Chapter 18 : Secret and Protagonist (1)
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.
A drop of water falling from the cave ceiling struck the pale face and trickled down.
Thwaaack.
The last drop, hanging precariously, hit his temple.
At that impact, the deeply closed eyes finally trembled.
Blink. Blink.
His vision was blurry, so he blinked his eyes shut and opened a few tis.
‘Is this Territum, where only the good can go? It's too damp for that, though. Then is it Hodie? The doctrine that the Imperial Family is a divine race must have been true. Is this why my whole body aches, because this is Hodie?’
He'd heard that in Hodie, there was a monster called Escam that repeatedly cut and reattached people alive, but seeing as there was no such thing, it didn't seem to be Hodie either.
Though seeing as his whole body was sore, it might be because it had already been reattached and detached a few tis.
The Duke, who had been organizing the religious knowledge he had diligently learned throughout his life in a stream of consciousness, suddenly snapped to his senses.
He wasn't dead yet.
He put strength back into his eyes and looked around.
It was dark so he couldn't see his surroundings, but based on the sounds and the sensation at his back, it seed to be a cave.
Did I fall into water and get lucky?
In fact, if the Duke had been a little more in his right mind, he would have known that from the height he fell, it wouldn't have been strange if his entire body had been shattered to pieces, even if there was water below.
But Duke Piteos was not fully in his right mind.
Thinking that he might have been washed away by the current and settled in a cave near the cliff, he slowly relaxed his body.
Lacking the strength to get up, the Duke slowly focused his consciousness and checked his body's condition.
Head, arms, body, legs…… oh dear, I've twisted my right leg.
As a result of checking in order, there seed to be nothing wrong other than his right ankle throbbing and hurting.
His whole body ached, but he was in better shape than expected for having fallen from such a dizzying height.
Did I not fall from the cliff?
He clearly rembered falling while hearing the 1st Prince's laughter.
Tollin, who had been watching him while trembling, had also watched his end, and the Emperor's ridiculously bored expression also remained in his mory, and
-You can't die yet.
And there was also the black-haired prince who had muttered to him.
As the 7th Prince's face, with one lip quirked up, ca to mind, the Duke felt a chill run down his spine.
Yes, the 7th Prince.
He definitely muttered that I couldn't die yet.
As if he knew I would survive.
As his thoughts reached that point, he rembered the bag full of pebbles he had handed over during the Hunting Competition.
The Duke, this ti, slowly raised his body and fumbled around his waist.
The bag couldn't be felt.
It must have been washed away by the water when I fell.
Indeed, it was a wonder he was even wearing clothes after falling from that height.
The Duke sighed and, this ti, looked around to figure out exactly where he was.
No, he tried to look around.
“Are you looking for this?”
If only he hadn't been startled by the low voice coming from behind.
The Duke was grateful for the fact that he had no strength in his body to even make a sound.
If not, he would have scread like a young girl at the sudden voice, forgetting his age.
A person was sitting motionlessly in the darkness, without any presence.
The golden eyes of the man, who looked quite sturdy judging by his silhouette, were silently watching him.
The Duke stiffly accepted what looked like a bag, which the man was handing over.
It was heavy, so it was clearly that damn pile of stones.
“……Thank you.”
“Not at all, I took it off for a mont as I thought it would strain your body if you kept wearing it.”
“Ah, it seems you're the one who saved this old man. I don't know how to express my gratitude……”
He seed like a better person than expected, but the Duke answered slowly, not letting his guard down.
The opponent was skilled enough in hiding his presence to deceive his sensitive senses.
Even if that weren't the case, the aura emanating from him was extraordinary, making it impossible to feel at ease.
His instincts, honed from leading battles for over 30 years, told him that the opponent was by no ans weak.
He couldn't let go of the thread of tension yet, not knowing if he was a savior or sothing else.
“No, gratitude is unnecessary.”
The man answered bluntly.
“As long as you obediently answer my questions.”
The deanor was by no ans gentle, so the Duke looked at him without a word.
It was a cold gaze that made him feel the illusion of hearing the unspoken words, 'If you answer, I won't kill you.'
Duke Piteos pondered.
As a result of fumbling at his waist earlier, it seed he was currently completely disard.
They might have been washed away by the current, or the man in front of him might have collected them all, like this bag.
It wasn't that he had neglected his training, but it was true that his body had beco duller than in the days when he was in battle.
Could I win in a physical fight?
If the opponent was unard, sohow…….
Sreung.
While the Duke was deliberating, the man quietly drew a sword from his waist.
He was perfectly ard.
Moreover, his stance was quite stable, so the Duke sighed inwardly.
The shape of the well-honed silver blade shone in the darkness.
And he opened his mouth.
“Are you soone related to the Imperial Palace?”
“No, absolutely not. Just a dazed old man who missed his step while passing by. My na is Jing.”
Fortunately, Agoni Piteos, who had stepped down from the position of Head of the Piteos Ducal Family, was currently in a state where his pride as a noble was at its lowest in his entire life, so he could answer without hesitation.
***
Fortunately, Agoni Piteos, or ‘Jing’ as he called himself, survived with both legs and both arms intact.
“Uh, could you at least untie my feet?”
Although he was walking with his intact limbs tied up with rope.
A rope, loosened just enough for him to barely take steps, bound both his feet, and his arms were tied behind his back.
Still, perhaps he wasn't entirely heartless, as he had put sothing like a splint on his right leg.
His steps were also slow, perhaps out of consideration for him, or perhaps because it was pitch black in front.
He was a truly gentle young man.
If only he would also untie the ropes and release him, he could reveal that benevolence even more.
It wasn't that he couldn't walk, but it wasn't comfortable either, so he tried to speak, but the person who had bound him was walking looking only forward, as if his words weren't even worth listening to.
In one hand, he held the thick rope pulling him like a dog leash.
“You young folk might not know, but at this age, if I fall, it doesn't just end there. If I break my hip bone, it's over. I could even die, I tell you.”
He tried his best to show the image of a pitiful old man, but it was no use as the man with the golden eyes still didn't even glance at him.
By the way, was there a place like this in the cliff below the forest?
There were people who had fallen to their deaths from the cliff, but none who had returned, so the Duke initially thought there might be such a cave.
However, after walking for quite a long ti without anything appearing, he gradually began to wonder where exactly he had drifted to.
Judging by how he asked if he was related to the Imperial Family as soon as he woke up, he seed to be at least a force opposing the Imperial Family and the nobles.
In the worst case, they could be followers of heresy, but he heard that those who opposed the Temple were all eradicated long ago.
He himself was also the very person who had carried out that operation.
He moved his steps, wondering if there was another group he didn't know about.
Having lived as the sword of the Imperial Family, capturing and offering such types of humans was also sothing he used to do, so the Duke, out of habit, watched his back sharply.
If I follow him like this, will I be able to et their whole group?
If so, it would be difficult to wipe them out with his strength alone, so after escaping, he would have to lead reinforcent troops and attack, but would he be able to grasp the exact location? Such thoughts filled his head.
Then, he suddenly rembered his own situation and let out an empty laugh.
What am I doing now?
He was soone who had been executed after rebelling against those he had served so faithfully with body and mind.
What was the use of all this now?
Hadn't he thrown away all his loyalty to the Emperor the mont he fell from the cliff?
It wasn't that his entire life disappeared, but there were definitely things more important to him than that.
More than anything right now, he needed to et the Little Duke he had left behind, the ducal castle, and Tollin, who had shouldered everything.
Instead of being dragged along obediently like this.
“Where exactly is this? And why are you taking tied up like this?”
“……”
“I'm really a person who has nothing to do with the Imperial Family. Just an old man with a slightly injured leg. I…… can roughly guess why you're capturing , but. Whatever it is, it's all a misunderstanding, so I hope you'll release . Taking will just be a waste of space and food.”
In fact, it was all a lie.
He had already retreated from the front line long ago, was now treated as a dead person, and would probably have to live in seclusion for the rest of his life, but he was, nonetheless, the forr Duke Piteos, and there was an abundance of valuable information they could extract from him.
If they found out the Duke's identity, that kind young man would try to take him by any ans necessary.
It was clear that it wouldn't be in a manner as moderate as now.
He might even try to break his twisted leg completely.
But from the looks of it, the young man didn't seem to know his identity, despite the fa of the Piteos Ducal Family.
If he had known, he wouldn't have been able to walk this comfortably.
He didn't know why he judged him to be related to the Imperial Family, but if it was an uncertain opponent, it was worth continuing to confuse him.
As his feet gradually got used to the damp and slippery floor, his eyes also grew more accustod to the darkness, so Agoni could take in more information.
For example, that this place might not be a cave ford simply by natural generation.
When he faintly saw that what he thought were just stalactites each had a shape carved into them, Agoni now really had to slow his steps.
He had a strong premonition that if he followed any further, it would be difficult to get out.
Because this wasn't the area around the cliff he fell from.
“I don't think this is the first ti I'm asking.”
Agoni put a little strength into his left foot and held out until the rope pulling him beca taut.
“Where is this, and where are you taking ?”
At the voice that contained no hint of playfulness or complaint, the man finally turned his head and looked at Agoni.
After a brief standoff, the man with the golden eyes opened his mouth.
“No one who enters this place has such questions.”
Agoni was silent, not knowing what on earth that ant, and the opponent's voice continued, devoid of highs or lows.
“Because this is a place you cannot enter even if you have the will to. Especially those who serve the Imperial Family are desperate to find this place, so there's no reason to ask such a question. This is what I suspect, which is why I'm taking the old man tied up.”
At the gaze that seed to ask if that answered his question, he nodded his head.
The young man put down the rope he was holding and once again drew the sword he had thrust at Agoni when they first t.
“Therefore, if you're truly sincere in asking where this place is, you, old man, are one of two things. Either crazy,”
Agoni thought that the opponent's golden eyes, which were slowly choosing his words, seed to glint for a mont.
He looked into Agoni's eyes as if to pierce them and moved his mouth.
“Or you ca at the call of God Amica.”
Agoni couldn't give any answer and just silently received that gaze.
As if he hadn't wanted an answer, the young man turned his back again and walked toward one of the stone pillars.
And he thrust the silver sword in front of it.
The mont he felt the man grab the hilt and infuse sothing into it, the blade began to glow.
The light that started from the hilt flowed along the floor and connected to the pillars that looked like stalactites.
Soon, the bizarre patterns carved on all the stone pillars held the light and blossod.
And the cave began to move with a magnificent sound.
Agoni couldn't close his mouth at the unbelievable sight.
This sight of the floor, which he believed held nothing, twisting and opening a new space.
This unbelievable sight of a new world revealing itself right under his feet.
A beautiful castle was visible through the foggy view.
Agoni, who had been staring blankly at the dazzling sight, ca to his senses at the voice directed at him.
“In either case, I cannot release you, old man, so just follow .”
Only then, in the brightened view, could Agoni properly see the face of the young man who had treated him sowhere between a dog and a human prisoner.
He had a slender face with dark eyebrows and golden eyes.
But what caught Agoni's eye was not his features.
Jet-black hair fluttering in the wind blowing from below.
Strangely, his eyes were drawn to the unremarkable, extre black hair.
And Agoni felt his lips go dry.
This was the result of lanting the fate that had put him in the worst, not even the second-worst, situation, of doubting his own circumstances, being in the stronghold of those known to have been eradicated over 50 years ago, and of resenting whether his barely surviving was the grand sche of the First Emperor, Sierra Abalan, to kill him even more painfully.
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