Chapter 166
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: The One-Eyed Bandit's Verdict
"Let's see here... Heh, damn it. This guy's totally cleaned out. I figured Karawnaus must've been hauling around something valuable since he kept bragging about it, but he's just a hollow shell after all?"
Crouched beside the bisected corpse of the Shadow, Talor rummaged through its pockets, clicking his tongue repeatedly as nothing turned up.
...Thud!
As a man with his face wrapped tightly in bandages approached Talor from behind, the arrows of the Blade Unit members who'd been aiming at the Shadow all swiveled toward him in unison.
"That's far enough. If you take even one more step toward the captain... we'll turn you into a pincushion right there."
The air around them warped and shimmered with heat haze from the overwhelming killing intent. Talor waved off the scimitar slung over his shoulder.
"Hey, hey, what the hell are you idiots doing to a guest? You're ruining the mood."
"......"
"Oh? Look at these guys. They know who I am and they're still worried?"
...Swish!
Talor glared with his one good eye, and only then did the unit members reluctantly lower their bowstrings, pretending to give in.
Judging that silent permission had been granted, the man—Kasar Lichtenauer—quietly extended a piece of paper toward Talor.
"Oho, alright. What had our mummy friend so curious?"
-Lord Balteran clearly asked you to assist in taking down Karawnaus. So why did you just watch from the sidelines?
Indeed.
Just as Ian and the Latent Dragon Squad handled the Pang royal purge, and Aelion pursued the fleeing Karawnaus,
Kasar Lichtenauer had, per Ian's instructions, led Ye's forces in advance to wipe out Karawnaus.
"Oh, that?"
Talor scratched his head with the tip of his scimitar blade, answering nonchalantly.
"It was a given. Sure, they might end up as allies someday... but we're no pushovers ourselves. If they can't even handle a punk like Tarik, they'd be worthless. Can't share a table with greenhorns who haven't lost a single hair yet, right?"
-......
It was arrogant, rude even.
But Kasar accepted it readily.
For them, this was a situation that might pit them against the Khan Empire outright, so naturally they'd want to test them multiple times.
-So, what was your verdict after seeing it firsthand?
Talor's single eye sparkled at Kasar's calm dismissal of what could have been an insulting reply.
'Not bad. These kids don't act like kids at all. Looks like he's got some solid people around him.'
He'd heard from Balteran that they were young, but he hadn't expected them to carry themselves so maturely.
If his crew was this capable... even if not ready for the big table with Big Bro, they deserved an invitation for a drink.
Grinning to bare his teeth, Talor replied.
"Impressive. They didn't fully subdue the Shadow, sure. But smashing Karawnaus this badly? That's baseline qualification. I'll handle things on our end, so wrap up yours properly. Balteran will sort out the timing."
-Understood. I'll pass that along.
Kasar let out a small sigh as the tension eased.
-Oh, and... if it's not too rude, may I ask one more thing?
"Our mummy friend's got a lot of questions. Fine, we gave you a good show, so I'll answer one more."
-That eye... it's fine, so why wear the eyepatch?
Kasar asked, his playfulness fading.
He'd shown some levity, but the prowess Kasar had witnessed from Talor was real.
Beyond the Lichtenauer upper unit commanders... perhaps even a match for the patriarchs of the Three Great Vassal Houses.
For a warrior of this caliber to rank only third in Ye proved they were far beyond mere bandits.
'Some kind of training regimen?'
No way a fighter like this would cover a good eye for some childish deception.
Maybe self-imposed limits to aim higher—like blinding one eye for focus.
Thinking it might offer insights for his own training, Kasar pressed on shamelessly.
He was determined to make Ian the Lichtenauer patriarch, after all.
"This?"
Talor flipped the eyepatch playfully at Kasar's question.
Gazing at it with pride, he snapped it back on with a crisp smack and declared,
"Obviously 'cause it's cool! Cool as hell! A one-eyed mountain bandit? Kyaa!! That's the romance of a true man of the wilds, ain't it?"
-......?
Talor spoke half-jokingly, yet brimming with genuine pride.
The Blade Unit members averted their eyes, faces flushing with secondhand embarrassment at their captain.
Kasar thought to himself.
Ye really was a bunch impossible to pin down.
After Tarik fell to Ian's hand and the Shadow fled,
the battle swiftly concluded.
Even with their captain dead, Karawnaus refused to surrender, resisting fiercely.
Not out of loyalty to the Khan Empire.
They had the sense to see it.
Causing an incident this big in Pang Kingdom meant they'd planned mass slaughter from the start.
No, the reason didn't matter anyway.
Karawnaus, the Khan Empire's infamous raiding hounds.
No Pang citizen would show mercy to those who'd pillaged countless times across the borders.
A few Karawnaus members broke through the Latent Dragon Squad and royal guards' onslaught after desperate resistance, managing to escape.
Of course, only temporarily.
"Whoa there, hold it right there, human."
Grab!
Aelion summoned a slippery spirit to snag a Karawnaus member's ankle.
"Get serious for once, Aelion. You're the one who whined about looking bad if we didn't earn our keep."
Even Biyona, constantly vigilant, delaying their flights.
Under the ironclad watch of the two dark elf forest combat experts, most escapees were quickly recaptured.
"Argh, fine, fine. Now you're saying I gotta match you bite for bite...?"
Those who barely slipped past even the dark elves' checks... all met their ends as ungrateful guests.
Thanks to the 'Ye' forces Ian and Kasar had prepared.
Once Ian finished off Tarik and mopped up Karawnaus, he sat on a nearby rock to rest.
Swish!
Kasar, face swathed in bandages, extended a paper to Ian.
-All escapees dealt with, no exceptions.
"Good work. What about Ye's people?"
-They said facing Pang Kingdom faces would ruin their appetites and headed back. Still awkward to deal direct with Pang, it seems.
"I see."
It made sense enough.
Their help this time was just to verify if Ian truly mastered Lucas's martial arts and to easily crush their common foe, Karawnaus.
They weren't chummy enough to laugh and chat with Pang Kingdom yet.
'Well, time will smooth it over.'
Ian brushed it off and asked again.
"So, who came from Ye?"
-Hm...
Kasar pondered his impression of Talor before answering.
-Some weird cyclops. Eye's fine, but wears an eyepatch for 'coolness'... or so he claimed.
'Figured as much.'
The 'cyclops' mention pinpointed him immediately.
Talor.
Ian had expected Balteran to send him.
Among those dispatched to the Eastern Continent, Talor had the hottest temper and supported Lucas most fervently.
No need to ask why—Balteran chose him deliberately.
If Ian wasn't a total fraud, Talor would hype his skills to Ye more than anyone.
That would ease Ye's tangled internal politics into accepting Ian as Lucas's heir.
-Said to come see him once cleanup's done. Here's how to find him, apparently.
Kasar handed Ian a crumpled sheet.
Rustle!
It detailed how to contact Ye's Grand Captain, Lien.
With Lien leading Ye, negotiations with him were essential for any decision... so it was only natural.
"Got it. Must've been no picnic wrangling Ye's roughnecks solo. You did great."
At Ian's light shoulder pat and praise, Kasar's visible eye crinkled slightly beneath the bandages.
-What, this was nothing.
Kasar waved it off casually, but this mission was far from ordinary.
Coordinate with Ye for precise encirclement timing, hunt down every fleeing Karawnaus.
No step was easy, yet Kasar pulled it off flawlessly.
"Alright then. Time to handle... the most important part?"
The finale of Pang Kingdom's 'purge'.
Dragging the apex—and origin—of the traitors,
the House of Duke Alvaret, to the royal palace.
Clatter, clatter!
The same carriage, heading to the capital Toolgur.
A path experienced just days ago.
But... the status of those traveling it had plummeted to rock bottom in mere days.
"Uwoooooh! You filthy Khan Empire dogs!!"
"Ptoo! Serves you right, you country-selling scum!!"
Jeers rained from Toolgur citizens.
No, not just jeers.
Splat!
The half-wrecked carriage from their frantic escape grew filthier under the citizens' thrown refuse.
Splatter!
A rotten tomato slipped through the broken window, bursting and splattering juice on Duchess Alvaret's face.
"......"
Swish.
The duchess blankly wiped the tomato juice from her face.
'How... how did things end up like this?'
I just wanted to accept the Khan Empire's favor and enjoy wealth and glory.
Share that glory together.
Why must I endure mockery from these lowly scum?
Before she could find answers, the duke and duchess were hauled to the palace and forced to kneel before Rayzen.
"Duchess Alvaret. You know your crimes better than anyone. For years of treason, rotting away Pang's proud spirit of resistance against the Khan Empire... the sin is grave indeed."
"N-no, Your Highness!!"
As if accepting the end, the duchess's vacant eyes refocused.
"I, I just wanted to bring happiness to this kingdom!!"
She cried desperately.
"I only dreamed of prosperity for both Khan Empire and Pang Kingdom! All this was to strengthen Pang's national power...!!"
Pathetic excuses poured out.
Choices for her own prosperity twisted into 'for the country.'
Rayzen furrowed his brow at the duchess's pleas.
"Is that... all you have to say?"
Deeming further words a blight on his ears, Rayzen ordered the guards to drag her away.
To the guillotine where countless nobles had already become morning dew.
As soldiers gripped under her arms to haul her off,
"Aaaahhh!! Your Highness, Your Highness!! Hear me out!!"
The duchess thrashed wildly.
"Dear, dear! Don't just sit there—say something to His Highness!!"
Realizing her screams were futile, she turned to her husband with a piteous wail.
"Your wife's about to be executed!!"
In the past, her husband—who'd sacrificed more passionately for the kingdom than any—might have pled for her, prompting Rayzen to reconsider.
But for some reason.
Her husband, Duke Alvaret,
kept his eyes tightly shut, refusing to open them even as she was dragged to the guillotine.
Not responding to her shrieks until the very last moment.
Clank!
Her head placed on the guillotine's mount.
-KyaAAAAAHHH!!
Far off, her death scream echoed from the guillotine.
Thud...!!
Only after the heavy thud did Duke Alvaret steady his trembling hands and open his eyes.
Rayzen stared at him coldly.
The same icy expression as when gazing at the duchess... but with a crucial difference.
When looking at her, his eyes held no flicker of emotion, like staring at an object.
Now, deep in those eyes swirled pity and sorrow.
Rayzen silently regarded the duke for a long while.
"...Duke Alvaret."
Suppressing his quavering voice, Rayzen finally called the duke's name.