Chapter 529: Beyond the Wolf, the Man
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 529: Beyond the Wolf, the Man
Private property could not be arbitrarily seized, nor could an evacuation order be issued against it. The vassal states were feudal nations that had begun as lieges of the Empire. Even a suzerain lord had no right to dispose of a vassal's property at will; any attempt to do so would be met with sanctions from the Empire.
“Are you telling me to just leave the beastkin who rebelled and shattered the peace be?”
A rebellion, by its nature, would serve as a pretext to interfere in another's fiefdom, but Duke Erectus denied even that.
“A rebellion? It was merely a case of livestock breaking their fence and running wild. That is why I temporarily evacuated and have now returned. I don't know if you've ever raised animals, Marquis Raphaeno, but they are fickle by nature and require a great deal of effort to manage. Isn't this something one must simply endure?”
To deny the rights of the beastkin was to deny their crimes. Those without rights could not be held guilty of sin.
It was a defense only possible for Duke Erectus, who looked down on the beastkin… but it was a defense nonetheless.
‘Wait. Is that bastard of a duke actually protecting the beastkin right now? No way! He must really mean it!’
‘Erectus’s words sound like he's simply disparaging the beastkin, but if you listen closely, they're extremely political! Could he have calculated this, Erectus?’
Neither Grul nor Sapien could tell whether the duke was simply annoyed at another lord meddling with his property, or if he was genuinely trying to help the beastkin.
Even Marquis Raphaeno was taken aback.
“No, are you truly planning to live alongside the beastkin? I heard they drove you out and even tried to kill you.”
A rebellion was like a scar; once inflicted, it was prone to reopening. Any lord who felt threatened would surely lean on the vassal states to maintain their authority.
That had been his calculation, but with the duke himself opposing the idea, Raphaeno’s pretext for intervention vanished.
“I don't understand. You call something that bites its master 'property'? Have you grown fond of the beastkin during your time here?”
“Of course not. Unless you consider the reluctance to part with one's property a form of affection.”
“Hmm.”
Though it was entirely unintentional, Duke Erectus’s words helped Grul make up his mind. He might have hesitated longer if he had no other choice, but for some reason, even Duke Erectus was siding with the beastkin. In that case, there was no need to accept Marquis Raphaeno’s coercive offer.
“That’s enough, Marquis. I refuse as well. I’d rather remain the Grand Chieftain and continue my business than grasp for a sixth finger I don’t even have. Besides, there’s no need to play chieftain in a place as small as Ende.”
“Is that so…”
Marquis Raphaeno drew out his words slowly. The lord of Ende had refused, and Grul would not accept his proposal. Short of forcing the issue, he could no longer meddle in Ende. The Marquis had never expected his pretext to be snatched away by someone treating the beastkin as private property.
However, he wouldn't have brought an entire legion if a single failed justification was enough to make him turn back. For Marquis Raphaeno, this was simpler. Solving everything with force.
A faint smile curved the corners of the marquis's mouth, tracing the line of his mustache.
“Master!”
Welsh the watchdog moved in a flash. Her senses, focused entirely on her master’s safety, had detected the marquis’s hostility even before Grul had. Using her Qi Art, she bristled her fur, shoved her master aside, and blocked the path in front of him.
But unlike with the Regressor, the marquis did not stop his blade.
Spurt. The arc of the slash was visible even past Welsh's body. Blood splattered from the tip of the rapier. Welsh's body convulsed before she collapsed onto Duke Erectus. The duke hurriedly caught her.
“Welsh!”
“…Ah, ugh.”
The hand on her back felt hot and wet. Duke Erectus saw the large, crimson wound on Welsh’s back. Far too much blood gushed from her small frame.
And behind her stood Marquis Raphaeno, flicking the blood from his flexible rapier with a pulse of Qi. Fury flashed in Duke Erectus's eyes.
“Damn it, open your eyes, Welsh! Dammit! What the hell have you done!”
His concern for his watchdog and his hatred for the marquis who had wounded her echoed in the air. The marquis read the swirling emotions and spoke, looking bored.
“You see? I was right. You have grown fond of her.”
The atmosphere changed in an instant. Grul and Sapien shot to their feet, weapons in hand.
“Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing!”
“Marquis, what is the meaning of this outrage!”
Simultaneously, the soldiers standing behind Marquis Raphaeno moved. The disciplined troops unleashed their Qi in unison, leveling their swords, while a company of court mages drew their wands and summoned clouds. Rumble. From beyond the clouds, a threatening energy took aim at Grul and the Beast Faction warriors.
An army is a group that prepares for war. The same military force that would have confronted the Wolf King, had he been there, was now aimed at Grul. Feeling mana bind his entire body, Grul dragged his foot, choosing his ground.
Yet the man who had started it all, Marquis Raphaeno, was calmer than anyone.
“I was merely checking to see if the watchdog does her job well. And she does. She saved her master's life, so she should be satisfied even in death.”
“What…!”
“But more importantly, Grul. Aren't you being a bit too proud? I made you the best possible offer out of consideration for you reaching the level of Master. To be rebuffed so bluntly… it makes me lose face.”
While the two sides faced off, weapons drawn in a tense standoff, Duke Erectus was a blur of motion.
He first tore his own clothes, trying to stanch Welsh’s wound. But it was like trying to plug a dam with his hands. When the bleeding showed no sign of stopping, Duke Erectus scooped Welsh into his arms and ran.
Marquis Raphaeno casually extended his rapier toward the duke’s back. It was a lazy thrust, carrying only a faint battle aura, as if he didn’t care whether the duke lived or died. Grul, his senses sharpened, deployed the ground he had chosen and moved.
Clang! Grul's dagger fiercely struck the rapier aside. The blade, which had been aimed at the duke’s life, was deflected. Grul was shocked by the heavy impact that resonated through his wrist.
‘It's heavy! That thin, flexible sword…!’
This was not the kind of Qi one could obtain through mere training. It was so immense and refined that it could even manipulate the rapier's elasticity. Grul couldn't begin to imagine how many elixirs the man had consumed. Even he, who had his fair share of them, couldn't fathom it.
“The southern Enger Plains have always been under the jurisdiction of the vassal states. Our rule was merely delayed for a time because of the wolves and other beasts. Those elixirs hidden below, in the old lands of Manguo or the elephant graveyard… they are not ownerless lost items. It's troublesome when you act as if everything is yours.”
And those elixirs were precisely what Marquis Raphaeno and the vassal states were after. Realization dawned on Grul, and he drew upon his Qi.
“You never intended to leave me alone in the first place…!”
“You were always a bit of an eyesore to be left alone, Grul.”
Grul moved again with Ground Shift. The situation was too urgent for him to choose his ground carefully, but in a fight between humans, even that short distance could decide the outcome. He cut through the air, thrusting his dagger toward the marquis’s limbs.
However, Marquis Raphaeno was also a Qi practitioner who had reached the pinnacle. With just a step or two, he slipped out of the disadvantageous range and launched a counterattack. The flexible rapier struck at Grul with the precision of a snake.
‘His reaction is extraordinary, but…!’
But Grul's Axiom, Ground Shift, was the materialization of the pinnacle of Gon Qi Art. Half a step before the rapier reached him, Grul’s body came to an abrupt halt. The tip of the quivering rapier slid past his eyes. It was a picture-perfect counterattack, but Grul had read even that and feinted.
‘He's slower than the Wolf King! I'll end this before he can deploy his Axiom!’
He set his momentarily paused body back in motion. A gun that has already been fired is at its most defenseless, and a sword that has already been swung is at its weakest. Having dodged the attack by a tenth of a second, he moved into what should have been a perfectly safe space….
In that instant, Grul's body was thrown back with a thud. Something had shattered the protective aura of Qi that only a seasoned practitioner could deploy—a technique that spread Qi across the entire body—and struck Grul across the face.
If he hadn't been protecting his body with Qi, or if his speed hadn't been reduced by his brief pause, the invisible slash would have taken his head off. By a stroke of luck, Grul escaped with his life, leaving only a trail of blood behind.
‘I was… cut?! But by what?! There was nothing there…!’
The problem was that even he, a man who had reached an Axiom, had no idea what had cut him. As Grul hesitated to approach, the marquis spoke with an air of arrogance.
“But it would have been better if you knew your place.”
The Empire, the vassal states. War machines created by men who monopolized wealth and power.
The pinnacle of the pyramid, reached by a strongman chosen by fate, supported by the state, who had absorbed all manner of elixirs and secret techniques.
The Black Tiger General, Marquis Raphaeno of the Duet Blade. He had deployed his Axiom.
The Duet Blade (Yeontangeom).
The trajectory carved by the rapier remained in the air. Not as a sword, but as a pattern of pure slashing energy. The name Duet Blade came from how it resembled embroidering a musical score in the air.
If Grul commanded distance, Marquis Raphaeno commanded space. The trajectories embroidered in the air were his domain, his Axiom. Within the fortress forged from slashes, he was as good as invincible.
Seeing the flashing sword, Sapien shouted urgently.
“Grul! Be careful! The Marquis's Axiom leaves the sword's trajectory in the air! That trajectory is a pure slash. If you touch it, you'll be cut as if by a sharp thread!”
“Hmm. To reveal a Master's Axiom before a battle… This is clear treason!”
Sapien knew what a grave crime it was. But he had no choice. By bringing an army, Marquis Raphaeno had made it clear he was prepared to solve any problem with force if necessary.
After swinging his sword at Duke Erectus without hesitation and grievously wounding Welsh, Sapien was past the point of holding back.
“Duet? Hah, I thought it was some kind of fire sword!”
“That’s not it! The ‘duet’ refers to a musical score! For two people…! Ugh!”
“That’s enough, Sir Sapien.”
The marquis’s adjutant, having appeared behind him, grabbed Sapien’s cape and threw him. Sapien's massive, armored frame flew through the air like a playing jack. Just as Sapien tried to right himself in mid-air, the adjutant once again snatched his cape and slammed him into the ground. The already broken earth trembled precariously.
“Keuk…!”
As he scrambled to his feet, the marquis’s adjutant approached. He may not have reached an Axiom, but he was an elite warrior serving as the Black Tiger General’s second-in-command. His level of Qi Art and his combat experience were incomparable to Sapien’s.
A dizzying gap in skill was apparent from that single exchange. And Sapien had a gut feeling that the gap between Grul and Raphaeno was likely even greater than the one between himself and the adjutant.
“Confidential information is confidential. I suggest you don't speak so carelessly.”
“What does it matter? It may be a secret, but everyone knows it. Now that I have my justification, I might as well boast to Grul.”
Marquis Raphaeno smiled leisurely and tapped the scabbard at his hip. One was empty, his rapier drawn from it. But above it, another scabbard remained, a sword hilt still protruding from it.
“I originally use two swords, Grul. Just like you.”
It was common for Masters who reached an Axiom to use two swords, as their Axiom could be deployed equally well with either the left or right hand.
Among them, Marquis Raphaeno’s skill with dual blades had surpassed all known boundaries. He carved trajectories in the air with two flexible rapiers, gradually filling the space and pressuring his enemy until they had no room to breathe. He wielded his twin swords with the smooth yet powerful grace of an orchestra conductor, and the name Duet Blade was given because it looked as if he were playing two musical scores by himself.
In other words, he couldn't display his true power with just one blade. Marquis Raphaeno covered half his face with his rapier and said:
“You're a Master, are you not? Give me a reason to use both my swords.”