Chapter 181
Thud, thud!
A heavy sound echoed several times. Temisian, who had landed with a resounding thud in front of Kazhan as if to punctuate the finale, naturally bowed in respect.
“The imperial command has been fulfilled, Your Majesty.”
“Clean work.”
Kazhan offered his blunt assessment as he glanced around. The wyvern and its riders lay split in two on the ground, bleeding profusely. It had only been a matter of seconds since Temisian had removed his blindfold and taken the sword from the knight beside him. A few blinks of an eye, and the situation was over.
To think it would be resolved so easily.
Kazhan clicked his tongue inwardly at the intermittent groans of the wounded. Although it had been an unexpected ambush, he was displeased with the unnecessary casualties. On top of that, the fact that they now had to be wary of the skies, following the dark magic incident, was an added headache.
“The ones we captured earlier—are they still alive?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. They’re here.”
Kazhan approached the ambushers who had been captured during the battle and tied up with ropes. As he had demanded, there were exactly three of them.
It was certain that they were the same group that had ambushed him in front of the Herti Kingdom. Their attire, swordsmanship, and even their characteristic silence in the face of death matched perfectly.
That was why Kazhan was curious. Where were they from? What was their identity? And why had they dared to carry out such a reckless ambush, even in the imperial palace where Duke Blake resided?
“Remove their masks.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Rip!
The black cloth, which had been tightly glued to their faces without so much as a flutter, was torn away by the knight’s hand. The ambusher, who had been struggling incessantly to break free, suddenly convulsed and stopped breathing.
“This is…”
Kazhan frowned. There was something strange about this. It didn’t seem like a simple case of an assassin committing suicide to avoid revealing their identity.
“Open their jaws and secure them before removing the masks.”
He gestured toward the remaining living captive and issued the command, which the knights promptly followed. They took precautions to prevent the captives from biting down on any poison hidden in their mouths, but all their efforts were in vain. As soon as the mask was removed, the man rolled his eyes and died. It was a silent, soundless death.
“……”
Kazhan turned away from the knight who was subtly gauging his reaction. He stood in front of the last surviving ambusher, seemingly deep in thought, then suddenly swung his sword.
Thud!
“You wouldn’t talk even if we tortured you, would you?”
Thud!
“At first, I thought you were just tight-lipped, but that wasn’t it.”
Thud!
“Now I see. You can’t speak. You can’t even feel pain.”
During the fight, he had been uncertain, but now Kazhan was sure. If they were living beings with a sense of touch, they would have at least flinched reflexively when wounded. But the assassin before him showed no such reaction. It was as if their body operated solely for the purpose of killing him, completely indifferent to the severity of their injuries, writhing only to break free from their restraints.
These were not normal humans. To be precise, they weren’t even “alive.”
Dolls, or corpses. Puppets moving unconditionally to carry out orders.
Was this dark magic?
Kazhan didn’t voice the thought that immediately came to mind. Instead of causing unnecessary confusion, he roughly ran a hand through his hair.
“What a headache.”
Now he understood why the Herti Kingdom had gone to such lengths to retrieve the bodies of their own. The moment the mask was removed, the face beneath was already a lifeless blue. It couldn’t have been more suspicious. If they were to strip away the tightly wrapped black cloth and examine the body, they would likely find even more abnormalities.
It seemed that the dark mages, who had been hiding their identities and lurking in the shadows, had grown bolder after their tails were stepped on a few months ago through the daughter of Baron Merowan. Now that their existence had been exposed, they no longer felt the need to hide and were launching bold attacks.
It was almost like a declaration of war.
“……”
Kazhan gazed toward the distant sky where Ysaris would be. The skies were still peaceful, with no wyverns or emergency signals in sight, so why did he feel so uneasy?
Frowning, he scanned his surroundings and issued a command.
“Move the wounded and clean up the scene. Consider the hunting tournament over.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. With your permission, I will send a signal to request additional personnel.”
“Do so.”
Kazhan chose to return immediately with Temisian. The hunting tournament no longer mattered. He needed to meet with Duke Barilio to inform him of the situation and discuss their next steps.
He also needed to follow up on the progress of the anti-dark magic barrier he had requested from the Tower Master. The response he had received earlier was vague, stating that it would be difficult to resolve immediately, but he still hadn’t been given a clear timeline. All he had gotten were ambiguous replies.
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.