Chapter 239 — 윈즈 변경주
Chapter 239
The Margrave of Wynz
Fwoosh!
Ghost vanished again.
But—
“Where do you think you’re going!”
As if he knew exactly where the man would appear, Elric whipped his body left and stamped the ground.
“【Rise】.”
Crackle—
A thick sheet of ice spread from under Elric’s sole. Midway, ice awls thrust up at a slant—and Ghost appeared right there.
Boom!
He barely swatted them aside and threw up his stealth again. A bead of cold sweat fell, tapped the ground, and shattered into ice chips.
He’s reading my movements…
Ghost had to bite down on his lower lip.
From the wooden mask dropping, to the ice spike cutting him off—
Elric seemed to be predicting exactly where he would pop out.
No—he was clearly seeing it.
Movements that neither the Lion nor the Mage Tower’s Hexagram had ever been able to read.
At this rate, it’s dangerous.
Ghost figured the reason his movements kept getting read was that his heart was disturbed.
The basics of stealth and infiltration lie in equanimity.
But that “Danseo Cheolkwon” or whatever Elric had mentioned had clearly shaken him more than a little.
He himself was an outsider, not of the Empire; if things went wrong, he could simply slip away. But his friend Andre Wynz could never do that.
He’d been agonizing over what to do—then this proposal came....
Still your heart. For now, subduing him is the best course.
Ghost—who took pride in having no name—honed his gaze again.
First, open the distance with Elric. Then gather himself and close back in.
With that in mind, he moved to pull far away—
“【Rain Down】.”
As if he’d read even that, Elric loosed a barrage of ice arrows the instant Ghost so much as shifted.
Clang-clang-clang!
Ghost turned the flat of his blade sideways and knocked the arrows away one after another.
But—
Flash!
By the time he centered himself, Elric was already right before him, driving an ice spear straight at him.
Ghost hastily tried to draw his sword in—
Ssshhhk!
The icy spearhead grazed past the side of Ghost’s face. The razor edge scored his left cheek.
A thin line of blood ran down his cheek.
“....”
“I think I’ve shown enough of what I can do. Do you need to see more?”
Elric asked with a sunny smile.
But his eyes gleamed razor-sharp.
No matter where you run, I’ll catch you.
The truth was, Ghost’s specialties no longer had much effect on Elric.
Thanks to dragonblood, his senses were on a level that couldn’t be compared to before, and with Maw Sense and the Mind’s Eye, there was little he couldn’t see if he wished.
Besides, Elric hadn’t even pulled out the trump card of Progenitor Magic yet.
If he brought that out, it would truly be a fight to the death.
Of course, Ghost might have a hidden card, but it would prove useless against Elric.
Ghost knew that, too.
“...What on earth happened to you in the meantime?”
From Ghost’s perspective, it was baffling how Elric could have changed so dramatically in such a short span.
Was there some secret to the Imperial frontier? He was even starting to entertain such absurd thoughts.
“Eh. This and that.”
Elric only grinned.
“Anyway. What’s it going to be?”
He put weight into his words, as if he wouldn’t go easy any longer.
This was the last offer.
If even this was refused, Elric truly intended to remove Ghost.
“Can you really keep your promise?”
“Heh. Have I lived my life just getting duped? I’m serious. If you don’t believe me, look me in the eyes. Do these look like the eyes of a con artist?”
Elric blinked his emerald eyes with confidence.
Sparkle, sparkle.
[Not a swindler, no. Closer to a gambler who’s just struck a mother lode.]
Mephisto cut in out of nowhere, but Elric pretended not to hear.
Ghost, burdened by Elric’s gaze, drew his face back with a furrowed brow and let out a long sigh.
“...Hoo! Came all this way to help a friend, only to make a fool of myself.”
He speared the sword he was holding into the ground with a prickly motion and raised both hands lightly.
A sign of surrender.
[See? One look into these eyes and—bam—decision made. That’s trust, huh?]
[If everyone drifted through life like you, the world would be a very cozy place.]
Mephisto shook his head at Elric’s swagger.
That bottomless self-love—
By now, it barely even surprised him.
* * *
Screeeak!
The Red Castle’s main gates swung wide.
Clop-clop-clop!
The Starborne Host rode in at an easy pace. Units sent in ahead to guard against a sally had already seized the key functions, so there was no need to fear resistance.
If anything, the eyes of Tedan, the soldiers of the Red Lion Corps, and the residents of the fortress—bound tight with ropes as they awaited the column—were filled with fear.
If the Starborne Host went back on their word here, they would be helpless.
They were rebels who had betrayed the Empire, while those men were of Mervinger, a mage noble house that had long given its loyalty to the Empire.
How it would look from the outside was plain as day.
If only Nameless were still free...!
Had Ghost not been captured, things might have played out differently, but rumor had it he’d been taken by Elric as well.
To Tedan, it was hard to grasp what on earth the Starborne Host had gone through in the past half-year to become like this.
“What do you intend to do with us?”
Tedan looked up at Elric, who had come up to him before he realized it, with fear-wet eyes.
Hrrff!
Elric, seated in the saddle on a mount blowing hard through its nostrils, exuded a presence far deeper than rumor.
Flame-like golden hair and jewel-bright green eyes—in them, Tedan felt himself made small.
At the same time, anger boiled.
The foe who had taken the life of his close comrade, Claymore Sagnard.
No wonder his feelings were a tangle, seeing him.
“Well now. What should I do?”
Whether he knew the turbulence in the man or not, Elric only wore a mischievous smile.
Tedan bristled.
“If you mean to toy with us, then—!”
But he couldn’t get the rest out. Ate had come up beside him and cut the ropes binding him with a dagger.
She even unfastened, one by one, the restraints that kept them from raising aura.
Clack, thunk!
For a moment, Tedan could only stare blankly, unable to read Elric’s intent.
And not just him.
Clack, thunk!
Clack, thunk...!
All around, the sounds of restraints and ropes coming off rang out. Clang. The clatter of iron hitting the ground rang loud in their ears.
Tedan and every officer and soldier of the Red Lion Corps could only look at Elric in a daze.
“...What are you thinking?”
Elric gave Tedan a silent smile, then swept his gaze over the unsettled Red Lion Corps and spoke with mana laced into his voice.
“Anyone who wants to leave may simply leave.”
“...!”
“...!”
“...!”
“But take word to your masters. Tell them that if they lay down arms as you do now and surrender to me, I will open a road for them to live.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
He laid out the exact same offer he had made to Ghost.
Confusion and doubt settled into the soldiers’ eyes.
They looked to one another with wavering gazes and whispered uneasily.
Was Elric’s word a feint or not? A ploy to lure them in, or the truth? They couldn’t tell.
Watching that, Hermann let out a dry chuckle. When Elric and Isabel first proposed this plan, he’d wondered if it could really work—but seeing it take now, it was a marvel.
In the end, every gaze in the Red Lion Corps turned, naturally, to Tedan. He was the man in charge, so it was right for him to decide.
“...And how will you guarantee that?”
“On my humble name and the honor of the House my forebears built with their toil. If need be, I’ll add my grandfather’s reputation on top. Will that do?”
Tedan had been born a commoner, but he knew full well how nobles staked their lives on their house’s honor.
After long deliberation—
“We will...!”
Tedan finally opened his mouth.
* * *
Thud-thud-thud!
Watching the dust plumes as Tedan’s party rode out of the Red Castle, Hermann gave Elric a curious look.
“You truly think they’ll come back?”
His face was all skepticism.
Knowing Andre Wynz’s temperament, he would surely follow Elric’s proposal readily to secure the safety and future of his people—yet, considering the uncertainty baked into this and the Imperial family’s backlash, it wouldn’t be such an easy call.
Above all, factoring in the reaction of the united mountain tribes and of Gregory, it would be even harder....
The thought carried him that far and he found himself chuckling.
Elric was standing there with a faint smile.
“I see. Whether the offer lands or not, it’s no real loss to us, is it?”
“Right.”
Elric nodded and continued.
“If it lands, we get the Wynz March and the Red Lions in the bargain. If it doesn’t, strife will break out among them anyway.”
For Tedan’s lot, sent to protect the Red Castle, to return safely?
That alone would spark no small conflict in the enemy camp.
Anyone could see it would look as though the Red Lion Corps had joined hands with the Starborne Host to save their own skins.
Rumor also had it the rebels had lost their momentum under fierce Imperial resistance and were milling around in confusion.
With embers already set, this would be like dousing them in oil—infighting would be inevitable.
Then Andre Wynz would be driven further into a corner and forced to make a final choice.
“I imagine this man named Tedan knows it too.”
“Most likely. Under Andre, he was the one who used his head the best.”
Yet even knowing he held a poisoned chalice, Tedan would have no choice but to deliver it to Andre Wynz.
They had to find a way to live.
“Then we’d best get moving again ourselves.”
With this, the Wynz March had fallen completely to the Starborne Host. For a while, they would soothe an anxious populace, then make ready to move once more. The place the Starborne Host ultimately had to reach was the Empire.
“It’s time to go home.”
Elric looked toward the place where the sun was already setting.
Toward the Empire.
The Mage Who Devoured Talents