Chapter 347

“We must go this way.”

“Is it a difficult path? Is it like hell?”

“For me, it will be that difficult. I will meet Kirhas.”

With his daughter and Kirhas. His daughter. Fernandez struggled several times with the heavy word in his mouth before finally failing to spit it out. His daughter.

A baby whose name and face he didn’t even know. He still found the sensation unfamiliar. The chubby, warm fingers of a baby, that delicate grip. For a man who had once abandoned it himself, the two experiences were unexpected trials.

* * *

It had been almost a year since the beastmen had occupied Bülrang. That was enough time for the natives of Bülrang to consider these rough wanderers as peculiar neighbors.

Kirhas’s rule maintained a landscape not much different from before. It was fortunate for Bülrang and Duke Sephor’s family, but for the beastmen, it was a terrible thing.

It meant that the noise generated by the coexistence of two completely different cultures in the same space was forcibly suppressed.

Suppressed discontent was bound to accumulate somewhere. Just before it explodes, it doesn’t disappear, it just becomes invisible.

“It was the same today, comrades.”

A beastman with a long scar on his chin growled as he spoke. He glared fiercely at the other beastmen gathered in the shabby tavern.

“Our great chieftain still hasn’t moved a single step from that high tower! How long has it been? How long has it been since we rode our horses across that land? My brother was beaten in the market three days ago. For acting like a beastman! How is this any different from slavery? Is Hearttaker the leader of the beastmen, or the great chieftain of the city folk?”

Some men agreed vehemently with his words, while others did not. Some men glanced nervously at the firmly locked door of the tavern.

The man inwardly clicked his tongue. Fools. The great chieftain could never notice this gathering. And even if she did, what would she do?

Then, a man stood up and spoke.

“Think carefully about our situation before the great chieftain arrives. We were nothing but wandering bandits without a home! Our children were taken by the city folk and used as slaves!”

“Nomadism was our culture, and the inability to protect our children was due to the weakness of our tribe! Who can stop us now? The fools of the Empire have lost their teeth in the civil war, and Kirzat in the west is exhausted from the war with the White Country demons!”

“So what do you want to do? If you love culture so much, will you follow tradition?”

With those words, the room fell silent as if cold water had been poured. Tradition. Those who doubt the authority of the great chieftain always, and everywhere, have the opportunity to challenge. With swords and spears, risking their lives.

But they all knew. Kirhas is invincible. Not just in the realm of strategy and tactics, but also in martial arts. She became the great chieftain not because of lineage or backing, but because of what happened during that terrible civil war.

Rising alone with nothing, she ended the civil war and established the Federation of Nobles amidst the gaps of numerous powerful civilizations. It had only been a few years. Even though the great chieftain had not appeared in public recently, it didn’t seem like her strength had waned.

The beastmen were each keeping an eye out. The gatherings always ended like this. There was a problem with the great chieftain’s condition, but no one dared to attack her directly.

Then, a clicking sound echoed.

“Like a bunch of tails.”

The beastmen’s heads turned in one direction. It was unclear when he had entered, but a man was standing at the entrance of the tavern, looking at them.

The seated beastmen immediately grabbed their weapons and began to be on guard. If this meeting reached the great chieftain’s ears, they would be branded as rebels and either exiled or executed.

“Who are you!”

“Tradition, tradition, but your manners are terrible.”

“That voice, Elder Blackfang?”

“Shouldn’t you call me ‘Elder’?”

Blackfang laughed as he pushed back his hood. His sinister blue eyes shone through his black hair. The men shrank back at the eerie sensation. He was the most dangerous and vicious old man among the classic hawkish elders. Deeply versed in dark magic and sorcery.

Unconcerned with the men’s thoughts, Blackfang walked to the center of the tavern. He enjoyed the tense gazes fixed on him and slowly opened his mouth.

“Defeated dogs, gathering here to drink and complain.”

“You should watch your words, Partak Blackfang. There are many men with swords here.”

“Really? I don’t see any men.”

Partak leisurely looked around. Under the dim light of the tavern, the blades reflected a sinister glow.

“Do you want to kill the great chieftain Hearttaker?”

Even the bravest beastman gasped at those words. Partak smirked at the reaction and continued.

“Why so surprised? Did all these sword-carrying men gather in this basement just to sigh? A cozy little gathering for mice.”

“…Aren’t you the great chieftain’s right hand?”

“Me? Hahaha!”

The men were confused as they watched Partak laugh. Until now, Partak had been behind the great chieftain, subtly elevating her authority. Gathering those who opposed her and secretly dealing with them.

Now, none of the beastmen were unaware of that fact. They believed that even that sinister old man’s submission to the great chieftain’s authority proved her power.

That was until she secluded herself in the castle, dedicating herself to raising a child. Now, the Kirhas Hearttaker of those days is no more. Only a noblewoman remains, decorating her surroundings with luxurious items and spending time with her child in a dark room.

After laughing heartily for a while, Partak twitched his half-torn ear and looked at them. His blackened teeth gleamed under the light.

“The great chieftain and I served the same lord, if you want to get technical. We moved together because our lord’s will was the same.”

“…Lord?”

“There was such a person. Until half a year ago.”

Was he really dead? Had he cut off contact and gone into hiding somewhere, only to reappear someday? Partak waited, crouching. A month passed, then two, and time continued to flow.

His minions collected information, going back and forth between the Empire and the Church. Was he still alive? Could he return?

Finally, after half a year, Partak could be sure. Even the Empire’s search parties had come up empty, and spies from various countries openly accepted his death as fact.

He was dead. He would never return, and Kirhas, heartbroken, had become an irreparable wreck. That was his conclusion. Then—

‘Now is my time. The era of Partak Blackfang.’

Thankfully, while he was alive, Partak had successfully dominated the hawkish elders of the Federation of Beastmen Nobles according to his plan. Now that he was dead, Partak’s control remained firm. With Kirhas fallen, no one in the federation could stand against him.

Even the thorn in his side, Piel, had disappeared. Golden Tooth was preoccupied with defending the lands of the Great Wilderness, and the beastmen of Bülrang had begun to doubt Kirhas’s authority.

Could there be a better moment? Partak trembled with a sense of omnipotence, feeling everyone dance at his fingertips.

* * *

At that moment, three riders were crossing the wilderness towards Bülrang. It was late at night, near the end of summer.