Chapter 347
Chapter 347
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 347
Chapter Title: Immortals and Mortals (16)
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It was late into the night, but Fernandez crossed the Vulang city walls without a second thought. In a typical city, the gates would be closed at this hour, but Vulang was the capital of the territory. The capital's gates had to remain open at all times, regardless of the hour.
Yet Fernandez had to halt before Vulang's firmly shut gates. He stared up at the guards on the gallery above the gate with a bewildered expression.
The guard looked down at him with extreme annoyance.
"Who're you?"
"A traveler."
"Come back in the morning. Do you know what time it is?"
"Since when do Vulang's gates close based on the time? Has war broken out or something?"
"You look like you came from the wasteland direction. Were you holed up in some mountain? It's been like this ever since the Great Chieftain returned."
"......What?"
Fernandez narrowed his eyes at the guard. He was human. The mere fact that a human guard was posted there, and that he referred to Kirhas as the 'Great Chieftain,' implied a great deal.
For humans to address Kirhas with honorifics meant that sovereignty over Vulang had now passed to the beastkin.
And stationing humans in the city guard of such a place meant Kirhas was reluctant to openly declare beastkin dominance.
'What a mess.'
Fernandez let out a short sigh. It was far too mild, far too ambiguous a way to handle things. If she meant to subjugate, she should have done so decisively and ruled through fear. If she wanted to remain a bystander, she should have kept her identity secret and stayed in the shadows as a behind-the-scenes power.
Vulang was now forcibly merging two entirely different cultural spheres. In such a situation, half-measures like this were bound to breed discontent among humans and beastkin alike.
'I need to find Partak.'
If Piel was devising strategies with Robert, then at this point, control over the beastkin tiger clan would be split between Kirhas and Partak. Half a year after his death became public knowledge, it was astonishing that a man of his nature hadn't made a single move by now.
The fact that not just beastkin but even humans were still calling Kirhas the Great Chieftain suggested the situation hadn't deteriorated to the worst yet.
Fernandez thought briefly, then reached into his bosom. With a clinking sound, his rosary coiled around his hand and emerged. He stretched it high above his head and called out calmly.
"Make way, little lambs. I come from the Inquisition."
A threat that wouldn't work on beastkin, but his opponent was human. In this moment, Kirhas's ambiguous policy proved highly effective. He smiled as he watched the gates hurriedly open.
Partak Blackfang. The beastkin's greatest black mage. If he still hadn't acted by now, there might be room for mercy.
This late-night hour, when heretics, cultists, and black mages prowled like owls, could also be called the time of the Inquisitors.
* * *
"How exactly do you plan to kill the Great Chieftain? Poison or assassination won't win the tiger clan's support."
The man stammered in fear. The Great Chieftain wasn't taking any action right now. The reason these wild dogs still bowed their heads in her absence was that her authority wasn't built solely on achievements.
Her nickname 'Undefeated' was no joke. Half a year ago, the last time she wielded her sword. Amid demons surging in like the tide, she stood alone to secure an escape route for the beastkin. No one else could have done that. Especially surviving it.
Not a single beastkin who had locked eyes with Kirhas Hearttaker—drenched in demon blood—dared question her prowess. She was, in name and truth, the strongest among all beastkin.
If they poisoned her, or snuck in over the walls for an assassination? In the past, maybe, but now she had an heir. The dovish tiger clans like Golden Tusk would immediately enthrone the child as the next Great Chieftain and begin a regency.
Those involved in the assassination would be hanged that very day. The hawks among the elders held the current regime, but politics was a matter of legitimacy. If Kirhas, granted preemptive regency by the Empire, were assassinated, the Imperial House would instantly brand the hawk elders and rebels as enemies of the state.
The Empire hadn't abandoned Vulang. It merely respected Kirhas.
And in history, the only one who had salvaged a situation where they were branded enemies of the Empire and plunged into civil war was Kirhas Hearttaker—her alone.
"So many men with swords, yet you cower before one woman. Tsk tsk."
"Don't talk nonsense. To legally depose the Great Chieftain, you'd have to challenge her to a duel. Or go through the council of elders. Can you raise a banner against her in the council?"
"It's been half a year since the Great Chieftain attended the council. How hard could it be?"
"I'm not talking about a council full of hawk elders. I mean a gathering of every tiger clan beastkin—can you stand against her there?"
Unlike the hawks who revealed their ambitions for imperial expansion through the occupation of Vulang, the traditionalist doves were now wandering the vast plains of the wilderness. They weren't as tightly unified as the hawks, but if they all banded together, they were no force to ignore.
Was there a way to politically impeach the Great Chieftain while risking such a gathering? No matter how he thought about it, impossible. Partak shook his head with a laugh.
"That procedure can wait until after that woman's funeral. If she were alive, maybe, but once she's dead, how many would blindly stay loyal to her?"
"How exactly do you plan to kill her?"
"You said it yourself. Through a duel."
"You're going to pick up a sword yourself? Against that Kirhas Hearttaker?"
"I don't need to dirty my own hands. You'll go. Or anyone, for that matter."
The room grew menacing at Partak's words. Wasn't that just ordering them to die? The suspicions whispered among beastkin warriors were gaining ever more reality.
That those who gathered to oppose Kirhas were purged by Partak.
"So you gathered us to wipe us out in one go!"
"What? Uhahaha! Naive, dim-witted fools."
But Partak waved it off with booming laughter. As the man flinched, Partak smiled amiably and patted his shoulder.
"If that were my intent, would I have come here alone? Even without you lot, Vulang is overflowing with those willing to do the job. You're not giving me a chance, idiots. I'm giving you one."
Soon, green flames crackled from the hand on his shoulder. Before the man could react, the mana flowing from Partak's grasp ignited like a torrent through his veins.
"Guuh……?! Graaaah!!"
The man's scream swept through the tavern. The flames blazed larger, fiercer, twisting him in agony. Partak thrust his hand into the inferno, gripping the man's shoulder tight, baring his gums in狂笑.
"Yes, accept it! Embrace this power. Cry out your wishes, bare your desires. Seize it—you shall have it! Little one. The price is simple: everything you are!"
Mad laughter echoed. The man's screams had turned to feeble growls. Mana burning even his soul cast an eerie glow over the room.
This power. His silence was all for this. The lingering trace of the great demon that remained until just before banishment from the material world. The final fragment of power spilled when that great demon, dragging its true might into manifestation, was sealed along with its minions' downfall.
Exhausted Kirhas from battle, vanished Fernandez, the Empire and beastkin pursuing fleeing demons, and the elven fleet. None had noticed or guarded against this power.
Fools. Idiots. The absence of a single black mage among them was his greatest opportunity. Thanks to those dimwits with zero understanding of demons.
Partak was truly grateful to Fernandez. He almost wanted to pledge genuine loyalty. Wasn't leaving this power his reward for all Partak had done? Wasn't Fernandez the one who elevated him to claim it?
In return, that bastard's child would live. He wouldn't kill his descendant. A girl, was it? If she carried on the Blackfang bloodline, his line would endure as eternal Great Chieftains succeeding the Hearttaker golden blood.
Now the great wilderness is mine. From this moment, this era is mine. Partak cackled as he withdrew his hand.
"Krrrk……."
The flames died down, and the half-charred beastkin man bubbled foam. Partak looked down coldly and crooked a finger. A brief incantation formed, black iron chains manifesting around the man's neck.
"Rise."
"Krrk……."
The beastkin man staggered up like a puppet. His eyes blazed red, charred ears sprouting like horns. His fangs elongated by two spans, beastly muscles bulging beneath scorched fur.
The great demon's power. A 'baptism' using its true essence. Those Inquisitors from distant lands underwent such baptisms, they said. Radical rites infusing divine power directly into the bloodline. This was his imitation. Naturally, no mere mortal could resist.
"Elder!!"
-Bang bang bang!!
At that moment, someone pounded roughly on the tavern door. Partak scowled and nodded. The beastkin, overwhelmed by his presence, opened the door as if entranced. A robed beastkin rushed in panting.
"What is it?"
"Big trouble…… Huge trouble!"
"I won't ask twice."
"It's Inquisitors!!"
The beastkin man foamed as he shouted.
"Our mole in the guard post just brought the report! Inquisitors have passed through the west gate heading straight for Sephor Castle!"
"......What?"
......What?
Inquisitors?
Partak stared blankly at the beastkin man for a moment. No, why? He hadn't done anything. Well, he had—employed demon power. But that was just now.
Inquisitors weren't psychics; why would they come here at this exact moment? Partak snapped out of his confusion. Calmly thinking, it probably wasn't for that.
"Heading to Sephor Castle?"
"Yes, Elder! Three robed priests are making straight for Sephor Castle!"
"Who's in the castle now?"
"The Heartseekers are guarding it!"
Kirhas's personal guard. Zealots bound by near-fanatical loyalty. Even Partak's spies couldn't infiltrate them.
Partak clicked his tongue and rose. Better this way. Civilization's Inquisitors could never interfere in beastkin traditions.
If he toppled the Great Chieftain before witnesses from civilized society, neither the Empire nor the beastkin elders could object. Partak quickly regained composure and grinned.
"Lucky break."
"Lucky…… break? Elder?"
"Killing that woman right before their eyes? That wouldn't be assassination anymore. Isn't it just resolving things by tradition?"
Even if he'd bestowed the great demon's power through baptism, without precise inspection, no one could detect it on-site. Black mages were masters of concealment above all.
Partak dusted his hands.
"Everyone, head to Sephor Castle. Let's begin the great undertaking."
Today, the beastkin would change masters. Now the Blackfang blood would persist as the golden lineage. Even heaven was on his side, thought Partak, baring his fangs in hearty laughter.
* * *
"What's wrong?"
Midway to the castle, Fernandez halted his horse and looked skyward. Abel approached cautiously and touched his shoulder.
Soon, Fernandez let out a chuckle.
"Quite the clever move."
"Who……?"
"Demon stench wafts."
Many dismissed it as rumor, but the Religiosa Demonica could instinctively smell demons.
And in Vulang, few could wield demon power.
This scent was one he knew. A scent he could never forget—
The pungent musk of terror he'd smelled right before death. The beastly reek.
"Time to tame it again."
Fernandez grumbled a laugh and urged his horse forward. Sephor Castle was not far.