novelraw Chapter 215 : Chapter 215
Chapter 215 : Chapter 215
Chapter 215: Lord of Calamity (1)
Harang’s voice, throwing the question, contained an emotion hard to believe easily.
It was strange.
Though the situation had been urgent, Harang roughly remembered what happened after the bloody battle with the subjugation leader. The Village’s General Manager had saved him and brought him here. The fact that he had safely regained consciousness and recovered meant the subjugation team had failed to pursue them.
‘Then... the person before me, sitting leisurely beside the Village’s General Manager and looking at me, must be the Lord of Calamity.’
But.
The reason he couldn’t help but send suspicious glances despite such perfect circumstances.
It was because the Lord of Calamity was in the form of Mercenary King Austin.
“Really, Austin... Mercenary King, you are the Lord of Calamity?”
“Yes. You seem a bit surprised.”
“…….”
Not just a bit, Harang was truly shocked. He shook his head vigorously, unable to accept the current reality immediately, and frowned from the pain in the injury site.
However, that pain cleared his mind.
Harang pondered the things with Austin, then slowly nodded and said.
“I see. Since you were closest to me, that’s how you knew so much about the Godoks.”
“You received special treatment. For the others, I mostly monitored through the Black Hydra. Guys like Cecilia, Werner, Maria.”
“The reason you assigned me various tasks was to forcibly grow me?”
“That’s about right. I placed Black Hydras that could become experience in the Dark City Kalbaron in advance to induce fights. Moreover, I intended to give you a decent sword. Swords that can handle your corrosive aura aren’t many... But I never imagined that sword was the key to an ancient dungeon. That was the only miscalculation.”
“…….”
“Well, thanks to that, I didn’t need to separately get an aura cultivation method. It looked far superior in content to what I was going to give.”
“As expected, you can interpret Delkaro’s ancient language.”
“Naturally. The Ancient Assassin, called the Great One, was from Delkaro, so it’s only right that the Lord of Calamity, gathered to uphold his will, knows Delkaro’s language.”
“Perhaps, the code circulating among the Godok peers being similar to Delkaro’s language was also your doing?”
“Yes. I deliberately spread it to grasp what Godoks usually think. Thanks to that, I could track the movements of Godoks gathered near Viscount Kilkearn’s territory. It was an operation that served its purpose in many ways.”
Austin smiled in satisfaction, and seeing that, Harang felt his blood boiling.
Until now, he had thought him truly a good person.
He had thought his dream of making the mercenary profession the aspiration of many swordsmen was quite cool, and his passion for swordsmanship and the skills backing it made Austin even more attractive.
That’s why he had contracted with him.
That’s why he had associated with him, and done many things together.
However, all of that was mere falsehood.
Among his dreams, goals, daily life, actions, and everything else, there wasn’t a single true thing.
Realizing this anew, Harang calmed his bubbling heart.
‘There are still many things I’m curious about.’
Until he found out all of them, he needed to continue the conversation.
Having organized his mind thus, Harang looked at Mercenary King Austin—no, the Lord of Calamity—again and said.
“Since it’s come to this, tell me everything.”
“Everything? What do you mean?”
“All the things I need to know. Besides the schemes in Kalbaron, were there other incidents where you indirectly manipulated me? Why did you focus particularly on me among the Godoks? Does that damned ‘advancement of the Ancient Assassin’ refer to the ‘Black Sword’ I obtained? Finally....”
After a brief pause, he continued.
“......You, who seem stronger than me who awakened the Black Sword, why have you been hiding in the shadows until now, doing nothing.”
“Hiding in the shadows, what do you mean?”
“Isn’t that right? Calamity is the organization with tremendous enmity toward the Holy Kingdom, right? I think the goal is to continue revenge on behalf of the Ancient Assassin who was betrayed after the great war with the orc tribe... Why have you been idle until now?”
“…….”
“If you, with power surpassing the owner of the Black Sword, had engaged in assassinations... Couldn’t you have easily taken even the life of the Holy King, the owner of the Holy Kingdom?”
Harang’s words were sound logic.
Calamity’s purpose was to find a successor who restored the realm of the Ancient Assassin.
However, pondering the reason for seeking that special successor, it was because without reaching that level, one couldn’t oppose the superpower called the Holy Kingdom.
The strange point here was that the Lord of Calamity, Austin, already possessed sufficient skill.
‘Even if the Ancient Assassin returned to life... Could he beat this person?’
To the extent such a thought arose, the presence of the Lord of Calamity, not hiding his momentum, was tremendous. To the point where even if he fully recovered from injuries, winning didn’t seem possible.
“Hmm. Not difficult questions at all.”
Fortunately, perhaps.
The Lord of Calamity, as if Harang’s questions weren’t displeasing, readily continued answering.
He admitted indirectly manipulating Harang by sending a dispatch to the Yellow Magic Tower in the eastern continent, leaking information to Maya, and using Cecilia as bait to induce awakening by pitting against the third Hydra.
He said that because Harang’s ‘corrosive aura’ was a characteristic of the Ancient Assassin, he predicted the highest possibility of inheriting him.
“It’s also correct that the Black Sword is the symbol of the Ancient Assassin. Though defeated by the Holy Sword of Paern Rudeman, the Holy Kingdom’s greatest hero, it was an invincible technique with no rivals except him. Probably its value is even higher now. Because a pure and noble figure who can manifest the Holy Sword doesn’t exist in the current era.”
“......But, aren’t you stronger than me who awakened the Black Sword?”
“That’s true. But such things aren’t important at all.”
“Why?”
“Because restoring the realm of the Ancient Assassin and enshrining that being as the organization’s head. Assisting him to enact bloody revenge on the Holy Kingdom. These two are Calamity’s most important rules.”
“…….”
Harang wore a puzzled expression.
Something didn’t quite make sense.
Of course, rules and regulations would be important in leading an organization, but was there need to obsess to this extent?
If one looked at the situation with a bit of flexibility, it seemed subordinates wouldn’t complain even if Austin, with skills surpassing the Ancient Assassin, controlled everything.
However, the speaking Lord of Calamity seemed to value ‘the rules themselves’ far more.
It felt like there was a reason he had to obsess over it, but before asking that, the Lord of Calamity’s mouth opened again.
“Harang.”
“......What do you want to say.”
“You must now become the true Lord of Calamity and lead the war to crumble everything of the Holy Kingdom.”
“That’s absurd. Why should I? Did you perhaps plant a poison bug in my body?”
“No.”
“If not that, then what means do you intend to force me with?”
“I’m not forcing you. The important fact is that the Holy Kingdom has already designated you as an enemy.”
“......The Holy Kingdom?”
Hmm, Harang furrowed his brow, groaned, and recalled the events at the Red Magician’s hideout.
Certainly, the Lord of Calamity’s words were correct.
The Holy Kingdom seemed to have enmity and fear toward the Ancient Assassin beyond his imagination, and appeared to consider him a danger greater than the Red Magician.
That meant, no matter where in the continent he was, he’d have to live feeling threatened.
“It’s not just your problem alone.”
“Then?”
“Your surroundings are also involved. What do you think the Holy Kingdom will do first to find you, whose whereabouts are unknown? Precisely, pressure your surroundings. Perhaps, to find your location, they might torture the Eddy Mercenary Corps, the Portville Family, or Lady Sheratiya Viyan.”
“…….”
“If you don’t want such a future, it’s better to accept the position of Lord of Calamity as I say. If you accept my proposal, I’ll immediately secure the safety of all your precious connections in Marzen.”
“…….”
“For reference, this is a proposal, not an order. There’s no need to force you. Since you’ve learned how the situation will flow, you’ll have no choice but to follow my words.”
Having finished speaking, the Lord of Calamity sipped the tea with a slurp.
An exceedingly leisurely atmosphere.
Calm to the point where it was hard to believe he possessed power to control the world, or that he was someone who would dye the entire continent in blood from now on. The Village’s General Manager standing beside him was also quietly like a still life, appearing not at all afraid to fight the superpower called the Holy Kingdom.
Of course, Harang was the same.
To protect the people he cherished, he was prepared not to back down no matter who the opponent was.
But.
‘It’s extremely irritating.’
Yes.
Something heating his whole body intensely, burning his head as if it would explode.
Hatred, rage, enmity.
Due to uncontrollable emotions, tremendous energy erupted from Harang’s body. Enough to make surrounding objects tremble and fall to the floor, so someone faint-hearted might have cowered under the table.
‘Why!’
Harang tried to shout.
But no words came out. As if extreme rage had devoured his voice, he cried out only inwardly.
‘Why are you so harsh to me?’
He couldn’t help but think that.
What on earth were Calamity’s rules.
What was the Ancient Assassin, what was his revenge, that his entire life was so horribly toyed with?
Were Calamity’s rules that important?
No matter how important, could they say it was as important as the hundreds, thousands of Godoks’ lives sacrificed for it?
At the moment he thought this far, Harang could no longer endure, rose from his seat, and tried to draw his sword.
He didn’t think ahead.
At least once.
He felt that only by swinging his sword refreshingly toward the Lord of Calamity at least once would his insides feel relieved.
However, then, an anomaly occurred.
Woooooooong-!
The pouch tied at Harang’s waist.
From the necklace inside, received as a gift from a being presumed to be a demon, a massive vibration sound rang out.
That wasn’t the end.
Whooooosh!
A black portal appeared in an instant.
Seeing it swallow Harang instantly, the Lord of Calamity and the Village’s General Manager showed startled reactions.
“No!”
“This!”
However, there was nothing they could do.
The two searched everywhere to find the vanished target, but Harang had already been transported to a dimension completely different from the human world, preparing to audience a great being.