Chapter 44
An Uncomfortable Reunion (3)
The space surrounding Johan convulsed with a thunderous roar. Like the sea expelling a sunken ship being hauled to the surface, the night sky spasmed repeatedly.
It looked as though it were struggling to disgorge something too burdensome to contain.
Johan stiffened and stared above his head.
Black smoke was surging from the distorted space.
No way!
Demonic energy as dark as pitch.
It was so ominous yet familiar that Johan could hardly fail to recognize it.
It was Baekgak’s demonic energy.
“Damn it!”
Was this Gawain’s doing? Whatever the case, Johan had to stop it.
He could not allow Baekgak to be dragged out by that gravitational force.
Johan looked at Gawain. Just as he was about to rush toward him, bewilderment twisted his expression.
“W-What the…!”
Blood sprayed from every opening in Gawain’s body as he convulsed violently. His horrific screams echoed across the mountainside. As though the pain were too unbearable to endure, his body slowly collapsed.
Only then did the deafening roar subside. The distorted space returned to normal, and nature regained its tranquility.
The black smoke that had been leaking out also vanished without a trace.
Even amid the urgency of the situation, Johan forced his mind to work as quickly as possible.
What was the best thing he could do right now?
Should he abandon Gawain and leave? Or would it be better to support him and move him somewhere safe?
No—perhaps he needed to slit Gawain’s throat immediately.
After all, Gawain might have discovered his true identity.
Dozens of considerations assailed Johan in a single instant. While he struggled to determine the best course of action, shouts rang out from behind him.
“Your Highness!”
“Check his condition! Hurry!”
“We need a priest! Call for support!”
Several armed individuals rushed past Johan and toward Gawain in an instant.
They were all members of Gawain’s royal guard.
The moment Johan saw them, a deep sense of dismay washed over him.
How much had they noticed?
For now, he had no way of knowing.
Johan decided to observe the situation first.
As he stood still and watched them, one of the knights examining Gawain’s condition turned her gaze toward him.
She was a female knight with long sidelocks. The royal crest of Artelga was engraved over the heart of her plate armor.
The image of a lion with a black mane glared at Johan alongside the knight.
Her gaze was chillingly cold.
She slowly began walking toward Johan.
Johan stared back at her with an expressionless face.
He was tense, but he did not let it show.
The distance between them quickly narrowed, and the knight stopped before him.
Her lips parted.
***
Gawain was puzzled.
Whenever he approached Johan, Espada’s cries abruptly ceased. Whenever he moved away from him, Espada wailed even louder.
It sounded as though the holy spear were begging him not to leave.
He could not fathom the reason.
Unless Johan possessed Espada, such a phenomenon should have been impossible.
That was why Gawain had examined Johan’s body several times.
Naturally, Espada was nowhere to be seen on him. It was absurd to think that such an enormous weapon could be concealed inside his body in the first place.
More importantly, Johan did not seem like the sort of person who would hide the holy spear.
Their conversation had been brief, but Johan had left a favorable impression on him.
Despite his young age, he was thoughtful and intelligent.
That was Gawain’s assessment of Johan.
Gawain felt that establishing a relationship with him might prove greatly beneficial one day.
Had there been enough time, he would have liked to speak with him further.
Unfortunately, he had something he needed to do.
He had to find Espada.
But just as he was about to leave, Espada began wailing again.
Its cries were far louder than before.
He could no longer bring himself to ignore them and walk away.
Thinking there might be some connection, Gawain recited the holy spear’s invocation.
—Vanguard who carves justice into the heart of evil, return to the front lines.
At that moment, everything around him shattered.
The world before his eyes fragmented like a broken glass, and the space containing him twisted wildly.
It was something he had never experienced before.
He had merely attempted to summon the holy spear, yet he had encountered an unknown supernatural phenomenon.
His brain throbbed as though it were being burned alive.
A horrific, searing pain struck his entire body.
It felt like a wordless warning, pressuring him not to approach the unknown any further.
Gawain could not ignore that warning.
He immediately stopped summoning the holy spear and endured the punishment that remained.
Fountains of blood erupted from his entire body.
Unable to hold on to consciousness, he collapsed where he stood.
***
The female knight in plate armor stopped in front of Johan.
Perhaps because of her sharp eyes and pointed jawline, she gave an overall impression of coldness.
She glared at Johan.
Or rather, it felt as though she was glaring at him.
When Johan cleared his throat uncomfortably, the knight spoke.
“Are you injured anywhere?”
Her opening words were different from what he had expected.
It seemed the royal guard had noticed nothing. They merely assumed that Gawain had lost control as he had the previous day.
That was at least one fortunate development amid all this misfortune.
“I am unharmed. More importantly, how is His Highness?”
“His Highness’s life is not in danger.”
Whether that was fortunate or unfortunate was difficult to say.
If Gawain had discovered Baekgak, it was unfortunate. If not, then it was good news.
Why had Gawain ended up in that condition in the first place?
It was difficult to know for certain, but Johan could make an educated guess.
There is a strong possibility that something went wrong while he was trying to retrieve the holy spear.
The prayer Gawain had recited had clearly ended with the command “return,” and the anomaly had occurred the moment he finished reciting it.
Even if that hypothesis was correct, two crucial questions remained.
First, why had Gawain recited the prayer to retrieve the holy spear while facing Johan?
Johan could arrive at a rough answer to that question.
…He instinctively sensed the holy spear’s presence within me.
It seemed Johan would have to avoid meeting Gawain until he resolved the problem involving the holy spear.
And second, what was the fundamental reason Gawain had collapsed?
Someone as resilient as him could not possibly have been left half-dead merely by the backlash of failing to retrieve the holy spear.
There had to be another cause.
For now, however, finding the answer would be difficult.
The fortunate part was that Johan now knew exactly what he needed to do.
Let’s get out of here as quickly as possible.
Once he was out of Gawain’s sight, he needed to deal with the holy spear embedded in Baekgak.
When he met Gawain again in the future, he could not allow the same thing to happen.
As long as he somehow removed the holy spear, he would be able to feign ignorance about today’s incident.
Johan had decided on his course of action.
He said,
“I am relieved to hear that he is safe, but you must not let your guard down. Please take His Highness away at once. He appears to require urgent treatment.”
“We have already requested assistance. A priest will arrive soon, so please do not worry too much.”
“I see. Then I shall take my leave. Please take good care of His Highness.”
The knight stopped Johan as he hurriedly attempted to depart.
“One moment.”
“What is it?”
“I have a few questions for you. Please cooperate with our investigation. I am Yuri Zrael, a knight of the Royal Guard.”
Yuri Zrael.
She was a character who had appeared several times in the original story.
Damn it. Of course she won’t simply let me leave.
The prince had collapsed, and Johan had been the only person standing beside him. The Royal Guard had no choice but to investigate him.
Concealing his urgency, Johan spoke as calmly as possible.
“I am Johan Myatro. I will cooperate.”
“Thank you. First, what is your relationship with His Highness?”
It was a formal question. There was no way Knight Yuri was unaware that Johan and Gawain had never met before today.
“I met him for the first time today.”
“I see. What were the two of you discussing?”
“My apologies, but it is a sensitive matter. I cannot reveal it without His Highness’s permission.”
The mere fact that Count Staviana had been the subject of their conversation could give rise to all manner of rumors.
“It is necessary for the investigation.”
“I do not wish to expose His Highness to political danger.”
Yuri glanced over her shoulder. She seemed to be checking whether her colleagues were listening.
She looked back at Johan and spoke in a quiet voice.
“…Was it perhaps about the eagle?”
The eagle was the symbol of House Staviana.
“He told me to beware of the eagle.”
“That is answer enough. I have only one final question. How did His Highness end up in this condition?”
“He suddenly appeared to be seeing something that was not there. Then, just as yesterday, he lost control… No. That would be a disloyal way to speak of His Highness.”
Yuri did not react.
She remained deep in thought for quite some time.
Only after a long silence did she finally speak.
“Sir Johan, may I ask you for a favor?”
Johan had a rough idea of what she was about to say.
Pretending otherwise, he replied,
“I will decide after hearing your request.”
Yuri nodded.
“Please keep today’s incident a secret.”
“By today’s incident, you mean…”
“His Highness’s loss of control.”
It was exactly as Johan had expected.
If rumors spread that Gawain had lost control two days in a row, he would no longer have any place in the kingdom.
He might even be taken into custody and transported to the Empire.
As Gawain’s loyal retainer, Yuri had to prevent that at all costs.
“If that is your request, you need not worry. I never intended to tell anyone in the first place.”
She bowed her head slightly.
“You have my sincere gratitude for your consideration. This concludes the investigation.”
Yuri believed that the entire incident had resulted from Gawain losing control. Rather than conducting a thorough investigation, she appeared eager to bring the situation to an end as quickly as possible.
Whatever the reason, that was welcome news to Johan.
He said,
“Then I shall take my leave.”
“Be careful on your way back. Baekgak has not yet been captured.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
After exchanging brief farewells, Johan headed back toward the slash-and-burn village.
***
The demons captured within the sacred containment formation were not summarily executed.
They were being transported separately and gathered in one location so that their possible connection to Baekgak could be investigated.
Numerous processions escorting captured demons headed toward the center of the containment formation.
Among them, a red, furry imp muttered from inside one of the cages.
“To think that I would be treated the same as these nameless lesser spirits. Do they have any idea who I am?”
The demons imprisoned in the same cage snickered.
“Ha! A name? You have a name?”
“Let me guess. Rat-Dick. Yes, that must be his name.”
“A fitting name for a runt no bigger than a rat’s dick.”
The imp trembled at the demons’ mockery.
“If you knew my true identity, you would not dare utter a single word.”
Insults immediately poured in from every direction.
“Your identity is Rat-Dick! If you want to act tough, come back after you have at least reached adulthood!”
“He’ll still be nothing but a furball even when he is fully grown. What use could anyone possibly have for him?”
“He might at least please a girl. He would be perfect for knitting wool.”
Unable to endure it any longer, the imp shouted,
“I was chosen by the great End! Once I overcome his trial, I shall finally become the vanguard of evil deeds!”
A sudden silence descended.
Every gaze inside the cage turned toward the imp.
Did I say too much?
Just as regret began to wash over him, laughter erupted from all around.
“An apostle?! Did he choose you so he could knit something out of your fur?!”
“There are no apostles in this era to begin with!”
“There is one!”
“You mean that pathetic fool who was defeated by a human?”
“Ah! The brat who was stabbed with a spear and fell into a ravine?”
As the insults against the apostle continued, the imp sprang to its feet.
“How dare you speak that way before the End’s right hand!”
Its red fur began flickering like candle flames.
Demonic energy seeped from its body.
The dark-green mass of flesh confronting the imp curled its lips into a grin.
The countless eyes clustered across its entire body narrowed into crescent shapes.
Its smile was repulsive and sinister.
“The End’s right hand? Then I’ll break it.”
The creature fired a dark-green tentacle at the imp.
Just before it touched the red fur, the entire world froze.
An unbearable cold enveloped the surroundings.
As though time and space themselves had been frozen, everything in the area came to a complete halt.
The long procession was rooted in place.
Naturally, the tentacle could no longer extend any farther.
Only one thing continued to move.
Someone was walking alongside the procession.
It was a silver-haired girl dressed in pure-white fur.
She alone moved freely through the world that had been frozen blue.
Her sweet, melodious voice drifted toward the demons.
“You seem to be having an interesting conversation. Let me join you. What was that you said about the apostle?”
The girl approached slowly and stopped before the cage.
The flesh demon opened and closed its mouth.
Not a single sound emerged.
It was so cold that even its voice seemed to have frozen.
“Oh dear. It seems you are having trouble answering. I suppose it cannot be helped. Just nod with your tentacle. You said the apostle was a brat and a pathetic fool, correct?”
The dark-green tentacle pointed toward the imp bobbed slightly up and down.
It was an affirmation.
The girl’s eyes curved into a smile.
“I like your honesty. I will give you a painless death.”
Every eye on the flesh demon filled with terror.
At that moment, the girl lightly flicked her index finger.
The frozen cage exploded.
The demons inside shattered into countless fragments, and shards of ice scattered in every direction.
The terrified imp was the sole survivor. Its red fur had frozen stiff.
The girl stepped into the cage and looked down at the imp.
“You said you received the apostle’s trial?”
The red fur trembled violently.
“Do you know where he is now?”
The imp shook its fur up and down.
“If you are lying, I will not grant you a peaceful death.”
Its desperate nodding continued.
“I will believe you. Lead me to him.”
Ilea’s lips curved into a gentle smile.