Chapter 514: Fall (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 514: Fall (7)
The Flagbearers and two Black Knights weren't the only ones on a mission in the Sota Desert.
‘There were… other people there?’
Joshua barely managed to lift his head to look at Rosa. In the dungeon's darkness, he couldn't see her expression.
“Four Black Knights, the First Division of the Black Sword Council, others I hired personally… and I was in that desert as well.”
“What do you mean…!”
It wasn't just Joshua.
Jin, Dipus, Mon, and Jane—none of them had known Rosa and her knights were in the Sota Desert.
They hadn't been there from the beginning. They entered the desert only after the main group began its operation, and their goal wasn't merely to ensure the success of the blueprint theft.
“I was watching you all.”
She was watching to see what choices the Flagbearers would make and how they would complete their mission.
More specifically, she was watching to see what kind of judgment Joshua would display.
With the forces she led, Rosa had remained hidden in the desert, observing the mission's overall flow.
– Acting Patriarch, only Mon remains in the underground shipyard. It seems the Second Flagbearer has finally decided to monopolize the information. However, with Kinzelo also on the move, it won't be secret for long.
– Fourth Flagbearer, Twelfth Flagbearer, and Murakan. Movement confirmed. We have withdrawn; we judged that further tracking would risk detection by the boundary crystal balls.
– The youngest likely already knows the real prize is the 2nd Magic Tower, not the shipyard. Stand by near the tower and report back after observing his party overcoming the barrier.
– Understood.
Even when the Spirit Sword shattered the 2nd Magic Tower's barrier, revealing a flying fleet of over a hundred ships, Rosa’s forces didn't waver in the slightest—unlike Jin's group.
They had known for a long time. Only the Flagbearers sent to the Sota Desert were in the dark. In the long history of the cold war between the two families, this was hardly Zipple's first attempt to build a flying fleet centered around the Kozec.
– How many Zipple spies are currently in the Garden of Swords?
– The confirmed count is ninety-seven servants, twenty lower-level Guardian Knights, twelve intermediate Guardian Knights, five upper-level Guardian Knights, fifteen stewards and scribes of the second class or higher, two Second Division Flagbearers, five Enforcement Knights, seven Elders, and one Black Knight. Additionally, we estimate there are at least twenty more spies capable of high-level intelligence gathering.
– And the spies we've planted within Zipple?
– In the Zipple main house: forty servants, ten lower-level mages, five intermediate mages, one Elder, and one Magic Tower mage. That is all.
During the final Flagbearer meeting Cyron summoned before leaving for the Black Sea, the conversation between him and Luntia had implied that Runcandel was lagging far behind Zipple in the information war.
In reality, however, Runcandel was digging up more critical internal information than Zipple. The worst spy of them all, Black Knight Barton Vichena, had already been killed by Jin and Dipus.
– It must have been Yona who told Kinzelo the timing of the Flagbearers' operation.
– Most likely. I didn't expect to take on such a two-faced request, Lord Rosa.
The reason Rosa was able to remain hidden throughout the Sota Desert mission—evading the eyes of Jin’s party, Yona, Zipple, and Kinzelo—was simple: the one man who ruled the City of White Marble, Nameless King Oul.
She had hired him and the top assassins of the Nameless.
– I'll take this request.
– You cannot.
– I'm going even if you try to stop me, hee-hee.
– If you insist on going… then I must attach a few conditions.
Rosa had sought out Oul immediately after Yona left.
– I am aware that when my youngest was a reserve flagbearer, you used the Ten Thousand Poison Liquor as an excuse to delay Yona’s return to the family, Lord Oul. However, I don't believe that gave you the right to encourage her to betray Runcandel…
– Betrayal? I simply accepted a request. Lord Rosa, I find your words a bit excessive.
– It is only because Cyron is absent and I have come in his stead that this ends with mere words.
– Shouldn't Runcandel be grateful to me for sending Yona to the Sota Desert?
– In this turbulent world, if you had done so out of a pure desire to stand on Runcandel’s side, then gratitude would indeed be in order.
– Well, that’s not entirely wrong.
– You would have set conditions for sending Yona. To bring the original blueprint, or a copy, to Samil. You likely intended to use that as a bargaining chip to maintain your balance between the great powers. That isn't entirely wrong, is it?
– Hmm.
– Even for you, the price for deceiving Runcandel is steep. However, I do not wish to make an enemy of the Nameless over such a matter. Come with me to the Sota Desert.
– That is asking the Nameless of my generation to cross Zipple, Lord Rosa.
– I won't make things too difficult for you. You need not participate in the battle or the vault seizure. Simply help us remain hidden. When it comes to concealing others, not even Yona can match you, can she?
True to his word, Oul only assisted with concealment and observation. Neither he nor the top assassins of the Nameless who accompanied him drew their swords even once until the incident concluded.
– Acting Patriarch, the only personnel remaining inside the 2nd Magic Tower are Sandra Zipple and four members of the Wraith Squad. With the Twelfth and Fourth Flagbearers having entered the tower, the battle should be over by now.
– The power of a 1st-Class Superhuman has been detected.
– This vibration… it is the realm of the Sword Tao. Could it be that he was here…?
– The phenomenon is intensifying. Acting Patriarch, at this rate, the Flagbearers and Black Knight Jane will almost certainly die. The rescue operation is ready.
– Stand by.
– …Just now, a time distortion occurred in the 2nd Magic Tower. The Silver Dragon’s Claw has been used. Yona has also joined the fray. Lord Rosa, are you sure about this?
– You seem worried about Yona, Lord Oul.
– The 2nd Magic Tower has begun to collapse. Drakka’s main force will arrive soon. Acting Patriarch, if you wish to approach, now is your last chance.
– Continue to stand by.
If her goal had merely been the success of the mission and the survival of the Flagbearers, Rosa should have moved in then.
But Rosa Runcandel wanted to confirm something else.
She was hoping for the moment Joshua Runcandel would finally awaken and bloom. If that was too much to ask, she at least wanted to see him display judgment superior to his youngest brother.
She believed he could manage at least that much.
Even through the moments when the Flagbearers met Zephyrin to request an escort, when Jin used his wisdom to break through the Romin Forest, and when Jane made her sacrifice at the central border.
In the end, Rosa never saw what she hoped for.
The one who ultimately led the mission to success was, once again, not Joshua… but Jin.
“While you were making one wrong judgment after another, trying to save your clones at any cost, and causing the death of one of the family's Black Knights in the process.”
“Ha… You were watching all of that.”
“Your youngest brother fought with his life on the line every step of the way and ultimately brought the mission to success—without any help from me or the family.”
“Why didn't you help?! If you had stepped in, you could have saved Sir Jane…!”
“Is that so? That is what I want to ask you. Why didn't you use the power the Prophet planted in your clone when you fought Hedo?”
Joshua only used that power at the very moment of Jane’s sacrifice.
“Was it because you wanted to save the clone? No, it wasn't just that. You were clinging to a pathetic hope. Maybe the youngest, maybe Dipus, maybe Murakan, maybe one of the family's Black Knights can achieve a better result without me having to use up a clone! That was the disgusting hope you held.”
“No, I… I… eventually, the volcano…”
“That was only because, by that point, it was your only option. Weaklings like you always mistake a choice made out of necessity—when you're pushed to the brink—as an act of your own will.”
“I unleashed it… for… the family.”
“If you had used that power without hesitation when you first encountered Hedo, Jane would not have died. Because I was right there in the desert. While everyone else was constantly prepared for their one and only death, you hoarded your clone until the very end. That was your true choice. That was your true will.”
Joshua could say nothing.
He felt that even if he were stripped naked and his entrails splayed out for all to see, he could not feel more exposed than he did at this moment.
“And then, consumed by fear, you led the knights back to the family, only to stutter and tremble through my interrogation, begging for forgiveness? When my sword cut you just now, you did nothing but scream, unable to even attempt a counterattack?”
The persistence of will that transcends right and wrong. A transcendent struggle.
Until the very, very end, Joshua had given Rosa nothing but disappointment.
What made it all the more bitter was that while Joshua was harboring his disgusting expectations of Jin, she had been doing the same. At some point, Rosa too had stopped focusing on Joshua’s choices and instead wondered just how far Jin could go.
Jin Runcandel, her youngest son.
He always had the power to make everyone expect something from him. Just as Luna once had.
“It wasn't just the Sota Desert, Joshua. In the countless missions you’ve undertaken, I have sent eyes to watch you. And not once have I been satisfied.”
“Kill me… I have no reason to live. Neither you, Mother, nor anyone else in the family… no one will ever expect anything from me again.”
“This is a place where you cannot die even if you want to. Your sins are not so light they can be absolved by death. And as you said, I no longer expect anything from you. However… there is still the prophecy you hold.”
…
Cyron Runcandel shall call the shadows once more, and possess…
…
…
Joshua Runcandel.
Joshua Runcandel shall call the shadows once more, and possess them. Those shadows shall never again leave the world amidst the glory of Joshua Runcandel.
Finally, your war shall end in victory, and eternal blessings shall descend upon the earth.
Worship the one who called the shadows.
“Those words of God, as absolute as they feel, still seem worth placing some hope in.”
At that, Joshua burst into a hollow laugh.
“Puhuhu… The prophecy? After praising my brilliant siblings and the value of the family, after telling me my place is not on the surface but in the abyss… you're saying that in the end, you're still clinging to a prophecy that has yet to even manifest?”
“You are not dead yet. And I am looking forward not only to the prophecy's fulfillment but also to the struggle that might break it. Your youngest brother, Jin… it doesn't seem impossible for that child’s struggle to shatter even a prophecy as absolute as this.”
“Ha.”
“Prophecy or struggle—which do you think I have greater expectations for?”
Rosa turned her back.
With a sneer, she added her final words.
“If the day ever comes when your prophecy leads you from this dungeon into the world of true struggle, and if you manage to endure that world… I will bring you back to the surface. Though… I suspect your prophecy will disappoint me this time as well. Just as you always have.”