their wrists and ankles had already been untied a while ago, but that didn’t mean they could get out of formation as they wished.
“There may be the enemy spies. Check the ident.i.ties at the gate.”
Because there were numerous cases of mixing in and sending spies during a prisoner exchange, it was a process that always had to be done.
Although this wasn’t quite an agreeable procedure in Roan’s position, there wasn’t any need to be concerned.
‘It was exactly because of a situation like this that I received Prince Simon’s permission before coming.’
Currently, Roan hadn’t come to Pershion Kingdom for personal reasons.
He was, at that moment, a formal diplomat who came to the Pershion Kingdom as a representative of the First Prince Simon of the Rinse Kingdom.
The border gates appeared as he thought of various things.
The executive of the prisoner exchange only then lined up the prisoners at one spot, and ordered the soldiers to check their ident.i.ties one by one.
“Soldier Rams of the Camet Troop Third Squad, Northern Regional Corp Second Corp.”
“Squad Captain Corey of the Ilian Troop Tenth Squad, Northern Regional Corp Third Corp.”
“Soldier……”
The ident.i.ty check proceeded quickly and precisely.
One of the soldiers stood up in front of Roan.
“Name yourself and your affiliation.”
He spoke in a cold and businesslike manner.
Roan cheerily smiled and put a hand inside his chest pocket.
From deep inside, he took out a dirty cloth.
“What’s this? I said name yourself and your affiliation.”
The soldier frowned at that sight.
Roan paid no attention to him and carefully opened the dirty cloth.
Inside, there was a clean piece of cloth sewed on with highly beautiful and elegant drawing and writing.
That was in fact the emblem of Regate, symbolizing Simon’s status and prestige.
“I said name yourself and your affiliation!”
The soldier shouted once again.
As the situation became noisy, multiple soldiers and the executive swarmed up.
With fierce eyes, they glared at Roan.
‘A spy?’
The lights in all of their eyes were saying so.
Roan, without minding them, raised up the emblem and spoke with a confident and soft voice.
“I am Baron Roan Tale, representative of the Rinse Kingdom’s First Prince and the great lord of the Regate, Simon Rinse, and an official diplomatic agent.”
Boom.
Immediately, silence fell through the area.
The Pershion Kingdom’s soldier, all with confounded looks, stared at Roan.
The one who broke the silence was Roan.
“Guide me to the capital, Althus.”
A dauntless and daring mannerism and speech.
A look that naturally exuded dignity.
Roan didn’t lose spirit even in front of a foreign kingdom’s soldiers.
That was the true bearing of a great general.
*****
“A representative of Rinse Kingdom’s First Prince Simon?”
“Yes. He says he is Baron Roan Tale.”
“Roan Tale? By Roan Tale, perhaps……”
“Yes. However we look, it seems he is the Crimson Ghost.”
“Hmm. The Crimson Ghost……”
A short groan leaked out.
The person who leaked the groan was the Pershion Kingdom’s first prince, Reitas Pershion.
‘The Crimson Ghost showed up at our kingdom?’
He too had heard a lot about the Crimson Ghost, Roan Tale.
Reitas raised his head and looked his aide and a n.o.ble of the the kingdom, Baron Baite Inges.
“Are you certain that he isn’t a representative of Rinse Kingdom’s king but the First Prince Simon?”
“It is certain. They say that he had definitely named himself so.”
Reitas creased his brows.
‘Not the king, but the first prince sent a diplomat?’
It was ridiculous statement.
“And the purpose of the visit?”
“He said that it is for friendship between the two kingdoms. He is currently coming to Althus Castle.”
“Hmm.”
Those words weren’t something that he could believe so easily.
The Rinse Kingdom was currently in a middle of a compet.i.tion for the succession of the throne.
It wasn’t a situation where any one prince could show diplomacy.
‘Then that must mean there is another underlying motive besides creating a friendship between the two kingdoms……’
And a goal that is advantageous for Simon, a goal that Simon needs at that.
Reitas fell into thought.
‘The timing too is strange……’
Until now, there was no significant dealings between the Pershion Kingdom and the Rinse Kingdom to speak of.
Since there is the Byron and the Istel between the two kingdoms and because of the long distance, there was no real need to trade.
Suddenly, Reitas’ eyes widely opened.
‘Perhaps is it because of Ma.n.u.s?’
Reitas’ face stiffened.
The reason that the Rinse Kingdom, and the First Prince Simon at that, who should be in middle of a compet.i.tion for the throne, had sent a diplomat.
Considering the various circ.u.mstances and the timing, there was a high probability that it was related to Ma.n.u.s.
‘Is the goal not a friendship with our kingdom but with Ma.n.u.s?’
It wasn’t a bad choice from Simon’s position.
‘Since that side should know that Kallum and I are friends……’
But even so, it couldn’t be helped that the situation itself felt irritating.
‘An att.i.tude that ignores me, the kingdom’s first prince.’
Of course, this was only if Reitas’ prediction was correct.
‘I should watch for now.’
He raised his head and turned to Baite.
“I don’t know what kind of scheme it is, but he is the kingdom’s honorable guest for now. Greet him courteously.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Baite immediately lowered his head then exited the office.
Reitas, who was left alone, rubbed his forehead with his right hand and closed his eyes.
‘Simon, Roan……’
The two names rolled within the mouth.
‘The things are slowly getting bigger.’
And at a much faster speed than what he thought.
Reitas exhaled a short sigh.
‘Is there truly no other way……’
For an instant, a pained look flickered past.
But soon, a cold and sharp air gathered in his eyes and mouth.
‘It cannot be helped. Since I can’t have the seat taken away even if there is no other choice.’
His face was a one that looked to have firmly decided on something.
That day at that moment, Reitas cleared up one concern that had tormented him.
‘I’m sorry.’
The same words circled inside him again and again.
But only Reitas could knew whether those were his true feelings or not.
*****
“Althus Castle is quite plain.”
Brian looked outside the carriage and muttered.
Clay smiled cheerfully and answered.
“It is since the Pershion Kingdom is a small nation compared to our Rinse Kingdom, the Byron Kingdom, and the Istel Kingdom.”
“Is it? Even so, I thought it was a kingdom with quite a long history.”
Bryon looked at Clay and tilted his head.
Clay closed the book he was reading and turned to Brian.
“The Pershion Kingdom was also a strong kingdom that once conquered the continent’s northeast. But as inept kings ruled over multiple generations, rebellions endlessly appeared from various regions and was divided into tens of big and small kingdoms in the end.”
“Ah, I know of that story. Afterwards, Lloyd Von Pershion came to rule, conquered most of the small nations, and raised the current Pershion Kingdom.”
“Yes. But despite so, they had lost more than half of their lands compared to before. And the one who united those other lands and raised a new kingdom was the very Madison Von Light. This is the founding story of the Light Kingdom currently at the continent’s northeastern end.”
Brian nodded at Clay’s words.
It was because he remembered the continent’s history he had heard during his days at the academy.
At that moment, Harrison, who had been listening to the story, squinted and asked.
“Then, the Pershion Kingdom and the Light Kingdom must be sworn enemies, no?”
As soon as he spoke those words, Roan and Clay answered at the same time.
“No, instead, they’re significantly close.”
“That isn’t so. Instead, their relationship is more closer to brother nations.”
At those words, Harrison made a slightly surprised expression.
“How is that so, sir?”
He tilted his head as if he simply couldn’t understand.
“That’s because in the last several decades, the king of Light……’
The moment Roan’s words reached that point.
The Coachman’s voice was heard.
“We have arrived at the capital, Althus Castle. But……”
His voice was slightly fl.u.s.tered.
At that moment, an officer riding on a war horse approached next to the carriage.
“Prince Reitas Pershion has came out to greet you! We need to stop the carriage.
It was a completely unexpected welcome.
No, situation.
“Then do so.”
Roan answered briefly then straightened his clothes.
Clay faintly smiled and cautiously spoke.
“It seems the Pershion Kingdom’s First Prince is also feeling a bit hot.” 1
Roan formed a peculiar expression at those words and shook his head.
“Perhaps. We won’t know until we meet him. Whether he is heated……”
The carriage’s speed gradually slowed down.
Roan looked out the window and murmured with a quiet voice.
“Or whether he is ice cold.”
Whatever it was, it wasn’t an easy situation.
But if it was the latter.
‘We may have to worry about our lives.’
< To Pershion Kingdom (4) > End.
Translator : CSV
Proofreader: st8_lupe.
1. Korean phrase 몸이 달다, literally means “body is heated” and is synonymous with “anxious”