Chapter 348
Chapter 348
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 348
Chapter Title: The Immortal and the Mortal (17)
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Torches stretched out along the dark avenue like they were setting it ablaze. The beastmen marched forward along the road with their heads held high, as if fear was a thing of the past.
Their eyes gleamed with fervor as they gripped flashing spears, swords, and iron pitchforks, advancing down the avenue. At their momentum, the city's citizens shut their latticed windows or drew their curtains, trembling in fear.
Rebellion had broken out. Even the most beastman-friendly among the citizens could sense what was unfolding. Now their only concern was that these ferocious rioters wouldn't turn into outright bandits.
"Halt!! Have you all lost your minds?!"
A night watchman shouted, his face pale and his body shaking. Partak, who was leading the mob from the front, flicked back his hood and looked at him. The face visible beneath the watchman's helmet was human.
Partak grinned wickedly. There was no need to hold back anymore. He whispered softly and flicked his finger.
"Kill him."
-Krrrrk!!
One beastman lunged like lightning toward the watchman. The night watchman couldn't even put up a proper resistance. Blood sprayed long across the wall, and the keen-nosed beastman warriors caught the scent, their fervor gradually intensifying.
The remnants of Yekaset. This magic that amplified their bestial nature was spreading ever thicker, stirring the beastmen into a frenzy.
-Piiiik!!
-Riot!!!
The night watchmen's screams mixed with shouts erupted from all directions. Alarm bells rang noisily, and soon the sound of horns came from the direction of Sephor Castle.
-Bwooooooo!!
Partak kept walking without stopping, laughing. Ever since the Great Northward March of Karadskarr, the Imperial forces stationed in Bullang to mop up his scattered remnants had been dispersed across the entire barony.
The only troops garrisoned in Sephor Castle right now were Hearttaker's direct guard, so-called "Heartseekers." They were young, hot-blooded hero-worshippers. Not numerous, nor particularly elite—just dull fanatics.
They're idiots who strut around relying solely on the Great Chieftain's authority. If he could shatter that authority through tradition, every beastman in the vicinity of Bullang would fall into his grasp.
"Partak—Blackfang!! What in the world is this?!"
A mounted beastman warrior galloped up and yelled. Sephor Castle was right in front of them. At the castle entrance, soldiers hastily assembled had formed a sloppy defensive line, preparing for a siege.
Because it was such an emergency muster, their armament was pathetically sparse. On this side, they were nearly at full strength. With the great demon's blessing at their backs to boot. Partak decided to humor them for a bit as entertainment.
"I challenge the Great Chieftain based on tradition!"
"Tradition?! You drag all your men out in the middle of the night to talk tradition? If you respect tradition, couldn't you have sent word through the council tomorrow during the day?!"
"Does our tradition care about day or night? Huh?"
Partak sneered and turned back, and the beastman warriors lined up behind him howled in unison. The mad cries echoed across the entirety of Bullang City at dawn.
"Great Chieftain!! Partak Blackfang hereby calls witness! A young warrior here challenges your position! Accept the duel by tradition, or flee like a frightened rat!!"
Partak bellowed, infusing his voice with mana. Tradition, duel, witness. Those three words rang out across the city. With this, the Imperial forces could no longer intervene rashly in the duel.
The beastman tribal alliance had saved the Empire twice in its crises. The current Karbelier Empress had to recognize the beastman alliance as an equal nation.
From this moment on, Partak's challenge was no longer an illegal rebellion against the regent-in-waiting, but a Great Chieftain duel according to beastman tradition.
The guards at Sephor Castle murmured uneasily. They trembled with rage at Partak's words but couldn't charge recklessly.
Partak grinned at the sight. Just one more step. If he took that single step, the vast domain from the Great Wilderness all the way to Bullang City would fall into his hands.
His luck was insanely good. That's what he thought.
* * *
"Shouldn't we stop this?"
Abel whispered quietly from behind Fernandez. They were on the rooftop of a shop building with a clear view down to the Sephor Castle entrance. Fernandez stood with arms crossed, focused on Partak's actions.
"Is it necessary?"
"You're here to meet Kirhas, aren't you? The situation looks quite dangerous."
"You doubt her?"
"That's not what I mean. She's alone, and there are so many of them. That wizard is a threat too, and you said there's even a demon's stench coming from those soldiers."
"If I intervene personally and clean this up, Kirhas will lose the beastman alliance's trust."
No matter how much prior maneuvering had been done, on the surface, this was a legitimate duel. Even if Fernandez jumped in and dealt with Partak now, with things having escalated this far, there'd be no end to the backlash.
And there was one more reason he hesitated to intervene.
"Kirhas wouldn't want that."
"My help?"
"Yes. She's no fool."
She had zero political balance in a good way, but Kirhas's instincts were close to future sight in how developed they were. Not just in battle, but in nearly every aspect.
Fernandez quietly gazed at Sephor Castle. Bullang was a mess. They'd dumped security and general administration on humans while making the Great Chieftain's rule an open fact.
It was the worst policy, breeding discontent among both humans and beastmen. Humans wouldn't welcome beastman rule, and beastmen were fully exposed to discrimination from human administrators.
Why make such a bad move? Kirhas wasn't an idiot; she must have foreseen the potential for unrest. Those who allow unrest knowing it's coming fall into two categories.
'Those who are too good-hearted and always want to remain the good guy... or those setting a trap to completely uproot potential threats.'
Fernandez's death would inevitably lead to catastrophe in Partak and Kirhas's companionship someday. Fernandez's presence was the only leash holding back Partak's ambitions.
So, Kirhas had been waiting for a legitimate chance to purge Partak. With Partak dominating the council's politics under Fernandez's orders, she couldn't touch him lightly without a major incident.
Fernandez being here now was a fortunate coincidence, but the incident itself was bound to happen eventually. Whether Kirhas intended it or Partak orchestrated it.
So Fernandez decided to wait. Intervening at the worst moment wouldn't be too late; first, he wanted to see Kirhas's play through.
In his past life, the Great Shield of the Wilderness who personally halted Karadskarr's Great Northward March, the Undefeated Kirhas Hearttaker. He needed a gauge of how much of her prime she'd recovered.
'Prime versus prime, she's about half a step below Darian.'
Their peaks were in completely different eras, so direct comparison was hard, but roughly that level.
'In this era, she could be the strongest card I can play.'
It was one of the thoughts he'd had when he first pulled her from the underground sewers. The moment when one of humanity's greatest heroes would serve at his beck and call.
Securing a hero who could buy even a moment against Tyban's might, whom he'd eventually have to face. It was time for her to prove her worth.
* * *
"Great Chieftain!! It's rebellion! The rioters are heading this way!!"
"Shh, the child's sleeping."
"Great Chieftain!!"
In the darkness, turquoise eyes gleamed. The warrior who'd burst in yelling froze stiff under that sharp gaze.
Just being looked at felt like flesh being sliced away; the piercing aura welled up from the room's shadows. The warrior involuntarily trembled and backed away.
"I told you to be quiet. Our Ana has sharp ears at night."
"Great Chieftain... This isn't the time. The mob's momentum is ferocious. We'll buy time, so please withdraw for now and join the Golden Tusk elders in the wilderness."
"You'll buy time?"
Kirhas genuinely tilted her head as if she didn't understand what that meant.
"Why?"
"Because...! Blackfang wouldn't drag so many troops here just for a fair duel!"
"Right, of course. He's brought everyone he can muster."
And he had to. A rustling came from the darkness. "Shh, shh," she soothed the whimpering child, then slowly walked to the window.
In her light nightgown, she gazed up at the high moon. Her eyes soon lowered, taking in the procession of rioters marching toward the castle.
A familiar presence furrowed her brow. Moonlit night, beastmen, warriors, demon.
* * *
That day when she halted Karadskarr's Great Northward March. When Yekaset's moon rose and set again at dawn.
-Silver Duke...?
Bathed in the sky's bluish moonlight, she'd barely opened her eyes and parted her torn lips to utter those words. When she saw the shamelessly twisted faces of Freyja and Abel.
And when she felt the presence of the child stirring in her womb. Kirhas resolved herself. The loyalty she couldn't give the Silver Duke, she would complete through this child. Many worried about her sanity, but after Fernandez's death, she grew even stronger.
Unlike Abel, who despaired with nothing left to lose, she had too much to protect. Fernandez's legacies. The beastman alliance, the Great Chieftain's position, peace in the Great Wilderness, the Empire's safety, and—
Ana Fernanda Cerned. His most precious legacy. Proof of their love cradled in her arms.
In the deep night when no one watched, the late dawn was her only time for mourning. Since that day, she'd screamed at dawn, armed herself with the rising sun, and donned widow's weeds after sunset.
Fernandez's death deeply affected the beastman alliance's politics too. Partak's solo runs worsened, and Golden Tusk eventually led the dovish tribes back to the wilderness. Kirhas remained as Bullang's regent-in-waiting and the beastmen's center, checking Partak alone.
Rebellion was in the countdown. Whenever or however it came, it was inevitable. So she had to ensure it never happened again, guaranteeing permanent safety for her, the alliance, and her daughter.
What move would the Silver Duke make? Kirhas thought that at Fernandez's funeral in Paltenoya.
In this moment, the Silver Duke would—
[Among strategists with even a bit of brains, the more blatant the trap, the more effective it is.]
'Why is that?'
[The reason traps are deadly is because you face the enemy's full strength in an unfavorable situation. Conversely, to face hidden enemy forces, you have to step into the trap.]
Fernandez had answered her question—"Why do Demonica brothers charge headlong into obvious deathtraps?"—like that.
Not all Demonicas are idiots, his lecture began with "probably," and she remembered it.
'Step into the trap.'
Make them so sure of my weakness that they won't even resist a blatant trap. Carefully, over a long time, arrange that moment when their full strength is exposed—
'Step into the trap...'
Crush them head-on. The moment the opponent smirks thinking checkmate, their trap becomes the noose around their own neck. Chess is one move at a time, but the dead have no next move.
That was Fernandez's way.
Since that day, Kirhas had repeated incompetent policies, extravagance, and seclusion due to heartbreak, whittling down her own forces.
Thus, she waited for that day. When hawkish beastmen's discontent peaked, and Partak could no longer hold back.
The moment to purge them through legitimate procedures.
* * *
-Great Chieftain!! Partak Blackfang hereby calls witness! A young warrior here challenges your position! Accept the duel by tradition, or flee like a frightened rat!!
Partak's shout reached the castle walls. Kirhas stood listening to the voice booming beyond the window.
The warrior bowed behind her startled at the sound and cautiously lifted his head. He saw Kirhas's face, frontally lit by the cold moonlight.
"Give me your sword."
She was smiling. Like a hunter aiming at the prey's opening.