Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Black Forest Ambush
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"Why did you fall back?"
Alfredo asked as if he couldn't comprehend it.
"It would be better if we stayed together. Lord Kallias noticed the ambush first. The aura he exudes is faint, but the rumors floating around aren't nonsense after all."
"The hero of the North?"
"Yes. Lord Kallias's level is incomparable to three years ago."
The reaction dodging the ambush and his movements.
And the energy from the sword he drew.
All three were the marks of a true master.
"Well, yeah, that's true. Even I was really startled just now."
The Thunder Dragon's ambush had been swift and sharp enough to live up to its draconic blood.
If Kallias had been even a little slower, Helena would have been seriously injured.
His own shoulder, which Kallias had shoved, still throbbed with pain.
"The two swords at his waist are probably both spirit swords. He drew one when the Thunder Dragon appeared."
The moment he drew his sword.
Alfredo had been frozen in place for an instant.
A crushing pressure weighing down his entire body.
"I was overwhelmed by his spirit and couldn't breathe for a moment."
A knight who has reached a certain level exudes a strange pressure just from drawing their sword.
When infused with murderous intent, it's called killing intent.
When infused with unyielding resolve, it's called spirit.
"Lord Kallias's spirit dominated the space in that instant. The beast fled in panic for that reason."
Its own aura was faint, yet the spirit it unleashed was immense.
"He seems to be deliberately concealing his aura. Could it be that he's been doing so all along...?"
"Too far-fetched? Don't you know Kallias nearly died to the pilgrims three years ago? That prideful man wouldn't hide his power to that extent. Maybe he trained rigorously or met a hidden master."
Or perhaps the power of some mysterious sacred relic. Or the power of the sword he wields.
"But why did you fall back? Because of that bespectacled fool after all?"
"Half and half."
"Half and half?"
"Part because I don't want to see that guy's face, and part because of Kallias."
A meaningful smile spread across Helena's face.
"You're planning to test him."
"Hmm... Just watch and see for now."
She had glimpsed the lightning he wielded.
And the scales and horns were extraordinary at first sight.
"I came here to watch the show, after all."
"What if he dies?"
"If he dies, then he was just that kind of man. Of course, I'd help him out then."
If it were just that, she'd save him, make him owe her, and part ways.
But if he slays the Thunder Dragon? If he holds even greater potential than she imagines?
"It might be worth investing in him."
"You mean the seat of the North's lady?"
"Not that far!?"
Alfredo smacked his lips regretfully.
"You're always trying to marry me off, huh?"
"I only wish for you to build a family and find happiness, my lady."
"Yeah, right. You just want to escape me and be free."
Alfredo shrugged.
"Anyway, Kallias's reputation in the world is still trash, right?"
If they sided with and supported such a man? They'd reap snowballing benefits afterward.
"Becoming a Heretic Inquisitor seems insane to begin with."
Kallias had changed.
No, he was changing.
The human scum wastrel had somehow become the hero of the North.
The daughter was unexpected, though.
"I'll judge with my own eyes. If I support him from behind, making him Carpe's hero wouldn't be a pipe dream."
"You pretend not to care, but you're quite the patriot, my lady."
"Carpe has been rotting for ages."
"Aren't merchant families supposed to value money over honor?"
"Money over honor. But the place where we make our money is Carpe. The Empire? Possible, sure. Not bad."
Merchants follow the money, after all.
"But chase gold without conviction, and eventually, the gold crushes you."
A merchant ruled by gold is no different from a thief stealing from others.
"Isn't that the Volibian creed?"
And above all.
"I like Carpe. And swords."
"What about the Empire and the Spears?"
"Too dry. No romance."
Purely practical weapons and an Empire bloated with ambition, expanding its lands while erasing other cultures and faiths.
Helena always said the Empire and Spears lacked romance whenever she spoke of them.
"And earning gold coins comes with its own stories—that's what makes it fun and rewarding."
Nothing as boring as gold earned without effort.
What meaning is there in a coin untouched by sweat?
"I've got plenty of gold already."
Clink.
The sword at Helena's waist was drawn.
The moment she tossed it to the ground.
Plop.
It turned into a black shadow with a sound, and when she threw the remaining one, the shadow shifted into a serpent's form.
The shadow, now a massive python, soon vanished.
A smile bloomed on Helena's face.
"Found it."
* * *
Black Forest.
Thanks to the heat-emitting trees, this forest was hot and humid.
The trees radiated heat, yet snow constantly fell from the sky. What would happen? The snow melted into moisture, creating a damp environment.
The trees' heat being rather ambiguous was another factor in this setup.
Like the White Forest, it was a forest shaped by the peculiarities of its growing trees.
That was the Black Forest.
"Where might the beast be?"
"Didn't the Count say he had a hunch?"
"If it's the one dominating the Black Forest, there's one place I suspect."
Near the center of the Black Forest stood a tree towering like a spire.
It was ancient enough that one could say the forest began from that single tree.
Given its immense age, size, and height, the dominator of the forest was likely there.
Step.
"You're heading to the center."
"Yeah."
It would take quite a while to reach that center.
At least an hour.
"May I ask one thing?"
He nodded.
"Why did you accept the offer?"
"The offer?"
"The one recommending you as a Heretic Inquisitor."
"You're asking that now?"
What perfect timing.
"It was my idea, but honestly, for a Count whose succession and rule over the North are all but settled, the Heretic Inquisitor title holds little appeal."
So why accept it?
Raibun suddenly wondered.
Kallias glanced at him while walking through the forest and answered flatly.
"I'll need it now."
He had no particular desire to become a Heretic Inquisitor.
Even without it, without the viscountcy, Kallias would have saved Carpe some other way.
He accepted Raibun's offer simply because there was no downside.
The title of Count, the position of Heretic Inquisitor.
Neither was a bad thing to have.
One alone might be troublesome, but having both was better.
Just a simple reason.
This world's setup originated from him, yet there were many things he didn't know.
It was then.
"Something's there."
As he stopped, Brans scurried behind him in a panic.
Kallias's senses had caught something.
"Eek! Is it the Thunder Dragon!?"
Not the Thunder Dragon. It was a person.
Then, as if he'd never been scared, Brans puffed out his chest and shouted.
"Whoever you are, come out! This is before Count Jerban!"
As Brans yelled.
A burly man emerged from behind a pitch-black heat tree.
He was the captain of the sixth squad.
"Druma."
And.
"Orkal."
It was Orkal, captain of the third squad.
They looked like they'd been through a fierce battle—their hair was dusted with dirt, and their cloaks and armor bore traces of mud.
"Where's the beast?"
Even to Kallias's question, Druma and Orkal just stared at him without answering.
Instead.
They exchanged glances, nodded, and slowly drew their swords.
Kallias's eyes narrowed.
A subtle killing intent from them prickled his skin.
The quick-witted Brans stealthily stepped back.
"I'll ask first. What is this?"
Kallias didn't flinch at their killing intent and countered.
But in response to his question came Orkal's drawn sword.
Orkal's sword was bizarre, riddled with holes as if eaten by worms, and Kallias frowned at the sight.
'Insect Sword—Anaskan.'
Orkal's Insect Sword—Anaskan.
Tiny black things disgustingly emerged one by one from the sword's holes.
Black powder swirled around Orkal from the lined-up sword, eventually blanketing Kallias and the surrounding forest.
The black powder was none other than insects.
Bugs.
As its name suggested, the Insect Sword produced bugs.
Of course, not ordinary ones.
They carried neurotoxins and devoured flesh and bone—powerful bugs.
Sometimes they even chewed through swords, making them an opponent one didn't want to face lightly.
"That's how it is? We've got too many loose ends."
Orkal sneered, bugs buzzing around him.
The sight of hundreds, thousands of them evoked deep disgust.
"The kingdom's top wastrel suddenly getting strong, or having a relic—honestly, I don't care. But hero! Hero of the North! That title... with that feeble aura, it bothers me."
This was far from the North.
Black Forest, devoid of people.
Only the Thunder Dragon lurked.
Perfect for them.
"In the name of God, the inquisition begins..."
It was then.
Boom-!!
Orkal, advancing with his bugs, lost his balance.
An immense pressure crushed the area, exuding overwhelming intimidation.
"Urk!"
"This is..."
"What!
Killing intent rose thickly.
A gaze looking down from above.
Orkal and the other captains' faces twisted in agony at the predator's cold eyes, the epitome of arrogance.
"You lot think you can judge me?"
Kallias loosely gripped a sword from his waist.
The pressure on them intensified.
'Killing intent alone creating this intimidation...!'
Killing intent halting squad captains' movements! Far removed from faint holy power, Orkal couldn't move rashly.
The mere emanation pressed directly upon them!
Wielding intangible aura to this degree required a realm far beyond the ordinary.
'The bugs...'
Even the manifested bugs couldn't withstand Kallias's killing intent and rained down like precipitation.
Even the inanimate ones were like that.
Orkal and the captains' faces filled with shock.
'No way his faint holy power was because, like those Masters, his pure aura had transcended to another path!?
Could he already...
Have reached the Master's rank!
Impossible.
Unthinkable.
Yet the evidence was before their eyes.
"Master..."
It was proof.