350. The Immortal and the Mortal (19)
All the spells binding Kirhas were broken. Yet, she remained collapsed on the ground, unable to move. As if some ancient sorcery still held her captive.
That voice, that breath, those footsteps felt like a dream. It was far from a romantic encounter. In the grand hall of the castle, where the blood and heads of the fallen beastmen painted a gruesome scene, she felt as if she were dreaming.
With each step he took, her trembling intensified. The world, which had felt overwhelmingly real just moments ago, began to shift into a different hue.
From the red of blood and flesh to a blue. The moon set, and dawn broke. The faint blue light of the early morning sky bathed the castle walls.
Victory is blue. She rubbed her eyes carefully and looked up at him again.
“Is this a dream…?”
“You must have seen me often in your dreams.”
“Every night.”
For a moment, Fernandez was at a loss for words at her sticky voice. Sadness, longing, love, hatred, anger, and pain—every emotion one could feel towards another was palpable.
She had been reliving those emotions every night. About Fernandez, who had abandoned her and left first. The sadness and love, and the anger and hatred towards her own crumbling state of being left alone.
With dazed eyes, Kirhas looked at Fernandez’s clean face. Her gaze shifted to Abel approaching behind him, then back to Fernandez.
Anger surged within her.
“When… when?”
Even to that vague question, Fernandez responded with a faint smile.
“Not long ago. Less than a week.”
“Were you so severely injured that you couldn’t even contact me?”
“I was literally dead.”
“So, you didn’t come to see me as soon as you woke up.”
“Kirhas.”
“I wasn’t the first person you thought of, Your Excellency.”
Kirhas slowly got up, muttering. Fernandez took a couple of steps back at her stern demeanor. Kirhas bowed her head and whispered quietly.
“I even carried your child. I fought so hard to die with you…”
“Kirhas. It was just a matter of sequence.”
“Yes, just a matter of sequence.”
-Swish.
The blade made a cold sound as it was drawn. Kirhas, holding the hilt loosely, looked at Fernandez. In an instant, sensing danger, Fernandez quickly tilted his head back.
But Kirhas didn’t move. She merely created the illusion of swinging her sword with her aura alone. Fernandez found it hard to gauge just how far she had progressed.
Her growth was excessively steep. Her prime should have come at least twenty years later.
“Kirhas, calm down…”
“I am perfectly calm, Your Excellency. Why should I be anxious when you are so robust? Draw your sword.”
“What?”
“Draw your sword, Your Excellency. I seek your teachings.”
Only then did Fernandez grasp the emotions mixed in Kirhas’s voice and tone. It wasn’t anger but relief, mixed with a hint of coquettish whining.
Tears faintly welled up in Kirhas’s eyes. The problem was, if Kirhas in her prime swung her sword half in jest, he wasn’t sure he could withstand it.
Fernandez swallowed dryly and drew his sword. From afar, Freya’s laughter erupted.
“How tragic! To think that every encounter begins with a sword, karma truly comes swiftly!”
He would have to punch that woman in the head later. Fernandez vowed as he raised his sword.
* * *
“Give me the first move!”
As soon as Fernandez took his stance, Kirhas charged at full force, shouting. Her sword arrived faster than her voice. Fernandez hastily parried and laughed.
“I haven’t given it yet?”
Clang! The blades clashed fiercely, creating a loud noise. Fernandez stepped back a couple of steps, preparing for the next strike. Kirhas’s swordplay was hard to predict. It was like the elves’ footwork—
-Swish!
By the time he realized, the blade was already close. Kirhas even mixed feints with her strikes, making her attacks unpredictably erratic.
Defending against all those strikes was purely thanks to his combat instincts. His unique Diemonica reflexes and long years of battle experience allowed him to keep up with her moves by a hair’s breadth.
As their blades locked, Kirhas’s eyes blazed with fury.
“I was left alone!”
“I told you I was dead.”
“That’s why! I tried to hold on!”
-Clang!
Sparks flew as their swords clashed. Kirhas raged like a storm. With each clash, her eyes grew fiercer.
“I had to hold this place together, this ruined city and the federation! I had to rally those dirty politicians, the elders! So—!”
To preserve your legacy! Kirhas screamed with a heart full of blood. Tears streamed down her cheeks. With each clash of blades, her tears mixed with blood and sweat, splattering around.
“I had to protect your child! You and my child!”
-Crash!!
This strike carried killing intent. Fernandez stepped back two steps, barely deflecting the blow. If he had been wielding a normal steel sword, his head would have been severed. Even Diemonica was forced to retreat.
In the brief standoff, Fernandez looked straight into Kirhas’s eyes and asked.
“Name?”
“Ana… Ana Fernanda, Sernerd.”
“In the style of the Dane Kingdom.”
“Because it’s your homeland. I wanted to leave your mark.”
If she had named her in the style of the Federation of Beastmen, perhaps no one would remember his existence. But Ana Fernanda. If a beastman named Ana, Fernandez’s daughter, were to become the Chieftain in the distant future.
Then, everyone would remember the human named “Fernandez Sernerd.” In history.
Forever. There was such a person. Every night, she would stroke the hair of the sleeping infant and whisper the story of her father. Instead of a fairy tale, she told of a great saint who once existed.
But, he was alive?
He was alive, but he didn’t come to find her first!
Kirhas’s eyes burned once more. Her arms forcefully pushed Fernandez away. Even though pure strength alone could never make Diemonica back down, Fernandez took a few steps back again.
“Thank you.”
“Now you say that!”
“Do you wish for me to die again?”
Even Kirhas, who had been shouting fiercely, paused at those words. Fernandez relaxed his stance, letting his sword hang. It was a completely defenseless posture, as if he could take her head at any moment if he wished.
Only Partak swallowed hard at Fernandez’s words. Kirhas soon quietly shook her head and looked down at the ground. The strength and vitality seemed to drain from her body.
“You’ve held on well. You’ve endured for a long time. It must have been hard.”
“Ugh…”
“I’m proud of you, Kirhas. You’ve done well.”
“Your Excellency…”
Fernandez raised his hand and brushed through Kirhas’s black hair. Soon, she collapsed weakly into his arms. Kirhas clutched his sleeve and began to sob bitterly.
Her crying didn’t stop easily. It was as if a dam had burst, as if she was finally releasing the hardships of the past six months. As Fernandez comforted her, he glanced up at the sky.
“Well, if it’s to see my daughter’s face, I suppose I should clean up the filth first.”
Partak, who had been hesitating and backing away, flinched. It seemed he had been planning to escape while the chieftain was distracted by the sudden duel. Fernandez chuckled and turned to look at him.
Partak immediately knelt, his face pale with fear.
“Spare me, my lord. Didn’t you say I still have my uses?”
“Of course, Partak Blackfang. But those uses aren’t more important than this child’s feelings. Kirhas, what should we do with him?”
“…Can I kill him?”
Kirhas spoke in a small, muffled voice. Upon hearing this, Partak immediately pressed his forehead to the ground.
“I must have gone mad for a moment, Chieftain. At this age, my mind sometimes gets foggy! My lord, if you wish, I will retire and never return to the council. I will live alone in the mountains, without even a single attendant!”
“No, Partak. A beast is safest when tied up where it can be seen.”
You think you can hide where no one can see you? Amused by his quick thinking even in this dire moment, Fernandez teased him.
“If the Chieftain wishes to punish your betrayal, why should I spare you?”
“I… I only followed your orders, my lord!!”
“Hmm…?”
Fernandez had no memory of ordering Kirhas’s death. He looked at Partak with a puzzled expression. Partak, still on his knees, lifted his head and pleaded desperately.
“My lord, didn’t you tell me, all of us, to live by seizing what we desire! To achieve our ambitions, to live with passion and burn with life! You didn’t take me in because you wanted a mindless puppet! You valued my will and ambition!”
His sharp political insight and magical abilities, along with his ambition to efficiently control the council, had impressed Fernandez when they first met in the Great Wilderness’s council. Fernandez had intended to use him.
Partak knew this well. He had no intention of opposing this overwhelming mage. He wasn’t just a machine blindly following orders but a capable individual who could use his abilities effectively.
When Fernandez was alive, Partak was content being the second-in-command of the Federation of Beastmen. Kirhas was the public face, but he handled the actual politics. He was treated as the highest elder of the federation.
But as the federation’s situation changed and Kirhas’s achievements became legendary, the beastmen no longer obeyed his commands. He was treated as an outdated traditionalist by the rising young generation.
This couldn’t stand. He did his best to secure his influence. And when Fernandez died, and the situation changed again, he decided to be honest with his ambitions.
“Is that wrong? My lord, if you had been alive, I would never have dared to covet the Chieftain’s position! Even if I hadn’t, do you think the Chieftain would have spared me?”
From Kirhas’s perspective, the hawkish elders were like thorns in her side. To fully embrace the traditionalist beastmen, who were hostile to both the Empire and Kirzat, she would have to give up her position as the Duke Regent of Bülrang.
Losing Bülrang’s stronghold would make it difficult to avoid being at a disadvantage in trade with the Empire. The respect Empire merchants had for the beastmen largely stemmed from the Chieftain’s position as a high-ranking Empire official.
Returning to the wasteland, even if it wasn’t the same ruin as before, would make it hard to escape the status of poor nomadic wanderers. The Chieftain couldn’t abandon Bülrang, so she had to keep Partak and the hawkish elders in check, which was both a political and existential threat to Partak.
To survive, and to fulfill his ambitions. He believed there would never be a more opportune moment. Was that wrong? Who lives just to die? Partak shouted this as he pressed his forehead to the ground again.
“Quite human of you.”
Fernandez burst into laughter and nodded.
“You pass, Partak Blackfang. I understand you.”
“My lord! If you would…?”
“You’ve proven your usefulness, so I’ll accept your loyalty once more.”
“I will gladly follow!”
Thud, Partak slammed his head hard against the ground. He didn’t mind the blood streaming from his broken forehead as he repeatedly bowed. Pride was cheaper than life. As long as he lived, there would be another chance.
Partak still had remnants of Yekaset within him. It brought corruption, but if used properly, it was an immensely powerful force. Even a fragment of a Great Demon’s power was comparable to that of a god.
And Fernandez, in his time, had once wielded Tyban’s power as a Dark Mage. In this era, there was no one left who could fully wield a Great Demon’s power, so this was an unexpected gain.
How should he use this new piece? Fernandez pondered happily as he walked. Now only the truly difficult part remained. His heart felt lighter, yet heavier at the same time.
This might be the most nerve-wracking moment since his resurrection. He had to go meet his daughter, whose name he hadn’t even known until just now.
‘Faijashi, it would have been good if you were here.’
Fernandez smiled bitterly and headed toward Castle Sephor.
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