Translator: AkazaTL
Pr/Ed: Sol IX
***
Chapter 50 : Grave of Wolves
“C-Commander!”
“Why is the Commander here…….”
The Haken members, who were moving food and alcohol with their rough hands, showed surprised expressions upon seeing me who appeared without notice.
“Why? Did I come somewhere I cannot?”
But unlike the flustered members, my expression was merely composed.
“The view is good.”
Below the low hill where I stood, a wide-open view unfolded without any obstacles.
Ginkgo trees spreading their arms as if to welcome and the soft grass laid out.
And above it, graves and nameplates rose side by side to the faint distance.
“Boss, Boss told him, right?”
“Anyway, even though we asked you so much to keep it a secret from the Commander!”
Did they think Ismael was the culprit who leaked the secret? The members poked Ismael's side and examined my expression.
“Ismael never told me, so don't needlessly catch an innocent person.”
I shook my head while fixing my gaze on the nameplates.
“The friends resting in peace here are Haken members, and I am the Commander of Haken. I think I have enough qualifications to come to this place too?”
“T-That is true, but…….”
“Although I have never met them.”
I took a step closer and caressed a nameplate.
The name on the first nameplate was Jaden, the second was Greener, the third was Paul, and the fourth was…….
464 neat graves densely filling the hill.
The owners of these graves were the members who took their own lives in the Haken Fortress.
The Haken Knight Order, which established distinguished merits in two battles against the Alcala Order and the Sub-Dragons, was able to be allocated their own space inside the Inner Castle.
The very first action the members took as soon as they obtained this space was to create a resting place for the colleagues who left the world lonely.
It was just yesterday evening that the colleagues' resting place was completed after fifteen days of effort.
Today was the day the members decided to gather together to commemorate the colleagues who left the world first.
“Ismael.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“……The members did not want it. I apologize.”
It was not difficult to guess the reason why the members did not tell me.
‘They probably thought it would be a burden to me.’
Although the currently active members are treated as heroes within the territory, that did not mean the shackles surrounding Haken completely disappeared.
The public evaluation regarding the Haken members who took their own lives unable to overcome the long solitude was still considerably negative.
So the Haken members decided to quietly commemorate the colleagues' souls among themselves in order not to burden the Commander who is engaged in a political power struggle against the Vispon family.
“Why are you all standing blankly like that? Do you intend to stay up all night like this?”
But I attended the memorial service somehow knowing about it.
To commemorate the souls of 464 people I had never met even once.
Pop!
Leaving behind the hesitating members, I took the lead and proceeded with the memorial service.
Before anyone knew it, an opened whiskey bottle was held in my hand.
Pour.
“Shiver.”
Pour.
“Benjamin.”
Pour.
“Erez.”
Whiskey was poured a little on each grave.
There was not a bit of hesitation in the voice reciting the members' names.
“Noble.”
“Sob…….”
“Tamudo.”
“Sob sob-”
Around the time the nameplates whose souls I counted passed a little over half, suppressed cries eventually began to burst out from the Haken members' mouths.
Sadness that could be poured out only after 100 years of time passed.
“Yours are separate, so no need to feel regrettable.”
“Sob, pardon?”
“Since there is plenty of alcohol prepared separately for you guys, I mean there is no need to feel so regrettable about using a few bottles here.”
“Yes. Hehe…….”
The members burst into laughter with teary faces.
And following behind me, they caressed the graves and nameplates one by one.
“What did I tell you! I said I would not leave you in such a gloomy place for long.”
“Hey, I brought plenty of what you bastard liked so much here, so eat to your heart's content! Hey, can you hear me! Can you hear me!”
However, for some reason, only Pierce was separated from the members and showed no words or actions.
“Pierce, do you have nothing to say separately to your colleagues?”
“……I have nothing like words to say to these mongrels.”
Pierce's shoulders, which were turned away from me, trembled more and more.
“Commander, speaking of me. I told these guys more than hundreds of times. That if we wait just a little longer, a good day will surely come someday, so even if living like a dog, let's just endure a little longer with our heads down.”
“…….”
“If they endured just a little longer, if they bore it just a little longer, we would have had so many stories to talk about gathering together on such a good day. These sons of bitches…….”
Eventually, Pierce could not finish his words.
I, who watched his back for a moment, moved my steps without saying anything.
Then, after offering libation to the last member, I opened my mouth.
“Pierce Ferkam.”
“Y-Yes. Commander.”
“Well, generally I agree with your thought. But there is something I really want you to know.”
“What are you, sniff, talking about?”
“A good day has not come yet, neither for you guys nor for me.”
I put down the empty whiskey bottle, took out a new whiskey bottle, and brought it to my mouth.
And after emptying about half of that bottle in one breath, I said.
“Someday when a truly good day comes to us, then I will gift you a bottle of very good alcohol.”
I scattered the remaining half of the whiskey into the void as it was, and left the cemetery with the same steps I came.
“Ismael.”
“Yes. Commander.”
“I will give you guys a day off tomorrow. Let's meet at the training ground at 9 AM the day after tomorrow.”
With these words as the end, my figure moved away.
However, the scent of whiskey I scattered remained intact, making the members' hearts ache until late at night.
***
“I came to have an audience with His Majesty.”
“I will report to His Majesty, so please wait a moment, Your Grace the Duke.”
Early morning, sitting in the palace of the capital ‘Abysin’, Redin was lost in thought.
‘Why on earth is His Majesty trying to hold me like this? Even though there is much work to do…….’
Two months since he left the territory.
Thinking of the Reichart territory left empty, Redin had to feel guilt as if his heart was being stabbed.
Of course, he heard the news that they achieved victory in the war against the Sub-Dragons thanks to Hein commanding well.
He also knew that Hein was now gaining trust no less than himself from the knights and people.
But because of that, his heart was even more urgent.
‘The burden placed on that child is too much. I should go and lighten that burden even a little…….’
Feeling thirst from anxiety, Redin lifted the teacup placed in front of his eyes and moistened his throat.
But the thirst did not subside even after drinking a whole cup of tea.
Also, no news was heard from Zodiac's King ‘Alpencius III’.
Clack clack.
A single maid to fill Redin's emptied teacup was all in the audience chamber.
The maid holding a tray and a teapot approached Redin with skilled steps.
“Your Grace the Duke. Let me pour the tea…….”
Slash.
And even before finishing her words, her neck was cut and she fell.
Clang!
A dagger hidden inside the broken teapot flashed emitting a deep blue light.
“Come out.”
Redin, who eliminated the assassin disguised as a maid in the blink of an eye, rose from his seat without any agitation.
‘Two in front, three behind, five on the upper floor.’
Redin, who grasped the assassins' locations in an instant, approached the entrance with a serious expression.
‘Assassins in the royal palace, His Majesty is in danger!’
For the past two months, Redin searched the capital like combing lice to find traces of a possible disturbance.
But traces of rebellion could not be found anywhere.
Eventually, Redin asked the King to return to the territory while clutching his burning stomach.
But an assassin group frolicking in the royal palace?
Redin threw open the entrance of the audience chamber hiding his urgent heart.
Then…….
Clang!
One fully armed knight order filled the corridor and was aiming swords at Redin.
The moment he confirmed the ‘Double-headed Eagle’ engraved on the knights' chests, Redin's two eyes widened as much as they could.
“Traitor, Redin Reichart, listen!”
The Double-headed Eagle is the emblem symbolizing the King's direct Royal Guard Knight Order ‘Simmach’.
And there are only two people in the kingdom who can command Simmach.
None other than King Alpencius III, and,
“I, Crown Prince Luplan of the Great Zodiac Kingdom, command receiving His Majesty's order, traitor Redin Reichart shall put down that sword immediately and pay the price for the felony you committed!”
Zodiac's Crown Prince ‘Luplan’.
The fact that the Crown Prince came to bind him bringing the King's Royal Guard Knight Order meant only one thing.
Redin's binding was not only the Crown Prince's will, but the very will of the current King.
“Your Highness! Treason, what do you mean?”
Redin, placed in a situation he could not understand at all, raised his voice unwittingly.
“What do I mean! You are truly a shameless fellow. Did you think His Majesty would be unaware of your black intentions forever!”
“Your Highness, it is a misunderstanding. I swear I never had such disloyal…….”
“What are you doing! Bind the sinner immediately!”
Redin shouted his innocence with a desperate expression, but the Crown Prince only ordered to bind him without caring.
“What are you doing! Do you not hear my order to bind the sinner!”
However, despite the Crown Prince's repeated shouts, the soldiers could not approach Redin.
Of course, they knew that now, when Redin received not a small shock, was the golden opportunity.
But even so, the weight the name Redin Reichart carries made the knights unable to move hastily.
“R-Redin Reichart, listen.”
Eventually, unable to overcome the Crown Prince's urging, one knight took a step closer with a trembling voice.
“R-Ringleader of treason!”
The knight mustered courage and approached Redin.
But the moment the word ‘treason’ came out, he could not withstand Redin's glaring eye light and collapsed on the spot.
Although it is said he received a shock, the spirit Redin emitted was still mighty.
Eventually, Luplan, unable to watch any longer, stepped forward himself and said.
“Redin Reichart! Do you intend to make futile resistance even now when all your wicked plots have been revealed!”
“Your Highness!”
“Just the sins you have committed so far are immeasurable in gravity. If you disobey the ‘Royal Command’ here and make futile resistance, and thereby injure the royal knights!”
Luplan demanded to accept the binding while specifically emphasizing ‘Royal Command’.
“……I will meet His Majesty.”
Redin, who hardened his resolve, drew his sword.
“You eventually!”
“I will sweetly receive the punishment for the sin of disloyalty for not following Your Highness's order in this place later.”
A situation he could not accept at all.
Redin eventually decided to meet the King in person.
“W-Where are you trying to go! Villain!”
“Step aside. Because I do not want to get dust on me before seeing His Majesty.”
Redin who set out to find the King and Simmach who blocked his way.
It was a one-against-many confrontation structure, but the side looking more relaxed was Redin.
“What are you doing!”
“Uuaah!!”
Unable to overcome the Crown Prince's repeated urging, a group of knights standing at the very front rushed toward Redin.
Clang!
“Ugh!”
“Cough cough!”
Three knights who clashed swords with Redin fell away as they were and vomited blood.
With their clumsy Blade Aura, they could not withstand Redin's slash even once.
Clang!
“Keugh!”
Redin moved forward cutting down the Royal Guard Knights blocking his front like scarecrows.
Not long after, the corridor was full of knights who collapsed and vomited blood.
“H-Hiek…….”
Before anyone knew it, the legs of the last knight blocking Redin's way were trembling.
The knight knew too well.
If Redin had not shown mercy, the condition of the knights collapsed over there would not have stopped at the level of vomiting blood.
“…….”
Redin passed by his side as it was as if the knight did not even exist in that spot.
Just when Redin had not moved far from the knight like that…….
“Aaaack!”
Along with a shout rather close to a scream, an ambush flew from Redin's rear.
Clang!
Redin swung his sword without even looking back.
“Keuk!”
A situation where even the composed Redin could not help but be excited.
Right now, a much stronger energy than until now was carried in Redin's slash.
The attacker hit directly by the slash flew through the void and rolled on the floor.
And Redin's expression hardened in an instant hearing the scream the attacker spat out.
“Your Highness!”
The person who attacked Redin at the last moment was none other than the Crown Prince.
Luplan's condition, hit directly by Redin's slash, looked serious enough to be known at a glance.
“Cough cough!”
Seeing the Crown Prince wriggling and vomiting blood repeatedly, Redin ran to him urgently, checked his pulse, and brought his hand to his chest.
“Your Highness, are you okay? Your Highness!”
Redin called the Crown Prince repeatedly while performing first aid using Blade Aura.
But the Crown Prince only vomited blood repeatedly.
“Your Highness!”
Eventually, Redin hurriedly lifted the Crown Prince on his back to find a royal physician.
Stab!
And,
A blue dagger pierced Redin's abdomen.
“As expected, the effect is good. They said if it is this, it can pierce even Redin's Aura Shield, and indeed…….”
The triumphant laughter of the Crown Prince, who seemed like he would lose consciousness just a moment ago, was heard.
“……!”
The dagger that pierced out through his abdomen.
Redin knew that dagger very well.
“I want to give this to you. A miracle allowed only once. Doesn't it look just like our meeting?”
The gift Rishu gave him on the day they held the wedding.
‘Adonis’.
A cursed sword that can be used only once, but has the power to tear a knight's Aura Shield to shreds.
Thud.
Redin, who looked at the blade blue enough to be cold with a blank expression, eventually sat down feeling his vision blurring.
Into Redin's consciousness becoming increasingly blurry, Luplan's voice was heard.
“Traitor Redin Reichart! In the name of the Great King Alpencius III, I arrest you!”