Chapter 146
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 146
Ar gave a slight nod. Taking it as his cue, Garot turned and headed for the balcony first.
The entrance was a narrow passage. For those inside the dark, enclosed building, it was the only space illuminated by the light pouring in from outside.
Gazing at the glowing rectangle with colorless eyes, Ar slowly took a step forward.
The Knights' Sanctuary.
It was a space built for the sole purpose of giving speeches, designed to look down upon all who stood below.
As he stepped into the light, the first thing to hit him was a wave of noise—the clamor of thousands of people gathered below, all waiting for him.
Next, his comrades from the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights came into view. The entire order was lined up on both sides of the balcony. Though they varied in height and build, in this moment, they were one. Clad in identical white uniforms, they held the same posture, backs straight, gazes fixed forward.
Ar shifted his eyes slightly to the left.
Barisik was the first to catch his eye, and next to him stood Uin.
Uin, who usually wandered about in a dress or wore her uniform coat sloppily, was dressed impeccably today. Her long, sky-blue hair and the hem of her uniform fluttered in unison with the wind.
“……”
Turning his head to the right, he saw Sturman. He looked full of energy, having completely recovered from the injuries he’d sustained in Knecht. Standing steadfastly at his post, he resembled a giant tree.
Beside him, Rashumer—who, though not participating in the battle, was still a member of the order—wore a complicated expression. On either side of him stood Nerit and Ireira, the ones who had brought the Hero Sian. And at the very end of the line, Sian himself stood with a blunt, unreadable face.
Finally, Garot was waiting for him right in front of the balcony railing.
Ar walked slowly toward her.
With every step he took, the surrounding noise subsided, as if his very footsteps were devouring the clamor.
“…”
Still silent, he looked down from the balcony. Thousands of subjugation squad members were gathered below, their gazes fixed on him in unison.
They watched his eyes and his mouth, each of them desperately hoping to hear the words they needed from him.
“…”
Looking a bit further out, he saw figures clad in ornate, gold-trimmed armor. They were the first-tier knights of the Imperial Knights, ‘Roa’s Red Spear’. Ar had been temporarily delegated command over them by order of the Emperor, and they, too, were trying to gauge his caliber through this speech.
By the time he finished scanning his surroundings, a silence had fallen, swallowing even the faintest whisper.
Ar slowly parted his lips.
The time had come.
“…Throughout our long history, humanity has established countless nations and fought tirelessly for absolute freedom.”
He began with the opening words. His low voice reached everyone without the need for amplifying magic. In the profound silence, even the sound of him drawing a breath was distinct.
And then.
“Though there were countless failures, we ultimately established the Empire, which—”
Just as he was about to continue, Ar fell silent.
“……”
He blinked.
“…Ah.”
Something was wrong.
All the sentences he had prepared tangled into a chaotic mess in his head. He couldn’t open his mouth. Before he could process anything, he felt an urgent need to resolve the questions flashing before his eyes.
Since when was the sky purple?
What were those giant, cloud-like monsters floating up there? Why were there thousands of insects below? Why was the ground shaking?
“Ah… Ah…”
His head felt like it was going to split open. It wasn’t an exaggeration; it literally felt like his skull was cracking in two. The corners of his eyes and mouth felt wet. He clawed at his head and looked down at his palms, only to find them drenched in liquid.
Is this blood? Was blood always black? Am I human?
“The Empire…”
He forgot what he had just been trying to say. He forgot why he had come here. His vision blurred, then spun completely. He felt the cold touch of the floor.
—Why, of all times, now?
“Damn it…” Ar muttered with the last shred of his sanity.
“Not… yet… I can’t…”
The thudding footsteps of knights rushing toward him echoed in his head. Soon, he could hear nothing at all.
And with that, the speech was over.
Phase. 2
The commander-in-chief of the Imperial Subjugation Squad collapsed.
At the most critical moment, right before the eyes of thousands, he fell helplessly and without resistance.
Thud.
In the silence, the sound of a body hitting the floor echoed across the plaza.
At first, no one could comprehend what had just happened. Everyone in that vast space simply stood dazed, unable to utter a single word.
“Commander?”
About a second later, Garot was the first to break the silence. Crying out in a desperate voice, she rushed forward and shook Ar’s shoulders. Uin and Sturman dashed toward him immediately after.
A small commotion began to stir among the subjugation squad members below. Within seconds, the unrest spread through the thousands gathered, and in an instant—chaos descended.
“Ar! Arrr!”
Uin gently lifted Ar’s head, calling his name over and over. But Ar had completely lost consciousness, showing no sign of waking. One by one, the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights gathered around them as the pandemonium below intensified.
It was then, amidst the sudden turmoil, that Uin finally saw the truth.
“Commander…?”
With Ar unconscious, the magic concealing his face had broken, laying him bare and defenseless.
She saw the truth of the alien darkness that had consumed most of his face.
“What… happened to you…?”
As if begging for an answer, Uin raised her head and looked at the other knights. Her gaze swept frantically across them until her eyes locked with Garot’s.
“……”
The dread on Uin’s face deepened.
That expression, that look in her eyes.
—She had hoped it wasn’t true, but the Hero’s ominous intuition hammered home the reality over and over again.
“Garot?”
“……”
“Don’t tell me… you knew…?”
Garot did not deny it. In a situation where she absolutely should have, she simply kept her mouth tightly shut.
—No. That’s not the reaction I wanted.
Her silent, desperate plea was entirely in vain.
Uin’s face gradually contorted.
*
The situation was resolved in a disorganized blur. Everyone dispersed without so much as a closing remark. The Imperial Knights, ‘Roa’s Red Spear’, played a major role in calming the immense chaos that had erupted among the thousands of soldiers.
Uin and Sturman didn’t even have time to thank them, immediately transporting Ar to the hospital.
Sometime later, Garot and Sturman, who had gone inside on behalf of everyone else, emerged from the hospital room.
Deep shadows hung over both of their faces. There was no need for words—their expressions said it all. No one bothered to ask about Ar’s condition.
With his life hanging by a thread, no one expected him to regain consciousness. Given his state, it would have been more alarming if he had. No one who had witnessed his collapse believed a cure was possible.
Things had deteriorated that far.
“Garot.”
Uin found the situation harder and harder to accept.
“Did you know?” she asked again.
With each question, Garot’s eyes grew colder.
“I asked if you knew.”
“Uin.”
The entire order was gathered. Sensing the tense atmosphere, Barisik tried to intervene, but Uin shot him a fierce glare.
“I’m asking you…”
Uin’s shoulders trembled. The sound of her fists clenching echoed in the quiet hallway.
She owed Garot a debt.
Even now, the memory of the right arm Garot had lost trying to save her kept her awake at night with guilt. If Garot had kept this secret as some form of revenge, Uin could have at least understood.
“You’re all the same.”
Several members of the order shared the same look as Garot. The depth in their eyes was far greater than that of the others. They were all people who had known about Ar’s condition long before this.
Garot, Barisik, Nerit, Ireira, Sian… even her master, Rashumer.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me? If you knew, you should have stopped him! You should have stopped it from getting this far!”
“Calm down, Uin.”
“I would have been the only one completely in the dark until the day he died!”
They were comrades, members of the same order. More than that, Uin was a Hero. She had always believed she had a right to know.
She had already experienced more than enough helplessness, failing to protect others because she wasn't strong enough. From the citizens of the Empire dying in Riaze to leaving Gwyn behind in the Cuckoo's Nest.
She had been forced to learn how to endure pain in ways she never wanted.
And yet, what else were they trying to hide from her?
Was she really that untrustworthy?
“Why didn’t you tell me?! Why?!”
Overwhelmed by emotion, Uin raised her fist.
Barisik reached out to stop her. But as he extended his hand toward her slender wrist, she whipped her head around before he could make contact.
Her eyes burned with blatant hostility, as if daring him to try.
She was no longer the Uin of the past.
“…”
Seeing how much she had changed, Barisik lowered his hand. Her fist, finding no other target for its hostility, slammed into the wall between Garot and Barisik.
With a sharp crack, debris showered to the floor.
Uin pressed her forehead against the fractured wall and sobbed quietly.
Only Sian, who had watched the entire scene unfold with an expressionless face, muttered in a low voice.
“Because Ar didn't want it.”
“……”
“That’s all.”
“And that’s exactly what I don’t understand. Why?”
“I don’t know the reason either. But we are at war. Do we really have the luxury to stand around talking like this?”
Sian pulled his hood over his head and slowly walked away. The glimpse of his face just before it was covered had remained entirely blank.
“Ha.”
Sian wasn’t wrong. Uin let out a hollow laugh and nodded. Even in a situation like this, she didn’t have time to wallow in frustration.
“Everyone is hiding something.”
Uin turned and left after those final words. Her voice was dry, completely unlike her usual self.
One by one, the other members of the order departed. As Sian had said, they were at war. The Orcs would not wait for Ar to recover. The order had to fight, even without their commander.
Garot remained standing there until the very end.
Uin’s words echoed endlessly in her ears.
“‘Hiding something’… is it?”
*
If anyone were to ask Garot why she hadn’t told Uin about Ar’s condition, she could offer two answers.
First, because she was worried about Uin. The moment Uin learned of Ar’s state, she would inevitably be trapped in a dilemma of guilt and helplessness. In other words, telling her would bring Uin absolutely no benefit. It was much like a parent hiding a terminal illness from their child.
And second, because Ar did not want the news to reach Uin’s ears.
She had never once doubted this decision. Ar’s orders were almost always absolute, and there was always a valid reason behind them. She had naturally believed he was keeping Uin in the dark out of concern and had never questioned it.
Even beyond that, whenever Ar acted suspiciously, Garot had always trusted him.
To be precise, she had no other choice.
Didn’t Ar always act while looking several steps ahead? Wasn’t he a commander so competent that the Emperor was willing to cast aside the entire imperial family just to keep him by his side?
She believed there was a purpose behind his every action. Even if she had her doubts, it wasn’t as if she could just sneak a look at the documents in his office.
“……”
—Until now.
Ar had collapsed.
They couldn’t just wait blindly for him to wake up. Someone had to succeed him. And to do that, they had to know.
While that was the superficial justification, the truth was that her doubts were beginning to eclipse her faith. Uin had set fire to the questions that had always smoldered within her.
If it were Ar, he could have easily broken the news to Uin gently. Why did he try so hard to hide it? What was the point of dragging out a truth that was bound to be revealed eventually?
As one thought led to another, her feet carried her along until she found herself standing before his office door.
“……”
Her hesitation didn’t last long. Garot opened the door. Normally, the sound of Ar rustling through papers would have greeted her, but now, the office was deathly quiet.
Creeeeak!
The sound of the door closing felt exceptionally loud, like an alarm announcing her intrusion to the world.
First, she picked up a few documents scattered across the desk. They were recently processed proposals, nothing of any real importance. Placing them back where they belonged, she reached for the next document.