Chapter 163
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Confrontation in the Baekra Mountains
"Unfortunately, Madam... your thoughts are mistaken."
"What did you say?"
A calm remark from her husband, who had always been more upright than anyone, yet more incompetent than anyone.
That voice yanked the Duchess's consciousness, submerged in confusion, straight to the surface.
"I'm talking about what you're thinking right now. Why things turned out this way, why no one agrees with you... something like that, isn't it?"
"...Me?!"
The Duchess clutched the hem of her skirt tightly.
Blood trickled over her bitten lip.
"What the hell did I do so wrong!!"
She screamed hysterically.
"What has this impoverished country—this useless lump of a nation—ever done for our family! We've been starving right alongside the territory's people, always going hungry because of them...!!"
She wore an expression of deep grievance.
"Our lives changed the moment we accepted the Khan Empire's culture and cooperated with them! If everyone just bows their heads to the Khan Empire, we can all live happily! It was all for the good of our kingdom...!!"
"No, that's not it."
The Duke slowly shook his head at his wife's outburst.
A resolute demeanor she'd never seen before.
Her husband's newfound firmness made her eyes waver.
"As you said, I'm incompetent... I only realized it after we reached this point. What I was giving up in exchange for that comfortable life."
Pride.
He had been selling off the pride he held as a noble of the kingdom, as one of its members.
That was why even the disgusting Khan Empire's clothing and culture had gradually become less uncomfortable.
"You... you only allied with the Khan Empire for your own sake. Not for the kingdom. The current outcome proves it better than anything, doesn't it?"
"Ha!"
At the Duke's words, the Duchess snorted as if it were utterly absurd.
"Fine, say it like you mean it—call me a traitor. Then what about you?"
She unleashed a barrage of sharp insults at the Duke.
"If you hated my actions so much, if you thought I was so wrong! You should have cast me out from the start! A man who never once strongly opposed me, what right do you have to lecture me now like you're looking down from above?!"
"I've never lectured you. Because... I'm the same."
Just as the wife had sold out the kingdom under the delusion that it was for the kingdom's sake, the Duke himself had turned a blind eye to her treason under the pretext of "for the family."
That's right.
The Duke, too, had been a traitor, consoling himself that it was unavoidable for his family's sake.
Leaning back into the carriage with a hollow expression, the Duke spoke.
"So let's pull ourselves together and accept this situation. We won't survive now unless we escape the kingdom with Karaunas. If we've made our choice... isn't it right to bear the responsibility?"
"......!!"
His words snapped the Duchess back to reality.
Right.
At least for now, it wasn't the time to panic like an idiot.
'...Grand Duke Kaido. I must meet with His Highness the Grand Duke.'
If she could just escape this damned kingdom somehow and meet the Grand Duke.
If he brought the Khan Empire's army marching toward this land.
Regaining power... wouldn't be a mere dream.
No, she might even leverage this crisis to be recognized as the king of a duchy.
Witnessing the ambition still burning in her eyes, Duke Alvarez gave a wry smile without realizing it.
'...It's too late.'
He should have chosen sooner.
He should have steadied the family earlier.
Then he could have straightened this twisted path.
Now everything was too late.
Meanwhile, as the Duke and Duchess exchanged words, Karaunas and the carriage sped toward Tulgoor's south gate.
"You're late?"
As Ian and the Latent Dragon Squad stepped out of the banquet hall with the royal guard knights to pursue Karaunas, Aelion and Biyona leaped down from the roof of a nearby building.
"Whoa."
Despite the considerable height, the two elves landed softly without a hint of impact.
Ian asked the pair as they joined the Latent Dragon Squad.
"Karaunas's position?"
"Heading for the south gate, just as you planned. Well, it was the expected outcome anyway."
Aelion said as he ran alongside Ian.
The other three gates were guarded ironclad by the Pang royal guards, leaving Karaunas no other choice.
"Everything's gone according to plan so far... but you know what happens if we don't wipe out those brutish humans completely, right? We're all screwed."
"Of course."
That's right.
To eradicate the traitors in one fell swoop and give the Khan Empire no pretext.
It all came down to thoroughly eliminating the Alvarez Duke's household and Karaunas, not leaving a single one behind.
To achieve that...
Ian murmured while gazing at the distant south gate.
"She's well-prepared. She's sharp as a tack, after all."
"Block them! We must kill every last one of those rebels...!!"
Slash!
A Karaunas member decapitated a south gate guard.
With the guard's blood spraying and soaking the member's body, cracks finally began to form in the south gate's defenses.
Tarik never missed that opening.
"Break through!!"
Covered in minor wounds, Tarik shielded the Alvarez family's carriage as he crossed Tulgoor's south gate.
It was relatively lax compared to the others, but only relative.
Karaunas was strong, no doubt, but breaching a kingdom's capital was never easy.
"These stubborn bastards... Have they truly resolved to defy the Empire?"
A fanatical determination emanated from the oncoming forces to eliminate Karaunas here and now.
That near-mad resolve sent chills down even Tarik's spine.
"Captain, where to now? Those lunatics... they're climbing over the walls after us!"
"......!!"
Tarik's expression hardened at his subordinate's shout.
He hadn't expected them to pursue so relentlessly even after escaping the capital.
'We've barely left Tulgoor. The southern territories have few pro-Empire nobles. To reach Empire territory... we'd have to take a massive detour.'
If this level of assault continued across every inch of Pang Kingdom soil... he hated to admit it, but even Karaunas would face annihilation.
No matter how small the nation, a kingdom's power couldn't be ignored.
Therefore.
Tarik's choice boiled down to one option.
"...We'll cross the Baekra Mountains directly."
"......!!"
Unease rippled through the Karaunas members' eyes.
Heading into the Baekra Mountains—where they might encounter "her"—while dragging along the baggage that was the Alvarez family.
But... not one member opposed Tarik's decision.
Crossing the mountains wasn't easy either, but it held far more promise than skirting royal territories to flee to the Khan Empire.
"Tell the Duke and Duchess. We're crossing the mountains, so brace themselves."
"Yes, sir!"
It would be a grueling trek for them too, but what could be done?
Arsran had ordered them to bring the Duke and Duchess back alive, not healthy.
"Haa, haa..."
Thud!
The Duchess, drenched in cold sweat and struggling up the mountain, collapsed to the ground after only a short distance.
"I... I can't walk anymore."
"Madam, get up! Do you want to die?!"
A Karaunas member barked harshly, but the Duchess pleaded with Tarik instead.
"My feet are blistered and killing me. Please, Sir Tarik. Can't we rest just a little, please?"
"......"
Tarik gave no response to the Duchess's words.
If he opened his mouth, he might lose control and slit her throat from the rage boiling inside.
No, he was already fighting that impulse with all he had.
With the Pang pursuit right on their heels, had she still not grasped the situation?
He wanted to rip that insolent mouth off her face.
Were it not for the Grand Duke's ironclad orders and Arsran's veiled threats... Tarik would have killed her long ago.
"...Madam, I'll support you. Come on, up you get."
Duke Alvarez stepped forward to help his wife, sensing Tarik's icy aura, but the Duchess—oblivious to the thickening tension—slapped his hand away and snapped sharply.
"I said I really can't walk! Sir Tarik, just ten minutes, please?"
'This damned bitch...!!'
Tarik's pent-up fury finally erupted.
Even if it meant punishment from Arsran later, dragging this deadweight woman along would doom the entire Karaunas unit.
As Tarik slowly drew the shamshir from his waist...
Chiriririririt!
"......!!"
A venomous wave of killing intent surged like a viper; Tarik urgently redirected the shamshir he'd been drawing to block the frontal assault.
Clanggg!
A powerful vibration traveled through the shamshir into his palm.
That resonance hardened Tarik's face.
He was a warrior proudly ranked among Karaunas, the Khan Empire's elite force.
No one reached such heights lightly.
Naturally, Tarik too had ascended to Master level, albeit at its entry.
Surpassing human limits.
For someone to deliver this much shock to him...
'...Rainashu? Has he already caught up here?!'
One name came to mind.
In this backwater Pang Kingdom, the only one fit to cross blades with him would be the royal guard captain protecting the palace.
No, even if not Rainashu, it had to be someone from the top brass.
'If guards from other gates are pursuing, the rest won't be far behind. Damn it, what now...!'
As Tarik's mind raced...
"Hehey, you only made it this far? Man, that mummy bastard must be panicking hard."
A cheerful voice, utterly out of place, echoed through the forest.
Otherworldly beauty, long ears.
An elf appeared from between the trees, mismatched to the dire situation.
"Well, if we're fighting, he'll hear and come running. He's got that much judgment—at least one of the Lichtenauer Martial Clan's prized talents."
Clang, clang!
A man lightly recovered from the strike he'd just deflected, responding to the elf's words.
Unlike Tarik's expectation of guard brass, the man looked remarkably young.
"...You?!"
Tarik's eyes widened upon recognizing the youth.
It wasn't his first time seeing him.
"So you do know me? Good call being cautious... I nearly caused real trouble."
"...Ha!"
Confirming no guard brass was present eased Tarik's tension, and only then did he understand how things had unfolded.
"No wonder you dared defy our Empire... Turns out the Pang royals pulled in foreign powers too."
Tarik stared straight at Ian's face and asked.
"Paon... his orders? He hid his ambition to swallow the Eastern Continent well."
It made sense.
A warrior with transcendent power wouldn't settle for just the Eastern Continent—coveting others was natural.
"No, not at all."
But Ian corrected Tarik's assumption.
"Sorry, but we just couldn't stomach what the Khan Empire's been doing. Monopolizing all Eastern Continent trade, squeezing powerless neighbor kingdoms dry—that's what I mean."
Whoosh!
Ian raised the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent and said to Tarik.
"Set down Duke Alvarez and his wife there and leave quietly. Do that, and I'll show mercy and let you go right now."
Of course, they'd be in someone else's hands soon enough.
Ian swallowed the afterthought and urged him, but to Tarik, it was nothing but empty nonsense.
"Hahaha... This is rich. Is it because we looked pathetic in front of your father? You think we're pushovers."
Not just Tarik—all of Karaunas began exuding killing intent at Ian's provocation.
"You thought some regular royal guards without their brass and a bunch of greenhorns like you could handle us? Better this way."
Shing!
"I'll cut off your head, salt it, box it prettily, and send it as a gift to the Lichtenauer Martial Clan... Can't wait to see your father's face."
The killing intent from a Master beyond superhuman bounds was so threatening it paled even the faces of ally Duke Alvarez and his wife.
"Whoa... as scary as he looks? You good solo?"
Aelion's face stiffened at Tarik's fierce aura as he asked Ian.
"I'm fine."
Ian calmly gripped the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent and assumed a stance.
"Let's play."
This was a chance.
A chance to properly test the power gained from slaying the Earth Dragon.
He wouldn't end it easily.