Chapter 262: Hometown (5)

“I, is that really true?”

“You haven’t misheard it, right?”

Urgent voices poured down.

“Shh. Quiet. Lower your voices.”

The one scrunching down with a completely tense expression was Bekeil.

He, at late twilight, sneakily called together his gang.

“I clearly heard the words they said.”

Bekeil’s face redly flushed out.

Anger rose up to his throat.

“Roan. That bastard has fooled us.”

He laid out Murray and the Taemusa Troop member’s words he had heard at the watchtower.

“There wasn’t anything like poison in the first place.”

At those words, the gang creased their faces.

“Why such a lie......”

“To dare play around with people’s lives......”

Likewise their anger rose up.

Bekeil formed a bitter smile.

“He must’ve planned to turn us into puppets.”

“Damn it.”

The gang clenched their fists and spat out curses.

But that was all.

There was nothing more that they could do.

‘It’s enraging, but......’

Roan now wasn’t a mountainside village kid but a monarch of a kingdom.

He had become a high existence that they couldn’t even dare look straight at.

‘Even if the bastard wiggle a single finger, our heads will fly off.’

In the end they could only live on quietly with their breaths stifled.

‘But that means we won’t die even if there isn’t that medicine.’

They laboriously thought positively and forcibly made smiles.

At that very moment.

“It isn’t over yet.”

Bekeil added on with a suggestive expression.

“There is more to the talk Roan’s underlings shared.”

The light in his eyes calmly sank down.

“There is another reason Roan has left his underlings in our village.”

At those words, the gang tilted their heads.

“It wasn’t to protect the village and spy on us?”

“Ah! They said they were investigating the Grain Mountain’s monsters, didn’t they?”

“Right. Isn’t that why they stayed behind?”

Everyone looked at Bekeil with curious expressions.

Bekeil scrunched down his body even further and spoke in a small voice.

“There was one more reason besides that.”

“And what’s that?”

Everyone asked in one voice.

Bekeil shortly answered.

“The bastard is looking for an object right now.”

“What kind of object is it?”

Gulp.

Everyone dryly gulped.

Bekeil answered in an even smaller voice.

“Bow of Piscis.”

“Bow of Piscis?”

The gang creased their brows.

“What’s Bow of Piscis?”

At those words, Bekeil needlessly looked around their surroundings once more and then answered.

“It’s the bow the queen of elves Piscis has said to use. They say a dragon and elves’ magic are enchanted that you don’t even separately need arrows.”

A slightly elated expression.

“They say the magic arrow will fly on its own towards the target if you just pull the string. It’s all infallible and they say it has an incredible enough power to instantly destroy a large boulder.”

“Ah......”

The gang let out quiet exclamations.

Bekeil’s words kept continuing.

“From what I heard, it looks like the Bow of Piscis is hidden in the Grain Mountain mountainside near our village. The reason Roan returned after a long time was also in truth to find Bow of Piscis.”

“I knew it.”

“Want to see the hometown people, missing hometown, etc, all those words were all nonsense.”

The gang twisted their lips.

The more the time passed, their hostility towards Roan slowly became larger.

Bekeil looked long across their faces.

“So since it’s like that......”

His voice turned sly.

Gulp.

Everyone dryly swallowed with tense expressions.

Bekeil formed a bloody smile.

“Let’s go and find the Bow of Piscis ourselves.”

“Ourselves?”

The gang creased their brows.

Bekeil nodded his head with a slightly excited expression.

“They say the one who gets the Bow of Piscis could become the most powerful man on the continent.”

“Those taemusa-something guys said that?”

“Yeah. They definitely said that.”

Bekeil formed a bloody smile.

“If we can just find the bwo, we can go out to a war and raise a big achievement and even earn a nobility. No, if we can become the most powerful man in the continent, then we could found a kingdom like Roan.”

His face redly flushed.

“Even if not that, we could at least become a noble of the empire.”

The bloody smile hanging on his mouth turned even thicker.

“Meaning we could have a far bigger strength than a monarch of a newborn kingdom, Roan.”

The end of his voice trembled.

Bekeil tightly clenched his fist.

“We are going to find the Bow of Piscis. Let’s find the bow and go out into the world. We’ll go out and win wealth, power, and fame. Let’s break Roan’s nose and make him pay for playing with our lives.”

Gulp.

The gang once more swallowed dryly.

The anger and hostility towards Roan, and the momentarily forgotten ambition murkily rose up.

“G, good. We were going to go out to the world in the first place anyway.”

“There’s no need to pointlessly hesitate if we aren’t poisoned.”

“Let’s find the Bow of Piscis and go out to the world.”

They all came together as one and formed a firm resolve.

Finally the decision was made.

Bekeil touched heads with the gang.

“For now, follow those teamusa bastards and spy on them. I’ll take care of the cleanup.”

“G, got it.”

Everyone quickly nodded their heads.

From the next day on, Bekeil and the gang chased trailed from afar the Amaranth Taemusa Troop members including Murray.

Of course, they didn’t forget to act like they were hunting not unlike the usual.

At that sight, Murray momentarily formed a disgusted expression, but did not particularly tried to shake them off.

No, there wasn’t a need for that in the first place.

“Huff. Huff. Huff. Are those people really human?”

“Where’d they go? Huff. Huff. Huff.”

Two among Bekeil’s gang held their knees and breathed out rough breaths.

They were following the taemusas’ backs while pretending to hunt.

But the stamina and speed of the taemusas who had learned mana were far greater than the ordinary men.

From the start, the backwoods hunters chasing them was beyond their limits.

In the end, their strengths squeezed out empty and their breaths turned raspy enough for their eyes to turn woozy after half a day.

This wasn’t merely these two’s problem.

The gang that chased the other taemusas, including even Bekeil too, all had their stamina emptied out.

“Huff. Huff. Huff.”

Only rough breaths fully filled the mountainside.

Like that, two days flowed by without any result.

‘Damn it. Continuing like this is wrong.’

Bekeil clenched his teeth.

If like this, then the taemusas would come to find the Bow of Piscis before they could even do anything.

‘Roan who became a monarch even gets the Bow of Piscis......?’

It was a horrible outcome even in thought.

‘His gap with me will become even larger.’

He couldn’t endure that.

Uddck.

His teeth naturally grinded.

‘Though whatever means, I have to fi......’

The moment his thought reached about that point.

“Mr. Bekeil.”

A baritone voice pierced into his ears.

An unfamiliar voice.

Bekeil raised up his head and looked for the owner of the voice.

“Hm.”

Instantly a quiet groan flowed out.

The owner of the voice was Murray, who commanded the Taemusa Troop’s members left in the village.

“Sir Adjutant Murray.”

Bekeil instantly stood up and bowed his head.

The face that was dyed with annoyance was in no time forming a servile smile.

Murray uninterestedly looked at such Bekeil.

‘A, am I perhaps found out?’

Bekeil felt cold sweat squeezing straight out behind his back.

Gulp.

A dry spit gulped over.

At that moment.

“Mr. Bekeil. If it is alright with you, could you please help us?”

“H, help you?”

Bekeil, at the unexpected words, formed a puzzled expression.

Murray slowly nodded his head.

“We are looking for a certain place, but we hadn’t had any progress for the last two days, you see.”

“Ah......”

Bekeil instinctively let out a quiet exclamation.

He could tell what Murray was talking about.

‘The place the Bow of Piscis is.’

The inside of his head turned chaotic at the abrupt situation.

Meanwhile, Murray’s words kept continuing on.

“We thought that if it is Mr. Bekeil, who as the village’s best hunter knows the Grain Mountains closely, you would be of help.”

His sharp gaze swept Bekeil’s entire body.

Bekeil abruptly came to his senses.

“Yes, yes! I am the very one who knows around this land the best in our village.”

He formed a friendly-looking smile.

“Do you perhaps have detail on the place you are looking for, sir?”

Bekeil very amiably, and cautiously asked as to not buy suspicion.

Murray faintly smiled and nodded his head.

“There is a passage describing the said location. The descriptions are......”

He, for a long time, laid out long the depiction of the certain place.

‘Ah!’

Bekeil, who was listening on quietly, suddenly had a flash in his head.

‘Delphin Gorge! This is exactly describing Delphin Gorge!’

He instantly realized where the place Murray was speaking of was.

Delphin Gorge was a place where ferocious monsters often appeared that people didn’t often look for unless in special cases.

‘Pretend not to know and go look for it alone?’

Bekeil rapidly spun his bad head.

But he soon shook his head.

‘Delphin Gorge isn’t some village gorge either, and...... until I know the more exact place, cooperating with these bastards......’

The moment his thought reached about that point.

“Can you perhaps tell about where this is?”

Murray asked with a deeply sunken voice.

Bekeil purposely acted like he was contemplating, then snapped his fingers.

Tac!

A clean sound echoed out.

“Come to think of it, I think that place you spoke of sounds similar to Delphin Gorge, sir.”

“Delphin Gorge? Where is that?”

Murray asked with a slightly elated look.

Bekeil hesitated for a moment, then answered with a helpless expression.

“Hhm. That’s, it’s a bit difficult to explain with words...... I’ll instead show you the way myself, sir.”

“Ah, there is no need to particularly do that.”

Murray indirectly refused.

However, Bekeil had no thought of stepping back.

“No no, sir. The way to the Delphin Gorge is so complicated that you could accidentally lose way and wander if you carelessly go look for it. I’ll personally lead you the way.”

“Hhm.”

Murray contemplated with a troubled expression, then soon nodded his head.

“Alright. Then I will request you of that, Mr. Bekeil.”

“Yes. Just trust me, sir.”

Bekeil inwardly cheered and drummed his chest.

He quickly gathered the necessary bags.

‘Should I tell other guys too?’

His friends, with whom the past night he had put heads together and checked each other’s firm resolves with.

Bekeil contemplated for a moment, then soon shook his head.

‘There is only one bow, either way.’

There wasn’t particularly a need to take them along at the current situation.

‘Later, I can look after them later.’

A disgusting thought.

He, behind everyone, threw away his friends.

Whether in the first life or the second life, Bekeil consistently and faithfully showed off a face of a traitor.

“I will lead ahead, sir.”

Bekeil moved his steps with a bold expression and pose.

Somehow a really elated looking appearance.

Murray quietly followed his back and secretly formed a bitter smile.

‘Your majesty......’

A short sigh pushed through his lips and flowed out.

‘Everything really are flowing as your majesty has said.’

His heart felt bitter.

His sharp gaze planted into the back of Bekeil’s head.

‘This bastard......’

A cold light flowed in his eyes.

‘Is a trash.’

*****

“Hulhulhul.’

A bizarre laugh fully filled a brilliant grand hall.

The owner of the voice was an old man wearing a brilliant purple hued robe and a large crown, Holy Emperor Veldrica of the Devesis Church.

He in one hand held a cluster of grapes and, with his long and thin fingers, pluck and ate the succulent grapes one by one.

An excessively bountiful and leisurely look.

At that moment, one among the men neatly lined up before him took one step forwards and deeply bowed his back.

“Cardinal Iare wishes to commune with your holiness Holy Emperor.”

An attractive baritone voice.

It was a soft yet powerful voice.

Veldrica, who was about to place a grape into his mouth, paused still and formed a weird smile.

“Hulhulhul. What do you wish to commune about? Speak as you wish.”

An expression that seemed to say it was ready to listen.

Ire, with his head slightly bowed, spoke in a quiet voice.

“I wish to inquire your holiness concerning Cardinal Herbert.”

“Hulhulhul. Cardinal Herbert, you say......”

Veldrica showed off his teeth and let out a bizarre laugh.

Herbert was the cardinal who had received Veldrica’s order and left for the Amaranth Kingdom.

“Two days ago, Cardinal Herbert has left for the Rinse Kingdom, your holiness.”

Because the Holy Palace had not officially recognized the Amaranth Kingdom, they still used the name of Rinse Kingdom.

“Hulhulhul. Cardinal Herbert has said he would head to the Rinse Kingdom on his own to wash away his sinned heart.”

Veldrica nodded his head with a happy expression.

Iare, with his head still bowed, added on.

“Cardinal Herbert has left leading two priests and two monks, your holiness. It is a number simply insufficient to wash away a sinned heart. Should we not even at least now send more priests and monks, your holiness?”

The thing he had said to wish to inquire of was in fact the supplement of priests and monks.

Veldrica looked at Iare with eyes full of wrinkles.

All kinds of emotions swirled in the light of his aged eyes.

“Hulhulhul. There is no need.”

A soft but firm tone.

“But Cardinal Herbert may fall into danger if even slightly mistaken, your holiness.”

His life could become endangered while pushing himself trying to wash his sin away on his own.

At those words, Veldrica suddenly burst out a laugh.

“Kukukukuk.”

That truly was a bizarre laugh.

A moment later, he barely paused his laugh.

“Cardinal Iare. I understand very well of your worry and meaning. But......”

Veldrica’s voice slowly turned sharp.

“Even if something perhaps happens to Cardinal Herbert, that is the will of God.”

“Ah......”

Iare let out a quiet exclamation.

He couldn’t speak on any further.

The will of God.

Before the will of God, whatever logic nor even rational judgment was of no point.

Here was the Holy Palace.

“Hulhulhul.”

Veldrica bizarrely laughed and place the grape he had held into his mouth.

Sweet and sour taste fully filled the inside of his mouth.

‘Will of God......’

Even if when he thought of it himself, it was far too comical.

Veldrica chomped and munched the grape seeds.

Oddok.

A pleasant sound rang out.

‘Cardinal Herbert.’

The face of that loyal man floated up.

‘Nobly perish.’

A killing intent circled in the aged light of Veldrica’s eyes.

‘Kukukuku. For that is the will of God, no......’

The killing intent turned even deeper.

‘The will of I.’

End.