Chapter 64

“Are you hurt, Captain? I smell blood.”

Shadi Shandor asked.

She was being supported by her subordinate.

It was because she was paying the price of the Ars ‘Sand Question’, having been blind for 33 days.

Amethus felt a considerable sense of debt at the sight of her with an eye patch covering her empty eye sockets.

“It's nothing.”

“Is that so? Untes, how badly is the Captain hurt?”

Untes, the subordinate who was supporting Shadi, chuckled softly and winked.

His tone was as if asking if he should tell the truth.

Amethus frowned with his jade-green eyes, and Untes nodded his head with a knowing look.

“He's really not hurt at all. He said to tell you that.”

“…You've grown bold while I wasn't looking, Untes.”

“My apologies, Captain Amethus. But I am Captain Shadi's subordinate, not Captain Amethus's.”

It's confusing with two captains.

Untes Ubias Uterbeum burst out laughing.

He was a cheerful man even in the valley filled with the smell of blood and fog.

Shadi poked Untes.

Even though she couldn't see, his loud laughter made her head throb.

“Captain Amethus, did you find your target?”

“No.”

Amethus shook his head.

“He certainly passed through here, but……”

Lacrosha's dismembered body was rolling around in the Rubeko Valley.

There were no traces of Shion Pollinglight or the Last Clown.

The same went for Amethus's mind.

He had definitely been there, had met them, and even fought them, but now it was as if they had never existed.

“…It seems he slipped away before I arrived.”

“That's regrettable.”

“Hmm.”

Amethus nodded his head.

‘There is a slight sense of incongruity… as if I forgot something……. Yes, something……’

His jade-green eyes were about to flash.

However, a snickering laugh suddenly erupted.

‘Hey, I told you to forget!’

Amethus forgot.

He even forgot the strange sense of incongruity that he had met someone.

His intuition was powerful, but the Last Clown's trickery was even stronger.

“Yes. I couldn't find him. It was just the monster who was said to be the owner of this valley.”

He had come to the Rubeko Valley, guided by the ‘Sand Question’.

He had dismembered Lacrosha, who blocked him, but the Fifth Prince Zionis was not there.

This was all Amethus remembered.

“Huh? Weren't you agonizing over something? Your voice suddenly sounds relieved.”

“Me?”

“No? Did I mishear?”

Shadi Shandor tilted her head.

Since her once keen eyes were now sightless, she couldn't help but be less confident in her other senses.

Amethus and she casually changed the subject.

“More importantly, the Captain is hurt. What kind of monster was it that hurt you, Captain Amethus?”

“A snake. A very large snake.”

“How big was it?”

“Big enough to swallow dozens of magic trains in one gulp and still have room.”

“Oh my, if you say that, it makes me want to see it.”

“It would be better not to see it.”

Lacrosha's corpse was not in a very good state.

It had been cut into dozens of pieces by the double-edged sword and the Last Clown had even rummaged through its head.

Moreover, because the snake-scaled girl, who was the essence of its life, had left, its massive body was rapidly disintegrating.

“If it had been a little smaller, or if I hadn't been in such a hurry, I would have buried it, I'm sorry.”

“If you're sorry, why did you kill it?”

“Because the mission came first.”

He spoke calmly.

He was the confidant of the next emperor and a security knight of the Empire.

He could not, and did not want to, leave a monster that dared to claim ownership of imperial territory alone.

“I will continue the pursuit.”

Amethus took a step.

Shadi's subordinate, Untes Ubias Uterbeum, shrugged his shoulders.

His tone was as if asking if he should support her instead.

Amethus hesitated for a moment and then shook his head.

He was working.

It was not a time to follow affection.

“Do you see the spirit of sand, Captain?”

“Yes. It's still dancing.”

The sand wind danced in the sky.

The spirit of sand, summoned by ‘Sand Question’, lingered, showing the direction where the Fifth Prince Zionis was.

“The wilder the dance, the closer the target is.”

“Is that so?”

Amethus's eyes sharpened.

The movement of that sand wind was almost like a storm.

If one were nearby, it danced with such violence that it would tear one's skin.

“I've almost caught up.”

***

Secrets choked me.

In the midst of suffocating, I realized it was a dream.

[…Weak, Shion……]

[…How can you be so weak……]

Septem Arcana took the form of a seven-branched candlestick with seven lamps.

Only two lamps were lit and when I looked closely, screams and cries blazed within them.

The screams and cries rushed at me, choking me.

[…Where has our hero gone……]

[…What is this regression for! If you're barely saving your life with help, why did you return……!]

[…Ridiculous. To speak of destiny when you are so weak is ridiculous……]

Secrets lashed out with accusations.

I gave myself over to them and calmly suffocated.

I had never not done so before.

“I won't make excuses……”

I was a secret-keeper, but not an excuse-maker.

I confessed my shortcomings to my secrets that were choking me.

“I only hid, deceived, and ran away. Constantly making excuses about being a child…….”

I gritted my teeth.

What bothered me most, what was most anxious about my destiny, was myself.

However, I merely tried to remain calm by force.

I merely tried to endure.

Because I couldn't repeat the same failure.

Because it absolutely could not be so.

“Still, just a little more, please watch over me……”

But I did not utter words like 'I'm enduring it' or 'it's still part of the plan'.

Because even if they were true, if they came out, they would become excuses.

They were not words I could say to my secrets.

There were other words I had to say.

“Because whether I receive help or not, I will achieve it.”

[…With what will you achieve it…? Is it just words again……]

[…Look at your wrist. It looks like it could break at any moment. Where has the hero's prestige gone……]

[…You're not going to tell us to watch you fall, are you……!]

The accusations were fierce.

I shrugged my shoulders.

The secrets were still choking me, but I no longer cared.

They had never not choked me.

“I've just gained new power, haven't I.”

The power melted from the silver dragon's molar had reached here, within me.

Silver waves spread wide, caressing the flames.

The third flame rose.

Then, the ember ignited on the fourth lamp.

It was not yet a flame, but it was not a story of the distant future either.

“The third is open. The fourth is soon.”

I snickered.

I held the third secret in my hand.

It was a power I had longed for with surprising intensity.

“The first and second are convenient, but it's hard to call them powerful.”

‘Fantasy Finger’ and ‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’ were for self-preservation.

This was also why I had hastily obtained Mana Armor Valziart.

Without it, it would have been difficult to survive, no, I would not have survived.

“To think I've survived until now with just those two, it's like fighting a war with a fork and knife. It would be no different if I had done a tap dance while doing a handstand with my thumb and forefinger.”

It would be nice if they praised me a little.

The accusations subsided.

They were beings bound to the Septem Arcana.

They knew better than anyone that my words were true.

“You know, don't you? The really sharp ones are from the third secret onwards.”

The secrets began to murmur.

[…Oh, Shion of Merion……. Our hero, our Vice Commander……. I will trust you again……. Even if I am deceived again, I will trust you again……]

[Forgive our hasty urging. Please do not forget us.]

[…Achieve it, destroy it! That thousand-year Empire, Cordis……!]

“What an obvious thing to say.”

I stood up, still being choked.

“No matter what happens to me, I will destroy it.”

My eyes were blue.

“I will not give up.”

***

“Hmm……”

I, Shion, woke up, clutching my neck.

The marks of being choked in my dream were vivid in reality as well.

I tried to act cool, but the situation was not good.

As I removed the rough blanket covering me, a grumble escaped me automatically.

“…With such a terrible bed, it's no wonder I had bad dreams.”

I shook my head.

The weather was still cold.

Meaning it was too early to sleep on the road.

Actually, was there ever a good time to sleep on the road?

Another grumble.

“Ten days in the Rubeko Valley, was it……”

I roughly folded the rough blanket and put it in my pocket.

It was my precious bedding.

A groan escaped me automatically.

My right shoulder hurt terribly, as if it were being gouged out, with every movement of my body, making it hard to bear.

It was because it had been half-severed by Amethus's sword in the Rubeko Valley.

“It just won't heal.”

Surprisingly, Mana Armor Valziart seemed to grant the host amazing regenerative powers.

If not for that, I would have already died.

The wound was that severe.

“…I might actually die. I need to do something about this wound first.”

Even with Valziart's regenerative power, pus and lymph flowed out every day.

I skillfully wiped away the bloody pus from my chest.

It stung and hurt.

“Tsk, how persistent he is in chasing me.”

After receiving help from the Last Clown, I had only been running.

Neither proper meals nor sleep were permitted.

The fortuneteller Amethus had found me with surprising accuracy and disturbed me.

“I must assume he has a way to find me.”

I noticed the existence of ‘Sand Question’.

It was from a certain point that Amethus's pursuit had become surprisingly accurate.

It was clear that he had something to aid his intuition.

I took out some jerky from my pocket and chewed on it.

My jaw ached.

Whenever I got a big wound, all the joints in my body ached like this.

The heat from the inflammation also wouldn't leave.

I yearned for warm soup.

“Ah, my wretched fate. The great city of Gentium is right next to me, but I can't even enter.”

At the Gentium checkpoint, Security Bureau Special Operations Unit members, the ones Amethus commanded, were stationed.

I had to avoid them.

I avoided them because they were filthy!

I chirped irritably and took a step.

“Still, I made it to the south.”

Beyond Gentium, it could be called the southwest of the Empire.

“I was planning to go straight to Mekeros, but I can't do that now. I'll definitely collapse midway.”

I fell into thought for a moment.

It was time to review my plan once more.

‘My physical condition? It's a mess.’

Since it was a severe injury that had almost severed my shoulder, it simply wouldn't heal.

I could feel inflammation spreading throughout my body.

Even though I had managed to open the third secret, I couldn't properly use it in this body.

‘Amethus? He's still chasing right behind me.’

He chased me wherever I went, so I couldn't rest comfortably.

Even now, hadn't I slept in the forest instead of an inn in a large city?

‘At least my finances are comfortable.’

I had stolen a lot of various things from the Imperial Family and hidden them in Valziart.

In the first place, since I had regressed as the Fifth Prince, I had enough money to make commoners faint.

‘Even if it means taking risks, I have to enter a city. I have to do something about this wound. It would be even better if I could get various items. In that case……’

A place where Amethus and the Special Operations Unit's movements would be restricted.

A place where many people were mixed, making it difficult to find me.

A place where I could easily obtain supplies that would be helpful to me!

“Sillemol.”

One of the three great ports in the southwest of the Empire.

The great city at the very top of Hobel Bay.

“I'm going to Sillemol's free market.”

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