Chapter 120: Don't Touch (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 120: Don't Touch (9)
The Flame Sphere in Alan’s hand rose once more. Seeing it, Nered slowly opened his mouth.
“…They came to find me not long after the Blue Warbler was executed. They already knew she was a spy, not a simple assassin. They offered me a large sum of money to find replacements and continue her work.”
“To hear you talk, one would think Secritia was destitute,” Chase remarked with a faint smirk, having watched quietly from the side.
Back then, Bern would have only been seventeen.
Devlan had planned to entrust the management of the spies to Bern as soon as he began learning swordsmanship, so Bern had helped manage them from a young age.
And Devlan’s treatment of his spies was by no means poor, then or now. The self-deprecation in Chase’s voice stemmed from a single, stark truth this series of events had revealed.
Everything was the same as it had been in the past, with one crucial difference.
Bern’s absence.
That was the cause.
Feigning ignorance of Chase’s mood, Alan asked, “Isn’t it obvious they aren’t affiliated with any nation? The warriors of the Great Desert have no nation to begin with.”
“It’s not just them. I’ve seen mages from Libern, and there were priests from Tensil mixed in as well.”
“So you’re saying it’s not just spies from Secritia or warriors from the Great Desert.”
“Correct. But that’s all I know. I don’t even know what name they operate under.”
An organization formed by individuals from various nations.
After studying Nered closely, Alan glanced at Chase, who gave a slight nod. A silent understanding passed between them: Nered had nothing left to hide.
A meaningful smile touched Alan’s lips as he spoke to Chase.
“Quite remarkable, isn’t it? He seems to care so deeply for the other birds.”
It was an assessment of Nered, who had cracked the moment Alan threatened the lives of the remaining spies. Knowing Alan wasn’t looking for an answer, Chase remained silent.
Alan turned his gaze back to Nered, his eyes crinkling into a gentle smile.
“…But tell me, do you even know the names of those fleeing spies you’re so desperate to protect?”
Nered’s expression didn’t change. He continued to glare at Alan, his face a mask of fury at the ruthless hand he’d been dealt.
At first glance, it seemed he had spoken up to save his subordinates. The way his eyes had instantly reddened when a Flame Sphere shot toward one of them seemed to prove it.
“Did some nonexistent friendship suddenly blossom after coming to Kairis? Did those ten people become so close that they decided to defect hand-in-hand?”
But spies, by nature, didn’t even know each other’s identities. Nered was no exception. They had absolutely no personal ties with one another—a fact Calian had once exploited to extract information.
“I know that’s impossible, so don’t try to deceive me.”
After all, Alan was a man as skilled at reading people as he was at sarcasm. He believed someone must have enticed them, causing all ten to defect individually before ending up here. That was how most defections happened, wasn't it?
Alan’s face was calm as he continued. “I may look like this, but I’ve lived long enough not to be fooled by a mere facade.”
Of course, Alan hadn’t detected the lie through intuition alone. There was another reason he was certain Nered’s behavior was an act.
The ‘White Eagle’ was a spy fiercely loyal to Secritia. That, however, did not mean he felt any affection for other spies.
In the past, Calian had once told an uncooperative Blue Warbler that he would ‘have the White Eagle interrogate her.’ At those words, the Blue Warbler had immediately started talking, terrified of Nered’s cruelty.
And wasn’t the Blue Warbler a fellow spy?
If he truly cared for his comrades, he might feel anger over their defection, but he wouldn’t have been so brutal that, as Calian had known, Chase couldn’t eat for three days after seeing the corpse of the spy he interrogated.
“Furthermore, your behavior is utterly contradictory. You smuggled nine of them out. Yet you tried to swallow poison in front of me. When I killed two, you spat the poison out. I questioned you, but you refused to speak. I killed one more, and only when I threatened to kill the remaining six did you finally talk.”
Nered didn’t answer.
“If you truly wanted to save them, you wouldn’t have tried to bite down on poison; you would have fought desperately. A true savior would try anything before thinking of death. To act as if you would abandon everything and die, only to rage as they are killed one by one—it’s a complete contradiction.”
Nered hadn’t drawn his sword. He had deliberately let his breathing betray his attempt to use poison, meaning he acted knowing Alan would stop him. Even that must have been a ploy to buy time.
And Nered had essentially revealed why he needed to buy time when he broke the instant Alan threatened the remaining six.
“You acted that way because at least one of them had to escape alive to call those warriors back here.”
Nered’s expression flickered. Alan didn’t miss it.
“Don’t get your hopes up. No one is coming.”
The six Flame Spheres plummeted to the ground.
* * *
Two pills.
Sitting across from Nered, Chase placed two pills on the table under Alan’s watchful gaze.
“I believe you know what these are,” he said, his voice quiet. “Do I need to explain?”
Life and death.
Looking at the pills that offered two different paths, Nered answered. Having handled all sorts of items for his work, he could easily identify medicine of this caliber.
“I know, Your Royal Highness.”
“Indeed.” A smile brushed Chase’s lips. “However, I’m afraid I cannot give you a choice.”
With that, Chase picked up one of the pills and tossed it to the floor. The one he discarded was the poison that would bring death—the poison that had been Nered’s single ray of hope.
What remained was the poison that would rob him of his sight, speech, and hearing, granting him a life where he could never see, hear, or speak again.
A voice that could never harmonize with his serene, forest-like smile—a voice that sounded as if the harsh winter of Kairis had been transplanted into his throat—flowed out once more.
“For you have touched what you should never have touched.”
“…Your Royal Highness.”
At Chase’s gesture, the surrounding knights seized Nered and forced his mouth open. They shoved the remaining pill down his throat. Nered struggled, but he couldn’t spit it out.
“Live on, and wander through a despair filled with regret.”
With those final words, Chase rose and walked out. The sound of his footsteps, not a single beat different from when he had entered, gradually faded into the distance.
It was the last thing Nered ever saw or heard of the man he tried to call back to.
* * *
Teilan’s sword was, naturally, strong.
For three long days, with the Secritian knights he led completely wiped out, Teilan had held off the knights of Kairis all by himself until the mages of Valkan arrived. He had endured alone, buying time for Secritia to organize its final line of defense. The man who had single-handedly blocked the sole path to the Secritian Royal Palace was none other than Teilan.
Though it was still nine years before that day, Teilan was still Teilan.
Slash!
Severing the arm of a man in his path, Teilan’s sword split the man’s heart in two before stopping. As he retrieved his blade, a warrior lunged from behind. Just as Teilan raised his sword to block the incoming blade, which was coated in Red Aura—
Crunch!
With the sound of piercing bone, the warrior’s body plummeted to the ground. A hole the size of a forearm was gouged in his neck—the path carved by a Wind Arrow.
It was Calian’s doing.
Teilan blocked a sword from another direction and slashed his opponent’s neck. He then severed the leg of one of two warriors charging Calian. The other collapsed with a hole pierced through his heart, this time from a Wind Spear.
Fwoosh!
A roar of flames erupted. A massive fireball, conjured by their mage, surged toward Teilan.
The moment Teilan’s sword began to glow a deeper blue to block it—
“Shield.”
With a low murmur, Calian stepped in front of Teilan, taking the fireball head-on with a Shield layered over his own aura.
Boom!
A deafening explosion rocked the air. The shield expanded, blocking the thermal blast, and Calian swallowed the metallic taste that rose in his throat.
There was no way Teilan wouldn’t notice. Frowning, he said, “Please step back. I know your body has not yet recovered.”
Calian paused. Though Teilan had no way of knowing, it had been a very long time since his former master had spoken to him with such formal respect. Even after they had formed their master-disciple bond, Alan had always spoken formally to him, but Teilan had not.
Facing six warriors still brimming with killing intent, Calian replied with a relaxed smile, despite his body’s condition. “I detest being a burden.”
He conjured another Wind Arrow, piercing the forehead of a charging warrior.
Shaking his head, Teilan flicked his sword and slashed the neck of a knight rushing him with Red Aura. The attackers had no intention of engaging Teilan for long; to a man, they targeted Calian with dogged persistence.
Sigh.
While Teilan cut down three more, another fireball flew toward them. Letting out a short sigh, Calian raised his shield and circulated his mana.
Boom!
Swoosh!
The moment the fire exploded against Calian’s shield, a Wind Spear tore through the air.
Crunch!
A moment later, a massive hole opened in the chest of the mage who had been casting from the rear. Staring down at his wound in disbelief, the mage’s body slowly collapsed.
Thud.
With that, all sixteen warriors who had attacked them were dead. Their individual combat power was significantly lower than that of the first five, but with so many of them, Calian couldn’t have left Teilan to handle them alone.
Fortunately, Teilan didn’t question why Calian hadn’t drawn his sword. Calian had learned swordsmanship from Teilan. In fact, the swordsmanship Calian now used was, in some ways, superior to Teilan’s, as it was a style that wouldn’t be perfected for another ten years. Fearing it might negatively affect Teilan, Calian had refrained from using his blade.
Attributing it to Calian’s physical condition, Teilan simply asked, “Is it all right not to leave any of them alive?”
“It’s fine. I’ve figured out why they attacked,” Calian said with a smile, his face as pale as a sheet.
Teilan didn’t see the black pebble clutched in Calian’s hand.
* * *
Franz frowned at the sour scent filling the room.
It was hard to tell if Calian had collapsed into sleep or simply fallen asleep while collapsing. In any case, the moment he returned to the palace, he spent an entire day in bed. Yan’s worried voice had echoed all the way to Franz’s room.
After Calian finally dragged himself out of bed, Alan paid him a brief visit. Afterward, Calian trudged up to the fourth floor carrying a basket of tangerines and, without a word, began peeling and eating them.
“…What are you doing?” Franz had already asked four times.
Calian, who had only replied that he was hungry and to wait a moment, finally spoke after the room was filled with the scent of tangerines.
“I don’t think we should completely tear Brissen apart.”
“Why?” Franz asked, taken aback by the abrupt change of topic.
Calian pulled the stone from his pocket, placed it on the table, and said, “This is the only reason they would go out of their way to target me. As I mentioned, they haven’t done anything particularly egregious in Kairis.”
Laughing softly, Calian continued. “They were also using a power that felt similar to the energy of this stone. At first, I wondered if they’d been targeting me ever since they found out I had it. I thought that while they wanted me, they couldn’t easily attack due to my status as a prince, so they were just biding their time. Once I realized that, the rest of the puzzle fell into place.”
“So? What is it?”
“The spies also delivered information that Tensil and the Great Desert had joined hands. They attacked me the instant they received that news. So, to anyone who wasn’t me, you, or Crown Prince Chase, it would have looked like Tensil was behind this. Just as Marquis Brissen believed.”
It was the perfect opportunity for them. They could launch their planned attack and shift the blame onto Tensil.
“While they were looking for the right time to strike, they learned about the alliance between the Great Desert and Tensil and swooped in, thinking this was their chance. It was all to make His Majesty believe that Tensil was the mastermind.”
Calian pointed to the stone. “After creating that distraction, it seems they wanted to test whether I knew how to use this power. They might have even thought of just killing me while they were at it.”
He doubted their primary goal was to steal the stone or kill him. After all, Sia possessed a similar item and had been left completely alone. They hadn’t gone out of their way to attack her.
On the other hand, Calian knew how to use Aura—a power that had manifested suddenly. Naturally, they grew suspicious.
“They wanted to confirm if I had figured out the power of this stone, and if I had stepped onto the Path of the Sword using that power. I believe that’s what they were trying to verify.”
That was his conclusion. Calian recalled how the pebble had reacted whenever the enemies’ Red Aura flared during the fight with Teilan.
“Their power and this stone are definitely related. However, they must have realized that my power isn’t a fake like theirs. Besides, this served as a clear warning not to touch me again, so I doubt they’ll attack for the time being.”
Pausing for a moment, Calian thought of Sispanian. “But I don’t think this is the end. It also means there’s a secret important enough for them to risk touching me.”
Franz quietly closed his eyes.
Calian continued, “Since you have no intention of becoming king anyway, nor any desire to stay in the royal palace, how about going to Brissen?”
“Brissen?”
“Once the matter with Brother Randel is resolved, I’ll leave Brissen intact and hand it over to you. The enemy’s strength seems considerable, so we’ll probably need Brissen’s power as well.”
Calian had been steadily building his own strength as if preparing for something. Yet now, he was saying they would need Brissen’s power, too.
“…My younger brother certainly knows how to make things troublesome for me.”
Calian nodded with a bright, beaming smile. “You can raise a cat in Brissen. I’ll even find a way so you don’t have to leave the capital.”