Chapter 273 - Incognito (3)
Chapter 273: Incognito (3)
The fierce flames painted the mountains red.
“Uh….”
“Kuhuk.”
“Kuuk.”
Moans of pain flowed out from all sides as people collapsed onto the ground.
“Kuuk. W, who the hell are you guys!”
A middle-aged man kneeled and bellowed. His face revealed by the red flames showed he was Gave, the leader of the Gave Thieves.
‘W, why is this happening!’
He was full of anger. At the same time, a sense of powerlessness and fear had suppressed his shoulders. He had bad luck the entire day.
‘During the day we went trying to steal from Urth village and got massacred by some insane bastard.’
The only saving grace was that he had been able to survive it. However, when he was about to have some rest after returning to his main base in the mountains, some uninvited guests arrived.
Hundreds of men with black robes. They used their ghost-like movements to massacre through the Gave Thieves’ main base.
A complete annihilation. Most of his subordinates had been killed and only a dozen or so had survived. Even that dozen was one step away from losing their lives.
‘M, monsters…’
Gave stared at the black-robed men surrounding the main base. Them standing straight with arms crossed gave off a powerful pressure.
‘I, I can’t die like this.’
He felt a sense of emergency.
‘T, there’s no other way.’
Biting down hard, he decided to rely on his last resort. He forced his body up and scolded in a large voice.
“You bastards! Do you know who I am?!”
An edgy voice echoed through the entire mountain.
“I am the younger brother of this land’s lord, Baron Gates Borg! In other words, a noble of the Amaranth Kingdom! If you kill me, Roan, His Great Majesty will not let you off! Do you get it? You scums!”
It was a surprising truth. The leader of the thieves that had been assaulting Baron Borg’s lands was actually the baron’s younger brother.
‘Kukukuk. They must’ve been surprised.’
Gave wore a confident expression.
‘No-one knew I had the blood of Baron Borg flowing inside.’
Baron Borg.
The current family leader, Gates Borg had received the evaluation that he had no particular skills, but was fast at reading the situation and good at dealing with people. According to Argens, when Gates surrendered to the Amaranth Kingdom, he had emptied his storage to give the people all the goods and food which was most probably an act that had taken Roan in mind.
At the start, Baron Borg had supported the first prince Simon, during the war for the throne. Later they went with North Rinse Kingdom but when the war started to tilt away from their favour, they immediately changed to Roan’s faction.
Thanks to that, they had been acknowledged as fifth-grade contributors during the compensations and were allowed to keep their previous land and position.
‘Brother pretended to be a good noble and had emptied his possessions but those weren’t his true thoughts…’
Gates was in fact a very greedy person. If it wasn’t for Roan, he would’ve set a heavy tax onto the citizens and taken lots from them.
‘That’s why I’m taking things from the citizens instead of my brother.’
Before, Gates and Gave didn’t have a good relationship. Gates was born from the main wife while Gave was a child of a maid.
In other words, they were step-brothers.
The greedy Gates had never liked his step-brother who he might have to share the family’s authority and goods with. In the end, Gave had no other choice but to leave the baron family before even reaching adulthood.
The name ‘Gave’ was also something he had given himself. His real name had been Rodem, a name he had long forgotten.
But thanks to being from a noble family, he was able to read and write while also being able to control mana to some extent so he had gotten some fame under his belt as a mercenary. He had fought in countless battles and had contributed quite greatly during the war for the throne and the founding of the Amaranth Kingdom so he had risen to a seat of a centurion back then.
After the war, he had brought in all the soldiers that had fought with him to form the Gave Mercenary Squad. It was then, that he had received a letter from his step-brother, Gates.
‘He said if I snatched the goods off of his own citizens, he would give me my own share.’
To allow Gave to act without any disturbances, Gates had intentionally moved the army to a different place. The patrol squad in charge of the area was also given false alarms and complex orders to keep them busy. Thanks to that, the Gave Thieves had been able to steal without a worry in the world.
The older brother would take care of the younger and the younger one would steal for his older brother, and thus, their brotherhood was deepened.
Like father, like son, except with brothers.
“I’m saying it one more time, but I am the younger brother of Baron Borg. I have the blood of a baron flowing in me!”
His words gradually carried more strength.
“If you kill me, our majesty wont’ stand still!”
Gave continued to mention Roan. It was to scare the opponents away with the name Roan. It was then.
“Interesting.”
Along with a calm voice, a young man appeared. It was Roan with his soft, innocent face and yellowish travel clothes.
“Y, you are?!”
Gave widened his eyes and screamed. He had an expression of disbelief.
“Did you think you could run away?”
Roan made a light smile.
Suddenly.
Paht!
The hundreds of black-robed men all got down onto one knee and lowered their heads. It was extremely uniform, giving off an intense aura.
“Hi, hiik.”
Gave swallowed in empty air and fell on his bum. Roan slowly paced towards him before eventually standing in front of Gave.
“The lord and the thieves were in cahoots, huh?”
A sharpness resembling a blade was etched into the voice.
“Should I hear more of that story?”
A cold light was carried by the gaze. He was planning on pulling out all the rotten roots starting from today, and Gates and Gave was the starting point.
***
“Urgent news! Baron Bonte has defected as well!”
The urgent voice of the messenger filled the tent.
“Damn!”
A young general stood up from his seat and started spitting out profanities. The generals seating there all had frowns.
“Betraying as if they had been waiting for it…”
“Waste-like scums.”
Their eyes gathered to the centre. At the end of their gazes was a young man in deep thoughts. He was Pershion Kingdom’s second prince and the only one with the right for succession, Manus Pershion.
‘Half of the nobles had gone to the other side…’
His lips hung a bitter smile.
He had believed that the country was being managed properly.
He had believed that he had earned the trust of the nobles.
He had thought that everyone became one under the flag of Pershion like what Manus himself had believed in.
But as soon as Reitas Pershion had escaped Teloi Island and entered the Capital Castle of Altus, everything had changed. The nobles he thought had trusted him all betrayed Manus and had defected over to Reitas’ side.
Especially the old noble families with long histories all supported Reitas with only a few generals and new rising nobles on Manus’ side.
“Sir Prince. At this rate we won’t be able to do anything.”
Romils Hotten who had rushed back from the northern coasts suggested with a resolute expression. He stared straight into Manus’ eyes.
“There’s a need to gather all the forces. Let us go to Viscount Splus’ land.”
Viscount Ander Splus was a key supporter of Manus. Even whilst Reitas was expanding his territories with Capital Altus in the centre, he was dedicated in supporting Manus.
Viscount Splus’ territory was located on the South Eastern area of Pershion Kingdom with lots of supplies and munitions available. There was nowhere better to gather the required force and supplies than there.
Manus gave a short sigh.
“Can’t be helped.”
He slowly stood up from his seat and stared at the faces of several generals.
“Relay to everyone. We will head towards Viscount Splus’ territory.”
“Yes. We understand!”
The generals lowered their heads and replied in a powerful voice. Like that, the nobles following Manus all headed towards Viscount Splus’ territory. And exactly two days after that, an army of thirty thousand with Reitas Pershion in the lead had left Castle Altus with dignity.
“Prince Reitas, will it really be okay?”
An old noble, Count Gorman Williams asked carefully. Reitas that had been in the lead made a light smile.
“Are you worried?”
Gorman rapidly nodded his head in response.
“Most of the powerful nobles are on our side but Prince Manus’ forces are nothing to scoff at either. There’s news that it easily exceeds fifty thousand.”
His face had an evident sign of worry, and that was the case for all the surrounding nobles as well. However, Reitas was full of leisure.
“Whether it’s above fifty or hundred thousand doesn’t matter. I will definitely be victorious.”
A voice filled with certainty. He looked towards the South East with a strange expression.
‘Manus, I did warn you that you would one day regret if you kept me alive.’
But Manus had ignored his warnings and had kept him alive.
‘Are you regretting right now?’
Reitas shook his head.
‘No, you most likely wouldn’t… because that is what Manus would do.”
His eyes shone brightly.
‘That’s why, this battle will definitely be my victory.’
Reitas kicked on the horse and it neighed strongly before rushing forward. The countless nobles, generals and soldiers followed behind. And after exactly four days, one news had caused a commotion inside Pershion’s palace.
[Prince Reitas Pershion defeated Prince Manus Pershion!]
Mere 4 days.
It only took 4 days for Reitas to defeat Manus and take the entire kingdom under his control.
***
Capital Mediasis that had kept its peace since the founding of the Amaranth Kingdom had been roused like a poked beehive.
It was because the Taemusas of the Tale Special Corps under Viscount Walter Owells had assaulted a noble’s mansion within the capital. The agents of Tenebra as well as officials under the supervising department of administration had taken part in the attack.
Due to the sudden event, many nobles, and officials within the capital became nervous.
“Y, you bastards! I am a noble of the kingdom! A noble!”
A middle-aged man screamed as he was pulled outside by the Taemusas. And Walter, who was in red uniform appeared from behind them.
“We are well aware. Baron Gates Borg.”
A calm voice was carried by the wind. The middle-aged man in the hands of the Taemusas was Baron Gates Borg who had been staying behind in the capital to give out bribes.
“Uh?! Y, you are…”
Gates made a nervous expression before Walter. Unlike normal Taemusas, Walter was a noble with a status – a viscount which was a higher position than himself.
“Viscount Owells. W, what is all this about?”
He had an innocent, clueless expression, but Walter replied shortly with a rock-solid expression.
“Rodem, Gave.”
As soon as his words ended, Gates’ two eyes widened themselves.
“Ah…”
He lost all the energy in his legs and collapsed onto the floor. Walter glared at Gates for a while and gave a gesture to the Taemusas, having them take Gates outside the mansion.
That day, there was an official announcement made under the name of the Administrator of the Amaranth Kingdom. It explained in detail, the dirty tricks and truths behind Baron Gates Borg and the Gave Thieves.
Gates had been deprived of his position and land under Roan’s name, with his status lowered to slaves and sent to the mines. Gave who had actually participated in killing and stealing from the innocent citizens had his head cut off. In addition, the ones who had received briberies from Gates had lost their titles and positions and were either sent to jail or exiled from the country.
Lightning-fast punishments. And a firm conclusion.
The citizens, nobles and the rich had all fallen into a large shock. People rejoiced in the punishments of nobles that thoughtlessly stole from them, while the rich and the nobles that had still continued doing dishonest transactions behind the backs had once again realised that the world had changed and had to think twice.
It was natural, as the Administrator, Viscount Swift Clock had announced that he would not let go of those that stole from the citizens, or received bribes. To achieve this, the intelligence squad, Tenebra and the small supervising department under administration were merged to form a powerful Department.
It was named Tenebra Supervising Department, with the first Minister being Keep Lander, the previous leader of Tenebra. Their duties were on searching for the evil acts and corruptions of nobles and officials and their punishments.
Of course, it was unannounced to the world, but this measure was only allowed thanks to Roan’s incognito inspection. But that wasn’t the end. The incognito inspection continued, and various things were constantly changing and being developed albeit slowly.
The Amaranth Kingdom was becoming a better nation day by day.
“Finally, I have arrived.”
Standing on top of a hill, Roan gazed down on the village located right under. It was a fairly large village with fences and watchtowers.
‘Purrand Village.’
Except for the fact that it was quite large for a countryside village, there was nothing else special about it. But there was a reason why Roan was still able to clearly remember about Purrand Village.
‘Because of the Monster of Purrand.’
Roan thought back on his previous life and made a hazy smile. The giant that had reigned over the battlefields with his two body-sized axes.
‘He is right here.’
He was one of the personnel that he wanted to recruit first.
“Then shall I go meet…”
When his words reached that point.
“Hmm?”
Roan made a small frown and looked towards the east of the village. Thanks to Kalian’s Tears, the faraway scenery appeared clearly as if it was right before him.
“Was I a little late…”
A regretting voice and expression. Roan breathed in deeply and kicked off.
Paht!
A strand of light from above the hills went down.