Chapter 158: The Man - 15
Chapter 158: The Man - 15
Unique Narsha Russellarms.
He'd heard that the Dirga were short, and in person she was definitely small-framed.
Little hands, small feet, a compact body that was almost cute, yet the curves held a woman's provocativeness—a race where both traits coexisted.
Cute and indecent at the same time.
But the chill in her eyes as she looked at Jiha was unmistakable.
"A madman, I see. Just what sort of training has Enril been giving him...?"
"And who trained you to be this clueless? What exactly made you jump in like that?"
"......."
Narsha had decided to ignore him, and her gaze swept over the other escort guards.
In response, the men brought over a chair, set a table in front of her, and laid out drinks, fruit, and things to chew on.
The whole thing took less than thirty seconds—clearly not the work of someone doing it for the first time.
'Not one of them got in anyone else's way, either.'
Watching, Jiha was dumbfounded.
She hadn't spoken a word of command. One look, and they all moved to set everything up.
Narsha sank into the soft backrest and idly crossed her legs.
Because she was small, her feet didn't quite reach the floor and swung lightly.
She carried herself like a little queen.
"Well, Lungtao? You stirred up trouble without my permission and couldn't even win—time to take your punishment."
"......."
Lungtao let out a deep sigh and turned his gaze to Jiha.
"Go back now."
"What?"
He could have understood if Lungtao had declared he would restore the Dirga's honor and attacked him.
This wasn't that kind of atmosphere.
Lungtao simply shook his head without a word.
A request not to ask. Jiha frowned.
Jiha shot a cold glare at Bran, standing behind the Dirga.
'I told you to bring a Unique, not to have her crash the scene like this... You've wrecked the plan.'
Either way, the mood had soured.
Lungtao no longer seemed willing to fight, so Jiha couldn't press it either.
Simply beating Lungtao wasn't the goal—during the process, he needed to earn the admiration of the other escort guards for the objective to be fulfilled.
"......."
Jiha glared at Narsha... and she drew the whip coiled at her waist.
A whip made of dark red scales, clearly no ordinary object.
Probably a Dirga weapon.
"Now then—punishment for failing to protect my honor."
Narsha flicked the whip lightly, and Lungtao walked over to her without a word.
The strange turn of events made Jiha's frown deepen.
"What are you doing?"
The escort guards glanced at each other and kept silent.
Every one of them was a man who had lived by the blade, but right now they looked thoroughly ill at ease, as if they all wanted to flee.
Lungtao gave Jiha a long, heavy look, then knelt with his back exposed before Narsha.
Narsha looked down at him with clear disapproval and snapped her fingers.
Snap!
At the light sound, the back section of Lungtao's armor melted away and vanished smoothly.
A trick she could pull off because the armor itself was her own creation.
"How dare you disgrace yourself?"
Craack!
Narsha brought the whip down across Lungtao's back.
The air split with the sound, and a vivid red line carved itself into the beastman's furred hide.
"I make you weapons and give you armor, and you still can't win! I give you money! I give you weapons—and you act this pathetic?"
"......."
"You think you're somebody? Without my weapons, you're nothing anyway! You piece of trash! The time I spent forging for you feels wasted! Disgusting!"
Narsha snarled icily and kept swinging the whip.
Lungtao might have been a sturdy tiger beastman, but that whip was clearly no ordinary implement. Every strike sent blood flying and split flesh.
The other escort guards could barely watch; they turned their heads away or squeezed their eyes shut.
Oblivious to everything around her, Narsha kept lashing him.
Crack! Crack! Craack!!
"......."
Jiha watched the scene in front of him and slowly clenched his fist.
Since coming to Warsland, he'd been through all kinds of things and thought he'd grown used to this world.
But this went beyond anything he'd imagined.
"What kind of crazy bitch...."
Jiha forced his anger down and glared at Narsha.
She was a Unique. Fire him up all she wanted—she wasn't an opponent to be taken lightly.
"Are you insane?"
"...I'll have to have a serious word with Enril. I came all this way to help, and what is that supposed to be?"
Narsha wasn't even bothering to engage with Jiha.
She jerked her chin toward the other escort guards.
"Get that thing out of my sight. I don't want to see him again."
"......."
The guards hesitated, glancing nervously at Lungtao.
Lungtao, who hadn't let out a single groan through the entire whipping, conveyed a clear message to Jiha with just his eyes.
Don't get involved. The meaning was clear, but Jiha had no intention of holding back.
"Ah, fine. I'll handle this my way."
Jiha strode forward without hesitation, right toward Lungtao.
Still kneeling, Lungtao looked up at him in silence.
"......."
In that instant, Jiha understood the entire situation.
Lungtao's weapon and armor had all been made by Narsha, and she could control them.
Just as the armor had melted away moments ago, the moment Narsha willed it, his sword would turn into scrap metal.
Lungtao's strength depended on Dirga weapons, so he couldn't defy the Dirga who made them.
Escort guards in name only—the reality was a structure where they had to obey whatever the Dirga did.
"......."
When Jiha turned his head to glance around, the other guards all looked away with complicated expressions.
So that was why they, too, could only endure this farce in silence.
"Gilded armor."
Beautifully gleaming, but liable to flake off at any moment.
Jiha spoke to Lungtao calmly.
"Get up, Lungtao."
"......."
When Lungtao looked up at him, Jiha repeated himself.
"If you're still a man, get up."
"I keep still because I am a man."
Did Lungtao not find this humiliation unbearable?
One look made it obvious this wasn't the first time.
But Lungtao's eyes as he gazed up at Jiha burned bright.
"Our duel is not yet finished."
"......."
Endure today's humiliation to achieve tomorrow's goal.
For the sake of a greater purpose, Lungtao had held out yesterday and was holding out again today.
"We'll settle it next time."
"......."
Jiha closed his eyes.
Several ways to overturn this situation surfaced in his mind, but...
"Next time, we settle it."
Jiha fixed Narsha—and Bran behind her—with an icy glare, then turned and walked away.
Narsha let out a scoff, but inwardly Jiha steeled his resolve.
He would make her regret this. For certain.
The barracks.
Jiha returned directly and went into his room without seeking anyone out.
A room of his own.
"......Haah."
He felt like getting blind drunk, but he forced the impulse down.
"Good, good...."
Motivation mattered.
He'd had no intel on Narsha's personality, but that one scene told him everything he needed to know.
"No wonder the other guards might rally under Lungtao."
If that was how Narsha treated Lungtao, how much worse must it be for the rest?
Lungtao had to be enduring that humiliating treatment with his own calculation in mind.
Knock knock.
"...Wait. Are you okay?"
The door opened without waiting for Jiha's answer.
Opening the door, Enril stood in the doorway and looked at Jiha with worried eyes.
"Can I come in?"
"No, right now...."
When Jiha reflexively shook his head, Enril spoke carefully.
"They said you were hurt. Shouldn't you see a healer?"
"......."
He'd nearly forgotten, but one of his arms was broken.
A dull throb with every movement.
Jiha shook his head.
"Sirel... isn't on duty. I'll see the night healer."
A healer was working the night shift at the barracks.
Right now, Jiha didn't want to deal with a familiar face.
Just as Jiha was about to wrap up the conversation, Enril closed the door and stepped inside.
"Are you okay?"
"......."
The nuance wasn't about his body; she was checking on his mental state.
Is it that obvious?
"I heard about it from Mayan. I didn't know much about Narsha myself, but...."
"Do I seem that upset right now?"
"...No. Honestly, I can't tell."
Normally, Jiha didn't reveal much emotion.
Enril had come after hearing Mayan's account, but even now, in the middle of talking, she couldn't read what was going on inside him.
Jiha tossed out a question to shift his own thoughts.
"Can the Dirga do whatever they want with a Dirga weapon?"
"If the Dirga who forged it wants, it can be rendered useless at any moment. Its performance is far superior to other weapons, but... that's the weakness."
"So you can never disobey."
Once you accepted a Dirga weapon, you had to obey the Dirga's will if you wanted to keep that strength.
"Now I see why Cheonho tolerates the Dirga. That explains it."
"What do you mean?"
"They're building an army of men, aren't they. If it were the Cheonho I know, she'd have no reason to leave them be."
From what he'd heard about the burned books and a few other pieces of intelligence, the Legend Cheonho didn't shy away from bloodshed in the slightest.
A ruler who would not tolerate any movement that challenged the female-dominant social order.
The Dirga's practice of giving fine weapons only to men ran completely counter to that.
But the moment Narsha decided to, all 2,300 escort guards would be neutralized in an instant.
"What would happen if Narsha were to die?"
"Every weapon she made would lose its original power."
"A complete mess."
Jiha shook his head in disbelief.
A race that lured men in with the sweet honey of becoming stronger, then used them as they pleased and lorded over them like a queen bee.
"So they're a nasty-tempered queen, and the men have no choice but to live as pack mules and workhorses."
Enril shook her head.
"No, not all Dirga are like that. If anything, Narsha is a rare case...."
Jiha organized his thoughts.
'Lungtao can't rebel against Narsha. The moment he does, he loses his strength. Lungtao can't be unaware of that, so either the two of them have a mutual understanding toward a larger goal, or there's a way to slip out of her control....'
Does that mean Narsha also has designs on overturning Warsland? Which is it?
Enril came closer and carefully took hold of Jiha's left arm.
"Stop thinking about it for now. Get treatment first, and rest a little...."
"......."
Seeing Enril's concern, Jiha stared at her.
Enril had changed a great deal too.
"Come to think of it..."
Enril had once beaten him senseless, but there had been a reason behind it—of a sort.
'Well, whether it's justified to beat someone who surrendered without a fight is another matter entirely....'
At the very least, Enril had always valued honor.
But Narsha was doing this purely to humiliate Lungtao.
Enril gently pulled at Jiha's hand.
"First, get treated."
After receiving treatment from the healer, Jiha sat down on the sofa in Enril's office.
The healer's skill hadn't been exceptional, so he wasn't fully healed.
His arm was wrapped in bandages, set in a cast, and supported by a triangular sling.
"......."
Practically advertising that he was injured.
He'd have to get treated again in the morning once Sirel came in.
Enril, seated across from him, hadn't said a word.
"You're past quitting time. Not going home?"
"...I'll just stay."
She plainly had Jiha on her mind.
'Mayan, running her mouth for no reason....'
Jiha showed nothing on the surface, but Enril had heard what happened and was worried about him.
Now, she genuinely cared for him.
"Enril."
"Hm?"
She answered cautiously when he called her.
"Let's have dinner. Together."
"...Sure. I'll get ready to go out right away."
When Enril's face lit up, Jiha shook his head.
"No, don't go out. Let's just eat here."
Jiha tapped the sling lightly with a flick of his fingers.
He'd be fully healed by tomorrow, but he didn't want to show a weakened appearance in front of others.
Even so, Enril wore a deeply pleased expression.
"Alright. Then I'll quickly..."
Knock knock.
Just then, there was a knock, and Uben came in.
Head bowed, he took a moment to read the room.
"Someone has come looking for the commander."
"...Should I leave?"
At Enril's question, Jiha considered it briefly and shook his head.
'If it comes to a fight with Narsha, all 2,300 escort guards will end up as enemies. In that case, letting Enril know now is the right call....'
Jiha spoke curtly.
"Who?"
"...Lungtao. He came alone."
Jiha laughed before he could stop himself.
Walking into enemy territory all by himself.
"Enril, dinner will have to wait."
Jiha rose from his seat.
"A different appointment just came up."
If he came as a man, then he deserved to be received as one.