< 136. The End of the Wilderness (1) >
*
“Don’t do it.”
“Do you know what I’m trying to do?”
“Even if it’s not what I think, don’t do it.”
Fernandez smiled slowly as he looked into Kirhas’s drunken eyes. His blue eyes shone through his half-white, graying hair.
Kirhas stiffened her tail and ears, glaring at his pupils and growling.
“Why do you always reject me? Am I not attractive enough? Abel, she can do it, but why not me, why… Am I lacking? Was I not enough?”
“Kirhas…”
“I saw it. I saw you kissing her. More than once! Why can’t I be in that position?”
Fernandez stood up slowly, his breath close to her lips. He caught Kirhas as she hesitated and pulled her onto his lap, gently stroking her hair.
“You’ll get hurt.”
“More than now?”
“Perhaps. The feelings you have for me are an illusion. I saved you from slavery, taught you, gave you power, and brought you to this position. The version of me you like is not the whole me.”
“The version of me you see is not the whole me either.”
At her whining words, Fernandez chuckled.
“Well said. You’ve grown splendidly.”
“I’m confident I can beat you now.”
“I’m sure.”
“Then why can’t I overpower you and finish what I started?”
“Because I care for you.”
At Fernandez’s low voice, Kirhas’s stiff posture softened. Her face turned red as if it might burst. As she lowered her head, Fernandez gently placed his hand on the crown of her head.
It was a hand full of scars, rough from years of hardship and relentless passion. It was the hand she loved. Kirhas’s tail slid down and wrapped around Fernandez’s thigh.
“The night is long, and I have much to tell you, Kirhas Hearttaker.”
Where to begin? Fernandez paused for a moment. Then, Faijashi’s whisper was heard.
-Why don’t you just do it? It’d be easier. Before that girl grows any further, wouldn’t it be safer to leash her?
‘What helpful advice, Faijashi.’
-I’m serious. That dragon or that beast. Both are just pawns in our game. The chessboard we’re looking at is bigger than child’s play. Don’t tell her the truth. It’s just pouring poison.
‘Could you disappear for a moment, friend?’
-Hmph. Friend… How self-deprecating.
Faijashi shrugged and vanished. Fernandez smirked and brushed the back of his hand against Kirhas’s neck.
“It’s getting harder to resist, Your Excellency.”
“Do you think I have no feelings? I do it too, so why wouldn’t you? Now, Kirhas. This will be a long story.”
Yes, let’s start with that. Fernandez moistened his lips and spoke.
“I have a wife.”
Like a startled cat, Kirhas leapt up and jumped to the other side of the room.
*
Four hours later, she finally fell asleep. Fernandez sat on the table, sipping tea, and watched Kirhas sprawled on the bed, breathing heavily.
[Wise move, Mage.]
“Kadán.”
Suddenly, a man with a jackal’s head appeared beside him. His sharp eyes gleamed as he looked at Fernandez.
[She’s too good for you.]
“You have memories.”
[Of course. Who do you think I am? Hah, but I’m curious. Why didn’t you touch her?]
“I have a wife…”
[That unborn human is just an excuse. That girl is charming, promising, and even now sits as the Chieftain. Probably the youngest in the history of the beastmen nobles. So why didn’t you take her?]
“Because it’s not right.”
Fernandez took a sip of tea and looked at Kirhas, who was curled up and sniffling in her sleep.
“Taking her would just be using her. I care for her too, Kadán. But when she learns the truth later, how will she think of me then?”
[Cowardly. She’d still be happy.]
“…Maybe. But that’s just deception.”
[You make life complicated, Mage.]
“The world isn’t simple.”
Fernandez looked at the cold tea. Winter was approaching. He covered Kirhas’s bare shoulders with a blanket and stroked her hair.
“This girl deserves happiness. For as long as possible… The path ahead of her isn’t all flowers. I’ll guide her down that path. Until then…”
[So she’s a victim because of you?]
“Isn’t she? Even without me, she would have eventually claimed all this. Didn’t you see my memories? In the Soul Realm.”
[That wasn’t a memory, Fernandez.]
Kadán, who had been crossing his arms by the campfire, looked at him with gleaming eyes.
[That guy filled it with lies, but if there was one truth… Those years you experienced weren’t an illusion. It was truly a parallel world he created.]
“What does that mean?”
[Don’t you see how that girl has changed? Her soul is mixing. When that guy died and that world collapsed, I returned to this material realm… And in that time, the soul of ‘Kirhas Hearttaker’ from that world, who had a contract with me, is mixing with the soul of this world.]
Kadán licked his lips.
[You’re right, Mage. You’ll lead her down a thorny path. You already have. She’ll change more and more. The ‘Undefeated’ from that world… You know how terrifying it is when identities shake and personalities shift?]
It’s your responsibility. Kadán twisted his lips mockingly. Fernandez looked down at the sleeping Kirhas and approached Kadán.
“Carrying more regrets won’t change me, Kadán. Is that all you have to say?”
[To take responsibility for her? Well, I do want to stop you from leaving. If you leave, she’ll abandon everything and chase after you.]
“That girl has her own path. I have mine. Kadán, let’s talk business now. What’s the state of the Great Wilderness? What happened to the remaining Pharaohs, and why has the Federation of Beastmen Nobles expanded their territory to this point?”
“Did he expand it?”
[That would make for an interesting story.]
Kadan licked his lips. Inside his mouth, sharp fangs like blades were visible.
*
It had been a month since Fernandez emerged from the buried Necropolis underground. That time also marked a month since Mumto’s death and the aftermath that followed.
The Great Wilderness had been raining for an entire month. For the first week, the rainwater carried the magic of the Soul Realm, rendering the land uninhabitable. The following week saw grass growing and jungles sprouting, causing tectonic shifts.
The Emperor and the Sultan officially relinquished control over the Great Wilderness. They judged it to be a land where people could no longer live, or perhaps a land where the losses outweighed the gains.
Thanks to that, the two surviving Pharaohs were able to fully expand their influence. The two nations signed a peace treaty and renamed themselves West Asit and East Asit.
And then… there was Kirhas.
*
[Since I took over, Kirhas from that world began to mix into her soul. She became bolder, more experienced, and sharper. Truly undefeatable. The so-called Council of Rival Chieftains scattered like fallen leaves.]
Kadan chuckled as he continued speaking. He remembered those days. She charged into the heart of the rival chieftain’s legion with just a few dozen cavalry, beheaded the chieftain, and declared the end of the war in the midst of a bloodbath.
At that moment of breaking through the core, no one could stop her. She had become that kind of existence. A powerful force, overwhelming charisma. The ruler of the Great Wilderness, whom all beastmen willingly obeyed.
[And she immediately started looking for you. She began inquiring about the last place you disappeared, and as soon as she realized that Tutankhamun Gartep’s suddenly vanished city was the most suspicious, she turned over every bit of soil nearby to find even your corpse.]
It was almost a frenzy. The week-long search always ended with no results. In the Great Wilderness, where the pouring rain caused soil mounds to collapse dozens of times a day, finding a single corpse was no easy task.
As each day passed, her obsession and anxiety grew fiercer. Sharp as a blade, yet teetering on the edge of breaking.
[Back then, no one dared to speak carelessly to her. They thought their heads would roll.]
Even if it wasn’t actually the case. She was fair and righteous, but everyone who saw her had to worry about their lives before speaking. Then, he appeared. Fernandez Sernerd.
[After you appeared, Kirhas smiled for the first time in a long while. Fernandez. I am like a father to her. I pity her situation, and I especially wish for her happiness. So, I want you to stay here. Mage. You can at least be her lighthouse.]
“Kirhas can stand on her own. I taught her that.”
[She is weaker and more unstable than you think. She only pretends to be strong in front of you or her enemies.]
“Then there’s nothing to worry about. Soon, the whole world will become her enemy.”
From the Emperor and the Sultan, the two Pharaohs, to the soon-to-arrive Karadskar, enemies were scattered before her eyes. The Federation of Beastmen Nobles was held together solely by her powerful charisma, and if she showed any weakness, it could split at any moment.
Therefore, she would grow even stronger. It would be harsh for her, but it was necessary for both her and him.
The reason he took her in the first place was solely to have a contingency plan to counter Karadskar. Emotions and objectives must not be confused. Fernandez stood up, giving himself a mental reminder.
-Or perhaps, I no longer want to use her as a pawn.
Piel giggled and whispered beside him. Fernandez ignored her words and turned toward the tent’s entrance.
[So, you’re leaving after all. Going to that dragon?]
“I need to finish things.”
He draped a cloak over his body. His health had sufficiently recovered after a brief rest and meal. Even though he had lost all his divinity, Diemonica’s body far surpassed that of an ordinary person.
Kadan silently watched Fernandez leave. As the tent’s curtain was drawn, rough wind and rain poured in. Soon, the curtain closed again, and only the sound of rain echoed in the silence.
Kadan looked at Kirhas lying on the bed. Not even a breath could be heard. Kadan clicked his tongue.
[Are you awake, Kirhas?]
“Yeah.”
A voice as cold as a blade responded. Kirhas sat up unsteadily on the bed. Her delicate hand fumbled around the corner of the bed and pulled out a long pipe.
Click, she lit it with an ember from the campfire and took a deep puff. Until then, she said nothing. In the darkness, her turquoise eyes glowed with flames.
[I don’t recommend it. Seriously.]
“Don’t talk nonsense, Kadan.”
Whoosh, a deep breath and thick smoke filled the room.
“Your Excellency is a kind person. If he truly wanted to use me, he would have kept me close. In fact, I was the one who wanted it…”
[That’s what people call infatuation, kid.]
“But you must have felt it too. Your Excellency no longer has the same power as before. That metallic scent of divinity from Vaitas… it’s gone.”
[Yeah. I saw it with my own eyes. He lost his divinity.]
-Sizzle…
Kirhas tapped the pipe’s ashes onto the floor and extinguished it with a flick of her tail before slowly standing up.
“Then he needs me even more. Your Excellency said he wanted to let me go, but that’s not happening. Kadan.”
[Are you going to follow him?]
“Until death separates us.”
[Passionate. If only you showed half that much enthusiasm to your people? They need you as much as your master does.]
“I don’t need them.”
Kadan clicked his tongue at her words. Fernandez might have wanted her to grow into a chieftain leading a legion, but he raised her to be too dependent.
Her purpose, her life, burned like a fuse aimed solely at one person. Kirhas draped a cloak over herself and gathered her weapons.
“And I can’t fall behind anymore, can I? The master of the hunt in the hunting grounds.”
Fernandez’s long story about his past life, gods, demons, and the apocalypse was fantastical and hard to believe. But since Fernandez said it, it must be true.
Among it all, the part she listened to most carefully was about his son and wife. Fortunately, the wife hadn’t even been born yet—
‘Abel only kissed him twice. But I kissed him three times and even sat on his lap.’
It was just meaningless number play, but to her, it was an incredibly important indicator. Now, Fernandez planned to return to the Inquisition Office in the Eastern Kingdom Alliance.
She had no intention of letting Abel take the lead on that journey. She was no longer a pitiful slave girl.
[What about the tribe?]
“You stay with Piel for now.”
[That prophetess does absorb divinity well. Must be her constitution.]
“Yeah. I’ll entrust her with full authority and ask Partak to assist. If Batras joins, maintaining the status quo won’t be a problem.]
[Do you plan to come back?]
At that, Kirhas smiled brightly.
“If Your Excellency gives me a reason to return here.”
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