Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Tail Chase (3)
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“No matter what, this engagement ceremony must succeed. That’s the only way for you to prove your worth.”
“…….”
Nabhan Barkus silently stared at the guardian knight assigned to him by the family—no, more precisely, the one attached to “monitor” him.
Sunken, hollow eyes.
Madness glinted even in his pupils.
Anyone could tell at a glance that he was in an abnormal state, tormented by drugs.
“Kuh! Barkus is done for too. Even if they treat you like a bastard they tossed out, to think they’d sell off their own son to beg for money.”
“Are you tired of living?”
The guardian knight’s face twisted viciously.
His hand twitched toward the hilt, as if ready to draw his sword at any moment.
But.
“Go ahead and kill me if you can.”
Nabhan only sneered in response.
“The head of the Ceres Trading Company must really like a son-in-law with just a stump left. Oh, really like him? It’ll save money since he doesn’t need much food or a proper bed, right? I’ve heard the head is pretty stingy about spending.”
“You bastard……!”
“Ease up on the glaring. Your eyes might pop out. Don’t worry, I know my place better than anyone. I’ll scrape together every coin from the Ceres Trading Company with utter loyalty and offer it all to the family. Heh heh!”
“…….”
The guardian knight released his grip on the hilt.
No point in continuing the conversation; it would only grate on his nerves.
The marriage alliance between the Barkus family and the Ceres Trading Company.
Both were vassals of Ragnar, but if you looked closely, the two powers weren’t even comparable.
The Barkus family, with its tradition and history as a former leader among the Six Sword Houses,
And the Ceres Trading Company, a mere merchant group not even a century old.
The union didn’t suit the Barkus family’s “station” from the start.
On top of that, the daughter offered by Ceres wasn’t even the eldest—just the fourth. She had no claim to inheritance, and just a few months ago, she’d suffered the humiliation of losing her right arm to Theo.
Yet the marriage was proceeding because the Barkus family’s situation was that dire.
‘If we just get through this crisis… if we overcome this one hurdle, the family can rise again. It’s just one humiliation to endure.’
Word was that Ceres’s fourth daughter was bringing a hefty dowry.
For the debt-ridden Barkus family, on the brink of bankruptcy, it was enough to give them breathing room.
‘He’s a bastard the family tossed out anyway. And with less than five years left to live, no loose ends.’
Officially, Nabhan was known as the son of the first wife, but in truth, he was the child of a whore the family head had taken in the heat of battle.
If not for his distinctive gray hair—the mark of the Barkus bloodline—they wouldn’t have acknowledged him as kin in the first place.
That’s why they could push him toward Ceres without hesitation.
Plus, his fatal weakness: without his drugs, he wouldn’t last five days.
So they’d sweep away the troublemaker and pocket the cash to revive the family.
The guardian knight brimmed with such dreams.
‘Idiot. You really think that’ll work? As if shrewd bastards like Quadlak and Ed don’t know our intentions?’
Nabhan, on the other hand, could only scoff at the family’s fools who knew nothing of the world beyond swinging a sword.
No doubt, this marriage was bait.
Clever bait to swallow the entire Barkus family whole.
Once they bit?
By the time they woke up, they’d be in Quadlak’s—no, Ed Troyvan’s—belly.
After all, it was Ed Troyvan who had recommended this marriage to the family.
It looked like he was acting in their best interest on the surface.
But Nabhan knew Ed’s ambitions all too well.
Most of the family’s assets were already pawned off to shell companies Ed had set up.
A good chunk of the retainers had been swayed to his side, and only the direct bloodline was in the dark.
Nabhan had figured it out long ago but kept his mouth shut.
‘Why bother telling them?’
With less than five years left in his life.
At least he could watch the family burn for entertainment.
‘Pushing a mere fifteen-year-old fledgling into marriage? That was insane from the start.’
Heh!
Nabhan let out a bizarre chuckle right then.
“The head of the trading company requests you enter. Please follow me.”
The steward had appeared out of nowhere, bowing his head.
Nabhan and the guardian knight quietly trailed behind him.
* * *
“The Ceres Trading Company’s fourth daughter and the second son of the Barkus family are pushing forward with a marriage alliance.”
A sneer curled at Klevé’s lips as he relayed the intelligence from Black Snow.
“And to celebrate, quite a few northern trading companies have sent envoys with congratulations, turning the city into a noisy mess.”
“Ceres aims to swallow Barkus whole and solidify control over the entire ‘Northern Merchants’ Guild,’” Theo assessed.
Klevé burst into laughter at Theo’s words.
His knack for gleaning intent from raw info was truly astonishing.
How did he pull off such insight without any other sources?
“Exactly. Force and wealth— they’ll have it all. Ed Troyvan gets himself a fine new blade, about a foot long.”
“And we have to snap it in half.”
“That’s the idea.”
“Sounds tricky.”
“You look like you’re enjoying it, despite your words.”
Theo just smiled without replying.
Klevé shook his head.
“You’re starting to look like a sly fox yourself.”
Theo scratched his cheek with his index finger but said nothing.
As he did, he thought.
‘Around this time was when Ceres began devouring Barkus?’
Theo knew the ins and outs of this affair well.
Ceres, reborn as a “sword house,” had shone brightest in Ed and Axion Ragnar’s rebellion.
Swallowing Barkus and backed by the Northern Merchants’ Guild funds, Ceres had grown terrifyingly strong.
‘Cut it off early, and Ed Troyvan loses an arm.’
Theo felt this unexpected chance was perfect timing.
‘Might even get to meet that guy, “Short-Lived Phantom Sword.”’
Short-Lived Phantom Sword.
True to the name—“a ghost blade with a brief life”—it was the moniker Nabhan Barkus earned as Ceres’s son-in-law, where he made his mark.
Nabhan lingered vividly in Theo’s memory for his feats.
He’d slain the leader of the Gale Sword Squadron and mauled several units.
But his congenital illness claimed him soon after.
Even Quadlak, Ceres’s head, lamented on his deathbed: “If only my son-in-law had lived half a year longer…”
‘Maybe I can pull him to my side this time.’
As Theo’s eyes sharpened,
The city housing Ceres’s main headquarters came into view in the distance.
As Klevé had said, crowds swarmed before the headquarters.
Each group led wagons or carts, with workers hefting massive packs on their shoulders.
Flags fluttered overhead in numbers too vast to count.
Northern Merchants’ Guild.
A coalition of northern traders and firms centered on Ceres.
Originally just a social club for info sharing, it had morphed into a profit-driven bloc.
One even Ragnar paid attention to.
“They’re really putting on a show of power.”
Hazel gazed down at them with clear displeasure.
Klevé nodded.
“I don’t get it—how they forget that without Ragnar’s power, they couldn’t sit in those seats or flaunt that might.”
“People who rise high tend to chalk it up to skill rather than luck.”
Theo echoed with a cold sneer of his own.
Klevé chuckled in agreement, then bellowed.
“Everyone, descend!”
At Klevé’s order, Theo, Evelyn, and Hazel leaped to the ground.
-Eh, wha…?
-What’s that?
-Something’s falling from the sky!
-I-Is that a person? Why’s it coming this way?!
-D-Dodge!
The Northern Merchants’ Guild members queuing before the headquarters looked up, then scattered in panic.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Theo’s group landed amid them with thunderous crashes,
Shing! Shing! Shing!
“Who are you?!”
“State your purpose!”
Soldiers and mercenaries guarding the headquarters drew blades in unison, aiming at them.
“Theo.”
“Yes!”
At Klevé’s command, Theo drew the short staff he’d been given beforehand and swung it wide.
The locking mechanism released; the staff extended far beyond his height in an instant.
The coiled banner inside unfurled in the wind, flapping vigorously.
Fwoosh- flap!
A nine-headed dragon clutching a sword in its jaws.
The Ragnar banner.
-Th-That’s…!
-Ra-Ra-Ragnar?! Why here?!
Ragnar!
The face of the North, but to northerners, a grim reaper no different.
The merchants’ faces drained of color in a heartbeat.
Grip.
Theo’s hand tightened on the flagpole.
The banner was a great house’s authority.
Its very face.
Entrusting it to Theo meant Klevé and the others trusted him that much.
Beneath the banner,
Klevé roared like a lion.
“Ragnar proceedings commence now! Any who interfere, obstruct, or sabotage will be deemed challengers to Ragnar authority and executed on the spot—!”
Executed… executed… executed….
Her voice echoed everywhere, booming relentlessly.
Overawed, the merchants stumbled back,
And the Ceres steward greeting guests at the main gate paled, rushing out to bow frantically.
“Gr-Great house, wh-what brings you to this hu-hum- humble, r-rude place…!”
Klevé glared icily down at the steward’s crown.
“Are you the head of the Ceres Trading Company?”
“N-No! I-I’m just the chief steward here…!”
“You dare? A mere retainer, not even the head, trying to deal with the enforcers carrying out the family head’s solemn command? Since when has Ceres grown so arrogant?”
“……!”
The steward’s face went beyond pale to ghostly white, as if he might keel over.
-The North’s dragon stirs, and all around becomes a sea of fire.
A maxim every northerner knew.
Meaning: never incur Ragnar’s wrath.
Especially not enforcers bearing the “family head’s decree”!
“I see well how Ceres views a great house. Step aside. I’ll see the head myself.”
“W-Wait…!”
As Klevé moved to advance, the steward desperately tried to plead,
Slash-
Splurt!
But Hazel shot forward first, severing his neck in a flash.
Blood sprayed in a fountain.
“Didn’t I say clearly: interferers with Ragnar proceedings face instant execution?”
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
Stunned by the ruthless strike, no one dared approach them now.
Not even Ceres’s house guards or mercenaries.
Klevé commanded.
“Open the gate.”
“Understood!”
“Understood!”
“Understood!”
Evelyn and Hazel surged ahead, demolishing the main gate and its wall in one go.
Kwaaang-
Above it all, Theo’s banner fluttered boldly.
Ragnar had arrived.