Chapter 19 - {The Grand Duke and the Loyal Subject}
{The Grand Duke and the Loyal Subject}
Translator : Elizabeth
Thump—. Thump—.
Regular vibrations shook the parade ground.
It was the heartbeat of Mammoth Prime, the massive mountain sleeping while bound in chains.
Inside that massive body, vitality that had endured for a long time unimaginable to humans was pulsating.
Even after sustaining injuries that would have caused shock death for an ordinary demonic beast, the bastard possessed regenerative power to recover on its own after just a few days.
'Mammoth Prime.'
Kalian de Winter stood by the window of his office, looking down at the silhouette of that massive living creature.
There was only one reason he wanted Mammoth Prime alive, even risking this immense cost and danger.
'If it's this level of vitality….'
Kalian's hand gripped the window frame tightly.
The leather gloves made a creaking sound.
'I might be able to wake him up.'
A cold wind leaked through the window gap and brushed Kalian's cheek.
That cold touch instantly dragged his consciousness back to the hellish snowfield 3 years ago.
To the worst moment of his life that happened in the Grey Forest.
3 years ago.
Northern Frontier, near the Grey Forest.
"Your Highness! You must stop!"
On the snowfield where a blizzard raged, a knight grabbed the reins of the horse and blocked the way.
It was Hart Castel, the Knight Commander of the North at the time.
A firm jawline, and brown eyes that were always trustworthy.
He was 10 years older than Kalian, but he wasn't simply an older subordinate.
To Kalian, who became the Head of the Family at a young age after the previous Grand Duke died, he was a teacher and brother-like figure who taught him swordsmanship and how to protect the North.
"Move, Hart. Smoke is rising from over there. It means a village is under attack!"
Kalian, who had just reached the realm of Sword Master at the age of 19 at the time, was full of vigor.
In his eyes, only the burning village and the screams carried by the wind entered.
"It is a trap."
Hart spoke firmly.
"They are <Followers of the Abyss>. Cunning and cruel cultists. There is no way they would raid a village where the Northern Regular Army is clearly visible without any preparation."
"So? Are you saying to abandon the people because we're afraid of a trap?"
"Not abandon, but send a scout team to confirm and detour. This canyon is terrain too perfect for an ambush. Your Highness's safety is the top priority!"
Hart's words were correct logic.
Prudence that a commander should naturally choose.
But to Kalian at the time, those words sounded like cowardice.
Having just become a Sword Master, he was overconfident in his martial power and intoxicated with the sense of duty as the owner of the North.
Especially the sounds of children coming through blocked his rational judgment.
"My people are dying. Children are screaming! And you tell me to send a scout team and test the waters?"
Kalian shook off Hart's restraint and spurred his horse.
"The owner of the North does not run away! Only those who will follow me, follow!"
"Your Highness! Please!"
Hart's scream was buried in the blizzard.
Kalian started running at the lead.
"Follow His Highness the Grand Duke!"
"Hurry!"
The knights also had no choice but to follow behind.
Hart also eventually had no choice but to follow behind Kalian.
That was the prelude to the tragedy.
"No!"
When they arrived at the village, Kalian realized his mistake.
The burning houses were illusion magic, and the screaming children were vengeful spirits writhing in pain being offered as sacrifices.
The entire village was already a massive altar.
"Kihahaha! You fell for it!"
"Arrogance will be your grave, brat Grand Duke!"
Cultists wearing black robes popped out from all directions.
A barrier of blood rose from the ground and bound the knights' feet.
It was an ambush.
And a hunting ground prepared very meticulously, aiming only for the single life of the Grand Duke.
"Damn it!"
Kalian swung his sword.
Every time the Aura Blade danced, the heads of cultists flew.
But their numbers were too many, and inside the barrier, the flow of Aura became turbid, so he couldn't exert his full skill.
If it were his sister Frederica, she could have easily broken through this level of encirclement and barrier.
She was a mature Sword Master and 5 years older than him.
But with his skill, having just become a Sword Master, the limits were clear.
The title of a genius rare in the history of the Grand Duchy, who became a Sword Master before turning twenty.
That title couldn't help him here right now.
Subordinates fell one by one in the encirclement.
"Escort Your Highness! Form a circle!"
In that chaos, only Hart commanded calmly.
He guarded Kalian's side and struck away the flying black magic and arrows.
His armor had already become rags, and blood was flowing down between his helmet.
But he didn't utter a single word of resentment.
"Your Highness, stand behind me. I will open a path."
A back as dependable as always was visible.
Kalian bit his lip looking at that back.
Self-reproach that his arrogance created this situation pierced his chest.
'I'm sorry. Once we get out… once we get out, I will listen to you, Hart.'
But fate was cruel.
While the melee continued, the one who appeared to be the leader of the cultists took something out of his bosom.
A grotesquely shaped dagger inhabited by evil energy.
"It's been 3 years."
The leader muttered with eyes full of madness.
"For this day, I offered 99 children as live sacrifices for 3 years to complete the curse. <Poison Fang Eating the Soul!> With this, the lineage of the Winter family will be cut off!"
Shoooo—!
The dagger flew toward Kalian.
It wasn't a simple throw.
The weapon imbued with a curse had a guidance function that tracked the target itself.
Bending its trajectory like a black snake, it rushed aiming exactly for Kalian's heart.
"……!"
Kalian's posture was broken from cutting another cultist.
He couldn't dodge.
He tried to draw up Aura to block, but due to the barrier, his reaction was a beat late.
That moment when death was right in front of his nose.
Thwack!
With a dull sound, a massive shadow rushed in front of his eyes.
"Kuk…!"
It was Hart.
He threw his body and blocked Kalian's front.
The black dagger embedded deeply not in Kalian's heart, but in Hart's left chest.
"Hart?!"
Kalian's scream burst out.
Hart stumbled.
From the spot where the dagger was embedded, black fog rose instead of blood.
That fog wrapped around Hart's entire body in an instant, dyeing his skin ashen gray.
"N-No…!"
A lament burst out from the mouth of the cultist leader.
It wasn't regret for failing to kill Kalian.
It was anger at their work being wasted in vain.
"Damn it! It missed!"
The leader screamed, hitting the ground.
"What kind of item that was! The curse made with 3 years of effort… to be used on a mere minion like that!"
Minion (Job-zol).
The moment that word pierced Kalian's ear, the world stopped.
"…Minion?"
Kalian supported the collapsing Hart with trembling hands.
Hart's eyes were already losing focus, but he was smiling looking at Kalian until the end.
"I'm glad… you are safe… Your Highness…."
That was the last.
Hart's head dropped powerlessly.
He wasn't dead. But he wasn't alive either.
A shell with only the body remaining, with the soul trapped in the abyss.
"Aaaagh! My curse! My merit!"
"How hard I worked offering sacrifices on time for 3 years!"
"My time of effort!"
The cultists were still only regretting the failure of their plan and chattering away.
In their eyes, Hart's sacrifice only looked like a meat shield that blocked an expensive arrow.
Snap.
Something inside Kalian snapped.
Reason, self-control, duty as a human being.
All of that evaporated white.
"Did you say… minion."
Kalian's voice tore the silence of the forest.
The killing intent formed in every single word he spat out became physical pressure and crushed the surrounding snow piles.
As anger swallowed reason, the Aura swirling near Kalian's heart ran wild and wrapped around his entire body like blue flames.
It was not the noble light of a knight.
It was the desperate death cry spat out by a beast who lost something precious, and the flame of slaughter forged by hatred.
"Whom do you bastards… dare mention with your mouths!"
Kwaaaaang!
That day, blood fell in the Grey Forest instead of snow.
Kalian didn't just swing his sword.
Swinging the sword with one hand, and with the other hand, he just tore, crushed, and burst.
The cultists couldn't even think of running away.
He tore off the throat of the guy begging for his life with his bare hand, and tore open the mouth of the guy pouring curses with his sword laden with Aura.
He kept the leader alive until the very last.
He gave pain until the bastard regretted what he did to the bone and begged to be killed instead.
"Haa… haa…."
When the battle ended, the only living things on the snowfield were Kalian and Hart.
Covered in blood, Kalian carried the vegetative Hart on his back and wailed.
"Hart… everyone… I'm sorry… damn it…!"
At the fact that his arrogance, his stubbornness, pushed his most loyal subject and friend into hell.
At the fact that all the loyal knights with him lost their lives because of him.
He had no choice but to scream and wail.