Chapter 2 — 흉의 일족
Part 2, Chapter 15
The Hyung Clan
Inside the carriage racing down the Guando.
For days, Tasha had done little but sigh inside the carriage. The reason was nothing else.
Elric’s baby dragons, of course.
She could still see their little dragon faces drifting before her eyes.
She wanted to go see them this instant, but she couldn’t, and that alone was bleak.
“Haah….”
Every time the reality hit, another sigh slipped out.
Hanabi, sitting opposite her, could only look on with a sour face.
She’d looked so happy with Elric.
Now that they were apart, what was with that end-of-the-world expression?
If anyone saw, they’d think the sky was falling.
She knew Tasha adored dragons, but not to this degree.
At this point it was almost a lovesick malady.
Of course, she had no intention of saying that aloud. Do that, and she’d be roasted golden-brown.
So she sat still and feigned ignorance.
That was when Tasha muttered, softly,
“Right. There’ll be plenty of chances to see them.”
She tapped her own cheek lightly, and her face brightened a shade.
Seemed she’d shaken off the dragon thoughts a bit.
Then she asked Hanabi,
“More importantly, how far have those guys gotten?”
You sure ask quick...
Only asking this crucial thing three days after departure.
Hanabi found it absurd, but as always, she didn’t show it.
“Well…”
Even so, given the topic, she couldn’t help but tread carefully.
Twitch!
When Hanabi trailed off, one of Tasha’s brows arched.
“Why the suspense? Out with it!”
“They’ve already reached the vicinity of their destination.”
“What? Already? Where is it?”
Tasha’s eyes widened.
“A place called Huilran.”
“Huilran?”
Her eyes grew even wider at the name.
And what was Huilran?
A lawless zone where all manner of underclass folk gathered. Who’d have thought that would be the destination?
Naturally, questions rose. There was no reason to go there, no matter how she thought about it.
“That’s a trash heap! Why would they—!”
But she broke off mid-sentence, something dawning on her.
Her expression hardened.
“Wait. Isn’t that the direction Lord Elric went?”
* * *
An unexpected voice.
All eyes turned as one.
There stood Taihol, eyes fierce and grim, glaring this way.
Seeing him, Jen cried out brightly, as if beholding a savior.
“Dad!”
“Jen. Wait a moment. I’ll get you out soon.”
Taihol said that, then turned his gaze back.
“Say that again. What did you just say? What’s happening to Huilran right now?”
“Taihol, listen to me. It’s—”
“You, shut up!”
Mord, who was closest, tried to restrain the agitated Taihol.
But the moment Mord stepped in front of him, Taihol shoved him aside hard, as if he were in the way.
Mord couldn’t withstand the force and went tumbling backward.
“Urgh…!”
Mord clutched his back, grimacing, but Taihol didn’t care.
He fixed his gaze on Trang.
Veins standing in his neck, Taihol spoke.
“Chieftain! Tell me. What on earth is going on? Is this the result of you stepping in to somehow settle things? Burning everyone to ash—was that the end you had in mind?”
He had every right to be furious.
Back when they entrusted themselves to Lilim,
and when they brought in the Free Revolutionary Army,
even as factions split and clashed, Taihol himself didn’t start a fight because he trusted Trang.
After all, the man was a priest and the clan’s senior elder.
Taihol believed Trang would find the insight to save the clan.
So he waited.
Even when his men grumbled that they should rise up now, he had been the one to dissuade them—just a little longer.
“And yet how did it come to—”
But trusting Trang had ended in ruin.
That Jasaja would come here as commander of the suppression force.
It meant not only the fall of the clan, but their homeland Huilran on the verge of being erased.
Not just the Hyung Clan—every other poor soul in Huilran was about to die.
Taihol swallowed the fury rising in his throat and widened his eyes.
“Chieftain! Speak, now!”
“...”
Trang pressed his lips together, pained.
He knew too well how much Taihol had trusted him, had waited.
And just how dire things were now.
But there was hope.
Elric Mervinger was here.
“I know what you fear. But the one ordained by the god has come here, has he not? So just wait a litt—”
“Ordained? Ordained? Ha! Nice words.”
Taihol cut him off, then glared at Elric.
“The god—now called the God of Camellia, isn’t it? You, the one he ordained. Tell me. Can you save us?”
Taihol gave a hollow laugh.
“No—let me ask again. Do you have the will to?”
“I’ll help.”
The tone sneered, as if to say, what can you even do.
Elric snorted and went on.
“Just not all of you. I’ll pick.”
Trang and Mord went ashen.
They’d had no intention of revealing that conversation with Elric—least of all to Taihol.
Taihol would never settle for saving only a ‘portion’ of the clan.
He was a leader consumed by the resolve to save the clan, whatever it took.
Even those still bewitched by Lilim and lost to reason.
But whether Elric cared or not—
Elric looked untroubled.
Trang and Mord had no idea what Elric was thinking.
Pfft!
Taihol blinked, then burst into laughter.
“So in the end, you’re a noble too. Fine, Mervinger. Your house has a debt with us from generations past, and this time you came out of goodwill, so I won’t do you any harm. But this matter is, at the end of the day, the clan’s affair.”
The laughter vanished from Taihol’s face.
“So you, who are not involved, should step back.”
“What was that? Say it again.”
Elric frowned, annoyed.
Taihol didn’t back down; he enunciated every word.
“I asked you to withdraw.”
“No. Not that—the bit before.”
“...A debt? That part?”
Why ask that out of nowhere? Taihol furrowed his brow.
“Yeah. That.”
Elric smiled coldly.
There wasn’t a shred of warmth in it.
“So to you lot, it was all just a debt, huh?”
His grandfather, Usden Mervinger, had thought of the Hyung Clan as friends.
He’d helped them with no strings attached.
And they called that a debt.
Grandfather hadn’t helped expecting anything in return.
“That’s foul. People change going into the bathroom and coming out, sure—but this is just thuggish.”
As Elric finished, a fierce aura surged around him.
Whooo—
Goooo!
An overwhelming force.
He’d only stirred his mana, yet it already felt crushing.
The strength was greater than expected; Taihol’s face blanched.
He’d heard the rumors of Elric’s prowess, but he hadn’t imagined this.
Even so, he didn’t retreat.
Glaring at Elric, Taihol warned,
“...Stand down.”
“And if I don’t?”
A smirk tugged at Elric’s lips.
Taihol’s expression twisted.
“Then you die here. Forment!”
Forment nodded, then clapped as if summoning someone.
Clap!
People waiting outside poured in at once.
Crash!
Masked figures slipped in through shattered windows like assassins, sealing off inside from out.
At the doors, men with headscarves drew their weapons and flooded in, surrounding Elric, Trang, and Mord in an instant.
Every one of them was well-drilled, elite.
“This isn’t all. There are already about fifty more deployed outside.”
All of them soldiers attached by the Free Revolutionary Army, no less.
One-man-army elites.
That was why Taihol was confident.
“Even you will find it hard to face these many.”
Elric glanced around and spoke, face blank.
“...Planning a revolt, are we?”
“Why not? To upend this rotten world, there’s only revolution.”
“Does that include dukes like me?”
“In the world of revolution, status, class, gender, age—none of it matters. If you try to impose the old world’s order, you should of course be driven out.”
The tone said he’d kill Elric whenever necessary.
With the intent to kill so clear, there was no need to play nice.
“Is that so? Then.”
Elric snapped his fingers.
An ice arrow formed right beside Jen’s temple.
A hostage play.
Trang and Mord’s eyes flew wide.
They’d sensed things were bad, but not that it would go this far.
“D-Dad…”
Jen froze where he stood, legs trembling.
Taihol’s face went harder than ever.
“Go on. Let’s see who’s got more nerve. Will the sixty-two outside and the four hiding over there move faster, or will this ice arrow? Hm?”
Taihol kept still as if unfazed, but inside he flinched.
The ‘four in hiding’ Elric mentioned.
They were assassins secretly placed in ambush.
If need be, they were to extract Jen—or, depending on the turn, assassinate Trang and Mord.
And he’d marked them exactly.
That wasn’t all.
Tch-tch-tch!
More ice arrows budded in the air, each one leveled with precision at the soldiers—and at the hidden assassins.
Those, too, would fly the instant he willed it.
...So he didn’t earn ‘Hero of the East’ for nothing.
Taihol began to think even the elite the Free Revolutionary Army had assigned wouldn’t avail against Elric.
With things come to this, even he wavered, unsure what to do.
What now?
He could feel the soldiers’ furtive looks piling on him.
Hurry up and decide.
Taihol bit down on his lower lip.
Would he have to sacrifice Jen? If he hesitated here, pretending to protect Jen, his standing in the Revolutionary ranks might go flying with it.
His insides felt scorched.
A no-win bind.
As Taihol wavered—
Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
Three cuckoo calls sounded outside.
The Free Revolutionary Army’s signal.
It meant enemies had appeared.
And the signal for a sizable force.
Damn it!
When it rains, it pours.
At this point they had to either withdraw fast or spark the revolt.
As Taihol hesitated, his eyes met Elric’s.
Grin!
Elric smiled.
For a moment Taihol felt laid bare, his thoughts read.
“What’s wrong? Getting cold feet? If you’re scared, go die.”
The Mage Who Devoured Talent