Chapter 239
The night was deep and the mountain terrain was rugged.
On the deserted mountain, even the sound of insects was rare.
Nana and Athus faced each other there.
Athus stared at Nana, his forr junior, without hiding his resentnt.
Nana parted her lips.
But she soon closed them again.
She did this several tis.
She agonized for a long ti over what to say to the senior she once admired.
“...If I said I didn't know....”
Nana looked at Athus, her eyes sinking.
“...If I said I didn't know the truth of Aretion, at least back then... would you believe ?”
“If I believe you.”
Athus's voice was sowhat fierce.
“Does anything change?”
“......”
Nothing changes.
Nana couldn't bring herself to say those words.
She knew the truth of Aretion.
She knew well how shalessly and treasonously the Empire had treated Aretion.
Cordis had used Arete Island as a tool of war.
They had threatened the islanders, holding their lives hostage, demanding they hand over the Breath of Light.
But they failed even at turning the Breath of Light into an Ancient Weapon, and turned Arete Island into a land of death.
And after that, they spread strange propaganda fairy tales, clamoring that it was all Aretion's fault.
Because of this, Athus lived a life despised.
He spent a long ti hiding his surna, ashad of his family.
Now, all he felt was a heart-aching guilt toward his ancestors.
The fact that the faces of his parents, who had died so foolishly, were now fading was just piercingly painful, again and again.
“......”
Nana couldn't dare to fathom all of his pain.
The sense of betrayal must have been intense.
He must have seethed with rage.
He must not have been able to believe that his trusted friend, Ferbias Caseptus, had known all this truth and still used him.
And yet, this terrible thing was reality, and Nana Nereyades was no different, so she had no choice but to fall into a long silence.
The jade-colored eyes were sorrowful.
He was still wearing the double-edged sword gifted to him by Ferbias, untied at his waist.
Nana noticed this too.
To Athus, the mories of his school days, the promises of that ti, were still brilliantly precious.
But, precisely because of that, the betrayal was all the more cruel.
Because his heart was originally beautiful, the sight of it being trampled was all the more agonizing.
“...Is that the reason?”
Nana asked.
“...Still, did that beco a reason to betray all of our promises?”
Her question was close to a plea.
In her head, she knew. That the truth of Aretion was reason enough for Athus to betray them.
That asking this question was, in itself, a shaless act.
And yet, Nana couldn't help but ask, as if clinging to him.
“Answer , Senior Athus.”
“Yes. It was enough.”
The jade-colored flas blazed.
“It beca more than enough reason for to hate the Empire, Nana.”
“Then... I suppose I can't call you Senior anymore.”
“I didn't wish for it.”
“That gruff way of speaking never changes. I used to get hurt by that tone a lot in the past.”
Nana let out a small laugh.
Her burned right face contorted.
They used to dream during their student days.
A high position commanding tens of thousands of soldiers, the imnse strength to shatter mountains and part seas, an unbreakable will to live....
Both Nana and Athus now held in their hands those things they had dread of.
And yet, why was it so sorrowful?
Why, far from being satisfied, did they only hurt more, to the point of groaning?
They had beco the figures they envied, so why did they have to et as enemies?
The trajectories of their lives, sorrowful enough on their own, why did they have to et only to add to the sorrow?
“Don't et on the battlefield, Mr. Athus.”
“The sa goes for , Nana.”
Nana Nereyades chuckled.
“Still, I feel refreshed that a long-held question has been answered.”
She glanced sideways at Secundus and Shion, far off.
She couldn't hear what they were talking about at all.
Anyway, he's thorough to a pathological degree.
It seed he had likely set up so sort of magical barrier to prevent the conversation from leaking.
“Shion of rion. I wondered where this man had popped out from.”
Thinking about it now, I wonder why I didn't know.
“Knowing the Empire's secrets inside and out, which an outsider couldn't possibly know, and yet hating the Empire so much......”
That blond hair, those blue eyes, those beautiful features.
On top of that, even the nas are similar.
“......To think he was His Highness Zionis.”
“Are you going to tell Ferbias?”
Nana turned her head at Athus's question.
“What do you want to do?”
“You said I'm not your senior anymore, yet you ask the intention of your enemy?”
“Even if we're enemies, if you ask, I might just listen.”
Nana smiled brightly.
Athus bowed his head deeply without a hint of hesitation.
He spoke with his head bowed.
“In that case, I ask you. Please do not tell him.”
“......I didn't know you were the type of person to bow your head so easily.”
Nana frowned.
The crown of the head of the senior she had admired was simply baffling.
“......”
The Athus of their school days was always an upright man.
He lived harboring a pride like a blade, so once he made a decision, he never bent.
Especially to those he considered enemies, he would sooner bite his tongue than bow his head.
Nana realized that Athus had found sothing more important than his own pride.
“......Fine. I'll keep silent.”
Nana's voice held a slight trace of envy.
It was because she, too, was a general.
The more experience one gains, the more one's capabilities grow, pride only inflates.
And yet, to be able to set down that heavy pride so lightly.
What kind of master-servant relationship did Shion and Athus have?
“But I won't stop him from finding out. I don't have that much loyalty.”
“Thank you, Nana.”
“But I've beco more curious.”
She looked at Shion.
“...Just what kind of man is he, that you pledge such loyalty to him?”
***
“Hmm. The two of them seem close.”
“They must be alumni.”
“Co to think of it, that must be right. Athus is alumni with Ferbias, you son of a... my brother, and Legion Commander Nana is Ferbias you son of a... my brother's junior....”
“They say the four of them, including the 11th Legion's Chief of Staff Bukenos, hung out together.”
“Hand-axe Bukenos. I ran into him a few tis.”
Secundus nodded.
He rembered the man who was next to Niko.
He was an incredible master, recognizable at a glance.
To the point that it wouldn't have seed difficult for him to sit in a seat of the Ten Great Generals if he wished.
He had wondered why such a man remained Niko's adjutant.
“...The 11th Legion's Chief of Staff Bukenos, I heard he lost his life during the last Battle of the Waist Gate.”
“I killed him. He asked to kill him in exchange for sparing Nana.”
“Is that so?”
Secundus didn't bother to drag out the topic.
The fact that they were enemies hit him anew.
“More importantly, I heard the news that you beca the Three-Mi Grand General, Brother. Congratulations.”
“Hm. And I hear you are the hero of the West.”
Secundus and I exchanged awkward pleasantries.
Even 7 years ago, during the Succession War, we weren't a talkative pair.
“Is Brother Kateka doing well?”
“He's gotten much healthier. I've been taking him here and there in my chariot.”
“It probably wasn't the health he wanted.”
“What can you do, that's what it ans to be with this Secundus.”
Secundus picked up a piece of at.
He ate it voraciously, but it didn't look like he was eating because he was hungry.
It seed as if he had sothing to say but couldn't easily bring it up, so he was biding his ti.
He finished one piece of at and wiped his grease-covered lips.
“......Zionis.”
“I am Shion.”
“No, to , you are Zionis. My half-brother.”
“As you wish.”
Seeing him up close, I was struck anew by how enormous Secundus's build was.
His body, which had been well-trained before, had beco as solid as a rock that had weathered long storms over the past 7 years.
His face was the sa.
There was no youth in his sunken cheeks and thick neck.
He had appeared, having beco a man worthy of the na of the 3rd seat of the Ten Great Generals.
“You hate the Empire.”
“How does it look to you?”
“It looks venomous.”
“You've seen correctly.”
I chuckled.
Beneath the tightly wrapped bandages, the black, dying skin, the inhumanly sprouted fangs and black scales.
It would be a lie to say he didn't feel sorrow at the sight of his half-brother, who was crumbling from hatred and becoming inhuman.
“But do you hate the Empire, or do you hate Ferbias?”
“Can the two be separated?”
I snarled, revealing my fangs.
A normal person's teeth usually number less than thirty, but I looked to have over forty small fangs.
The swarm of fangs hidden inside my beautiful features evoked a black, sticky emotion.
“Cordis is the Emperor's country. And the current Emperor is Ferbias Caseptus Cordis, that damnably arrogant... our eldest brother.”
Seven flas swirled in my eyes.
“I hate Ferbias. Therefore, I hate the Empire. And because I hate the Empire, I hate him even more. When I think about it, only the hatred inflates endlessly.”
“......”
“Do you know what this feeling is? Can you even guess what I am saying? When I roll the things that died over and over in my mind, I'm a complete wreck before I know it. Why must I beco a wreck? Why did the things that died have to die, Brother Secundus?”
I poured out my words.
Because I had decided not to hide it anymore.
From my mouth, which was revealing secrets, the fangs grew steadily longer.
The scales also heated up, turning even blacker.
Even Secundus felt a chill.
But apart from the feeling, Secundus did not shrink back at all.
His will was stronger than the enforced chill.
“Do you know of the calamity in the West? Who should be blad for the blood that was shed and the tears that rotted? Why do you insist on provoking my hatred?”
“I conquered Horm. I beca the Three-Mi Grand General for that rit, so it's no exaggeration to say I have a unique insight into conquest.”
Secundus spat out.
“Shall I tell you what conquest is, Zionis.”
He continued, along with an, “Hmm.”
“It's very easy. You just pick the enemy's weak spots and trample them as cruelly as possible. If the soldiers are strong, you aim for their wives and children. If the fortress walls are high, you trap them inside and let them all starve to death. You toss out the sweet words that you'll spare them if they surrender, and when they crawl out, you cut off their heads and hang them.”
“......”
“I did just that. I tore apart the lives of innocent people under the flag of Cordis, and look, haven't I sat in the glorious seat of a Grand General?”
“...I don't know what you're trying to say.”
“I hate myself, Zionis. But because I am Cordis of Cordis, I hate the Empire, too.”
“......”
Having unexpectedly encountered the sa sentint, I was at a loss for words.
“Why can we only live in this way, Shion?”
“...Is it a problem that can be blad on sothing?”
“Right. It would be easy to just bla the Empire and be done with it.... But that's not sothing I can do....”
Excuses could not be permitted.
Secundus Debius was that kind of man.
“Leaving aside hatred, leaving aside whose fault it is, I want this to never happen again. I want to be able to not fight.”
“...Please continue.”
“So I've reached a conclusion. I've already finished talking with Sister Leniar.”
Secundus Debius said.
“We've decided to break the Empire into pieces. You will cooperate too, Zionis.”
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