Chapter 68: Retribution (1)
While the Northern Conference was in full swing, a middle-aged man entered Chaplin Castle accompanied only by a man who appeared to be his attendant.
“May I see your invitation?”
A man standing at the entrance personally inspected the invitation.
Seros, the lord of Chaplin Castle, stood before the middle-aged man.
At the sight of Seros demanding the invitation, the middle-aged man let out a small chuckle.
“I hadn’t heard there was soone like you in Ragnar?”
“…….”
Seros said nothing in response to the middle-aged man’s words.
He simply did not withdraw the hand calmly requesting the invitation.
The middle-aged man, who had been observing Seros with narrowed eyes, soon nodded.
At that, the attendant took an invitation out from his bosom and handed it to Seros.
“……Reciford?”
Seeing the surna written on the invitation, Seros tilted his head.
It was a na he was certain he had seen sowhere before.
As Seros was struggling to trace his vague mories, the middle-aged man stepped closer.
“Is it confird?”
“Ah, yes, it’s confird.”
After receiving the invitation, the middle-aged man did not go inside. Instead, he suddenly leaned his face close to Seros’s ear.
“Is it really all right to reveal your face so openly? You were publicly declared dead, after all.”
At those words, Seros’s eyes widened.
Seeing his reaction, the middle-aged man ford a faint smile.
“Of course, in the North—the very edge of the Kingdom of Daon, a remote corner of the continent—there may be no one who recognizes you. Still, wouldn’t it be better to be cautious?”
“……You must be mistaken.”
“Well, that could be the case. I never expected to see the Reaper, who had no followers except one, here of all places.”
“I told you that’s not the case.”
At Seros’s persistent denial, the middle-aged man laughed heartily and walked forward.
The attendant who followed behind him gave Seros a slight bow.
After disappearing from Seros’s sight, the two passed through Chaplin Castle and continued walking deeper into the mountain range, conversing as they went.
“He’s strong.”
“Yes, Family Head. Wasn’t he once evaluated as the second strongest on the continent?”
“Seros the Reaper. The fact that he’s by the side of the Heir of the Frostfire ans……”
“There was a reason we searched so desperately yet couldn’t find him.”
Ian Kailers.
The second-in-command of the Tyler Empire, and a swordsman once evaluated as the strongest on the continent.
Seros was a man who showed unwavering loyalty, never leaving his side.
And the fact that soone who had been publicly declared dead alongside Ian Kailers was here ant only one thing.
“So this is why there was no information about where Ian Kailers ca from.”
“He must have concealed it thoroughly. And I believe there’s a strong chance that even the Tyler imperial family was unaware of that information.”
At the attendant’s words, the middle-aged man nodded.
“We ca for nothing.”
“I feel the sa.”
Worrying that Kyle Ragnar might be attacked by the Northern lords, or swayed by their glib tongues, had been entirely pointless.
“Still, since we’ve co all this way, I’d like to see that person’s face at least once.”
“Shall we increase our speed?”
“Let’s do that.”
The middle-aged man and his attendant changed their pace.
The two dashed toward the mountain pass entrance as swiftly as the wind.
And when the middle-aged man arrived, the Northern Conference was nearing its end.
Watching from afar as the head of the House Terius was replaced by Ail, the middle-aged man curled his lips upward.
“When greed overflows, it only invites disaster. He really hasn’t changed.”
“Soone blinded by greed wouldn’t be able to see that, would they?”
“Haha, you’re right.”
The middle-aged man approached the conference hall, where a heavy atmosphere had settled, with slow steps.
Sensing the pressure he was emitting, Kyle turned his head.
‘……Who is that?’
He was strong.
Perhaps even stronger than Seros, or Yul and Iron who were present here.
Kyle stepped forward, blocking the front of Pramo as he looked at the middle-aged man who had revealed himself.
“……Who are you?”
“I arrived a bit late.”
The middle-aged man bowed his head slightly with a faint smile in response to Kyle’s question.
For over ten years, he had searched for him.
Holding on to the hope that he was still alive, he had never given up and wandered across the entire continent.
After hearing that Kyle had returned, the middle-aged man—who had co back to the North not long ago—took the invitation from his bosom.
“If you’re Bellos Reciford…… the forr Red Magic Tower Master?”
“At one ti, I was called that.”
In the Kingdom of Daon, which was considered barren ground for magicians, he was the only 6th-circle mage to make a na for himself.
There was no citizen of the Kingdom of Daon who did not know the na Bellos.
When soone who had vanished twenty years ago suddenly revealed himself, shock spread across the faces of the Northern lords.
“……I never thought you would be in the North.”
“I returned to the North not long ago. It’s my hotown, after all.”
At this unfamiliar revelation, not only Kyle but everyone present flinched.
“In fact, there was only one person who knew that the North was my hotown. He’s no longer among the living now, though…….”
Bellos carefully examined Kyle, capturing him fully in his gaze.
Kyle, in turn, studied Bellos’s eyes closely.
They seed distant, as if he were a man with a story.
“You seem to be soone connected to the Ragnar Family.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m unrelated. Hehe.”
After staring at Kyle in silence for a long while, Bellos turned his body without hesitation.
He thought it was enough, having seen how well he had grown.
“Are you leaving?”
At Kyle’s question, Bellos nodded.
“I’ve achieved what I wanted, so there’s no reason to remain here any longer.”
“What you wanted…….”
“As soone who also belongs to the North, I will follow the will of the Successor of the Frostfire. I ca here to deliver that ssage.”
The Ragnar Family was in desperate need of a mage at the mont.
In such a situation, Bellos—a highly skilled mage—had appeared.
Kyle wanted to keep him, but Bellos looked so bitter that he could not bring himself to say what he wished.
As Kyle watched the back of the man who had appeared suddenly and left just as abruptly, he stroked his chin.
‘What was his intention in coming here?’
No matter how much he thought about it, no answer ca.
All Kyle knew about the man nad Bellos was that he was the forr Red Magic Tower Master.
In the end, Kyle shook his head and turned his body toward the lords.
Although the eting had been briefly delayed by his sudden appearance and disappearance, the conference had already lost its aning anyway.
“The conference is over. If you cannot follow Ragnar, you may leave. I will not inflict any harm whatsoever.”
Kyle’s eyes caught the sight of Viscount Terrius trying to leave the conference hall faster than anyone else.
He could let all the other lords go, but that man was an exception.
“Captain, bind the Head of the Terius Family.”
At Kyle’s command, Akun, who had been guarding the hall, brought the knights with him and blocked Viscount Terrius’s path.
The viscount clenched his fists, his hands trembling violently, and snapped his head around.
“Kyle! Didn’t you say you wouldn’t inflict any harm!”
“How could I let you go when your position is different from the other lords?”
“……What?”
“The cri of privately exploiting the troops, wealth, and honor that Ragnar bestowed upon you. You will have to pay the appropriate price for that.”
“What kind of absurd slander is that!”
At the sight of his aggrieved expression, Kyle looked toward the lords of the North.
“Do not defa the Terius Family!”
“I am rely reproaching the inadequacy you harbored, not the Terius Family.”
As Kyle nodded after finishing his final words, Akun had the knights move to either side of him.
Viscount Terrius bared his teeth at the knights and growled.
“Let go. I will walk on my own.”
“That will not be possible.”
“…….”
“Consider this the price for the greed you indulged in until now.”
With a single gesture from Akun, Viscount Terrius was dragged out of the conference hall.
The lords who supported Ragnar remained seated leisurely, watching the scene as if they had no intention of moving.
On the other hand, the lords who had yet to decide their stance were busy exchanging glances.
“……I cannot betray the royal family. I will be leaving now.”
After hesitating and watching one another, one lord abruptly pushed himself up from his seat.
The other lords worried that he might be dragged away like Viscount Terrius, but Kyle let him leave unhard.
Only then did the lords begin to rise one by one and depart from the conference hall.
About an hour later, the number of lords remaining in the hall was around fifteen.
More than half of the thirty-two lords who had attended the Northern Conference had left, but Kyle did not mind in the slightest.
Kyle rose from his seat and bowed his head toward the remaining lords.
“I will ensure that the decision you have made by staying here will not be one you regret.”
When Kyle, who had maintained a condescending attitude all along, showed respect for their intention to join Ragnar, the lords widened their eyes.
Kyle, anwhile, turned his head with an indifferent expression.
“Aaron, execute the plan.”
“I will begin imdiately.”
Aaron left the conference hall at once to carry out Kyle’s command.
Watching his retreating figure, Kyle opened his mouth toward the lords once more.
“From now on, a small-scale Monster Wave will occur. However, there is no need to worry. The monsters will not pass through the lands of the lords who remain here.”
Kyle ford a faint smile as he prepared to begin the task he had previously requested of Suri.
‘If you’ve received a gift, you should return sothing even more valuable and aningful.’
It was sothing he could have initiated imdiately after subduing Count Henson, but Kyle had not done so.
That was because the route the monsters would take had to be firmly decided.
Staring at the empty seats, Kyle placed both hands on the table.
“Even if requests for support co in from other territories, ignore them. However, I ask that you at least accept the refugees. Ragnar will take responsibility for the refugees’ food and support.”
With that, the Northern Conference ca to a complete end.
Yul, having caught Kyle’s gaze, nodded and disappeared from the conference hall.
Pueong—!
Standing at the very front of the Orc Warriors, Yahan looked up at the flas spreading widely across the sky and bared his fangs as he growled.
The Ice Wolves and their leader, Suri, also revealed themselves, standing on all fours and beginning to howl.
Awooooo—!
Yahan turned his body and spoke in a low voice to the Orc Warriors.
“We will lure the monsters into the interior of the Kingdom of Daon. That is the special mission we have been given.”
Just then, an Orc Warrior ca running to where Yahan was.
In his hand was a single sheet of parchnt.
“The Lord told
to deliver this.”
“Has the route been decided?”
“Yes, it has.”
“Bring it.”
On the parchnt was a map of the North.
More than half of the territory was colored in red.
“Wiping out about five territories should be enough.”
“The military officer also said to make only an example.”
Yahan irritably folded the parchnt and nodded with an expression that made it unclear whether he was smiling or growling.
“To deliver proper retribution to those who laid hands on our ally, Ragnar. That is our mission. Begin!”
A total of two thousand Orc Warriors were deployed for this mission.
On the opposite side, Dwarf Warriors were standing by in a similar number.
“Send up the signal to begin.”
At Yahan’s command, an Orc Warrior lit the fuse of the rod in his hand.
The fla that shot up into the sky then spread in all directions.
Reviews
All reviews (0)