Embers (1)
Chapter 97
A bizarre cluster of light, indistinguishable as either flames or sword energy, enveloped Carinus’s old sword.
Brandil felt the scorching heat on his face and tilted his blade to meet it.
Carinus was a member of the royal family who held the position of Crown Prince.
It wouldn’t be strange for him to have a trick or two up his sleeve.
However, Brandil was still confident that he could decapitate Carinus.
The Carinus that Brandil knew was by no means a warrior proficient in swordsmanship.
Giggg!
Brandil’s sword flowed along Carinus’s.
Brandil planned to strike a fatal blow when Carinus awkwardly poured power into his sword.
However, Carinus loosened his grip and suddenly closed the distance with an additional step.
As the gap between Carinus and Brandil shrank, Brandil swung his sword in confusion.
KaKaKa!
Their blades clashed at close range.
At this distance, it was impossible to accurately track the trajectory of the opponent’s sword.
Only a swordsman well-versed in swordplay after long practice could handle such close combat.
Brandil waited for Carinus to falter.
However, as time passed, it was Brandil who found himself on the defensive.
Brandil was greatly surprised by underestimating Carinus’s sword skills.
When his rhythm was disrupted, Brandil stepped back to evade Carinus’s thrust aimed at his waist.
At that moment,
Carinus’s empty hand grabbed Brandil by the collar.
Chak!!
Brandil barely deflected Carinus’s attack with his forearm.
Retreating, Brandil breathed heavily.
Fortunately, the cloth near where his collar was grabbed tore easily since he wore thin clothing.
Had he been wearing thick leather armor, Carinus might have pierced through his stomach while holding him.
“Kk…!”
Brandil realized his slashed forearm was burning intensely.
Looking down, crimson flames were burning along the wound.
In haste, Brandil scooped up dirt to cover the fire on his arm.
Hwaaarrr!
The crimson flames burned even more fiercely, escaping through the dirt.
The fire spread to the gloves of the hand that had grabbed the dirt.
Unextinguishable flames.
Realizing their strangeness, Brandil immediately threw off his glove and swung his sword at his own arm.
A piece of skin and muscle was cut off and fell to the ground.
“…”
Brandil stared at Carinus while blood streamed from his arm.
Carinus stood in place, looking down on Brandil with a haughty gaze.
Now Brandil began to understand where this confidence stemmed from.
The Carinus who once seemed so easy to underestimate now appeared distant and unreachable.
The assassination had failed.
Brandil immediately turned around and began to flee.
Since he hadn’t anticipated the failure of the assassination, his current escape was purely impulsive.
Arthurs shouted loudly enough to echo throughout the mountain range.
“It’s an imperial spy!!! Capture him!!!”
Rangers quickly began chasing after Brandil.
Though Brandil was also a ranger armed with extensive experience and excellent skill, this was the Rangers’ stronghold.
Before long, Brandil was surrounded by rangers.
The rangers blocking his path drew their swords en masse and charged at Brandil.
At that moment, Mori and Merok grabbed the waists of other rangers and rolled across the ground.
“Damn it!! What the hell are you doing?!”
Mori complained while rolling.
The rangers whose actions were interrupted by Mori and Merok couldn’t easily swing their weapons at the two men.
If Mori and Merok had swung their weapons first, the situation would have been different, but they were unarmed.
Even for the rangers, it was difficult to mercilessly attack a fellow colleague they usually interacted with.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Brandil started to flee again.
Avoiding the rangers, Brandil crossed over the mountains while questioning himself.
‘What do I plan to accomplish by running like this, clutching my chest?’
Brandil had prepared for death.
After all, only after successfully assassinating the Crown Prince.
Brandil was aware that he could be executed according to military law, yet he proceeded with the mission.
There were various reasons why he risked his life in this endeavor, but mainly due to the tedium of mountain life.
Living in the mountains for decades tends to lead to some form of mental illness in anyone.
But the assassination failed. He fled without planning what to do next. Now what?
The more his head became tangled, the more the wound he’d just cut on his arm throbbed.
Brandil’s feet continued to move, retracing a path he’d walked once before.
Time passed, and the sky grew completely dark.
Finally, Brandil arrived at the house of a child who had left a strong impression on him several months ago.
Brandil revealed his exasperation and opened the door without permission.
Kiikkk
The figure of a child sitting in a chair and gazing out the window came into Brandil’s sight.
Ray, who had been watching the night sky, muttered without turning his head.
“Did I let you go too easily last time? You’re crawling in here like it’s your own home.”
“…”
Brandil hesitated briefly.
What more could he possibly achieve here?
“Is the Crown Prince really a servant of the devil?”
He couldn’t be sure.
Brandil had merely confirmed a few “extremely unusual circumstances.”
Perhaps the Crown Prince was simply a wrongfully pursued member of the royal family with extraordinary natural healing abilities.
Still, the Crown Prince himself was a trigger causing conflicts between the Empire and the Kingdom, or internal strife within them.
Regardless of who he was, it would benefit everyone if he exited the scene at this point.
Breathing heavily, Brandil spoke.
“A high-ranking noble who attempted to flee has resurrected.”
“…?”
Ray’s head turned toward Brandil.
His eyes were much sharper than they had been months ago, prompting Brandil to unconsciously take a step back.
“Hard to believe, isn’t it?”
“Are you talking about the revived noble being Crown Prince Carinus?”
“Eh, um. The rumor has already reached here?”
Brandil, who hadn’t expected a mere squire from a remote village to know information about the Crown Prince, awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Alright, this will make explaining easier. Listen carefully. All of this is the devil’s scheme.”
Brandil claimed outright.
“The Crown Prince suffered injuries that should have been fatal. His insides burst open, his lower body barely hanging from his spine, right? And yet, less than two months later, he reappeared fully recovered. Understand? It’s clear he made a pact with the devil.”
“…”
“The revived one talks nonsense about avenging betrayers and reclaiming the empire. The kingdom is stuck in theoretical debates, continuously delaying decisions regarding the Crown Prince’s punishment. I tried to kill the Crown Prince but failed. That guy… used the devil’s power to block my ambush.”
Brandil hastily attached the word ‘devil’ wherever possible and then unwrapped the bandage tied around his arm.
A grotesque wound, roughly torn apart, was exposed.
“Inextinguishable flames. They were definitely the devil’s power. Look at this. Just a slight cut, but because the fire transferred, I almost had to cut off my entire arm. The devil is using the Crown Prince to incite conflict between the empire and the kingdom. Who do you think will bear the brunt of the war first? It’s you.”
When the rangers start rampaging, Phillip’s County won’t survive.
The moment war breaks out, Lord Phillips and the townspeople will have to abandon the territory and evacuate.
“So, relay this fact to your master and the empire’s trackers.”
Brandil didn’t expect the empire to naively believe everything he was spouting.
However, he hoped that if the empire took notice of the Crown Prince’s survival and exercised caution regarding the ‘devil,’ it might improve the situation positively.
Ssreung!
Just as Brandil was about to add a few more words, he shut his mouth and drew his sword.
The pursuers had caught up. Brandil had neither any place left to run nor the strength to flee.
“Hey, get out of here. Due to attempting to assassinate the Crown Prince, I’m currently mistaken for an imperial spy. I’ll hold off the pursuers, so you go and deliver what I’ve said to your master.”
Kwaang!!
The moment Brandil finished speaking, the entrance and windows shattered.
One ranger clashed with Brandil upon passing through the entrance.
Simultaneously, three rangers entered the house through the broken window.
The rangers leaped in different directions to surround Brandil.
One ranger’s charge route intersected with Ray.
Judging Ray, who had come into contact with the “imperial spy,” as a target to eliminate, the ranger swung his sword imbued with sword energy towards Ray.
Seeing this, Brandil gritted his teeth.
‘No…!!’
To Brandil, Ray was the last remaining messenger.
Despite Ray’s accomplishments far exceeding his age, his opponent was an experienced ranger.
Ray wouldn’t last long in a direct confrontation.
Ray must escape unscathed from here at all costs.
As Brandil forcibly turned his body to approach Ray,
Ray looked back at the approaching ranger with deeply settled eyes.
“Do we look like clowns to you?”
A powerful sword aura surged from the sword that shot out from Ray’s waist.
“This is Phillip’s County.”
Ka-gag!!!
Their swords clashed.
In the next instant, the ranger’s hand was torn apart.
The disarmed ranger froze in confusion for a moment.
Then Ray slashed downward.
“This means you don’t have permission to draw your sword here.”
Chack!!!
Ray’s sword cleaved the ranger in half.
The two rangers heading toward Brandil stopped in their tracks.
Exchanging glances, the two rangers prepared to attack Ray together.
The ranger positioned to Ray’s right kicked off the ground first and swung his sword.
Ka-ga-gag!!
The ranger avoided direct force clashes and skillfully wielded his sword.
The dazzling sword aura made the field of vision shimmer entirely.
At that moment, the ranger stationed at Ray’s left exploited the blind spot.
Ka-gag!!
Ray effortlessly blocked the second ranger’s sword.
However, the second ranger’s real attack was much subtler.
Whoosh!
From beneath the ranger’s arm, a long and thin poisoned needle was fired.
An expert-level warrior without full armor can’t always maintain heightened bodily defenses.
Moreover, the poisoned needles used by the rangers were the sharpest throwing daggers coated with the most lethal paralyzing poison in the Rubia Kingdom.
Once it pierces the skin, even slightly, the poison spreads instantly.
The ranger had no doubt that Ray, not wearing armor, would succumb helplessly to this covert attack.
That’s when—
The air split apart.
Ting!
Through the rift in the air, a single silver-white sword emerged and effortlessly deflected the poisoned needle.
In Ray’s hand appeared the empire’s divine sword, Moros.
The sword energy flowing through Moros amplified explosively, momentarily flashing brilliantly.
Moros swept horizontally.
Chaaak!!!
The waists of both rangers were severed simultaneously.
Splashing blood pooled beneath Ray’s advancing footsteps.
The overwhelming scene caused the ranger facing Brandil to instinctively step backward.
Ray had no intention of letting the opponent escape.
In an instant, Ray’s small frame shot forward toward the ranger.
A ranger, preferring lighter armor with less protective capability compared to knights, had no chance against the amplified spatial blade energy from Moros.
Chack!!
The ranger’s neck was cleanly bisected along with his sword.
Before the severed head hit the floor and rolled away, Ray spun Moros.
Kwaang!!!
Outside the house, a loud boom echoed.
A ranger observing the operation outside was annihilated by a descending leaping sword energy that tore through the air.
“…”
The silence that followed the end of the battle left Brandil breathless.
He couldn’t immediately comprehend what he had just witnessed.
After putting Moros back into its space through a rift in the air, Ray approached Brandil across the blood-soaked floor.
Instinctively, Brandil stepped back as Ray approached.
Eventually, his back hit the wall.
Clutching his sword hilt tightly, Brandil soon gave up.
There was no denying it—his opponent’s level clearly surpassed the expert level by a great margin.
“Brandil.”
At Ray’s call, Brandil’s shoulders trembled slightly.
Ray pointed to Brandil’s sheath.
“This is Phillip’s County.”
Meaning: Don’t draw your sword recklessly within the county.
Brandil wisely surrendered his weapon.
Ray glanced briefly at the night sky through the broken window before turning his eyes back to Brandil.
Although the place tainted with memories of Bella was unpleasantly defiled, there was a more pressing issue now.
“Could the revived Crown Prince be an impersonator?”
“…There could be someone who looks exactly alike.”
“Explain further.”
“If someone else were pretending to be the Crown Prince, I would have noticed. I have expertise in such matters. If they deceived their appearance using illusion magic, their true form should have been revealed when attacked by me. Such illusions typically dissolve easily unless a specific barrier is set.”
Thus, unless it was a coincidental employment of an exact double by the kingdom,
“The Crown Prince himself is genuine.”
“…”
After a brief silence, Ray moved his feet.
“Follow me. Explain in more detail what happened in the Sigini Mountain Range while we walk.”
