Chapter 35 Falling leaves(3)

Editor: BaeBae

Overlooking the Laus ranges, the White crow’s citadel was located on the slope of the mountain.

Covered in snow and the air thin, this place was difficult for anyone but a paladin to stay comfortably.

On the center of the tallest tower, a giant White crow symbol was placed for everyone to see.

White crow knights, the mark of the crow was it’s red eyes.

There was a sentiment that black would be more suitable but the first knight commander was adamant about it being red.

It was said he was so fixated on it being red because the Hugin knight’s symbol was a Raven.

Their assignment was to monitor the Hugin knights in the Laus mountains so it was natural for them to be conscious of them.

But the current White crow’s commander Ethan only saw this as a feeling of inferiority.

He believed this obsession was making the White crow knights subdue their potential.

From the moment they were formed, they only existed to hunt down another group. There was no other way to put this but miserable.

‘The existence of paladins too.’

Made artificially in order to overcome human limitations.

The perverts at the central church highly praised paladins. A perfect human, a human that surpasses human boundaries.

Ethan could guess what the church perverts were getting at. What they were obsessed with.

‘The emperor.’

With this obsession, it was natural that a person like Arwen would exist. Idiots that dreamed of becoming the emperor soon faced the giant wall of reality.

Ethan was very skeptical about the existence of paladins, but in any case he was one of the most skilled men in the entire empire.

“So that idiot finally died.”

Ethan read the letter again and muttered. A cold wind was breezing through the terrace but Ethan stood still with his top half naked not minding.

“I thought he would live a long life, he only attacked the weak and the poor. I’m surprised.”

His adjutant Camille replied. In a nice way, Arwen was ostracized inside the White crow group.

Considering he joined due to his family name and influence, this was only natural.

Most paladins had to put years of bone-aching effort to just be considered. It wouldn’t be a lie if the rich felt like they deserved it.

While it wasn’t the worst, Arwen skills were a little better than an average knight. But as a paladin, who were the most skilled individuals in the empire of 1.2 billion people, he was a hopeless case.

Without the Ilde family’s influence, he wouldn’t have even been considered.

“Heard he was slain by a boy from beyond the border.”

“A tragic end. How fitting.”

“He was still a paladin. Don’t be so harsh.”

“It makes me shudder that he came and took Selim’s vacant spot. The fact he usually ventured out of town for his work was probably because he was scared of being punched to death by one of us.”

There were virtually no instances where members changed. And as most paladins had a superiority mindset, the way they thought about other paladins differed. Especially when they would discuss a fallen comrade.

“Anyways, isn’t it the first time someone other than a Hugin knight defeated a paladin since our formation? It’s been quiet ever since Lars Raude went into hiding, but now I can feel some new breeze blowing from the south….. Wasn’t there a message sent from the Blue rose knights?”

“Yes. They’re asking for reinforcements to help track down the guy that killed Arwen.”

“Can’t do anything on their own can they. We’ll go and get the boy. Tell them to return back down south and we’ll send the boy’s head once we’ve killed him. Find three others that’s sitting around and prepare to set off. I’m curious what this bastard looks like that dared to face off against a paladin. And we need to retrieve Arwen’s gear anyways.”

“Yes sir.”

No matter what happened, paladins always retrieved their ‘graced’ gear once taken.

Hugin knights, quite the opposite, always retrieved their fallen comrades’ corpses no matter what.

While wasn’t a written code, both sides to a certain extent mutually respected each other’s ways, so they’d leave behind what each other wanted.

The White crow knights left behind enemy corpses and Hugin knights left behind the enemy’s equipment.

Camille left at once after receiving Ethan’s order. Ethan looked forward to this new face that he’d soon meet.

Till now the White crow knights pursued the Hugin knight’s whereabouts and thought, only they posed any real danger to them.

Ethan didn’t mind this breeze of fresh air. Most of his time was spent locked in this place on the Laus mountains so his paradigm was very wide.He couldn’t wait to see how this boy from outside the empire could entertain him.

Ethan came out of the room with a sword and cloak draped over him. Then, he saw Camille coming up the stairs. There was nobody else nearby.

“Did you prepare the others? Why did you come up here so early?”

“Commander Ethan. I’ve just received new information. It’s urgent.”

“What is it?”

In a hurry Camille passed on the message to Ethan. Having received the message, Ethan decided to forget everything about the boy.

“Get everyone ready to leave. Round them up. And I mean every single member we’ve got.”

*****

On the Laus mountain’s central roadway, the sound of hooves echoed throughout.

The Blue rose knights spent a full day and night riding hard and had finally reached Veras village.

Rain had long stopped. While fog still remained in the area, it didn’t have any effect on ability to see nor ability to move.

While every single knight was tired from the journey, nervousness overcame their tiredness in anticipation of their final battle.

‘Juan is here.’

Likewise, Sina was also nervous.

One side of her wanted to meet with him, while the other side didn’t want to.

Even if they met, she wasn’t certain she could draw her sword and fight him wholeheartedly.

Knowing her knights couldn’t face Juan while being weary, she stopped on the outskirts of the village for a rest.

Then, she saw a Faun approach.

“Would you happen to be Sina Solbein kyung of the Blue rose knights? Search party leader?”

“That would be me. What’s the matter?”

After the formalities, he explained the situation.

“Target is currently in the middle of the village. A few of my soldiers died in an ambush. I judged that we lack the strength to subdue him so instead, we’ve kept him surrounded. Luckily the encirclement seems to be successful and he is trapped inside, unable to escape.”

‘Trapped? He would’ve left, if he wanted to anytime.’

Sina thought to herself, but didn’t outright say this to the captain.

She didn’t want to let them know their hard work standing throughout the rain for days, was for nothing.

“Well done. We’ll take it from here. Have you heard anything from White crow on their arrival?”

“Ah, um. I was needing to talk to you about that………”

His face told her it wasn’t good news. Sina felt an ominous feeling.

“The White crow knights decided not to intervene on this matter.”

“What? A paladin was slain and they won’t intervene?”

Sina doubted her ears.

Paladins had a close knit relationship with each other.

Nevermind murder, if even their equipment were damaged, they made the effort to catch and punished the perpetrator.

Nobles were even beheaded, if they took a paladin’s equipment.

“Yes. They’ve detected activities related to the Hugin knights. This time, apparently Lars Raude has made his appearance.”

“The Raven’s head?”

Sina lamented shallowly. Up until now, Hugin knights had managed to kill 17 White crow paladin knights.

And more importantly, two of them had been their commanders at the time.

As for their subtroops, the numbers were staggering. Hugin knights did have their share of casualties, but Lars Raude had never even been injured.

It was only natural the White crow knights would focus their strength on them instead of Juan.

After failing to assassinate Vares Valte, the Hugin knights had lied dormant. It was suspicious that they had started to mobilize at this specific time.

‘This is no coincidence.’

Either the Hugin knights were assisting Juan or Juan had made contact with them prior.

Frustration boiled within Sina. Trying to catch Juan without the help of White crow knights, Sina needed to consider the amount of damage that could befall on her knights.

Sina looked at the outer walls of the village. She wasn’t too sure what had happened, but she could see that parts of the wall had collapsed from previous fights.

Sina imagined some of that power being used on her knights.“…….I have no choice.”

The moment she set inside the village, there was a rustling sensation on her foot.

Her boots were stained with dry blood. She looked at the corpses that were laid all over the town square and found herself petrified.

She could see at least 39 bodies, likely more. The mountains and valleys surrounding the square made it seem less wide.

Because of this, it looked as if there were more bodies everywhere. She pledged to punish the scout captain who tried masking what he’d done by describing it as ‘a few soldiers’.

Sina set her foot forwards. Through the misty fog, she could see a boy’s silhouette. She stopped at an appropriate distance where she could see him clearly.

In the middle of the plaza stood Juan.

“It’s been a while. Sina Solbein.”

Juan’s outer appearance wasn’t all too different from his past. His impoverished look from not being able to wash the blood on him, his dark pupils that seemed to have an eternal depth.

However, Sina seemed to feel as if his spirit had changed.

She could still sense a fiery hatred within him but it wasn’t hot, but rather cold.

“It’s a terrible thing you’ve done, Juan. These are brave soldiers of the empire. They deserved an honorable funeral.”

“I’ve told them to take them away but they wouldn’t listen. Why are you alone? Where’s the others? I was sure you’d come with your paladin friends.”

“They aren’t coming.”

Sina considered bluffing but decided better of it. It wasn’t going to work on Juan. If she had to fight without the help of paladin help, she wanted to get Juan’s thoughts and reaction first.

Juan made an unexpected face.

Looking at his face, Sina thought Juan was either great at acting or he actually didn’t know.

But till now, Juan wasn’t the type to conceal and hide his true nature.

“Surrender Juan. I’ll do my best to protect you if you surrender quietly. With a fair trial, and promise that you’d pay back your crimes with service, I believe the empire’s court will show generosity.”

“But I’ve killed a paladin?”

“I’m only offering this because the White crow knights are not here.”

Juan bursted into laughter at Sina’s offer. He shook his head.

“A generous offer but no. I was thinking of killing them as well if they had come.”

“Why? If you found the purification tactic offensive, I apologise. Inquisitor Kato gave the order without our approval. The paladin that instigated the cleansing, the heathen inquisitor both have died so can’t you let this go?”

“Kato is dead?”

“Yeah. He died from his wounds on the medical bed.”

Juan looked at Sina. Sina’s expression was stiff. From his memory, Kato’s injuries were severe but it wasn’t so extreme that he’d die from it.

Plus Kato was priest class so he could use healing ‘grace’ as well. It wouldn’t heal him back to perfect, but it would have saved his life, if he was close to death.

“That’s a shame. I wanted to take his head myself.”

“He didn’t die painfully.”

Juan nodded his head. It was surprising to hear that Kato and the White crow knights were not coming but his plans weren’t changing regardless.

Juan stood up. A gray curtain spread far and wide. Sina felt the whole square was being hit with waves.

‘Using fog once again.’

Sina carefully looked at where the fog was moving to.

Like before, if Juan used fog to disrupt and cause panic to her knights, Sina and her knights had already formulated a plan to counteract.

It would be difficult to cause chaos with just fog.

“Did you really come, thinking I would accept your negotiation, Sina?”

“…………..”

“You’d do well to become more cunning. That’s the one thing I saw that you really lacked. You need to be more similar to the emperor. To the enemy, he did not hesitate to use any means or methods.”

“Don’t mock the emperor.”

“If there is one person in the world that can mock the emperor, that would be me.”

Juan turned his head. Beyond the misty fog a silhouette could be seen.

“It’s regrettable not being able to kill Kato with my own hands but my plan doesn’t change. I’m sending all my enemies to hell. Anyone stone that gets in my way will be punted.”

Simultaneously as Sina let out a scream, the scouts surrounding the village fired their arrows.

Juan rolled into the thicker fog close to the ground. However, before he could hide, Sina drawed her sword and rushed in.

Sina’s sword swept through Juan’s hair cutting a few strands but Juan’s expression stayed the same.

A loud trumpet echoed throughout the moment Sina began to move.

Then, the sound of hooves could be heard.

The Blue rose knights were speeding towards, on war horses from behind the village.