The Assassin's Command
“Wait just a moment……!! Lord Yong-a, are you ordering Adel to commit murder right now? We’re hunters, not assassins!”
Merka shouted in shock at his words. But Yong-a continued to gaze at him with an unchanging expression.
“Lord Merka. If you’re a son of Hien, you must know this. Just as the Ulan tribe has many hunting parties, the hunts in the desert carry many meanings.”
“That’s precisely why we have our ten captains.”
For the first time, Myurn, who had remained silent until now, spoke up.
“Myurn……”
Merka fell silent at his single word.
Fang Myurn. In his active days, he had been the Ulan tribe’s greatest assassin. Though he had disbanded his own hunting party and come to serve as an instructor at the Great Bow’s Nest, he was still the finest killer.
“The desert’s history is built on the blood of hunts. The blood seeping between the grains of sand isn’t just from beasts.”
“Father’s giving him a brutal task.”
“It’s not just Lord Adel. Missions like this can be assigned to anyone. As you know, the Black Crows spend their lives on such work.”
The two men nodded in response to Myurn’s words rather than replying.
The ten captains each handled different roles. If Muel’s Jackals were for hunting magical beasts, then Nazan’s Black Crows targeted more specialized prey—like nobles from the central Nine Kingdoms who weren’t friendly toward the desert.
“Is this a commission, or a tribal matter?”
“It’s related to the tribe, but it’s closer to a commission in one sense.”
Yong-a gave a vague answer to Adel’s question.
“The target Lord Adel must hunt is the third son of the Arram family from the Chan Kingdom, one of the central Nine Kingdoms.”
“The Arram family’s third son……”
“Mahal Arram. You came from the central lands, Lord Adel. But you probably haven’t heard of him.”
As he said, Adel had never heard the name Mahal Arram. When he had met Karon and gone to the Azal Kingdom in his previous life, the Chan Kingdom had already been destroyed. Naturally, all the families and nobles tied to it had long been dead.
But……
Adel furrowed his brow slightly at Yong-a’s words.
If it’s a different Mahal, I know him.
The Masked Murderer Mahal. Known as a once-in-a-generation serial killer, he had plagued even after Karon founded the empire. No one had ever seen his true face, and he was a master of perfect disguise that even the Magic Council’s mages couldn’t pierce.
In my previous life, a special forces unit of imperial knights was formed just to catch him—he was that elusive. Could this Mahal from the Chan Kingdom be the same person?
It was impossible to know for sure. But what was certain was that the murderer had slain countless imperial nobles and tycoons. Imperial citizens only.
I’ll have to confirm it. He might just be a madman…… but even if he was back then, he might not be now.
“But why is the son of a Chan Kingdom noble in Ruinxen, a lawless zone?”
“Ahem…… It’s a bit complicated.”
At Adel’s question, Yong-a glanced at the two men as if checking their reactions.
“We’ll step out.”
Merka instantly understood the look and grabbed Rania’s arm, pulling her along.
“W-what? I want to hear.”
“Don’t interfere and come on. We need to prepare gear for the youngest. Ruinxen’s a long way off.”
Rania started to protest but ended up following with a click of her tongue at Merka’s stern expression.
Even the mighty big sis turns meek in front of Brother Merka. In a way, Syrin not cowering before a guy like that makes him pretty impressive.
Garon’s voice rang out.
Kilderen—the high god of the hunt?
Adel couldn’t hide his admiration at his words. For a high god—one of the pinnacle divinities—to seek out a human directly was to be truly chosen by the gods.
Adel nodded at Garon’s words. But the gods’ “entertainment” wasn’t mere lighthearted fun.
More intense prayers.
It was the power humans desperately craved, that fierce desire manifesting most acutely in extreme situations—like war.
Ironically, the civil wars among the central Nine Kingdoms sparked inter-kingdom conflicts. That drew more gods to the center, ushering in an unprecedented boom for the kingdoms.
Chaotic from war, yet growing stronger because of it.
That power is why the Azal Kingdom could become an empire once the central civil wars ended.
Adel remembered it well. When the central Nine Kingdoms’ wars concluded and Azal emerged victorious, there had been over twenty knights wielding high god blessings.
A stark power gap. Even combining all desert tribes—not just Ulan—there were barely five with high god blessings.
Adel believed he needed to bolster the desert’s forces before the central wars ended. The desert tribes had their share of conflicts over the years, but compared to the central wars, they were mere skirmishes.
Probably because the Ulan tribe’s strength keeps them in check. Good for the tribes, but no spectacle for the gods.
Still, he had no desire to start wars just to gain power.
The enemy is the central forces anyway.
Weakening the desert to earn god blessings would doom them in the war against the center.
To avoid that……
Adel glanced at Merka’s retreating back.
Raising the talented ones is the surest way right now.
“What are you thinking so deeply about?”
After parting with Merka and Rania, Adel realized he had arrived at Yong-a’s tent while following behind him.
“Hm……”
Adel hesitated for a moment.
“About how to win people’s hearts.”
At his answer, Yong-a looked at him with an unexpectedly intrigued gaze. But soon, he smiled warmly—a smile he didn’t show others.
“Do you seek someone’s approval?”
Adel chuckled at his response.
“You’ve got it wrong. I’m not some kid throwing a tantrum for Father’s praise.”
He went up on tiptoes and patted Yong-a’s shoulder, who was taller than him.
“What I want isn’t the desert’s approval, but its loyalty. No need to bend to them.”
Yong-a looked stunned, as if struck by his words.
“The desert’s loyalty……”
He murmured softly.
What an entertaining kid. All the Ulan brothers are exceptional, but none speak like that.
By nature or nurture, they were fated to compete among themselves.
Some avoid rivalry, some are just headstrong, others wander afar to escape it……
“This one doesn’t even consider rivalry. He speaks as if standing above them is natural……”
He watched Adel’s back with interest as he entered the tent.
“Adel Temir. How far can you climb? Empty bravado, or do you have something to back it? Even I can’t tell.”
No matter his prophetic insight as a diviner, he couldn’t know Adel commanded an ancient god. If he did, he’d realize such worries were pure luxury.
“Past Ruinxen to the east lie the Four Principalities. Southwest on the continent map.”
“I know.”
“The reason I was away is that the magical beasts in the eastern forest suddenly turned ferocious.”
“……Hm?”
Adel tilted his head, not grasping Yong-a’s point.
“The eastern forest is far from here. A change in beast temperament is odd, but dispatching someone all the way there seems excessive, no?”
“You could see it that way. But this isn’t limited to the eastern forest.”
Yong-a unrolled a large continent map on the tent table.
“Here. You know this massive river that cuts through the continent, encompassing our southern desert and flowing out to the strait.”
Adel nodded.
“The Ronen River.”
“Yes. It acts like a bridge linking the entire continent from the southern strait. Meaning it affects the whole land in other ways too.”
“And?”
“The beasts’ ferocity started in the eastern forest. In the territory of the Hogen family, one of the Four Principalities. They lost over a hundred knights.”
His words were shocking. Adel knew the eastern forest well. Rich in mines and resources, it had made the smaller principalities powerhouse despite their size.
It’s that vital to them. Losing control of those beasts is disastrous.
But it was strange. Adel racked his memory: Were there beasts strong enough to wipe out a hundred knights?
The apex there is the green dragon Ktrula. Its lair’s in those woods.
But the dragon wouldn’t emerge for years.
“Next came the Chan Kingdom, bordering the principalities inland. Ferocious beasts appeared along the roads leading from the forest.”
He traced his finger from the eastern forest through the Chan Kingdom, across the continent along the Ronen River.
“After Chan is the neighboring Sender Kingdom. Reports say they’re now appearing in the great plains. The center’s too busy with war to mind…… but the beasts are speeding up.”
The next destination after the plains was obvious: this desert.
“So the ferocious beasts are heading south?”
“No. There’s no mass migration of beasts themselves. It’s more like their ferocity is spreading.”
“Hm……”
Adel followed the river with his eyes.
Frenzied magical beasts……
He recalled it.
Yeah, that did happen.
And he easily remembered the impending event.
The Beast Flood, the Cataclysm.
Precisely, the beast flood that would ravage the continent fifteen years from now.
During Shallon’s great disaster, the desert had suffered heavily from the Forgotten Ones. Before that chaos even settled, the central civil wars ended, Azal founded the empire and invaded. By the time those embers died, the Cataclysm struck the entire continent, devastating it utterly.
The central kingdoms took heavy losses too, but the desert was beyond recovery.
One of the main reasons the desert fell to the empire.
So this beast flood started fifteen years early……
Everything had causes and effects. Adel felt anew that no event arose from nowhere.
“Definitely strange. Healthy beasts turning ferocious without reason.”
“It’s not the first time. I checked old records—there was exactly one prior instance.”
“Really? When?”
Yong-a spoke in a low voice.
“When the demons appeared.”
“Demons……”
Adel wasn’t surprised. In his previous life, demons had never broken through from the demon realm. No need to worry about them emerging.
But he thought of humans linked to demons. They were the ones he had to deal with.