Legion banners and troop flags made of green clothes fluttered in a southern wind.
Flags of a color that couldn’t easily be seen in the Rinse Kingdom that preferred blue color.
“Thank you very much for coming all this way.”
“No. We’re honored instead that we can help.”
Two young men of brilliant armors shook hands and formed bright smiles.
Although their mouths were certainly smiling, the lights in their eyes were somehow deceptive.
No, to be exact, lights of vigilance against each other were clear.
That could not be helped.
Because the two people had held hands not because of goodwill, friendship, respect, or amity like positive emotions, but completely for their own profit.
The young man who engraved a green crest on his breastplate like the tally soaring flags brightly smiled and looked towards the north.
“Then what is the plan from now on? Prince Kallum.”
It was a shocking event.
The ident.i.ty of one amongst the two young men of brilliant armors was Rinse Kingdom’s Third Prince Kallum Rinse.
He, following the young man of green crest, looked towards the north.
“Firstly, we will have to seize the Kingdom’s Southwest that became ownerless. I plan to tightly set up the basis of power. Prince Lukan.”
Lukan.
Full name Lukan Diez.
The very crowned prince of the Diez Kingdom that touched borders with the Rinse Kingdom’s South was Lukan Diez.
The two people turned their gazes that had headed towards the North and stared at each other.
Faint smiles floated up.
‘Crowned Prince Lukan Diez. Handing over the Potter Region to him is regrettable, but if I can receive the Diez Kingdom Army’s help……’
Conquering not only the Kingdom’s Southwest that became ownerless land from Tommy’s death, but also the capital, Miller, wouldn’t be impossible.
‘I have to remain a close relationship with Crowned Prince Lukan.’
Kallum dryly swallowed.
Even if he suppressed Simon and climbed onto the throne, it was obvious that the situation inside the kingdom as well as his position would be incredibly unstable.
In that situation, friendship with Lukan, who was nominated as the Diez Kingdom’s future king, would become a big help.
Of course, it was quite a big profit for Lukan in his own way to hold hands with Kallum.
‘Our Diez Kingdom is blocked Northwest by the Rinse Kingdom and Northeast by the Aimas Union.’
The North and South’s situation was much gloomier.
Poskein Lake to the North and Grain Mountains to the South tightly enclosed the Diez Kingdom.
‘A situation where it was no use even though we built national power for ages. But if we could just help Kallum who has fallen into crisis, making him the Rinse Kingdom’s King, and form alliance……’
He should be able to attack the Aimas Union located in the Northeast without minding the Northwest Border that touched the Rinse Kingdom.
A golden opportunity to expand the domain.
A chance to advance into the wider world would open up.
Furthermore, Lukan had already received a big present from Kallum.
‘With the condition of dispatching reinforcement, we have been ceded a part of the Rinse Kingdom’s Southern Region.’
It was the golden land that included the Potter Viscounty.
‘My reputation within the kingdom will go up.’
From the Crown Prince Lukan’s position, it was a large success that could show off his abilities to the King and his kingdom’s citizens.
Of course, Kallum and Lukan had no thoughts of going merely fair trades trusting and for each other.
Kallum quietly stared at Lukan’s face and inwardly smiled.
‘You likely plan to aim for the Aimas Union, but that place is also a place with deep ties with me. I will not simply watch so that you b.a.s.t.a.r.d can invade as you wish.’
Chester Kowan, the son of Kallum’s maternal grandfather Duke Liss Kowan, had since long ago been executing the mission of expeditionary commander at the Aimas Union.
Thanks to that, Kallum’s people including the Duke Kowan House maintained a close friendship with the Aimas Union.
If there wasn’t the Poskein Lake between the Rinse Kingdom and the Aimas Union, Kallum would have received Aimas Union’s help instead of extending his hand towards the Diez Kingdom.
‘The moment you b.a.s.t.a.r.d attack the Aimas Union, I will shove you a sword in the back of your head.’
Treacherous thoughts filled his head.
That was also the same for Lukan.
‘Kallum. Do you think I don’t know of your schemes? But what to do…… even if you b.a.s.t.a.r.d climb to the throne, you won’t be able to pay attention to our Diez Kingdom’s side.’
Lukan planned to borrow this chance and split the Rinse Kingdom into two.
He intended to leave Simon’s force in parts of North Region and split Kallum’s attention.
‘I’ll set your forces’ balance well so that you will mutually destruct.’
A sinister light flashed deep inside his eyes.
At that moment, Kallum and Lukan simultaneously extended their right hands as if they had promised.
“I look forwards to working with you.”
“Same here.”
Faint smiles that they make while hiding their hearts.
But Kallum and Lukan, the lights in the two people’s eyes were still showing intense vigilance.
*****
“It’s annihilation, sir!”
“It’s annihilation again, sir!”
“It’s annihilation!”
Urgent reports that followed one after another.
Urgent and fl.u.s.tered looks were overflowing on the messengers’ faces.
“d.a.m.n it! Again!”
Being fl.u.s.tered was also the same for the hexers’ master, Hesul.
‘This is ridiculous.’
He couldn’t understand it.
He knew that Roan and the Lancephil Fief Regiment that he led were strong.
‘But hex dolls should be an opponent that they should never have faced before……’
They should be confused, panic, and fall into chaos.
If they were humans, they should feel fear in front of existences with unknown nature.
But according to the reports that came up from the frontlines, Roan and the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s reaction and counteractions were composed to an amazing degree.
‘It’s as if they know of everything.’
Hesul creased his forehead.
He still didn’t know nor grasp at all that Roan was a returner who returned from the past and that he had absorbed the memories of the hexers.
A heavy silence fell down.
But there merely was no sound heard through the ears, and an incredible killing intent roared like a storm inside the grand hall.
Hesul’s gaze naturally turned towards the head seat decorated by a giant chair.
A young man who wore a brilliant armor.
He was the Rinse Kingdom’s current king Simon Rinse.
‘The marionette doll that I’ve made.’
Hesul dryly swallowed.
The owner of the killing intent roared like a storm was Simon.
Simon glared at Hesul with a brightly flushed expression.
Hesul creased his brows.
‘This guy…… it’s slowly becoming harder to control with hex.’
Simon was no different than a type of hex doll.
Hesul and the hexers combined their strengths to control its mind and placed a powerful seal in his head.
Thanks to that, Simon couldn’t refuse Hesul’s orders.
Even more.
‘If I were to give a command to die, it should end its life on its own without a hint of hesitation.’
The seal Hesul and the hexers had placed was that strong.
But as the time pa.s.sed, Simon tried to break off Hesul’s control and move as he wish.
At first, they couldn’t understand that reason.
They thought that the hex and the seal had gone wrong.
‘But there was no problem in our hex.’
The problem was.
‘That the Pienville Mana Technique’s evil mana is too strong.’
The devil’s mana technique Pienville.
Simon received the Pienville Mana Technique from his grandfather Duke Bradley Webster and had begun to train it.
And the one who had given the Pienville Mana Technique to that Bradley was in fact Hesul.
‘When one learns the Pienville Mana Technique, the mind becomes unstable from the intense evil mana.’
In short, meaning that it became easier to rule and control the mind with hex.
The prediction was accurate.
Hesul was able to grasp Simon’s mind into his hand much too easily.
The problem arose after that.
‘The Pienville Mana Technique that has already reached a certain level, regardless of Simon, no, my will, is slowly acc.u.mulating even more evil mana.’
And the evil mana that slowly increased its strength instinctively reacted forcefully and violently to break the hex seal inside the head.
‘Control is possible up to now, but……’
If not careful, the hex seal will shatter and the intense evil mana could swallow Simon.
‘A rampage soaked in madness will begin.’
Not one man’s marionette doll, but becoming a real devil.
Hesul once again dryly swallowed.
‘d.a.m.n it. I can’t breathe.’
Breathing became painful because of the killing intent Simon poured out.
He immediately pressed both his hand’s fingers together to form a bizarre shape and then ordered with a voice mixed with annoyance.
“Suppress your pressure and close your eyes.”
Suddenly, a black light flashed in Simon’s eyes.
If like before, he would immediately have reacted to the order with a short answer.
But Simon of now, without any movement, merely glared fiercely at Hesul.
“Now!”
Hesul once again pulled his divine power and shouted.
“……Yes.”
Only then did Simon, together with a quiet answer, release the evil mana he had pulled up and closed his eyes.
The horrendous killing intent that choked his throat disappeared as if washed away.
“This b.a.s.t.a.r.d……”
Hesul glared at that Simon for a moment, then soon turned his head.
Numerous hexers were awaiting his order with stiffly solidified expressions.
“Huu.”
Hesul, with a short sigh, gave a simple but horrifying and gruesome order.
“The limit of the hex dolls made with corpses are clear.”
However it was, the fact that the hex dolls made with living humans who were biologically whole were much stronger was the truth.
Hesul, with a quiet and low voice, added on.
“Capture all of the Longfort Castle’s citizens as well as the surrounding region’s residents.”
Gulp.
The hexers dryly swallowed.
Because they knew what the order that would follow would be.
As expected, a cruel and wretched order fell down.
“We will turn them all into hex dolls.”
*****
A desolate plain where a single green hue couldn’t be seen.
After leading the repeating battles to victory, Roan set up a camp on the Infec Region’s western plain.
Although they were repeating victory after victory, it wasn’t as if they didn’t tire.
The Lancephil Fief Regiment’s soldiers were humans and needed rest.
That was also the same for Roan.
However much he used heat and water energy skillfully and had incredible might, he too needed rest.
But.
‘Now is not the time to rest yet.’
Forfeiting the very short and sweet resting time, he focused on a new training, no, a research.
Roan sat at the center of his tent and meticulously looked over the Travias Spear.
‘There is definitely something.’
The story he heard when he met Flamdor and Travias in the Vertex.
Travias’s small hint.
‘Bekeil. The reason that b.a.s.t.a.r.d was able to be called the Spear Ghost.’
Bekeil was Roan’s closest friend and the traitor he wished to pour down all kinds of curses at that took the Travias Spear and run away to the Byron Kingdom in the last life.
‘The son of a b.i.t.c.h was a rank-and-file spearman just like me.’
But in merely two years, became a spearman that ruled the continent’s Northeast and even received the name Spear Ghost.
‘It isn’t so that an incredible spearmanship and mana technique appear just because one gains the Travias Spear.’
If even Roan didn’t gain the Flamdor Mana Technique, he wouldn’t have been able to even lengthen the Travias Spear to a spear length.
In the first place, the Travias Spear was a magic weapon that couldn’t be properly used if there was no mana.
Roan held up the Travias spear in front of his eyes.
The black hue showed off an aloof appearance.
‘There must be an incredible mana or an incredible spearmanship hidden in there.’
Besides those, there was no way that Bekeil b.a.s.t.a.r.d could become the Spear Ghost from a bottom-rank spearman.
Roan turned the Travias Spear this way and that and closely inspected it again and again.
But there was no point that particularly stood out.
‘Should I pour in mana? No, that’s not it. Since Bekeil didn’t know how to use mana back then.’
A monologue.
He erased from the start the thought of doing something to the spear with mana.
‘Not using mana ultimately means that one can find the spear’s secret through physical means, but…… does that mean there is something like a very small device or s.p.a.ce hidden in here……’
It wasn’t something certain.
He had merely raised the theory with the highest possibility.
But even though he had inspected again and again while foregoing meals and going through the nights, he couldn’t find a single unique point.
“d.a.m.n it.”
Roan unconsciously spat out a curse.
Self-loathing filled up to his throat.
The face of the traitor Bekeil floated up in front of his eyes.
“That b.a.s.t.a.r.d really figured out the Travias Spear’s secret? That Bekeil son of a b.i.t.c.h whose much simpler and idiotic than……”
Roan, who poured out annoyance as if to deplore flinched and closed his mouth.
His eyes sharply shook.
“Right. Bekeil, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d was almost nauseously simple and idiotic.”
He absolutely wasn’t a man who would pa.s.s the nights and meticulously and closely a.n.a.lyze the spear like Roan.
‘Let’s think. Roan, what would Bekeil do?’
The memories and recollections about Bekeil that he didn’t even wish to think of.
The countless events that he arduously tried to erase away floated up clearly like events from yesterday.
Roan quietly sat and closely looked through the countless memories and recollections again and again.
Each time, he newly realized once again how stupid and simple a b.a.s.t.a.r.d Bekeil was.
Even more.
‘Right. That traitor b.a.s.t.a.r.d especially obsessed over things like legends and conspiracies.’
Bekeil was absurd and even immature.
‘How would a b.a.s.t.a.r.d like that discover the Travias Spear’s secr…… un? Eh?! Ah!’
Roan, who was looking over his memories and recollections, widely opened his eyes and slightly parted his mouth.
A greatly shocked look.
He unknowingly whispered in a small voice.
“Right, that guy was infatuated with the Atore Legend.”
Atore Legend.
It was the adventure story of hero Atore who was said to have defeated the demon king and demons and saved the human world.
Although it was a ridiculous story that anyone would snort at the moment they went past ten years old, Bekeil was infatuated with it even after becoming an adult enough to always talk about it with his mouth.
The highlight of the Atore Legend was the scene where the hero Atore earned the holy sword Divaino.
Roan quietly stared at the memory that continued one after another.
“Atore, who received the unsightly rusted sword Divaino, definitely……”
Thanks to the hexers’ attack, the Atore Legend’s story that he hadn’t even thought of because it was useless floated up clearly.
The tips of Roan’s mouth slightly went up.
“Atore definitely sprayed his blood onto the holy sword Divaino.”
His memory was clear.
Thump.
His heart fiercely raced.
‘Bekeil. If it was that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, he would definitely have sprayed his blood onto the Travias Spear.’
He probably wished to play out the hero Atore.
Roan placed the Travias Spear on top of a desk and pulled out a dagger.
The sharp blade received light and flashed.
“Huu.”
A heavy sigh needlessly flowed out.
‘It should be right, no?’
When he really tried to spray blood, the thought whether Bekeil was that simple came up.
But Roan soon shook his head.
‘Bekeil. If it’s that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, he would more than do so.’
Roan tightly bit his lower lip.
He grasped the dagger’s blade with his left hand.
Sssguk.
With a chilling sound, the palm longly split.
Scarlet blood blossomed up like a flower and then soon smoothly flowed down.
Drop. Drop drop drop drop.
Red droplets of blood fell onto the black Travias Spear.
Recollecting the Atore’s legend, Roan evenly coated his red blood onto the spear.
The spear that was black turned red.
Roan stared straight at the Travias Spear even while stopping the wound.
A look of determination that he wouldn’t miss even a small change.
But unlike his expectation, the Travias spear had no particular change.
‘Is my thought wrong……’
A hollow expression.
A bitter smile hanged on his mouth.
“Huu. Right, Bekeil wouldn’t be that simple and idiotic. Since even that guy was an all grown-up adult.”
Roan coughed at the uselessly embarra.s.sed feeling.
“Hmm.”
He casually extended his hand and picked up the Travias Spear.
“I should wipe it clean before it rusts.”
He needlessly felt sorry for the Travias Spear.
The blood that coated the spear stickily wetted his palm.
It wasn’t quite a good feeling.
“Where was the cloth……”
The moment Roan was about to move his steps to look for a clean cloth.
[Yawwwwwwn!]
An incredibly noisy sound of yawn pierced through his ears.
No, to be exact, it echoed inside his head.
‘Wha, what the?’
The moment Roan was panicking.
[What do you mean what the. It’s me Travias. So you finally woke me up.]
The as.e.xual voice that couldn’t be tell man or woman.
It was a highly familiar voice.
‘That Travias I met in the Vertex?’
[Yeah. It’s me, me. Definitely, the outside world is better than that dark Vertex. I’m almost blinded.]
A voice that seemed elated.
Roan was still fl.u.s.tered.
[Anyhow, I’m hungry enough to die. Would you hurry up and give me blood?]
Abrupt words.
Roan creased his brows.
He had heard of it before.
‘The tools of the demon king and the demons that disrupt the world are said to crave blood. Because of that, the owners of the objects became ghastly murderers……’
The moment his thoughts reached about that point, Travias peevishly spoke.
[You look like you misunderstood something really hard…… but I don’t eat other people’s blood.]
Words that continued on as if they were obvious.
The voice began to elate once again.
[I only drink your blood.]
< Amaranth (16) > End.