Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Night Visitors Come Without Warning (2)
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"Cain!"
Carlo tumbled off his horse. Forgetting all dignity, he rushed frantically toward the cave.
"Lord! It's dangerous!"
He couldn't even hear Hector and the vassals trying to stop him from behind.
*My son!*
His one and only son, whom he wouldn't trade for all the gold in the world, not even if it hurt his eyes to look at him.
He couldn't lose him like this.
*Please don't do anything foolish!*
Carlo could guess why Cain had defied his orders and gone to the island.
That suspicious sword that had withered all the coral and pearls, and in the end, even devoured people.
As the rightful heir to Sud Territory, he couldn't just stand by and watch. He must have gone to eliminate the threat to the territory.
*Please!*
No matter how fast Carlo ran, he couldn't outpace the trained knights. Hector and his vassals quickly caught up to him.
"Lord! Wait—"
The moment Hector reached out to grab Carlo,
Boom!
A fierce gust of wind burst out from the cave along with an explosion.
"Ugh!"
"What is it?!"
The people hurriedly raised their arms to shield themselves from the wind. After the whirlwind clawed at their bodies and passed,
"……Cain."
Carlo's face drained of color.
"Cain!"
He charged into the cave.
"Lord!"
Hector and the vassals followed behind.
"Cain! Cain!"
As they raced madly through the cave, they suddenly realized it was no longer hot inside.
The abnormal daytime heat had vanished, leaving only the familiar mild warmth of Sud Territory.
And by the time they noticed that,
Step.
They had reached the depths of the cave.
"-!"
Carlo's eyes widened as if they might burst.
"Cain!"
His son, Cain, lay collapsed on the ground.
"No!"
Carlo rushed over and scooped his son into his arms.
Cain lay motionless with his eyes closed, his face pale. Though his body felt warm, he was drenched in cold sweat from head to toe.
"Cain, open your eyes!"
In his panic, Carlo didn't even notice that the sword he had seen earlier was gone.
"Cain, please!"
He could only stroke his son's face with his hands, calling his name over and over.
"Young Master!"
"Lord!"
Hector, who had caught up, reached out and checked under Cain's nose.
"……He seems to have just fainted."
Letting out a sigh of relief, he looked around and realized something.
"Wait. The sword is gone."
His expression turned grave as he looked back at Cain.
"No way, did the Young Master……?!"
Carlo, who had checked Cain's hands, gasped.
"His hands!"
Both of Cain's palms were swollen red. Traces of severe burns.
"There's this on the ground!"
Hector, who had been searching the area, found a piece of a melted gauntlet. It was the part that showed what Cain had worn to grip the sword.
"Then where did the sword……?"
Hector muttered in confusion, but Carlo had no time to think about that with his son's injury.
"Call a doctor right now! We need to get back to the territory!"
He hoisted Cain into his arms. With a completely ashen face, he pushed past the others' protests and ran out of the cave.
"Lord! Let me carry the Young Master!"
"You'll get hurt! Please!"
In the chaos, no one noticed.
The image of a sword engraved with flames flickered briefly over the back of Cain's hand before vanishing.
❖ ❖ ❖
"Squeak……."
The monster Lephri, covered in fluffy white fur with enormous rabbit-like ears, stretched out its limbs and died.
Whoosh!
I pulled Requiem from the corpse and shook it off. As if flicking meat scraps from the blade.
"Oh, right."
I had done something unnecessary.
The habit had formed from using a normal sword all day.
This was a small village in a remote corner of the northern mountains.
By the time I arrived, most of the villagers had already been slaughtered. By the nocturnal Lephri that hunted mainly at night.
The thick snowflakes cut through the quiet night air, piling up on the corpses of humans and monsters alike.
Crunch, crunch.
Bones crushing came from behind me.
"Prune!"
Blackstar gulped down a Lephri whole, bones and all, then neighed contentedly. It had bulked up lately from joining me on these night hunts.
"You like it, huh."
I left the creature devouring a baby Lephri and strolled slowly.
The area was eerie, piled high with Lephri corpses like mountains. But my steps were as leisurely as if I were out for a walk.
"……."
Thanks to devouring dozens of fresh monsters every day, Requiem slumbered contentedly, fully sated.
Releasing it in controlled bursts was effective, but this was even better.
*If only there weren't so many monsters to kill every single day.*
At night, I went solo hunting with Requiem. During the day, I killed monsters with the subjugation unit.
A grueling schedule that no ordinary human could handle.
But thanks to absorbing life force through Requiem, my body was in better shape than ever.
At this rate, I'd arrive smoothly in Nord Territory. If I handled Lady Lea and Aria as planned, everything would be perfect.
But……
*Cain probably won't show up after all.*
Cain was still nowhere to be seen today.
Was Cadenza an ordinary sword?
The Sword of Summer, Cadenza, mercilessly incinerates anyone unworthy who dares to grip it. Its heat is so intense it can melt metal.
In that sense, Requiem was just a tiny bit—very tiny bit—better than Cadenza.
At least Requiem didn't kill the person holding it. Though it did goad them into getting killed by others.
What Cadenza sought was justice, passion, and ambition. It only accepted those with a heart as hot and pure as its flames.
*Just like Cain.*
That's why I had abandoned the idea of claiming Cadenza. It didn't suit my nature.
Moreover, according to the original story, a human could wield only one of the Four Seasons Swords.
So instead of taking Cadenza, I hoped it would become a massive blaze blocking Cain's path.
Just as Ovest Territory was turned to ruins by Requiem in the original story, perhaps Sud Territory would meet the same fate because of Cadenza.
*If no worthy master appears, it'll just keep burning everything around it anyway.*
With Cain's personality, he wouldn't stand by and watch.
Even in the original story, where everything was prepared, Cain had struggled greatly to become Cadenza's master. So it was reasonable to expect failure this time.
Siena was a bit of a wildcard, though.
*No way that would happen.*
Ideally, Cain would die or end up crippled. And then join the subjugation war late, in that state.
Seeing my dazzling achievements piled up, he'd faint from shock.
Imagining him scrambling desperately to surpass me brought a smile to my face.
"Pruuune!"
Blackstar wagged its tail and approached me, belly full of tender baby Lephri meat.
"All done? Let's go."
"Prune!"
I hopped onto Blackstar's back.
At that moment, I felt the gazes of humans gathering on me.
"……."
I'd sensed it since entering the village. A few survivors hiding in their houses.
Survivors were a hassle.
*Should I kill them?*
I twitched the hand gripping Requiem and tugged Blackstar's reins.
"This way."
I directed it toward the house where people were hiding.
[Eek!]
[Don't make a sound!]
The people inside the house huddled down in panic. They tried their best, but they couldn't fool my ears.
*……No, wait.*
A better idea than killing witnesses came to mind.
Survivors in Cader Territory had testified about me before. Back then, since I'd cut down fellow humans, vicious rumors spread……
Bang!
"Listen up, people inside."
A sly smile flashed on my lips as I knocked on the window.
❖ ❖ ❖
A small castle at the mid-supply base.
"My goodness, Lord Mikel! You're safe!"
Knight Yorgen rushed out as the gates opened.
"I greet you, Lord."
He knelt before Mikel along with those who had been guarding the walls.
Mikel immediately pulled him to his feet and embraced him tightly.
"Yorgen."
Complex emotions laced Mikel's voice.
In a situation where messenger birds couldn't come and go easily, Yorgen had held out with just the castle's personnel until now.
"You've truly suffered."
Mikel hugged him tightly, conveying all the words welling up in his chest through the embrace.
"No, you've suffered far more, Lord."
Freed from the embrace, Yorgen glanced back.
"We just received word that the subjugation unit was formed. The bad weather delayed the messenger birds."
A broad smile bloomed on his stiff face.
"Thank goodness. Truly. With a force this size, I can finally breathe easy."
He kept patting his chest, speaking in a bright voice.
"You must have subjugated all the monsters you saw on the way here, right?"
"Well, about that……."
Mikel's expression turned awkward as he replied.
"We did fight monsters on the way, but it wasn't quite what we expected……."
"Pardon?"
"I'll explain in detail soon. How are things here?"
Mikel looked carefully around the walls and smiled brightly.
"Fortunately, the surroundings are clear. Thanks to you all holding out so well."
"Ah, yes. Well……."
Yorgen's expression was subtly awkward as he answered. Noticing it, Mikel's eyes narrowed.
"What happened?"
"Oh, it's not bad news. Just a bit ambiguous."
As Yorgen hurriedly added, Mikel's eyes relaxed slightly.
"Then what is there to hesitate about? Tell me everything."
"Well, I don't even know how to explain this……."
A troubled look crossed Yorgen's face.
After the story ended.
"Is that true?"
Mikel asked with a skeptical face.
"A lone man on horseback swept away twenty-four Gatino in that pitch-black night and leisurely departed?"
"I'm sorry. It sounds like a lie, but when we went out, they were all indeed dead."
"No, I'm not blaming you. Actually……."
Mikel stroked his beard silently before speaking slowly.
"……It seems we received that man's help too."
"Pardon? Did he appear before you as well, Lord?"
"More precisely, he appeared before the survivors."
Mikel's gaze turned to the back. He spoke while looking at the ragged-clothed people mixed in with the subjugation unit.
"The survivors called him the 'Black Knight.'"
It was a nickname from his black hair, black eyes, black clothes, and black horse.
"They say after he cleared out all the monsters attacking the village, he told them to head southeast, where people would help them."
Mikel turned his gaze back to Yorgen.
"Those 'people to help' were us. Thanks to that, they joined us safely."
"He spoke? That's news to me."
"His voice was a bit eerie, but it was definitely human speech."
Mikel stroked his beard, lost in thought.
"I saw several traces of his work along the way. Without him, this subjugation would have been far more perilous."
His pale blue eyes sparkled with curiosity and interest.
"He moves with purpose and can communicate, so he's clearly human. The issue is, I don't know why he's helping us."
"Either way, he's friendly toward us. He never laid a hand on humans."
"True. But somehow……."
Mikel looked back. The subjugation unit members leaned wearily against their horses.
"……I have this feeling he's among us. No. Of course not."
He shook his head.
"I must be thinking nonsense. How could a human body do that?"